1777- THE pacific OCEAN. 233 



dried fish in great quantities, when they remove 

 their families, or go far from home. This they beat 

 with a stick till it becomes pretty soft, when they 

 chew it sufficiently, and spit out the hard fibrous 

 part, the other having a sweetish mealy taste not at 

 all disagreeable. 



When they dare not venture to sea, or perhaps from 

 choice, they supply the place of other fish with mus- 

 cles and sea-ears ; great quantities of the shells of 

 which lie in heaps near their houses. And they 

 sometimes, though rarely, find means to kill rails, 

 penguins, and shags, which help to vary their diet. 

 They also breed considerable numbers of the dogs, 

 mentioned before, for food ; but these cannot be 

 considered as a principal article of diet. From 

 whence we may conclude, that as there is not the 

 least sign of cultivation of land, they depend princi- 

 pally for their subsistence on the sea, which, indeed, 

 is very bountiful in its supply. 



Their method of feeding corresponds with the 

 nastiness of their persons, which often smell dis- 

 agreeably from the quantity of grease about them, 

 and their clothes never being washed. We have seen 

 them eat the vermin, with which their heads are suf- 

 ficiently stocked. 



They also used to devour, with the greatest eager- 

 ness, large quantities of stinking train oil, and blub- 

 ber of seals, which we were melting at the tent, and 

 had kept near two months ; and, on board the ships, 

 they were not satisfied with emptying the lamps, but 

 actually swallowed the cotton and fragrant wick 

 with equal voracity. It is worthy of notice, that 

 though the inhabitants of Van Diemen's land appear 

 to have but a scanty subsistence, they would not 

 even taste our bread, though they saw us eat it ; 

 whereas these people devoured it greedily, when both 

 mouldy and rotten. But this must not be imputed 

 to any defect in their sensations ; for I have observed 



