December 31 Tuesday – In Adelaide, Australia Sam lunched with Lt. Gov. Dr. Samuel J. Way, then called at Government House and left his card, but was unable to see the Gov. General. The Clemens family went sightseeing at the Adelaide Zoological Gardens. Sam saw a Laughing Jackass (bird) that laughed and a dingo.

In the Zoological Gardens of Adelaide I saw the only laughing jackass that ever showed any disposition to be courteous to me. The one opened his head wide and laughed like a demon, or like a maniac who was consumed with humorous scorn over a cheap and degraded pun. It was a very human laugh. If he had been out of sight I could have believed that the laughter came from a man.

…In that garden I also saw the wild Australian dog — the dingo. He was a beautiful creature — shapely, graceful, a little wolfish in some of his aspects, but with a most friendly eye and sociable disposition.

[FE ch. XIX 184-5]. 

The Advertiser ran a news item about Sam’s Dec. 30 speech at the Mayor’s luncheon. The Clemenses stayed overnight in Adelaide [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 34].