The spears used on this occasion were made of reed and pointed with bones of the emu; but we saw at their huts several heavy jagged ones of very hard wood for the purposes of fishing.  The natives wore cloaks made of kangaroo skins.

DISCOVERY OF THE JERBOA IN AUSTRALIA.

A very curious and rare little quadruped was this day found by the two Tommies, who had never before seen such an animal.  Its fore and hind legs resembled in proportion those of the kangaroo; and it used the latter by leaping on its hindquarters in the same manner as that animal.  It was not much larger than a common fieldmouse, but the tail was longer in proportion to the rest of the body even than that of a kangaroo, and terminated in a hairy brush about two inches long.* (Plate 29.)

(Footnote.  This appears to be a species of Jerboa, thus for the first time seen by us in Australia.  My friend Mr. Ogilby has described this animal in the Linnean Transactions from my drawing and descriptions; the specimen itself having been deposited in the Australian Museum at Sydney.  Dipus mitchellii, D. plantis subpentadactylis; corpore supra cinereo-fusco, subtus albido; auriculis magnis, cauda longissima, floccosa.  Linnean Transactions volume page 129.)

We also discovered a beautiful new species of the Cape genus Pelargonium, which would be an acquisition to our gardens.  I named it P. rodneyanum* in honour of Mrs. Riddell at Sydney, grand-daughter of the famous Rodney.

(Footnote.  P. rodneyanum, Lindley manuscripts; patentim pilosum, caule subterraneo horizontali crasso fragili ramos erectos promente apice tantum epigaeos foliosos, ramulis herbaceis erectis, foliis ovato-oblongis sublobatis basi cuneatis obtusis grosse crenatis tenuibus glabriusculis longipetiolatis, pedunculis erectis foliis longioribus, umbellis tomentosis 8-10-floris demum laxis divaricatis, petalis anguste obovatis calyce triplo longioribus, staminum tubo obliquo:  sterilium 3 denticuliformibus, fortilium 2 sterilibus interjectis caeteris longioribus.)

DIFFERENT HABITS OF THE SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED.

At this camp where we lay shivering for want of fire, the different habits of the aborigines and us, strangers from the north, were strongly contrasted.  On that freezing night the natives, according to their usual custom, stripped off all their clothes previous to lying down to sleep in the open air, their bodies being doubled up around a few burning reeds.  We could not understand how they could lay thus naked when the earth was white with hoar frost; and they were equally at a loss to know how we could sleep in our tents without a bit of fire to keep our bodies warm.  For the support of animal heat, fire and smoke are almost as necessary to them as clothes are to us.  The naked savage however is not without some reason on his side, for fire is the only means he possesses to warm his body when cold, and it is therefore the only comfort he ever knows; whereas