-240
. 177a- moft as keenly as the fhave-grafs of Europe, which is ufed
■ ■ by our joiners: with fuch tools, the making even fuch a canoe
as I have defcribed, mull be a moft difficult and tedious
labour: to thofe who have been accuftomed to the ufe o f
metal, it appears altogether impracticable; but there are few
difficulties that will not yield to patient perfeverance, and
he who does all he can, will certainly produce effedts that
greatly exceed his apparent power.
The utmoft freight of thefe canoes is four people, and if
more at any time wanted to come over the river, one of
thofe who came firft was obliged to go back for the reft:
from this circumftance, we conjectured that the boat we
faw, when we were lying in Endeavour River, was the only
one in the neighbourhood: we have however fome reafon to
believe that the bark canoes are alfo ufed where the wooden
ones are conftruCted, for upon one of the fmall iflands where
the natives had been fifhing for turtle, we found one of the
little paddles which had belonged to fuch a boat, and would
have been ufelefs on board any other.
By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced
to fuch a number as it can -fubfift, is not perhaps very eafy
to guefs ; whether, like the inhabitants of New Zealand,
they are deftroyed by the hands of each other in contefts for
food; whether they are fwept off by accidental famine, or
whether there is any caufe which prevents the increafe of
the fpecies, mutt be left for future adventurers to determine.
That they have wars, appears by their weapons ; for fup-
pofing the lances to ferve merely for the ftriking of fifli, the
fhield could be intended for nothing but a defence againft men;
the only mark of hoftility, however, which we faw among
them, was the perforation of the fhield by a fpear which
has been juft mentioned, for none of them appeared to have
been wounded by an enemy. Neither can we determine
whether
whether they are pufilanimous or brave; the refolution with «77».
which two of them attempted to prevent our landing, when , A“gult'
we had two boats full of men, in Botany Bay, even after one
of them was wounded with fmall fhot, gave us reafon to
conclude that they were not only naturally courageous, but
that they had acquired a familiarity with the dangers of
hoftility, and were, by habit as well as nature, a daring and
warlike people i but their precipitate flight from every other
place that we approached, without even a menace, while
they were out of our reach, was an indication of uncommon
tamenefs and timidity, fuch as thofe who had only been
occafionally warriors mutt be fuppofed to have fhaken off,
whatever might have been their natural difpofition. I have
faithfully related fadts, the reader muft judge of the people
for himfelf.
From the account that has been given of our commerce
with them, it cannot be fuppofed that we Ihould know much
o f their language ; yet as this is an objeft of great curiofity,
efpecially to the learned, and of great importance in their
refearches into the origin of the various nations that have
■ been difcovered, we took fome pains to bring away fuch a
fpecimen o f it as might, in a certain degree, anfwer the pur-
pofe, and I lhall now give an account how it was procured.
If we wanted to know the name of a ftone, we took a ftone
up into our hands, and as well as we could, intimated by
ligns that we wiftied they fhould name it: the word that
they pronounced upon the occafion, we immediately wrote
down. This method, though it was the belt we could contrive,
might certainly lead us into many miftakes 5 for if an.
Indian was to take up a ftone, and afk us the name o f it, we
might anfwer a pebble or a flint; fo when we took up a
ftone, and alked an Indian the name of it, he might pronounce
a word that diftinguilhed the fpecies and not the
V ol. III. H h genus,