32 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



safety all good men pray, was one. Next morn- 

 ing a number of dark-brown kanguroos were ob- 

 served peaceably feeding upon a grass-plat by the 

 side of a wood, and the landing of Captain Flin- 

 ders and his party gave the unsuspecting animals 

 no disturbance. 



I (writes the captain) had with me a double- 

 barrelled gun, fitted with a bayonet, and the gentle- 

 men, my companions, had muskets. It would be 

 difficult to guess how many kanguroos were seen ; 

 but I killed ten, and the rest of the party made up 

 the number to thirty-one, taken on board in the 

 course of the day the least of them weighing 

 sixty-nine, and the largest one hundred and twenty- 

 five pounds. These kanguroos had much resem- 

 blance to the larger species found in the forest lands 

 of New South Wales ; except that their color was 

 darker, and they were not wholly destitute of fat. 



The captain records this slaughter with some 

 compunction. 



After this butchery, for the poor animals suffered 

 themselves to be shot in the eyes with small shot, 

 and in some cases to be knocked on the head with 

 sticks, I scrambled with difficulty through the 

 brushwood, and over fallen trees, to reach the 

 higher land with the surveying instruments ; but 

 the thickness and height of the wood prevented any- 

 thing else from being distinguished. There was 

 little doubt, however, that this extensive piece of 

 land was separated from the continent ; for the 

 extraordinary lameness of the kanguroos, and the 

 presence of seals upon the shore, concurred with 

 the absence of all traces of men to show that it was 

 not inhabited. 



But the sheep now walks where the kanguroo 

 formerly bounded, and the wedge-tailed destroyer 

 makes terrible havoc with the lambs. Not that it 



will refuse carrion ; fbr Mr. Gould, during one of 

 his journeys into the interior to the northward of 

 Liverpool Plains, saw no less than thirty or forty 

 assembled together round the carcass of a dead 

 bullock; some, gorged to the full, perched upon 

 the neighboring trees, the rest still in the enjoy- 

 ment of the feast. And he adds, that for the sake 

 of the refuse thrown away by the kanguroo hunt- 

 ers it will often follow them for many miles, and 

 even for days together. 



The nests observed by the same scientific trav- 

 eller were placed in the most inaccessible trees, 

 were very large, nearly flat, and built of sticks and 

 boughs. The eggs he never could procure. 



One word more, friendly reader, and you shall 

 be left to more instructive and attractive matter. 

 The. latest news from Egypt reports the young 

 hippopotamus to be thriving and waxing strong, but 

 more good-natured and amiable than ever. His 

 teeth are advancing ; he takes his rice and meal 

 with such a hearty good will that his allowance 

 of milk to the great comfort, no doubt, of the 

 good people of Cairo, who must have had some 

 fears of a famine of that nutritious beverage is 

 reduced to fifty pints a day ; and this Brobdignag 

 baby has contrived to win good Mr. Murray's 

 heart so effectually, that it is hoped he may em- 

 bark for England, with his huge pet, somewhere 

 about the 10th of May next, by which time it is 

 expected that the infant's daily stint may be com- 

 fortably lowered to twenty-five pints. And so, 

 farewell for the present. Before these notes 

 meet your eye the groves and gardens will be 

 vocal, and rejoicing nature will be glowing under 

 the influence of spring 



Cum Zephyris et hirundine prima. 



