a small village, consisting of about six or eight houses; and while we were preparing to hoist out the boat, we saw an old woman, followed by three children, come out of the woods. She was loaded with firewood, and each of the children had also its little burden. When she came to the houses, three other children, younger than the rest, came out to meet her; she often looked at the ship, but expressed neither fear nor surprise. In a short time she kindled a fire, and the four canoes came in from fishing. The men landed, and having hauled up their boats, began to dress their dinner, to all appearance wholly unconcerned about us, though we were within half a mile of them. We thought it remarkable, that of all the people we had yet seen, not one had the least appearance of clothing.

After dinner, the boats were manned, and we set out from the ship, having Tupia of our party. We intended to land where we saw the people, and began to hope that, as they had so little regarded the ship's coming into the bay, they would as little regard our coming on shore. In this, however, we were disappointed, for as soon as we approached the rocks, two of the men came down upon them to dispute our landing, and the rest ran away. Each of these champions was armed with a lance about ten feet long, and a short stick, which he seemed to handle as if it were a machine to assist him in managing the weapon or throwing it. They called to us in a very loud tone, and in a harsh dissonant language, of which neither we nor Tupia understood a single word. They brandished their weapons, and seemed resolved to defend their coast to the uttermost, though they were but two, and we were forty. I could not but admire their courage, and being very unwilling that hostilities should commence with such inequality of force between us, I ordered the boat to lie

upon her oars. We then parleyed by signs for about a quarter of an hour; and to bespeak their good-will I threw them nails, beads, and other trifles, which they took up and seemed to be well pleased with. I then made signs that I wanted water, and by all the means that I could devise, endeavoured to convince them that we would do them no harm. They now waved to us, and I was willing to interpret it as an invitation; but upon our putting the boat in, they came again to oppose us. One appeared to be a youth about nineteen or twenty, and the other a man of middle age. As I had now no other resource I fired a musket between them. At the report, the youngest dropped a bundle of lances upon the rock, but, recollecting himself in an instant, he snatched them up again with great haste; a stone was then thrown at us; upon which I ordered a musket to be fired with small shot, which struck the eldest upon the legs, and he immediately ran to one of the houses, which was distant about one hundred yards. I now hoped that our contest was over, and we immediately landed; but we had scarcely left the boat when he returned, and we then perceived that he had retreated only to fetch a shield or target for his defence. As soon as he came up he threw a lance at us, and his comrade another; they fell where we stood thickest, but happily hurt nobody. A third musket, charged with small shot, was then fired at them, upon which one of them threw another lance, and both retired with precipitation. We immediately repaired to their huts, in one of which we found the children, who had hidden themselves behind a shield and some bark. We peeped at them, but left them in their retreat without their knowing that they had been discovered, and we threw into the house, when we went away, some beads, ribbons, pieces of cloth, and other pre

sents, which we hoped would procure us the good-will of the inhabitants, when they should return. But the lances which we found lying about we took away with us, to the number of about fifty. They were from six to fifteen feet long, and they had each four prongs.

The next morning before daybreak, the natives came down to the houses that were abreast of the ship, and were frequently heard to shout very loud. As soon as it was light they were seen walking along the beach, but soon after, they retired to the woods, where, at the distance of about a mile from the shore, they kindled several fires.

Our people then went on shore, and with them Mr Banks and Dr Solander, who, in search of plants, repaired straightway to the woods. Our men who were employed in cutting grass being the farthest removed from the main body of our people, a company of fourteen or fifteen natives advanced towards them, having sticks in their hands, which, according to the report of the sergeant of the marines, shone like muskets. The grass-cutters, upon seeing them approach, drew together, and moved off to join the main body. The natives, being encouraged by this appearance of a flight, pursued them; they stopped, however, when they were within about a furlong of them, and after shouting several times, went back into the woods.

During my stay in this harbour, I caused the English colours to be displayed on shore every day, and the ship's name and the date of the year to be inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering-place.

At daybreak, on Sunday the 6th of May 1770, we set sail from Botany Bay, and steered along the shore; and at noon, being distant two or three miles from the shore, we were abreast of a bay or harbour, in which there appeared to be good anchorage, and which I named Port Jackson.

THE KANGAROO AND THE EMU.

THE KANGAROO.

THE extraordinary animal, the Kangaroo, is peculiar to Australasia, and belongs to the marsupial order of quadrupeds; but it receives its scientific name, macropus, from the great length of its hind feet. Kangaroo is its native name.

Before we proceed to describe the form and habits of this singular quadruped, we shall mention the circumstances attending its first discovery. This was in 1770, when the celebrated navigator Captain Cook was staying for a short time on that part of the Australian coast which is now called New South Wales. "On Friday, June 22," says Captain Cook, "a party who were engaged in shooting pigeons for the use of the sick of the ship, saw an animal, which they described to be as large as a greyhound, of a slender make, and extremely swift." The following day the same animal was again seen by a great many other people. On the 24th, it was seen by Captain Cook himself, who, walking at a little distance from the shore, observed a quadruped, which he thought bore some resemblance to a greyhound, and was of a light mouse-colour, with a long tail, and which he should have taken for a kind of wild dog, had not its extraordinary manner of leaping, instead of running, convinced him of the contrary. Mr Banks also obtained a view of it, and immediately concluded it to be an animal perfectly new and undescribed. Some time after, this gentleman, accompanied by a small party, had an opportunity of chasing two with his greyhound, which the Kangaroo, by its bounding leaps over the high grass, soon outstripped. Soon afterwards, however, one was shot and examined.

The upper parts of the Kangaroo are small, while the lower are remarkably large in proportion; yet its general appearance is picturesque. The head bears some resemblance to that of the deer, and the visage is mild and placid. The ears are moderately large, slightly pointed and upright; the eyes large, and the mouth rather small; the neck thin and finely proportioned; the fore-legs extremely short, with the feet divided into five toes, each furnished with a short and somewhat hooked claw; the hinder feet, on the contrary, are provided with only four toes, the middle one of which is long, of great strength, and terminated by a large and powerful hook-like nail or claw; so that the head and upper parts seem strangely disproportioned to the posterior parts of the animal, which are muscular and powerful. The tail, which is very long, is extremely thick at the base, gradually tapering, and appears to act as a supplemental limb when the animal assumes its erect or sitting posture. When feeding, it is seen in a crouching position, resting on its fore-paws, as well as on the hinder extremities, whilst it browses on the herbage; and in this attitude it hops gently along, deriving some assistance from its tail. On the least alarm, however, it raises itself on its hind legs, and bounds away to a distance with great rapidity. Its leap is of a very great length; and is due almost as much to the muscular action of the tail as to that of the limbs. Kangaroos use their tails and hinder feet also as weapons of defence; for when pursued and overtaken by dogs they will turn, and, seizing them with their fore-feet, strike them with their hinder ones, sometimes causing death by a single blow. They have no canine teeth they have six incisors in the upper jaw and two in the lower; the former short, and the latter long. The molars, which are separated from the incisors by a large