He also speaks of the
birds, beasts, fishes, and other curious animals unknown in Christendom,
of which Master Nicole le Fevre, of Honfleur, who was a volunteer in the
voyage, had taken exact draughts. And, last of all, we are told that De
Gonneville induced the chief or king of the country to allow him to take
home his son and another Indian as a companion, promising to return with
them in twenty "moons" at furthest, and owing to the impossibility of
fulfilling that promise, he procured the young Australian an
establishment in France, and married him to one of his relatives, from
whom he had posterity. This last portion of the narrative would appear
the most incredible of all, if we had not official and documentary
evidence of its absolute truth, as it must certainly be presumed that the
Australian could not possibly have belonged to the wretched races with
whom we are familiar.
But, however difficult it may seem to reconcile the account of De
Gonneville with our general knowledge of the natives of Australia, the
task is not so hopeless as at first sight may appear; and we shall crave
the attention of the reader to the following description of the country
and the inhabitants of that part of North-west Australia which surrounds
the Glenelg.
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