Introduction
James Cook captained ‘Endeavour’ on a round trip to New Zealand and Australia from 1768 to 1771. Between June and August 1770, the ship lay at the mouth of the Endeavour (Wabalumbaal) River in north Queensland, undergoing repairs. Cook kept a meticulous journal, in which he described some of the animals he saw.
I SAW myself this morning, a little way from the ship, one of the animals before spoke of; it was of a light mouse colour and the full size of a greyhound, and shaped in every respect like one, with a long tail, which it carried like a greyhound; in short, I should have taken it for a wild dog but for its walking or running, in which it jumped like a hare or deer.
Another of them was seen today by some of our people, who saw the first; they described them as having very small legs, and the print of the feet like that of a goat;* but this I could not see myself because the ground the one I saw was upon was too hard, and the length of the grass hindered my seeing its legs.
Besides the animals which I have before mentioned, called by the natives kanguru, here are wolves, possums, an animal like a rat, and snakes, both of the venomous and other sorts.*
Abridged
See Footprints of the Eastern Grey kangaroo. Presumably, the ‘very small legs’ were the fore legs, the hind legs being concealed by long grass as they were when Cook saw his kangaroo.
The wolf may have been a Dingo. See also Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula).
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Hinder. Leg. Little.
2 Length. Native. Ship.
3 Hard. Mouse. Venomous.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Respect. 2 Size. 3 Jump. 4 Sort. 5 People. 6 Print. 7 Walk. 8 Run. 9 Shape.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Hard. 2 Longest. 3 Short. 4 Colourful. 5 Wild. 6 Venomous. 7 Lesser. 8 Longer. 9 Smallest.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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