AUSTRALIAN WILD HORSES.
"We were not bent on any such performance, which is nothing but slaughter, though made necessary by the conditions of the country. I may add here that in some parts of the colony it is often necessary to make a drive of wild horses exactly as they drive the kangaroo. It is no uncommon matter for a squatter to make a drive of four or five hundred wild horses, which are killed for their hides, but more especially to prevent their eating the grass, destroying the fences, and enticing tame horses out of the paddocks. We have seen several droves of wild horses, and they look very pretty as they gallop over the plain. We wished we had some of them under the saddle, but were told that the value of the animal rarely pays for the trouble and cost of breaking him. Occasionally horses with brands on them are found in the wild herds; they are impounded and advertised; at least such is the theory, but quite as often they are killed with the rest to save trouble.
"A black boy mounted on a swift horse came riding back to us, and said the kangaroos were in a part of the plain that was concealed from us by a patch of scrub. We moved in their direction, keeping the scrub between us and them, so as to get as close as possible before they discovered us.
"Our manœuvre worked very well. There were ten or twelve of the animals feeding quietly, and we were within a few hundred yards of them before they were aware of it. At the first alarm they rose on their hind-legs and took a look all around, and a second later they were away. How they did jump! They seemed to go thirty or forty feet at a time, but our host says it was little if any more than fifteen feet. Even that is a tremendous jump; if you don't think so, just try it.
A KANGAROO BATTUE, OR DRIVE.
"We let loose the dogs, which up to this time had been kept behind us, and they went away without any urging. The dogs are kept for this purpose, just as fox-hounds are kept in England and France, or deer-hounds in Scotland. The dogs soon overtook and pulled down a young kangaroo; this caused some delay, but not much, and they were speedily put on the track of an 'old man' kangaroo, as a full-grown male is called.
"The 'old man' led the dogs a lively chase. He made directly for water, several miles away, which is always the custom of the kangaroo; if he cannot reach water he takes his stand with his back against a tree, and in that position he is a dangerous creature to approach. We followed the dogs as closely as we could, but did not come up to them until the kangaroo was at bay in a pool where the water just left his fore-legs clear as he stood upright.