N a t iv e s .'
Dii y ad e s .
.¡without any fign o f fear. They were o f the common ftature,
Hender, black, and with hair as frizzled as any negroe, but not
diftinguifhed by remarkable thick lips or -flat nofes, and their
features far from difagreeable; their feeth were good, but -very
dirty ; nor did they want any o f the upper fore teeth, as Dampier
cbfer-ved in thofe whom he faw. The hair o f thefe was clotted
yvith a fort o f red ointment, and their faces were painted with
the fame; they had-bufhy beards on their chins aijd upper lips,
Which was another variation from themoft northern people, yet
the ey es o f thefe were by no means affefted like jthe miferahle natives
o f the ,enyirons of Sharks bay. The hair of the women was
put or fhaven, fometimes wholly, fometimes partially; and fomq
bad a circle o f hair left,-like the tonfure of the Roman catholick
clergy. The men were quite naked, the wpqaen had the Ikin of
the Kangaroo tied oyer their ihoulders, and roqnd their waifts;
the ikins of hoth fexes were marked with fears.
T h e i r habitations were little wigwams, made o f flicks covered
with bark; others reminded you of thofe o f th eDryades o f the
poets: they formed a hollow in the vaft trees o f the country,
tp the height of fix or feyen feet, which they effected by fire
they left fo much untouched ggut the. tree grew moil luxuriantly,
and gave the image o f Tajjb's enchanted grove: this is the only
foreft tree p f the .country; the bark is white, the item quite
ftrait, and clear o f branches to-the height of fixty feet ;.it yielded
a tranfpare-nt gum or refin, and the leaves o f the leffer branches
had an aromatic fmell. The wood is very long and tough, fit
for fpars, oars, and even malls, for which purpofe, could it be
made lighter, none would be better,
f íe
N o other fpecies o f quadrupeds were obferved here, but the
OpoJJum, Hiß. %uadr. N° 223, and the Kangaroo, N‘ 229. Captain
Cook very humanely turned into the woods a boar and fow pig,
which if'they efcape the fight o f the natives for. fome years, may
prove the flocking of the country with animals equally ufeful to
the inhabitants and cafual vifitants.
A b u n d a n c e o f fifh are found on the coaft, as the elephant
fiih, rays, foies, flounders, and the Atherina Hepfetus *, which
extends to our fhores.
I s h a l l fo rm as c om p l e t e a l i f t o f t h e b i r d s o f t h i s am a z in e-O
trait, as I may be enabled from the late difcoveries, and fhall
dnly mention here, as perhaps local, the White Eagle t, the Superb
Warbler %, remarkable for the rich blue o f its frontal creft and
cheeks, and the Kan Diemen’s warbler j|.
T h e firft port which Captain Cook put into in the voyage o f
T777> was Adventure Bay, in Lat. 43” 21', between the Fluted Cape
and Cape Frederick Henry. He continued his voyage towards
New Zealand. The coaft to the north had been explored by
Captain Furneaux, who paffed in his way fouthward Maria's
ifland, Schoutens, and other places named by Fafman. As we advance
farther north, we find Furneaux's and the Sißers. The
laft is in Lat. 390 45', and Long. 149°, the land from which he
bore away for New Zealand.
In Lat. 38° fouth, Long. 211°, we arrive off Cape Hicks, which
may be celebrated as the firft place ever difcovered on the eaftern
coaft o f New Holland; this great event took place on April 19th
* Br. Zool. iii. No. 157. tab. lxv. + Latham, vii. p. 1 12.
t.Latham,iv. tab. Hü. J Latham,™, p. ,87. '
V0L- IV - P 1770,
A d v e n t u r e
B a y .
1 7 7 0 . C a p e
H ic k s .