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the critical part of the climb.Here it was necessary in all trees to cut two steps, one to right and one to left, opposite one another and a little deeper than usual. The blackfellow then detached the vine from his big toe and right leg and placing a toe in each notch, brought his body upright with chest close against the trunk and chin almost touching it, and his arms round the trunk as far as possible, still holding the vine in each hand. He then, very carefully and cautiously, let go with his left hand of the vine loop and jerked it gently up with his right to get the loop over or above the fork. Sometimes this took several tries but a certain stiffness in the vine, not found in a hempen rope, enabled it to be done and, the loop regrasped, a stiff scramble brought the triumphant climber into the fork. The muscular exertion, accurate balance, and nerve necessary for such a feat were great and the black athlete generally rested a moment or two in the fork before continuing to climb up amongst the branches. To locate a possum he broke off a light branch and thrust it down any likely hollow until it met some obstruction. In withdrawing it he knew that if some fur adhered to the jagged end of the stick his game was there and that he had not been poking rotten wood. He then measured the distance on outside of the branch and after cutting a hole, hauled out the little animal by

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