Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-07
THE KANGAROO IN COMMERCE.
Extensive Utilization of the Hides In This
From the Providence Journal.


From the Providence Journal
There are six thousand kangaroo skins
received in Newark, n. j., every week.
They are all tanned in one large establish
ment on Sussex avenue, and are then
made into fine shoes. Australia and New
Zealand furnish kangaroo hides for the
world. The kangaroos are killed in Aus
tralia, about three hundred miles back
from the coast, and are shipped from Mel
bourne, Sydney and Newcastle, in Austria
liza, and from Masterton, in New Zealand.
Up to 1859 the kangaroos were killed
and eaten in Australia, and their hides
cut into shoestrings. But an English
man, named Brown, in that year discov-
cred the remarkable character of the
leather, and brought several thousand
skins to this country. He tried to sell the
hides to tanners, but they were shy of the
novelty, and he had to sell them at sac
rifce to book-binder. The book-binder
made triangular corner pieces in ledgers
and commercial books out of the skins,
and so ascertained the good quality of the
leather. 1t was in this way that the large
leather factories were first attracted to
kangaroo hide. The skin was found to be
very tenacious, and the compactness of the
grain prevents its absorbing water, while
the acids in backing meet with an almost
impervious substance.
1t was hard work for years to get the
kangaroo skins. 1t was not until the New
arker, who now tans them, sent agents to
Australia three years ago, that the demand
could be supplied. The characteristic
climate of Australia and the pugnacity of
the kangaroo make hunting the hides dan
gerous Winter starts in May and ends in
December in that country. The rest of
the year the heat is intense, the thermom-
eter frequently reaching 1400. Eight
men hunt together for kangaroos. They
are called "set" When brought to bay
the kangaroo jumps like fash for hunt
ers chest and tries to crush it in with his
forefeet. To prevent this each man wears
across his breast two or three-inch thick
mating. Armed with spear, with club
attachment at the other end, they ride
upon swift horses into a herd. With the
agility and equipoise of circus riders, they
stand erect upon their horses and use their
spears and clubs. The kangaroo is able to
jump clear over horse. As the game is
bagged it is skinned, and the skin is
stretched on the ground and pegged down
to prevent shrinkage. The flesh furnishes
meat for the camp. Each man places his
private mark upon his booty, and when
they have 100 skins apiece they return to
civilization.
There are twenty varieties Of kangaroos,
among them the blue, red wallaby, black,
gray and Forester, the latter furnishing
the best leather, as it lives mainly in
wooded sections. When the shipping ports
are reached the hunters dispose of the
skins by auction to the highest bidders,
and receive about seventy cents pound.
Kangaroo hunters make large profits. One
man is known to have cleared $4,000 free
of living expenses In a single year. The
tanning of kangaroo skins is confined to
men employed by Americans, as other
dealers cannot afford to pay the high
prices for the raw material The result is
that Partisan and London shoe manufact-
urers buy their stock of kangaroo leather
directly from Newark, and prominent
dealers in Germany, Greece, Spain and
even Australia itself, obtain their supplies
from the same. The manufacturer here
scouts the idea that the original seven
league boots were made from the skin of
the great Australian leapers.