Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1883-05-30
A KANGAROO.HUNT.
Three Thousand Killed in One Dny--i
Gilded Youths Encounter with IA hi

writes
Last Wednesday all hands knocked
off work to take part in grand kan
garoo-battue, convened by some neigh
boring squatters. 1t was on the
largest scale ever attempted in Aus
tralia, with corresponding result.
The local paper some days previously
contained the following advertise
ment:
"Roll up Roll up Roll up !
Neighbors, friends and strangers,
herdsmen and footmen, with guns or
without, to meet at the - home
stead, on the 23d of October, for u
kangaroo drive. A welcome for
everybody. Bring pair of blankets
II you have any If you haven't, well
Gnd you some. Plenty of tucker, guns
and ammunition. Roll up, boys Roll
mp r.
Such an invitation in New South
Wales finds ready acceptance, and for
two days before the day appointed
horsemen by twos and threes might be
seen vending their way through the
brush to s., the lessee of which run
was famed far and wide as a thorough
going sportsman and liberal employer.
Our contingent went all together, and
an animated scene the home paddock
presented when we arrived at our des-
tination. A similar sight Is not to be
seen every day in the Australian bush.
More than three hundred horsemen,
armed with every conceivable Vap ETY.
of gun from the forty-year old shoot
ing iron of Hollis to the last thing of
Greener's, and mounted on every con-
ceivable variety of animal, from an
almost unbroken colt to Suffolk
punch Beside, there was small
army of men on foot to act as beaters.
1t was glorious day, but, of course,
after twenty-mile ride we felt like a
little refreshment, and there was no
lack of it. Huge rounds of beef,
cheeses like dray-wheels and great
buckets of tea, hot, strong and sweet,
disappeared like magic amid much
laughter, fun and chatting.
Next morning, up with the first cry
of the laughing jackass, just before
daybreak, a wash in the creek, break
fast, and the fun commences. Stations
are allotted to all the parties by our
leader along both sides of the gully
the whole length of it. Old hands at
the game generally lie down, because,
in the excitement, bullets and swan
shot fly around rather too close to be
pleasant. / looked sharp out for my
vis-a-yis, and discovered one of the
rankesJ of "new chums" it has been
my fortune to run across-one of those
gilded youths who are sent out here
now and again, with lots of money and
no brains. Heaven alone knows what
they come here for. unless it is to be
made a laughing stock Of through the
colonies. They haven't a single idea
except themselves, and their speech is
generally limited to "IIaw, oh. yeth"
There, opposite me, stood this particu-
lar specimen-admirably got up for
the bush. Velvet knickerbockers,
nothing less; ankle-jacks that | could
see from where / stool were pinching
him horribly as he rested himself first
on one foot and then on the other, like
a"native companion" gazing mean
while intently up into the trees from
under the scanty shade of little stiff
black billycock. Seeing that this gen
tleman was handling brand-new re-
volving rife, | lay down fiat behind a
tolerably thick stump. The beaters
could now be heard at work, the cracks
of their whips and wild yells and
shouts making the bush ring again.
Soon half Il dozen "hying does I"
came hopping down the gully, thud,
thud, thud, on the hard ground but
they never reached SO far as our po-
sition, but fell victims to a dozen shots
from the other side-the rule in these
cases being (as is well known, the
marsh owls on entering = gully will
attempt to make for the scrub. on one
side or the other) for the shooters
only on the side they make for to fire.
This lessons risks Of accidents, which,
however, frequently occur. Thicker
and faster now rolled the living tide
of kangaroos, wallaroos, wallabies and
all their relations, large and small, en-
comprised between two walls of
sportsmen, raining solid ball and shot.
OF course, it was massacre, but it
was badly wanted. Remember, each
kangaroo is said to consume the grass
of five sheep day. We hal not ex-
peoted such drive as this, for the
wide gully was Utterly choked from
side to side with the jumping sway
ing masses.
The blue velvet knickerbockers
could see dimly, now and again,
through the clouds of smoke and a
continuous crack, crack, from that
quarter, accompanied by the whiz of
bullets past my head, warned me not
to stand up yet. The heavy rush was
over, and the firing slackened consider
ably, but the new chum continued to
blaze away as fast as he could put his
cartridges in and discharge his piece.
He had by this time got from the
scrub nearly out into the middle of
the gully, and there he stood firing,
but seldom hitting anything, people
all around singing out and swearing
at him-to no purpose He evil
IDENTIFY meant TO pot biped
of some sort, if not kangaroo.
One Of the latter, very big
"old man." at this moment entered
the gully, and running the gauntlet of
few struggling shOts-for guns were
by this time getting hot and ammuni-
ton scarcp-hn made straight for orr