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Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 - Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers - Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The - Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners - Of the Admir by John Lort Stokes
page 216 of 525 (41%)
NEW KANGAROO.

We found a new kind of kangaroo and wallaby on Barrow's Island; but the
only specimen obtained of the former was destroyed through the neglect of
the person in whose charge it was left. It was a buck, weighing fifty
pounds, of a cinnamon colour on the back and a dirty white on the belly;
the hair was fine and long; the head of a peculiar shape, resembling a
dog's, with a very blunt nose; the forearms were very short; the hind
feet cushioned like those inhabiting rocky ground. The does appeared to
be much lighter; but all were very wary and scarce. From the number of
red sandhills, too, scattered over the island, they were difficult to be
seen at a distance. From our description of this specimen it has been
named Osphranter isabellinus. With the wallaby we were more fortunate,
Mr. Bynoe and myself succeeding in knocking over four, weighing from five
to eight pounds; they also had blunt noses, and were of a light brown
colour, quite different from those on the Abrolhos.

Two iguanas, measuring seven feet in length, and nearly black, striped
slightly with white, were also killed here.

We did not find any surface water; everything wore a dry parched
appearance. No traces of natives were discovered, except some charred
pieces of wood. Indeed I may remark that we saw signs of fire on every
part of the continent we visited. From the south extremity of the island
a long reef trended in the direction of the mainland, where Captain King
traced it extending off some distance, thus connecting with the shore the
whole of these islands, which seem to lie in a line with each other, like
the various parts of a submerged piece of land. The small isles,
especially between the Montebello Group and Barrow's Island, have all the
same direction; so that it seems fair to conclude that they were once a
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