1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 167 



by their fires that they were retired at least six miles 

 directly inland. 



As Mr. Banks was again gleaning the country for 

 his Natural History, on the 26th he had the good 

 fortune to take an animal of the Opossum tribe : it 

 was a female, and with it he took two young ones : 

 it was found much to resemble the remarkable animal 

 of the kind, which Mons. de Buffon has described in 

 his Natural History by the name of Phalanger, but 

 it was not the same. Mons. Buffon supposes this tribe 

 to be peculiar to America, but in this he is certainly 

 mistaken ; and, probably, as Pallas has observed in 

 his Zoology, the Phalanger itself is a native of the 

 East Indies, as the animal which was caught by Mr. 

 Banks resembled it in the extraordinary conform- 

 ation of the feet, in which it differs from animals of 

 every other tribe. 



On the 27th Mr. Gore shot a kanguroo, which, with 

 the skin, entrails, and head, weighed eighty-four 

 pounds. Upon examination, however, we found that 

 this animal was not at its full growth, the innermost 

 grinders not being yet formed. We dressed it for 

 dinner the next day, but to our great disappointment, 

 we found it had a much worse flavour than that we 

 had eaten before. 



The wind continued in the same quarter, and with 

 the same violence, till five o'clock in the morning 

 of the 29th, when it fell calm ; soon after a light 

 breeze sprung up from the land, and it being about 

 two hours' ebb, I sent a boat to see what water was 

 upon the bar ; in the mean time we got the anchor 

 up, and made all ready to put to sea. But when the 

 boat came back, the officer reported that there was 

 only thirteen feet water upon the bar, which was six 

 inches less than the ship drew. We were therefore 

 obliged to come to, and the sea-breeze setting m 

 again about eight o'clock, we gave up all hope of 

 sailing that day. 



m 4 



