Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/33

Rh probably encrusted with coral—await rediscovery. All attempts, so far, with the aid of divers, have been unsuccessful.

Of course it was all new and wonderful to them, and as there was no one to contradict them, they saw many strange things. One of them saw the devil, “‘as large as a 1-gallon keg and very like it; he had horns and wings; yet he crept so slowly through the grass that if I had not been affeared I might have touched him." One does not feel much surprised at the reference to a gallon keg, as it probably accounted for the vision —the devil appears to have been a bat “as large as a partridge.” They were all seeing things: a midshipman saw “a wolf”—probably a dingo —and someone else “‘ two straw-coloured animals of the size of a hare, but shaped like a dog”’; also other “‘ mouse coloured animals,” and we hear about a cockle which was large enough for two men. They also saw the nude natives, and felt much shocked at them; so Captain Cook gave one a shirt, which he wore on his head as a turban, and no doubt he meant to pay them honour in doing so. The natives had tame dogs, and they saw also “goats, wolves, and polecats,” so it is evident some one had been there before and introduced these animals. In fact, it is evident that Australia was a quite civilised place before Captain Cook discovered it, and knew what was the “correct thing,” for he tells us they saw a kangaroo, and “it was dressed for dinner,” so evidently it expected to dine on the Endeavour, instead of the Endeavour dining on it; and one can imagine it coming forward with a polite society smile, its hand in its pouch, its best white waistcoat on, and the worry it had in the heat to tie its white evening tie properly, and welcoming the strangers with a “Captain Cook, I presume?”