out him stirs but
his eyes, they glance uneasily from side to side whilst the head and
every muscle seem immoveable; but the white eyeballs may be seen in rapid
motion, whilst all his faculties are concentrated, and his whole soul is
absorbed in the senses of sight and hearing. His wives, who are at some
distance behind him, the moment they see him assume this attitude fall to
the ground as if they had been shot; their children cower by them, and
their little faces express an earnestness and anxiousness which is far
beyond their years; at length a suppressed whistle is given by one of the
women, which denotes that she sees a kangaroo near her husband. All is
again silence and quietude; and an unpractised European would ride within
a few yards of the group and not perceive a living thing.

Looking about a hundred yards to the right of the native, you will see a
kangaroo erect upon its hind legs and supported by its tail; it is reared
to its utmost height, so that its head is between five and six feet above
the ground--its short fore-paws hang by its side, its ears are pointed,
it is listening as carefully as the native, and you see a little head
peering out from its pouch to enquire what has alarmed its mother; but
the native moves not, you cannot tell whether it is a human being or the
charred trunk of a burnt tree which is before you, and for several
minutes the whole group preserve their relative position; at length the
kangaroo becomes reassured, drops upon its fore-paws, gives an awkward
leap or two, and goes on feeding, the little inhabitant of its pouch
stretching its head farther out, tasting the grass its mother is eating,
and evidently debating whether or not it is safe to venture out of its
resting place and gamble about amongst the green dewy herbage.

Meantime the native moves not until the kangaroo, having two or three
times resumed the attitude of listening, and having like a monkey
scratched its side with its fore-paw, at length once more abandons itself
in perfect security to its feed, and playfully smells and rubs its little
one. Now the watchful savage, keeping his body unmoved, fixes the spear
first in the throwing-stick, and then raises his arms in the attitude of
throwing, from which they are never again moved until the kangaroo dies
or runs away; his spear being properly secured, he advances slowly and
stealthily towards his prey, no part moving but his legs; whenever the
kangaroo looks round he st