ABORIGINES OF TASMANIA. 181 



which lie three miles out from the main, for Flinders in 

 1798 noticed with surprise that the scrub on the largest 

 island had been burnt. There was a small tribe at Port 

 Dave j, and another at Macquarie Harbour, which 

 (according to Stokes and Backhouse) numbered some 

 thirty souls only. The latter had canoes of bark in 

 which they crossed the harbour. They made an attack 

 on Kelly's party. 



At Trial Harbour, near Mount Heemskirk, there are 

 very large extensive shell mounds. Further north, on 

 the Pieman and Arthur Rivers, there were either one or 

 two tribes, probably near the coast, though here there 

 are occasional tracts which would support game. In 

 1832 Robinson speaks of four tribes, numbering collec- 

 tively 100 souls, between Port Davey and Cape Grim. 

 It is not clear whether he meant to include the Cape 

 Grim natives. The latter were a strong and fierce 

 tribe. In 1815 Kelly fell in with a mob of 50 on the 

 largest of the Hunters' Group, i.e., Robbins Island. 

 They made a fierce attack on his party. It is said that 

 the natives visited all the islands of the Hunters' Group 

 by swimming, no doubt with the help of logs or canoes. 

 They probably reached Albatross Island, seeing that 

 they had a name for it, Tangatema. Though the main- 

 land is in many places densely timbered, there are open 

 downs at Woolnorth and other spots where game would 

 be fairly plentiful. 



There were tribes at Circular Head and at Emu Bay. 

 Most of the hinterland was covered with dense, almost 

 impenetrable, forest, but the high downs of the Hamp- 

 shire and Surrey Hills and Middlesex Plains were 

 favourite resorts. Other patches of open country at 

 intervals would probably afford to these tribes the means 

 of inland communication with their kinsmen on the west, 

 as well as the more circuitous route by the coast. These 

 open spaces were formerly more numerous, being kept 

 clear by burning. Many of them have become over- 

 grown with timber since the removal of the natives. 



Hobbs (Boat Voyage, 1824) says that the natives 

 travelled along the coast between Circular Head and Port 

 Sorell, keeping the country burnt for that purpose. This 

 group of tribes may possibly have extended as far east 

 as Port Sorell, though the Port Sorell blacks were more 

 probably connected with the Port Dalrymple tribe. 



