CHEWS TOBACCO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 111, 13 May 1938, Page 11

CHEWS TOBACCO.

SEAGOING GOAT. FRENCH SAILORS' PETS. t< SHABRLEE » IS A WALLABY. "Vuila!" The cheery little French sailor jerked a broad thumb at the gun turret behind him, but ifc was too late. All that could be seen of Charlie -Sharrlee," the sailor said—wae a long tail disappearing down a companionway. I'V.r "Nhnrrlee" is camera shy, and the Australian wallaby, one of the two curium pi.-te carried by the French sloop Kignult <le Genouilly, which arrived in Auckland this morning from Noumea New f'uledonia, protested silently but forcibly when retrieved to pose for the laiiu'ia. Normally "Sharrlee" is a gentleman with unimpeachable manners. When he was brought aboard the ship in Brisbane fiix months ago—by whom, no one appears to know—he rapidly adapted himpolf to his unnatural habitat and settled down to routine as a member of the crew. An honoured one, too. The wallaliy is very popular with officers and ratings iiliko, and as he scampers awkwardly along the deck to see his friend Jt'iuiPttc the sailors pat him and say the French equivalent of "good day." Likes French Tobacco. Because she is a lady and more docile tliaii "Sharrlee," Jeanette receives more titU'Jition us far as edible tit-bite are concerned. And Jeanette, with the insatiable appetite for anything odd, natural to a goat, docs enjoy her chew or tobacco! Possibly it is a reconciliation to her seafaring life.

"Jeanette likes French tobacco best," said a, tall young officer, and obligingly removed the tissue from a cigarette. The meek little goat rapidly disposed of the thick tobacco and looked up in a mute appeal for more. The pets have made a strange alliance and are the best of friends. "Sharrlee" is plump and well fed with a surfeit of odds and ends from the mess deck. Then it is that he demonstrates, his gentlemanly upbringing. Quite often he will *eek out Jeanette, and with his tiny handlike front paws offer her a morsel. Jeanette never refuses. The nanny goat has a fault though. She cannot resist wet paint, and when sailors are at work with their brushes Jeanette must be there to rub her rolypoly sides against the paintwork. Her coat at various times has been generously marked with splotches of red, black, white and grey. Two Weeks Old and Motherless. Jeanette began her career with the French navy in an unorthodox manner. While detachments from the sloop were carrying out land exercises on the west of New Caledonia, she was discovered. .Little more than two weeks old, and apparently motherless, the goat was taken aboard. The identity of the per-

son or persons responsible for the transference again appears to be obscure. At any event, Jeanette seems to have done very well aboard, and is in better condition than one might expect. Queer pets through the years have been a fetish in various navies, but rarely would there have bi.?n a combination of wallaby and goat. Some years ago the cruiser Dunedin, of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Xavy, brought a wallaby from Australia, but ite life at sea was not a very happy one, and the creature died at Bluff. The weather at the southern port wji.s too rigorous.