A MOMENTOUS DECISION: DISCOVERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 3 1 
Banks’ trip was purely coastal. He hardly went more than a few 
miles from the beach in any place, so that the true nature of the 
country could not have been known to him from personal experience. 
The richness of the soil of a country is not usually evident from the 
sea. In spite, however, of the limitations of his own knowledge of 
the country, it is remarkable how persistently and consistently Banks 
spoke, in terms of cheerv optimism, of the future that lay before 
“ New Holland.” 
No. 20. — The Cook .Monument, Cooktown, Queensl.\nd. 
Besides collecting a very large number of plants and vegetable 
products. Banks gave special attention to the economic botany of 
the country, chiefly from the point of view of esculents. | 144 
Thus he notes various plants the crew of the “ Endeavour ” ate 
as substitutes for spinach or cabbage as “ Indian Kale ” {Colocasia), 
Red-flowered purslane ” (Sesuvium), “ Beans ” (probably Canavalia), 
“ Parsley ” (Apium), “ Spinach ” (Tetragonia). Amongst the fruits 
he notices a native cherry [Eugenia), a native fig (Ficus), a plum 
(Spondias), and wild plantains. Then he makes observations on 
certain palms and cycads, and a few on timbers. 
