example themselves. 



The men and i*©tten%eldom wear any thing 



24 HISTORY OF 



are left off: this is truly savagei It is curious 

 that those parents who think ar|y clothing de- 

 cent for their children, should afterwards suffer 

 them to go in a state of nature. by setting the 



on v them, and tl^'ugh Rothes have often been 

 giveii'them; theyfcre always thrown away. 



Some few who #re in the habit of being much 

 among us, do now fie a kind of bandage round 

 the waist ; :but these are so kw as by no means 

 to entitle them to be considered as any thing 

 more than a nation of nasty naked savages. 



PROPERTY. 



That happiness is obliged to result from pro- 

 perty, is by no means true, for few savages have 

 less to call their own, than those of New South 

 Wales, and yet they are perfectly happy; thisarises 

 from only seeking what is requisite to satisfy na- 

 ture, and any thing more they will not keep; thus 

 the property these people possess are their canoes, 

 spears, shields, clubs, hatchets, fish-gigs, and 

 lines ; but some have informed us of hereditary 

 property which they have retained undisturbed. 

 The Goat Island, (called by them Me-mel,) 

 close to Sydney Cove, was said to be the pro- 

 perty of Ben-nil-long's father ; on our settling 

 there he called it his, and took great pleasure in 

 heing there with his wife. 



