Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/129

 111 expedition, with an emu on his shoulder—a huge animal. He gave me a foot, which I intend to send to you: the dimensions of this foot are—from the heel to the nail of the middle toe, eight inches; from the knee joint to the toe, twenty-two inches: it is a turkey's foot in shape, greatly magnified: the bird stands, I am told, eight feet high. I intend to try my own luck in emu hunting on Thursday, if the weather prove fine.

2nd.—Another day of frequent but not continued rain, accompanied with strong wind from the N.W. In the evening I sauntered out with my gun towards the hills; saw two kangaroos at a distance, and was brought to a stand by a low sound, which I conjectured to have been the voice of natives, but happily discovered that it proceeded from large frogs, which now issue from their hiding places and utter their "dulcet sounds."

3rd.—Went to the hills in rear of my place in search of kangaroos with Mr. Burgess, jun.; we had six dogs, and traversed a very picturesque glen, through which Colonel Latour's Brook, as it is called, winds its way.

This glen diverges into three distinct branches, apparently of no great extent; but in this we may be mistaken, for these valleys frequently contract in some places and expand again beyond expectation. The sides of those we have just seen are very precipitous, and formed of granite, which in huge masses covers the bottom; pools are here and there, but no continuous streams, I should suppose, in summer. The result of our sport was, one kangaroo, weighing thirty pounds, and an eagle. We hung the kangaroo on a tree until our return, and carried it home on our backs in rather a droll way. Fancy the legs round your neck, the thighs resting on your shoulders, the head dangling at your heels, and the tail bobbing over your head. We also caught a young kangaroo