MELVILLE ISLAND, 
Commisaariat Department at Melville Island during 
the existence of the settlementj and who now rcijides 
at Sydney. 
No intercourse with the natives of Melville Id and took 
place during the late occupation of Port Essington, 
although vcssck bound to and from the settlemeut some- 
times passed close along the northern side of the island ; 
and the entire southern coast was sur^^eyed by Her 
Majesty's ship ' Beagle but on no occasion were the 
natives even seen* It was several times in contemplation 
to send a party to the east end of Melville Island; but 
the strong objection on the part of the Fort Essington 
natives even to approach the coast^ led to the project 
being abandoned on each occasion^ as very little useful 
information could have been acquired without their assist- 
ance^ Their prejudices were the more remarkable, as 
they crowded to offer their services when the decked- 
boat was about to be dispatched to the head of Van 
Diemen's Gulf, or along the coast to the eastward. There 
is certainly something peculiarly trisie in the appearance 
of the eastern part of Melville Island, where the shore is 
fronted by deep belts of mangrove jungle, and but for 
the bush fires that are occasionally seen, the interior also 
might be considered to be no inhabited. 
In order to enable the reader to compare the Melville 
islanders with the natives of the adjacent coast of 
Australia, a general description of the tribes in the 
neighbourhood of Port Essington is given below. It was 
drawn up by the writer, from notes collected on the spot, 
soon after his return from Port Essington in 1845^ and 
