MARSUPIALS AND THEIR SKINS.
PRESENT prices will certainly not alter the English feeling that the wearing of fur is a luxury, and' a most expensive one. A series of very severe winters' might force us to change this view, because it would become' evident that to preserve health fur must be worn by men as well as by women, and we should discover, as every one in Northern Europe discovered long ago, that the greater number of furs are not dear but cheap, and that these cheap furs come into the market by millions at a time. This applies to the skins of the musquash, grey squirrel, and hamster, besides which the sheepskins and lambskins, which our nation never has worn, and probably never will consent to wear, except in the far less warm manufactured form, number as many millions more. But far the greatest number of fur- bearing animals killed, though their skins are not all, brought to market, are the marsupials,—the opossums, wombats, kangaroos, and wallabies (smaller kangaroos) of the Australian continent. This ought to be the great reserve of good and cheap far. Yet it is among these creatures that the greatest waste of fur-bearing animals occurs.
Opossum-skin rugs are familiar objects in this country, but the skins of the larger marsupials are rarely seen or used. Yet in many parts of Australia they are now exterminated, partly that their hides may be used for leather, partly to preserve the grass they eat as food for sheep. It is said that 9d. per scalp was paid by Government for each one shot. The large kangaroos and many kinds of wallaby have a coat so close and soft that it will lie in any direction like plush. It consists almost entirely of "under-fur," and the natural tints are very beautiful, some French grey, others warm red, with tints of orange and rose colour, others like rough beaver or nutria skin. The common "opossum" of Australia has a far lees compact though deeper far, which often comes off when much worn, and though the dark Tasmanian variety has a splendid tint, its looseness and depth cause it to harbour dust and make it diffi- cult to clean. Nevertheless the yearly "catch" of opossums beats that of any other fur-animal. It is conducted without sense or moderation, for the creatures are constantly killed in the summer, and the skins, then almost worthless, are shipped to England. The wombats, or "native bears," are also killed off for the sake of their fur, which is used in considerable quantities in this country for making hearth-rugs.
But the whole race and nation of kangaroos, wallaroos, and wallabies are being destroyed without any use being made of ' their fur at all. In Australia a wallaby rug, almost as fine as beaver skin, can be bought for E2. In England we make them into shoe-leather. The demand for this alone threatens to ex- terminate most of the species, just as in time the new material, "electric sealskin "—made from rabbit far—may kill off the plague of Australian rabbits. But in that case we shall have the fur in the form of "electric seal" as a memorial. The growing scarcity of the "great original" of all kangaroos was shown in a practical manner three years ago when the "boxing kangaroo" was in the height of his fame. This animal was said to have earned £20,000 in twelve months, and whether this sum was correctly stated or not, it was admitted at the Royal Aquarium that he had "made more money" than any other animal, more even than the most celebrated racehorses had earned, whether in training or after. Now though this particular "old man" kangaroo boxed every day with a regularity and apparent zeal which would not have discredited a human professional, the secret of this performance lay not in any special teaching of the animal, but in the cleverness by which his owner had noted that a tame kangaroo, when not afraid of his owner, always "boxes" if he is sparred with, putting up his short fore- arms and paws directly the man's hands approach his nose, and retaliating by blows like those which a rabbit gives with its fore-feet. One of the wallabies at the Zoo does exactly the same, and even punches its keeper in the back, if after a round or two he turns to leave the cage. A small fortune was waiting for any one who could get a good large " boomer " kangaroo, reasonably tame, in time to set him boxing before the novelty wore out. But though the great grey kangaroo was quite cheap and common in menageries twenty years ago, it was discovered that the visible supply in Europe had dwindled almost to nothing. The dealers could count the available specimens on the fingers of one hand, and as these were in the gardens of learned societies, they were not for sale. The price rose from the nominal one of £12 to £60. The Dublin Zoo were offered £80 for one which they had bought for E40, and refused the double price. The few speci- mens in the Continental zoological gardens were bought early by speculative showmen, and resold at huge profits ; and a syndicate which was formed later to exhibit a boxing kangaroo in Paris at an engagement of £300 a week had to be broken up because not one could be obtained. Every kangaroo in Europe outside the zoological gardens was " boxing " nightly. By the time some fresh specimens had been obtained in Australia and shipped to England the excitement had sub- sided. But the female " boomer " still costs from e40 to £50, —rather a high price for a creature which was recently being killed off as a troublesome species of vermin.
Our climate snits both the great grey kangaroo and the much scarcer great red kangaroo, and these, with many of the smaller species, are bred in the Zoological Gardens, and are readily acclimatised. The kangaroos, large and small, have something of the adaptability of rabbits, and are at home in most conditions of soil and weather. They are found from the burning plains to the tops of the rocky ranges of the interior, and from the snowy tops of Mount Wellington, in Tasmania, to the forests in the lowest valleys. Damp does not seem to hurt them, yet they will bask for hours in the hottest sun, lying exposed upon the rooks. As early as 1863 John Gould gave it as his opinion that they would "doubtless readily become acclimatised in this country." Recently many large proprietors have taken a fancy to them, and stocked their parks. Sir E. G. Loder has intro- duced the great kangaroo and two species of wallaby into his park at Horsham, Mr. Naylor Leyland has a number at Haggerston Castle in Northumberland, and those kept by Lord Rothschild at Tring have become "common objects" of the district. At large, when feeding or lying on their sides in all kinds of graceful poses, with their " hande" drooping languidly and their large watchful eyes turned in the direction of their visitor, they are almost as pretty as deer ; and the beauty of their fur is far greater than that of most of the cervidw. This may be seen even at the Zoo, where they are kept in very small runs, which give them no adequate room for exercise, and hinder the proper development of their fur. In the great red kangaroo, the far of the male (born in the gardens) is deep, soft, and woolly, a mixture of brick-red and grey. On the throat the colour heightens to a warm rose colour. The fur of the female is a beautiful French grey, and both tints and texture are admirable in both. Of the many species of kangaroo and wallaby living outside the tropical belt of Australia there are few which, if killed at the proper season, would not supply a handsome, warm, and durable lining- fur for coats at a low price. Here, however, kangaroo skins are used solely for leather, japanned boots being largely made from them, and the fur is scraped off and mixed with other " oddments " which form material for felt. Six thousand five hundred bales of kangaroo skins were bought for this purpose at a single sale in the middle of the present month, and with them those of eighty-five thousand wallabies and fifty-five thousand wombats, or "native bears." At another sale over one hundred thousand wallaby skins and seventy - three thousand wombat skins were offered, the former being only half the number accumu- lated for the corresponding sale of the year before.
To point out that the marsupial ought to have a value as fur-bearing animals may not lead to any less wholesale destruction than goes on at present. There is no surer way to diminish the quantity of any natural product than to create a demand for it in Europe. In the early days they were killed by the squatters and not even skinned. The carcases were left to rot. Later, they have been slaughtered partly as vermin, partly for the sake of the leather. In the future, it may be hoped that if it be necessary to kill them, they will be hunted when the fur is in condition, and that the stock of handsome, warm, and inexpensive fur of the larger mar- supials will find a place among the regular winter clothing of English wearers.
Previous page
