GREAT KANGUROO. 445 
fleetest greynound ; besides which, it will fre- 
quently bound over obstacles of nine feet, or more 
in height, with the greatest ease. 
The kanguroos have also vast strength in their 
tail, which they occasionally use as a w r eapon of de- 
fence ; for with it they strike with such asto- 
nishing force as even to break the leg of a man* 
The colonists for some time considered this as the 
animats chief defence ; but having of late hunted 
them with greyhounds, it was soon discovered that 
they use both their claws and teeth. On the 
hound seizing* them,, they turn., and catching 
hold with the nails of their fore paws, strike 
the dog with the claws of their hind feet, which 
are wonderfully strong, and tear him to such a 
degree, that the hunters are frequently under the 
necessity of carrying him home on account of the 
severity of his wounds. The native dogs of the 
country hunt and kill the kanguroo ; but these 
are-more fierce than our greyhounds. In the year 
1788, one of them was seen, by one of the colonists, 
in this pursuit ; and the person, till he had shot 
the dog, mistook them both for kanguroos. 
The kanguroo generally feeds standing on its four 
feet, in the manner of other quadrupeds. It drinks 
by lapping. When in a state of captivity, it has 
sometimes a trick of springing forwards, and kicking 
with its hind feet in a very forcible manner ; during 
which action it rests, or props itself on the base of 
its tail. 
The female has two mamma, or breasts, in the 
abdominal pouch, on each of which are two teats ; 
yet, so far as has been hitherto obseryed, she pro- 
duces but one young one at a birth ; and so ex- 
ceedingly diminutive is this at its first exclusion 
from the uterus, that it scarcely exceeds an inch in 
length, and weighs but twenty-one grains. At 
