NEW HO 
part of the land, all the trees, and all the grafies, referable 
one another. There is, however, an animal which re- 
fembles nothing in the creation but itfelf; a quadruped 
with the beak of a bird. When the head of one of thefe 
beafts was brought to the late Dr. Shaw, of the Britiili 
Mufeum, he fufpefled it as an idle attempt to impofe on 
his judgment, and did not liaflily believe that nature had 
fet the bill of a duck on the head of a quadruped ; but 
fo it has fince proved to be the cafe. It wasfirft regarded 
as an amphibious animal, from its refemblance, about the 
head, to a duck; and was defcribed by Mr. Home, in 
the Phil. Tranf. 1801, under the name Ornithorhynchus 
paradoxus; but it is now called Platypus anatinus, 
which fee. 
The birds are no lefs lingular than the beads, there 
being black fwans and white eagles; the former every¬ 
where in fuch multitudes as to Ijpoil a proverb that had 
held good for two thoufand years; and their fong, if we 
may credit Mr. Bafs, “ exactly relembles the creaking of 
a rufty fign on a windy day.” The Maenura fuperba, 
with its fcalloped tail-feathers, is perhaps the molt lingu¬ 
lar and beautiful of that very elegant race of birds known 
by the name of birds of paradife ; cockatoos, parrots, and 
parroquets, are innumerable, and of great variety. The 
mountain-eagle is a magnificent creature; but the emu is 
perhaps the tailed and loftieft bird that exifts, many of 
them danding full feven feet high. 
Of the infedl-tribe, the principal are .the mufquito and 
various kinds of ants. The green ants form their neds in 
a very curious manner, by bending down the leaves of 
trees, and glueing the ends of them together fo as to form 
a purfe. Though thefe leaves are as broad as a man’s 
hand, they perform this feat by main drength, thoufands 
of them being employed in holding down the leaves, 
while multitudes of others apply the glutinous matter. 
Captain Cook’s people afeertained that this was the cafe, 
by fometimes dilturbing them at their work ; in which 
cafe the leaf always fprung up with an eladicity wdiich 
they could not have fuppofed that fuch minute infedls 
were capable of overcoming. For this curiofity, how¬ 
ever, they fmarted pretty feverely; for thoufands of thefe 
little enemies indantly threw themfelves upon the ag- 
greffors, and revenged themfelves by their bites or dings 
for the interruption they had met with. Thefe were lit¬ 
tle lefs painful at fird than the ding of a bee; but the pain 
did not lad above a minute. Another fpecies of ants 
burrow themfelves in the root of a plant which grows on 
the bark of trees like the midetoe, and which is com¬ 
monly as big as a large turnip. When this is cut, it ap¬ 
pears interfered with innumerable winding paflages all 
filled with thefe animals ; notwitlidanding which, the ve¬ 
getation of the plant fullers no injury. Thefe do not 
give pain by their dings, but produce an intolerable itch¬ 
ing by crawling along on the Ikin. They are about the 
fixe of the fmall red ant in this country. Another lort, 
which do not moled in any manner, referable the white 
ants of the Bad Indies. They conftrudl neds three or 
four times as big as a man’s head on the branches of 
trees; the outfide being compofed of fome vegetable 
matter along with a glutinous fubdance. On breaking 
the outer cruds of thefe hives, innumerable cells appear 
fwarming with inhabitants, in a great variety of winding 
direftions, all communicating with each other, and with 
feveral other neds upon the fame tree. They have alfo 
another houfe built on the ground, generally at the root 
of a tree ; formed like an irregularly-fided cone; fome¬ 
times more than fix feet high, and nearly as much in dia¬ 
meter. The outfide of thefe is well-tempered clay about 
two inches thick ; and within are the cells, which have 
no opening outward. One of thefe is their fummer, and 
the other their winter, dwelling, communicating with each 
other by a large avenue leading to the ground, and by a 
fubterraneous paffage. The ground-druftures are proof 
againd wet, which thofe on the branches are not. 
The number of inhabitants in this country feems to be 
Vo L. XVI. No. 115-3. 
LLAND. 7GO 
very fmall in proportion to'its extent. The immenfe 
trail of the interior country remains unexplored ; but 
there is reafon to believe that it is either wholly defoiate, 
or more thinly inhabited than the parts vifited by Cook 
and his companions. The prefumption againd its being- 
much inhabited is drengthened by the total want of culti¬ 
vation. The men were.of a middle fize, and in general 
well-made, clean-limbed, vigorous, active, and nimble : 
their countenaces were not wholly without expredion, 
and their voices remarkably foft and effeminate. The 
colour of the Ikin could not be well afeertained, on ac¬ 
count of the dirt which uniformly covered it: with the 
dirt, it was as black as that of a negro, but, without it, 
fuppofed to be of a chocolate-colour. In other refpefts 
the accounts of our navigators materially differ from that 
of Dampier. They inform us that the features are not 
difagreeable, that their nofes are not fiat, and that their 
lips are not thick : their teeth are white and even, and 
their hair naturally long and black, though univerfaliy 
cropped fiiort, and always matted and filthy; their beards 
are bufhy and thick, but not fullered to grow long : both 
the hair and beard feerned to be kept fhort by fingeing 
them. Both fexes go naked, without any apparent fenie 
of indecency. Their principal ornament is the bone 
which they thrull through the cartilage that leparates the 
noltrils : it is as thick as a man’s finger, and, being five or 
fix inches long, reaches quite acrofs the face, and is an 
impediment both to their breathing and lpeaking. They 
had alfo necklaces made of lliells, neatly cut and ftrung 
together: bracelets of fmall cord, twilled two or three 
times round the arm, and a firing of plaited human hair 
round the waift. They paint their bodies both white and 
red, the latter forming broad patches upon the Ihoulders 
and bread, and the former being drawn in ftripes over 
various parts of their bodies. Thefe people had no idea 
of traffic : they received what was given them, but had 
no idea of making a return ; nor did they feem to have 
any difpofition to Heal ; but, if they were refufed what 
they alked for, e. g. a turtle, they were enraged, and en¬ 
deavoured to take it by force. On their bodies were vifi- 
ble fears, inflifted by blunt inftruments, and which were 
underftood to be memorials of grief for the dead. They 
appeared to have no fixed habitations, nor was there any 
trace of a town or village in the country. Their houfes, 
when they had any, were mere hovels, conftrudted with 
pliable rods, and covered with leaves of palm or broad 
pieces of bark; but, in general, they llept without any 
fhelter, except the bullies, orgrafs, which is here near two 
feet high. Their filh-hooks are neatly made ; and their 
lines, made of fome vegetable fubftance, are from the 
thicknefs of a half-inch rope to the finenefs of a hair. 
Their chief food is filli, and they occafionally kill a kan¬ 
garoo and fome birds : the only vegetable that forms an 
article of food is the yam. They drefs their animal food 
by boiling, broiling, or baking, it. As they have no nets, 
they catch filli only by llicking with an inftrumeut of 
wood adapted to the purpofe, or with a hook and line. 
They produce fire with facility, and fpread it in a wonder¬ 
ful manner. To produce it, they take two pieces of dry 
foft v.’ood, one being a Hick about eight or nine inches 
long, and the other a flat piece : the former is fhaped into 
an obtufe point at one end, and preffing it upon the other; 
they turn it nimbly by holding it between both their 
hands, as we do a chocolate-mill, often fluffing their 
hands up and down, to increafe the prefiure. By this 
method they get fire in lets than two minutes; and then 
fpread it by means of the dry gj'afs. The weapons of 
this people are fpears, or lances, of different kinds, pointed 
with bone or fliells, and barbed; and they throw them 
with great force and dexterity, either by the hand for 
fhort diftances, or with an inftrument contrived for that 
purpofe : they have alfo fliields or targets made of the 
bark of a tree. Their canoes are as rudely conftrudted as 
their houfes, of bark, or the trunk of a tree hollowed, pro¬ 
bably by fire. They are moved with a pole or paddles, 
* 9 K and 
