FOREST AND STREAM 
375 
OUR CENTENNIAL LETTERS—NO. 6. 
CAPE COLONY AND OSTRICHES— QUEENLAND AND THE DU- 
OONG—NEW SOUTH WALES AND MARSUPIALS—TASMA¬ 
NIA AND ITS DEYILS. 
I N the outskirts of Great Britain's space in the central 
part of the Main Building the Cape Colony of South 
Africa has a little inclosure in which she exhibits a great 
deal well worth our looking at. The implements, cos¬ 
tumes, and wares of the natives are shown, and on the walls 
are alarge series of heads and horus of the different African 
antelopes. Here are the short, harp-like horns of the 
timid little spring bok; the longer, twisted ones oE the pal¬ 
ish; the smooth spears of the water buck and the rough 
ones of the hlau-bok; the long and perfectly straight 
horns of the gems-bok, twisted like a rope for half their 
length and smooth the rest of the way, and the strangely 
twisted, and spiral horns of the hartebeest, sassahy, koodoo, 
and eland. Some of our wealthy sportsmen should manage 
to retain these antlers to adorn their halls. Many skins of 
antelopes, lions, leopards,etc., are also shown, and examples 
of the vegetable products of the country. One case is given 
to the minerals, among which is to be seen a lenticular stone 
about three inches wide by one inch thick, which has a 
large and well-worn hole through the center. This is la¬ 
beled ‘‘Used by the Bushmen for digging roots;” but no ono 
could tell mo how it was used. The most generally 
interesting thing here is probably the model of an os¬ 
trich-hatching oven, and the statistics of this new industry 
■of ostrich farming. The oven consists of two compart¬ 
ments with a smaller compartment between them, filled 
with hot wator and steam. The eggs are taken when first 
laid, put into bran and let rest in one compartment for two 
•or three weeks, at a continuous temperature of 102 de¬ 
grees. They are then put into the other compartment and 
“kept at 100 degrees. They are turned over every day, and 
at the end of the fomth week the shell at the end where 
the head of the chick is seen is cut through, so that the 
weak chickens can make their way through the thick shell 
as well as the strong. In a wild state not more than one- 
third of the eggs laid ever hatch out, because two-thirds 
•of the chicks are unable to peck their way out. The 
young ostriches are tenderly cared for when hatched, and 
' wheu only seven days old, and about as big as a Shanghai 
ben, are worth $50. Tho domestication of the ostrich in 
the Cape Colony assumes every year greater importance, 
and the industry promises to become considerable. It has 
been attended with such success that many large estab¬ 
lishments have been created. Mr. Douglass has nearly 300 
ostriches on one farm, and has sold many birds. When it 
is considered that a pair is worth from $1,200 to $1,800, 
the value of the property will be appreciated. Not all the 
eggs are hatched artificially, nor, perhaps, on the majority 
of farms. The London Field not long ago had an account 
of the farm of Mr. Kennear, of West Beaufort, which I 
am glad to refer to. On eight acres of land attached to 
his dwelling, and inclosed with fences, Mr. Kennear had 
thirty ostriches, nearly all raised by himself. The inclo¬ 
sure was sown with lucerne, and would suffleo for nearly 
100 ostriches if irrigation were more extended, A lodge 
and sheds were constructed for tho protection of the 
young birds during the winter months, and the process of 
obtaining the feathers was there carried on. Three pack¬ 
ings of feathers, when the ostriches were in full plumage, 
realized $240, or £120 per annum—about £8 per bird. In 
1874, instead of selling the feathers on the spot, he sent 
them to England, and by that means each ostrich realized 
£10. One portion of the inclosure was divided into com¬ 
partments, in each of which the ostriches were paired. At 
liberty in their wild state five females were often attached 
to one male, but Mr. Kennear only assigned one female 
to each male. They were coupled in July, began laying 
in August, and continued laying for about six weeks, 
after which they sat till October. About December they 
again began to lay for about five weeks, provided the 
young brood were removed. In the first season the hen 
would lay from fifteen to twenty eggs, but in the second 
much less. The male sat on the eggs more assiduously 
than the female. Mr. Kennear removed the young when 
they were sufficiently strong to he taken from the nest— 
one or two days after they were hatched. Requiring a 
warm temperature, they were placed in a deep box lined 
With sheep skins, the air penetrating by. the cover. Dur¬ 
ing the severe cold of winter the lodge was heated and 
kept closed. Their usual food was chopped lucerne, the 
stem of which they did not like; grain was also given to 
,hem, and, when strong, maize. Trefoil and vetches 
agreed with them, but they did not have iron nails nor 
metal buttons, to which many travelers asserted they were 
partial. They, however, required sand, earth, pulverized 
juartz, small bones, and plenty of water. Good wild 
male) birds yield about fifty feathers, which are worth 
f5 apiece. 
Ail the dependencies of the British Crown are grouped 
■iglit here together, and it iB but a step from the Cape of 
Jood Hope half-way round the world to Tasmania—the 
learest civilized country to the South Pole. First of these 
nay be mentioned Queensland, a vast colony in the north- 
iastern part of Australia. In area it is about equal to 
hree times that of Texas, and it has an extensive sea¬ 
ward. It is a grea t grazing and agricultural region, and 
Iso has immense deposits of tin, copper, and other valua¬ 
ble minerals, and numerous gems, Statistics adorn the 
vails everywhere. The botanist will rejoice in the herba- 
>ums which are very neatly mounted on card board. The 
ferns particularly attracted my attention. Also in their 
timbers, of which they are justly proud; but the woods 
of Australia will be mentioned more particularly under 
South Australia. Queensland displays a large case of but¬ 
terflies and moths, which rival those of Brazil in the rich¬ 
ness of their tints, and do not display many mimetic 
forms. The eye is attracted from these bright forms to 
a great number of paintings of pastoral and farm life iu 
the Colony, which are not only highly instructive, but 
very pretty; and to photographs and crayon sketches of 
the aboriginal Australians, which are also highly instruct¬ 
ive—but very ugly. One large picture represents a “black 
fellow,” as the native is called, in the act of throwing a 
boomerang. He is throwing it from above the shoulder. 
He holds in his hand an oblong shield made of a thick 
piece of wood rounded on the outside, and wit It 
the handle carved out of the substance of the 
inside of the piece. This shield, called "fieilaman,” is only 
about 20 inches long by 8 wide, and several of them, as 
also of the boomerangs, are exhibited. Sometimes they 
are diamond-shape. There are also some very pretty pic¬ 
tures of the satin and the speckled bower-birds, which 
have the curious habit of building a nest underneath an 
arch or "bower" of grass which they bend over it, some¬ 
thing eb onr meadow-lark occasionally does. All around 
this bower the bird carefully arranges, apparently purely 
for ornament, every bright little Object it can bring—shells 
of all sorts, bits of glass, petals of flowers, shining pebbles 
and fragments of quartz—anything that is pretty; and it 
takes great pride in its museum. But the central poiut of 
interest to the naturalist in the Queensland exhibit is the 
skeleton, etc., of the dugong. The dugong closely resem¬ 
bles the manatee of the Florida coast. It is a native of 
the Indian Archipelago, and is exceedingly numerous on 
the coasts of Ceylon and northern Australia. Its favorite 
haunts are the mouths of rivers and straits where the 
depth of the water is but three or four fathoms and where, 
ai the bottom, grows a luxuriant pasturage of submarine 
algaj and fuci. Here, in calm weather, may small troops 
be seen feeding below the surface, and every now and then 
rising to take breath. The position of the mouth, the mus¬ 
cular powers and mobility of the lips, garnished with wiry 
bristles, and the short incisor tusks of the upper jaw, en¬ 
able these animals to seize and drag up the long fronds of 
subaquatic vegetables which constitute their nourishment. 
The dugong is in high esteem as an article of food by the 
Malays, who attack the animals with harpoons. There are 
several species, in one of which the animals reach a length 
of over 20 feet, It has lately been discovered that the oil 
of the dugong was not only the best known for table use, 
but also had remarkable medical properties, serving the 
purpose of cod-liver oil, and being of pleasant taste. The 
obtaining and refining of this oil is coming to be a large 
industry in Queensland, and it is already largely exported. 
Mr. Angus Maeltny, the genial Commissioner, has brought 
to the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences a perfect dugong 
in spirits; and the skeletons and skulls which are now on 
exhibition will finally go to Prof. Edward D. Cope. 
Immediately south of Queensland lies New South Wales, 
comprising the south-eastern “corner," so to speak, of 
Australia, Its area is about that of the United States 
south of Virginia and east of tho Mississippi river; but 
with less coast-line. Its main wealth arises from wool- 
producing, the exports of which in 1874 were $25,000,000. 
Its mineral resources include great beds of coal, a kerosene 
shale which is even greasy to the touch, iron, copper, tin, 
lead, gold, silver and diamonds. The climate is salubrious, 
and civilization is extending everywhere. Its population 
is over 600,000. It is the oldest of the colonies, haviDg 
been settled in 1788, when the merino sheep were intro¬ 
duced. The sources of the wealth, and the arts of the 
citizens are shown in great variety, but the naturalist will 
also find plenty for him. The tools and implements of the 
natives are in abundance. There are their wooden spears 
with one, two and three barbed prongs, the barbs being 
armed with shark’s teeth; short-handled paddies highly 
ornamented with carvings, boomerangs, tooth-mounted 
clubs, and clumsy wooden shields, hut no bows or arrows. 
Among the rest are stone-hatchets which Mr. Samuel 
Davenport, the very kind Commissioner, told me the 
natives call “mogo.” He also told me how they were 
made and used. A piece of basaltic or jasperoid roek of 
suitable shape, is first found in the bed of some torrent, 
and then ground down to an edge upon a hard fiDe-grained 
sandstone found in some districts, where the natives 
assemble and remain for days grinding their implements. 
These well-used sharpening rocks are scattered over the 
whole eolony. The edge having been completed they 
select the stem of one of three favorite vines, and by the 
action of fire make it pliant for a handle. Some of the 
resinous and brittle gum of the grass-tree (Xanthorrea) is 
then procured, and toughened by fire and kneading. They 
then embed the centre of the stone, and, taking one or two 
turns with the pliant handle, secure its junction with a 
thoug of the bark of the coorajong tree; all that part of 
the handle around the stone is then seemed with melted 
gum, and in a few hours it is ready for use, and looks like 
a small ax. By the aid Of the sharpened part of this instru¬ 
ment, they ascend high trees, cut out the opossum or tap 
the tree tor honey, fashiou boomerangs, “waddies” (clubs) 
and other wooden weapons, and with the head of the 
mogo will crack the bones of animals for marrow, or use it 
in any other rough way, always carefully avoiding to use 
unnecessarily the sharpened edge. They also have chips of 
flint which they use as knives, and in tattooing. 
These exhibits give an excellent chance to examine the 
marsupial animals of Australia. Each proviuco displays 
more or less of them, and New South Wales shows a 
specially fine series of the duck-bill (Ornithorhynahus para¬ 
doxus) which deserves a special article by itself, and may 
get one at some future day. There is also to be seen a 
large series of kangaroos, no less than 10 species being re¬ 
presented, mosL of which are known in Australia by the 
native name of “wallaby." Besides these the collection in¬ 
cludes the native bear, the vulpine phalanger, the wombat, 
the two species of Dasymu, Wo water-rats, and the large 
bat called the “flying fox," whose wings spread two or 
three feet, and the Echidna which is like an aut-eating por¬ 
cupine. There are several cases of birds, comprising 237 
species, with male and female specimens, some of which 
are carefully mounted, and others only in skins or in 
spirits. The display of reptiles and amphibians is small 
but interesting. A lot of emu’s eggs, and Borne skins of 
the emu—a bird like the ostrich—attract much attention. 
Some of the eggs are mounted in the most exquisite devices 
of silver representing native scenes and spoils, their dark 
green surfaces contrasting beautifully with the soft glow 
of the silver’s white. 
I am spending so much time in this Provinae, that I 
fear its neighbors will accuse me of partiality, but I must 
speak of the indigenous woods, which, indeed, are also 
found throughout most of the continent. A large variety 
is shown by each province, both polished and unpolished. 
In general the woods are characterized by great density 
and toughness, and are nearly all “hard" woods, so that it 
is necessary for the colonists to import deals. The trees 
are mainly “gums,” as those of the huge tribe of the Eu¬ 
calyptus (honey or fever trees) are called, and are very use¬ 
ful as timber. There aro also myall, sandal-wood, cypress, 
native fruit trees, lance-wood, nut meg, cabbage palm, 
“wattle" in laTgc variety, “he-oak," “site-oak,” and very 
many others, some named from their bark which is useful 
in tanning, or for medicinal properties, such as the making 
of quinine. 
One word on Tasmania—au island 120 miles or so south¬ 
east of Australia, which has a delightful climate, and is 
rapidly taking rank with the leading States of the South¬ 
ern Hemisphere. The amount and character of her dis¬ 
plays are astonishing. She was very uulueky, however, a 
largo amount of her goods, as also of the other Australian 
States, having been ruined by the shipwreck of the vessel 
in which they were sent. Her show of skins of the kan¬ 
garoo, viverra, flying squirrel, cat and other native ani¬ 
mals, and of the penguins and grebes, tanned and made 
up into garments and robes is capital. She has also many 
•tuffed animals, birds, and some shells to catch the eye of 
the zoologist. The most remarkable of all her remarkable 
animals is the Tasmanian devil, so called on account of its 
utterly untamable ferocity, and sullen purposeless anger. 
It is about 21 inches long, i3 in shape something like a cat, 
but. withstrong digging claws on the fore feet, while the 
hind feet are like a bear’s, so that the animal can sit upon 
its haunches. It has teeth much like a bear also, and great 
strength in its jaws. Few dogs will go near it, and it was 
immensely destructive to sheep and poultry, until it was 
reduced in numbers. It is nocturnal and rather sluggish 
except when excited. Its fur is long, and of a deep dead 
black, with some white on the breast. 
GAME PROTECTION. 
Connecticut. —The following is a list of the public acts 
passed by the General Assembly of Connecticut, May 
Session, 1876, of interest to the readers of Forest and 
Stream: 
Protecting fish in Amos Lake, Preston. 
Granting greater liberties to pound fishermeti. 
We cau’t understand why or how such an act should he 
passed, as our shores are about entirely depleted of fish 
already by pound nets. 
Act allowing woodcock shooting in July, September, 
October, November, December, and January. 
Resolution appropriating $3,000 for the artificial propa¬ 
gation of fish, notwithstanding our Higgunum friend’s 
protest. 
Florida,— A correspondent sends tho following:— 
SanpohIj, Florida, Juno g8th, 1876. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
IVliat ought to ho done with a lolloiv who owns a dog and gun, edits a 
newspaper, professes to be a sportsman, and who can still get off a 
"local” like the following L •copy 
“Quail hunting ia eplcndid here nbont just now. All that is needed to 
get a good mess of birds is a good bird dog, a good gun, and some one at 
the kicking end of the gun that knows how to wing ’em." 
That gun ought to express its disapprobation or such unsportsman¬ 
like conduct by kicking him down aud then stamping on him until he 
learned to let birds alone while out of season. Can't your valuable 
journal lend ns your assistance in getting a good game law for this Stale? 
We need it badly. F. L. R. 
The game laws of Florida certainly require attention and 
revision. This can only be accomplished by resident 
sportsmen forming themselves into game protection asso¬ 
ciation and keeping the matter before tbe Legislature, bear¬ 
ing in mind their huge visiting winter population, aud so 
framing their laws that they shall bear on all alike; making 
no discriminations between residents and non-residents, 
and giving ail their energies to such a thorough enforce¬ 
ment of the close seasons that their organization will he 
“protective” in something more than name alone. 
Meriden, Ct., Juno 29th, 1876. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
. To-day the substitute hill allowiDg the killing of woodcock from July 
1st until February 1st, excepting the month of August, came to tho 
House from the Senate, passed, and after some discussion, in which au 
opponent of the bill very sensibly remarked that each successive ses¬ 
sion of the Legislature was called upon to change the game laws, the 
bill was passed as usual. 
There has been considerable feeling among the sportsmen of this 
State in regard to tbe matter, many hoping that the law would not be 
changed, while another portion of our sportsmen worked hard, and pre¬ 
sented a petition which, as stated above, was successful. The 
arguments generally nsed by those in raver of July shooting are, that it 
gives the sportsmen of Connecticut the same chance as those of New 
Vyrk and Massachusetts, where July woodcock shooting is permitted. 
They also say that birds disapear from tboir breeding grounds after 
Jniy and scatter about, and that tbe shooting becomes rather unsatis¬ 
factory and unprofitable, while in July, if one haB kept his weather eye 
open he can go and hunt up brood after brood and slay them wii It ease; 
in fact, you know Just where to pnt your hands on them, Of course 
this rather spoila tbe fall Bhooting, when the woodcock are in prime 
condition, and are able to fly so well that to drop one sailing through 
the trees ia really sport, and one feels that the noble bird has had a 
pretty fair ohanco for his life, which is, I believe, the secret of true 
sportsmanship; hut this, I am sorry to say, is not the principle on w hich 
some of our hunters operate, they believe more in "a bird in the pot is 
better than two in the bush," and I fancy it will take a long time to 
make them think otherwise. The members of the Connecticut Game 
AiBocistiPO and many other true sportsmen of thus State, who convinced 
