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196 side in an inquiring fashion, as if anxious to make his choice amongst the dishes. Consequently when I afterwards heard of his having "broken all the cups and saucers" at his last place, I thought that the statement bore probability on the face of it, and that the fact of his haying done so might have suggested to his former owner the idea that a change of masters would be gratifying to all parties.

New society sometimes develops new faculties, and Jacky now showed a strong propensity to experiments upon the properties of sugar-beer. We had a cask with a leaky tap standing in one of the verandahs, beneath which a saucer was always placed to catch the overflow; Jacky one day thought fit to taste its contents, and found them so much to his mind that he quickly repeated his visit. By degrees he acquired sufficient boldness to empty the saucer at one bout, after which, with a nice calculation not to have been expected from his sheep-like cranium, he would lie down to sleep away the time that must elapse before it could again be filled by the leakage, at which period he would wake up and return to the barrel for another draught, always choosing some shady spot in the vineyard in which to sleep off the effects of the potations. I cannot say that I saw any particular harm in all this, but my husband often remonstrated with me on keeping a tipsy kangaroo.

We had taken care on Jacky's account to warn the natives against bringing their dogs with them when visiting the parsonage, but one day we saw a large kangaroo dog coming towards the house with a queer little old native who, from having lost his heels in a fire, and being