Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2: Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers; Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The; Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners; Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits; To the Islands in the Arafura SeaStokes, John Lort
History
Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2: Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers; Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The; Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners; Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits; To the Islands in the Arafura Sea
Stokes, John Lort
Australia -- Description and travel; Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Natural history -- Australia
The kangaroo I had myself the good fortune to knock over on the summit of
the island; it was the only one shot during many an excursion made over
that dreary heap of desolation, the metallic sound the rocks yielded to
our step giving ample warning of our approach to their quick ears. The
colours of this specimen, the prettiest we had seen, were a dark grey,
with a large angular patch of white down the side, extending from the top
of the shoulders nearly to the hips. Down the centre of the back, ran a
streak of black, which was also the colour of the extremity of its
slightly bushy tail. The face and belly were likewise darker than other
parts of the body, and the feet were black and well cushioned, giving it
a firm hold of the rocks over which it bounded with surprising agility,
through it never ran very far, always popping into the cavities caused by
the loose manner in which the blocks forming the island are thrown
together.*
(*Footnote. Mr. Gould has figured an animal very like this I have
described, as Petrogale lateralis, or the Stripe-Sided Rock Wallaby, from
a specimen he some time afterwards got from Western Australia; but he has
not noticed the beautiful kangaroo of Depuch Island.)
The specimen of the species of Helix I have above mentioned was found by
Mr. Dring, one of our most successful collectors in that department. In
the Appendix are figured some of the new shells discovered during the
voyage.
Leaving Depuch Island, we examined the coast to the eastward as far as
the Turtle Isles, a distance of eighty-five miles, the first twenty-seven
of which trended North 55 degrees East, and the remainder North 67
degrees East curving slightly inwards. As the French had obtained a
distant view of this coast, it did not possess to us the interest of
being a new portion of the continent.
EFFECTS OF MIRAGE.
Still the effect of the treacherous mirage, which has often deluded the
way-worn thirsty traveller with the false appearance of water, raised
many parts of the interior that had not before met the eye of an
European. These presented a very level outline. The interior was, for a
great distance, a vast plain, so low that we could scarcely see it from
the ship's masthead over the sandhills, which did not exceed the height
of 40 feet. Six or seven miles from the Turtle Isles this extensive level
was interrupted by the presence of a group of hills, from 200 to 300 feet
in elevation, apparently of the same character as the heights behind
Depuch Island. As seen through the medium of mirage, they often had a
most curious appearance: high continuous ranges, changing again to lofty
islands, danced in the tremulous air. I should remark that when the land
was subject to this distortion, it was always during the forenoon, and on
those days the winds were invariably light.
APPEARANCE OF THE COAST.
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