TOO 
A VOYAGE TO 
1777. wretches as the natives whom Dampier mentions to have 
January.^ f een on we ftem COaft 
Some of our prefent group wore, loofe, round their 
necks, three or four folds of fmall cord, made of the fur of 
fome animal; and others of them had a narrow flip of the 
kangooroo lkin tied round their ankles. I gave to each of 
them a firing of beads, and a medal; which I thought they 
received with fome fatisfachion. They leemed to fet no 
value on iron, or on iron tools. They were even ignorant 
of the ufe of fifh-hooks, if we might judge from their 
manner of looking at fome of ours which we fhewed to 
them. 
We cannot, however, fuppofe it to be poffible that a peo¬ 
ple who inhabit a fea-coaft, and who feem to derive no part 
of their fuilenance from the productions of the ground, 
fhould not be acquainted with fome mode of catching fifh, 
though we did not happen to fee any of them thus employ¬ 
ed ; nor obferve any canoe or veffel, in which they could go 
upon the water. Though they abfolutely rejected the fort 
of fifh that we offered to them, it was evident that fhell- 
* And yet Dampier’s New Hollanders, on the Weflern coaft, bear a ftriking refem- 
blance to Captain Cook’s at Van Diemen’s Land, in many remarkable inftances : 
ift, As to their becoming familiar with the ftrangers. 
2dly, As to their perfons ; being ftraight-bodied, and thin; their lkin black and black, 
fhort, curled hair, like the Negroes of Guinea; with wide mouths. 
3dly, As to their wretched condition; having no houfes, no garment, no canoes, no 
inftrument to catch large fifh; feeding on broiled mufcles, cockles, and periwinkles; 
having no fruits of the earth ; their weapons a ftraight pole, fharpened and hardened at 
the end, &c. &c. 
The chief peculiarities of Dampier’s miferable vjretches are, ift, Their eye-lids being 
always half clofed, to keep the flies out, which were exceffively troublefome. there: and, 
Txlly, Their wanting the two fore-teeth of the upper jaw, and their having no beards. 
See Dampier’s Voyages , Vol. i. p. 464, &c. There feems to be no reafon for fuppofing 
that Dampier was miftaken in the above account of what he faw. 
fifh? 
