At Its Birth,
The Kangaroo (Notwithstanding It Weighs When Full Grown 200 Pounds)
Is Not So Large As A Half-Grown Mouse.
I brought some with me to England
even less, which I took from the pouches of the old ones.
This phenomenon is so striking and so contrary to the general laws of nature,
that an opinion has been started that the animal is brought forth
not by the pudenda, but descends from the belly into the pouch
by one of the teats, which are there deposited. On this difficulty
as I can throw no light, I shall hazard no conjecture. It may, however,
be necessary to observe that the teats are several inches long
and capable of great dilatation. And here I beg leave to correct an error
which crept into my former publication wherein I asserted that,
"the teats of the kangaroo never exceed two in number." They sometimes,
though rarely, amount to four. There is great reason to believe
that they are slow of growth and live many years. This animal has a clavicle,
or collar-bone, similar to that of the human body. The general colour
of the kangaroo is very like that of the ass, but varieties exist.
Its shape and figure are well known by the plates which have been given of it.
The elegance of the ear is particularly deserving of admiration.
This far exceeds the ear of the hare in quickness of sense and is so flexible
as to admit of being turned by the animal nearly quite round the head,
doubtless for the purpose of informing the creature of the approach
of its enemies, as it is of a timid nature, and poorly furnished
with means of defence; though when compelled to resist, it tears
furiously with its forepaws, and strikes forward very hard with its hind legs.
Notwithstanding its unfavourable conformation for such a purpose,
its swims strongly; but never takes to the water unless so hard pressed
by its pursuers as to be left without all other refuge. The noise
they make is a faint bleat, querulous, but not easy to describe.
They are sociable animals and unite in droves, sometimes to the number
of fifty or sixty together; when they are seen playful and feeding on grass,
which alone forms their food. At such time they move gently about
like all other quadrupeds, on all fours; but at the slightest noise
they spring up on their hind legs and sit erect, listening to what
it may proceed from, and if it increases they bound off on those legs only,
the fore ones at the same time being carried close to the breast
like the paws of a monkey; and the tail stretched out, acts as a rudder
on a ship. In drinking, the kangaroo laps. It is remarkable
that they are never found in a fat state, being invariably lean.
Of the flesh we always eat with avidity, but in Europe it would not
be reckoned a delicacy. A rank flavour forms the principal objection to it.
The tail is accounted the most delicious part, when stewed.
Hitherto I have spoken only of the large, or grey kangaroo, to which
the natives give the name of 'patagaran'.* But there are
(besides the kangaroo-rat) two other sorts. One of them we called
the red kangaroo, from the colour of its fur, which is like that of a hare,
and sometimes is mingled with a large portion of black: the natives
call it 'bagaray'. It rarely attains to more than forty pounds weight.
The third sort is very rare, and in the formation of its head resembles
the opossum. The kangaroo-rat is a small animal, never reaching,
at its utmost growth, more than fourteen or fifteen pounds,
and its usual size is not above seven or eight pounds. It joins to the head
and bristles of a rat the leading distinctions of a kangaroo, by running
when pursued on its hind legs only, and the female having a pouch.
Unlike the kangaroo, who appears to have no fixed place of residence,
this little animal constructs for itself a nest of grass, on the ground,
of a circular figure, about ten inches in diameter, with a hole on one side
for the creature to enter at; the inside being lined with a finer sort
of grass, very soft and downy. But its manner of carrying the materials
with which it builds the nest is the greatest curiosity: by entwining
its tail (which, like that of all the kangaroo tribe, is long, flexible
and muscular) around whatever it wants to remove, and thus dragging along
the load behind it. This animal is good to eat; but whether it be
more prolific at a birth than the kangaroo, I know not.
[*kangaroo was a name unknown to them for any animal, until we introduced it.
When I showed Colbee the cows brought out in the Gorgon, he asked me
if they were kangaroos.]
The Indians sometimes kill the kangaroo; but their greatest destroyer
is the wild dog,* who feeds on them. Immediately on hearing or seeing
this formidable enemy, the kangaroo flies to the thickest cover, in which,
if he can involve himself, he generally escapes. In running to the cover,
they always, if possible, keep in paths of their own forming, to avoid
the high grass and stumps of trees which might be sticking up among it
to wound them and impede their course.
[*I once found in the woods the greatest part of a kangaroo
just killed by the dogs, which afforded to three of us a most welcome repast.
Marks of its turns and struggles on the ground were very visible.
This happened in the evening, and the dogs probably had seen us approach
and had run away. At daylight next morning they saluted us
with most dreadful howling for the loss of their prey.]
Our methods of killing them were but two; either we shot them, or hunted them
with greyhounds.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 53 of 66
Words from 52959 to 53963
of 66960
