BACK FROM THE WILDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1922, Page 5

BACK FROM THE WILDS.

NORTHERN AUSTRALIA. TREE-CLIMBING KANGAROO. GIANT CARPET SNAKES. A native of the North of England who steps out into the wilderness simply to revel in the tangled glories of nature and admire its beautiful creatures, has returned from Northern Queensland with many interesting tales to tell, says a Sydney paper. Captain Greenhills haa disproved the theory that the rare tree-climbing kangaroo cannot exist in captivity. Recently he heard of one that had been kept for two years, and he got it. The animal’s only obsessions are to eat and climb. It gulps fruit, vegetables, and even a lighted cigar or two, with the greatest relish. An offer of £lOO had been made to the captain if he could obtain one of these animals, and Captain Greenhills found it. The natives catch the elusive treeclimber by squatting under the tree on which he is perched and waiting patiently till sundown, when he descends and is pounced upon. He is not nearly as big as his brother —the kangaroo. The Ravenshoe district, explained the captain, abounds with platypuses, but what gave the captain the surprise of his life was the discovery there of green opposums, in addition to the commoner red and grey types. He also encountered a beautiful bird as large as a. fowl, for which he could not give a name. Captain Greenhills spoke of ca.'pet snakes. He had caught one 19ft. long, but it was badly handled and died. “Is the carpet snake poisonous? Well, it has several rows of teeth, and when it bites it leaves teeth in the flesh. These becomes black dots, wihch later fester. I was bitten. “If the carpet snake gets any larger it will be as dangerous as a boa-con-strictor. From a native’s explanation of the size of one he had caught 1 guessed it must have been 30ft. long. Of course, everyone knows the carpet snake crushes its prey.” Crocodiles—always miscalled alligators in the North —formed the captain’s next subject. He made a special trip to Queensland to hunt them. The bait was a kid. which, when snapped at, released a bent sapling, which, in turn, dropped a noose around the “alligator’s” head, thus swinging it high into the air. Up in the Halifax country they had a 14-footer, with five smaller ones, in captivity.