Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/359

Cape Catastrophe.]

and the prospect of making an interesting discovery, seemed to have infused new life and vigour into every man in the ship. Early in the morning, I went on shore to the eastern land, anxious to ascertain its connexion with, or separation from the main. There were seals upon the beach, and further on, numberless traces of the kanguroo. Signs of extinguished fire existed every where; but they bespoke a conflagration of the woods, of remote date, rather than the habitual presence of men, and might have arisen from lightning, or from the friction of two trees in a strong wind. Upon the whole, I satisfied myself of the insularity of this land; and gave to it, shortly after, the name of, from the master who accompanied me. In our way up the hills, to take a commanding station for the survey, a speckled, yellow snake lay asleep before us. By pressing the butt end of a musket upon his neck, I kept him down whilst Mr. Thistle, with a sail needle and twine, sewed up his mouth; and he was taken on board alive, for the naturalist to examine; but two others of the same species had already been killed, and one of them was seven feet nine inches in length. We were proceeding onward with our prize, when a white eagle, with fierce aspect and outspread wing, was seen bounding towards us; but stopping short, at twenty yards off, he flew up into a tree. Another bird of the same kind discovered himself by making a motion to pounce down upon us as we passed underneath; and it seemed evident that they took us for kanguroos, having probably never before seen an upright animal in the island, of any other species. These birds sit watching in the trees, and should a kanguroo come out to feed in the day time, it is seized and torn to pieces by these voracious creatures. This accounted for why so few kanguroos were seen, when traces of them were met with at every step; and for their keeping so much under thick bushes that it was impossible to shoot them. Their size was superior to any of those found upon the more western islands, but much inferior to the forest kanguroo of the continent.