W H I T E * s J O Ü R K A f c O F A
wlio came on fiiore £e^ what they could procure.. Many
of them were painted about the head,, bieaft,. and fiaouklers,
with, fome white fubftance. None ©f thofe who were thus-
ornamented came on fhore, till by fighs we made them
underftand that we intended to offer them fome prefects;
and even then, only one of them ventured. T o this
perfon Lieutenant Creffwell gave a white pocket handkerchief,
with which flip feemed much pleafed. Every
gentleman now fbgled out' a female, and prefenfccd
her with fome trinkets» njjjt - at--'* t&e &me
time, to bellow gifts upon fome of her family,^ whom
jhe took confiderableii’lpains to make fenoWn,. left’ they
jfhould fall into the hands of fuch as did; not belong
to her, It was remarked that all the women and children,
Ian old woman excepted) had the little finger of j the. left
hand taken off at the fecond jQmt;'theftump o f which
was as well covered as i f the operation had been perfumed
by a furgeon.
While we were thus employed among thé women, a
body o f men Came out of the woods with a new cano^
made o f cork. It was one of the beft we bad ófo
ferved in this country ;, though it fell very (hort of thole
which.
V O Y A G<B& t o n e w S O tTT H W A L E S.
which I -have feen: among the American o‘t Mufquito-fhore
Indians? who, in improvements of'evdry kind, the Indians
©£ this country are many centuries behind. The men
had alfo with them fome new “pjaddles, fpears, and fifti-
gigs, which they had juft been making. They readily
IhoWcd us the ufe of every, thing they had with theiit.
Indeed they always behave with an apparent civility when
they fall in with-men that are'armed ; but when they meet
perfons unarmed, they feldom fail to take every advantage
of them.
Thole females who'were arrived at the' ag£«f
did not wear a covering; but all the female children and
likewife the girls wore a flight kind of covering before
them, made of the fur of the kangaroo, twifted,, into
threads. While we Went towards the party of men that
came out of the woods with the new canoe, all the Women
landed, and began to , broil their filh, of which they'
had a large quantity. There feemed to be no harmony
or hofpitality among them:. However, the female
tp whom I paid the moft attention gave me, but not untill
I afoed her for it, fome of the filh which The was
eating.