42 SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1818 . in a strange language surprised them very much; 
Feb. 26 . on his taking off his shirt they shouted loudly, 
and were delighted ; but on the return of the boat 
on board without our party’s landing, they were 
evidently much disappointed. 
Our late captive was noticed in the back-ground, 
but did not approach the boat : he was, for an 
Australian, a well made man, and was at least six 
feet in height. His hair was long and curly, and 
in it was stuck a short sharp-pointed stick ; he 
wore his beard long, no teeth were wanting in 
his jaws, and there was no appearance of the 
septum narium having been pierced: at every 
three inches between the upper part of the chest 
and navel, his body was scarified in horizontal 
stripes, the cicatrice of which was at least an inch 
in diameter, and protruded half an inch from the 
body. He could not have been more than twenty- 
two or three years of age ; and as for the other 
characteristics of spare limbs, long arms and 
large head, he was a perfect fac simile of the 
inhabitants of the eastern coast. 
During the night their fires were seen on the 
island, and some were also noticed on the main 
27 . land to the southward. Early the next morning 
the natives came down to the beach, and called 
out loudly to us ; but the glare of the sun, rising 
immediately over them, prevented our distin- 
