An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 2: An Account Of The English Colony In New South Wales, From Its First Settlement In 1788, To August 1801: With Remarks On The Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. Of The Native Inhabitants Of That Country. To Which Are Added, Some Particulars Of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From The Mss. Of Lieutenant-Governor King; And An Account Of The Voyage Performed By Captain Flinders And Mr. Bass.Collins, David
History
An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 2: An Account Of The English Colony In New South Wales, From Its First Settlement In 1788, To August 1801: With Remarks On The Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. Of The Native Inhabitants Of That Country. To Which Are Added, Some Particulars Of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From The Mss. Of Lieutenant-Governor King; And An Account Of The Voyage Performed By Captain Flinders And Mr. Bass.
Collins, David
New South Wales -- Description and travel
This animal, having no nipples, and no regularly formed uterus, Mr. Home
says, he was led to examine the female organ in birds, to see if there
was any analogy between the oviducts in any of that class, and the two
membranous uteri of this animal; but none could be observed; nor would it
be easy to explain how an egg could lie in the vagina to receive its
shell, as the urine from the bladder must pass directly over it. Finding
they had no resemblance to the oviducts in birds, Mr. Home was led to
compare them with the uteri of those lizards which form an egg, that is
afterwards deposited in a cavity corresponding to the uterus of other
animals, where it is hatched; which lizards may therefore be called
ovi-viviparous; and I find, says Mr. Home, a very close resemblance
between them. In these lizards there are two uteri, that open into one
common canal, or vagina, which is extremely short; and the meatus
urinarius is situated between these openings. The coats of these uteri
are thinner than those of the uteri of quadrupeds of the same size.
In the ovi-viviparous dog-fish, the internal organs of the female have a
very similar structure. There is therefore every reason to believe, that
this animal also is ovi-viviparous in its mode of generation.
* * *
It appears, by accounts which have been received from New South Wales,
that the voyage of the small brig _Lady Nelson_, commanded by
Lieutenant Grant, was (notwithstanding her size, being only 60 tons
burden, and the distance she had to sail) effected without her meeting
with any material accident; she arriving in December 1801. Her commander
was so perfectly acquainted with her good qualities, that he ventured to
make the land of New Holland, in latitude 38 degrees 00 minutes south,
coasting for some distance toward the eastward, and sailing through Bass
Strait, in his way up to Port Jackson.
It does not appear, that this passage of the _Lady Nelson_ through
the Strait added any thing new to the discoveries which had been
previously made by Captain Flinders and Mr. Bass, in the little sloop
_Norfolk_, except that of having made the land about four degrees
further to the westward than had been seen by those gentlemen.
By means of a few such vessels as the _Lady Nelson_, well commanded,
and furnished with instruments requisite for carrying on a maritime
survey, the necessary knowledge of the coast of that extensive country
would soon be obtained. Governor Hunter, who is well known to be
thoroughly qualified in this essential part of maritime education, has
been frequently heard to say, that with a few small vessels, perhaps
three or four, if he could have obtained them, or if his instructions
would have permitted his building them, he would in the course of a short
period have gained some acquaintance with all that part of the coast
which Captain Cook had not an opportunity of examining minutely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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