BY AUSTRALIAN CAMP-FIRES. 



ROBERT E. DEAXE. 



The sportsman from the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere finds himself confronted by a com- 

 pletely new order of things here, for this is 

 a place of strange animals, and grotesque 

 vagaries of nature. Eccentricity runs riot 

 in scenery, foliage and animal life South of 

 the Line, where the principal game bound 

 instead of run, and there are 20 reptiles to 

 every animal. This is truly the paradise of 

 things flying, crawling, and venomous, from 

 the familiar mosquito, down through the 

 scale of blow and March flies, ants, fleas of 

 unappeasable blood-thirstiness, and tarantu- 

 las as large as a silver dollar and as full of 

 fight as a pugilist is of talk. There are ants 

 of every possible variety, from the minute 

 beggar that infests your sugar, garments, 

 and person alike, to the winged specimen, 

 an inch long, and with a continual chip on 

 his shoulder. It would be a bold man who 

 would preach from the text, " Go to the ant, 

 thou sluggard," in a bush township. The 

 house-wives would mob him. 



And the bush is alive with snakes! Of 

 these the carpet-snake, a species of boa-con- 

 strictor, is not venomous; but it is safe to 

 class all the others as dangerous, the black 

 and brown snakes, and death-adders being 

 particularly deadly. Then there are moon- 

 snakes, which only appear at night and prog- 

 ress by pulling themselves up in loops as do 

 our caterpillars, whip-snakes, slow-worms, 

 and " hoop-snakes." For that fabled reptile 

 with his tail in his mouth has revolved him- 

 self into the affections of the Colonials, and 

 eye-witnesses of his circular antics can be 

 found at any bush inn, for a due considera- 

 tion of liquid refreshment. The glass- 

 snake hasn't arrived yet, but they tell of 

 other things as strange, and quite as trans- 

 parent. 



The snakes have their enemies, too, chiefly 

 the kookabarra, or laughing jackass, who 

 is protected by law in consequence of his 

 snake-killing propensities, and the inguanas, 

 who are ugly enough to protect themselves. 

 Go 200 miles inland and it is no extraor- 

 dinary event to meet a troop of 10 kanga- 

 roos, and even 50 are seen together. It is 

 rare sport and rough riding to drive them 

 with dogs, if they can be located on fairly 

 open country. Wallaroos, a smaller variety, 

 are also plentiful, and where we are at pres- 

 ent camped, about 70 miles back of Sydney, 

 there are plenty of wallaby, of both the 

 scrub and rock species. Wallaby are a kind 

 of small kangaroo, the rock wallaby being 



excellent eating, and furnishing good sport 

 and the roughest kind of climbing to reach 

 them in their fastnesses in the deep gullies 

 and steep mountain heights. Good sport 

 may be had with a pair of beagle hounds, 

 with either rock or scrub. The kangaroo- 

 rat is a still smaller member of the same 

 family. 



The native bear, is a tree-climbing animal 

 about the size of a small bird-dog. He is 

 distinguished for the tenacity with which 

 he will hang on to a branch, and receive 

 charge after charge of shot, before his grip 

 finally parts and he comes down with a 

 crash, to be worried by the eagerly await- 

 ing dogs. Opossum are easily found, and 

 are hunted at night, as in the States. 



The bandicoot is a shrewd little beast, ex- 

 cellent eating, as he ought to be, for his sole 

 business in life is to hang about a camp and 

 rob the " tucker " bag. Everything eatable 

 has to be hung out of his reach, as well as 

 inclosed in bags, to evade the ever-present 

 blow flies. The March-fly, a venomous pest, 

 puts in his appearance in mid-summer. 



Water fowl are plentiful, especially in the 

 net-work of islands and lagoons, that skirt 

 the Queensland coast, while water-hens and 

 ducks are frequent at the inland lakes here 

 in New South Wales. We kill any quantity 

 of rosellas, grenellas, cockatoos, and par- 

 rots of many varieties, and excellent eating 

 they are, although it takes many of them to 

 make a mess. There is an earth-burrowing 

 beast the size of a pig, called the wombat, 

 but I never yet have succeeded in locating 

 one. 



There are a few emu, the national bird, 

 left in the " back-blocks." This is simply 

 a variety of ostrich, but of a sober plumage, 

 and like his relative, of erratic habits. Two 

 Irish " swagmen," tramping in search of 

 work, borrowed one side of our camp-fire 

 in Queensland one night. After daybreak 

 I was lying awake, waiting for somebody 

 else to get up and boil the billy for tea, 

 when a tame emu, belonging to a nearby 

 station, strolled along, and calmly picking 

 up one of the Irishmen's boots, proceeded 

 to make tracks for home, bearing his trophy 

 in his beak. The Irishman's mate, rous- 

 ing up exclaimed. " Holy Virgin. Jimmie! 

 Luk at der chicken a-runnin' off wid yer 

 butes." And an emu chase on purely ama- 

 teur lines, was immediately organized. I 

 told the station manager about it. later in 

 the day, and he said thoughtfully, " By 



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