MEET A CANOE. 423 



imparted to our discoveries the stamp of utility, 

 and as Captain Wickham found it navigable for 

 thirty miles higher up where the water is fresh, we 

 may pronounce the Adelaide the deepest river in 

 Australia. Proceeding upwards, we met a party of 

 natives about seven miles from the mouth, in a very 

 pretty bark canoe, fifteen feet long, and about two 

 deep. The bark was sewn together with much neat- 

 ness, and it was altogether the most artistic piece of 

 workmanship I had seen among the Aborigines of 

 Australia. It was the last of that description we 

 met with in this direction, for we did not find canoes 

 in use with the natives to the westward of Clarence 

 Strait, but only rafts, a fact alluded to in an earlier 

 portion of the work. Two young men only were 

 in the craft, which ran close in under the man- 

 groves, through which we could see other natives 

 passing. By proceeding cautiously and slowly, I 

 got pretty close to them. They were evidently 

 afraid that if they left it we should take their 

 boat, and this gave them courage to face the strange 

 white men. Terror, however, was marked in their 

 countenances, and one of the two leaped on shore, 

 as we approached, in a state of great excitement, 

 jumping and flinging his arms about violently; 

 whilst sometimes he would dip up a handful of 

 water and squirt it out with great force from the 

 corners of his mouth. The size of the boat appeared, 

 as usual, to astonish the lad who remained in the 

 canoe. He appeared less frightened than the other, 



