Sydney Smith has thus sketched a few of the natural wonders of this new
world:--"In this remote part of the earth, Nature (having made horses,
oxen, ducks, geese, oaks, elms, and all regular and useful productions,
for the rest of the world) seems determined to have a bit of play, and
to amuse herself as she pleases. Accordingly, she makes cherries with
the stone outside; and a monstrous animal, as tall as a grenadier, with
the head of a rabbit, a tail as big as a bedpost, hopping along at the
rate of five hops to a mile, with three or four young kangaroos looking
out of its false uterus, to see what is passing. Then comes a quadruped,
as big as a large cat, with the eyes, colour, and skin of a mole, and
the bill and web-feet of a duck, puzzling Dr. Shaw, and rendering the
latter half of his life miserable, from his utter inability to determine
whether it was a bird or a beast. Add to this, a parrot with the legs of
a sea-gull; a skate with the head of a shark; and a bird of such
monstrous dimensions, that a side-bone of it will dine three real
carnivorous Englishmen;--together with many other productions that, on
the discovery of the country, agitated Sir Joseph Banks, and filled him
with emotions of distress and delight."
------------------