| CJC:
Next morning early, I sent Lieutenant King to the east side of the bay,
with two parties, one to cut wood and the other grass, under the
protection of the marines. For although, as yet, none of the natives had
appeared, there could be no doubt that some were in our neighbourhood. I
also sent the launch for water; and afterwards visited all the parties
myself. In the evening, we drew the seine at the head of the bay, and, at
one haul, caught a great quantity of fish. Most of them were of that sort
known to seamen by the name of elephant fish.
In the afternoon, next day, we were agreeably
surprised, at the place where we were cutting wood, with a visit from some
of the natives - eight men and a boy. They approached us from the
woods, without betraying any marks of fear, for none of them had any
weapons except one, who held in his hand a stick about two feet long, and
pointed at one end.
They were of common stature, but rather slender.
Their skin was black, and also their hair, which was as woolly as that of
any native of Guinea; but they were not distinguished by remarkably thick
lips, nor flat noses. On the contrary, their features were far from being
disagreeable. Most of them had their hair and beards smeared with a red
ointment; and some had their faces also painted with the same composition.
They received every present we made to them
without the least appearance of satisfaction. When some bread was given,
as soon as they understood that it was to be eaten, they either returned
it or threw it away, without even tasting it. They also refused some
elephant fish, both raw and dressed, which we offered to them. But upon
giving them some birds, they did not return these, and easily made us
comprehend that they were fond of such food. I had brought two pigs
ashore, with a view to leave them in the woods. The instant these came
within their reach, they seized them as a dog would have done, by the
ears, and were for carrying them off immediately, with no other intention,
as we could perceive, but to kill them.
Being desirous of knowing the use of the stick
which one of our visitors carried in his hand, I made signs to them to
show me; and so far succeeded, that one of them set up a piece of wood as
a mark, and threw at it, at the distance of about twenty yards. But we had
little reason to commend his dexterity; for, after repeated trials, he was
still very wide from the object. Omai, to show them how much superior our
weapons were to theirs, then fired his musket at it, which alarmed them so
much, that, notwithstanding all we could do or say, they ran instantly
into the woods.
Thus ended our first interview with the natives.
Immediately after their final retreat, I ordered the two pigs, being a
boar and a sow, to be carried about a mile within the woods, at the head
of the bay. I saw them left there, by the side of a fresh water brook. A
young bull and a cow, and some sheep and goats, were also, at first,
intended to have been left by me as an additional present to Van Diemen's
Land. But I soon laid aside all thought of this, from a persuasion that
the natives, incapable of entering into my views of improving their
country, would destroy them.
The morning of the 29th we had a dead calm, which
continued all day, and effectually prevented our sailing. I therefore sent
a party over to the east point of the bay to cut grass, and another to cut
wood. I accompanied the latter. We had observed several of the natives
this morning sauntering along the shore, which assured us that though
their consternation had made them leave us so abruptly the day before,
they were convinced that we intended them no mischief, and were desirous
of renewing the intercourse. It was natural that I should wish to be
present on the occasion.
We had not been long landed before about twenty
of them, men and boys, joined us, without expressing the least sign of
fear or distrust. There was one of this company conspicuously deformed;
and who was not more distinguishable by the hump on his back, than by the
drollery of his gestures, and the seeming humour of his speeches; which he
was very fond of exhibiting, as we supposed, for our entertainment. His
language appeared to me to be different from that spoken by the
inhabitants of the more northern parts of this country, whom I met with in
my first voyage, which is not extraordinary, since those we now saw, and
those we then visited, differ in many other respects.
Some of our present group wore, loose, round
their necks, three or four folds of a small cord, made of the fur of some
animal; and others of them had a narrow slip of the kangaroo skin tied
round their ankles. I gave to each of them a string of beads and a medal,
which I thought they received with some satisfaction. They seemed to set
no value on iron or on iron tools. They were even ignorant of the use of
fish-hooks, if we might judge from their manner of looking at some of ours
which we showed to them - though it is certain they derive no
inconsiderable part of their subsistence from the sea. We saw, however, no
vessel in which they could go on the water. Their habitations were little
sheds or hovels built of sticks, and covered with bark.
After staying about an hour with the wooding
party and the natives, I went over to the grass-cutters. Having seen the
boats loaded, I returned on board to dinner, where, some time after,
Lieutenant King arrived.
From him I learnt that I had but just left the
shore when several women and children made their appearance. These females
wore a kangaroo skin tied over the shoulders, and round the waist. But its
only use seemed to be to support their children when carried on their
backs, for it did not cover their persons, being in all other respects as
naked as the men, and as black, and their bodies tattooed in the same
manner. But in this they differed from the men, that though their hair was
of the same colour, some of them had their heads completely shorn, in
others this operation had been performed only on one side, while the rest
of them had all the upper part of the head shorn close, leaving a circle
of hair all round, somewhat like the tonsure of the Romish ecclesiastics.
Many of the children had fine features, and were thought pretty; but of
the persons of the women, especially those advanced in years, a less
favourable report was made.
The only animal of the quadruped kind we got, was
a sort of opossum, about twice the size of a large rat. It is of a dusky
colour above, tinged with a brown or rusty cast, and whitish below. About
a third of the tail towards its tip is white, and bare underneath, by
which it probably hangs on the branches of trees, as it climbs these, and
lives on berries. The kangaroo, another animal found farther northward in
New Holland, without doubt also inhabits here, as the natives we met with
had some pieces of their skins; and we several times saw an animal, though
indistinctly, run from the thickets when we walked in the woods, which,
from the size, could be no other...
Insects, though not numerous, are here in
considerable variety. Among them are grasshoppers, butterflies, and
several sorts of small moths, finely variegated. There are two sorts of
dragon-flies, gad-flies, camel-flies, several sorts of spiders; and some
scorpions; but the last are rather rare. The most troublesome, though not
very numerous tribe of insects, are the mosquitoes; and a large black ant,
the pain of whose bite is almost intolerable, during the short time it
lasts.
The inhabitants, whom we met here, had little of
that fierce or wild appearance common to people in their situation; but,
on the contrary, seemed mild and cheerful, without reserve or jealousy of
strangers. This, however, may arise from their having little to lose or
care for. With respect to personal activity or genius, we can say but
little of either. They do not seem to possess the first in any remarkable
degree; and as for the last, they have, to appearance, less than even the
half-animated inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, who have not invention
sufficient to make clothing for defending themselves from the rigour of
their climate, though furnished with the materials. Their colour is a dull
black, and not quite so deep as that of the African negroes. Their hair,
however, is perfectly woolly, and is clotted or divided into small
parcels, like that of the Hottentots, with the use of some sort of grease,
mixed with a red paint or ochre, which they smear in great abundance over
their heads; and they wear their beards long, and clotted with paint, in
the same manner as the hair on their heads.
At eight o'clock in the morning of the 30th of
January, a light breeze springing up at west, we weighed anchor and put to
sea from Adventure Bay. We pursued our course to the eastward, without
meeting with any thing worthy of note, till the night between the 6th and
7th of February, when a marine belonging to the Discovery fell
overboard, and was never seen afterward. This was the second misfortune of
the kind that had happened to Captain Clerke since he left England. |
