The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-09
Australian Beasts, Birds. Fishes, and
Reptiles,

Australian Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and
Reptiles.
On the Doth of September I left Bris-
bane for Sydney, going south from
Queensland to New South Wales-so as
to accommodate myself to the heat. I
may, however, say here once for all that
found Australian heat to be bugbear,
of which no Englishman fresh from
England need be afraid. remained in
New South Wales on this occasion till
the middle of December, and encounter
ed no weather in which I could not take
exercise. had been especially warned
as to the hSt wind of Sydney, having
been told both in Victoria and Queens
land that of all effects of weather in the
colonies the hot winds of New South
Wales were the worst. They aught to
blow in December, coming from the
northwest over the central deserts of
Australia, bringing with them all the
heat of those vast plains. But they did
not come when was there; and people
in Sydney, though they fear the heat,
seemed to lament that the hot winds of
the present were not like the old hot
winds. Folks were not scorched now as
they used to be scorched-nor suffoca-
ted, nor forced to shut themselves up in
dark rooms with every window closed
lest the enemy should enter, as they
were wont to do in the good old times
twenty years ago. Such was the tone of
the wailing which prevailed. Early in
January / certainly did find it very hot
in Victoria, but the heat was intermit-
tent, lasting only for few days; and
though I am told that the mercury rose
occasionally to 80 degrees in the shade,
I was not seriously oppressed by it.
And I may add to this that Australian
mosquitoes, of which had heard much
and which I feared greatly, were never
quite so venomous to me as mOsquit-
oes have been in other countries, nor
are they in force for 50 large a proper
ton of the year. The mosquito of
Australia is apOor, impOtent, and con-
temptible creature as compared, for
instance, with the mosquito of the
United States. If man wants to find
his master-a master whom he cannot
evade or subdue, tyrant under whose
lash he will have to quail with sense
of unceasing inferiority and trembling
subsection, let him remain in Washing
ton through the month of July. Then
the horn of the animal will be to him
as the trumpets of ten thousand coming
foes, against whom no struggles, no de-
fence can avail aught. Night and day
he will be as Job was, till all his man
hood will depart from him. And af
terward, if he survive, he Will think of
himself as of one who has gone through
worse than an Egyptian plague. He
will be justified in no such feeling in
reference to the Australian mosquito,
whom declare to be comparatively a
poor creature, entitled 10 but little at
fertion. So much, as a traveller re-
cording his experience, I feel bound to
say, because the animal had succeeded
in acquiring some reputation. To write
a book about Australia and make no al
fusion to the mosquito would be i'm
proper.
And I may as we'll say here as else
where that I do not think very much of
Australian snakes. The black snake,
with its female the brown snake, and
the death-adder-as a certain dull-col-
ored, lethar2ic creature is called-are
no doubt venomous-to the death but
they are not obtrusive. They attack
only when they find themselves unable
L
had been taught to expect. The yellow
snake-so called from its yellow belly
is equally poisonous, but equally scarce
and pacific / assisted in killing one
fine fellow about ten feet long but he
was carpet-snake, and as abject and
innocent as a frog. The diamOnd-snake
is, believe, the same as the carpet
snake.
Australia is altogether deficient in
sensational wild beasts. The iguana is
perhaps the most startling in appear
ance. He is a huge lizard, with huge
body and very fat tail. I saw one
shot which was five feet in length, and
which weighed l should think over
twenty pounds They are said to be as
good as chickens; but I never ate one
or came across any one who had done
SO. They live among trees, and are
often to be seen upon the branches.
The oppossum-"u a gum-tree-"
where he is always to be found-seems
to be the most preserving aboriginal in
habitant of the country. He does not
recede before civilization, but addicts
himself to young cabbages, and is a
nuisance. As the blacks die out, there
is no one to eat him, and he is prolific.
He sleeps soundly, and is very easy to
kill with dog that will set him-fOr
the hollow, half-dead, crumbling gum
trees are full of him. But there is no
fun in killing him, for he neither fights
nor runs away. The kangaroo is so well
| lnown-as are also the wallabi and
paddy-melon, which seem to be kanga-
roos in a state of dwindlin9 nature
that but little need be said about them
here. That they run only on two legs
and carry their young in pouches every
child has learned from his picture book.
Of the manner of hunting the kangaroo
I will speak in another chapter. They
are still very numerous in many parts
| of the country. I have come upon
herds, in which hundreds have been
| congregated together; but they are
more frequently met by threes and
fours. In some districts they are in
creasing in number, because there are
no longer black men to eat them. The
dingo or wild-dog is the squatter's di-
rect enemy. He comes down by night
from holes in the hills or out of dense
scrubs, and destroys the lambs and
drives the sheep. The squatter at
tempts to rid himself of the dingo by
poison, and consequently strychnine is
as common IN SquaGter mouse as cas-
tor-oil in a nursery. On many large
runs carts are continually being taken
round with bats to be set ON the paths
of the dingo. In smaller establish
ments the squatter or his head-man goes
about with strychnine in his pocket and
Jumps of meat tied up in a hancker-
chief. Hence it comes to pass that the
use of shepherds dog is impossible,
unless he be muzzled. But the dingo
likes lamb better than bait, and the
squatters are sometimes broken-hearted.
There are no lions, tigers, or Loop
ards, in Australia; nor pumas or ounces;
not even a monkey. The cockatoos and
parakeets are to the eye of an English
man-especially in Queensland, where
they are very commOn-the most for
eign-looking of Australian animals,
after he has become used to the Jump
ing kangaroo. The sounds from the
birds too are very different from those
of English birds-much less melodious,
but clearer, and more continuous, and
sometimes very melancholy. That of
the Laughing jackass-an ugly, healthy,
ubiquitous brute of birds the most
common. have heard it much abused,