Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0399
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 399]
295.
Some account of New Holland
trace the passage of the Indians who went from us in Endeavours river up into the countrey were intended in some way or other for the taking of the animal calld by them Kanguru which we found to be so much afraid of fire that we
[Margin note] Fire
could hardly force it with our dogs to go over places newly burnt
they get fire very expeditiously with two peices of stick very readily & nimbly the one must be round & 8 or nine inches long & both it & the other should be dry & soft the round one they sharpen a little at one end & pressing it upon the other turn it round with the palms of their hands just as Europeans do a chocolate mill often shifting their hands up & running them down quick to make the pressure as hard as possible in this manner they will get fire in less than 2 minutes & when once posessd of the smallest spark increase in a manner truely wonderfull we often admird to see a man run along shore who seemd to carry no one thing in his hand & yet as he ran along just stooping down every 50 or 100 yards smoak & fire were seen among the drift wood & dirt at that place almost the instant