A EUCALYPTUS LOG FROM TASMANIA 



Photograph by Beattie 



A great many of these logs are sawed up into paving blocks and exported to the ends of 



the earth (see page 495) 



wallabies are the commonest of the larger 

 Australian mammals. They play the role 

 of the American buffalo, formerly feed- 

 ing by thousands on the grass-covered 

 plains, but are now disappearing under 

 the attack of the sportsman and fur 

 merchant. In earlier days they formed 

 the chief item of food for the native 

 "blackfellows" and for the pioneers. 

 They are generally harmless and shy, and 

 when approached the females hastily 

 gather their young into their pouches and 

 retreat to shelter by a series of enormous 

 hops at a rate exceeding 15 miles an hour. 

 When attacked at close quarters they de- 

 fend themselves vigorously. 



An "old man" kangaroo standing on his 

 hind legs and tail, with his head as high 

 as that of a man, is no mean antagonist. 

 He boxes skillfully, and with his power- 

 ful hind leg and claw can rip up a dog at 

 a single stroke. When streams or lakes 

 are handy he seizes a dog, or even a man, 

 and holds him beneath the water until life 

 is extinct. 



The "native bear," or koala, belies his 

 name except in form. He is a lethargic, 

 unintelligent, fluffy little creature, an at- 

 tractive though unresponsive pet. In the 



night-time he feeds on the leaves of the 

 gum trees ; during the day he usually 

 sleeps curled up in the fork of a branch. 

 The young spend their time in their 

 mother's pouch or hanging to the fur on 

 her back. The wombat plays the part of 

 the woodchuck ; the bandicoot is the rat, 

 and the Tasmanian wolf the wild cat, of 

 the marsupial family. The most numer- 

 ous group of marsupials, like their name- 

 sakes, the 'possum of the South, hide 

 away in daytime in hollow logs or trees, 

 or hold themselves on branches with their 

 long, prehensile tails, coming out after 

 dark to feed on leaves or fruit. Their 

 fur is in great demand. 



A HUNDRED KINDS OP SNAKpS ! 



Australia is supplied with 100 species of 

 snakes, three- fourths of them venomous. 

 The big pythons and rock-snakes are 

 harmless, but as one travels from the 

 tropics southward the dangerous varieties 

 increase in number, and in Tasmania all 

 are venomous, though only five are really 

 deadly, and fortunately these are rarely 

 seen. 



The continent is also abundantly sup- 

 plied with lizards. Three hundred and 



500 



