312 SOME ACCOUNT OF NEW HOLLAND § cu. xur 
feet long, besides which it is tied to a loose line of three or 
four fathoms. The use of this is undoubtedly to enable the 
staff to serve as a float to show where the turtle is when 
struck, as well as to assist in tiring it till they can with 
their canoes overtake and haul it in. That they throw this 
dart with great force we had occasion to observe while we 
lay in Endeavour’s river, where a turtle which we killed had 
one of these pegs entirely buried in his body just across its 
breast ; it seemed to have entered at the soft place where 
the fore-fin works, but not the least outward mark of the 
wound remained. 
We saw near their fire-places plentiful remains of lobsters, 
shell-fish of all kinds, and to the southward the skins of 
those sea animals which, from their property of spouting out 
water when touched, are commonly called sea - squirts. 
These last, however disgustful they may seem to an European 
palate, we found to contain, under a coat as tough as leather, 
a substance like the guts of a shell-fish, of a taste, though 
not equal to an oyster, yet by no means to be despised by 
a hungry man. 
Of land animals they probably eat every kind that they 
can kill, which probably does not amount to any large 
number, every species being here shy and cautious in a high 
degree. The only vegetables which we saw them use were 
yams of two sorts, the one long and like a finger, the other 
round and covered with stringy roots; both sorts very 
small but sweet. They were so scarce where we were that 
we never could find the plants that produced them, though 
we often saw the places where they had been dug up by 
the Indians very recently. It is very probable that the dry 
season, which was at its height when we were there, had 
destroyed the leaves of the plants, so that we had no guide, 
while the Indians, knowing well the stalks, might find them 
easily. Whether they knew or ever made use of the cocos, 
I cannot tell; the immense sharpness of every part of this 
vegetable before it is dressed makes it probable that any 
people who have not learned the uses of it from others may 
remain for ever ignorant of them. Near their fires were 
