316 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
me ; ieee 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 
BROWN TREE-KANGAROO was originally spelt, implied some form of 
This species represents the group in North Queensland 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 Axdeavour'’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 interpre- 
tation to the kangaroo, and bearing in mind the fondness of the Australian native to duplicate 
his name-words or syllables — e. g. wagga -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 Eudeavour'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 in one of the English Parks, Woburn Abbey, and 
elsewhere, where 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.” 
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S, 
