ANOTHER PARTY. 143 



Australian never is. They wore wigs, which we 

 never observed among the Australians, and were 

 also but little scarred. 



In the beginning of June 1845, we found another 

 party of natives in this bay, quietly occupying it as if 

 they were at home. They were only five in number, 

 and different in aspect and character from the 

 former party. These five men had a more lanky build 

 than the others, their hair was diffused and curly, 

 and they precisely resembled the people of other 

 parts of the continent. Out of fifteen words which I 

 collected from them, eight or nine were different 

 from the words got for the same objects from the 

 former party. 



On the beach of Cape York, I found a few small 

 shells of the genus oliva, being the first time I had 

 met with that genus alive ; and also an abundance 

 of comatulse. These latter animals, so interesting to 

 the geologist, on account of their affinity to the en- 

 crinite, were of three or four species. The largest 

 were of a dark wine colour, almost black, and 

 were sometimes so large as nearly to fill the in- 

 side of a man's hat. At low water they were found 

 in great numbers on the shallow sandy fiats in a few 

 inches of water, and were then mostly in a con- 

 tracted state, with their arms curved inwards like a 

 ball. Their movement of the arms was sufficiently 

 rapid and energetic, but they seemed to trust prin- 

 cipally to the current of the water for their motion 

 from place to place. 



