NATIVES. 49 



or during' the ^^ young' flood/' Sharks are numerous 

 close to the beach, but are g-enerally small and 

 harmless 3 one of the natives however had lost his 

 foot at the ankle joint^ from the bite of one. 



There were then no white residents upon Moreton 

 Island^ but Ave found a party of about twenty 

 natives encamped near the watering' place. Some 

 of the men were rather g'ood specimens of the race^ 

 but the reverse was the case with the females; 

 althoug'h the latter on the first day of our meeting- 

 them evinced a desire to cover their persons, they 

 afterwards went about as naked as the men, — but the 

 female children wore a small fring'e in fi'ont. The 

 married Avomen had lost the last joint of the little 

 fing-er of the rig'ht hand, — one had three half-caste 

 children. The huts of these natives are of simple 

 construction, yet comfortable enoug'h, and perfectly 

 waterproof, — a framework of sticks in a dome-like 

 form is covered with bark of the tea-tree (Mela- 

 leuca) and branches of trees. 



While procuring- materials for a vocabulary, I 

 found that even this small party contained indi- 

 viduals of two tribes, speaking- different dialects. 

 It was curious to observe that althoug'h these 

 natives had had much intercourse with Europeans, 

 a party of them who came on board, could not be 

 persuaded to g'o below ; and one strong* fellow 

 i^' one-eye," as he called himself ) actually trembled 

 with fear when I laid hold of him by the arm, to 

 lead him down to the main-deck. 



VOL. I. E 



