46 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



on which they fubfifl. We invited them te-" 

 eat with us fome oyllcrs and lobfters, which 

 we had jull broiled on the coals ; but they 

 all refufed, except one alone, who chofe to tafle 

 a lobller. At firfl: we thought that the hour of 

 their meal was flill very remote : however, we 

 were millaken; for they foon began to eat, but 

 of food which they drefTed thcmfelves ; this 

 coniifted alfo of lobfters and other fliell-fifli, 

 which they broiled much more than thofe that 

 we had offered them. 



We faw fome of thefe favages employed in 

 cutting into the fhape of a fpatula, and polifh- 

 ing with a fnell, fome fmall pieces of vx-ood^ 

 deftined for detaching from the rocks ear-fliells 

 and limpets, with which ti ,cy regaled them- 

 fclves as iaft as they were dre:Tcd. 



The time for us to return on board was ar- 

 rived. Not one of the natives would come 

 with US; they quitted us, and retired into the 

 woods. 



On the morning of the icth, the geographi- 

 cal engineer of the Recherche fet out m the 

 barge, in order to go and reconnoitre the extent 

 of the vafr bay which is at the entrance of the 

 D'Entrecaficaux's Strait, v, hither v,e were 

 Ihortly to fail. 



In the courfe of this day were abandoned all 

 the cilablifhments which we had made on Ihorc 



during 



