Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/218

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200
VOYAGE IN SEARCH
[1792.

extremity of New Holland ſeveral ſpecies of anciſtrum, analogous to thoſe found at the ſouthernmoſt extremity of America.

We were ſurrounded with pleaſant groves, conſiſting for the greater part of a beautiful ſpecies of theſium with ſtrait leaves.

The cold had obliged us to kindle a large fire. Some of us were ſcarcely beginning to fall aſleep, when we ſuddenly heard the cry of a beaſt of prey at a few paces diſtance. Our fire had probably been of greater ſervice to us, in preventing this animal, which from the ſound of its voice we believed to be a leopard, from approaching nearer, than we ſhould have expected when we kindled it.

I had found, on one of the preceding days, the upper jaw-bone of a large animal of the carnivorous tribe.

10th. As ſoon as the day appeared, we continued our journey on the borders of the lake. At a very ſmall diſtance from the coaſt we obſerved five iſlands covered with trees, which formed an agreeable contraſt with the level ſurface of this vaſt ſheet of water.

We perceived, for the firſt time in this country, ſeveral quails that flew at a great diſtance from us.

After marching for ſeveral hours towards the

north-