CHAPTER XVI 

 A TALK ABOUT KANGAROOS 



A CENTURY and a half has elapsed since 

 Captain Cook and his party of navigators, 

 when stationed at the Endeavour River, New 

 South Wales, reported the discovery of a strange 

 and unknown animal that sat up on its hind legs 

 and moved along by successive long leaps. 



We can well imagine the astonishment of the men 

 when they first set eyes on the creature now known 

 as the kangaroo, but nowadays we have become so 

 accustomed to seeing them in Zoological Gardens 

 and Parks that we are apt to regard them as more 

 or less commonplace, and to overlook the fact that 

 they are to be numbered amongst the most wonderful 

 members of the animal creation. 



The general appearance of a kangaroo is so well 

 known that a detailed description is hardly necessary. 

 Special attention, however, should be drawn to the 

 hind feet, which are of a very specialised structure, 

 the fourth and fifth, or two outermost toes, being 

 the only ones that are visible externally, while 

 the great toe is absent, and the remaining two are 

 little more than slender rods, that are entirely 



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