"1777* "With refpeft to perfonal aélivity or genius, we can fay
■ Jan“ary~, but iittie 0f either. They do not feem to poiTefs the firft in
any remarkable degree; and as for the laft, they have, to
appearance, lefs than even the half-animated inhabitants
of Terra del Fuego, who have not invention fufficient to
make clothing for defending themielves from the rigor of
their climate, though furnifhed with the materials. The
fmall flick, rudely pointed, which one of them carried in
his hand, was the only thing we faw that required any mechanical
exertion, if we except the fixing on the feet of fome
of them pieces of kangaoroo fkin, tied with thongs; though
it could not be learnt whether thefe were in ufe as fhoes, or
only to defend fome fore. It mull be owned, however, they
are mailers of fome contrivance, in the manner of cutting
their arms and bodies in lines of different lengths and directions,
which are raifed confiderably above the furface of the
fkin, fo that it is difficult to guefs the method they ufe in
executing this embroidery of their perfons. Their not ex-
preffing that furprize which one might have expected from
their feeing men fo much unlike themfelves, and things,
to which, we were well allured, they had been hitherto utter
flrangers ; their indifference for our prefents ; and their general
inattention ; were fufficient proofs of their not poffeff-
ing any acutenéfs of underflanding.
Their colour is a dull black, and not quite fo deep as that
o f the African Negroes, It fhould feem alfo, that they fome-
times heightened their black colour, by fmutting their bodies
; as a mark was left behind on any clean fubftance,
fuch as white paper, when they handled it. Their hair,
however, is perfectly woolly, and it is clotted or .divided
into fmall parcels, like that of the Hottentots, with the ufe
-of fome fort of greafe, mixed with a red paint or ochre,
which they fmear in great abundance over their heads.
This-praftice, as fome might imagine, has not the effetft of
changing their hair into the frizzling texture we obferved ;
for, -on examining the head of a boy, which appeared never
to have been fmeared, I found the hair to be of the fame
kind. Their nofes, though not flat, are broad and full.
The lower part of thé face projects a good deal, as is the
cafe of mod Indians I have feen; fo that a line let fall from
the forehead, would cut off a much larger portion than it
would in Europeans. Their eyes are of a middling fize,
with the white lefs clear than in us; and though not remarkably
quick or piercing, fuch as give a frank cheerful
call to the whole countenance. Their teeth are broad, but
not equal, nor well fet ; and, either from nature or from dirt,
not of fo true a white as is ufual among people of a black
colour. Their mouths are rather wide; but this appearance
feems heightened by wearing their beards long, and
dotted with paint, in the fame manner as the hair on their
heads. In other refpeffs, they are well-proportioned; ,
though the belly feems rather projeéting. This may be
owing to the want of compreflion there, which few nations
do not ufe, more or lefs. The pofture of which they feem
fondeit, is to Hand with one fide forward, or the upper part
of the body gently reclined, and one hand grafping {acrofs
the hack) the oppofite arm, which hangs down by the projecting
fide.
• What the ancient Poets tell us of Fauns and Satyrs living
in hollow trees, is here realized. Some wretched conftruc-
tions of flicks, covered with bark, which do not even deferve
the name of huts, were indeed found near the ihore in the
bay ; but thefe feemed only to have been erefted for tem-
V o l . I. porary
i? 7 7 -
January.