1770. ROUND THE WOULD. 159 



the cut, plate XX, without which, the most accurate 

 verbal description would answer very little purpose, 

 as it has not similitude enough to any animal already 

 known, to admit of illustration by reference, in 

 form, it is most like the gerbua, which it also re- 

 sembles in its motion, as has been observed already, 

 but it greatly differs in size, the gerbua not being 

 larger than a common rat, and this animal, when 

 full grown, being as big as a sheep : this individual 

 was a young one, much under its full growth, weigh- 

 ing only thirty-eight pounds. The head, neck, and 

 shoulders, are very small in proportion to the other 

 parts of the body j the tail is nearly as long as the 

 body, thick near the rump, and tapering towards 

 the end : the fore-legs of this individual were only 

 eight inches long, and the hind-legs two and twenty : 

 its progress is by successive leaps or hops, of a great 

 length, in an erect posture ; the fore-legs are kept 

 bent close to the breast, and seemed to be of use 

 only for digging : the skin is covered with a short 

 fur, of a dark mouse or grey colour, excepting the 

 head and ears, which bear a slight resemblance to 

 those of a hare. This animal is called by the na- 

 tives Kanguroo. 



The next day, our kanguroo was dressed for 

 dinner, and proved most excellent meat ; we might 

 now indeed be said to fare sumptuously every day, 

 for we had turtle in great plenty, and we all agreed 

 that they were much better than any we had tasted 

 in England, which we imputed to their being eaten 

 fresh from the sea, before their natural fat had been 

 wasted, or their juices changed by a diet and situa- 

 tion so different from what the sea affords them, as 

 garbage and a tub. Most of those that we caught 

 here, were of the kind called green turtle, and weigh- 

 ed from two to three hundred weight, and when 

 these were killed, they were always found to be full 

 of turtle grass, which our naturalists took to be a 

 kind of conferva : two of them were logger-heads, 



