LAND DISCOVERED BY TASMAN. 87 



dore Baudin has distinguished leading portions of 

 this coast, of course, professional courtesy will wil- 

 lingly respect ; it is, however, only right to mention, 

 that while he contented himself with so distant a 

 view of this part of Australia as to be sometimes 

 completely mistaken in the most important particu- 

 lars, to the celebrated Abel Tasman belongs the 

 merit of having previously landed upon its shores 

 in that very bay, which now bears the name of the 

 great republican. 



Tasman describes the natives as being quite 

 naked, black in colour, and having curly hair, 

 " malicious and cruel," using for arms bows and 

 arrows, hazeygaeys* and kalawaeys. They came, 

 upon one occasion, fifty in number, to attack a party 

 of the Dutch, who had landed, but took fright at the 

 sight and sound of fire-arms. " Their proas," he 

 adds, " are made of the bark of trees, and they use 

 no houses." 



Such is the account of this distinguished and 

 trustworthy discoverer, upon whose veracity I should 

 be the last to attempt to affix suspicion : his very 

 simplicity of detail, and the entire absence of rhe- 



* " Hazeygaeys" are synonymous with " assagais," the name 

 for the short African spear, used by the tribes between Port 

 Natal and the Cape, and which is generally supposed to be the 

 native term for the weapon. Captain Harris, however, states 

 that this supposition is incorrect; and, certainly, its appearance 

 and termination here incline me to join him in suspecting it of a 

 Dutch origin. 



