THE KANGAEOO. 
The discovery of the kangaroo was made by Captain 
Cook during his first voyage in New South Wales. The 
wonder and astonishment of that great traveller must 
have been great on his beholding, for the first time, the 
extraordinary movements of this, to him, new animal. 
Its size (he met Avith the Macropus gigctnteus), its form 
and general appearance, its mode of progression, unlike 
that of most quadrupeds, hopping or jumping more like 
a large bird than moving like a mammal, would be 
calculated to produce, for a Avhile, upon the observer a 
strange feeling of bewilderment. Notwithstanding that 
kangaroos are now common all over Europe, in every 
menagerie, in all the zoological gardens, are figured and 
described in books and works upon Natural History, and 
alluded to and talked of everywhere, yet the same strange 
feeling of surprise and astonishment is exhibited by every 
person who for the first time sees a living kangaroo ; and 
the wonderment is greatly increased if, by chance, they 
see the head or legs of a young one protruding from the 
pouch of a female. This feeling of astonishment appears 
almost universal, much in the same way as the fear of 
snakes prevails among us, as a rule. 
The cause Avas probably the recency of the discovery 
of kangaroos. People living in London, and Avho have the 
opportunity of seeing and knoAving all the discoveries that 
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