EIGHT YEARS' TRAVEL IN AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2255, 20 May 1897, Page 51

EIGHT YEARS' TRAVEL IN AUSTRALIA.

(Wkittenfob the Witness Ltttlb Folks BY CoaiPAGNON, WAIKAWA ) XX. Prolific as Australia is in many and varied kinds of animals, few, if any, are pleasing to the palate of a European. Yet this is not to be wondered at, for people of different climes have each their own peculiar taste. Esquimaux eat blubber ; Greeks will do a hard day's work on a handful of raisins and a slice of bread ; the staple food of: the Chinese is rice; South Sea Islanders can subsist on copra (dried cocoanut) ; and so on. Consequently, when tbe whites settled in Australia they introduced those animals which through previous use were more agreeable to their palate and their enjoyment.,.

Young kangaroos, wallaby, or bandicoots offer quite as good 6port in capturing them and probably are as nutritious as an article o£ diet as deer, yet through übo and wont these latter are preferred both as a means of sporb and for their flesh as food.

There is then the consideration of love of home and its environments, a love which is inborn in all races of mankind. A Greenlander deems Greenland the finest country on the globe, albeit the climate is intensely inhospitable. Thunders roar and lightnings gleam ; the icy winds sweep o'er the snow-clad land with freezing breath, and the dread avalanche crashes with noise appalling amid the darkness of a long-protracted night ; yet he is bound to that inclement spot with an affection which nothing can release. Take him to India, and he would sigh for walrus flesh, for seals and bears, for ice and snow.

So with the Britisher. Settle where he may, he must have all the accompaniments of his former life go with him. Therefore, to Australia he took deer, pigs, hares, rabbits, foxes, and birds of all kinds to hunt or to eat. And tbis they did, and do, in spite of common sense, which warned them to the contrary. Had they intended to devote the country to the same use as the natives and assimilate their mode of life to theirs, there had been a reason for their doing so, but when it was their object to reclaim the land, to live by the products of tbe soil, to flood the colony with those very animals that would destroy the labour of their hands seems enigmatical. Traverse the Dandenong ranges, lit by the streams that water Gippsland any day or night, and you see deer in mobe, and can shoot away to your heart's content.

But in mentioning tbis animal my mind goea back to Tapanui, where there are also many, and to my visit to the beautiiul estate of one of the little folks who writes so charmingly to " Dot " from far - off America. I may be wrong 1 , but still J am inclined to think that Misß Iva M'Kellar, then a very "little folk, 1 ' was the one who led me over Brooksdale when her father owned it and chatted so merrily about the deer's antlers that adorned their lovely fernery — so that is one who kuowa hew pretty and how fleet of foot the roe deer is, how keen of scent and sight, how hard to ■talk, and how it leaps when sliuck by bhe deadly bullet or when throttled by the staghound, how it sheds tears — real tears of pain and anguish that roll in big clear drops adown its cheeks. She also knows how terribly destructive they are on tho crops, which no fence can protect, and how much the farmers dread their inroads ; and yet thesß were imported into and are spreading fast in Australia.

Hunting deer is, however, rather a dangerous sport for boys, because you have to climb mountains, camp out at nigbr, and traverse wild country ; moreover, a wounded stag is a very fierce animal, and not .easily avoided ; so if yon would prefer hare shooting there is plenty of it to be had in Australia. But first let me tell you how and where I saw the first hare in my rambles.

There was a very smart, intelligent black boy employed at a station where I stayed, and to kesp him out of mischief the manager gave him 12 stud rams of great value to look after. Wei], theee rams showed no signs of becoming fat, although given the best pasture, and the manager coulda't make it out, so be ordered ras to watch the black boy, which I did.

Concealing myself in some grass, I waited until tbe little shepherd with bis rains reached me, and by-and-bye observed him take a piecs of bread oat of his hat (that was all the clothicg he ever wore when out of sight of the station homesteadj ; then be called " Billy," and immediately a ram came towards him and took the bread from his hand. Theu the black boy pub a little bridle, which he carried also in bis hat, over tbe ram's head, jumped on his back, nnd commenced to stock-ride the rest of tbe mob after the manner of the stockmen. When I saw his trick I laughed so loudly that he tumbled off his woolly charger with affright and darted into the bush, raising as he ran the first hare I saw in Australia.

Happening to mention tbis at tbe dinner table in the evening, some were incredulous, and openly asserted that there were no hares within 100 miles of the place where I saw it. Five years afterwards I revisited the same district, and the whole country-side was overrun with them.

As for rabbits, any of the little folks who ; live in Central Otago or tbe worst-infested j districts of Southland, where bunny is so | numerous, can form some idea of she pest { they are in Australia whaa ifc i 3 stated thai \ in some parts of the western tHaltiol., round J about Horsham and fche Richardson Bivti?;, ■ the farmers were completely eatau out. 1 j was once given the oversight ot ! nine rab- j biters who wers placed ok a van by an tn- j spector. In six weeks these nine man caugh' u -j 12 rabbits at a cost of over £90 ! Five years i subsequently the station swarmed with ] rabbits. They came from Victoria across- ; country like a wave of tbe .sea on a level j beacb, and every vestige of pis tore and vege- j <ation was consumed by them. I have seen j i them in the main thoroughfare of a fairly ] I large township at midday, while at night j I time, when everyone bad retired, the town- j i ship was alive with them. j t Thus, if you are averse to any of the j animals indigenous to Australia, and would prefer other sport, you will, if ever you visit that magnificent country, enjoy it to the full, and I will give you the benefit of my experience. In beginning to stalk a deer, you must first ascertain from which direction the windis blowing, and be sure io get to leeward of your game, for if the wind is blowing from you and towards the deer it will j scent you a mile away. Then having i approached within range, lie flat down, rest j your elbows on the ground to steady the rifle, and having taken sight immediately be- j hind the foreleg, press the trigger— don't pull j ifc, because you are sure to disturb the sight bf | the jerk — and you will be almost sure to bring [ down your game. j In shooting a running hare your only j chance is to take it when ib firsb starts ; j the first sight is best. Within the first; 20 or i 30 yard 3 a hare runs slowly, but after that with great speed, and it is then by practise alone in making allowance for the rate it Is going ab thab you will become an expert j shot. Babbits in motion are more difficult t to shoot. Follow a few with your gun, taking eight at the head without firing until you yet accustomed to their motion. With practice you will soon learn.