James Cook - A Journal of the proceedings of His Majesty's Bark Endeavour on a voyage round the world, by Lieutenant James Cook, Commander, commencing the 25th of May 1768 - 23 Oct. 1770: No. 295

[Page 295]
New Wales or East Coast of New Holland
Augt 1770 the Sea, Purslain & beans which grows on a Creeping kind of a Vine, the first we found very good when boiled & the latter not to be dispised & were at first very serviceable to the Sick but the best greens we found here was the Tarra or Coco Tops which grows in most Boggy Places, these eat as well as or better, than Spinnage, the roots for want of being Transplanted, & properly Cultivated, were not good, yet we could have dispensed with them could we have got them in any Tolerable plenty, but having a good way to go for them it took up too much time & too many hands to gather both root & branch, the few Cabage Palms we found here were in General small & yielded so little Cabage that they were not worth the Looking after & this was the Case with most of the fruit etc, we found in the woods, besides the Animals which I have before mentioned called by the Natives Kangooroo, or Kanguru, here are Wolves, Possums, an Animal like a ratt & snakes, both of the Venemous & other sorts, Tame Animals here are none except Dogs & of these we never saw but one who frequently came about our Tents to pick up bones etc. The Kanguru are in the greatest number for we seldom went into the Country without seeing some. The land Fowls we met here which are far from being numerous, were Crows, Kites, Hawkes, Cockadores, of 2 Sorts the one white & the other brown, very beautiful Loryquets of 2 or 3 Sorts, Pidgeons, Doves & a few other sorts of small Birds, The Sea or Water fowl are Herns, Whisling Ducks, which perch & I believe, roost on Trees, Curlews etc, & not many of these neither, some of our Gentlemen who were in the Country heard & saw Wild Geese in the Night.
The Country as far as I could see is diversified with Hills & plains & these with woods & Lawns the Soil of the Hills is hard dry & very Stoney yet it produceth a thin Coarse grass, & some wood, the Soil of the Plains & Valleys are sandy & in some places Clay & in many Parts very Rocky & Stoney, as well as the Hills, but in general the Land is pretty well Cloathed, with long grass wood Shrubs etc. The whole Country abounds with an immense number of Aunt Hills, some of which are 6 or 8 feet high & more than twice that in Circuit, here are but few sorts of Trees besides the Gum tree which is the most numerous & is the same that we found on the Southern Part of the Coast, only here they do not grow near so large, on each side of the River all the way up it are Mangroves which Extend in some places a Mile from its banks, the Country in general is not badly water’d, there being several fine Rivulets at no very great distance from one another but none near to the place where