Kanguroo Island.] TERRA AUSTRALIS. 169 
N. 6i° W., six leagues. A piece of high land, seemingly uncon- ]802 - 
nected, bore from N. 45 0 to 78 0 E. ; but no land could be distin- Sunday 21. 
guished to the northward. 
Neither smokes, nor other marks of inhabitants had as yet 
been perceived upon the southern land, although we had passed along 
seventy miles of its coast. It was too late to go on shore this evening ; 
but every glass in the ship was pointed there, to see what could be 
discovered. Several black lumps, like rocks, were pretended to 
have been seen in motion by some of the young gentlemen, which 
caused the force of their imaginations to be much admired ; next 
morning, however, on going toward the shore, a number of dark- Monday 22. 
brown kanguroos were seen feeding upon a grass plat by the side 
of the wood ; and our landing gave them no disturbance. I had 
with me a double-barrelled gun, fitted with a bayonet, and the gen- 
tlemen my companions had muskets. It would be difficult to guess 
how many kanguroos were seen ; but I killed ten, and the rest of 
of the party made up the number to thirty-one, taken on board in 
the course of the day ; the least of them weighing sixty-nine, and 
the largest one hundred and twenty-five pounds. These kanguroos 
bad much resemblance to the large species found in the forest lands 
of New South Wales ; except that their colour was darker, and they 
were not wholly destitute of fat. 
After this butchery, for the poor animals suffered themselves 
tabe shot in the eyes with small shot, and in some cases to be 
knocked on the head with sticks, I scrambled with difficulty through 
the brush wood, and over fallen trees, to reach the higher land with 
the surveying instruments ; but the thickness and height of the 
wood prevented any thing else from being distinguished. There 
was little doubt, however, that this extensive piece of land was sepa- 
rated from the continent ; for the extraordinary tameness of the 
kanguroos and the presence of seals upon the shore, concurred with 
the absence of all traces of men to show that it was not inhabited. 
The whole ship's company was employed this afternoon, in 
