in which they are running, and they are driven back by loud
calls and terrific cries, which augment their terror, and they run wildly
about; until, becoming maddened by fear, they make a rush through the
midst of their enemies, who allow but few of their victims to escape.

IN THE PLAINS.

When kangaroos are surrounded upon a plain the point generally chosen is
an open bottom surrounded by wood; each native has his position assigned
him by some of the elder ones, and a great deal of art and caution are
sometimes required to gain it; for this end they avail themselves of
every inequality of the ground, of every bush, of every shrub, and as
there are so many witnesses of their skill and cunning they put 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
a