NATIVES. 49 



or during- the " young" flood." Sharks are numerous 

 close to the beach, but are generally small and 

 harmless ; one of the natives however had lost his 

 foot at the ankle joint, from the bite of one. 



There were then no white residents upon Moreton 

 Island, but we found a party of about twenty 

 natives encamped near the watering place. Some 

 of the men were rather good specimens of the race, 

 but the reverse was the case with the females ; 

 although the latter on the first day of our meeting 

 them evinced a desire to cover their persons, they 

 afterwards went about as naked as the men, — but the 

 female children wore a small fringe in front. The 

 married women had lost the last joint of the little 

 finger of the right hand, — one had three half-caste 

 children. The huts of these natives are of simple 

 construction, yet comfortable enough, and perfectly 

 waterproof, — a framework of sticks in a dome-like 

 form is covered with bark of the tea-tree (Mela- 

 leuca) and branches of trees. 



While procuring materials for a vocabulary, I 

 found that even this small party contained indi- 

 viduals of two tribes, speaking different dialects. 

 It was curious to observe that although these 

 natives had had much intercourse with Europeans, 

 a party of them who came on board, could not be 

 persuaded to go below; and one strong fellow 

 (" one-eye," as he called himself) actually trembled 

 with fear Avhen I laid hold of him by the arm, to 

 lead him down to the main-deck. 



VOL. I. E 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



