352 



The Living Animals of the World 



Some considerable amount of obscurity is 

 associated with the prime origin of the animal's 

 almost world-wide title of "Kangaroo." It is 

 most commonly accepted as representing the 

 native name for the creature in that Queens- 

 land district from whence it was first reported 

 by Captain Cook. No later investigations and 

 enquiries have, however, in any way established 

 the correctness of this hypothesis, those ex- 

 plorers who have made a special study of the 

 dialects and habits of the aboriginal inhabitants 

 entirely failing to elicit anything even remotely 

 coinciding with the name in question. It has, 

 in fact, been reluctantly concluded by one of 

 the most experienced Queensland authorities 

 on these matters that the name originated 

 as a mere miscomprehension of the information 

 elicited from the natives. Verbal communi- 

 cation with the native tribes under the most 

 favourable circumstances is liable to a vast 

 amount of misunderstanding, and where other 

 than linguistic experts are present it frequently 

 happens that much mongrel or "pidgin 

 English " gets mixed up with the native terms. 

 Assuming this to have been the case in the 

 present instance, it has been suggested that 

 the name of Kangaroo, or " Kanguroo," as it 

 was originally spelt, implied some form of 

 negation of the knowledge which the enquiring 

 white man was seeking to elicit, or, maybe, 



partly even a phonetic and parrot-like repetition of the constantly recurring query that was doubt- 

 less current among the " handy men " of the Endeavour's commission, such as " Can you " tell 

 me this or that concerning the many unfamiliar objects that greeted the eyes of the new arrivals 

 in this strange land. The writer retains a vivid recollection of a closely analogous manner in 

 which the rural inhabitants of Vigo Bay, on the Spanish coast, appropriated a common phrase 

 used by the crew of the yacht with whom he landed there. Having evidently noted that the 

 two words " I say " prefaced the majority of Jack-tar's speeches, this catch-phrase was adopted and 

 applied by them as a greeting and as a reply to almost every interrogation in dumb-show or 

 otherwise that was addressed to them. An unknown animal submitted to these rustic Solons 

 would doubtless have been dubbed the " I say " ; and had the land been a new one say, some- 

 where in the South Seas that name would probably have stuck to it. Applying this interpretation 

 to the kangaroo, and bearing in mind the fondness of the Australian native to duplicate his 

 name-words or syllables e.g. ivagga-wagga, debil-debil, and so forth the " Kang-you-you " or 

 a closely resembling phonetic expression would present itself to the native mind as a much 

 more correct rendering of the simpler " Can you " or " Kang you " which he had picked up 

 as a catch-phrase from the Endeavour's crew. In the absence, at all events, of any more 

 rational interpretation of the mystery, this one would seem to merit consideration. 



While the kangaroo is being speedily dethroned from the dominant position it originally 

 occupied in the indigenous Australian fauna, praiseworthy and highly successful attempts have 

 been made to acclimatise this marsupial on British soil. At Tring Park, Lord Kothschild's estate, 

 Woburn Abbey, and elsewhere, troops of these graceful creatures may be seen under conditions of 

 happiness and liberty scarcely inferior to those by which they are environed in their native " bush." 



ffioto by W. Savillc-Kcnt, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea. 



BBOWX TREE- KANGAROO. 

 This species represents the group in Xorth Queensland. 



