NEW SOUTH WALES. £85 



fices; but of their fierceness, when opposed to 

 man, or their great strength, he had seen no in- 

 stance. 



Among other reptiles were found the snake 

 with venemous fangs, and some brown guanoes. 



This country is but thinly inhabited, and the 

 extreme shyness of the natives prevented any 

 kind of communication whatever. They ne- 

 ver even got sight of them but once, and that 

 at a great distance. They had made fires abreast 

 where the sloop was at anchor ; but as soon as the 

 boat approached the shore they ran off to the 

 woods. Their huts, of which seven or eight were 

 frequently found together like a little encamp- 

 ment, were constructed of bark torn in long 

 stripes, after being divided transversely at the 

 bottom, in such breadths as their strength would 

 be able to disengage them from the wood. It 

 is then broken into lengths, and placed, sloping- 

 wise, against the elbowing part of some dead 

 branch that had fallen off limbs of the gum tree ; 

 and a little grass is sometimes thrown over the 

 top. But, they have not ingenuity enough to 

 place the slips of bark in such a manner as to 

 preclude the rain. 



The only utensil observed lying near their 

 huts was a kind of basket made of long grass. The 

 two ends of a large bunch of this grass are tied 

 to the two ends of a smaller bunch; the large 

 one is then spread out to form the basket, while 

 the smaller answers the purpose of a handle. 

 Their use is to bring shell fish from the mud 

 banks where they are collected. The large 



