CAUSES WHY IT HAS NOT HITHERTO BEEN BENEFICIAL. INFLUENCE OF EUROPEANS ON
THE NATIVES.
After reviewing the condition of the Aborigines of Australia as it
appears to have existed from time immemorial it will not be irrelevant to
examine what change or melioration of their social state is likely to
arise from the settlement of a civilised European race among them.
The colony of Swan River differing materially in the elements of its
population from those established in the eastern parts of this continent
and in Van Diemen's Land, a corresponding change in the intercourse
existing between the natives and the white population might naturally be
looked for.
In modern times, with the exception of the new settlement of South
Australia, no colony has been established upon principles apparently so
favourable for the development of the better qualities of the Aborigines,
and with so fair a chance of their ultimate civilization.
The apparent advantages are that no convicts have been brought to Western
Australia to corrupt the manners of either sex, or to lead them astray by
their vicious example; and that a great want of labour has been always
felt, so that any assistance that could have been procured from the
natives would have been a material benefit to the settlers. With these
advantages we might have hoped to see some important results.
I wish not to assert that the natives have been often treated with wanton
cruelty, but I do not hesitate to say that no real amelioration of their
condition has been effected, and that much of negative evil and indirect
injury has been inflicted on them.
The first great fault committed was that no distinct rules and
regulations were drawn up for the protection of the Aborigines. Their
land is taken from them, and the only benefit given in return is that
they are made British subjects, that is, having a right to the protection
of British Laws, and at the same time becoming amenable to them.
WRETCHED STATE OF THE NATIVE POPULATION.
All past experience has shown that the existence of two different races
in a country, one of which, from any local circumstances, is considered
inferior to the other, is one of the greatest evils under which a nation
can labour; a more striking instance of which could not be adduced than
is shown in the present state of the free coloured population in America.
In contemplating, then, the future destiny of the Australian races, at
the same time laying aside all thought of their amalgamation with
Europeans, the prospect is most melancholy. Only two cases can arise;
either they must disappear before advancing civilization, successively
dying off ere the truths of christianity or the benefits of civilization
have produced any effect on them, or they must exist in the midst of a
superior numerical population, a despised and inferior race; and none but
those who have visited a country in which such a race exists can duly
appreciate the evils both moral and physical which such a degraded
position entails upon them.
CAUSES OF THEIR DEPRESSED CONDITION. PREJUDICES AGAINST THEM.
If we enquire into the causes which tend to retain them in their present
depressed condition we shall find that the chief one is prejudice. The
Australians have been most unfairly represented as a very inferior race,
in fact as one occupying a scale in the creation which nearly places them
on a level with the brutes, and some years must elapse ere a prejudice so
firmly rooted as this can be altogether eradicated, but certainly a more
unfounded one never had possession of the public mind.
INADEQUACY OF SUPPORT BY LABOUR.
Amongst the evils which the natives suffer in their present position one
is an uncertain and irregular demand for their labour, that is to say,
they may one day have plenty of means for exerting their industry
afforded them by the settlers, and the next their services are not
required; so that they are necessarily compelled to have recourse to
their former irregular and wandering habits.
Another is the very insufficient reward for the services they render. As
an example of this kind I will state the instance of a man who worked
during the whole season as hard and as well as any white man at getting
in the harvest for some settlers, and who only received bread and
sixpence a day whilst the ordinary labourers would earn at least fifteen
shillings. In many instances they only receive a scanty allowance of
food, so much so that some settlers have told me that the natives left
them because they had not enough to eat.
The evil consequence of this is that a native, finding he can gain as
much by the combined methods of hunting and begging as he can by working,
naturally prefers the former and much more attractive mode of procuring
subsistence to the latter one.
Many of the natives have not only a good idea of the value of money but
even hoard it up for some particular purpose; several of them have shown
me their little treasure of a few shillings, and have told me it was
their intention to save more until they had enough to buy a horse, a gun,
or some wished-for article, but their improvidence has always got the
better of their thriftiness, and this sum has eventually been spent in
treating their friends to bread and rice.
EVIL EFFECTS FROM THEIR FEROCIOUS CUSTOMS REMAINING UNCHECKED.
Another evil is the very extraordinary position in which they are placed
with regard to two distinct sets of laws; that is, they are allowed to
exercise their own laws upon one another, and are again held amenable to
British law where British subjects are concerned. Thus no protection is
afforded them by the British law against the violence or cruelty of one
of their own race, and the law has hitherto only been known to them as
the means of punishment, but never as a code from which they can claim
protection or benefit.
The following instances will prove my assertion: In the month of October
1838 I saw early one morning some natives in the public street in Perth,
in the act of murdering a native woman, close to the store of the Messrs.
Habgood; many Europeans were present, amongst others a constable; but
there was no interference on their part until eventually the life of the
woman was saved by the courage of Mr. Brown, a gardener in Perth, who
rushed in amongst the natives and knocked down the man who was holding
her; she then escaped into the house of the Messrs. Habgood, who treated
the poor creature with the utmost humanity. She was however wounded in
several places in the most severe and ghastly manner.
A letter I received from Mr. A. Bussel (a settler in the southern part of
the colony) in May 1839 shows that the same scenes are enacted all over
it. In this case their cow-keeper (the native whose burial is narrated
above) was speared by the others. He was at the time the hired servant of
Europeans, performing daily a stated service for them; yet they slew him
in open daylight, without any cause of provocation being given by him.
Again, in October, 1838, the sister of a settler in the northern district
told me that, shortly before this period, she had, as a female servant, a
most interesting little native girl, not more than ten or eleven years of
age. This girl had just learned all the duties belonging to her
employment, and was regarded in the family as a most useful servant, when
some natives, from a spirit of revenge, murdered this inoffensive child
in the most barbarous manner, close to the house; her screams were
actually heard by the Europeans under whose protection and in whose
service she was living, but they were not in time to save her life. This
same native had been guilty of many other barbarous murders, one of which
he had committed in the district of the Upper Swan, in the actual
presence of Europeans. In June 1839 he was still at large, unmolested,
even occasionally visiting Perth.
CAUSES OF THEIR ATTACHMENT TO THEIR ROVING AND SAVAGE LIFE.
Their fondness for the bush and the habits of savage life is fixed and
perpetuated by the immense boundary placed by circumstances between
themselves and the whites, which no exertions on their part can overpass,
and they consequently relapse into a state of hopeless passive
indifference.
I will state a remarkable instance of this: The officers of the Beagle
took away with them a native of the name of Miago, who remained absent
with them for several months. I saw him on the north-west coast, on board
the Beagle, apparently perfectly civilized; he waited at the gun-room
mess, was temperate (never tasting spirits) attentive, cheerful, and
remarkably clean in his person. The next time I saw him was at Swan
River, where he had been left on the return of the Beagle. He was then
again a savage, almost naked, painted all over, and had been concerned in
several murders. Several persons here told me, "you see the taste for a
savage life was strong in him, and he took to the bush again directly."
Let us pause for a moment and consider.
Miago, when he was landed, had amongst the white people none who would be
truly friends of his. They would give him scraps from their table, but
the very outcasts of the whites would not have treated him as an equal,
they had no sympathy with him, he could not have married a white woman,
he had no certain means of subsistence open to him, he never could have
been either a husband or a father if he had lived apart from his own
people; where amongst the whites was he to find one who would have filled
for him the place of his black mother, whom he is much attached to? what
white man would have been his brother? what white woman his sister? He
had two courses left open to him: he could either have renounced all
natural ties and have led a hopeless, joyless life amongst the whites,
ever a servant, ever an inferior being; or he could renounce civilization
and return to the friends of his childhood, and to the habits of his
youth. He chose the latter course, and I think that I should have done
the same.
SUGGESTIONS ON THE MEANS OF PROMOTING THEIR CIVILIZATION.
The information I had collected regarding the Aborigines of Western
Australia encouraged me to address a report to Lord John Russell, the
Secretary of State for the Colonies, embracing the general principles
which I considered would best promote the civilization of the race. This
report having been approved, copies of it were sent to the Governors of
the Australian and New Zealand settlements, and with a transcript of it I
shall now conclude my work:*
(*Footnote. [This letter has subsequently been printed for Parliament at
page 43 of the Sessional Paper Number 311 of 1841, the Colonization of
New Zealand. ED.])
Mauritius, June 4 1840.
MY LORD,
I have the honour to submit to your Lordship a report upon the best means
of promoting the civilization of the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia,
which report is founded upon a careful study of the language, prejudices,
and traditional customs of this people.
Feeling anxious to render this report as complete as possible I have
delayed transmitting it to your Lordship until the latest possible
period; portions of it have in the interim been laid before some of the
local governments in Australia, and a few of the suggestions contained in
it have been already acted upon.
But as so small a portion of Australia is as yet occupied, and the
important task of so conducting the occupation of new districts as to
benefit the aborigines in the greatest possible degree yet remains to be
performed, I have thought that it would be agreeable to your Lordship to
be put in possession of all such facts relating to this interesting
subject as are at present known.
None but general principles, equally applicable to all portions of the
continent of Australia, are embodied in this report; and I am
particularly solicitous that that portion of it which commences at the
21st paragraph should receive consideration from your Lordship, as the
whole machinery required to bring this plan into operation now exists in
the different Australian colonies, and its full development would entail
no expense whatever upon either the Home or local Governments.
I have, etc.,
(Signed) G. GREY,
Captain 83rd Regiment,
Commanding Australian Expedition.
Right Honourable Lord John Russell, etc. etc. etc.
REPORT UPON THE BEST MEANS OF PROMOTING THE CIVILIZATION OF THE
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF AUSTRALIA.
1. The aborigines of Australia having hitherto resisted all efforts which
have been made for their civilization, it would appear that, if they are
capable of being civilized, it can be shown that all the systems on which
these efforts have been founded contain some common error, or that each
of them involved some erroneous principle; the former supposition appears
to be the true one, for they all contained one common element, they all
started with one recognized principle, the presence of which in the
scheme must necessarily have entailed its failure.
2. This principle was that, although the natives should, as far as
European property and European subjects were concerned, be made amenable
to British laws, yet so long as they only exercised their own customs
upon themselves, and not too immediately in the presence of Europeans,
they should be allowed to do so with impunity.
3. This principle originated in philanthropic motives and a total
ignorance of the peculiar traditional laws of this people, which laws,
differing from those of any other known race, have necessarily imparted
to the people subject to them a character different from all other races;
and hence arises the anomalous state in which they have been found.
4. They are as apt and intelligent as any other race of men I am
acquainted with; they are subject to the same afflictions, appetites, and
passions as other men, yet in many points of character they are totally
dissimilar to them; and, from the peculiar code of laws of this people,
it would appear not only impossible that any nation subject to them could
ever emerge from a savage state, but even that no race, however highly
endowed, however civilized, could in other respects remain long in a
state of civilization if they were submitted to the operation of such
barbarous customs.
5. The plea generally set up in defence of this principle is that the
natives of this country are a conquered people, and that it is an act of
generosity to allow them the full power of exercising their own laws upon
themselves; but this plea would appear to be inadmissible; for, in the
first place, savage and traditional customs should not be confounded with
a regular code of laws; and secondly, when Great Britain insures to a
conquered country the privilege of preserving its own laws, all persons
resident in this territory become amenable to the same laws, and proper
persons are selected by the Government to watch over their due and
equitable administration; nothing of this kind either exists or can exist
with regard to the customs of the natives of Australia; between these two
cases then there is no apparent analogy.
6. I would submit therefore that it is necessary from the moment the
aborigines of this country are declared British subjects, they should, as
far as possible, be taught that the British laws are to supersede their
own, so that any native who is suffering under their own customs may have
the power of an appeal to those of Great Britain; or, to put this in its
true light, that all authorized persons should, in all instances, be
required to protect a native from the violence of his fellows, even
though they be in the execution of their own laws.
7. So long as this is not the case the older natives have at their
disposal the means of effectually preventing the civilization of any
individuals of their own tribe, and those among them who may be inclined
to adapt themselves to the European habits and mode of life will be
deterred from so doing by their fear of the consequences that the
displeasure of others may draw down upon them.
8. So much importance am I disposed to attach to this point that I do not
hesitate to assert my full conviction that, whilst those tribes which are
in communication with Europeans are allowed to execute their barbarous
laws and customs upon one another, so long will they remain hopelessly
immersed in their present state of barbarism: and, however unjust such a
proceeding might at first sight appear, I believe that the course pointed
out by true humanity would be to make them from the very commencement
amenable to the British laws, both as regards themselves and Europeans;
for I hold it to be imagining a contradiction to suppose that individuals
subject to savage and barbarous laws can rise into a state of
civilization which those laws have a manifest tendency to destroy and
overturn.
9. I have known many instances of natives who have been almost or quite
civilized being compelled by other natives to return to the bush; more
particularly girls who have been betrothed in their infancy and who, on
approaching the years of puberty, have been compelled by their husbands
to join them.
10. It is difficult to ascertain the exact effect the institutions of a
country produce upon the character of its inhabitants; but it may be
readily admitted that, if two savage races of equal mental endowments,
and with the same capacity for civilization, were subject to two distinct
sets of laws, the one mild and favourable to the development of
civilization, the other bloodthirsty and opposed to it, the former race
might gradually be brought to a knowledge of Christianity and
civilization, whilst precisely similar efforts made with regard to the
latter might be attended with no beneficial result.
11. Again, it would be unfair to consider the laws of the natives of
Australia as any indication of the real character of this people; for
many races who were at one period subject to the most barbarous laws
have, since new institutions have been introduced amongst them, taken
their rank among the civilized nations of the earth.
12. To punish the aborigines severely for the violation of laws of which
they are ignorant would be manifestly cruel and unjust; but to punish
them in the first instance slightly for the violation of these laws would
inflict no great injury on them, whilst by always punishing them when
guilty of a crime, without reference to the length of period that had
elapsed between its perpetration and their apprehension, at the same time
fully explaining to them the measure of punishment that would await them
in the event of a second commission of the same fault, would teach them
gradually the laws to which they were henceforth to be amenable, and
would show them that crime was always eventually, although it might be
remotely, followed by punishment.
13. I imagine that this course would be more merciful than that at
present adopted; namely, to punish them for the violation of a law they
are ignorant of, when this violation affects a European, and yet to allow
them to commit this crime as often as they like when it only regards
themselves; for this latter course teaches them not that certain actions,
such, for instance, as murder, etc., are generally criminal, but only
that they are criminal when exercised towards the white people, and the
impression consequently excited in their minds is that these acts only
excite our detestation when exercised towards ourselves, and that their
criminality consists not in having committed a certain odious action, but
in having violated our prejudices.
14. In the vicinity of towns where there is a certain judicial force, and
where, on account of the facility of obtaining food, the natives always
congregate, it would, by a steady and determined line of conduct, be
comparatively easy to enforce an observance of the British laws; but,
even partially to attain this object in the remote and thinly settled
districts, it is necessary that each colony should possess an efficient
mounted police, a portion of whom should be constantly in movement from
district to district, whilst another portion, resident in a central
situation, should be ready to act instantly in any direction where their
presence was required. I do not apprehend that this body need be
numerous, for their utility would depend more on their activity and
efficiency than on their numbers. It is absolutely necessary, for the
cause of humanity and good order, that such a force should exist; for so
long as distant settlers are left unprotected and are compelled to take
care of and avenge themselves, so long must great barbarities necessarily
be committed; and the only way to prevent great crime on the part of the
natives, and massacres of these poor creatures as the punishment of such
crimes, is to check and punish their excesses in their infancy: it is
only after becoming emboldened by frequent petty successes that they have
hitherto committed those crimes which have drawn down so fearful a
vengeance upon them.
15. The greatest obstacle that presents itself in considering the
application of the British laws to these aborigines is the fact that,
from their ignorance of the nature of an oath, or of the obligations it
imposes, they are not competent to give evidence before a court of
justice; and hence in many cases it would be extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to obtain evidence on which a prisoner could be convicted.
16. One mode of evading this difficulty would be to empower the court to
receive evidence from the natives in all cases relating solely to
themselves without the witness being sworn, only allowing testimony of
this nature to hold good when borne out by very strong circumstantial
evidence; secondly to empower the court always to receive evidence from
natives called on by a native prisoner in his defence, such evidence
being subject to the before-named restrictions.
17. The fact of the natives being unable to give testimony in a court of
justice is a great hardship on them, and they consider it as such; the
reason that occasions their disability for the performance of this
function is at present quite beyond their comprehension, and it is
impossible to explain it to them. I have been a personal witness to a
case in which a native was most undeservedly punished, from the
circumstance of the natives who were the only persons who could speak as
to certain exculpatory facts not being permitted to give their evidence.
18. There are certain forms in our colonial courts of justice as at
present conducted which it is impossible to make a savage comprehend. I
attended one quarter-sessions at which a number of natives were tried on
a great variety of charges. Several of them were induced to plead guilty,
and on this admission of their having committed the crime sentence was
pronounced upon them. But when others denied their guilt, and found that
this denial produced no corresponding result in their favour, whilst at
the same time they were not permitted to bring forward other natives to
deny it also, and to explain the matter for them, they became perfectly
confounded. I was subsequently applied to by several intelligent natives
to explain this mystery to them, but I failed in giving such an
explanation as would satisfy them.
19. The natives being ignorant of our laws, of the forms of our courts of
justice, of the language in which the proceedings are conducted, and the
sentence pronounced upon them, it would appear that but a very imperfect
protection is afforded them by having present in the court merely an
interpreter (very often an ignorant man) who knows nothing of legal
proceedings and can be but very imperfectly acquainted with the native
language: it must also be borne in mind that the natives are not tried by
a jury of their peers, but by a jury having interests directly opposed to
their own, and who can scarcely avoid being in some degree prejudiced
against native offenders. From these considerations I would suggest that
it should be made binding upon the local government in all instances (or
at least in such instances as affect life) to provide a counsel to defend
native prisoners.
20. Some other principal preventives to the civilization of the
aborigines, in addition to those I have already stated, are:
1. The existence of an uncertain and irregular demand for their labour:
thus they may have one day sufficient opportunity afforded them for the
exertion of their industry, whilst the next day their services are not
required, so that they are compelled once more to have recourse to their
former irregular and wandering habits.
2. Their generally receiving a very inadequate reward for the services
they render; this, combined with their natural fondness for the bush,
induces them to prefer that mode of subsistence which, whilst it is
infinitely more agreeable and less laborious, procures for them nearly as
great a reward as living with white people.
3. Their not being taught that different values are attached to different
degrees of labour, as well as to the skill and neatness with which it is
performed.
21. These impediments might all either be removed or modified in some
districts by the establishment of native institutions and schools, but in
forming a general plan for their removal which would be equally
applicable to all parts of a colony, a very novel difficulty presents
itself.
22. Imagining that a native child is perfectly capable of being
civilised, let it also be granted that, from proper preventive measures
having been adopted, this child has nothing to fear from the vengeance of
the other natives, so that it stands in these respects nearly or
altogether in the position of a European.
23. If this native child is a boy who is to pay the individual who
undertakes to teach him some calling the fee usually given with an
apprentice; who will indemnify this person for the time he spends in
instructing the boy before he can derive any benefit from his labour, or
for the risk he incurs of the boy's services being bestowed elsewhere as
soon as they are worth having?
24. Until this difficulty is got over it appears evident that the natives
will only be employed in herding cattle, or in the lowest order of manual
labour which requires no skill, and for which the reward they receive
will be so small as scarcely to offer an inducement to them to quit their
present wandering mode of life.
25. The remedy I would suggest for this evil would have another advantage
besides a tendency to ameliorate it, for it would give the settlers a
great and direct interest in the aborigines without entailing any expense
upon the Government. It is founded on the following fact:
26. The Government, in order to create a supply of labour in the
colonies, have been in the habit of giving certain rewards to those
individuals who introduced labourers into them. Now it would appear that
he who reclaims one of the aborigines not only adds another labourer to
those who are already in the colony, but further confers such a benefit
on his fellow-settlers by rendering one who was before a useless and
dangerous being a serviceable member of the community, that this
circumstance alone entitles him to a reward.
27. I would therefore propose that, on the production of the
hereafter-named documents, a settler should receive a certificate
entitling him to a certain sum, which should either be allowed to reckon
towards the completion of location duties, or else as a remission
certificate in the purchase of land, or, in lieu of this, a grant of
land; and that this sum or grant should be regulated according to a table
specifying the various circumstances that are likely to occur, and drawn
up by the local government of each place where such regulation should be
introduced.
28. The documents to which I allude are these:
1. A deposition before the nearest magistrate to such settler's house
that a native or natives have been resident with him constantly for the
last six months, and have been employed in stated species of labour.
2. A certificate from the government resident of the district that, to
the best of his belief, such statement is true, for that, on his visiting
this settler's house, the stated number of natives were there, and were
respectively occupied in the kinds of labour described.
3. A certificate from the protector of aborigines that he has visited
this settler's house; that the stated number of natives were resident
there, and appeared to be progressing in the knowledge of that branch of
industry in which they were respectively stated to be employed.
29. It would be further necessary that any settler who intended to
endeavour to reclaim natives should give a short notice to the protector
of aborigines previously to the commencement of the first six months.
30. Could this plan be brought into operation the work of the
civilization of the aborigines would at once be commenced upon a great
scale; it would not be confined to a single institution, but a variety of
individuals, endowed with different talents and capacities for this work,
would at once be employed on it: it is indeed rather suited and intended
for the outskirts of civilization, thinly populated by settlers, than for
towns, yet it is applicable to both situations; whilst its direct
operation would be to induce the settler adequately to remunerate the
native for, as well as to provide him with, a constant supply of labour,
and to use every exertion by kind and proper treatment to attach him for
as long a period as possible to his establishment.
31. In considering the kinds of labour in which it would be most
advisable to engage natives it should be borne in mind that, in remote
districts where the European population is small, it would be imprudent
to induce many natives to congregate at any one point, and the kinds of
labour in which they should be there engaged ought to be of such a nature
as to have a tendency to scatter them over the country, and to distribute
them amongst the separate establishments.
32. Whilst in the well-peopled districts, where a force sufficient both
to protect and control the aborigines exists, they should be induced to
assemble in great numbers, for they work much more readily when employed
in masses, and, by thus assembling them on one point, their numbers are
diminished in those portions of the colony which have a small European
population, and they are concentrated at a spot where proper means for
their improvement can be provided.
33. The first of these principles has been strictly attended to in the
plan proposed in the 27th and following paragraphs of this report; the
second has been carried into successful operation in Western Australia.
34. In order that the work on which the natives are employed in the
vicinity of towns should be of the most advantageous nature it is
necessary that it should be productive of benefit both to themselves and
the Government which employs them, so that it cannot be complained of as
a useless expense, whilst at the same time it should be of such a kind as
to accord with that love of excitement and change which is so peculiar to
this people.
35. Both of these ends would be attained by employing the aborigines
either in opening new roads or in repairing old lines of communication;
indeed this mode of employment is singularly suited to the habits of this
people; they might be kept constantly moving from post to post, thus
varying the scene of their operations; one portion of the party might be
employed in hunting with kangaroo-dogs, or fishing, in order to supply
the others with fresh meat; and the species of labour in which the main
body were engaged might, if they wished it, be changed once or twice in
the course of the day to prevent their being wearied by the monotonous
character of their employment.
CONCLUSION.
36. Among other enactments which I believe would have a tendency to
promote the civilization of the aborigines, and which are applicable to
those districts in which for some time a great intercourse has existed
between the natives and Europeans, are the following:
37. That any native who could produce a certificate (from the protector
of aborigines) of having been constantly employed at the house of any
settler or settlers, for a period of not less than three years, should be
entitled to a grant of land, the extent of which should be fixed by the
local government of the colony to which such native should belong, and
that, if possible, this grant should be given in that district to which
this native by birth belonged.
That, in addition to this grant, he should receive a sum of money, the
amount of which should also be fixed by the local government, and which
should be drawn from the fund raised by the sale of Government lands, and
which sum should be expended in goats, poultry, etc., so as to enable the
native in some manner to stock his land.
That any native, having only one wife, who produced a certificate of the
civil marriage contract having been performed between himself and her, by
the resident of the district to which he belonged, should be entitled to
a small reward.
That any natives who registered duly the birth of any of their children
should be entitled to a small reward.
That some competent person should be paid to instruct two native boys in
such a manner as to qualify them to act as interpreters in courts of law,
and that as soon as they are found competent they should be employed for
this purpose.
I believe that many other regulations, similar to these, would be found
to produce a very beneficial effect.
...
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX A.
GENEALOGICAL LIST TO SHOW THE MANNER IN WHICH A NATIVE FAMILY BECOMES
DIVIDED.
Nar-doo-itch or Mo-rel-li, a Ballar-oke, born about A.D. 1735,
had two wives,
Kan-dow-ree, a Ngotak,
and
Bol-ye-ree, a No-go-nyuk.
Kan-dow-ree, had the following children:
Yin-dee-ree, female.
Wun-ya-ree, female.
Kag-a-ree, female.
Yung-al, male.
Wal-luk-wur, male.
These were all Ngotaks.
Three of these children, Yin-dee-ree, Wun-ya-ree, and Kag-a-ree, were by
Nar-doo-itch's brother, her former husband.
Bol-ye-ree's children were:
Kow-en-ung, female.
No-gong-o, male.
Jee-bar, male.
Koon-a-ber-ra, male.
Ko-teyne, male.
By-er-man, male.
These were all No-go-nyuks.
Kim-be-yen-ung, a Tdon-dar-up, married, amongst other wives, Noo-yar, a
Ballar-oke.
Noo-yar's children were:
Yow-at-ung, female.*
Kad-jen-ung, female.
Ban-in-yung, female.
Now-ween-gool, female.
These were all Ballar-okes.
(*Footnote. Married to Yungal, a son of Nar-doo-itch.)
...
In order to show the way in which the different families marry into one
another I will now trace up the descendants of some of the male children
of Nar-doo-itch by each of his wives.
Yung-al, the son of Nar-doo-itch,
called also
Be-ra-gore,
married:
Ming-an, a Ballar-oke,
Ko-pan, a Nagar-nook,
Yow-at-ung, a Ballar-oke, daughter of Kim-be-yen-ung.
Ming-an's children were:
Book-oop, female.
Yu-yat, male.
Me-kat, female.
Tdan-up, female.
These were all Ballar-okes.
Ko-pan's children were:
E-lar, male.
Wat-up, male.
Bil-yan, male.
Mong-a-na, female.
Wun-daile, female.
These were all Na-gar-nooks.
Yow-at-ung's children were:
Im-bat, male.
Jil-gar, male.
Gi-mat, male.
Dubin, female.
Boo-yin female.
These were all Ballar-okes.
Jee-bar, a No-go-nyuk, another son of Nar-doo-itch, married:
Kag-a-ree, a Ngotak.
Bar-ri-kan, a Tdondarup.
Kag-a-ree's children were:
Mun-gal-wurt, male.
Ell-yar, male.
Wun-jan-ing, female.
War-ran-ung, female.
Bee-wul-lo, male.
Ngotaks.
Bar-ri-kan's children were:
Djar-a-bung, female.
Nag-a-bung, female.
Yu-gat, male.
Ka-ral-ung, male.
Tdondarups.
Bee-wul-lo, a Ngotak, the son of Jee-bar, married:
Wun-daile, a Na-gar-nook,
Noon-dup, a No-go-nyuk,
Du-bin, a Ballar-oke,
Ek-kan, a Ballar-oke,
Ming-up, a Ballar-oke,
We-jee-bung, a Ballar-oke.
Wun-daile's children were:
Yen-na, male.
War-rup, male.
Tu-yin, male.
Dow-eer, male.
Wil-gup, female.
Ka-bin-yung, female.
Bate-up, female.
Na-gar-nooks.
Noon-dup's children were:
Mee-nung, male.
Kow-elwurt, male.
Ngar-ra-jil, male.
Kau-mar, male.
Koot-in, male.
Il-gat, male.
No-go-nyuks.
Du-bin had but one child:
Waj-jup, female, a Ballar-oke.
Ek-kan's children are:
Wy-up, male.
Kok-o-bung, female.
Wee-muk, female.
Ballar-okes.
Ming-up has but one child living:
Win-bill, male, a Ballar-oke.
...
APPENDIX B.
MOUNT FAIRFAX, THE WIZARD HILLS, AND CHAMPION BAY.
(From the Nautical Magazine for July 1841 page 443.)
The only part of the West coast (to the northward of Swan River) that has
been visited by the Beagle is that part immediately to the eastward of
the Abrolhos, and it is remarkable from being under the high tableland of
Moresby's Flat-topped Range, which is a considerable elevation, and in
clear weather is visible from a ship's mast-head at the Abrolhos.
This range of hills extends north-north-west six miles from Mount
Fairfax, which, although a detached hill, may be considered its southern
extreme. Mount Fairfax is a table-topped hill, the summit of which is an
elevated part at its southern edge, and is 590 feet high. It is in
latitude 28 degrees 45 1/4 minutes, and longitude 1 degree 3 3/4 minutes
west of Swan River, and 4 miles from the coast. To the south-east of
Moresby's Flat-topped Range are the Wizard Hills, the highest of which,
Wizard Peak, is 640 feet. It is in latitude 28 degrees 49 minutes 37
seconds south and longitude 0 degrees 58 1/2 minutes west of Swan River.
For 10 1/2 miles to the northward of Moresby's Flat-topped Range are some
remarkable detached ranges of tableland, from 500 to 600 feet high, at
the northern extreme of which are the Menai Hills. Some of them show as
peaks, but appear only to be the gable ends, as it were, of table-topped
ridges.
In latitude 28 degrees 47 minutes south there is a narrow neck of low
land projecting about 1 3/4 miles from the coastline, to the northward of
which there is good anchorage in Champion Bay.
Point Moore, which is the extreme of this low projection, bears west 13
degrees south (magnetic) from Mount Fairfax, and west 17 degrees north
(magnetic) from Wizard Peak. The anchorage is protected from the westward
by a reef that extends upwards of a mile to the northward from Point
Moore: but half a mile to the northward of the reef is a detached shoal
patch which breaks occasionally, between which and the reef there is a
passage through which the Beagle passed, and had not less than six
fathoms. But perhaps it would be advisable in standing into the bay to
pass to the northward of this danger, which may be done by not bringing
Mount Fairfax to bear to the southward of east 1/4 south (magnetic) until
Point Moore bears south.
This bay is open to the northward, but, as the winds from that quarter
are not frequent, and then only in the winter season, it may be
considered as affording shelter from the prevailing winds on the coast.
The water is shoal in the head of the bay, but a good anchorage may be
taken three-quarters of a mile off shore in four fathoms sandy bottom,
with Point Moore bearing south 50 degrees west and a remarkable bare
brown sandhill in the south-east part of the bay, bearing south 31
degrees east. Mount Fairfax will then bear north 87 minutes east, and the
north extreme of the reef from Point Moore north 50 minutes west. Wizard
Peak is not seen from this anchorage.
South of Point Moore is another bay formed by a continuation of the same
reef that shelters Champion Bay from the westward; but it is quite
exposed to the prevailing winds. From Champion Bay the coast to the
northward is sandy, and fronted by sandhills slightly covered with
shrubs. This description of coast continues for nearly twenty miles. In
latitude 28 degrees 25 minutes is a remarkable white sand-patch 274 feet
above the sea, between two and three miles south of which is a deep
ravine where there is probably a stream of fresh water. Here the shore
becomes steeper, and rises abruptly from the sea, forming downs about 300
feet high. Native fires were seen in this neighbourhood, and the country
had a more fertile appearance than in the vicinity of Champion Bay. This
part of the coast is bold too, and is free from outlaying dangers, the
depth of water from two to three miles off shore being taken between 16
and 29 fathoms. High-water at Champion Bay takes place on change days at
9 hours 30 minutes P.M. nearly, and the range is from 12 to 24 inches.
The stream of tide is not perceptible, but there is generally a current
along the coast to the north-north-west from half a mile to one mile an
hour.
Champion Bay appears to be the only anchorage on the coast between Swan
River and Shark Bay: it is preferable to Gage's Road, and may at no very
distant period become of importance to Western Australia in consequence
of a considerable tract of fine country having lately been discovered
immediately to the eastward of Moresby's Flat-topped Range.
...
APPENDIX C.
CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAMMALIA OF
AUSTRALIA, WITH NOTES ON SOME RECENTLY DISCOVERED SPECIES, BY J.E. GRAY,
F.R.S., ETC. ETC., IN A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE AUTHOR.
British Museum, 10th July 1841.
MY DEAR SIR,
The very little attention which has hitherto been paid to the
distribution of the animals of Australia, and the very incorrect manner
in which the habitats of the different species are given in collections
and systematic works, have induced me to send you, with the description
of the new species recently brought from that country, a table showing at
one view the distribution of the different species which have hitherto
been recorded as found in Australia, as far as the materials at my
disposal will allow me.
I am the more induced to do so as I believe I have now under my care the
richest collection of the animals of this country in any Museum; as,
besides the specimens which we have been collecting from different
quarters, with the kind assistance of Mr. Ronald Gunn, Mr. Harvey, and
yourself, we have just purchased a complete series of all the species and
varieties brought by Mr. Gould from different parts of this Continent;
and these specimens were all marked with the habitat immediately after
they were procured.
The first column in the following table indicates the species found in
New South Wales, and the east part of the Continent; the number in the
column specifying the particular habitats where the species has been
observed,
1. Sydney, and its neighbourhood.
2. The Rivers Hunter and Maitland, and Goulburn Plains.
3. Liverpool Plains.
4. Liverpool Range.
5. The Namoi and Mokai Rivers.
6. Bong-Bong.
7. Yarrundi.
8. Interior (generally).
9. Australian Alps.
10. Murrumbidgee River.
11. Moreton Bay.
12. Clarence River.
13. Port Phillip.
14. Bathurst.
15. Interior of Australia Felix.
16. Murray River.
17. Bayunga River.
18. Darling River.
19. Glenelg River.
20. Port Stevens Mountains.
21. Port Macquarie.
The second column refers to South Australia, and the numbers in it to:
1. Adelaide and its vicinity.
2. Kangaroo Island.
3. The South Coast.
4. Port Lincoln.
5. Murray River.
The third column refers to Western Australia, as:
1. Perth.
2. King George's Sound.
3. Northam.
4. Canning River.
5. Rottnest and Garden Islands.
The fourth column refers to the North-west Coast of Australia:
1. Hanover Bay.
2. Islands in Shark Bay.
3. Dirk Hatterick's Bay.
4. Generally, the peculiar locality not being marked.
The fifth column to the North Coast:
1. Port Essington.
The sixth column to the Island of Van Diemen's Land, the numbers to:
1. Hobart Town.
2. Circular Head.
3. Bass Strait and King's Island.
4. New Norfolk.
5. Kangaroo Point.
6. Tasman's Peninsula.
7. Launceston.
8. Acteon Island.
9. Mount Wellington.
The seventh column to Norfolk Island, marked Number 1.
PRIMATES. Family Vespertilionidae.
1. Rhinolophus megaphyllus Gray. 1:10.
2. Nyctophilus geoffroyii Leach ? 1:1 1:7 3:1 6:1.
Barbastellus pacificus Gray.
Nyctinomus ---- ? Bennett.
Var. major 3:1.
Scotophilus.
* Wings and interfemoral membranes with lines of hairs.
3. Scotophilus morio, new species.
4. S. gouldii, new species. 1:2 6:7.
5. S. australis, new species. 1:1 1:4 2:1 3:4 6:1.
** Wings nearly bald.
6. S. pumilus, new species. 1:7.
7. Molossus australis 5:1.
8. Pteropus poliocephalus Temm. 1:11 1:12.
Pt. edwardsii G. Bennett not Desm.
FERAE. Family Felidae.
9. Canis familiaris australasiae. 1:1 2:1 ?
Canis Dingo Blumenb.
Family Phocidae.
10. Otaria peronii. 1:1 ?
Family Didelphidae.
11. Thylacinus cynocephalus Fischer 6:2.
Didelphis cynocephalus Harris.
12. Diabolus ursinus 6:1 6:2.
Didelphis ursina Harris.
Sarcophilus ursinus F. Cuv.
Dasyurus.
* Thumb small, clawless.
13. D. maculatus 6:1 6:2.
Viverra maculata Shaw.
Dasyurus macrurus Geoff.
14. D. geoffroyii Gould 1:3.
** Thumb none.
15. Dasyurus viverrinus Geoff. 1:1 1:2 1:3 6:1 6:2.
Didelphis viverrina Shaw. 1:6.
Var. Das. maugei Geoff.
Phascogale Temm.
* Tail end tufted.
16. Ph. penicillata Temm. 1:2 1:11 2:1.
Didelphis penicillata Shaw 1:3.
Dasyurus tafa Geoff.
** Tail conical, end pencilled.
17. Ph. minima Temm. 6:3.
Dasyurus minimus Geoff.
Ph. swainsonii Waterh.
18. Ph. affinis, new species. 6:6.
19. Ph. rufogaster, new species. 2:1.
20. Ph. flavipes Waterh. 1:2 1:3.
21. Ph. murina Waterh. 1:2 3:4.
22. Ph. leucogaster, new species 3:1.
23. Myrmecobius fasciatus Waterh. 3:1.
24. ---- ---- ? rufus Mitchell.
Red shrew mouse G. Bennett 1:8 ?
Perameles.
a Tail tapering.
* Rump banded.
25. Per. gunnii Gray 6:1.
26. Per. fasciata new species 1:3 2:1.
** Hair grizzled, ears acute, long.
27. Per. nasuta Geoff. 1:1.
P. aurita Mus Par.
P. bougainvillii Quoy.
*** Hair grizzled, ears rounded. 3:2.
28. Per. fusciventer, new species.
29. Per. obesula Geoff. 1:1 ? 3:1 6:4 6:5.
Didelphis obesula Shaw.
b. Hair soft, tail end tufted, ears very long, Paragalia.
30. Per. lagotis Reid 3:3.
31. Choeropus ecaudatus Ogilby 1:16.
Perameles ecaudatus Ogilby.
32. Phalangista vulpina Desm. 1:7 1:4 2:2 3:2 3:3 5:1 6:1.
Didelphis vulpina Shaw 1:5 1:10.
Didelphis lemurina Shaw 1:11.
Didelphis peregrina Bodd.
Var. 1. 3:1.
Var. 2. 1:5.
33. Phal. fuliginosa Ogilby 6:2.
Var. grisea.
34. Phal. xanthopus Ogilby 1:19.
35. Phal. canina Ogilby 1:2.
36. Phal. cuvieri Gray 1:8 ?
Ph. cookii Cuvier.
Petaurus cookii F. Cuv.
37. Dromicia nana 6:1.
Phalangista nana Geoff.
Phal. gliriformis Bell.
38. Hepoona cookii 1:1 1:3 1:4 3:1 3:2 6:1.
Phalangista cookii Gray 1:7.
Phalangista banksii Gray.
Balantia cookii Kuhl.
Phalangista viverrina Ogilby.
39. Petaurista taguanoides Desm. 1:1 1:21.
40. Petaurista leucogaster 1:16.
Petaurus leucogaster Mitchell.
41. Petaurus macrurus Geoff. 1:8 1:14.
Didelphis macrura Shaw.
42. Petaurus flaviventer Desm. 1:3.
43. Petaurus breviceps 1:8.
Belideus breviceps Waterh.
44. Petaurus sciureus Desm. 1:1 1:2 7:1.
Didelphis sciurea Shaw. 1:3 1:13.
45. Petaurus peronii Desm. ? 1:2.
46. Acrobates pygmaeus Desm. 1:8.
Didelphis pygmaea Shaw.
Macropus.
* Tail end simple; fur one-coloured.
47. Mac. major Shaw. 1:1 1:4 2:1 6:1 6:9.
Macropus giganteus Shaw. 1:8 1:15.
Halmaturus labiatus Geoff.
Halmaturus rufogriseus Lesson ?
Var. Macropus albus Gray.
48. Mac. laniger Lesson 1:5 1:10 2:15.
Kangurus rufus Lesson 1:21 1:19.
49. Mac. fuliginosus Lesson 2:2.
** Tail end simple, back coloured.
50. Mac. lunatus Gould 3:1.
*** Tail end clawed. (Onychogalea.)
51. Mac. frenatus Gould 1:3 1:8.
52. Mac. unguifer Gould 4:1.
Halmaturus.
* Tail long, end slightly tufted.
53. Hal. parryii Gray 1:20.
Macropus parryii Bennett 1:3.
Var. pallida Gray.
54. Hal. manicatus Gould 3:1.
Hal. irma Jourdan.
** Tail simple, back one-coloured.
55. Hal. bennettii Waterh. 4:1.
Hal. ualabatus Gray 4:2 4:3.
Halm. fruticus Ogilby 4:5 4:7.
56. Hal. ualabatus Lesson 1:2.
Halm. lessonii Gray.
57. Hal. elegans 1:6 1:15.
Mac. elegans Lambert.
Hal. ruficollis Lesson, Gould.
58. Hal. billardieri Lesson 6:1 6:2.
Hal. tasmanii Gray 6:3 6:7.
Hal. rufiventer Ogilby.
59. Hal. eugenii Gray 1:1 1:2 2:1 ?
Hal. thetis Lesson.
Kangurus eugenii Desm.
60. Hal. brachyurus Quoy 3:2.
Hal. thylogale brevicaudatus Gray
*** Tail simple, back streaked.
61. Hal. dorsalis Gray 1:8 1:5 1:17 1:3.
62. Hal. parma Gould 1:1.
63. Hal. derbianus Gray 2:2.
Var. obscurior 3:5.
64. Hal. ? banksianus Lesson 1:1 ?
65. Hal. fasciatus Goldf. 4:2.
Kangurus fasciatus Lesson.
Petrogale.
* Tail conical, slightly tufted.
66. P. robusta Gould 1:4 1:8.
** Tail end tufted.
67. P. brachyotis Gould 4:1.
68. P. penicillata Gray 1:3 1:21.
Heteropus albogularis Jourdan.
69. P. lateralis Gould 3:1.
70. Hypsiprymnus minor Cuv. 1:1 6:1.
Macropus minor Shaw.
Hyps. myosurus Ogilby.
71. Hyps. ? lesueurii Quoy 4:3.
72. Hyps. gilbertii Gould 3:2.
73. Lagorchestes leporoides Gould 1:3 1:5.
Bettongia Gray.
* Tail end blackish.
74. Bett. setosa Gray 1:3 1:5.
Hypsiprymnus setosus Ogilby.
Hyp. murinus Ogilby.
Var. Bett. penicillata Gray.
75. Bett. ogilbii Gould 3:1.
** Tail end brown, white tipped.
76. Bett. whitei Gould 1:1.
Hypsiprymnus whitei Quoy.
H. formosus Ogilby.
Hyp. phillipii Ogilby.
77. Bett. grayii 2:4.
Hyp. grayii Gould.
*** Tail grey, ears black.
78. B. rufescens Gray 1:1.
Bett. melanotis Ogilby.
79. Phascolarctos fuscus Desm. 1:1 1:8.
Ph. cinereus Fischer.
Lipurus cinereus Goldf.
80. Phascolomys ursinus 1:8 2:1 6:1 6:2.
Didelphis ursina Shaw 1:15 6:3.
Wombatus fossor Geoff.
Phasc. fuscus Desm.
Amblotis fossor Illiger.
Order GLIRES. Family Muridae.
81. Hydromys chrysogaster Geoff. 1:3 1:11 3:1 6:1 6:2 6:8.
Hyd. leucogaster Geoff.
82. Pseudomys australis Gray 1:3.
83. Mus setifer Horsf. 6:1.
84. Mus lutreola new species 1:2 2:1 6:5 6:3.
85. Mus greyii new species 2:1.
86. Mus adelaidensis new species 2:1.
87. Mus ? platurus Mitchell 1:18.
88. Mus ? hovellii Mitchell 1:17.
89. Hapalotis albipes Licht. 1:3 1:9 ?
Conilurus destructor Ogilby 1:18.
90. Hapalotis mitchellii 1:16.
Dipus mitchellii Ogilby.
91. Hapalotis gouldii new species 3:1.
Order UNGULATA. Family Dasypidae.
92. Echidna aculeata 1:4 1:8.
Myrmecophaga aculeata Shaw.
Tachyglossus aculeatus Illiger.
Echidna hystrix Cuv.
93. Echidna setosa 6:1 6:2.
Ornithorhynchus hystryx var. Home.
Tachyglossus setosus Illiger.
94. Platypus anatinus Shaw 1:1 6:4.
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus Blum.
Orn. rufus and O. fuscus Leach.
O. crispus and elvis Macgillivray.
O. brevirostris Ogilby.
Order CETAE.
95. Delphinorhynchus pernetttensis 5:1.
96. Balaena physalis 4:1.
Total of species found in each country 1:60 2:18 3:20 4:6 5:3 6:22 7:1.
Total of species peculiar to each country 1:45 2:6 3:12 4:6 5:2 6:11 7:0.
Of these species there are:
Non-Marsupial:
Primates 8.
Ferae 2.
Cetae 2.
Glires 11.
Total 23
Marsupial (Didelphidae) 71.
Monotrematous 3.
Total 97.
This list shows the progress which has taken place in the knowledge of
the Australian animals; for only a few years ago it was generally stated
that the Australian dog was the only non-Marsupial animal found on the
continent.
The following species appear to be new to science.
Number 1. Rhinolophus megaphyllus, Gray Proceedings of the Zoological
Society 1834 52.
Brown, end of the hairs of the back with small, and on the lower side of
the body with longer, grey tips. Ears with two hairy lines on each side.
Wings with little tufts of short hairs near the side of the body beneath.
(Nose leaf destroyed.) Body, 2 inches 3-12; fore-arm, 1 11-12; tail
11-12; fore-legs, 9-12; ears, 7-12.
Number 2. Scotophilus morio, Gray.
Back uniform, brownish black, scarcely paler beneath; cheeks nearly
black; underside of wings, and interfemoral membrane with lines of hairs;
heel bone elongated, slender; ears moderate rounded; tragus oblong blunt;
fore-arm bone, 1 10-12; shin bone, 9-12 of an inch.
Number 4. Scotophilus gouldii, Gray.
Blackish, hinder half of the back brownish; sides and abdomen brownish
ash; ears rather large, broad; tragus half ovate; underside of the wings
and interfemoral membrane with lines of hairs.
Var. 1. Hinder part of the back greyish; sides of the abdomen grey.
Inhabits Australasia, Mr. Gould.
Number 5. Scotophilus australis, Gray.
Back blackish; tips of the hairs rather browner; beneath rather paler on
the sides of the abdomen; ears small; tragus oval lanceolate, rather
crescent-shaped; wings, with sixteen or eighteen oblique cross lines of
hairs under each fore-arm, and scattered hairs on the sides of the body;
fore-arm, bone, 1 5-12; shin bone, 15-24. Var. rather larger fore-arm
bone, 1 7-12; shin bone, 17-24.
Number 6. Scotophilus pumilus, Gray.
Grey brown, base of the fur blackish, beneath paler; cheeks blackish;
ears small, rather thin, longer than the fur; tragus elongate, half as
long as the ears, rounded at the end; wings nearly bald, except near the
arm-pit; interfemoral membrane hairy at the base; heel-bone elongate,
two-thirds the length of the margin of the interfemoral membrane. Head
and body, 1 2-12; tail 11-12; fore-arm bone, 1 2-12.
This species, Mr. Gould notes, flies quick and low over water.
Number 7. Molossus australis. See Gray, Magazine of Zoology and Botany
volume 2 501.
Number 15. Dasyurus viverrinus.
Mr. Gould has observed that the black and yellowish varieties are
sometimes found together in the same litter. There is an intermediate
variety, blackish, with olive tips to the hairs. Dr. Shaw's specific name
should be retained.
Number 18. Phascogale affinis, Gray.
Above brown, grizelled with yellowish-brown tips to the hairs; beneath
grey brown; under fur lead colour; tail short. Male darker; length of
body and head 6 1/2; tail 4 1/2. Female, length of the body and head 4
1/2; tail 2 3/4 inches. Inhabits Tasman's Peninsula, Mr. Gould.
This may be the same as P. minima of Geoffroy, but the tail is longer for
its size.
Number 19. Phascogale rufogaster, Gray.
Head grey; back and sides brown, with longer black hairs; sides of the
belly and feet bright rufous; lips and chin whitish; under fur lead
colour; tail end blackish-brown, slightly pencilled. Body and head, 4;
tail, 2 inches. Inhabits South Australia, Mr. Gould.
Number 22. Phascogale leucogaster, Gray.
Head and shoulders grey, behind rather browner, with scattered longer
black-tipped hairs; chin and beneath pure white; feet brownish grey. Body
and head, 4; tail, 2 1/2 inches.
Inhabits Western Australia, banks of the Canning River, April 1839, Mr.
Gould.
More specimens and further observations may prove these to be only local
varieties of one species; but the specimens we have from the same
localities are similar in character, which is not the case with the
different specimens of Hepoona.
Number 26. Perameles fasciata, Gray.
Grey brown, rump with three black bands; tail white, with a black streak
along the upper side. Inhabits Liverpool Plains and South Australia;
smaller than P. gunnii.
Number 28. Perameles fusciventer, Gray.
Brown, yellow grizelled; tail above blackish, beneath grey; head short,
conical; belly grey brown, with broad rufous channelled hairs. This
species is like P. obesula in colour, but the head is shorter, and the
belly of that species is white, with white bristles.
Number 37. Dromicia nana.
The dentition and the peculiar form and character of the tail of this
species at once point out that it should constitute a distinct genus from
the other Phalangers, from which it differs in many of its habits.
Number 38. Hepoona cookii.
Specimens from the same locality differ from one another in the extent of
the white on the tail, in the darkness of the colour of the fur, and in
the limbs and sides of the body being of the colour of the back, or more
or less rufous. There are either five or six species, or only one.
Number 39.
I have retained the name of Petaurista for the flying Phalangers with
hairy ears, as Dr. Shaw's Didelphis petaurus is evidently the same as P.
flaviventer, and has naked ears, like the other species, and his name
Petaurus should be used rather than Mr. Waterhouse's Belideus for this
genus.
Number 40.
Petaurista leucogaster, may only be a variety of P. taguanoides.
Number 42. Petaurus macrourus.
This species is only known from the figures of Dr. Shaw. They have a
specimen of a young Petaurista taguanoides, under this name, in the Paris
Museum.
Number 43. Petaurus breviceps.
This is probably the species called P. peronii in Mr. G. Bennett's
catalogue of the Australian Museum. It may also be M. Desmarest's; if
this is so, the latter name will have to be adopted, and the one first
used erased from the list.
Number 47.
The Macropi with hairy muffles are found in grassy places, while the
Halmaturi are confined to the scrubs; and the Petrogalae, or
Rock-Kangaroos, to the rocky districts; the latter, like Bettongia, sit
with their tail between the legs. Mr. Gould informs me the animals of the
latter genus also use their tails for the purpose of carrying the grass
to their nests. The tree Kangaroos of New Guinea have a tail somewhat
like a squirrel. These differences of habit show the propriety of
dividing this group of animals into genera.
Number 48. Macropus laniger.
This name must be rejected as the animal is not wool-bearing. The skin in
the Paris Museum is made up with the skin of a sheep. M. Desmarest's
description of the female M. rufogriseus in the New Dictionary, very
nearly agrees with this species, but Mr. Gould is inclined to consider
the specimen he was shown for that species in the Paris Museum was M.
major.
Number 57. Halmaturus elegans.
The description of Mr. Lambert is so short that it has hitherto been
considered impossible to determine it with accuracy; but on comparing the
coloured plate which is bound up with Sir Joseph Banks' copy of the
volume of the Transactions containing the paper, now in the Museum
Library, with the specimens of kangaroos in the Museum collection, I have
very little doubt of its being intended for one which Mr. Gould considers
as identical with M. ruficollis of M. Desmarest. M. Desmarest's animal is
said to come from King's Island, in Bass Strait, while Mr. Gould's
animal, like the one Mr. Lambert described, is from New South Wales. Mr.
Gunn remarks that H. billardieri is common in the locality indicated by
M. Desmarest.
Number 67. Petrogale brachyotis.
This species was discovered by Captain G. Grey, in his expedition, and
the specimens he collected he gave to Mr. Gould, who described them, and
is now about to figure them in his forthcoming monograph of the species
of kangaroos: a work which will be as far superior to any other published
on Mammalia in beauty of design and accuracy in the execution of the
plates as his work on Birds has been to any that has hitherto appeared
either in England or on the Continent. The specimens are now in the
collection of the British Museum.
Number 84. Mus lutreola.
Back black and yellowish grizelled, with longer black hairs; sides
yellowish grey, beneath grey lead colour, under fur lead colour; ears
with scattered short adpressed hairs; whiskers black; front teeth yellow;
tail with short black adpressed bristles; length of body and head 7, tail
4, hind-feet 1 1-4 inches. The water-rat of the South Australian
Colonist. Inhabits South Australia, River Torrens, Bass Strait, New South
Wales; Musquito Islands and Macdonald's River, Van Diemen's Land,
Tasman's Peninsula. J. Gould, Esquire.
Number 85. Mus greyii, Gray.
Fur brown, with close long slender pale-tipped black hairs; sides
yellowish-brown; throat and beneath yellowish; feet whiteish; ears nearly
naked, with close-pressed short greyish hairs; tail with close-pressed
brown hairs. Variety; belly rather more greyish-white. Inhabits South
Australia, June. Length, body and head 6, tail 4 3/4, hind-feet 1 1/12 of
an inch.
Number 86. Mus adelaidensis.
Fur soft, brown, with scattered rather longer black tipped hairs, beneath
pale grey brown; the under fur lead coloured; whiskers black; ears
moderate, covered with short close-pressed hairs; tail elongate, brown;
cutting teeth pale yellow, compressed; body and head 3, tail 3 inches,
hind-feet 8-12. Inhabits South Australia. J. Gould, Esquire.
In examining the Geographical distribution of the Genera, as exhibited in
the foregoing table, as far as our present knowledge of these animals
extends we may state that the genera Choeropus, Acrobates, Petaurista,
Lagorchestes, Phascolarctos, Hapalotis, and Pseudomys, are peculiar to
New South Wales. The genus Petaurus is also found in New South Wales, but
not in the Island of Van Diemen's Land and the rest of the continent, but
one of the species living there is also said to be an inhabitant of
Norfolk Island, where it may probably have been introduced.
The species of the genera Petrogale and Bettongia are common to New South
Wales, South Australia, and the North-west Coast; but they are not found
in Van Diemen's Land, and the genus Myrmecobius appears to be peculiar to
Western Australia, for it is not by any means certain that the red
shrew-mouse discovered in Australia Felix by Sir T. Mitchell belongs to
this genus.
The Genera Thylacinus, Diabolus, and Dromicia, are peculiar to Van
Diemen's Land.
The species of the genera Dasyurus and Perameles are very abundant in Van
Diemen's Land, but they have also representatives which are found in New
Holland.
The species of the genera Nyctophilus, Phalangista, Hepoona, Phascogale,
Macropus, Halmaturus, Hypsiprymnus, and Hydromys, appear to be common to
all parts of the continent, and also to Van Diemen's Land.
The genera Echidna and Ornithorhynchus are found in New Holland and Van
Diemen's Land, but I have not heard of their having been discovered in
the Western or Southern parts of the continent of Australia.
There are some of the genera of the non-Marsupial animals, as Rhinolophus
and Pteropus, which are common to various parts of Australia and the
different parts of the Old World, and others, as Canis, Mus, Scotophilus,
and Molossus, which are common to it and to both Hemispheres. Two
Marsupial genera, Halmaturus and Perameles, have species found in New
Guinea, but most probably, when they have been more carefully examined,
they will be found to form a peculiar genus, allied to the Australian
animals, as is the case with the tree-kangaroos (Dendrolegus) and the
Phalangers (Cuscus) of that country. We have a specimen of the Halmaturus
in the British Museum, from the Leyden collection, but like many of the
specimens in that collection, where the zoological specimens are made
subservient to the anatomical predilections of the conservator, it has no
skull, and false claws, which renders it impossible for me to define its
characters. The tail has rings of scales under the hair, but this is also
the case with most Halmaturi.
Before proceeding to the consideration of the distribution of the
species, over the different districts of Australasia, it may be remarked
that this is a subject surrounded with considerable difficulty, as
different naturalists do not always apply the same test to determine the
distinction of the species, some considering the differences found in the
specimens from different localities, as merely local varieties, and
others regarding them as distinct; and others again declaring that
several specimens, which cabinet naturalists are in the habit of
regarding as only accidental varieties from the examination of the skins,
are quite distinct when they are observed alive in their native habitat.
In the preceding list, when all the specimens I have seen from a
particular habitat have a similar and peculiar character, I have
considered them as species; on the contrary when the specimens from the
same locality offer variations among themselves, as in those of the genus
Hepoona, where the extent of the whiteness on the tail, and the variation
in the colour of the body appear to differ in the specimens from the same
place, I have regarded them as belonging to the same species, believing
it to be a variable species which has an extensive range.
From the Table already given it appears that, of the species found on the
Australian Continent, 71 are confined to it, 12 common to it and Van
Diemen's Land, and one common to it and Norfolk Island; while of the 24
species found on Van Diemen's Land, 11 are found in it alone.
The species common to the Australian Continent and Van Diemen's Land,
are:
2. Nyctophilus geoffroyii.
4. Scotophilus gouldii.
5. Scotophilus australis.
15. Dasyurus viverrinus.
27. Perameles obesula.
32. Phalangista vulpina.
38. Hepoona cookii.
70. Hypsiprymnus minor.
81. Hydromys chrysogaster.
84. Mus lutreola.
94. Platypus anatinus.
The species common to Australia and Norfolk Island, but not found in Van
Diemen's Land is:
44. Petaurus sciureus.
The eleven species peculiar to Van Diemen's Land, are:
11. Thylacinus cynocephalus.
12. Diabolus ursinus.
13. Dasyurus maculatus.
17. Phascogale minima.
18. Phascogale affinis.
37. Dromicia nana.
34. Phalangista fuliginosa.
58. Halmaturus billardieri.
80. Phascolomys ursina.
93. Echidna setosa.
83. Mus setifer.
The last species is also found in Java, from whence it might have been
introduced. It has been known in Van Diemen's Land some years, and does
not appear to have found its way to Australia.
Of the 72 species found in the Australian continent six have only been
recorded as having been found on the North-west coast:
52. Macropus unguifer.
55. Halmaturus bennettii.
65. Halmaturus fasciatus.
67. Petrogale brachyotis.
71. Hypsiprymnus lesueurii.
Peculiar to the Western Australian district are:
22. Phascogale leucogaster.
23. Myrmecobius fasciatus.
28. Perameles fuscoventer.
29. Perameles obesula.
30. Perameles lagotis.
51. Macropus lunatus.
54. Halmaturus manicatus.
60. Halmaturus brevicaudatus.
69. Petrogale lateralis.
72. Hypsiprymnus gilbertii.
72. Bettongia ogilbii.
91. Hapalotis gouldii.
To the South Australian district:
19. Phascogale rufogaster.
49. Macropus fuliginosus.
63. Halmaturus derbianus.
77. Bettongia grayii.
85. Mus greyii.
86. Mus adelaidensis.
To the North Coast:
7. Molossus australis ?
In the New South Wales district there have been recorded the following:
some of them may have a larger distribution on the Continent, when these
countries become better known, and some of them (marked with a star*) are
common to this district, and Van Diemen's Land:
1. Rhinolophus megaphyllus.
4.* Scotophilus gouldii.
6. Scotophilus pumilus.
8. Pteropus poliocephalus.
9. Canis familiaris Australis.
10. Otaria peronii.
14. Dasyurus geoffroyii.
15.* Dasyurus viverrinus.
16. Phascogale penicillata.
20. Phascogale flavipes.
21. Phascogale murina.
25. Myrmecobius ? rufus.
26.* Perameles fasciatus.
27.* Perameles nasuta.
31. Choeropus ecaudatus.
33. Phalangista xanthopus.
35. Phalangista canina.
36. Phalangista cuvieri.
39. Petaurista taguanoides.
40. Petaurista leucogaster.
41. Petaurus macrurus.
42. Petaurus flaviventer.
43. Petaurus breviceps.
44. Petaurus sciureus.
45. Petaurus peronii.
46. Acrobates pygmaeus.
47. Macropus major.
50. Macropus fraenatus.
53. Halmaturus parryii.
57. Halmaturus elegans.
56. Halmaturus ualabatus.
59. Halmaturus eugenii.
61. Halmaturus dorsalis.
62. Halmaturus parma.
64 ? Halmaturus banksianus.
66. Petrogale robusta.
68. Petrogale penicillata.
70.* Hypsiprymnus minor.
73. Lagorchestes leporoides.
74. Bettongia setosa.
76. Bettongia whitei.
78. Bettongia rufescens.
79. Phascolarctos fuscus.
82. Pseudomys australis.
87. Mus platyurus ?
88. Mus hovellii ?
89. Hapalotis albipes.
90. Hapalotis mitchellii.
92. Echidna aculeata.
94.* Ornithorhynchus paradoxus.
Two species are remarkable as being common to the East and South sides of
the Continent, namely:
48. Macropus laniger.
84. Mus lutreola.
26.* P. fasciata.
The latter is also found in Van Diemen's Land. And the four following
species are common to the South, West, and East sides of the Continent:
5. Scotophilus australis.
32. Phalangista vulpina.
38. Hepoona cookii, and varieties.
81. Hydromys chrysogaster.
These are all also found in Van Diemens' Land, and may therefore be
considered as the most generally distributed of all the Australian
animals. Both the Phalangista and the Hepoona are very variable in their
colours, and may prove to comprise different species when we are enabled
to examine a larger number of specimens from different localities.
...
APPENDIX D.
Mr. Gould, who is now engaged in a work upon the Ornithology of
Australia, having been solicited to furnish a list of the Birds of the
Western coast, has kindly forwarded the following enumeration of the
species which have come under his notice as inhabiting that part of the
country. The list, although necessarily incomplete, is the most perfect
that has yet been published, and will doubtless be of considerable
interest to the scientific as well as the general reader.
ORDER RAPTORES.
Aquila fucosa, Cuv.
Buteo melanosternon, Gould.
Haliaeetus canorus, Vig. and Horsf.
Pandion leucocephalus, Gould.
Falco hypoleucos, Gould.
Falco melanogenys, Gould.
Falco frontatus, Gould.
Ieracidea berigora, Gould.
Astur approximans, Vig. and Horsf.
Accipiter torquatus, Vig. and Horsf.
Milvus isurus, Gould.
Elanus axillaris.
Circus affinis? Jard. and Selb.
Nyctale ? Boobook, Gould.
Strix cyclops, Gould.
Strix delicatulus, Gould.
ORDER INSESSORES, Vig.
Aegotheles novae-hollandiae, Vig. and Horsf.
Podargus brachypterus, Gould.
Eurostopodus guttatus, Gould.
Halcyon sanctus, Vig. and Horsf.
Merops ornatus, Lath.
Hirundo pacifica ? Lath.
Collocalia ? leucosterna, Gould.
Cotyle pyrrhonota.
Cotyle familiaris, Gould.
Seisura volitans, Vig. and Horsf.
Microeca assimilis, Gould.
Rhipidura albiscapa, Gould.
Rhipidura isura, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Piezorhynchus nitidus, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Ceblepyris humeralis, Gould.
Graucalus melanops, Vig. and Horsf.
Artamus albovittatus, Vieill.
Artamus personatus, Gould.
Artamus cinereus, Vieill.
Artamus leucorhynchus, Vieill.
Falcunculus leucogaster, Gould.
Cracticus destructor.
Cracticus argenteus, Gould.
Gymnorhina tibicen ? G.R. Gray.
Strepera tibicen ?
Eopsaltria griseogularis, Gould.
Colluricincla rufiventris, Gould.
Colluricincla brunnea, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Oreoica gutturalis, Gould.
Pachycephala gutturalis, Vig. and Horsf.
Pachycephala pectoralis, Vig. and Horsf.
Dasyornis longirostris, Gould.
Salicaria ? longirostris ?
Petroica multicolor, Swains.
Petroica goodenovii, Jard. and Selb.
Petroica bicolor, Swains.
Zosterops chloronotus, Gould.
Ephthianura albifrons, Gould.
Acanthiza chrysorrhoea, Gould.
Acanthiza inornata, Gould.
Acanthiza (Like A. diemenensis, Gould.)
Pyrrholaemus brunneus, Gould.
Gerygone brevirostris, Gould.*
Gerygone culicivorus, Gould.*
(* These birds have been characterised by me under the generic name of
Psilopus; but that term having been previously employed in Entomology I
propose to alter it to Gerygone.)
Sericornis frontalis ? Gould.
Malurus elegans, Gould.
Malurus lamberti, Vig. and Horsf. (North-West Coast.)
Malurus splendens, Gould.
Stipiturus malachurus, Less.
Calamanthus campestris, Gould.
Cinclorhamphus cruralis, Gould.
Cinclorhamphus rufescens, Gould.
Anthus australis ? Vig. and Horsf.
Pardalotus ornatus, Temm.
Pardalotus punctatus, Vieill.
Cinclosoma castanotus, Gould.
Dicaeum atrogaster, Less.
Amadina ? acuticauda, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Amadina ? pectoralis, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Estrilda bella.
Estrilda ? annulosa, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Grallina melanoleuca, Vieill.
Climacteris rufa, Gould.
Sittella melanocephala, Gould.
Chalcites lucidus, Less.
Cuculus cinereus, Vig. and Horsf.
Cuculus inornatus, Vig. and Horsf.
Eudynamys Orientalis ? Vig. and Horsf. (North-West Coast.)
Centropus affinis, Gould.
Platycercus zonarius, Wagl.
Platycercus icterotis, Wagl.
Platycercus pileatus, Vig.
Polytelis melanura, Wagl.
Nymphicus novae-hollandiae, Wagl.
Pezoporus formosus, Ill.
Euphema elegans, Gould.
Euphema splendida, Gould.
Euphema petrophila, Gould.
Trichoglossus porphyrocephalus, Diet.
Plyctolophus leadbeateri, Vig.
Plyctolophus galeritus, Vieill.
Licmetis pastinator, Gould.
Calyptorhynchus naso, Gould.
Calyptorhynchus baudinii, Vig.
Anthochaera lewinii, Vig. and Horsf.
Anthochaera lunulata, Gould.
Myzantha obscura, Gould.
Meliphaga mystacalis, Gould.
Meliphaga novae-hollandiae ? Vig. and Horsf.
Ptilotis ornata, Gould.
Ptilotis leucotis, Swains.
Ptilotis plumula, Gould.
Ptilotis sonora, Gould.
Glyciphila ocularis ? Gould.
Glyciphila albifrons, Gould.
Haematops lunulatus ? Gould.
Acanthorhynchus superciliosus, Gould.
Myzomela nigra, Gould.
ORDER RASORES.
Turtur spilonota.
Peristera chalcoptera, Swains.
Peristera scripta.
Petrophassa albipennis, Gould. (North-West Coast.)
Coturnix australis, Temm.
Turnix* varius, Vieill.
Turnix velox, Gould.
Turnix castanotus, Gould.
(*The term Turnix having been published long prior to that of Hemipodius
it must necessarily be employed in preference to the latter; the
Australian species of this form will therefore stand as:
Turnix varius, Vieill.
Turnix melanogaster, Gould.
Turnix castanotus, Gould.
Turnix velox, Gould.
Turnix pyrrhothorax, Gould.
Turnix melanotus, Gould.)
Leipoa ocellata, Gould.
ORDER GRALLATORES.
Otis australasianus, Gould.
Dromaius novae-hollandiae, Vieill.
OEdicnemus novae-hollandiae, Lath.
Charadrius virginianus, Borkh.
Squatarola helvetica ? Cuv.
AEgialitis nigrifrons, Gould.
AEgialitis ruficapillus.
Himantopus leucocephalus, Gould.
Chladorhynchus pectoralis, G.R. Gray.
Vanellus ? pectoralis.
Erythrogonys cinctus, Gould.
Strepsilas collaris, Temm.
Pelidna australis, Jard.
Limosa australis, Briss.
Totanus stagnatilis ? Bechst.
Haematopus picatus ?
Haematopus niger ?
Numenius australasianus, Gould.
Recurvirostra rubricollis, Temm.
Porphyrio bellus, Gould.
Tribonyx ventralis, Gould.
Fulica novae-hollandiae, Gould.
Rallus phillipensis, Linn.
Zapornia phillipensis ?
Botauras stellaris ? Steph.
Nycticorax caledonicus, Less.
Ardea novae-hollandiae, Lath.
ORDER NATATORES.
Larus leucomelas, Vieill.
Xema jamesonii.
Sterna poliocerca, Gould.
Sterna caspia ? Pall.
Sterna caspia ? (like minuta).
Sterna dougallii, Mont.
Diomedea exulans, Linn.
Diomedea melanophrys, Temm.
Diomedea chlororhyncha, Gmel.
Diomedea fuliginosa, Gmel.
Procellaria gigantea, Auct.
Puffinus brevicaudus, Gould.
Puffinus chlorhynchus, Less.
Cygnus atratus, Linn.
Anser atratus ?
Casarka tadornoides, Eyton.
Malacorhynchus membranaceus, Swains.
Nyroca australis, Gould.
Anas novae-hollandiae, Steph.
Anas naevosa, Gould.
Mareca castanea, Eyton.
Rhynchaspis rhyncotis, Steph.
Biziura lobata, G.R. Gray.
Oxyura australis, Gould.
Podiceps cristatus, Lath.
Podiceps gularis, Gould.
Podiceps poliocephalus ? Jard. and Selb.
Pelecanus spectabilis, Temm.
Phalacrocorax Carbo? Cuv.
Phalacrocorax pica.
Phalacrocorax melanoleucus, Vieill.
Spheniscus minor.
...
APPENDIX E.
A Catalogue of the Species of Reptiles and Amphibia hitherto described as
inhabiting Australia, with a description of some New Species from Western
Australia, and some remarks on their geographical distribution, by JOHN
EDWARD GRAY, F.R.S. etc. etc. in a note to the author.
Order 1. SAURI.
Family MONITORIDAE.
1. Odatria punctata, Gray Annals of Natural History 1 394.
Grey olive, with narrow black reticulated lines, leaving large hexagonal
spots. Head, limbs, and tail blackish, with a few pale spots.
Inhabits Western Australia.
2. Hydrosaurus varius, Gray Annals of Natural History 1 394.
Uaranus varius, Merrem. Gray King's Voyage 2 427.
Lacerta varia, Shaw. White Journal New South Wales 246 t. 3. f 2. Shaw N.
Misc. t. 83.
Tupinambis variegatus, Dauden.
Inhabits New Holland.
3. Hydrosaurus gouldii, Gray Annals of Natural History 1 394.
With two yellow streaks on the side of the neck. Scales over the orbits
small, flat.
Inhabits Australia.
4. Uaranus bellii, Dumeril and Bibron Erp. Gen. 3 493 t. 35 f. 1.
Inhabits New Holland, T. Bell, Esquire.
Family SCINCIDAE.
5. Trachysaurus rugosus, Gray King's Voyage 2 421. Annals of Natural
History 2 288.
T. peronii, Wagler Icon t. 36.
Scincus pachyurus, Peron. manuscript.
Stump-tailed Goanna, Colonist's.
Inhabits Western Australia, Perth.
6. Trachysaurus typicus.
Brachydactylus typicus, A. Smith South African Journal 1.
Inhabits Western Australia, Perth.
7. Egernia cunninghami, Gray Annals of Natural History 2 288.
Tiliqua cunninghami, Gray Proceedings of the Zoological Society.
Inhabits New Holland, Liverpool Plains.