Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-08-22

An interesting Australian spectacle
that will certainly appeal to the manly
handlers of guns ana ropes on Uncle
Sans ships ia woodchopping or
tree Telling contest This muscle
straininE form Of sport was introduced
into Australia from the island of Tas-
mania, south Of Australia, separated
from the coast OF tho province Of Vic
toria by the Bass strait.
The manner of the contest Is as fol-
lows. Huge pillars OF wood of equal
size. six feet and several inches in
circumference, are implanted in the
ground and contestant is placed he
fore each column. AT a given signal
by pistol shot each begins 10 chop nj
the pillar. and the man who flrst cuts
one in two wins the contest Men
from all over Australia participate IN
these contests. and almost every To-
cality has a champion Participants
from Tasmania and New Zealand
also frequently compete, and thousands
Of dollars worth OF prizes are awarded
at championship events, which are
sometimes attended by over 10000
people. The betting on these wood
chopping competitions often reaches
( enormous proportions. so confident
are the followers of the local heroes OF
| the ak,
Several of the Australian coast cities
| have elaborate botanical gardens
I where semi tropical plants Of rare de-
scriptions are grown and in the ZOO
/ logical gardens curious animals from
! Australia and the islands of the south
seas are exhibited As for collections
| of snakes Australia oxcels in this
branch OF amusement providing. The
island continent in many localities is
| practically overrun with snakes and
| lizards of every description, and after
some of the experiences they are Ger
tain to have there more of our sailors
in the navy viii hasten to sign tho
pledge than ever known before.
A trip to an Australian sheep ranch
is highly interesting and can be made
by a short railroad trip from Mel
bourne or Sydney or other coast cities
on one of these sheep ranches thou
sand acres doesn't really mean very
much A thousand sheep are a pretty
small item to a man who owns quar-
ter or half million sheep. There are
some Australian ranchers who own Z
million sheep. and some of the indtvid
ual prize sheep of high breeding are
worth from $4,000 TO $4,000 head
! The big trees VIII also prove interest
ing, for Australia is essentially a lane
of big things outside of Melbourne
are trees 400 feet high and at a heigh
of $50 feet from the ground are si'
feet in diameter-that is, eighteen fee
around Some of the Australian lille
grow to a height Of three stor!
house 4 land of big things in tn
mines at Bsllarat have been found golf
nuggets as big as a mans head.
OF course much of the time of thu
sailors is taken up with the entertain
ments provided for them by the loca
authorities where they stop, but il
Australia as in New Zealand they FIND
time to get acquainted with the won
ders of the country outside of the cities
The most interesting exhibit of Aus
tralian animals is probably that al
Melbourne There may be seen speci-
ments of the very rare red and whit,
kangaroos as well as the ordinary
types They are as gentle as kittens
when in captivity. Also there are TIL,
kangaroo, opossums and the Tasma
MAN devils. These opossums look lik,
large halls OF fur, and their tails, loni
and fat, are 80 limp that when TIL
wind is strong they are blown about 4
every direction. The Tasmanian dew
is stated TO have seven rows OF teeth
and many of these queer creatures ar