did not think it woolly, * He was- armed with, two ill made fpears.
o f folid wood.
No part of their drefs-attracted" His attention* except the red'filk.
handkerchief round their necks. Their fire arms were to him objects
neither o f curiofity nor fear..
This was the firft man they had fpoken with in Van Diemen’s
land, and his frank and; open deportmetlf led them not only to-,
form a favourable opinion o f the diipofition o f its inhabitants, but:
to conjecture that i f the country was peopled in the ufual numbers,,
he would not have been the only one whom they would diave met.
A circumftance which corroborated this fuppofition was, that in.
the excurfiohs made by Mr. Bafs into the country, having feldom
any other fociety than his two dogs, he could have been no great
objeCt o f dread to a people ignorant of the effects- o f fire arms, and
would certainly have been hailed by any one who might have feen>
him.
They fell in with maBy huts along the diffèrent fliores o f the
river, o f the fame bad conflruCtion as thofe o f Port Dalrymple,
but with fewer heaps o f mufele fhells lying near them. The natives-
o f this place, probably, draw the principal part o f their food from;
the woods; the bones o f fmall animals, fuch as opoffums, fquirrels,
kangooroo rats, and bandicoots, were numerous round their deferted
fire-places ; and the two fpears which they faw in the hands of the-
man. were fimilar to thofe ufed for hunting in other parts. Many
trees alfo were obferved to-be notched.
No canoes were ever feen, nor any tree fo barked as to anfwer that-
purpofe. And, yet alt the iflands in Frederick-Henry Bay had,
evidently been vifited.
* Mr. Raven, on his return to England in the Buffalo, patting into Adventure B a y , clofe by
where this man was feen, cut off fome undoubted wool from the head o f a native that he fell in:
with there. This.circumftance was unknown to Mr».Bafs.
Befldes-
Befides the fmall quadrupeds already mentioned, they obferved
the grey and red kangooroo, butnot in any numbers, and once they
heard the tread o f an emu.
Thé feathered tribes Were apparently fimilar to thofe o f Port
Dalrymple: Here again they daily ate their fwan, the flocks of
which even exceeded thofe that they had before met with.
The moft formidable among the reptiles was the black fnake with
venomous fangs,, and fo much: in colour refembling a burnt flick,
that a- clofe infpeftion only could deteCt the difference. Mr. Bafs
once, with his eyës cautioufly directed towards the ground, ftepped
over one which was lying afleep among fome black flicks, and
would1 have paffed on. without obferving it,, had not its ruffling and
loud hifs attracted his attention the moment afterwards.
He determined on taking him alive, in order to try the effeCt o f
his bite upon a hawk which was at that time in the floop. In the
cönteff, He- turned round and hit himfelf feverely ; in a few minutes
after which he was mattered. His exertions, however, were
ftill vigorous, and Mr. Bafs expeaed, as he began, to recover himfelf,
that they Would increafe ; but in lefs than ten minutes he died!
Having never before- known a fnake of this fize to be killed by a
few very flight blows with a flick fo rotten as fcarcely to bear the
weight o f its own blow, he was at a lofs to conceive how death
had fo fuddenly fucceeded fo much vigour in an animal fo tenacious
of life. Was it poffible that hi* own bite could have been-
the cauffe ?. When, three hours afterwards,, the fkin was ftripped
off, the flefh for fome diftance round; the marks o f his teeth, was
found inffamed and difcoloured.
The account of the Derwent river being now clbfed, and the-
whole of what was learned o f V an Diemen’s land related, it may
not be improper, fays Mr. Bafs, to point out the manner in which,
this country and New South Wales appear to differ in their moft ef-
fential quality, that o f their foil. _■