Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-28
CHASING KANGAR00S.
How the Australian Bushman Com
bines Hospitality With Hunting.
COBB's CUMBERSOME COACHES.
A Hot Chase Across Country After the
Game Until the
OLD MAN FACES HIS FOES AND FIGHTS

said squatter friend the other day. Such
was his proposition, and I had better at
once explain that his suggestion was not to
engage in any man-hunting mission, neither
was it intended to run down black fellow
or so, as is sometimes INDUCED in in Queens
land. but merely to hunt the willy kanga-
roo, or "old man." as the natives are given
to calling the patriarchs OF the tribe. The
invitation had not to be repeated, and in an
hours time We were comfortably bestowed
in q frst-class carriage on the Western
Railway and rapidly leaving the city be-
hind us. Half an hours travelling brought
us to the foot of the Blue Mountains, high
and precipitous range which rises abruptly
and almost perpendicularly out of the
plain, and unbroken by pass.
The work of carrying railway across
this range was q triumph Of engineering
skill, the ascent being accomplished by a
zigzag route of very steep grade, the train
now being hauled very slowly up one in
cline and now backed up the next. Reach
ing the summit, the road runs for 40 miles
along the crest of the range, affording some
magnificent panoramic views of the country
beneath. Very curious was the appearance
presented by the dense foliage of the forest
below, whose trees reared their lofty crests
skyward for hundreds of feet, and over
which the eye travelled uninterruptedly for
miles, drinking in an ocean of wonderful
verdure as level and green as a wheat field
in the early spring.
ON A coBB's COACH.
By means of a similar "zigzag" the plains
on the other side were reached, and we soon
arrived at the station whence the journey 70
my friends homestead would be con-
tinued ON Cobb's coach. These are
the mail coaches by means of which
communication with the interior is
maintained; and long may they survive,
cumbersome though they be, for nothing is
top of one of them through a section of
beautiful country, with a spanking team of
picked horses stretching the traces in front.
A word or two as to these coaches. They
are built more on the side of durability than
ornament; the body is formed like one-half
of a walnut shell, hung on leather springs
and carried on a strong frame work, running
on equally strong wide-tyred wheels. But
now the guards bugle sends out q Dote of
music and we swing ourselves up on deck;
the driver draws the ribbons through his
hands, gently feels his horses mouths, allows
the fall of his whip to drop with a resound-
ing crack. the hostlers jump away from the
leaders heads and we are off on our 40-mile
drive, with five hours of daylight to do it in.
The conditions were all favorable for a
pleasant drive; we carried enough passen-
gers for companionship and comfort, and a
light mail; skillful driver acted as pilot to
the five good horses that hauled us, there
was Just sufficient sharpness in the wintery
air to make the drive the more exhilarating,
and the orb of day beaming mildly upon us
L. h,x7
ing indication OF q fine day. A stranger
would be required to be told that il was al
most midwinter as we sped along at lively
pace through thinly timbered woods of ever
green stringy-bo and black butt, every
now and again rolling by thickets Of sweet
smelling acacia and myall, or over a sweep
ing plain Of green and tufted grass, for there
was more appearance of spring in the aspect
of the country than of winter, as understood
in more northerly climes. Soon we began
to leave the level country, and the group of
hills which we had observed looming up in
the distance were now Immediately be-
fore us.
A PLEASANT PROSPECT.
A change of horses was made, dinner dis
patched, and after another mile the pace
slackened and it became all collar work for
our good horses. Almost imperceptibly we
surrounding country and winding upward
round deep gorge, through which the track
ran. At the summit the road had been cut
out of the side OF the gorge, barely wide
enough for a pair of coaches to pass at a
time, and so continued for level stretch of
about half a mile. We learned from our
driver that the up coach should have passed
him at the wide opening we had left, and as
we reached the level stretch he said: eff
IT.. u H. ,c 80 ho
q touch-and-go business getting one coach
past the other, for I doubt if there is room.
He's all right, for he has the inside, but 1
always tried to keep clear Of being caught
on this ledge" The prospect was not reas-
suring. On one side, our side, too, was
sheer precipice of fully 300 feet, and on the
other a high bank. The coaches must
pass, but how? Some of the pas
sengers were beginning to express
desire to get down and walk, and were
about doing so, when our attention was at
tracted by the approach of the other coach.
1t was hugging the bank as closely as it
could so as to enable us to pass on the out
side. 1t was not possible, we thought, for
our driver to get his coach by-there GER
tainly was not room, and we were
beginning to suggest the advisa-
biiity Of getting down and walk
ing, when he called out, "Hold fast, gentle
man, and keep as much as possible on the
off side; I'm going to run through" and
now followed as skillful and coolheaded
piece of workmanship as ever witnessed.
A COOL coAcHMAN.
Suiting the action to the word, he
whipped the team into q canter and bore
down on the other coach, increasing his
pace into q brisk gallop as he neared it. In
another moment we flew past it, hub sep
arated from hub by not quarter of an
inch, and as we looked back the mark of
the rear wheels could be discerned on the
very brink of the precipice. A wild cheer
greeted us as we sped along, and which we
returned with the zest of men who but a
moment before had expected to be hurled
into space. ''That was the only way to do
it, gentlemen. When you are caught in O
tight place you can never pilot your horses
so certainly as when you have them well in
hand and going at a strong pace"
In due time we rolled down the hill,
across the plain below, changed horses and,
after finding our way across a Government
reserve, through which the tracks extended
for a quarter of mile wide, running over
fallen timber, against stumps and Between
trees which grazed both hubs of our wheels,
we found ourselves in the thriving township
of Winalong and five miles from my friends
s'station" of Bingarra. Half an hours
drive behind pair of fleet ponies brought
us to our destination, where a hospitable
welcome awaited us at the hands of mine
hosts wife and daughters.
Early next morning 1 was awakened by
the neighing and stamping of horses, and
turning out found that half G hundred sta
ton horses had been driven into the home pad
dock, a small enclosure adjoining the home
stead, and from which we were to select our
mounts for the DAYS sport The squatter