Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/451

Rh Then we made a circuitous journey homeward, and roused up another 'old man,' which we despatched as he stood fighting with his back to a tree, but not till he had wounded one of the dogs. Another full-grown kangaroo was killed by one of the stockmen the same day, in another part of the run, and the three skins will be properly cured and sent to Doctor Bronson and ourselves as souvenirs of the day's experience.

"We supped on steaks from a young kangaroo; the meat of the old and full-grown animals is too rank to be enjoyable, and is usually fed to the dogs. We had soup made from kangaroo tail, and it was delicious; kangaroo soup has become an article of export, and some epicures are said to prefer it to ox-tail, or even to turtle soup, though I very much doubt the latter statement.

"Our host says the natives in former times were very skilful in killing the kangaroo with the boomerang; when a native armed with this weapon was within reach of a kangaroo, the aim rarely missed. Another way of killing the creature was by stalking. The blackfellow dressed himself with twigs and brush to look like a small tree. In this disguise, and carrying his spear between two toes of his foot, he advanced slowly, taking care to keep to leeward, so that the animal could not get the scent. Slowly he closed up, remaining motionless when the kangaroo looked up, and moving again when it began to graze. Once within spearing distance, he speedily settled the question of dinner or no dinner from the flesh of that identical beast."

Frank asked what became of the skins of the kangaroos when they were slaughtered by wholesale, as already described.

"They are pegged out on the ground and dried," said their host, "and then are shipped to market. Many of them go to America, where they are made into leather for boots and shoes and other purposes. The leather is very tenacious, and almost impervious to water, and the demand for it is said to be increasing. Previous to 1869 very few of the skins were tanned, as the merits of the leather had not become known. The first that were sent to America were sold at a loss, and then in a few years, when their qualities were known, the American tanners could not get enough of them. One firm in Newark, New Jersey, is said to receive six thousand skins every week, and even with that number cannot meet the demand for kangaroo leather."

During the evening, stories of kangaroo hunts were naturally in order, and a goodly number were told; but as all were of the same general character it is hardly necessary to give them. Frank made note of the fact that there is one kind of kangaroo which climbs trees and