s one of the secondary objects
of the expedition. Perhaps there are mines; but as no person competent
to form a decision is to be found among us, I wish no one to adopt an
idea, that I mean to impress him with such a belief, when I state, that
individuals, whose judgements are not despicable, are willing to think
favourably of this conjecture, from specimens of ore seen in many of the
stones picked up here. I cannot quit this subject without regretting,
that some one capable of throwing a better light on it, is not in the
colony. Nor can I help being equally concerned, that an experienced
botanist was not sent out, for the purpose of collecting and describing
the rare and beautiful plants with which the country abounds. Indeed,
we flattered ourselves, when at the Cape of Good Hope, that Mason, the
King's botanical gardener, who was employed there in collecting for the
royal nursery at Kew, would have joined us, but it seems his orders and
engagements prevented him from quitting that beaten track, to enter on
this scene of novelty and variety.

To the naturalist this country holds out many invitations. Birds, though
not remarkably numerous, are in great variety, and of the most exquisite
beauty of plumage, among which are the cockatoo, lory, and parroquet;
but the bird which principally claims attention is, a species of
ostrich, approaching nearer to the emu of South America than any other
we know of. One of them was shot, at a considerable distance, with a
single ball, by a convict employed for that purpose by the Governor; its
weight, when complete, was seventy pounds, and its length from the end
of the toe to the tip of the beak, seven feet two inches, though there
was reason to believe it had not attained its full growth. On dissection
many anatomical singularities were observed: the gall-bladder was
remarkably large, the liver not bigger than that of a barn-door fowl,
and after the strictest search no gizzard could be found; the legs,
which were of a vast length, were covered with thick, strong scales,
plainly indicating the animal to be formed for living amidst deserts;
and the foot differed from an ostrich's by forming a triangle, instead
of being cloven.

Goldsmith, whose account of the emu is the only one I can refer to,
says, "that it is covered from the back and rump with long feathers,
which fall backward, and cover the anus; these feathers are grey on
the back, and white on the belly." The wings are so smal