Year: 1873

the fence which had upset me. It was
not nice prospect for a man riding
something over sixteen stonel


But now had come the moment
in which I must make up my mind.
Half dozen men were over the rail-


Half dozen baked it. Two fell,
escaping their own horses by judicious
impetus. One gentleman got his horse
Half over, the fore-quarters being on one
side, and the hind on the other, so that
the animal was hung up. A lady rode
at it with spirit, but checked her horse
with the curb, and he, rearing back,
fell on her. Another lady took it IN
gallant style. OF those before me no
one seemed to finch it. Fora moment
! 1T seemed as though the honor of all
the hunting-felds in England were in
trusted to my keeping, and I determined
to dare greatly, let the penalty be what
it might. With firm hands and legs,
but with heart very low down, I
crammed the little brute at the noun
tain of woodwork. AS I did so 1 knew
that he could not carry me over.
Luckily, he knew as much about it as
I did, and made not the slightest at
tempt to rise with me. don't know
that I ever felt so fond of horse before.


At that moment, an interesting in
dividual, coming like a cannon-ball,
crashed the top bar beside me, and I,
finding that the lady was comfortably
arranging her back hair, with plenty of
assistance, rode gallantly over the
second bar. For the next half-hour I
took care always to go over second bars,
waiting patiently till top bar was
broken. I had found my level, and
had resolved to keep it. On one aoc-
casion 1 thought that top bar never
would be broken and the cessation was
unpleasant, as successful horsemen dis
appeared one after another. But I per-
ceived that there was a regular company
| of second-bar men, so that, as long as I
| could get over rail three feet high, I
need not fear that should be left alone.
And hitherto the pace had not been
quick enough to throw the second-bar
men out of the hunt. But soon there
came real misfortune There was a
ence with only one bar, with only ap-
parent obstacle I am blind as we'll as
heavy, and did not see the treacher-
| Gus wire beneath. A heavy philanthro-
pist, just before me, smashed the one,
and rode on at what thought to be a
free course. Ny little horse, seeing no
more than I did, rushed upon the wire,
and the two of us were rolled over in
ignominious dismay. The horse was
quicker on his feet than I was, and
liking the sport, joined it at once single
handed, while was left alone and dis
consulate. Men and horses, even the
sound of men and horses, disappeared
from me, and found myself in solitude
in forest of gum-trees.


I was certain that we had been run
ming a drag all the morning. AS I
wandered about, I felt the ignominy of
the whole thing. If a man does ride to
drag, he should at any rate ride well,
and not lose his horse and bei alone
after the first half-hour. And in that
wild country I might be wandering
about for week without seeing any
thing but cockatoo or an Australian
magpie. There does, however, always
come some relief in these miseries. I
first encountered another horseless man,
then a second companion in misery, and
at last a groom with my own little nag.
As for the run, that, as regarded me,
was, of course, over; but I had legs
besides my own to take me back twelve
miles to the place at which L was
stopping.


AS far as could learn they ran drag
on that occasion for about seven miles,
and then came upon a turned-dOwn
dingo. This animal they took alive
after two miles. The sporting reader
viii perceive from this that an appear
ance was maintained of finding game,
and hunting the game to the end. The
Melbourne hounds do also hunt deer,
sometimes turning down a deer from
cart as we do at home, and sometimes
finding n wild-deer. The sport, as I
saw it in the neighborhood of Melburne.
was rs have described.


But, previously to this, I had hunted
kangaroos in Queensland and New South
Wales. and I will say word or two as
to that sport. I confess that, in the
absence of fox-hunting, I enjoyed it
very much. Four of us went out in
Queensland with four kangaroo-dogs
amid timber that was not thick, and
found game in plenty. The kangaroo
dog, having that special name through
out the colonies quite as assuredly as
any kind of hound has his own name in
| England, is a large, rough greyhound,
that hunts both by sight and by nose.
The difficulty consists in getting the
dogs to settle upon any one head of
game, and to settle upon the one kanga-
roo which the sportsman may select.
And, indeed, there is the further diff
Guilty of getting the men who are out to
| Join in the same choice. The hounds
| scatter and the men scatter, and it viii
often happen that a man is attempting
to ride down q kangaroo without hound
making the same attempt without a
rider. We found kangaroos in very
large mobs, on one occasion should
think some hundreds of them together


On such occasions a great deal of cross
riding takes place before any united ac-
tion can be effected. If possible, a very
large, or old-man kangaroo should
/ be cut out and followed They are very
stout in running, but not so fast as the
does and young ones. If a young
kangaroo gets the chance of falling
ground in his favor, he bounds at every
leap to such distance that it Is impOss-
ible to keep near him. 1t is, of course,
known by all readers that the kangaroo
runs, or rather jumps, with his hind
legs only. When not molested, his
o-,,s cor,a 4,aor ~ the cyror,n1 but