Wood Only Is Burnt, And Large Heaps Of Glowing Ashes
Accumulate, For The Fire Never Really Goes Out, By Night Or Day.
As long
as it is blazing, the pet kangaroo will keep his distance, but when it has
sunk down
To living coals, his foolish curiosity is sure to impel him,
sooner or later, to jump right into the thick of it; and then - and here
his want of brains is painfully shown - instead of jumping out again at
once, he commences fighting and spurring the burning embers with his hind
feet, and, as a natural sequence, is either found half roasted, or so
injured that his death is inevitable
The uses to which the settler puts this animal are many. He has to take
the place of the stag when any hunting is going on (as the dingo has to act
for the fox); and most remarkably good sport an "old man" or "boomer" - as
the full-grown males are called - will afford; and most kangaroo dogs bear
witness, by cruel scars, how keen a gash he can inflict with his sharp hind
claw when brought to bay. From ten to twelve miles is by no means an
unusual run, and when thoroughly exhausted he makes a stand, either with
his back against a tree, or in the water. In both of these positions he is
no despicable adversary, and will do much damage to a pack of hounds, by
grasping them in his short fore arms and ripping them open, if on land; or
by seizing and holding them under, if in the water.
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