But though easily _tamed_, a wild
kangaroo is not easily _caught_; for it makes immense springs in the air,
far higher than a horse could leap, though it is not as big as a sheep.
When hunted by dogs, it gets, when it can, into the water, and turning
round, and standing still, dips the dogs, one by one, till it drowns
them.
There is another beast, called the opossum, not much bigger than a large
cat, and it also has a pocket for its young ones. But instead of cropping
the grass, it eats the leaves of trees. It has a gentle face like a deer,
and a long tail like a monkey. It hides itself, as the squirrel does, in
the hollows of trees. Like the owl, it is never seen in the day, but at
night it comes out to feed. The blacks are very cunning in finding out
the holes where the opossums are hidden, and they know how to drag them
out by their long tails, without getting bitten by their sharp teeth.
With the skin of the opossum the natives make a cloak.
The wild dogs, or dingoes, are odious animals. They may be heard yelling
at night to the terror of the shepherd, and the farmer. They are bold
enough to rush into a yard, and to carry off a calf, or a pig; and when
they have dragged it into the woods, they cruelly eat the legs first, and
do not kill it for a long while.
These three--the kangaroo, the opossum, and the dingo,--are the principal
beasts of Australia.
Among the birds, the emu is the most remarkable.
Pages:
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245