have been a very proper regulation, if a boat had been kept expreſsly for the uſe of thoſe gentlemen of the expedition who were appointed to make reſearches into natural hiſtory.
A bird that was ſhot upon one of the lakes, ſurpriſed us very much by the ſingularity of its plumage. It was a new ſpecies of the ſwan, of the ſame beautiful form, but rather larger than ours. Its colour was a ſhining black, as ſtriking in its appearance as the clear white of ours. In each of its wings it had ſix large white feathers; a character, which I have uniformly remarked in ſeveral others that were afterwards killed. The upper mandibule was of a red colour, with a tranſverſe white ſtreak near the extremity. The male had at the baſe of it an excreſcence conſiſting of two protuberances, that were ſcarcely obſervable in the female. The lower mandibule is red at the edges and white in the middle. The feet are of a dark grey. (See Plate IX.)
24th. It was ten o'clock of the next morning, before I could finiſh my deſcription and preparation of the ſpecimens I had collected the preceding day. I then went to examine the country ſituated to the eaſtward of our anchoring ſtation. It frequently happened that after having penetrated into the woods to the diſtance of 500 toiſes, at moſt, from the ſhore, I was obliged to return
towards
