Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1898-10-07

Thousands must be- put to death every
year, and the expense e this is quite an
item e. the -cll o..
Fer this reason tuc destruction If the
kangaroo IS no' mere matter of sport to
the lordy settler, hut a matter OF self de.
tense. The state comes 10 The settlers aid
partially, and indirectly by paying SO
much p dozen for kangaroo calps, and
for hare, and rabbits, ears. This reward
furnishes sufficient iuducement to very
numcrou, band Of persons to devote all
their energies TO ,uc capture of scalps and
ear.
The most eff cuvc cngine Of destruction,
and the oap That is thinning Tho ranks of
the karGToo, almost to lhc point of eN-
termination, Is lhc fmou, kangaroo
"drv.." This means OF destroying the
pest i, universally adopted in the colonies
and besides fulfilling the object of its or
iglnator- ia decimatng the immense mobs
Of the squauors arch enemy it supplies a
splendid dav sport to al. lovers Of the
Gun. The method is fashioned on very
similar lines To the great rabbit drives
bella IN the san joachim valley, California.
The kangaroo drives, though, are far
more exciting and sportsmaulikc.
These drives are Of frequent occurrence
and some parts Of the country Of New
SouthsWalco and Queensland it is quite
possible 10 be present at an organized
drive at least once a week OF course,
these drives seldom yield any large num-
| Der of kangaroos. For those one must go
to the outlying dist lets, where drives are
not frequent
The last drive in which participated
was in a locality that took me two days to
reach. There had been no previous drive
over the land for six months, and kanga-
roos were so thick that dozens Of them
were always in sight, rs we rode along the
highways. The country, consequently
was as bare OF vegetation as if the blight
had struck il.
To get up drive like the one proposed
was a big undertaking for the settlers
There were nearly 100 knights OF the
trigger present and about 200 heaters, OF
drivers.
The place of meeting was at the hospit.
able homestead of wealthy settler, ia
nous for his success In entertaining hl-
visitors on such occasions. The under
taking was costly, for it involved the FL
ling of 200 empty siomachs at an al frescC
lunch in the forest.
Early in the morning all hands met al
the settlers homestead At p given sigma
the whole cayalcadc moved off in the di
rection Of the hamts of the kangaroo.
At certain point the shooters, armed
with shoiguns. dismont and take NJ
their positions at the direction of The cap
tain. This is in as nearly % straight line
as possible, the men standing about =
yards apart. / was fortunately given 2
position that commanded good view oil
the entire country Having stationed mt
the captain told me to remain there and
await results.
The drivers meanwhile separated them
selves from the shooting contingent, movet
toward the feeding grounds OF the marsu
pial and there arranged themselves in
scmi-circuIar form at from 80 to 100 yard,
apart. by yells and shouts aud running
fire OF stockwhips they turn the place ioi
ium and animals of every kind located
within the sphere covered by the drivers
fly in all directions. But the men on the
extreme right and left wings usually con
trive to keep the frightened game within
bounds, and thus they rush on to the am.
buscadc in front of them.
After had taken up my position ] haC
not long to wait in order TO crafty my