The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-16
HUNTING THE KANGAROO.
NNTi AUSTRALIANS VIEW HTN
- - outlaw AMONG ANIMALS.
According to One Writer the Bush
men Train Him TO Steal Cattle and

profession, "and l dalled for while with
the dramatic muse, and somewhat success
fully. Then. metaphorically speaking, I
piped on eaten straw, like the Arcadian
shepherd. ana dropped money in wool.
Then / delved in che mines for the dross
OF gold and didn't find any. At last
made fortunate strike in talOw, and for
a time reveled in the charms of nature
and learned to hunt the kangaroo l learn
ed a good many things about kangaroos
that are not in the books-for instance,
that the bushmen trained kangaroOs to be
horse and cattle thieves, kidnappers. high
way robbers and the like. ! say ! learned
that but perhaps ! had better say that
the good people l met during my career
as a gentleman sportsman in Australia
told me such was the case. never had
any ocular proof that there were kanga-
roo cattle thieves or kangaroo highway
robbers, but l shall believe in kangaroo
horse thieves and kidnappers until my dy-
ing day I'll tell you why.
While l was living this life of gen
tleman sportsman / was CHARTERED at
little settlement at BoOrt Run. right in
the kangaroo country. To hume kangaroo
seems almost like going out to run down
and maui the life out a few of your decent
relatives, but the kangaroo hunt was the
chief recreati OF the gentlemen sports
men in Australia the time l was there, and
as / had become member of that order
of citizens, after making my pile in tall
dow, ], Of course, had to hunt kangaroos,
You hunt kangaroos on horseback and
you have to sit on your horse like a star
circus rider. too, or you will never hunt
kangaroos more than once You are apt
TO be lassoed out of your saddle and lefC
hanging by your neck at the end of some
dropping vine as you pass through the
country. and If you keep your seat as your
horse dashes over a stretch Of ground.
made picturesquely irregular by million
big amt hills, YOU stand a chance Of being
tipped out of 1t into an adjoining tract OF
down timber and treated to run across
country with your foot in the strrup and
your head playing shiny with logs and
bowers. Then, when you get into a mob
of kangaroos-half a dozen or so kangs'
together make a nob--you may have the
duck to tackle what they call regular
up-and-up boomer, and II you do-well,
say, If you do, you Will begin to have your
doubts about your caring to be a gentle.
man sportsman in Australia. An up-and-
up boomer or a boomin' old man, as some
call him, is a leader in mob of hangs,
and there's more fight in him than there
IS in a barrel of sixth-ward rum. II the
bloomn' old man gets the squeeze on you
and is Inclined to stop the fight right there
and then he'll put on the pressure and
crack your bones as you would crush a
soft-shell almond
1T isn't sportsmanlke 20 bag your kan
CARGO with a gun. Your weapon is a short
but heavy club, and as you charge your
game the object is to deliver a blow with
the club that will neatly break the kanga-
roo's neck. Dogs trained for the purpose
harass the game and get ii in position 80
that you can the better and suRer deliver
the death blow. 1t requires good deal of
skill and dexterity to strike the right spot
against the assaults of the kangaroo, for
ne has his eye on the chance of getting
in a blow on you that may send you
sprawling from your horse.
L got SO that l could handle the club
and the horse pretty well on a kangaroo
hunt, and rather liked the exciting sport
until one day l ran foul of a kang that
was following life of outlawry, and that
spoiled me for kangarooing. We had five
dogs and ran suddenly into mob Of seven
kangaroos. The leader of the mob was the
up-and-upest boomer, The bloominest old
man mad ever seen, except a tame kanga-
roo that belonged at the settlement and
that tame kangaroo beat anything, they
said, that had ever been seen in Australia.
II was taken when only a few days old
and grew TO enormous size and mad the
run of the settlement, and the whole coun-
try, for that matter. Everybody knew
fanny bEt. DE- the UiS tame kdUB was call
ed. and Danny seemed to know everybody
ana everything.
When l saw the big leader of this mob
rise before me I couldn't help think that
he might be Danny Dee's brother He
rose to receive the attack of three of our
dogs. and he stood not less than eight feet
high. He gathered in each one of those
three dogs as they sprang at him and laid
them down in one, two, three order with
out whole bone among them. This bloom
in old man seemed not only willing but
anxious to Join in general fight with us
One of our party killed his kangaroo. but
all the rest of the mob except the boomer
fed TO the bush. There were three of us
hunters, and we all charged upon the
boomer. the two remaining dogs having
followed the fleeing mob. l can't tell you
how il was DONE but that big kangaroo
'yanked my two companions out of their
saddles as quick a flash. and away
their frightened horses went over the
plain. Their unseated riders followed them,
and / was left alone to have ii out with
the bloornin old man.
Say, he didn't wait to take breath, but
leaped on me aud grabbed me round the
waist before l could play my club, but
he hadn't got his squeeze on me when
brought my club down on his head. That
staggered him and forced him to loosen
his hold on ne and tumble from the horse,
but he took with him half of one trousers
thigh. He had no sooner struck the ground
than he sDrang and caught the horse
around the neck and was effectively shut
ting off the poor beasts wind when
pounded the kang loose with my club. 1t
seemed to me that old boomer was just
more than enjoying the fight. and IL struck
me that he had an object in all he was
doing beyond the simple fact of wanting
10 win The fight.
Failing in his attempt to choke the horse
to death, he drew off a few PAGES, looked
me and the horse over, and at once made
up his mind. He came toward me with a
tremendous bound, and as l raised my cub
TO meet him with a blow he tented and
landed on the horse behind me Before !
could move a muscle he had my arms
pinioned on my sides as il they were in a
wise. l suppose, from the way the horse
sprang forward, that the kang stuck his
claws in the horses TANKS. At any rate
away over the plain we went like the
wind, headed for the bush At first / strug-