N the log-book of 

 Captain Cook's 

 first voyage 

 around the world 

 we find it re- 



Stalkinz a Kangaroo. i i i \ , /* T i 



corded, under date or July 

 14, 1770, that "Mr. Gore, who went out 

 this day with his gun, had the good for- 

 tune to kill one of the animals which had 

 been so much the subject of our specu- 

 lation, . . . and which is called by the 

 natives kanguroo." This specimen (so 

 fortunately killed by Mr. Gore) was in 

 all probability the first kangaroo ever 

 brought down by the gun of the white 

 man; but, apart from the question of 

 its priority, the feat could scarcely have 

 been otherwise remarkable, for at that 

 time Australia swarmed from end to end 

 with countless millions of these curious 

 creatures. Not one of its desolate plains 

 167 



