e Australian continent abounds, is like everything else proceeding from
the hand of the Creator, not without its uses. On cold nights the natives
make up for their total want of covering, by burying themselves in it,
and nothing can be more irresistibly comic than to see these black lumps
sticking out of the earth, like so many enchanted unfortunates in an
eastern romance. It moreover has other uses, forming a substitute for
soap;* and when cooking turtle it is mixed with earth and sprinkled over
the meat, as we should pepper.

(*Footnote. Their general habits are cleanly.)

One discovery which was made through the medium of the natives, was that
the large tumuli noticed by Captain King and others, and supposed to be
raised by the inhabitants, are the works of a bird; some of them are
thirty feet long and about five feet high; they are always built near
thick bushes in which they can take shelter, at the least alarm. The
edifice is erected with the feet, which are remarkable both for size and
strength, and a peculiar power of grasping; they are yellow while the
body is brown. Nothing can be more curious than to see them hopping
towards these piles on one foot, the other being filled with materials
for building. Though much smaller in shape, in manner they much resemble
moor-fowl. The use made of the mound is to contain eggs, which are
deposited in layers, and are then hatched by the heat generated in part
from decomposition. The instant that the shell bursts, the young bird
comes forth strong and large, and runs without the slightest care being
taken of it by the parent. Of the number of eggs laid by each bird,
seldom more than two are hatched. It is singular that these mounds are
found away from the earth and shells of which they are composed. It seems
difficult to credit that a bird so small could raise a structure so
large. The largest we ever saw was about eight feet high, on one of the
Possession Islands in Endeavour Strait.

The name given to the bird by Mr. Gould is Megapodius tumulus, and it
will be unnecessary to
enter upon any further details concerning it, as he has described it most
interestingly in his work on the birds of Australia.

Great numbers of kangaroos were also found here, which at the period of
our arrival the settlers were just getting into the way of killing. There
are three varieties, of which the largest weighs about 160 pounds. I must
further allude to a most beautiful little opossum whic