the farm was well stocked with every necessary, there was an apparent
absence of comfort; and not one single woman resided here. The sunset
of a fine day will generally cast an air of happy contentment on any
scene; but here, at this retired farm-house, the brightest tints on the
surrounding woods could not make me forget that forty hardened,
profligate men were ceasing from their daily labours, like the slaves
from Africa, yet without their holy claim for compassion.
Early on the next morning, Mr. Archer, the joint superintendent, had
the kindness to take me out kangaroo-hunting. We continued riding the
greater part of the day, but had very bad sport, not seeing a kangaroo,
or even a wild dog. The greyhounds pursued a kangaroo rat into a hollow
tree, out of which we dragged it: it is an animal as large as a rabbit,
but with the figure of a kangaroo. A few years since this country
abounded with wild animals; but now the emu is banished to a long
distance, and the kangaroo is become scarce; to both the English
greyhound has been highly destructive. It may be long before these
animals are altogether exterminated, but their doom is fixed. The
aborigines are always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses:
the use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and some milk from
the cows, are the peace-offerings of the settlers, who push farther and
farther towards the interior. The thoughtless aboriginal, blinded by
these trifling advantages, is delighted at the approach of the white
man, who seems predestined to inherit the country of his children.
Although having poor sport, we enjoyed a pleasant ride. The woodland is
generally so open that a person on horseback can gallop through it. It
is traversed by a few flat-bottomed valleys, which are green and free
from trees: in such spots the scenery was pretty like that of a park.
In the whole country I scarcely saw a place without the marks of a
fire; whether these had been more or less recent--whether the stumps
were more or less black, was the greatest change which varied the
uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller's eye. In these woods there
are not many birds; I saw, however, some large flocks of the white
cockatoo feeding in a corn-field, and a few most beautiful parrots;
crows, like our jackdaws were not uncommon, and another bird something
like the magpie. In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll along a
chain of ponds, which in this dry country represented the course of a
river, and had the good fortune to see several of the famous
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. They were diving and playing about the
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