406 NATIVE CLOTHING. 



errors of the chronometers, we saw a few natives, 

 but they avoided an interview, disappearing when 

 we landed. They made the same motions with 

 their arms, throwing them open, and bowing as the 

 natives in King's Sound did. The few huts I fell 

 in with, reminded me of one I had seen near the 

 N. W. part of King's Sound, a representation of 

 which will be found in the portion of the work 

 descriptive of that locality. 



Those on Cape Hotham, to enter more into par- 

 ticulars, did not exceed five feet in height, nor were 

 they so substantially built ; they were, however, well 

 thatched with the same kind of coarse grass. The 

 entrances were carefully closed, except in one in- 

 stance, when the aperture was so small that it was 

 with difficulty I could crawl in ; when I had entered 

 there was nothing to gratify my curiosity. Hanging 

 on trees round these habitations, were specimens of 

 an article of clothing, never before seen among the 

 Aborigines of Australia, for which reason I have been 

 induced to give the adjoining wood- 

 cut of one.* It is a kind of cover- 

 ing for the shoulders, a species of 

 cape, made from coarse grass. 

 Baskets were also left hangino^ on 

 the trees, bespeaking the honesty of the inhabitants 

 of this part of the country. 



* I have since heard from Mr. Earl, that the women in the 

 S. E. part of Van Diemcn's Gulf, occasionally wear a covering 

 round their waist, somewhat similar to the representation given. 



