lOO AVOYAGETO 



'777- fuch miferable wretches as the natives whom Dampier men- 



January. ■* 



u — «-— ' tions to have feen on its weftern coaft *. 



Some of our prefent groupe wore, loofe, round their 

 necks, three or four folds of fmall cord, made of the fur of 

 fome animal; and others of them had a narrow flip of the 

 kangooroo fkin tied round their ancles. I gave to each of 

 them a firing of beads, and a medal ; which I thought they 

 received with fome fatisfa6tion. They feemed to fet no 

 value on iron, or on iron tools. They were even ignorant 

 of the ufe of fifti-hooks, if we might judge from their 

 manner of looking at fome of ours which we fhewed to 

 them. 



We cannot, however, fuppofe it to be pollible that a peo- 

 ple who inhabit a fea-coaft, and who feem to derive no part 

 of their fuftenance from the producSlions of the ground, 

 fhould not be acquainted with fome mode of catching fifli, 

 though we did not happen to fee any of them thus employ- 

 ed; nor obferve any canoe or vefTel, in which they could go 

 upon the water. Though they abfolutely reje(n;ed the fort 

 of fifli that we offered to them, it was evident that fhell- 



* And yet Dampier's New Hollanders, on the Weftern coaft, bear a ftriking re- 

 femblance to Captain Cook's at Van Diemen's Land, in many remarkable inftances: 



ift. As to their becoming familiar with the ftrangers. 

 • adly. As to their perfons ; being ftraight-bodied, and thin ; their (kin black ; and 



black, fliort, curled hair, like the Negroes of Guinea j with wide mouths. 



3dly, As to their wretched condition ; having no houfes, no garment, no canoes, no 

 inftrument to catch large fifti ; feeding on broiled mufcles, cockles, and periwinckles; 

 having no fruits of the earth; their weapons a ftraight pole, fliarpened and hardened^ 

 at the end, &c. &c. 



The chief peculiarities of Dampier's miferable wretches are, ift, Their eye-lids be- 

 ing always half clofed, to keep the flies out, which were exceflively troublefome there : 

 and, 2dly, Their wanting the two fore-teeth of the upper jaw, and their having no 

 beards. See Dampier's Voyages, Vol. i. p. 464, &c. There feems to be no reafon 

 for fuppofing that Dampier was miftaken in the above account of what he faw. 



fifli, 



