AUSTRALIA FOR THE IGNORANT.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 75, 1 October 1877, Page 2

AUSTRALIA FOR THE IGNORANT.

I Mr Marcus Clarke writes to- the Argus as foffowa :— To- pass the tis»e while waiciiinpf the baconising of a farorile porker, I applied myself on Satwrday afternoon to the perusal of a wosk entitled " Animal Pro. ducts :: their Preparation Commercial Uses and Value.'" This book is written by Mr P. En Simmonds, editor of the "Journal of Applied .Science," and is published for the " Lords of the Committee of the- Council of Education," being included in tho " Soutfe Kensington Museum Science Fandboote." Having informed myself that, according to Marshal Vaubaß, the produce of a single sow in ten years (assuming six pigs at a litter, and excluding the males), would amount to $434,130 pigs, and that each beast would yield, in addition to- his hams, sausages, and trotters, a^ saddlo-flap, a clothes brush, six square inches of mat« tresa, two-thirds of a bladder of lard, half a stearine candle, and four ounces of psus« siate of potass, I stumbled upon some re-marks-concerning the animals indigenous to the- insignificant 2,919,143 square miles of the earth's surface called Australia. The information given, will, I think-, be new to most of your readers. i < Ybxc will be glad to know, sir, that residents of Melbourne are very fond of shooting the oppossum (Pkalangista vuU pina (and that the favorite weapon » a long barralled pistol; whioh is " better for this purpose tkaa a> gun,, because it is a more portable- article id. scrambling through the brush wood;" 1 It will pro* bably not surprise the members of your household to learn, that their favorite food is the flesh of the wombat, " which is cooked by all colonists as they would cook fresh pork and that kangaroo venison still retains anhonoured place .it nil tables. Nor is the game supply of our hrc^e cities neglected* I have not been in. E!orsham> for some years, but though' when I ra« member it, in. the- days of goodt Captain Bbreden and the pious Edols, civilisation has not made the progress which Mr Bogle aince reports, I never knew that

•• trappers" lived all along the river, and the tents »>f these wandering sons of Nun* rod may be seen for miles. The horsesof Australia, too, are really remarkable and deserve the attention of Mr Yuille' « They exist," so says my Simtoonds, "in, mobs of thousands." They are all wild but " tbe- drive- to the port of shipment tames tbem/* end when they get to India they are fit for every purpose required,. 1 his accounts, perhaps, for the.pecuiiar excellence of the ei«ars which? Messrs IJaldock and Warre* smoke, while they lament thor perpetual hues in the « romount' export trade. But Mir Simciond-i has not yoc finished bis bjK&et of news. •• Horses admirably adapted for the Indian, market are becoming so nmixmmß in tlia up«cou*try districts that it i» found more profitßblc to shoot them for tho hair and bide 3 than, to- send them to th* city for sale E Sobw stationholders vibw the preseoeo of horse* on their run* as aa absolute WMHroce." j s t j,j s so P Then let tkese »tationholders-fec yetites. erssss—bi M borst up " at onco r 4 man who " regards the presence of a horse on his run. as sn absolute nuisance is too nxirh> for any demeeratre- instincts. And hosv thanfrfui v?e alt skould be, sir, to tl« good gentlemen) of the SoutliKensineton Museum for telling' aU' tiiese interesting &<cts- about themselves- aod>oor csuntry^