Chapter 7 No.7

Departure from Port Louis.

Voyage to the South-west Coast of New Holland.

Anchor in King George the Third's Sound.

Occurrences there.

Visited by the Natives.

Our intercourse with them.

Descriptions of their weapons and other implements.

Vocabulary of their language.

Meteorological and other observations.

Edible plants.

Testaceous productions.

1821. November 10.

On the 10th November we were ready for sea.

November 15.

But, from various delays, did not quit the port until the 15th. At midnight we passed round the Morne Brabant, and the next evening at sunset saw the high land of Bourbon: for the first two days we had south-east winds and upon reaching the parallel of 25 degrees, the winds became light and baffling with calms.

November 21.

But as we advanced more to the southward they gradually veered to east and north-east, and afterwards to north-west, with very fine weather.

November 28.

We did not get out of the influence of these variable winds until the 28th when we were at noon in latitude 32 degrees 47 minutes and longitude 65 degrees 5 minutes; after which we encountered westerly winds and rough weather. On the whole we had a very quick passage to the coast of New Holland; and for the last week were expedited by a strong westerly gale without encountering any accident or the occurrence of any circumstance worth recording.

1821. December 23.

On the 23rd December at daylight the land about Cape Chatham was in sight, and a course was directed to the eastward for King George's Sound; where it was my intention to complete our wood and water previous to commencing the examination of the west coast. At four o'clock in the afternoon we hauled round Bald Head and, entering the Sound, soon afterwards anchored at one mile from the entrance of Princess Royal Harbour.

December 24.

Having at our former visit re-fitted at Oyster Harbour, I wished on this occasion to try Princess Royal Harbour; but as I was both unacquainted with its entrance, as well as its convenience for our purposes, excepting from Captain Flinders' account, I hoisted the boat out early the next morning, to make the necessary examination before the sea-breeze commenced. Whilst the boat was preparing a distant shouting was heard, and upon our looking attentively towards the entrance several Indians were seen sitting on the rocks on the north head hallooing and waving to us, but no further notice than a return of their call was taken until after breakfast, when we pulled towards them in the whale-boat. As we drew near the shore they came down to receive us and appeared from their gestures to invite our landing; but in this they were disappointed, for, after a little vociferation and gesture on both sides, we pulled into the harbour, whilst they walked along the beach abreast the boat. As the motions of every one of them were attentively watched it was evident that they were not armed; each wore a kangaroo-skin cloak over his left shoulder that covered the back and breast but left the right arm exposed. Upon reaching the spot which Captain Flinders occupied in the Investigator I found that the brig could not anchor near enough to the shore to carry on our different operations without being impeded by the natives, even though they should be amicably disposed. Our plan was therefore altered and, as the anchorage formerly occupied by the Mermaid in the entrance of Oyster Harbour would be on all accounts more convenient for our purposes, I determined upon going thither.

By this time the natives had reached that part of the beach where the boat was lying, and were wading through the water towards us; but as we had no wish at present to communicate with them, for fear that, by refusing anything we had in the boat, for which their importunity would perhaps be very great, a quarrel might be occasioned, we pulled off into deeper water where we remained for five minutes parleying with them, during which they plainly expressed their disappointment and mortification at our want of confidence. Upon making signs for fresh water, which they instantly understood, they called out to us "badoo, badoo," and pointed to a part of the bay where Captain Flinders has marked a rivulet. Badoo, in the Port Jackson language, means water; it was thought probable that they must have obtained it from some late visitors; and in this opinion we were confirmed, for the word kangaroo was also familiar to them.*

(*Footnote. The San Antonio, merchant brig, the vessel that joined our company during our passage up the east coast, visited this port in December 1820 and communicated with the natives; it is therefore probable that the above words were obtained from that vessel's crew.)

Upon our return towards the entrance the natives walked upon the beach abreast the boat, and kept with her until we pulled out of the entrance, when they resumed their former station upon the rocks and we returned on board.

Upon reaching the brig, the anchor was weighed, and with a fresh sea-breeze from South-East we soon reached Oyster Harbour, but in crossing the bar the vessel took the ground in eleven and a half feet water, and it was some time before we succeeded in heaving her over, and reaching the anchorage we had occupied at our last visit. Whilst warping in, the natives, who had followed the vessel along the sandy beach that separates the two harbours, were amusing themselves near us in striking fish with a single barbed spear, in which sport they appeared to be tolerably successful. As soon as we passed the bar three other natives made their appearance on the east side, who, upon the boat going to that shore to lay out the kedges, took their seats in it as unceremoniously as a passenger would in a ferry-boat; and upon its returning to the brig, came on board, and remained with us all the afternoon, much amused with everything they saw, and totally free from timidity or distrust. Each of our visitors was covered with a mantle of kangaroo-skin, but these were laid aside upon their being clothed with other garments, with the novelty of which they appeared greatly diverted. The natives on the opposite shore seeing that their companions were admitted, were loudly vociferous in their request to be sent for also; but unfortunately for them it was the lee shore, so that no boat went near them; and as we did not wish to be impeded by having so many on the deck at one time, their request was not acceded to and by degrees they separated and retired in different directions.

As soon as the brig was secured two of our visitors went ashore, evidently charged with some message from the other native, but as he voluntarily remained on board nothing hostile was suspected; we therefore landed and dug a hole three feet deep among the grass about two yards above the highest tide-mark, for water; but it was found to be so highly coloured and muddy as it flowed in, that other holes were dug in the sand nearer the edge of the tide-mark, where it was also produced, and proved to be of a much better taste, as well as clearer, from being filtered through the sand.

On examining the place of our former encampment, it was so much altered from the rapid growth of vegetation that we could scarcely recognise its situation. The stem of the casuarina on which the Mermaid's name and the date of our visit had been carved was almost destroyed by fire; and the inscription in consequence so nearly obliterated that the figures 1818, and two or three letters alone remained visible. There was not the least trace of our garden, for the space which it formerly occupied was covered by three or four feet of additional soil, formed of sand and decayed vegetable matter and clothed with a thicket of fine plants in full flower, that would be much prized in any other place than where they were. The initials of the names of some of our people were still very perfect upon the stem of a large Banksia grandis which, from being covered with its superb flowers, bore a magnificent and striking appearance.

After an absence of an hour our two friends returned, when it appeared that they had been at their toilet, for their noses and faces had evidently been fresh smeared over with red ochre, which they pointed out to us as a great ornament; affording another proof that vanity is inherent in human nature and not merely the consequence of civilisation. They had however put off the garments with which we had clothed them and resumed their mantles.

Each brought a lighted fire-stick in his hand, intending, as we supposed, to make a fire, and to pass the night near the vessel, in order to watch our intentions and movements.

On returning on board we desired the native who had remained behind to go ashore to his companions, but it was with great reluctance that he was persuaded to leave us. Whilst on board, our people had fed him plentifully with biscuit, yams, pudding, tea, and grog, of which he ate and drank as if he was half famished, and after being crammed with this strange mixture and very patiently submitting his beard to the operation of shaving, he was clothed with a shirt and a pair of trousers, and christened Jack, by which name he was afterwards always called, and to which he readily answered. As soon as he reached the shore, his companions came to meet him to hear an account of what had transpired during their absence, as well as to examine his new habiliments which, as may be conceived, had effected a very considerable alteration in his appearance, and at the same time that the change created much admiration on the part of his companions, it raised him very considerably in his own estimation. It was however a substitution that did not improve his appearance; in fact he cut but a sorry figure in our eyes, in his chequered shirt and tarry trousers, when standing amongst his companions, with their long beards and kangaroo-skin mantles thrown carelessly over their shoulders.

Upon being accosted by his companions Jack was either sullen with them or angry with us for sending him on shore, for without deigning to reply to their questions he separated himself from them, and after watching us in silence for some time, walked quietly and slowly away, followed at a distance by his friends who were lost in wonder at what could have happened to their sulky companion. The grog that he had been drinking had probably taken effect upon his head and, although the quantity was very trifling, he might have been a little stupefied.

December 25.

At daylight the following morning the natives had again collected on both sides, and upon the jolly-boat's landing the people to examine the wells Jack, having quite recovered his good humour, got into the boat and came on board. The natives on the opposite side were vociferous to visit us, and were holding long conversations with Jack, who explained everything to them in a song, to which they would frequently exclaim in full chorus the words "Cai, cai, cai, cai, caigh" which they always repeated when anything was shown that excited their surprise. Finding we had no intention of sending a boat for them they amused themselves in fishing. Two of them were watching a small seal that, having been left by the tide on the bank, was endeavouring to waddle towards the deep water; at last one of the natives, fixing his spear in its throwing-stick, advanced very cautiously and, when within ten or twelve yards, lanced it, and pierced the animal through the neck, when the other instantly ran up and stuck his spear into it also, and then beating it about the head with a small hammer very soon despatched it.

This event collected the whole tribe to the spot, who assisted in landing their prize and washing the sand off the body; they then carried the animal to their fire at the edge of the grass and began to devour it even before it was dead. Curiosity induced Mr. Cunningham and myself to view this barbarous feast and we landed about ten minutes after it had commenced. The moment the boat touched the sand the natives, springing up and throwing their spears away into the bushes, ran down towards us; and before we could land had all seated themselves in the boat ready to go on board, but they were obliged to wait whilst we landed to witness their savage feast. On going to the place we found an old man seated over the remains of the carcass, two-thirds of which had already disappeared; he was holding a long strip of the raw flesh in his left hand, and tearing it off the body with a sort of knife; a boy was also feasting with him and both were too intent upon their breakfast to notice us or to be the least disconcerted at our looking on. We however were very soon satisfied and walked away perfectly disgusted with the sight of so horrible a repast, and the intolerable stench occasioned by the effluvia that arose from the dying animal, combined with that of the bodies of the natives who had daubed themselves from head to foot with a pigment made of a red ochreous earth mixed up with seal-oil.

We then conveyed the natives, who had been waiting with great patience in the boat for our return, to the vessel, and permitted them to go on board. Whilst they remained with us Mr. Baskerville took a man from each mess to the oyster-bank; here he was joined by an Indian carrying some spears and a throwing-stick, but on Mr. Baskerville's calling for a musket that was in the boat (to the use of which they were not strangers) he laid aside his spears, which probably were only carried for the purpose of striking fish, and assisted our people in collecting the oysters. As soon as they had procured a sufficient quantity they returned on board when, as it was breakfast time, our visitors were sent onshore, highly pleased with their reception and with the biscuit and pudding which the people had given them to eat. They were very attentive to the mixture of a pudding, and a few small dumplings were made and given to them, which they put on the bars of the fireplace but, being too impatient to wait until they were baked, ate them in a doughy state with much relish.

Three new faces appeared on the east side, who were brought on board after breakfast, and permitted to remain until dinner-time: one of them, an old man, was very attentive to the sailmaker's cutting out a boat's sail, and at his request was presented with all the strips that were of no use. When it was completed a small piece of canvas was missing, upon which the old man, being suspected of having secreted it, was slightly examined, but nothing was found upon him; after this, while the people were looking about the deck, the old rogue assisted in the search and appeared quite anxious to find it; he however very soon walked away towards another part of the deck and interested himself in other things. This conduct appeared so suspicious that I sent the sailmaker to examine the old man more closely, when the lost piece was found concealed under his left arm, which was covered by the cloak he wore of kangaroo-skin. This circumstance afforded me a good opportunity of showing them our displeasure at so flagrant a breach of the confidence we had reposed in them; I therefore went up to him and, assuming as ferocious a look as I could, shook him violently by the shoulders. At first he laughed but afterwards, when he found I was in earnest, became much alarmed: upon which his two companions, who were both boys, wanted to go onshore; this however was not permitted until I had made peace with the old man, and put them all in good humour by feeding them heartily upon biscuit. The two boys were soon satisfied; but the old man appeared ashamed and conscious of his guilt; and although he was frequently afterwards with us, yet he always hung down his head and sneaked into the background.

During the day the people were employed about the rigging, and in the evening before sunset the natives were again admitted on board for half an hour. In the afternoon Mr. Montgomery went to Green Island and shot a few parrakeets and waterbirds, some of which he gave to the natives after explaining how they had been killed, which of course produced great applause. December 26.

The next day was employed in wooding and watering, in which the natives, particularly our friend Jack, assisted. We had this day twenty-one natives about us and among them were five strangers. They were not permitted to come on board until four o'clock in the afternoon, excepting Jack, who was privileged to come and go as he liked, which, since it did not appear to create any jealousy among his companions, enabled us to detain him as a hostage for Mr. Cunningham's safety, who was busily engaged in adding to his collections from the country in the vicinity of the vessel.

In the evening Jack climbed the rigging as high as the top masthead, much to the amusement of his companions but to the mortification of Bundell who had never taken courage to mount so high.

The waterholes yielded about a ton of water a day; but a stream was found in the sandy bay to the eastward of the entrance, running over the beach, which we used when the holes were emptied of their contents; the latter were however preferred, since our people worked at them under an immediate protection from the vessel's deck. Near the stream we found some felled trees and the staves of a cask.*

(*Footnote. At this place the San Antonio merchant brig wooded and watered in 1820.)

December 27 to 28.

Our watering continued to proceed without molestation from the natives; the number of whom had increased to twenty-nine, besides some whom we had before seen that were now absent. During the afternoon of the 28th the wind freshened from south-west and blew so strong as to cause a considerable swell where we were lying; but towards sunset the breeze moderated and the natives were again admitted on board; there were, however, only eleven, for the rest, having worn out their patience, had walked away.

They were now quite tractable and never persisted in doing anything against our wishes. The words "by and by" were so often used by us in answer to their cau-wah, or "come here," that their meaning was perfectly understood and always satisfied the natives, since we made it a strict rule never to disappoint them of anything that was promised, an attention to which is of the utmost importance in communicating with savages. Every evening that they visited us they received something, but as a biscuit was the most valuable present that could be made, each native was always presented with one upon his leaving the vessel; during the day they were busily occupied in manufacturing spears, knives, and hammers, for the evening's barter; and when they came in the morning they generally brought a large collection, which their wives had probably made in their absence.

December 29.

On the 29th we had completed our holds with wood and water and prepared to leave the harbour. In the morning there was thirteen feet water at the buoy which had been moored on the deepest part of the bar, the depth of which, during the two preceding days, had been frequently sounded.

In the evening we were visited by twenty-four natives among whom was our friend Jack. When they found us preparing to go away they expressed great sorrow at our departure, particularly Jack, who was more than usually entertaining but kept, as he always did, at a distance from his companions and treated them with the greatest disdain. When the time came to send them on shore he endeavoured to avoid accompanying them and as usual was the last to go into the boat; instead however of following them, he went into a boat on the opposite side of the brig that was preparing to go for a load of water, evidently expecting to be allowed to return in her.

This friendly Indian had become a great favourite with us all and was allowed to visit us whenever he chose and to do as he pleased; he always wore the shirt that had been given to him on the first day and endeavoured to imitate everything that our people were employed upon; particularly the carpenter and the sailmaker at their work: he was the only native who did not manufacture spears for barter, for he was evidently convinced of the superiority of our weapons and laughed heartily whenever a bad and carelessly-made spear was offered to us for sale: for the natives, finding we took everything, were not very particular in the form or manufacturer of the articles they brought to us. He was certainly the most intelligent native of the whole tribe and if we had remained longer would have afforded us much information of this part of the country; for we were becoming more and more intelligible to each other every day: he frequently accompanied Mr. Cunningham in his walks and not only assisted him in carrying his plants but occasionally added to the specimens he was collecting.

December 30.

The next morning (30th) the anchors were weighed and the warps laid out, but from various delays we did not reach a birth sufficiently near the bar to make sail from, until the water had fallen too much to allow our passing it: the brig was therefore moored in the stream of the tide.

At eight o'clock the natives came down as usual and were much disappointed in finding the brig moved from her former place. After the vessel was secured the launch and jolly-boat were sent to the watering-place in the outer bay, where the eastern party were assembled with a bundle of spears, throwing-sticks, and knives, for barter. Upon the return of the boats our friend Jack came on board and appeared altogether so attached to us that some thoughts were entertained of taking him on our voyage up the west coast if he was inclined to go. As he did not want for intelligence there was not much difficulty in making him understand by signs that he might go with us, to which he appeared to assent without the least hesitation, but that it might be satisfactorily ascertained whether he really wished to go it was intimated to him that he should tell his companions of this new arrangement. Mr. Bedwell accordingly took him on shore, and purchased all the spears the natives had brought down, that, in case they should feel angry at his leaving them, they might have no weapons to do any mischief with.

When Jack landed he instantly informed his companions of his intended departure and pointed to the sea, to show whither he was going, but his friends received the intelligence with the most careless indifference, their attention being entirely engrossed with the barter that was going on. After the spears were purchased Mr. Bedwell got into the boat followed by Jack, who seated himself in his place with apparent satisfaction.

While Mr. Bedwell was purchasing the spears and other weapons Jack brought him a throwing-stick that he had previously concealed behind a bush and sold it to him for a biscuit; but after he had embarked and the boat was leaving the shore he threw it among his companions, thereby affording us a most satisfactory proof of the sincerity of his intentions.

About an hour after he had returned and I had determined upon taking him, the breeze freshened and raised a short swell which, causing a slight motion, affected our friend's head so much that he came to me and, touching his tongue and pointing to the shore, intimated his wish to speak to the natives. He was therefore immediately landed and Mr. Baskerville, after purchasing some spears and waiting a few minutes, prepared to return on board: upon getting into the boat he looked at our volunteer but Jack, having had a taste of sea-sickness, shook his head and hung back; he was therefore left on shore. Upon the boat's leaving the beach the natives dispersed for the night but Jack, as usual, was perceived to separate himself from his companions and to walk away without exchanging a word with them.

December 31.

The weather at daylight the next morning (31st) was too unsettled and the breeze too strong from the westward to think of moving from the anchorage. Jack and another native were down on the rocks at an early hour, hallooing and waving to us, and at eight o'clock some natives appeared on the opposite shore with spears and knives to barter, but we had no communication with them.

During our visit we have obtained from these people about one hundred spears, thirty throwing-sticks, forty hammers, one hundred and fifty knives, and a few hand-clubs, the value of each being at from half to one-eighth of a biscuit. We saw no fizgig, shield, nor boomerang; it is probable that they may have such weapons but did not produce them from a dislike at parting with them; but the knives, spears, and hammers which did not require much labour to manufacture were always ready for barter, particularly the first, but the greater part were, like Peter Pindar's razors, only made for sale.

Altogether we saw about forty natives of whom ten were boys: they were in most respects similar to their neighbours, having the same long curly hair and slight figure; they did not appear to be a navigating tribe, for we saw no canoes, nor did we observe any trees in the woods with the bark stripped, of which material they are usually made; and, from the timid manner they approached the water, it is more than probable that they are not much accustomed even to swimming. Captain Flinders is mistaken in stating that the natives of this place do not use the throwing-stick; but it is probable they did not produce those instruments to him, for fear of being deprived of them, for it required much persuasion on our part to prevail upon them to let us have any; they were much more ingeniously formed than others that we had previously seen, and different also, in having a small sharp-edged shell, or piece of quartz, fixed in a gummy knob at the handle, for the purpose of scraping the points of the spears: the shaft is broad, smooth and flat. Some of these throwing-sticks, or mearas, were three inches broad and two feet six inches long. See Woodcut 3.

WOODCUT 3: WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE NATIVES OF KING GEORGE THE THIRD'S SOUND: MEARA OR THROWING-STICK.

The spears are very slender, and are made from a species of leptospermum that grows abundantly in swampy places; they are from nine to ten feet long and barbed with a piece of hard wood, fastened on by a ligature of bark gummed over; we saw none that were not barbed, or had not a hole at the end to receive the hooked point of the meara. Woodcut 4 shows the method by which this weapon is propelled.

WOODCUT 4: WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE NATIVES OF KING GEORGE THE THIRD'S SOUND: METHOD OF PROPULSION OF SPEAR BY A MEARA OR THROWING-STICK.

The hammer, or kaoit, appears to be used only for the purpose of breaking open shellfish, and killing seals and other animals by striking them on the head; for it has no sharpened edge to be used as a chopping or cutting instrument; the handle is from twelve to fifteen inches long, having one end scraped to a sharp point, and on each side at the other end two pieces of hard stone fixed and cemented by a mass of gum, which, when dry, is almost as hard as the stone itself; the hammer is about one pound weight. See Woodcut 5.

WOODCUT 5: WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE NATIVES OF KING GEORGE THE THIRD'S SOUND: KAOIT OR HAMMER.

The knife, or taap, is perhaps the rudest instrument of the sort that ever was made; the handle is about twelve inches long, scraped to a point like the hammer, and has, at the other end, three or four splinters of sharp-edged quartz stuck on in a row with gum, thus forming a sort of ragged instrument. See Woodcut 6. It is thus used: after they have put within their teeth a sufficient mouthful of seal's flesh, the remainder is held in their left hand, and, with the taap in the other, they saw through, and separate the flesh.* Every native carries one or more of these knives in his belt besides the hammer which is also an indispensable instrument with them.

WOODCUT 6: WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE NATIVES OF KING GEORGE THE THIRD'S SOUND: TAAP OR KNIFE.

CHART OF PORT COCKBURN AT MELVILLE ISLAND.

Plan of Port Cockburn, between Bathurst and Melville Islands.

From a survey made by Lieutenant J.S. ROE in October 1824.

(*Footnote. A very good idea may be obtained of the manner in which these taaps are used, by referring to Captain Lyon's drawing of the Esquimaux sledges at page 290 of Parry's Second Voyage: the natives of King George's Sound however hold the knife underhanded, and cut upwards.)

We did not perceive that these people acknowledged any chief or superior among them; the two parties that collected daily on the opposite sides of the harbour evidently belonged to the same tribe for they occasionally mixed with each other. Their habitations were probably scattered about in different parts for when the natives went away for the night they separated into several groups, not more than three or four going together, and these generally returned in company the next morning by the same path which they had taken when they left us: they also arrived at different times and some evidently came from a distance greater than others, for they were later in arriving and always took their leave at an earlier hour.

With the exception of one or two petty thefts besides the one above-mentioned of which serious notice was taken, and an attempt to steal a hat from one of the boys when he was by himself on the Oyster Bank, our communication with these people was carried on in the most friendly manner. Mr. Cunningham was, to their knowledge, on shore every day attended only by his servant, but none, excepting Jack, followed him after they had ascertained the intention of his walk, and observed the care that he took to avoid going near their habitations, for which they evinced a great dislike; one of their encampments was about a mile and a half off but, curious as we naturally were to witness their mode of living and to see the females and children of their tribe, we never succeeded in persuading them to allow us to gratify our curiosity. On one occasion it was necessary to lay a kedge anchor out in the direction of their dwelling-place, and upon the boat's crew landing and carrying it along the beach, the natives followed and intimated by signs that we should not go that way; as soon however as the anchor was fixed and they understood our intention, they assisted the people in carrying the hawser to make fast to it.

They were well-acquainted with the effects of a musket, although not the least alarmed at having one fired off near them. Everything they saw excited their admiration, particularly the carpenter's tools and our clothes; but what appeared to surprise them above all other things was the effect produced upon the flesh by a burning-glass, and of its causing the explosion of a train of gunpowder. They perfectly understood that it was from the sun that the fire was produced, for on one occasion when Jack requested me to show it to two or three strangers whom he had brought to visit us I explained to him that it could not be done while the sun was clouded; he then waited patiently for five minutes until the sunshine reappeared, when he instantly reminded me of the removal of the obstacle. He was a good deal surprised at my collecting the rays of the sun upon my own hand, supposing that I was callous to the pain, from which he had himself before shrunk; but as I held the glass within the focus distance, no painful sensation was produced; after which he presented me his own arm, and allowed me to burn it as long as I chose to hold the glass, without flinching in the least, which, with greater reason, equally astonished us in our turn.

They were all furnished, as has been before mentioned, with a cloak of kangaroo-skin, which is always taken off and spread under them when they lie down. Their hair was dressed in different ways; sometimes it was clotted with red pigment and seal oil, clubbed up behind, and bound round with a fillet of opossum-fur, spun into a long string, in which parrot-feathers, escalop shells, and other ornaments being fixed in different fanciful ways, gave the wearer a warlike appearance.

Their faces and sometimes their whole bodies were daubed over with a mixture of seal oil and red pigment that caused a most disgusting effluvia; but the only colouring matter that our friend Jack used, after his acquaintance with us, was the carpenter's chalk, which he thought particularly ornamental.

Bracelets of dog-tails or kangaroo-skin were commonly worn and one had several escalop shells hanging about him, the noise of which, as they jingled together, he probably thought musical.

The noodle-bul or belt in which they carry their hammer and knife is manufactured from the fur of the opossum spun into a small yarn like worsted; it is tightly bound at least three or four hundred times round the stomach; very few however possessed this ornament; and it is not improbable that the natives who had their hair clubbed, those that wore belts, and the one who was ornamented with shells, held some particular offices in the tribe, which it would be difficult for strangers to discover.

During our communication with these people the following vocabulary of their language was obtained, of which some of the words are compared with those recorded by Captain Flinders: these last are inserted in the third column.

(*Footnote. The above names were obtained at a subsequent visit on our return to England the following year.)

The winds during our stay performed two or three revolutions of the compass but they partook chiefly of the character of sea and land-breezes: during the night and early part of the morning the wind was usually light from the northward and at ten o'clock, gradually dying away, was succeeded by a wind from the sea, generally from South-West or South-East; this sea-breeze occasionally blew fresh until four o'clock in the evening when it would gradually diminish with the setting sun to a light air.

The barometrical column ranged between 29.75 and 30.22 inches; a fall of the mercury preceded a westerly wind, and a rise predicted it from the South-East: when it stood at thirty inches we had sea-breezes from south with fine weather. The easterly winds were dry; westerly ones the reverse. The moisture of the atmosphere, for want of a better hygrometer, was ascertained with tolerable precision by the state of a small piece of sea-weed, the weight of which varied according to the dryness or moisture of the atmosphere between one and three scruples. I found it on all occasions extremely sensible, and very often to predict a change of wind much sooner than the barometer.

Fahrenheit's thermometer ranged between 64 and 74 degrees, but the usual extremes were between 66 and 70 degrees.

1822. January 1.

During the day of the 1st of January the depth of the bar was frequently sounded but as there was not more than ten feet and a half water upon it we were necessarily detained at the anchorage.

January 2.

On the following morning also at four o'clock the depth was the same; but at ten o'clock the water rose suddenly eighteen inches, upon which the anchors were lifted and the brig warped over the bar to an anchorage in three and a half fathoms off the outer watering-place, to await a favourable opportunity of going over to Seal Island; near which it was intended to anchor in order to refit the rigging and otherwise prepare the vessel for our voyage up the west coast.

In the afternoon we procured a load of water and permitted the natives, thirteen of whom were assembled, to pay us another visit. On their coming on board it was noticed that many of them belonged to the tribe that lived on the opposite shore, but how they had crossed over was not satisfactorily ascertained. Their wonder on this their last visit was much raised by our firing off a nine-pounder loaded with shot, the splash of which in the water caused the greatest astonishment, and one of them was extremely vehement and noisy in explaining it to his companions. Upon repeating this exhibition they paid particular attention to the operation of loading the gun, and expressed the greatest surprise at the weight of the ball, upon which, after they had all severally examined it, they held a long and wordy argument as to what it possibly could be. At the splash of the ball, for which they were all looking out, they expressed their delight by shouting in full chorus the words Cai, cai, cai, cai, caigh. After this they were sent on shore.

January 3.

At daybreak the next morning an opportunity offered to cross the sound, and by eight o'clock the brig was anchored under Seal Island; upon which we commenced the repair of the rigging, and in the course of the day shifted the main topmast. We had left the anchorage on the other side of the sound too early for our friends the natives, who had promised last evening to bring us a hawk's nest that was built upon a rock near the watering-place; at ten o'clock a very large fire was perceived close to the nest; it was no doubt kindled by them, and meant to show that they were not inattentive to their promise.

January 4.

The following day some natives were seen about a mile off upon the beach but did not come near the vessel. Mr. Cunningham botanised upon the summit of Bald Head. Of this excursion he gave me the following account: "Upon reaching the summit of the ridge, and clearing a rocky gully which intersected our track, we instantly entered an elevated valley of pure white sand, bounded on either side by ridges forty feet high, that were in themselves totally bare, excepting on the tops, where a thin clothing of shrubs was remarked; the whole surface reflected a heat scarcely supportable, and the air was so stagnant as scarcely to be respired, although we were at a considerable elevation, and in the vicinity of a constant current of pure atmospheric air on the ridge. After traversing the whole length of this sandy vale, which is one-third of a mile in extent, in our route towards Bald Head, with scarcely a plant to attract our attention, we perceived at its extremity some remarkably fine specimens of Candollea cuneiformis, Labil., which had, in spite of the poverty and looseness of the drifting sand, risen to large spreading trees, sixteen feet high, of robust growth and habit; they were at this time covered with flowers and ripe fruit; but so painful was it to the eyes and senses to remain for a moment stationary in this heated valley, that whilst I gathered a quantity of the seeds of this truly rich plant, my servant was obliged to hurry away to a cooler air on the ridge, which we had again nearly reached; and but for this fine plant, and the no less conspicuous blue-flowered Scaevola nitida, Br. The whole scene would have deeply impressed us with all the horrors that such extremes of aridity are naturally calculated to excite.

"Upon again reaching the ridge, whose moderated temperature required our care to avoid suffering from the sudden transition, we came to the granite, on whose bare surface I found a prostrate specimen of baeckea, remarkable for the regularity of its decussate leaves, which I have designated in my list as Baeckea saxicola. Continuing to the extremity of the ridge, I was much surprised to find we had already attained the highest point of the range, and to observe another expanse, or extensive cavity, of bare white sand below us, to the South-East, the termination of which we afterwards found to be the Bald Head, of Captain Vancouver. This part is of remarkable appearance from seaward, having on either side of its bare sandy summit a contrasting brushy vegetation: from the sea however a very small part only of its extensive surface of sand can be perceived, the greater part being only observable from the commanding hillocks we had with much exertion arrived at. A calcareous rock (affording evidently a very considerable portion of pure lime) was seen in a decomposing state piercing the sandy surface of all parts of the ridge about Bald Head which, however, is itself a pure granite; the dense low brushy wood in its vicinity is chiefly composed of the delicate baeckea."*

(*Footnote. Cunningham manuscripts.)

In the evening we visited Seal Island, and killed five seals for the sake of their skins, which were serviceable for the rigging; the boat's crew also found some penguins (Aptenodytes minor) and a nest of iguanas. The bottle deposited here at our last visit in 1818 was found suspended where it had been left and brought on board, when another memorandum was enclosed in it, containing a notification of our present visit, of the friendly and communicative disposition of the natives, and a copy of the vocabulary of their language.

January 5.

On the 5th in the afternoon on our return to the vessel, after visiting the shore and landing upon the flat rock, which is merely a bare mass of granite, of about thirty yards in diameter, some natives were heard calling to us, and upon our pulling to the part whence the sound came, we found two men and a boy. After some time they were discovered to be three of our Oyster-Harbour friends, and therefore we made no hesitation of communicating with them, and of taking them on board, where they were regaled upon the flesh of the seals we had killed at the island.

Notwithstanding the friendly disposition of the inhabitants of this sound, I felt it necessary to act very cautiously in our communication with them, in order to avoid any misunderstanding. And that this might not even be accidentally done, I requested Mr. Cunningham to confine his walks to the vicinity of the vessel, and particularly to avoid any route that would take him towards their encampment. He was therefore prevented from visiting many parts near which he had promised himself much amusement and information in botanizing, particularly the neighbourhood of Bayonet Head, and the distant parts of Oyster Harbour. At our former visit to this place he had searched in vain for that curious little plant Cephalotus follicularis, Br.,* but on this occasion he was more fortunate, for he found it in the greatest profusion in the vicinity of the stream that empties itself over the beach of the outer bay where we watered. Of this he says: "The plants of cephalotus were all in a very weak state, and none in any stage of fructification: the ascidia, or pitchers, which are inserted on strong foot-stalks, and intermixed about the root with the leaves, all contained a quantity of discoloured water, and, in some, the drowned bodies of ants and other small insects. Whether this fluid can be considered a secretion of the plant, as appears really to be the fact with reference to the nepenthes, or pitcher-plant of India,** deposited by it through its vessels into the pitchers; or even a secretion of the ascidia themselves; or whether it is not simply rainwater lodged in these reservoirs, as a provision from which the plant might derive support in seasons of protracted drought, when those marshy lands (in which this vegetable is alone to be found) are partially dried of the moisture that is indispensable to its existence, may perhaps be presumed by the following observations. The opercula, shaped like some species of oyster, or escalop-shells, I found in some pitchers to be very closely shut upon their orifices, although their cavities, upon examination, contained but very little water, and the state of the weather was exceedingly cloudy, and at intervals showery; if, therefore, the appendages are really cisterns, to receive an elemental fluid for the nourishment of the plant in times of drought, it is natural to suppose that this circumstance would operate upon the ramified vessels of the lids, so as to draw them up, and allow the rain to replenish the pitchers. Mr. Brown also, who had an opportunity in 1801 of examining plants fully grown, supposes it probable that the vertical or horizontal positions in which the opercula were remarked, are determined by the state of the atmosphere, at the same time that he thinks it possible that the fluid may be a secretion of the plant. The several dead insects that were observed within the vases of cephalotus were very possibly deposited there by an insect of prey, since I detected a slender-bodied fly (ichneumon) within a closed pitcher, having evidently forced its passage under the lid to the interior, where an abundant store of putrescent insects were collected. Whilst, therefore, these pitchers are answering the double purpose, of being a reservoir to retain a fluid, however produced, for the nourishment of the plant in the exigency of a dry season, as also a repository of food for rapacious insects, as in sarracenia, or the American pitcher-plant; it is also probable that the air, disengaged by these drowned ants, may be important and beneficial to the life of the Australian plant, as Sir James E. Smith has suggested, in respect to the last-mentioned genus, wild in the swamp of Georgia and Carolina.

(*Footnote. Flinders volume 1 page 64 and Brown's General Remarks in Flinders volume 2 page 601 et seq.)

(**Footnote. Smith's Introduction to Botany page 150.)

"I spent much time in a fruitless search for flowering specimens of cephalotus; all the plants were very small and weak, and showed no disposition to produce flowers at the season, and none had more than three or four ascidia."*

(*Footnote. Cunningham manuscripts.)

The only edible plants that Mr. Cunningham found were a creeping parsley (Apium prostratum, Labil.) and a species of orach (Atriplex halimus, Brown) the latter was used by us every day, boiled with salt provisions, and proved a tolerable substitute for spinach or greens. During our visit we caught but very few fish, and only a few oysters were obtained, on account of the banks being seldom uncovered, and the presence of the natives which prevented my trusting the people out of my sight for fear of a quarrel. Shellfish of other sorts were obtained at Mistaken Island in abundance, of which the most common were a patella and an haliotis; the inhabitant of the former made a coarse, although a savoury dish. There were also varieties of the following genera: namely, lepas, chiton, cardium, pinna, nerita, two or three species of ostrea, a small mytilus, and a small buccinum of great beauty; that covered the rocks and at low water might be collected in abundance.