Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1920 — THE ROMANCE OF WORDS [ARTICLE]

THE ROMANCE OF WORDS

-KANGAROO.” WHEN Captain Cook’s expedition anchored off the coast of Australia one of the first things the explorer did was to send some of his men ashore with instructions to bring back specimens of the plants, flowers and animals which appeared to be distinctive of the country. Twto of the sailors returned with a beast which had extremely long hind legs, short fore paws and an, exceptionally well developed tail. Cook, who had never seen anything of the kind, desired to learn something more about the strange animal and sent the men back to discover by what name the natives called it Upon their return they reported that the nearest they could come to it was “Kan-ga-roo." “At least,” as one of the men declared, “that’s what all the natives said when I pointed to the animal.” So, when Captain Cook returned home, he brought with him the body of an animal which was introduced to natural history under the name “kangaroo.” It was not until a number of years later that ft was found that “kan-ga-roo” was the Australian equivalent for "I don’t know," which was the reason that the natives said this when Cook’s men ask£d them a question they didn’t understand! (Copyright)