THE KANGAROO 
rhinoceros, giraffe, etc. The newness of our acquaintance 
with the kangaroo and other marsupials of Australia 
appears to require to pass through several generations to 
find its way into the minds of Europeans generally, as 
upon a comparison of notes with our continental neighbours 
the same want of knowledge and surprise is noticeable in 
the untaught in Natural History. The excitement and 
curiosity evinced by most persons when they witness the 
young kangaroo protruding from the mother’s pouch 
naturally leads to the question, “ How it got there ? ” a 
question not yet satisfactorily answered. Long have we 
been trying to unravel the mystery, and some of the 
ablest naturalists have, bestowed considerable attention 
upon it, and spent much valuable time with a view to 
solve it. It is not, however, our intention upon the present 
occasion to enter into that difficulty, but simply to speak 
of the kangaroos as we find them, low in intelligence and. 
apparently unable to distinguish one individual from 
another, an instance in proof of which may be worth re- 
cording, viz. that if several females live together, the 
young one on leaving the pouch of its mother will take 
possession of the pouch of another female ; thus the young 
ones change about, the mothers either being unable to 
distinguish or being quite indifferent to the rearing of 
their respective offspring. An analogous state of things 
is observable in our own species, on the part of those in 
the most exalted positions in society and in the highest 
state of civilization, and also in the lowest and most 
abandoned of our race. 
There is nothing that indicates a lower condition of 
intelligence in an animal than the heedlessness or in- 
difference shown by it in regard to the welfare of its 
young. Another proof of the want of intellect or power 
of discrimination, and of the stupidity of the kangaroo, is 
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