Tombstone epitaph., 1890-02-22
KANGAROO HUNTING.
Extensive Utilization of Their Hides in
 the United States.

the United States.
 There are 6,OOO kangaroo skins re- ceived in Newark, N. J., every week. They are all tanned in one large estab- lishment 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 Australia about 800 miles back from the coast, and are shipped from Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, in Australia, and from Masterton, in New Zealand. Up to 1869 the kangaroos were killed and eaten in Australia, and their hides were cut into shoe-strings. But an Englishman named Brown in that year discovered 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 a sacrifice to a 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. It was in this way that the larger 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 blacking meet with an almost impervi- ous substance. It was hard work for years to get the kangaroo skins. It was not until the Newarker, who now tans them, sent agents to Australia three years ago that the demand could be sup piled. 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 ther- mometer frequently reaching 40 de- grees. Eight men hunt together for kangaroos. They are called a ''set." When brought to bay the kangaroo jumps like flash for the hunters chest and tries to crush it in with his fore feet To prevent this each man wears across his breast two or three-inch thick mating. Armed with a spear, with club attachment at the other end, they ride upon swift horses into 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 or the ground and begged 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 back to civili- zation. 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 ara reached the hunt CTS dispose of the skins by auction to the highest bidders and realize about seventy cents pound. Kangaroo hunt CTS make large profits. One man is known to have cleared S4, 500 free of liv- ing expenses in a single year. The tanning of kangaroo skins is confined to men employed by Americans, as other dealers can not afford to pay the high prices for the raw material. The result is that Parisian and London shoe man. ufacturers buy their stock of kangaroo leather directly from Newark, and prominent dealers in Germany, Greece, Spain, and even Australia itself, receive 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 Austra- lian eapers.-Providence (R. Ll Jour-s4