Flesh meat he obtained from the
kangaroos and seals. Their skins he took to Launceston in his boat,
and in it he brought back supplies of flour and groceries. He had
observed dead bodies of women and men, and pieces of a wrecked vessel
cast up by the sea, and had travelled along the shore with his
family, looking for anything useful or valuable which the wreck might
yield. After hearing the story, and seeing the miserable plight of
the castaways, he invited them to his home. On arriving at the hut
Scott and his lubras prepared for their guests a beautiful meal of
kangaroo and potatoes. This was their only food as long as they
remained on King's Island, for Scott's only boat had got adrift, and
his flour, tea, and sugar had been all consumed. But kangaroo beef
and potatoes seemed a most luxurious diet to the men and women who
had been kept alive for three weeks on nothing but shellfish.
Scott and his hounds hunted the kangaroo, and supplied the colony
with meat. The liver of the kangaroo when boiled and left to grow
cold is a dry substance, which, with the help of hunger and a little
imagination, is said to be as good as bread.
In the month of July, 1835, heavy gales were blowing over King's
Island. For fourteen days the schooner 'Elizabeth', with whalers for
Port Fairy, was hove to off the coast, standing off and on, six hours
one way and six hours the other.
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