Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-06-14
KanEaroS-Hunting.

Kangaroc-driving entails far earlier
hours than the ordinary field sports of
civilization in which Engli.hm"n IN
dulge at home. Breakfast at half-past
six or seven in the morning, aud gall
lop it may be of ten or of twice ten
miles to the rendezvous, will enable the
''new chum," or stranger from foreign
lands, to take stock of the company con-
stituting the field. He finds, as rule,
about thirty horsemen at the appointed
tryst, of whom half are white men with
gyms in their hands, and the other tif-
teen are black natives, mounted on cap
itel horses, which they sit and manage
to perfection. The beaters, with the
masters of the station to marshal and
keep them in order, are spread out at
distances of a quarter of a mile from
each other, in a half moon extending
over three or four miles. The guns are
sent ahead some six or eight miles, and
take up their station in hne at points for
which the kangaroos, when startled, are
accustomed to make. The marksmen
lie down behind bushes or among some
logs of trees, nor have they long TO wait
before tie ''thud," ''thud" of an ''old
man" kangaroo, leaving the van OF the
mob which follows him, strikes forcibly
upon the listening ear. The usual Prac-
tice of experienced hunters Is to allow
the first few kangaroos to break through
the line without being shot at, and when
once the leaders have passed ahead
nothing will deter the rest from follow
ing. Then the deadly fusilade opens,
the shot being poured into the hind
quarters of the quarry. Three and
half drachms of powder and an
ounce and half of heavy shot make
havoc with the game, which keeps
bounding along ON each side OF the
shooters until their guns become fairly
too hot to hold. at last the first mob
is exhausted, and stiffness takes posses
sion of the woods for a quarter of an
hour or so, broken only by the occa-
sional cry of dying kangaroo. Pres
emily the second mob begins to heave IN
sight, and again there is rare work for
the busy guns. At last an unearthly
storm of shouts, screams, and yells rings
through the bush, and the black natives.
cracking their stock whips, which make
a noise like the discharge of pistol,
and brandlshing their gaudy red and
yellow handkerchiefs, burst upon the
view. Just ahead of the beaters comes
q struggling array OF wallabies, and 1t Is
impossible for the shooters to thrust IN
their cartridges fast enough. The sport
goes Oh again just in the same way for
a week, at the end of which the bag
NAV be some fifteen hundred kangaroos,
and about a third of that number OF
wallabies. slain. If ever indiscrimlnate
and wholesale slaughter be iustifiable
it must be in slch a case, for if the k y
garoos were not kept down they would
make the land uninha liable by the
squatter. 1t may be mentioned that
there are many other ways of killing
kangaroos than bv driving them In the
way we have Just described; but, In
conclusion, we can premise those young
English sportsmen who are fond of shot
corners" at home that Australia will
supply them with as many shots as the
best preserved covert in Suffolk or Cam
bridgeshire, and that by killing kanga-
roo and waIlaby without stint or abate-
ment they will be conferring an i'm
mense benefit upon their hosts, for
which they may count upon receiving
hearty welcome and a profusion Of
thanks.