377 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE KANGAROO. 
ever, as in all the hoofed beasts, all the four limbs (front as 
well as hind) are exclusively used for locomotion. But in kan- 
garoos we have animals requiring to use their front pair of 
limbs for purposes of more or less delicate manipulation with 
respect to the economy of the “ pouch.” Accordingly, for such 
creatures to be able to inhabit such a country, the hind pair of 
limbs must by themselves be fitted alone to answer the purpose 
of both the front and hind limbs of deer and antelopes. It 
would seem, then, that the peculiar structure of the kangaroo’s 
limbs is of the greatest utility to it ; the front pair serving 
as prehensile manipulating organs, while the hind pair are, by 
themselves alone, able to carry the animal great distances 
with rapidity, and so to traverse wide arid plains in pursuit 
of rare and distant water. The harmony between structure, 
habit, and climate was long ago pointed out by Professor 
Owen. 
The kangaroo breeds freely in this country, producing one at 
a birth. We have young ones every year in our Zoological 
Gardens. A large number of them are reared to maturity, and 
altogether our kangaroos thrive and do well. One born in our 
gardens was lately in the habit of still entering the pouch of its 
mother, although itself bearing a very young one within its own 
pouch. These animals have been already more or less acclima- 
tized in England. I have myself seen them in grounds at 
Glastonbury Abbey. Some were so kept in the open by Lord 
Hill, and some by the Duke of Marlborough. A very fine herd 
is now at liberty in a park near Tours, in France. 
It is a little more than one hundred and five years since the 
kangaroo was first distinctly seen by English observers. 
At the recommendation and request of the Royal Society, 
Captain (then Lieutenant) Cook set sail in May 1768, in the 
ship Endeavour, on a voyage of exploration, and for the 
observation of the transit of Venus of the year 1769, which 
transit the travellers observed, from the Society Islands, on 
June 3 in that year. 
In the spring of the following year the ship started from 
New Zealand to the eastern coast of New Holland, visiting, 
amongst other places, a spot which, on account of the number 
of plants found there by Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks, 
received the name of Botany Bay. Afterwards, when detained 
in Endeavour River (about 15° S. lat.) by the need of repairing 
a hole made in the vessel by a rock (part of which, fortunately, 
itself stuck in the hole it made), Captain Cook tells us that 
on Friday, June 22, 1770, “Some of the people were sent on 
the other side of the water, to shoot pigeons for the sick, who 
at their return reported that they had seen an animal, as large 
as a greyhound, of a slender make, a mouse-colour, and extremely 
