...^ 



1.02 A VOYAGE TO 



1777- their hair was of the fame colour and texture, feme of them 



janu.iry. 



had their heads completely fliorn or fhaved ; in others this 

 operation had been performed only on one fide, while the 

 r>eft of them had all the upper part of the head fhorn clofe, 

 leaving a circle of hair all round, fomewhat like the tonfure 

 of the Romifli Ecclefiaftics *. Many of the children had fine 

 features, and were thought pretty; but of the perfons of 

 the women, efpecially thofc advanced in years, a lefs fa- 

 vourable report was made; However, fome of the Gentlemen 

 belonging to the Difcovery, I was told, paid their addrefTes, 

 and made liberal offers of prefents, which were rejected 

 with great difdain ; whether from a fenfe of virtue, or the 

 fear of difpleafmg their men, I fliall not pretend to deter- 

 mine. That this gallantry was not very agreeable to the 

 latter, is certain : for an elderly man, as foon as he obferved 

 it, ordered all the women and children to retire, whicli 

 they obeyed, though fomc of them fliewed a little reluc- 

 tance. 



This conducfl of Europeans amongft Savages, to their wo- 

 men, is highly blameable ; as it creates a jealoufy in their 

 men, that may be attended with confequences fatal to the 

 fuccefs of the common cnterprize, and to the whole body 



* Captain Cook's account of the natives of Van Diemen's Land, in this Chapter, 

 no doubt proves that they difter, in tnany refpeSls, as he fays, from the inhabitants of 

 the more northerly parts of the Eaft coaft of New Holland, whom he met with in his 

 firfl voyage. It feems very remarkable, however, that the only woman any of his peo- 

 ple came clofe to, in Butany Bay, fhould have her hair cropped /hort ; while the man 

 ■who v/as with her, is faid to have had the hair of his head bufpy, and his beard long and 

 rough. Hawkefworth'sColieiftion, Vol. iii. p. 502. Could the natives of Van Die- 

 men's Land be more accurately defcribed, than by faying that the hair of the men's 

 heads is liify-, and their beards hug and rough, and that the ivonien^s hair is cropped 

 ■ Jliort ? So far North, therefore, as Botany Bay, the natives of the Eaft coaft of 

 New Holland fee.ii to refemble thofe of Van Diemen's Land, in this cii cumfiance. 



of 



