We Also Found Several Fish-Hooks Of A Most Peculiar Shape, And Made Out Of
A Curious Material.
In shape they were like a circular key-ring, with a
segment of exactly one-third cut out.
One end was ground sharp, and to the
other was attached the line, cleverly spun from the tea-tree bark. Now, of
all shapes to drive a Limerick hook-maker to despair, none, one would
think, could have been invented better than this, for the odds are
certainly ten to one against its penetrating any portion of a fish, even
though he should have gorged it. The material of which these quaint hooks
are made is tortoise or turtle shell, for both tortoises and turtles abound
on this coast, the former frequenting the fresh-water creeks and lagoons,
and the latter the sea. Whether they were cut out of the solid, or whether
a strip was soaked, bent, and then dried in the sun until it became firmly
set in the required shape, I never could ascertain, but most probably the
former plan was adopted.
The whole island seemed to teem with game, and had we been able to fire, we
should speedily have made a good bag, but this we dared not do, so I made a
mental resolve to return at some future time and make amends for this
enforced restraint. At nearly every step, we put up some bird or beast
strange to European eyes.
I have no doubt it is known to most of my readers that Australia is
destitute of 'Ferae' proper, and that elephants, lions, tigers, etc., are
unknown. They will also know that the kangaroos are marsupial animals;
that is to say, the females have a peculiar pouch for their young, which
are born in a far less advanced state than the young of other animals. But
perhaps it is not so generally known that, with two or three exceptions,
such as the dingo or native dog, the platypus, and several species of bats,
the 'whole' of the animals on the continent are marsupial. The brains of
this species are very small, and they sadly lack intelligence, in which
respect they exhibit a wonderful affinity to the aboriginals who live by
their capture.
[ILLUSTRATION - GROUP OF KANGAROOS.]
Of kangaroos there are more than thirty different kinds, but the English
are now so well acquainted with this curious animal that it needs no
description. There are two things about it, however, that I may with
propriety here point out - viz., the use of the pouch, and the various
ways in which the kangaroo is serviceable to the settler. The average size
of the ordinary female kangaroo is about six feet, counting from the nose
to the tip of the tail; and, marvellous though it may appear, the young
kangaroo, at its birth, is but little over an inch in length, having a
vague kind of shape, certainly, but otherwise soft, semi-transparent, and
completely helpless. Now the pouch comes into use.
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