le weight of
the body upon the toe of either foot, until the hole is reached where
the opossum lies hidden, which is then compelled by smoke, or by being
poked out, to quit its hiding place; when the conqueror, catching hold
of his victim's tail, dashes it down on the ground, and quietly descends
after it. As the bite of the opossum is very painful and severe, due
care is taken, in laying hold of it, to keep clear of all danger from
its teeth. Occasionally trees of 130 feet in height have been observed,
which had been _notched_ by the natives up to at least eighty feet! and
the old notches are never again used, but new ones are cut every time.
Strange to tell, this very difficult operation of following the opossum
is not uncommonly performed by moonlight, some persons moving onwards to
detect the animal feeding, while others follow, creeping after them with
fire-sticks; and it is curious to watch the dark body of the savage,
climbing the tree, contrasted with the pale moonlight. The Australians
are fond of these expeditions, the end of which is the same as of the
others conducted in broad daylight--the poor opossum is reached, and
knocked down with a stick, or shaken off the branch to which he had fled
as a last retreat.

[52] "Their only cutting implements are made of stone, sometimes of
jasper, fastened between a cleft stick with a hard gum."--MARTIN'S
_New South Wales_, p. 147. "The use of the 'mogo,' or stone-hatchet,
distinguishes the barbarous from the 'civil' black fellows, who all
use iron tomahawks."--MITCHELL'S _Three Expeditions in Eastern
Australia_, vol. i. p. 4.

Birds form a considerable article of food in the wilds of New Holland,
and there are many various sorts of them, as well as many different
modes of killing and ensnaring them, which it would be tedious to dwell
upon; but the emu, or cassowary, is too important and remarkable to be
passed over. This bird is very large, and its covering resembles hair
more than feathers; it is not able to fly, but it can run more swiftly
than the fleetest dogs, and its kick is violent enough to break a man's
leg: it is however easily tamed. The instinctive dread which these
animals in their wild state have of man is very remarkable. It was
observed by Major Mitchell, on various occasions during his journeys,
that the first appearance of large quadrupeds--bullocks and horses, did
not scare the emu or kangaroo; but that, on the contrary, when they
would