84 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



number of islands, which took the name of the Prince of 

 Wales Islands, and which Captain Cook imagines may reach 

 to New Guinea. To the passage which they had sailed 

 through, Captain Cook gave the name of Endeavour Straits. 



New South Wales was ascertained to be a much larger 

 country than any hitherto known, not deemed a continent, 

 being larger than all Europe ; which was proved by the 

 Endeavour having coasted more than two thousand miles, 

 even if her track was reduced to a straight line. To the 

 northward the grass is not so rich, nor the trees so high 

 as in the southern parts ; and almost everywhere, even the 

 largest trees grow at a distance of not less than thirteen 

 yards asunder. 



The men were well made, of the middle size, and active 

 in a high degree ; but their voices were soft, even to 

 effeminacy. Their colour is the chocolate ; but they were 

 so covered with dirt, as to look almost as black as negroes. 

 The chief ornament of these people is the bone that is 

 thrust through the nose, which the sailors whimsically 

 termed their spirit-sail-yard. Some few of them had an 

 ornament of shells hanging across the breast. Besides 

 these ornaments, they painted their bodies and limbs white 

 and red, in stripes of different dimensions ; and they had a 

 circle of white round each eye, and spots of it on the face. 



Their huts were built with small rods, the two ends of 

 which were fixed into the ground, so as to form the figure 

 of an oven ; they are covered with pieces of bark and palm 

 leaves. The door of this building, which is only high 

 enough to sit upright in, is opposite to the fire-place ; they 

 sleep with their heels turned up towards their heads, and 

 even in this posture the hut will not hold more than four 

 people. 



They produce fire, and extend the flames in a very 

 singular manner : they reduce one end of a stick into an 

 obtuse point, they place this point upon a piece of dry 

 wood, and turning the upright stick very fast backward and 

 forward between their hands, the fire is soon produced.* 

 One of the natives was frequently observed to run along the 

 sea coast, leaving fire in various places. These fires were 

 supposed to be intended for the taking of the kangaroo, as 

 that animal was so very shy of fire, that when forced by 

 the dogs it would not cross places which had been newly 

 burnt, even when the fire was extinguished. The same 

 method of obtaining fire is common to the Esquimaux. 



* Similar implements (obtained from the Esquimaux in Pond's 

 Bay, by Sir Edward Belcher, C.B.), may be seen in the " Arctic 

 Collection " presented by Mr. Barrow to the British Museum, and 

 deposited in the Ethnographical Room. 



