The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-07 00:00:00

when suddenly at my right hand, scarce fifty ,
yards away, up jumps a regular " old man."
The dogs are soon after him, and one called Veno
catches him, throwing him nearly over; he soon
rights himself, but by this time the other dogs are
come up, fastening on anywhere ; doing their best,
however, to keep clear of those ugly fore paws and
still more terrible hind ones. It is not to be though,
for he has Victor (the largest hound) in a grip like
that of a grizzly bear, where he is held until the
kangaroo gradually lifts one of his hind legs, and
then with a long kick down goes the dog torn right
through the middle, howling and snapping, at his
own flesh. " Well done, Veno !" who, nothing
daunted by his companion's fate, has the " old man"
by the hamstring, and rolls him over ; now the dog
has him by the jugular; there comes a prolonged
panting, a gurgling in the throat of the kangaroo,
and all is over. Poor old Victor lies beside his foe.
One of the party comes cantering up, looks at the
dog, and seeing that the case is hopeless puts the
poor fellow out of his misery. There is no time
to mourn though, so we leave him to the eagles
and pass on, scarcely so anxious for another kan-
garoo.

Half an hour passes, and we have nearly four
miles to go ; a great shouting gradually approaehe s
from where the blacks are, and about two hun-

Bred kangaroos come bounding along at a great
rate ; they are sopa half a mile away, . never once
attempting to break the line. The shouting is now
astounding ; every one takes it up. Kangaroos are

racing in every direction ; just to my left comes a

groat rush, and straight through the line goes a
" flying doe," one of the fastest sort ; two dogs are

after her and gaining fast, when, just as they are
on the point of catching her, something is suddenly
thrown from her, and away she goes at double speed.

Curiosity tempts me to see what can have been thrown
down, and there, hidden in the long grass, is a pretty
soft-skinned little kangaroo, wriggling about its im-
mense tail and kicking violently. Poor little fel-
low! just taken from a warm pouch to be cast

down in such a rough manner. But lie still on that
soft grass, and perhaps when the sun is setting, and
no danger is at hand, your mother will come hop-
ping up, peering among the spinifex and wild oats,
till she hears your little grunting ; then once more
will she lift you up and carry you off to some dis-
tant timber, where you shall grow and grow until

you become a great fellow six feet high and your

tail weighs 211 b.
But all this time we have left the line where we
ought to be, the kangaroos can now be seen on all

sides.

Some 300 have managed to break

through our ranks, and the men are closing up
at a trot. Grey figures are jumping about in

every direction over the sand-hills, which look like
waves on the horizon; the whole plain seems to
have gone mad.
Now comes the tug of war ; only about a mile
more to go, and the pace a canter. Whips

are cracking, whites shouting, blacks yell-
ing on every side ; no wonder the kangaroos are

:rightened. A mob of about a thousand come rush-

ing up, trying the line at every point, but in vain,
for we are pretty close now—at length one great
fellow breaks through, and is followed by a mul-
titude ; our men close up nearer than ever, but no-
thing can stop the mad rushes with which large
mobs come down every minute. There goes one
of them against a horse, sending him and his
rider clean over, but doing n 3 further damage ;
when the dust clears away, however, we see
a large grey heap that stirs not, with two fierce
dogs standing over it, showing that at least one
kangaroo has paid the penalty of his boldness with
his life. Some thousands of kangaroos have by this
time breken the line, and we begin to think that all
our labour is in vain ; but our more experienced
friends say that there will still be plenty on the
point, which is now close at hand ; so, hobbling
our horses, we all walk down to the entrance of the
peninsula, and wait till the natives come up. The
beginning of this neck is covered with bushes,
amongst which a few kangaroos are seen, and we
hope there are manymore in the timber lower down.
Ten natives are told off to beat the bushes ; our
rifles and pistols are loaded ; the blacks have their
boomerangs and waddies ready. Right soon are
they wanted, for to the south two or three hun-
dred kangaroos appear, but swerve arid again e
their covert. Another lot are driven out, and come
straight for us, headed by an old fellow who seems
their leader. Shots ring out, many fall, but the
others come on without flinching. The old fellow
in front is still sixty yards off ; the blacks are ter-
ribly excited, and flourish their boomerangs in a
frantic manner. Three jumps, and the leader is
close on us, when from my right comes a whirring
and whistling ; something rushes past, catching
the old fellow between neck and shoulder, tearing
away muscle and bone, and then he falls over on
his side. About thirty were shot by the time I
had reloaded, but plenty more are seen
amongst the bushes, the frightened mob rushing
on the line occasionally. As, however, by this time
we are pretty cool and used to the work, very
few escape. The " lubras" (native women) join
in the attack just like the men : one very old lady,
with grey hairs and legs about as thick as broom.
sticks, got so excited that she deliberately walked
out to meet a " boomer," with nothing bnt a small
waddie" in her hand. At first the kangaroo did
not quite know what to make of matters, but, being
too tired to run, he accepted the challenge, hopped
up to her, and, on her stick missing his head, caught
her with his strong fore paws, and held her without
the slightest trouble, until luckily the other black
came up and stopped him from using his hind
claws. The old lady was fearfully frightened, but
not much hurt, saving a long furrow or two on her
cheeks ; it will be long, however, before she cares
to face another boomer.
Kangaroos are lying dead all around us, and the
dogs show signs of severe struggles; one magnifi-
cent yellow hound has an ugly rent in his neck,
through which the blood keeps spouting every time
he breathes, but a few stitches with needle and silk
soon make him feel more comfortable. Our own
deerhound, who has done wonders, has some sharp
cuts, but none through the skin ; he seems very
tired, and, in fact, all of us are wishing the slaugh-
ter was over, when the blacks in covert again be-
gin to yell, and up come 14 emus, with their foolish
lit le wings flapping and their huge bunches of
feathery tails shaking as they stride along, remind-
ing us much of the tales of seven-leagued boots--
an emu's stride when fully extended being rather
more than 10ft.
On they come, the boomerangs flying amongst
them, and making their sides rattle ; one was cut
through the neck of an emu, having the head
hanging only by the skin—a feat which even our
black friends appreciate. A few shots are fired,
killing all the emus but four, who are soon lost to
sight across the plain.
The black beaters now come up, and say that no
more kangaroos are left ; men are sent to count the
killed, with the number of which the squatters are
very much dissatisfied. Last year they killed 2,000,
but now the number is put down at only 400. This
slaughter seems very cruel, but something must be
done, as kangaroos are increasing in numbers very
fast ; and as two of them eat more grass than three
sheep, a squatter cannot afford to feed 3,000 or
4,000 of them on his land.
The men come back and report 623 killed, count-
ing all, from the pink little things without a hair
on them, up to the great, fierce fellows with arms
like a gorilla. All the horses are brought up, but
only a few dogs appear ; most likely many of them
have chosen shady places to lie under and lick their
wounds. When evening comes they will feel better
and follow us home—so say their owners, who ought
to know their ways ; but we have an idea that many
a one has lain down never to rise again.
My friend and I have once more managed to get
together to talk over the events of the day, both
acknowledging that we have seen a great slaughter
rather than a hunt.
Many of the men are now leaving us for their
stations, perhaps twenty or thirty miles distant ;
we shall soon be at home again. All seemed tired,
but in good spirits, and quite ready for the late
dinner, which we fancied we could smell in the dis-
tance for the last half-hour. And so ends our first
kangaroo bunt.