Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/294

nor any effort to escape, not even a struggle. Its countenance was placid and undisturbed, and it seemed as contented, as if it had been nursed by Mr. Bass from its infancy. He carried the beast upwards of a mile, and often shifted him from arm to arm, sometimes laying him upon his shoulder, all of which he took in good part; until, being obliged to secure his legs, while he went into the bush to cut a specimen of a new wood, the creature’s anger arose with the pinching of the twine; he whizzed with all his might, kicked and scratched most furiously, and snapped off a piece from the elbow of Mr. Bass’s jacket with his grass-cutting teeth. Their friendship was here at an end, and the creature remained implacable all the way to the boat, ceasing to kick only when he was exhausted. This circumstance seems to indicate that, with kind treatment the Wombat might soon be rendered extremely docile; but let his tutor beware of giving him provocation, at least if he should be full-grown. Besides Furneaux’s Islands, the Wombat inhabits, as has been seen, the mountains to the westward of Port Jackson. In both these places its habitation is underground, [the animal] being admirably formed for burrowing; but to what depth it descends does not seem to be ascertained. According to the account given of it by the natives, the Wombat of the mountains is never seen during the day, but lives retired in his hole; feeding only in the night; but that of the islands is seen to feed in all parts of the day. His food is not yet well known; but it seems probable that he varies it according to the situation in which he may be placed. The stomachs of such as Mr.