THE GREAT KANGAROO--Captain Cook and the Great Kangaroo--Habitat--Appearance of the Animal--Marsupials separated from the other Mammalian Orders, and why (Footnote)--Gestation and Birth of Young (Footnote)--Mode of Running--The Short Fore Limbs--The _Marsupium_, or Pouch--Head--Dentition--Peculiarities in the Teeth--Hind Extremities--Foot--Great Claw--How the Erect Position is maintained--Whence their Jumping Power is derived--Other Skeletal Peculiarities--Kangaroo Hunts--Becoming Rarer--Mode of Attack and Defence--Hands--Bones of the Fore Limbs--Skull--Stomach--Circulation of Blood--Peculiarity in Young--Nervous System not fully developed--Brain--The Baby Kangaroo in the Pouch--THE HARE KANGAROO--THE GREAT ROCK KANGAROO--THE RED KANGAROO--THE BRUSH KANGAROO--THE BRUSH-TAILED ROCK KANGAROO--THE COMMON TREE KANGAROO--THE KANGAROO-RATS--Characteristics--THE RAT-TAILED HYPSIPRYMNUS--Description--THE WOMBAT FAMILY--THE WOMBAT--Peculiarities--Description--Habits--Teeth--Skeleton. I. THE KANGAROO FAMILY.[81]--THE GREAT KANGAROO.[82] In the year A.D. 1770, the great circumnavigator, Captain Cook, was on the coast of New South Wales repairing his ship, and a party of sailors were sent on land, to procure food for the sick. They saw an animal whose description tempted Cook himself, and also Mr. Banks (afterwards Sir Joseph Banks), to land and go in pursuit of it the next day. The animal was seen in company with others of its kind, and its short front limbs, great hind legs, and huge tail, and the tremendous hops it made in its very fleet course, quite bore out the statements of the astonished crew. They had seen, for the first time, the Great Kangaroo in its wild condition and on its own ground. Soon afterwards a specimen was shot, and notes were made about the creature, and some skins were brought over to Europe. The animal has now become familiar to the civilised world. It is, however, gradually receding before the Australian colonist and squatter; but formerly it roamed all over the plains of New South Wales, Southern and Western Australia, Queensland, and Van Diemen’s Land, with only the aborigines for its enemies. It is called Bundaary and Bullucur by the natives of the Liverpool range and Murray, and the name Kangaroo is a mistaken native one.