A VOYAGE TO 
114 
i 777 . fire in the middle, leaving room for four or five perfons to 
> lit round it *. At the fame time, thefe places of fhelter are 
durable; for they take 4 care to leave one fide of the tree 
found, which is fufficient to keep it growing as luxuriantly 
as thofe which remain untouched. 
The inhabitants of this place are, doubtlefs, from the 
fame flock with thofe of the Northern parts of New Hol¬ 
land. Though fome of the circumflances mentioned by 
Dampier, relative to thofe he met with on the Weflern coafl 
of this country, fuch as their defective fight, and want of 
fore teeth, are not found here; and though Hawkefworth’s 
account of thofe met with by Captain Cook on the Eafl fide, 
fhews alfo that they differ in many refpedts; yet {till, upon 
the whole, I am perfuaded that diftance of place, entire fe- 
paration, diverfity of climate, and length of time, all concur¬ 
ring to operate, will account for greater differences, both 
as to their perfons and as to their cufloms, than really exifl 
between our Van Diemen’s Land natives, and thofe defcribed 
by Dampier, and in Captain Cook’s firft voyage. This is 
certain, that the figure of one of thofe feen in Endeavour 
River, and reprefented in Sidney Parkinfon’s Journal of that 
voyage, very much refembles our vifiters in Adventure Bay. 
That there is not the like refemblance in their language, is 
a circumflance that need not create any difficulty. For 
though the agreement of the languages of people living 
diflant from each other, may be affumed as a ftrong argu¬ 
ment for their having fprung from one common fource; 
* Tafman, when in the bay of Frederick Henry, adjoining to Adventure Bay, found 
two trees, one of which was two fathoms, and the other two fathoms and a half in girth, 
and fixty or fixty-five feet high, from the root to the branches. See his Voyage , in Har¬ 
ris’s Collebfion, Campbell’s Edition , Vol. i. p. 326. 
3 
difagreement 
