The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-30

peating guns. The kangaroos were
getting more numerous, coming right
from the battue and trying to break
past us, Some of them We're chased
back, but manv got away. Perhaps
they had experienced such hunts be-
fore and knew how to avoid the dan
ger that would bring them to the
roundup.
1--WE fired frequently and got in all
seventeen scalps during our advance.
In this particular we were luckier than
other parties. for most of the kanga-
| roos that tried to escape ran toward
us.
about p. m. we came in sight of
the thicket, which was the principal
point of the roundup, and fell in with
another party coming from the left.
| We now numbered six, and we ranged
| in line, with about three hundred feet
space between the men, and rode on.
The shooting all around the narrow
| ing circle was growing fast and furi-
Gus. / gave my horse to a guide, who
| took 1t away, and continued my Jour-
ney on foot for I could not shoot very
well on horseback. Some others also
| walked the last part of the way, but
| many remained in the saddle and fired
from that position The kangaroos,
many Of which by this time were pass
ing us, ran singly for the most part,
and with such speed through the thick
copse that it was hard to hit them, es.
pecially as the men had to be careful
not to shoot the hunters.
I'VE regulated our march SO that we
arrived at the rendezvous at y. m.
sharp. Here we suddenly obtained an
open view. Before us lay space
about three fifths Of mile wide, oval
and treeless, and at the lower part of
1T there was small lake bordered by
a thicket. Everywhere clouds of
smoke rose in the bordering woods.
Shots cracked continually. In the
middle of the space We're numerous
kangaroos, and scattered among them
We're the dead. The wounded animals
crawled back to the thicket. AS We
reached the border Of the forest some
of the animals tried again to break
through, but not one succeeded we
had good position now. and each
kangaroo that approached the line was
ment everybody was shooting at every
animal he saw. and from every dis
lance. The bullets whistled by and
stuck in the trees. The waste of am
munition was extraordinary. The
dogs were kept outside the circle.
"Then there was lull for half
hour until all the men had taken their
positions. The leader of the hunt
rode along the line and made some
changes in order to fill UP gaps be-
tween the shooters. Upon hearing a
trumpet signal the whole band moved
toward the thicket. The order was
perfect. There was distance of some
three hundred feet between the shoot
ers, which diminished continually.
The kangaroos which had been
wounded were finished as we adj
vanced. When we came to within
about seven hundred feet of the thick
ct the distance between the hunters
was reduced to from seventy to ninety
feet There we made halt. All sat
down, and about one hundred dogs
were sent into the thicket. The loud
barking of the dogs and the cracking
of the branches broken by the fleeing
kangaroos drowned the shouts of the
hunters. The kangaroos came from
all directions looking in vain for an
open space in the shooting line, and
then disappeared again in the thicket.
No one fred. This however, did not
last long. The kangaroos followed
eagerly by the dogs had to leave their
shelter, broke from all sides of the
thicket, and precipitated themselves
with frantic haste pom the shooting
line. Then began the cracking of ri
files again, and soon the firing was gem
eral along the whole line. Some of the
kangaroos succeeded in breaking
through but most remained there. I
fired sixteen times in five minutes.
The shooting was diminishing and
then there were pauses between vol
legs, while some of the men went into
the thicket to kill the wounded ami
rails and drag out the dead. We shot
a few more, but the hunt was at an
end.
"On the plain. which was the scene
of the last act of this interesting hunt,
bonfires were kindled, around which
groups of bearded hunters were seat
ed. Kangaroo tail soup was boiling in
great kettles, and glasses filed with
whiskey and hot water were freqently
emptied. Songs broke the stiffness of
the night, while the bowling Of the
dingoes that were feasting on the car
/ cases was heard in the distance. FL
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