forth all their art to approach as near the kangaroos as possible without disturbing them, and thus the circle narrows in around the unconscious animals, till at last some one of them becomes alarmed and bounds away, but ere it has proceeded many yards its flight is arrested by a savage with fearful yells; terrified it sits down with its frightened comrades to look for a means of escape, but armed natives brandishing their spears and raising loud cries come running in upon them from every side; and ere the animals have recovered the first moments of terror and surprise a slaughter has already commenced, which seldom terminates before the greater number of them have fallen.

These great public hunts or battues are conducted under certain rules.  The proprietor of the land must have invited the other natives, and must be present himself, for should these regulations be violated a very bloody fight is certain to take place.  The first spear which strikes a kangaroo determines whose property the dead animal is to be; it being no matter how slight the wound may have been; even if a boy threw the spear the rule holds good, and if the animal killed is one which by their laws a boy is not allowed to eat, then his right passes on to his father or eldest male relation.  The cries of the hunters, as they ring through the ancient woods, are very expressive and beautiful, each different intonation belonging to a particular period of the hunt.  And what renders them peculiarly effective is that, instead of beginning as we always do with a soft aspiration, as in Hollo, Ho, etc., their cries always commence with a harsh sound, as kau; and this circumstance enables them to talk at a great distance so as to be perfectly intelligible to one another.  Sometimes in deep wooded valleys I have heard gentle fairy-like sounds coming down from the heights, and rendered so soft and sweet by distance that one might readily have fancied them to be supernatural, yet the natives with me readily understood them, and shouted back their reply:  this harsh commencement of their shout gives one also a terrible start when surprised in a murderous attack.

HUNTING KANGAROO BY THE TRACKS.

Four other modes of taking kangaroos are practised by the natives:  these are, catching them in nets, in pitfalls, lying in wait near their watering places until they come to drink, and constantly following their tracks until the animals are so wearied out that they will allow the huntsman to approach near enough to spear them.  Of these four modes the last two are the most interesting, and the former is thus practised:  in a dry district, where numerous animals congregate from a great distance to drink at a solitary water, the huntsman constructs a rude shelter in which for hours he remains concealed and motionless until the thirsty animals approach; kangaroos, cockatoos, pigeons, and all other beings that run and fly are in this case indiscriminately sacrificed, and the patient endurance of the hunter is generally richly rewarded by the booty he obtains.