208 
MBLVILLE ISLi5*D. 
in particular was neatly and regularly done all over, 
representing the cross-bars of a prison- window. The 
utensils consisted only of bark buckets and baskets, and 
the ground around was strewed with shells of turtle, 
crabs, oysters, and limpets. At one end of the encamp- 
ment lay the materials for constructing a canoe | and on 
a block of wood close to it was observed marks made 
with an axe, or tomahawk. We committed no depreda- 
tions, and saw the natives hastening back when we quitted 
the shore, 
"The food of these people consists of kangaroo, opossum, 
bandicoot, iguanas, and lizards, during the dry months; 
fish, ttu'tle, crabs, and other shell fish, dm-ing the wet 
months ; and their vegetables are the cabbage-palm and 
fruit of the sago -palm. They eat their meat just warmed 
throngb on a wood fire ; and the seed of the sago- palm is 
made into a kind of mash. Amongst those natives whom 
we encountered, I never saw any deformed, or having the 
appearance of disease or old age ; probably such were left 
with the women, in places of security, and only the able 
warriors came near us. There was one powerful, deter- 
mined-looking fellow frequently seen, who had lost a 
hand ; and he threw his spear by resting it on his 
maimed arm, and taking a deliberate aim. 
"Although the aborigines of Melville and Bathurst 
Islands are of the same race or breed as those throughout 
New Holland, yet their language is different. We had a 
native of the southern coast with us for a short time, and 
he could not understand a word they uttered. They speak 
low and quick to each other : but their pronunciation is 
so indistinct, we scarcely ever made out a word* I was 
