Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2), George Grey [robert munsch read aloud txt] 📗
- Author: George Grey
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Imagined That We Left These Shores Without A Single Regret; But Such Was
Far From Being The Case: When The Ponies Had Wandered Off, When All The
Remaining Stores Had Been Removed, And The Only Marks Of Our Residence In
This Valley Were A Few Shattered Bark Huts, Young Coconut Plants, A
Bread-Fruit, And Some Other Useful Trees And Plants, I Felt Very Loth To
Leave The Spot. I Considered What A Blessing To The Country These Plants
Must Eventually Prove If They Should Continue To Thrive As They Had Yet
Done And, As I Called To Mind How Much Forethought And Care Their
Transport To Their Present Position Had Occasioned, I Would Very Gladly
Have Passed A Year Or Two Of My Life In Watching Over Them And Seeing
Them Attain To A Useful Maturity. One Large Pumpkin Plant In Particular
Claimed My Notice. The Tropical Warmth And Rains, And The Virgin Soil In
Which It Grew, Had Imparted To It A Rich Luxuriance: It Did Not Creep
Along The Ground, But Its Long Shoots Were Spreading Upwards Amongst The
Trees. The Young Coconuts Grew Humbly Amidst The Wild Plants And Reeds,
Volume 1 Chapter 10 (Return To Hanover Bay) Pg 145Their Worth Unknown. Most Of These Plants I Had Placed In The Ground
Myself, And Had Watched Their Early Progress: Now They Must Be Left To
Their Fate.
Reembarkation.
Amidst Such Thoughts We Resumed Our Course Down The Valley And Embarked
In The Boats; But Had Not Proceeded Far When A Dog Belonging To One Of
The Men Was Missed And, As We Could Not Abandon So Faithful A Companion,
A Party Returned To Search For It, And The Dog Was Brought Safely On
Board.
Sail For The Mauritius.
We Then Weighed And Sailed For The Isle Of France, Where We Arrived On
The 17th May Without Having Met With Any Circumstance On Our Voyage
Worthy Of Record.
Volume 1 Chapter 11 (Natural History Climate Aborigines) Pg 146
Natural History.
North-Western Australia Seems To Be Peculiarly Prolific In Birds,
Reptiles, And Insects, Who Dwell Here Nearly Unmolested, Mutually Preying
Upon Each Other, And Thus, By A Wise Provision, Setting The Necessary
Check To Their Own Multiplication.
Distribution Of Animals.
Of Quadrupeds There Are But Few Species, And Of These The Individuals,
Considered In Proportion To The Surface They Roam Over, Are Rare. The
Only Species I Observed During A Residence Of Five Months Were Four Of
Kangaroos, Namely The Large Macropus Giganteus ? Of Shaw, Two Smaller
Kinds, One Of Which Is The Petrogale Brachyotis Of Gould, And A Kangaroo
Rat, Which Last Is Always Seen Amongst The Rocks On The Sea Coast. One
Species Of Opossum, A Flying Squirrel (Petaurista) Two Kinds Of Dog, Of
Which One Is New, Rats, And A Fieldmouse. Of These The Kangaroos Are
Alone Numerous, And Only In Particular Spots.
New Kangaroo.
I Shot A Female Kangaroo Of The Petrogale Brachyotis Near Hanover Bay,
And By The Preservation Of The Skin And Other Parts Enabled Mr. Gould To
Identify It As A New Species.
This Graceful Little Animal Is Excessively Wild And Shy In Its Habits,
Frequenting, In The Daytime, The Highest And Most Inaccessible Rocks, And
Only Descending Into The Valleys To Feed Early In The Morning And Late In
Volume 1 Chapter 11 (Natural History Climate Aborigines) Pg 147The Evening. When Disturbed In The Daytime Amongst The Roughest And Most
Precipitous Rocks, It Bounds Along From One To The Other With The
Greatest Apparent Facility, And Is So Watchful And Wary In Its Habits
That It Is By No Means Easy To Get A Shot At It. One Very Surprising
Thing Is, How It Can Support The Temperature To Which It Is Exposed In
The Situations It Always Frequents Amongst The Burning Sandstone Rocks,
The Mercury There During The Heat Of The Day Being Frequently At 136
Degrees. I Have Never Seen These Animals In The Plains Or Lowlands, And
Believe That They Frequent Mountains Alone.
New Domestic Dog.
The New Species Of Dog Differs Totally From The Dingo Or Canis
Australiensis. I Never Saw One Nearer Than From Twenty To Thirty Yards,
And Was Unable To Procure A Specimen. Its Colour Is The Same As That Of
The Australian Dog, In Parts However Having A Blackish Tinge. The Muzzle
Is Narrow, Long, Thin, And Tapers Much, Resembling That Of A Greyhound,
Whilst In General Form It Approaches The English Lurcher. Some Of The
Party Who Went To Timor Stated It To Resemble Precisely The Malay Dog
Common To That Island, And Considered It To Be Of The Same Breed; Which I
Think Not Improbable, As I Cannot State That I Ever Saw One Wild, Or
Unless In The Vicinity Of Natives; In Company With Whom They Were
Generally Observed In A Domesticated State. On The Other Hand The Canis
Australiensis Was Common In Some Parts In A State Of Nature: Of These I
Saw Several Myself And, From The Descriptions Given By Other Individuals
Of The Party Of Dogs They Had Observed, I Recognised Their Identity With
The Same Species. We Heard Them Also Repeatedly Howling During The Night
And, Although They Never Attacked Our Sheep Or Goats, Many Portions Of
Dead Animals Were Carried Off By Them. I Saw But Two Flying Squirrels And
Know Not To Which Species Of Petaurista They Are To Be Referred.
Other Animals.
Both Mice And Rats Are Common, The Former Precisely Resembling In
Appearance The English Fieldmouse. The Rats On One Occasion Ate Up A Live
Pet Parakeet, Leaving The Bones Gnawed And Strewed About; And On Another,
When I Had Shot A Crane (Ardea Scolopacea) Intending It For Breakfast,
They In The Night Devoured Nearly The Whole Of It.
Checks On Increase Of Animals.
The Multiplication Of Kangaroos, Opossums, Rats, Etc. May Be Checked By
Various Causes; But Man, I Imagine, Is The Most Deadly Enemy They Have To
Contend With. The Numerous Remains Of These Animals That I Have Seen
About The Native Fires Attest The Number Destroyed. In All Those Caves In
Which I Found Native Paintings Were Representations Either Of Kangaroo
Hunts, Or Of Men Bringing Down These Animals Dead On Their Shoulders; And
Many A Hollow Tree Bore Witness Of Its Having Been Smoked In Order To
Volume 1 Chapter 11 (Natural History Climate Aborigines) Pg 148Drive Forth To Certain Death The Trembling Opossum Or Bandicoot Rat Which
Had Taken Refuge In It.
Influence Of Man On Their Habits.
A Convincing Proof Of The Dread In Which Man Is Held By The Various Kinds
Of Kangaroos Is Given By Their Extreme Shyness. I Never But On Two Or
Three Occasions Got Within Shot Of The Larger Kangaroos As They Were
Always So Wary; And, Although I At Different Times Wounded Two, I Never
Could Succeed In Actually Capturing Either. Now, When The Detached Party
Sent Forward Just Before We Commenced Our Return To Hanover Bay Crossed A
Range Of Mountains On Which Were Neither Traces Of The Natives Or Their
Fires, They Found The Direct Reverse Of This To Be The Case, And Were All
Surprised At The Tameness Of The Kangaroos Compared With Those They Had
Previously Seen.
In The Same Way, When I Entered A New District, The Birds Merely Flew Up
Into A Lofty Tree Without Attempting To Go Farther Away, And It Was Not
Until I Had Shot For A Day Or Two In The Neighbourhood Of A Place That
The Birds There Became At All Wild.
The Native Dog, Doubtless Being Dependent For Subsistence Upon The Game
He Can Procure, Must Contribute To Thin The Numbers Of The Lesser
Animals, Who Also, Together Perhaps With The Rapacious Dog Himself,
Frequently Fall A Prey To The Various Snakes That Inhabit The Country; As
Was Evinced In The Event Narrated On The 16th Of March Of The
Destruction, By Mr. Lushington, Of The Boa With A Small Kangaroo
Compressed In Its Folds.
The Manner, Too, In Which I Have Seen The Rapacious Birds Of Prey Soar
Over Plains Where The Small Kangaroos Abound, Convinces Me That They Also
Bear Their Part In The Destruction Of This Harmless Race.
Traces Of An Animal With A Divided Hoof.
I Have Already Alluded To The Paucity Of Quadrupeds, Both In Species And
In Number, But I Have Still To Record The Remarkable Fact Of The
Existence In These Parts Of A Large Quadruped With A Divided Hoof: This
Animal I Have Never Seen, But Twice Came Upon Its Traces. On One Occasion
I Followed Its Track For Above A Mile And A Half, And At Last Altogether
Lost It In Rocky Ground. The Footmarks Exceeded In Size Those Of A
Buffalo, And It Was Apparently Much Larger, For, Where It Had Passed
Through Brushwood, Shrubs Of Considerable Size In Its Way Had Been Broken
Down And, From The Openings There Left, I Could Form Some Comparative
Estimate Of Its Bulk. These Tracks Were First Seen By A Man Of The Name
Of Mustard, Who Had Joined Me At The Cape, And Who Had There Been On The
Frontier During The Kaffir War; He Told Me That He Had Seen The Spoor Of
A Buffalo, Imagining That They Were Here As Plentiful As In Africa. I
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