i8 THE LIFE OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS 



enough, he seldom ventured into print for public reading 

 with the exception of a few horticultural or agricultural 

 papers. 



Vast additions were revealed to European knowledge 

 of the plants, and the birds, and the fish, of tropical and 

 sub-tropical climes. Much of this accession of material 

 to Natural Science has been assimilated from time to 

 time ; only experts know very much about the details of 

 its source. Perhaps their greatest " wonder " was the 

 Kangooroo. The ship's company were interested to excite- 

 ment over this strange creature. Sometimes they made 

 it an object of pursuit when out in search of game. 

 Its movements upon the hind-legs, with a strange sort of 

 jump or hop, did not seem to lack speed ; for, on the 

 ship's greyhound being brought out to the chase, it could 

 not outstrip the Kangooroo. 1 Banks's manuscript 

 journal records faithfully the places whence he derived his 

 botanical treasures. The actual Herbarium reposes in 

 safety in the Natural History Museum at South Kensing- 

 ton. 



A noticeable feature of this voyage was the general 

 good health maintained by the ship's company until they 

 reached Batavia. This was very much due to their 

 ability to get fresh and wholesome food whenever they 

 communicated with the shore. The captain was able 

 to give away his live stock when occasion offered, and 



1 A certain journal of high reputation, in reviewing Dr. Hooker's 

 Banks's Journal, remarked that " Dampier recorded, in 1697, how he 

 had eaten a sort of racoon with very short fore-legs, on the west coast of 

 Australia. It is a curious fact that the English, so ready to suspect 

 foreigners of taking advantage of their discoveries, are not always so 

 ready to give their neighbours all the credit due to them." This is both 

 unjust and in bad taste. The idea that the average Englishman ignores 

 the merits of the wise and clever men of other countries is a journalese 

 fallacy rather in vogue of late years. There has never been a people 

 so generous to the foreigner as the English. If this sarcastic allegation, 

 however, must needs be flourished once in a while, the very last person 

 to be chosen for exemplification should be Joseph Banks. 



Besides, Dampier was no foreigner ! He was an Englishman, native 

 of Somerset. 



