Owing to calm weather, little progress was made during the night. At

daylight on the 13th, a number of canoes were seen coming from the

hippah; in the largest of which was thirty-six men and a chief, who was

standing up making signals with great earnestness. On his coming

alongside, Too-gee recognised the chief to be Ko-to-ko-ke, who is the

etiketica, or principal chief of the hippah whence the boats had come the

preceding evening. The old chief, who appeared to be about seventy years

of age, had not a visible feature, the whole of his face being tatooed

with spiral lines. At his coming on board he embraced Too-gee with great

affection; Too-gee then introduced me to him; and after the ceremony of

'ehong-i,' i.e. joining noses, he took off his ah-a-how, or mantle, and

put it on my shoulders. In return I gave him a mantle made of green

baize, and decorated with broad arrows. Soon after seven, other canoes,

with upwards of twenty men and women in each, came alongside. At

Too-gee's desire the poop was 'eta-boo,' i.e. all access to it by any

others than the old chief forbidden. Not long before Ko-to-ko-ke came on

board, I asked Too-gee and Hoo-doo if they would return to Norfolk Island

or land at Moo-dee When-u-a in case the calm continued, or the wind came

from the southward, of which there was some appearance. Too-gee was much

averse to either. His reason for not returning to Norfolk was the natural

wish to see his family and chief; nor did he like the idea of being

landed at Moo-dee When-u-a, as, notwithstanding what he had heard

respecting the good understanding there was between his district and that

of Moo-dee When-u-a, the information might turn out to be not strictly

true. Nothing more was said about it; and it was my intention to land

them nearer to their homes, if it could be done in the course of the day,

although it was then a perfect calm. Soon after the chief came on board

they told me with tears of joy that they wished to go with Ko-toko-ke,

who had fully confirmed all they had heard before, and had promised to

take them the next morning to Too-gee's residence, where they would

arrive by night. To wait the event of the calm, or the wind coming from

the northward, might have detained the ship some days longer. Could I

have reached in four days from leaving Norfolk the place where Too-gee

lived, I certainly should have landed him there; but that not being the

case (as this was the fifth day) I did not consider myself justifiable in

detaining the ship longer than was absolutely necessary to land them in a

place of safety, and from which they might get to their homes.

Notwithstanding the information Too-gee had received, and the confidence

he placed in the chief, I felt much anxiety about our two friends, and

expressed to Too-gee my apprehensions that what he had heard might be an

invention of Ko-to-ko-ke's and his people to get them and their effects

into their power. I added, that as the ship could not be detained longer,

I would rather take them back than leave them in the hands of suspicious

people. To this Too-gee replied with an honest confidence, that

'etiketica no eteka,' i.e. a chief never deceives. I then took the chief

into the cabin, and explained to him, assisted by Too-gee (who was

present with Hoo-doo), how much I was interested in their getting to

Ho-do-do; and added, that in two or three moons I should return to

Ho-do-do, and if I found Too-gee and Hoo-doo were safe arrived with their

effects, I would then return to Moo-dee When-u-a and make him some very

considerable presents, in addition to those which I should now give him

and his people for their trouble in conducting our two friends to their

residence. I had so much reason to be convinced of the old man's

sincerity, that I considered it injurious to threaten him with punishment

for failing in his engagement. The only answer Ko-to-ko-ke made was, by

putting both his hands to the sides of my head (making me perform the

same ceremony) and joining our noses; in which position we remained three

minutes, the old chief muttering what I did not understand. After this he

went through the same ceremony with our two friends, which ended with a

dance, when the two latter joined noses with me, and said that

Ko-to-ko-ke was now become their father, and would in person conduct them

to Ho-do-doe.* While I was preparing what I meant to give them, Too-gee

(who I am now convinced was a priest) had made a circle of the New

Zealanders round him, in the centre of which was the old chief, and

recounted what he had seen during his absence. At many passages they gave

a shout of admiration. On his telling them, that it was only three days

sail from Norfolk to Moo-doo When-u-a, whether his veracity was doubted,

or that he was not contented with the assertion alone, I cannot tell, but

with much presence of mind he ran upon the poop, and brought a cabbage,

which he informed them was cut five days ago in my garden. This

convincing proof produced a general shout of surprise.

[* Which was very faithfully performed.]

Every thing being now arranged, and ready for their departure, our two

friends requested that Ko-to-ko-ke might see the soldiers exercise and

fire. To this I could have no objection, as the request came from them;

but I took that opportunity of explaining to the chief (with Toogee's

help) that he might see, by our treatment of him and his two countrymen,

that it was our wish and intention to be good neighbours and friends with

all Ea-hei-no-mau-e; that these weapons were never used but when we were

injured, which I hoped would never happen; and that no other consideration

than the satisfying of his curiosity could induce me to show what those

instruments were intended for.

About one hundred and fifty of the New Zealanders were seated on the

larboard side of the deck, and the detachment paraded on the opposite

side. After going through the manual, and firing three volleys, two great

guns were fired, one loaded with a single ball, and the other with

grape-shot, which surprised them greatly, as I made the chief observe the

distance at which the shot fell from the ship. The wind had now the

appearance of coming from the southward; and as that wind throws a great

surf on the shore, they were anxious to get away. Too-gee and Hoo-doo

took an affectionate leave of every person on board, and made me remember

my promise of visiting them again, when they would return to Norfolk

Island with their families. The venerable chief, after having taken great

pains to pronounce my name, and made me well acquainted with his, got

into his canoe and left us. On putting off from the ship, they were

saluted with three cheers, which they returned as well as they could, by

Toogee's directions. It was now seven in the morning of the 13th: at nine

a breeze came from the north, with which we stood to the eastward. After

a passage of five days from New Zealand (having had light winds) and ten

days absence from Norfolk Island, I landed at three o'clock in the

afternoon of the 18th.

The little intercourse that I had with the New Zealanders (as I was only

eighteen hours off that island, twelve of which were in the night) does

not enable me to say much respecting them, or to form any decisive

opinion of them, as much of their friendly behaviour in this slight

interview might be owing to our connexion with Too-gee and Hoo-doo, and

their being with us. These two worthy savages (if the term may be

allowed) will, I am confident, ever retain the most grateful remembrance

of the kindnesses they received on Norfolk Island; and if the greater

part of the countrymen have but a small portion of the amiable

disposition of Too-gee and Hoo-doo, they certainly are a people between

whom and the English colonists a good understanding may with common

prudence and precaution be cultivated. I regret very much that the

service on which the _Britannia_ was ordered did not permit me to detain

her longer; as in a few days, with the help of our two friends, much

useful information might have been obtained respecting the quantity of

manufactured flax that might be procured, which I think would be of high

importance if better known. The great quantity that was procured in

exchange for small pieces of iron hoop is a proof, that an abundance of

this valuable article is manufactured among them.

The articles that I gave Too-gee and Hoo-doo consisted of hand-axes; a

small assortment of carpenters' tools, six spades, some hoes, with a few

knives, scissors, and razors; two bushels of maize, one of wheat, two of

peas, and a quantity of garden feeds; ten young sows, and two boars,

which Too-gee and the chief faithfully promised should be preserved for

breeding, a promise which I am inclined to think they will strictly

observe.*

[* The first place the _Fancy_ made at New Zealand was Doubtless Bay,

which the master describes as a very dangerous place for a vessel to go

into, and still worse to lie at, as it is open to the easterly winds. On

their coming to an anchor, which was not till late in the evening (in

December 1795), several canoes came round the vessel, but did not venture

alongside until Too-gee was inquired for, when the New Zealanders

exclaimed 'My-ty Governor King! My-ty Too-gee! My-ty Hoo-doo!' Some went

on board, and others put in to shore, returning soon after with Too-gee

and his wife. He had not forgotten his English, at least the more common

expressions. He informed Captain Dell, that he had one pig remaining

alive, and some peas growing; but what became of the rest of his stock he

did not say. As Doubtless Bay was found a bad place to remain in, the

_Fancy_ endeavoured to get out, but was obliged to return, when the two

lads who wished to see Norfolk Island, being sea-sick, left her.]

A SHORT VOCABULARY OF THE NEW ZEALAND LANGUAGE

NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH

----------- -------

E-ha-ha Fire

E-when-ua Earth, or ground

E-wy Water

E-mu-da Flame of thefire

E-dou-ma-te Summer

E-ho-ho-tou-ke Winter

E-ma-ran-gi North

E-sow-how-oo-doo South

E-ton-ga East

E-te-hu West

E-te-te-do To see

E-don-go To hear

E-do-rni-do-mi To feel

E-hon-gi To smell

E-mei-te To taste

He-te-te-show or

Ye-te-de-how New moon

E-po-po-e-e-nue Full moon

E-de-de-ke Last quarter of the moon

E-ma-ra-ma The moon

E-da Sun

E-pu-ta Sun-rise

E-a-wa-tere Noon

E-a-hi-au, or E-po Sunset

E-wha-tu Star

Ye-rew-a-new-a Rainbow

E-Ma-tan-gee Wind

E-bu-a Rain

E-ue-da Lightning

E-wet-e-te-cla Thunder

Em-ma-ha-ne Hot

Ma-ka-ree-dee Cold

E-ko-how Fog

E-po-ka-ka Dew

E-paw-ha Smoke

E-mo-an-na Salt water or the sea

E-a-o The day

E-po The night

E-co-pec-ce To freeze, or ice

E-wha-tu Snow

In-an-hal Yesterday

N'A-goo-nal To-day

A-po-po To-morrow

A-ta-hy-da Day after to-morrow

A-wa-ka Day following

A-wa-ke-ett ue Four days hence

E-hon-gi The ceremony of joining noses as a salute

Yen-gang The head

He'-ho-do-ho-do The hair of the head

Eta-din-ga The ear

Etoude-Eta-din-ga Deaf

E-da-ha The Forehead

Ca-no-wei or

E-ca-no-che The eye

E-pu-di E'Ca-no-wei Blind

Pa-pa-reen-gi The cheek

Ec-Eee-shu The nose

E-cou-wye The beard

E-ka-ke The neck

Po-co-fee-fee or

Edinga-ringa The arm

E-dal-ee The breast

He-ooo (lengthened out) The nipple

E-pee-too The navel

Eu-wa The thigh

E-tu-di-po-na or

Ewa-wye The leg

E-mata-ka-ra The fingers

E-coro-E-te Finger-nails

He-i-a-dar-re The skin

Ing-oo-too The lips

E-wa-ha The mouth

In-ni-show The teeth

Ecoro-coro The throat

E-pa-ro The hand

E-co-pu The belly

E-to-to Blood

E-tu-di-po-na Knees

E-da-pa-ra-pa The feet

E-too-o-ra The back

E-cu-mo The backside

E-kau-wal The chin

E-ki The mouth

E-u-de The penis

E-ai The vulva

E-tek-ke To copulate

E-ma-mi To go to make water

E-tu-tal To go to stool

Pa-ke-da Bald-headed

E-sha-pu Pregnant

E-ko-ki A cripple

E-ka-ta To laugh

E-tan-ge To cry

E-too-ha To spit

E-co-we-ra To breathe

E-ma-my To groan

E-sha, (sounded

expressive of the

action) To sigh

Te-zee-ou-wa, (sounded

expressive of) Sneezing*

[* A compliment is paid by the New Zealanders when one of the company

sneezes, by repeating the following lines:

'Tee-zee, Tee-zee, Pa-way, Pa-way,

wa-cou-te-ma-he co-to-ko-eee,

drawn out very long.

'Tu-tu-ro a-te na tan-ga-ta kiti-po,

Tu-tu-ra ma-hie na-ta-na-ta kit-eao

Tee-zee, Tee-zee, etc.' as in the first line.

All which means wishes for health from night to morning, and that

no bones may be broken by the shock of sneezing.]

E-co-show To hiccough

E-mo-a To sleep

E-ta-ko-te To lie down to sleep

E-a-ra To rise from sleep

E-kow-hae-ra To yawn

E-to-u To break wind

E-ku-pa To belch

E-du-a-ke To puke

E-da-hee Fat

Eet pronounced

as Eat Lean

E-o-ra In health

E-mat-tee means

also death Sick

E-pi Handsome, also clean

E-ke-no Ugly, also dirty

E-ni-a-ymi Pain in general

In-ni-shou E-to-on-ga Tooth-ache

E-hu-de Head-ache

E-de-ka-ra-ka An itching

E-huf-fe Love

He-de-de Hatred, or being dissatisfied

He-ma-ta-kd Fear

E-ka-tou Joy

E-ko-ko-pe Shame

E-kow-wa Loathing

E-wa-ra-wa-ra An error or mistake

E-ko-cut A cut

E-mo-to A blow

E-hou-dang-e To faint

He-kye To eat

E-e-nue To drink

E-matta-he-a-kye Hungry

Ka-ke Satisfied

E-i-ra To walk

E-o-mu To run

E-da-re To jump

E-ka-ou To swim

E-tu-ta-ke To meet any one

Ke-o-ro-mi To make haste

E-no-ho To sit down

E-tu Standing up

E-mo-ki To work

Ka-ko-p-1 To shut a door

Eu-wa-ke To open

E-de-ding-ee To sell

E-o-mi To give or reach

Wha-ka-de-de I'll give you

Z'Shocke-e-mai Ditto

E-wa-k-a-tu To plant

E-o-hoo-tee To pluck up

E-da-fe To tie or bind

E-wa-wat-te Untie

E-ma-ca To throw away

E-te-te-do To look or observe

E-ko-re To break any thing, as a plate

E-what-te To break any thing, as a stick

E-hi-yi To tear, as paper

Car-co-ree To pull down or destroy,

as a building, ship, etc

E-ko-cout To cut

Ing-ha-roo To see or look for

E-hu-na To hide

Ea-ke-tere To find

E-ke-no To stain or dirty any thing

E-moo-roo To clean

Eo-roo-ee To wash

E-yhang-a To build a house or boat

E-ka-wa Ill-tasted, bitter

He-i-de-mal! Come here!

Sey-ede or E-i-ra To go

E-ko-re-roo To converse

Pat-too pat-too To beat, also the name of a principal weapon

E-te-ka To tell a lie

E-po-no To tell truth

E-wa-ka A canoe

E-shoo To paddle a canoe

E-1-ka A fish

E-a-ho To catch a fish

E-wa-du A fish-hook made of wood

E-ma-ka A fishing-line

E-nue Big, large

E-mo-ro-ee-te Small

My-ty Good

Mack-row-a Bad

Ki-e-dow Fit to eat

E-whan-na To kick

E-ha-ka To dance

E-wy-ette To sing

E-wa-du To dream

E-ta-po-ke To drown

E-ka-ya To steal

E-ta-ro-na To hang one's self

E-ee-ta I understand

Na? Do you mean this?

Ha ya-ha What is this?

Ko-ai Who is this?

An-ga There

Pah-hee A ship, or very large canoe

E-whar-re A house

E-ta-o A spear

E-da-kow A tree, or piece of wood

E-ma-ta A sharp stone with which they cut their hair

Pas-aa-te-ra A stone

E-ko-ha-tue A rock

E-ho-ne Sand-beach

E-a-wha A harbour

E-pa-pa A board

E-to-ki An axe

E-whow A chissel, nail, or iron

E-va-te-to-ka A door

E-pu-ki A hill

E-poo-poo Shells

E-wak-e-te-ca Ear-rings

Etu-pu The flax plant when growing

E-mu-ka The flax when dressed

E-mu-ka Yera-ka-kee The operation of drawing the flax

from the plant

Eka-ka-how Cloth wove from the flax

A-mo-ko The marks on their face and different parts

of their bodies

To-ko-hal-ya? How many?

E-ma-ha A great many, speaking of things

Ka-ta-puk-e-mai A great many, speaking of people

Yen-ge-enge,

(and sounded hard) Tired

Eto-ho-ro-ha A whale

E-he-nue Whale oil, or any other fat

Emata-to-too-roo Thick

E-da-ede-hi Thin

E-do-aw High or tall, and long

E-po-to Short

E-wa-nue Wide

E-wa-ete Narrow

E-ti-ma-ha Heavy

E-ma-ma Light

E-de-ding-e Full

E-ma-din-ge Empty

E-ma-row Hard

Ing-now-a-rey Soft

E-ka-ra-de A dog

E-kere A rat

E-manu A bird

E-wy-you Milk

E-whairo Red

E-ema White

E-man-goe All dark colours

Ka-de-da Green

Ka-nap-pa Blue

Ta-ah-ne-a sounded long A man

Wha-hel-ne A woman

E-co-ro-wa-ke An old man

E-du-a-hel-ne An old woman

E-Ta-ma-ree-kee A young man

E-Ta-ma-hei-ne A young woman

Ta-ma-i-ete A male child

E-co-tero An infant

Ma-tu-a-Ta-a-ne Father

Ma-tu-a-wa-hei-ne Mother

Tu-a-hel-ne Sister

Tu-a-Can-na Elder brother

Tei-ne Younger brother

E-mi-yan-ga Twins

Pah-pah Children call their father

Hah-ty-yee Children call their mother

E seems to be used as the article, pronounced as in the English.

A is always sounded long, as in the French.

NUMERALS

Ta-hie One

Du-o Two

Too-roo Three

Wha Four

Dee-mah Five

0-no Six

Whee-too Seven

Wha-roo Eight

E-wha Nine

Ng-a-hu-du Ten

Ca-te-cow signifies One Ten

Ma-ta-hie Eleven

Ma-duo Twelve, and so on, the numeral being

preceded by Ma, until nineteen (Ma-Ew-ha) then . . .

Ca-te-cow, Ca, du-o Twenty

Ca-te-cow, Ca, Too-roo Thirty

Ca-te-cow, Ca, Wha Forty

and so on to . . .

Ca-te-cow, Ca, E-wha Ninety

Kah-row A hundred

Carow, Ca, Ta-hie One hundred

Carow, Ca, Du-o Two hundred

and so on to nine hundred

Kom-ma-roo A thousand

Com-ma-no, Ca, Tahie One thousand

Com-ma-no, Ca-du-o Two thousand

and so on to nine thousand.

Ca-tee-nee Ten thousand

which appearsto be the extent of their numerals.

{Thus far Lieutenant-Governor King.}

From the 25th of October, the day on which the ships made sail from

Norfolk Island, till the 31st of the same month, nothing material

occurred. On that day Mr. Raven stated to Captain Waterhouse, the

commander of the _Reliance_, the necessity there was for the

_Britannia's_ making the best of her way to England; and as he thought

she sailed rather better than that ship, he requested permission to part

company, which Captain Waterhouse not objecting to, we separated and made

sail from them.

On the 5th of November we passed an island named by Lieutenant Watts (who

first saw it in the _Lady Penrhyn_ transport) Macauley Island.

Sunday the 6th was passed in examining an island, which Mr. Raven was

decidedly of opinion had never been seen before. It was situated in the

latitude of 29 degrees 15 minutes and longitude of 181 degrees 56 minutes

E. We found the land high, and it appeared to be well covered with wood.

On the south-west side of it is a bay in which, from the colour of the

water, Mr. Raven thought there was good anchorage; but at this time there

was too much surf breaking on the beach to render it prudent to send a

boat in. The aspect on this side of the island was romantic and inviting;

but on the other side the shore was bold, and in many parts rugged and

bare. The whole appeared to consist, like Norfolk Island, of hills and

dales. We conjectured that there was fresh water in the bay on the

south-west side. The knowledge of the existence of this island can be of

no other importance, than to cause navigators sailing in that route to

keep a good look-out, particularly in the night-time, as many straggling

rocks lie off the north side.

From the circumstance of its being seen on a Sunday it obtained the name

of Sunday island.

Leaving this, we proceeded toward Cape Horn; but it was not till the 16th

of December that we saw the southern part of the vast continent of

America. Mr. Raven intended to have made the Jasons, and touched at

Falkland's Islands in the hope of procuring some information respecting

the Cape of Good Hope; but, after passing Cape Horn, and finding the wind

hang to the northward, he altered his course for the Island of St Helena,

or the Cape of Good Hope, as circumstances might direct.

On the 21st, in latitude 51 degrees 56 minutes S and longitude 306

degrees 25 minutes E to our great surprise, we fell in with and joined our

companions the _Reliance_ and _Supply_. We found that, by keeping nearer

to the north end of New Zealand than we had done, they had met with more

favourable winds. We now proceeded together toward the Cape of Good Hope.

On the 23rd, being about the latitude of 50 degrees S we fell in with

several islands of ice; which, however, we cleared without any accident,

and stood more to the northward. Mr. Raven was of opinion, that ice would

always be found in or about those latitudes, and recommended that all

ships, after passing Cape Horn, should keep more to the northward than we

did.

On the 9th of January we crossed the three hundred and sixtieth degree of

east longitude. Our weather now was much too moderate; for it was not

till the 15th of January that we saw the coast of Africa. Some necessary

precautions were taken by the king's ship on coming in with it; and,

finding every thing as we wished, on the next day we completed our long

voyage of sixteen weeks from Port Jackson by anchoring safely in Table Bay.

Here, almost the whole of our ship's company having been pressed, or

voluntarily entered into the king's service, and with difficulty getting

some necessary repairs done to the ship, we were compelled most

reluctantly to remain for eight weeks. The place was very unhealthy, and

lodging and every article of comfort extravagantly high.

A few days before we sailed, the ship _Ganges_, commanded by Mr.

Patrickson, arrived with convicts from Cork. She sailed from Ireland with

another ship, the _Britannia_, having on board a similar cargo; but the

master, intending to touch at Rio de Janeiro, had parted company with the

_Ganges_ off Palma. We learned by the _Ganges_, that two storeships, the

_Sylph_ and _Prince of Wales_, had sailed in June last for New South

Wales. Much as Governor Hunter wanted labourers, the provisions would be

more welcome to him than the Irish convicts, who had hitherto always

created more trouble than any other.

Before we sailed we had the satisfaction of seeing seventy head of very

fine young Cape cattle purchased by Mr. Palmer, the commissary for the

colony, to be sent thither in the _Reliance_ and _Supply_; the latter of

which ships sailed with her proportion a few days before we left Table

Bay. These ships would return well stored with useful articles for the

settlement, and comforts for every officer in it.

We left the Cape on the 16th of March, and arrived at the pleasant island

of St Helena on the 26th of the same month. Here we remained till the

17th of April, having waited some time for a convoy, and sailed at last

without any, in company with the ship _Brothers_, a South-Sea whaler, who

was returning loaded.

During our stay at St Helena we made several excursions into the interior

part of the island. A visit from the French was daily expected; but we

saw with pleasure preparations made for their reception that caused every

one to treat the probability of their coming as an event more to be

wished for than dreaded. From the hospitality of Governor Brooke and his

family, and the pleasant society of this place, we felt a regret at

leaving the island, which nothing but the prospect of soon reaching our

own happy shores alleviated.

Every one now was anxious for the successful termination of the passage

before us. On the 27th of April we crossed the equator in the longitude

of 19 degrees 02 minutes W. On the 4th of May we spoke the ship

_Elizabeth_, (an American,) Isaac Stone master. They had only been

twenty-eight days from Dover, and gave us the first intelligence we

received of the victory obtained by our fleet under Earl St. Vincent over

that of the Spaniards.

On the 7th of June we spoke a schooner under American colours, the

_Federal George_ of Duxbury from Bourdeaux, bound to Boston. The master

informed, us that the channel was full of the enemy's cruisers, who were

looking out for our West-India fleet, then expected home. Though we felt

persuaded that our cruisers would counteract their designs, Mr. Raven

determined, from this information, and from the wind having long hung to

the eastward, to stand to the northward. From this time to the 18th our

weather was very unfavourable, and our wind mostly contrary. On the 18th

we saw the rock laid down in the charts by the name of Isle Rokal, being

then in the latitude of 57 degrees 51 minutes N and longitude 13 degrees

56 minutes W. The rock then bore N 23 degrees distant eight miles and a

half. Our foul wind continued many days; but on the 23rd we found

ourselves off Innishone on the north part of Ireland. Here a man came

off, who, to our inquiries respecting the progress of the war, answered,

that he knew nothing about war, except that the strongest party always

got the better of the weakest, thus uttering a truth in the midst of the

profoundest ignorance. We now determined to steer for Liverpool, at which

port, after much anxiety, we arrived in safety on the 27th.

On the 29th the judge-advocate delivered at the Duke of Portland's office

the dispatches with which he was charged.

He now learned, that previous to his arrival in London there had sailed

for New South Wales, exclusive of the ships _Sylph_ and _Prince of

Wales_, _Ganges_ and _Britannia_, the _Lady Shore_ transport, having on

board two male and sixty-six female convicts. On the 6th of last November

the _Barwell_ sailed, having on board Mr. Dore, the present

judge-advocate of that territory, and two hundred and ninety-eight male

convicts. The _Britannia_, a ship belonging to the house of Enderby and

Co. sailed on the 17th of last February with ninety-six female convicts

on board. This ship went out with orders to try the whale-fishery on the

coast of New South Wales for one season. If this should succeed, the

settlement and the public at large will owe much to the spirited

exertions of the house of Enderby to promote a beneficial commerce from

that country.

The king's ships on that station being ill calculated for the services

expected from them, having on board expensive complements of men and

officers, and consequently but little room for cattle; and being beside

so defective and impaired by time as to be unsafe to navigate much

longer; two others have been provided, newer and more capable of

rendering service to the colony. One of them, the _Buffalo_, commanded by

Mr. William Raven, late master of the _Britannia_, is on the point of

sailing, and is to take cattle to New South Wales from the Cape of Good

Hope. The other is named the _Porpoise_, and has the same service to

perform. A ship, called the _Minerva_, is also proceeding to Cork to take

in a number of Irish convicts.

* * * * *

Letters have been received from New South Wales, dated about six weeks

after the author sailed from that colony. Governor Hunter had received by

the _Sylph_ and _Prince of Wales_ storeships two thousand six hundred and

fifty casks of salted provisions. Several persons had been tried by the

court of criminal judicature for robbing the public stores, and had been

found guilty. One man had been executed for murder, and his body hung in

chains on Rock Island, a small spot at the mouth of Sydney Cove, and by

which every boat and ship coming into the cove must necessarily pass. The

governor was on the point of visiting Portland Head, some high land on

the banks of the Hawkesbury, where he purposed establishing a settlement.

Had that river and its fertile banks been discovered before the

establishment at Sydney Cove had proceeded too far to remove it, how

eligible a place would it have been for the principal settlement! A

navigable river possesses many advantages that are unknown in other

situations. Much benefit, however, was to be derived from this even as an

inferior settlement. Its extreme fertility would always insure a certain

supply of grain; and the settlers on its banks must produce a quantity

equal to the consumption of the civil and Military, and of their own

families; and thus, while rendering a service to the state, they might in

time become opulent farmers. Yet our pity is excited, when it is

considered, that they are of so unworthy a description as has clearly

been made appear in the preceding narrative. That a river justly termed

the Nile of New South Wales should fall into such hands is to be

lamented. In process of time, however, their productive farms will have

yielded them all that they aspire to, and may then fall into the

possession of persons who will look beyond the mere gratification of the

moment, and cause the settlements in New South Wales to stand as high in

the public estimation as any colonies in his Majesty's dominions.

APPENDICES

GENERAL REMARKS

The reader of the preceding narrative will have seen, that after many

untoward occurrences, and a considerable lapse of time, that friendly

intercourse with the natives which had been so earnestly desired was at

length established; and having never been materially interrupted, these

remote islanders have been shown living in considerable numbers among us

without fear or restraint; acquiring our language; readily falling in

with our manners and customs; enjoying the comforts of our clothing, and

relishing the variety of our food. We saw them die in our houses, and the

places of the deceased instantly filled by others, who observed nothing

in the fate of their predecessors to deter them from living with us, and

placing that entire confidence in us which it was our interest and our

pleasure to cultivate. They have been always allowed so far to be their

own masters, that we never, or but rarely, interrupted them in any of

their designs, judging that by suffering them to live with us as they

were accustomed to do before we came among them, we should sooner attain

a knowledge of their manners and customs, than by waiting till we had

acquired a competent skill in their language to converse with them. On

this principle, when they assembled to dance or to fight before our

houses, we never dispersed, but freely attended their meetings. To them

this attention of ours appeared to be agreeable and useful; for those who

happened to be wounded in their contests instantly looked out for one of

our surgeons, and displayed entire confidence in his skill, and great

bravery in the firmness with which they bore the knife and the probe.

By slow degrees we began mutually to be pleased with, and to understand

each other. Language, indeed, is out of the question; for at the time of

writing this (September 1796) nothing but a barbarous mixture of English

with the Port Jackson dialect is spoken by either party; and it must be

added, that even in this the natives have the advantage, comprehending,

with much greater aptness than we can pretend to, every thing they hear

us say. From a pretty close observation, however, assisted by the use of

the barbarous dialect just mentioned, the following particulars

respecting the natives of New South Wales have been collected.

APPENDIX 1--GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION

GOVERNMENT

We found the natives about Botany Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay,

living in that state of nature which must have been common to all men

previous to their uniting in society, and acknowledging but one

authority. These people are distributed into families, the head or

senior of which exacts compliance from the rest. In our early intercourse

with them (and indeed at a much later period, on our meeting with

families to whom we were unknown) we were always accosted by the person

who appeared to be the eldest of the party, while the women, youths, and

children, were kept at a distance. The word which in their language

signifies father was applied to their old men; and when, after some time,

and by close observation, they perceived the authority with which

Governor Phillip commanded, and the obedience which he exacted, they

bestowed on him the distinguishing appellation of (Be-anna) or Father.

This title being conferred solely on him (although they perceived the

authority of masters over their servants) places the true sense of the

word beyond a doubt, and proves, that to those among them who enjoyed

that distinction belonged the authority of a chief.

When any of these came into the town, we have been immediately informed

of their arrival, and they have been pointed out to our notice in a

whisper, and with an eagerness of manner which, while it drew our

attention, impressed us with an idea that we were looking at persons to

whom some consequence was attached even among the savages of New Holland.

Another acceptation of the word Be-anna, however, soon became evident;

for we observed it to be frequently applied by children to men who we

knew had not any children of their own. On inquiry we were informed, that

in case a father should die, the nearest of kin, or some deputed friend,

would take the care of his children; and for this reason those children

styled them Be-anna, though in the lifetime of their natural parent. This

Bennillong (the native who was some time in England) confirmed to us at

the death of his first wife, by consigning the care of his infant

daughter Dil-boong (who at the time of her mother's decease was at the

breast) to his friend Governor Phillip, telling him that he was to become

the Be-anna or Father of his little girl. Here, if the reader pauses for

a moment to consider the difference between the general conduct of our

baptismal sponsors (to whose duties this custom bears much resemblance)

and the humane practice of these uncivilised people, will not the

comparison suffuse his cheek with something like shame, at seeing the

enlightened Christian so distanced in the race of humanity by the

untutored savage, who has hitherto been the object of his pity and

contempt? But sorry am I to recollect, and as a faithful narrator to be

impelled to relate, one particular in their customs that is wholly

irreconcilable with the humane duties which they have prescribed to

themselves in the above instance; duties which relate only to those

children who, in the event of losing the mother, could live without her

immediate aid. A far different lot is reservea ror such as are at triat

time at the breast, or in a state ot absolute helplessness, as will be

seen hereafter.

We have mentioned their being divided into families. Each family has a

particular place of residence, from which is derived its distinguishing

name. This is formed by adding the monosyllable Gal to the name of the

place: thus the southern shore of Botany Bay is called Gwea, and the

people who inhabit it style themselves Gweagal. Those who live on the

north shore of Port Jackson are called Cam-mer-ray-gal, that part of the

harbour being distinguished from others by the name of Cam-mer-ray. Of

this last family or tribe we have heard Bennillong and other natives

speak (before we knew them ourselves) as of a very powerful people, who

could oblige them to attend wherever and whenever they directed. We

afterwards found them to be by far the most numerous tribe of any within

our knowledge. It so happened, that they were also the most robust and

muscular, and that among them were several of the people styled

Car-rah-dy and Car-rah-di-gang, of which extraordinary personages we

shall have to speak particularly, under the article _Superstition_.

To the tribe of Cam-mer-ray also belonged the exclusive and extraordinary

privilege of exacting a tooth from the natives of other tribes inhabiting

the sea-coast, or of all such as were within their authority. The

exercise of this privilege places these people in a particular point of

view; and there is no doubt of their decided superiority over all the

tribes with whom we were acquainted. Many contests or decisions of honour

(for such there are among them) have been delayed until the arrival of

these people; and when they came, it was impossible not to observe the

superiority and influence which their numbers and their muscular

appearance gave them over the other tribes.

These are all the traces that could ever be discovered among them of

government or subordination; and we may imagine the deference which is

paid to the tribe of Cam-mer-ray to be derived wholly from their

superiority of numbers; but this superiority they may have maintained for

a length of time before we knew them; and indeed the privilege of

demanding a tooth from the young men of other families must have been of

long standing, and coeval with the obedience which was paid to them:

hence their superiority partakes something of the nature of a constituted

authority; an authority which has the sanction of custom to plead for its

continuance.

RELIGION

It has been asserted by an eminent divine*, that no country has yet been

discovered where some trace of religion was not to be found. From every

observation and inquiry I could make among these people, from the first

to the last of my acquaintance with them, I can safely pronounce them an

exception to this opinion. I am certain that they do not worship either

sun, moon, or star; that, however necessary fire may be to them, it is

not an object of adoration; neither have they respect for any particular

beast, bird, or fish. I never could discover any object, either

substantial or imaginary, that impelled them to the commissioin of good

actions, or deterred them from the perpetration of what we deem crimes.

There indeed existed among them some idea of a future state, but not

connected in any wise with religion; for it had no influence whatever on

their lives and actions. On their being often questioned as to what

became of them after their decease, some answered that they went either

on or beyond the great water; but by far the greater number signified,

that they went to the clouds. Conversing with Bennillong after his return

from England, where he had obtained much knowledge of our customs and

manners, I wished to learn what were his ideas of the place from which

his countrymen came, and led him to the subject by observing, that all

the white men here came from England. I then asked him where the black

men (or Eora) came from? He hesitated; did they come from any island? His

answer was, that he knew of none: they came from the clouds (alluding

perhaps to the aborigines of the country); and when they died, they

returned to the clouds (Boo-row-e). He wished to make me understand that

they ascended in the shape of little children, first hovering in the tops

and in the branches of trees; and mentioned something about their eating,

in that state, their favourite food, little fishes.

[* Blair's Sermons, vol i Sermon I]

If this idea of the immortality of the soul should excite a smile, is it

more extraordinary than the belief which obtains among some of us, that

at the last day the various disjointed bones of men shall find out each

its proper owner, and be re-united? The savage here treads close upon the

footsteps of the Christian.

The natives who inhabit the harbour to the northward, called by us Port

Stephens, believed that five white men who were cast away among them (as

has been before shown) had formerly been their countrymen, and took one

of them to the grave where, he told him, the body he at that time

occupied had been interred. If this account, given us by men who may well

be supposed to deal in the marvellous, can be depended upon, how much

more ignorant are the natives of Port Stephens, who live only thirty

leagues to the northward of us, than the natives of and about Port

Jackson!

The young people who resided in our houses were very desirous of going to

church on Sundays, but knew not for what purpose we attended. I have

often seen them take a book, and with much success imitate the clergyman

in his manner (for better and readier mimics can no where be found),

laughing and enjoying the applause which they received.

I remember to have seen in a newspaper or pamphlet an account of a native

throwing himself in the way of a man who was about to shoot a crow; and

the person who wrote the account drew an inference, that the bird was an

object of worship: but I can with confidence affirm, that so far from

dreading to see a crow killed, they are very fond of eating it, and take

the following particular method to ensnare that bird: a native will

stretch himself on a rock as if asleep in the sun, holding a piece of

fish in his open hand; the bird, be it hawk or crow, seeing the prey, and

not observing any motion in the native, pounces on the fish, and, in the

instant of seizing it, is caught by the native, who soon throws him on

the fire and makes a meal of him.

That they have ideas of a distinction between _good_ and _bad_ is evident

from their having terms in their language significant of these qualities.

Thus, the sting-ray was (wee-re) bad; it was a fish of which they never

ate. The patta-go-rang or kangaroo was (bood-yer-re) good, and they ate

it whenever they were fortunate enough to kill one of these animals.

To exalt these people at all above the brute creation, it is necessary to

show that they had the gift of reason, and that they knew the distinction

between _right_ and _wrong_, as well as between what food was good and

what was bad. Of these latter qualities their senses informed them; but

the knowledge of right and wrong could only proceed from reason. It is

true, they had no distinction in terms for these qualities--wee-re and

bood-yer-re alike implying what was good and bad, and right and wrong.

Instances however were not wanting of their using them to describe the

sensations of the mind as well as of the senses; thus their enemies were

wee-re; their friends bood-yer-re. On our speaking of cannibalism, they

expressed great horror at the mention, and said it was wee-re. On seeing

any of our people punished or reproved for ill-treating them, they

expressed their approbation, and said it was bood-yer-re, it was right.

Midnight murders, though frequently practised among them whenever passion

or revenge were uppermost, they reprobated; but applauded acts of

kindness and generosity, for of both these they were capable. A man who

would not stand to have a spear thrown at him, but ran away, was a

coward,jee-run, and wee-re. But their knowledge of the difference between

right and wrong certainly never extended beyond their existence in this

world; not leading them to believe that the practice of either had any

relation to their future state; this was manifest from their idea of

quitting this world, or rather of entering the next, in the form of

little children, under which form they would re-appear in this.

APPENDIX II-STATURE AND APPEARANCE

We observed but few men or women among them who could be said to be tall,

and still fewer who were well made. I once saw a dwarf, a female, who,

when she stood upright, measured about four feet two inches. None of her

limbs were disproportioned, nor were the features of her face unpleasant;

she had a child at her back, and we were told came from the south shore

of Botany Bay. I thought the other natives seemed to make her an object

of their merriment. In general, indeed almost universally, the limbs of

these people were small; of most of them the arms, legs, and thighs were

thin. This, no doubt, is owing to the poorness of their living, which is

chiefly on fish; otherwise the fineness of the climate, co-operating with

the exercise which they take, might have rendered them more muscular.

Those who live on the sea-coast depend entirely on fish for their

sustenance; while the few who dwell in the woods subsist on such animals

as they can catch. The very great labour necessary for taking these

animals, and the scantiness of the supply, keep the wood natives in as

poor a condition as their brethren on the coast. It has been remarked,

that the natives who have been met with in the woods had longer arms and

legs than those who lived about us. This might proceed from their being

compelled to climb the trees after honey and the small animals which

resort to them, such as the flying squirrel and opossum, which they

effect by cutting with their stone hatchets notches in the bark of the

tree of a sufficient depth and size to receive the ball of the great toe.

The first notch being cut, the toe is placed in it; and while the left

arm embraces the tree, a second is cut at a convenient distance to

receive the other foot. By this method they ascend very quick, always

cutting with the right hand and clinging with the left, resting the whole

weight of the body on the ball of either foot.

In an excursion to the westward with a party, we passed a tree (of the

kind named by us the white gum, the bark of which is soft) that we judged

to be about one hundred and thirty feet in height, and which had been

notched by the natives at least eighty feet, before they attained the

first branch where it was likely they could meet with any reward for so

much toil.

The features of many of these people were far from unpleasing,

particularly of the women: in general, the black bushy beards of the men,

and the bone or reed which they thrust through the cartilage of the nose,

tended to give them a disgusting appearance; but in the women, that

feminine delicacy which is to be found among white people was to be

traced even upon their sable cheeks; and though entire strangers to the

comforts and conveniencies of clothing, yet they sought with a native

modesty to conceal by attitude what the want of covering would otherwise

have revealed. They have often brought to my recollection, "The bending

statue which enchants the world," though it must be owned that the

resemblance consisted solely in the position.

Both women and men use the disgusting practice of rubbing fish-oil into

their skins; but they are compelled to this as a guard against the

effects of the air and of mosquitoes, and flies; some of which are large,

and bite or sting with much severity. But the oil, together with the

perspiration from their bodies, produces, in hot weather, a most horrible

stench. I have seen some with the entrails of fish frying in the burning

sun upon their heads, until the oil ran down over their foreheads. A

remarkable instance once came under my observation of the early use which

they make of this curious unguent. Happening to be at Camp Cove at a

time when these people were much pressed with hunger, we found in a

miserable hut a poor wretched half-starved native and two children. The

man was nearly reduced to a skeleton, but the children were in better

condition. We gave them some salted beef and pork, and some bread, but

this they would not touch. The eldest of the children was a female; and a

piece of fat meat being given to her, she, instead of eating it instantly

as we expected, squeezed it between her fingers until she had nearly

pressed all the fat to a liquid; with this she oiled over her face two or

three times, and then gave it to the other, a boy about two years of age,

to do the like. Our wonder was naturally excited at seeing such knowledge

in children so young. To their hair, by means of the yellow gum, they

fasten the front teeth of the kangaroo, and the jaw-bones of large fish,

human teeth, pieces of wood, feathers of birds, the tail of the dog, and

certain bones taken out of the head of a fish, not unlike human teeth.

The natives who inhabit the south shore of Botany Bay divide the hair

into small parcels, each of which they mat together with gum, and form

them into lengths like the thrums of a mop. On particular occasions they

ornament themselves with red and white clay, using the former when

preparing to fight, the latter for the more peaceful amusement of

dancing. The fashion of these ornaments was left to each person's taste;

and some, when decorated in their best manner, looked perfectly horrible.

Nothing could appear more terrible than a black and dismal face, with a

large white circle drawn round each eye. In general waved lines were

marked down each arm, thigh, and leg; and in some the cheeks were daubed;

and lines drawn over each rib, presented to the beholder a truly

spectre-like figure. Previous either to a dance or a combat, we always

found them busily employed in this necessary preliminary; and it must be

observed, that when other liquid could not be readily procured, they

moistened the clay with their own saliva. Both sexes are ornamented with

scars upon the breast, arms, and back, which are cut with broken pieces

of the shell they use at the end of the throwing stick. By keeping open

these incisions, the flesh grows up between the sides of the wound, and

after a time, skinning over, forms a large wale or seam. I have seen

instances where these scars have been cut to resemble the feet of

animals; and such boys as underwent the operation while they lived with

us, appeared to be proud of the ornament, and to despise the pain which

they must have endured. The operation is performed when they are young,

and until they advance in years the scars look large and full; but on

some of their old men I have been scarcely able to discern them. As a

principal ornament, the men, on particular occasions, thrust a bone or

reed through the _septum nasi_, the hole through which is bored when they

are young. Some boys who went away from us for a few days, returned

dignified with this strange ornament, having, in the mean time, had the

operation performed upon them; they appeared to be from twelve to fifteen

years of age. The bone that they wear is the small bone in the leg of the

kangaroo, one end of which is sharpened to a point. I have seen several

women who had their noses perforated in this extraordinary manner.

The women are, besides, early subjected to an uncommon mutilation of the

two first joints of the little finger of the left hand. The operation is

performed when they are very young, and is done with a hair, or some

other slight ligature. This being tied round at the joint, the flesh soon

swells, and in a few days, the circulation being destroyed, the finger

mortifies and drops off. I never saw but one instance where the finger

was taken off from the right hand, and that was occasioned by the mistake

of the mother. Before we knew them, we took it to be their marriage

ceremony; but on seeing their mutilated children we were convinced of our

mistake; and at last learned, that these joints of the little finger were

supposed to be in the way when they wound their fishing lines over the

hand. On our expressing a disgust of the appearance, they always

applauded it, and said it was very good. They name it Mal-gun; and among

the many women whom I saw, but very few had this finger perfect. On my

pointing these out to those who were so distinguished, they appeared to

look at and speak of them with some degree of contempt.

The men too were not without their mutilation. Most of those who lived on

the sea-coast we found to want the right front tooth; some, whom we met

in the interior part of the country, had not been subjected to the

authority of the tribe of Cam-mer-ray-gal; but a particular account of

the ceremonies used on this occasion will be given under the article

_Customs and Manners_.

I noticed but few deformities of person among them; once or twice I have

seen on the sand the print of inverted feet. Round shoulders or

humpbacked people I never saw. Some who were lame, and assisted

themselves with sticks, have been met with; but their lameness might

proceed from spear wounds, or by accident from fire; for never were women

so inattentive to their young as these. We often heard of children being

injured by fire, while the mother lay fast asleep beside them, these

people being extremely difficult to awaken when once asleep. A very fine

little girl, belonging to a man well known and much beloved among us, of

the name of Cole-be, had two of its toes burnt Off, and the sinews of the

leg contracted in one night, by rolling into a fire out of its mother's

arms, while they both lay asleep.

Their sight is peculiarly fine, indeed their existence very often depends

upon the accuracy of it; for a short-sighted man (a misfortune unknown to

them, and not yet introduced by fashion, nor relieved by the use of a

glass) would never be able to defend himself from their spears, which are

thrown with amazing force and velocity. I have noticed two or three men

with specks on one eye, and once at Broken Bay saw in a canoe an old man

who was perfectly blind. He was accompanied by a youth who paddled his

canoe, and who, to my great surprise, sat behind him in it. This may,

however, be in conformity to the idea of respect which is always paid to

old age.

The colour of these people is not uniform. We have seen some who, even

when cleansed from the smoke and filth which were always to be found on

their persons, were nearly as black as the African negro; while others

have exhibited only a copper or Malay colour. The natural covering of

their heads is not wool as in most other black people, but hair; this

particular may be remembered in the two natives who were in this country,

Bennillong and Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie. The former, on his return, by having

some attention paid to his dress while in London, was found to have very

long black hair. Black indeed was the general colour of the hair, though

I have seen some of a reddish cast; but being unaccompanied by any

perceptible difference of complexion, it was perhaps more the effect of

some outward cause than its natural appearance.

Their noses are flat, nostrils wide, eyes much sunk in the head, and

covered with thick eyebrows; in addition to which, they wear tied round

the head, a net the breadth of the forehead, made of the fur of the

opussum, which, when wishing to see very clearly, I have observed them

draw over the eyebrows, thereby contracting the light. Their lips are

thick, and the mouth extravagantly wide; but when opened discovering two

rows of white, even, and sound teeth. Many had very prominent jaws; and

there was one man who, but for the gift of speech, might very well have

passed for an orangoutang. He was remarkably hairy; his arms appeared of

an uncommon length; in his gait he was not perfectly upright; and in his

whole manner seemed to have more of the brute and less of the human

species about him than any of his countrymen. Those who have been in that

country will, from this outline of him, recollect old We-rahng.

APPENDIX III--HABITATIONS

Their habitations are as rude as imagination can conceive. The hut of the

woodman is made of the bark of a single tree, bent in the middle, and

placed on its two ends on the ground, affording shelter to only one

miserable tenant. These they never carry about with them; for where we

found the hut, we constantly found the tree from which it had been taken

withered and dead. On the sea-coast the huts were larger, formed of

pieces of bark from several trees put together in the form of an oven with

an entrance, and large enough to hold six or eight people. Their fire was

always at the mouth of the hut, rather within than without; and the

interior was in general the nastiest smoke-dried place that could be

conceived. Their unserviceable canoes were commonly broken up and applied

to this use. Beside these bark huts, they made use of excavations in the

rock; and as the situations of these were various, they could always

choose them out of the reach of wind and rain. At the mouths of these

excavations we noticed a luxuriancy of soil; and on turning up the

ground, found it rich with shells and other manure. These proved a

valuable resource to us, and many loads of shells were burnt into lime,

while the other parts were wheeled into our gardens.

When in the woods I seldom met with a hut, but at the mouth of it was

found an ant's nest, the dwelling of a tribe of insects about an inch in

length, armed with a pair of forceps and a sting, which they applied, as

many found to their cost, with a severity equal to a wound made by a

knife. We conjectured, that these vermin had been drawn together by the

bones and fragments of a venison feast, which had been left by the

hunter.

In their huts and in their caves they lie down indiscriminately mixed,

men, women, and children together; and appear to possess under them much

the same enjoyment as may be supposed to be found by the brute beast in

his den, shelter from the weather, and, if not disturbed by external

enemies, the comfort of sleep.

The extreme soundness with which they sleep invites jealousy, or revenge

for other wrongs, to arm the hand of the assassin. Several instances of

this kind occurred during our acquaintance with them, one of which was

too remarkable to pass unnoticed: Yel-lo-way, a native, who seemed

endowed with more urbanity than the rest of our friends, having possessed

himself (though not, as I could learn, by unfair means) of Noo-roo-ing

the wife of Wat-te-wal, another native well known among us, was one night

murdered in his sleep by this man, who could not brook the decided

preference given by Noo-roo-ing to his rival. This murder he several

months after repaid in his own person, his life being taken by Cole-be,

one of Yel-lo-way's friends, who stole upon him in the night, and put him

to death while asleep. It was remarkable, that Cole-be found an infant

lying in his arms, whom he first removed, before he drove the fatal spear

into the father; he afterwards brought the child with him into the town.

Yel-lo-way was so much esteemed among us, that no one was sorry he had

been so revenged.

Being themselves sensible of the danger they ran in the night, they

eagerly besought us to give them puppies of our spaniel and terrier

breeds; which we did; and not a family was without one or more of these

little watch-dogs, which they considered as invaluable guardians during

the night; and were pleased when they found them readily devour the only

regular food they had to give them, fish.

APPENDIX IV--MODE OF LIVING

The natives on the sea-coast are those with whom we happened to be the

most acquainted. Fish is their chief support. Men, women, and children

are employed in procuring them; but the means used are different

according to the sex; the males always killing them with the fiz-gig,

while the females use the hook and line. The fiz-gig is made of the

wattle; has a joint in it, fastened by gum; is from fifteen to twenty

feet in length, and armed with four barbed prongs; the barb being a piece

of bone secured by gum. To each of these prongs they give a particular

name; but I never could discover any sensible reason for the distinction.

The lines used by the women are made by themselves of the bark of a small

tree which they find in the neighbourhood. Their hooks are made of the

mother-of-pearl oyster, which they rub on a stone until it assumes the

shape they want. It must be remarked, that these hooks are not barbed;

they nevertheless catch fish with them with great facility.

While fishing, the women generally sing; and I have often seen them in

their canoes chewing muscles or cockles, or boiled fish, which they spit

into the water as a bait. In these canoes, they always carry a small fire

laid upon sea-weed or sand; wherewith, when desirous of eating, they find

a ready material for dressing their meal. This fire accounted for an

appearance which we noticed in many of the women about the small of the

back. We at first thought it must have been the effect of stripes; but

the situation of them was questionable, and led us to make inquiry, when

we found it to be the effect of the fires in the canoes.

In addition to fish, they indulge themselves with a delicacy which I have

seen them eager to procure. In the body of the dwarf gum tree are several

large worms and grubs, which they speedily divest of antennae, legs, etc.

and, to our wonder and disgust, devour. A servant of mine, an European,

has often joined them in eating this luxury; and has assured me, that it

was sweeter than any marrow he had ever tasted; and the natives

themselves appeared to find a peculiar relish in it.

The woods, exclusive of the animals which they occasionally find in their

neighbourhood, afford them but little sustenance; a few berries, the yam

and fern-root, the flowers of the different banksia, and at times some

honey, make up the whole vegetable catalogue.

The natives who live in the woods and on the margins of rivers are

compelled to seek a different subsistence, and are driven to a harder

exercise of their abilities to procure it. This is evinced in the hazard

and toll with which they ascend the tallest trees after the opossum and

flying squirrel. At the foot of Richmond Hill, I once found several

places constructed expressly for the purpose of ensnaring animals or

birds. These were wide enough at the entrance to admit a person without

much difficulty; but tapering away gradually from the entrance to the

end, and terminating in a small wickered grate. It was between forty and

fifty feet in length; on each side the earth was thrown up; and the whole

was constructed of weeds, rushes, and brambles: but so well secured, that

an animal once within it could not possibly liberate itself. We supposed

that the prey, be it beast or bird, was hunted and driven into this toil;

and concluded, from finding one of them destroyed by fire, that they

force it to the grated end, where it is soon killed by their spears. In

one I saw a common rat, and in another the feathers of a quail.

By the sides of lagoons I have met with holes which, on examining, were

found excavated for some space, and their mouths so covered over with

grass, that a bird or beast stepping on it would inevitably fall in, and

from its depth be unable to escape.

In an excursion to the Hawkesbury, we fell in with a native and his child

on the banks of one of the creeks of that noble river. We had Cole-be

with us, who endeavoured, but in vain, to bring him to a conference; he

launched his canoe, and got away as expeditiously as he could, leaving

behind him a specimen of his food and the delicacy of his stomach; a

piece of water-soaked wood (part of the branch of a tree) full of holes,

the lodgment of a large worm, named by them cah-bro, and which they

extract and eat; but nothing could be more offensive than the smell of

both the worm and its habitation. There is a tribe of natives dwelling

inland, who, from the circumstance of their eating these loathsome worms,

are named Cah-bro-gal.

They resort at a certain season of the year (the month of April) to the

lagoons, where they subsist on eels which they procure by laying hollow

pieces of timber into the water, into which the eels creep, and are

easily taken.

These wood natives also make a paste formed of the fern-root and the

large and small ant bruised together; in the season they also add the

eggs of this insect.

APPENDIX V--COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE

How will the refined ear of gallantry be wounded at reading an account of

the courtship of these people! I have said that there was a delicacy

visible in the manners of the females. Is it not shocking then to think

that the prelude to love in this country should be violence? Yet such it

is, and of the most brutal nature of these unfortunate victims of lust

and cruelty (I can call them by no better name) are, I believe,

always selected from the women of a tribe different from that of the

males (for they ought not to be dignified with the title of men) and with

whom they are at enmity. Secrecy is necessarily observed, and the poor

wretch is stolen upon in the absence of her protectors; being first

stupified with blows, inflicted with clubs or wooden swords, on the head,

back, and shoulders, every one of which is followed by a stream of blood,

she is dragged through the woods by one arm, with a perseverance and

violence that one might suppose would displace it from its socket; the

lover, or rather the ravisher, is regardless of the stones or broken

pieces of trees which may lie in his route, being anxious only to convey

his prize in safety to his own party, where a scene ensues too shocking

to relate. This outrage is not resented by the relations of the female,

who only retaliate by a similar outrage when they find it in their power.

This is so constantly the practice among them, that even the children

make it a game or exercise; and I have often, on hearing the cries of the

girls with whom they were playing, ran out of my house, thinking some

murder was committed, but have found the whole party laughing at my

mistake.

The women thus ravished become their wives, are incorporated into the

tribe to which the husband belongs, and but seldom quit him for another.

Many of the men with whom we were acquainted did not confine themselves

to one woman. Bennillong, previous to his visit to England, was possessed

of two wives (if wives they may be called), both living with him and

attending on him wherever he went. One named Ba-rang-a-roo, who was of

the tribe of Cam-mer-ray (Bennillong himself was a Wahn-gal), lived with

him at the time he was seized and brought a captive to the settlemerit

with Cole-be; and before her death he had brought off from Botany Bay, by

the violence before described, Go-roo-bar-roo-bool-lo, the daughter of an

old man named Met-ty, a native of that district; and she continued with

him until his departure for England. We were told, on the banks of the

Hawkesbury, that all the men there, and inland, had two wives. Cole-be,

Bennillong's friend, had two female companions; and we found, indeed,

more instances of plurality of wives than of monogamy. I do not recollect

ever noticing children by both; and observed, that in general, as might

be expected, the two women were always jealous of and quarrelling with

each other. I have heard them say, that the first wife claimed a priority

of attachment and exclusive right to the conjugal embrace; while the

second or latter choice was compelled to be the slave and drudge of both.

Chastity was a virtue in which they certainly did not pride themselves;

at least, we knew women who, for a loaf of bread, a blanket, or a shirt,

gave up any claim to it, when either was offered by a white man; and many

white men were found who held out the temptation. Several girls, who were

protected in the settlement, had not any objection to passing the night

on board of ships, though some had learned shame enough (for shame was

not naturally inherent in them) to conceal, on their landing, the spoils

they had procured during their stay. They had also discovered that we

thought it shameful to be seen naked; and I have observed many of them

extremely reserved and delicate in this respect when before us; but when

in the presence of only their own people, perfectly indifferent about

their appearance.

APPENDIX VI--CUSTOMS AND MANNERS

During the time of parturition these people suffer none but females to be

present. War-re-weer, Bennillong's sister, being taken in labour in the

town, an opportunity offered of observing them in that critical juncture,

of which some of our women, who were favourites with the girl, were

desired to avail themselves; and from them we learned, that during her

labour one female, Boo-roong, was employed in pouring cold water from

time to time on the abdomen, while another, tying one end of a small line

round War-re-weer's neck, with the other end rubbed her own lips until

they bled. She derived no actual assistance from those who were about

her, the child coming into the world by the sole efforts of nature;

neither did any one receive it from her; but, having let it drop, one of

our women divided the umbilical cord; after which, she retired to a small

hole which had been prepared for her, over which she sat until the

after-birth took place. The person who cut the navel-string washed the

child, which she readily permitted, though Boo-roong and the other

natives objected to it. She appeared much exhausted, and, being faint,

fell across a fire that was in the place, but without receiving any

injury.

I saw Bennillong's wife a few hours after she had been delivered of a

child. To my great surprise she was walking about alone, and picking up

sticks to mend her fire. The infant, whose skin appeared to have a

reddish cast, was lying in a piece of soft bark on the ground, the

umbilical cord depending about three inches from the navel. I remained

with her for some time, during which she was endeavouring to get it off,

to effect which she made use of the small bone of the leg of the

kangaroo, round the point of which Bennillong had rolled some punk, so

that it looked not unlike the button of a foil. She held it every now and

then to the fire, then applied and pressed it to the navel until it

cooled. This was persevered in, till the mother thought the cord

sufficiently deadened, and then with a shell she separated it.*

[* I here find in my papers a note, that for some offence Bennillong had

severely beaten this woman in the morning, a short time before she was

delivered.]

The infant thus produced is by the mother carried about for some days on

a piece of soft bark; and, as soon as it acquires strength enough, is

removed to her shoulders, where it sits with its little legs across her

neck; and, taught by necessity, soon catches hold of her hair to preserve

itself from falling.

The reddish cast of the skin soon gives place to the natural hue, a

change that is much assisted by the smoke and dirt in which, from the

moment of their existence, these children are nurtured. The parents begin

early to decorate them after the custom of the country. As soon as the

hair of the head can be taken hold of, fish-bones and the teeth of

animals are fastened to it with gum. White clay ornaments their little

limbs; and the females suffer the extraordinary amputation which they

term mal-gun before they have quitted their seat on their mother's

shoulders.

In about a month or six weeks the child receives its name. This is

generally taken from some of the objects constantly before their eyes,

such as a bird, a beast, or a fish, and is given without any ceremony.

Thus Bennillong's child Dilboong was so named after a small bird, which

we often heard in low wet grounds and in copses. An elderly woman who

occasionally visited us was named Mau-ber-ry, the term by which they

distinguish the gurnet from other fish. Bennillong told me, his name was

that of a large fish, but one that I never saw taken. Bal-loo-der-ry

signified the fish named by us the leathern-jacket; and there were two

girls in the town named Pat-ye-ga-rang, a corruption of Pat-ta-go-rang,

the name of the large grey kangaroo. Other instances might be adduced;

but these are sufficient to show the prevalence of the custom.

At an early age the females wear round the waist a small line made of the

twisted hair of the opossum, from the centre of which depend a few small

uneven lines from two to five inches long, made of the same materials.

This they term bar-rin, and wear it until they are grown into women and

are attached to men.

The union of the sexes takes place at an earlier period than is usual in

colder regions. We have known several instances of very young girls

having been much and shamefully abused by the males.

From their earliest infancy the boys are accustomed to throwing the

spear, and to the habit of defending themselves from it. They begin by

throwing reeds at each other, and are soon very expert. They also, from

the time when they can run, until prompted by manhood to realize their

sports, amuse themselves with stealing the females, and treat them at

this time very little worse than they do then.

Among their juvenile exercises I observed that of throwing up a ball, and

passing it from one to another. They also provide themselves with small

sticks, and range themselves in a row, when the one at the upper end

rolls a ball or any other round substance along the front of his

companions, every one of whom endeavours to strike it as it passes. This

is a favourite exercise with them, and of course they excel at it.

Between the ages of eight and sixteen, the males and females undergo the

operation which they term Gnah-noong, viz that of having the _septum nasi_

bored, to receive a bone or reed, which among them is deemed a great

ornament, though I have seen many whose articulation was thereby

rendered very imperfect. Between the same years also the males receive

the qualifications which are given to them by losing one of the front

teeth. This ceremony occurred twice during my residence in New South

Wales; and in the second operation I was fortunate enough to attend them

during the whole of the time, attended by a person well qualified to make

drawings of every particular circumstance that occurred. A remarkable

coincidence of time was noticed as to the season in which it took place.

It was first performed in the beginning of the month of February 1791;

and exactly at the same period in the year 1795 the second operation

occurred. As they have not any idea of numbers beyond three, and of

course have no regular computation of time, this can only be ascribed to

chance, particularly as the season could not have much share in their

choice, February being one of the hot months.

On the 25th of January 1795 we found that the natives were assembling in

numbers for the purpose of performing this ceremony. Several youths well

known among us, never having submitted to the operation, were now to be

made men. Pe-mul-wy, a wood native, and many strangers, came in; but the

principals in the operation not being arrived from Cam-mer-ray, the

intermediate nights were to be passed in dancing. Among them we observed

one man painted white to the middle, his beard and eye-brows excepted,

and all together a frightful object. Others were distinguished by large

white circles round the eyes, which rendered them as terrific as can well

be imagined. It was not until the 2nd of February that the party was

complete. In the evening of that day the people from Cam-mer-ray arrived,

among whom were those who were to perform the operation, all of whom

appeared to have been impatiently expected by the other natives. They

were painted after the manner of the country, were mostly provided with

shields, and all armed with clubs, spears, and throwing sticks. The place

selected for this extraordinary exhibition was at the head of Farm Cove,

where a space had been for some days prepared by clearing it of grass,

stumps, etc.; it was of an oval figure, the dimensions of it 27 feet by

18, and was named Yoo-lahng.

When we arrived at the spot, we found the party from the north shore

armed, and standing at one end of it; at the other we saw a party

consisting of the boys who were to be given up for the purpose of losing

each a tooth, and their several friends who accompanied them.

They then began the ceremony. The armed party advanced from their end of

the Yoo-lahng with a song or rather a shout peculiar to this occasion,

clattering their shields and spears, and raising a dust with their feet

that nearly obscured the objects around them. On reaching the farther end

of the Yoo-lahng, where the children were placed, one of the party

stepped from the crowd, and seizing his victim returned with him to his

party, who received him with a shout louder than usual, placing him in

the midst, where he seemed defended by a grove of spears from any

attempts that his friends might make to rescue him. In this manner the

whole were taken out, to the number of fifteen; among them appeared

Ca-ru-ey, a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and a young

man, a stranger to us, of about twenty-three.

The number being collected that were to undergo the operation, they were

seated at the upper end of the Yoo-lahng, each holding down the head; his

hands clasped, and his legs crossed under him. In this position, awkward

and painful as it must have been, we understood they were to remain all

night; and, in short, that until the ceremony was concluded, they were

neither to look up nor take any refreshment whatsoever.

The carrahdis now began some of their mystical rites. One of them

suddenly fell upon the ground, and throwing himself into a variety of

attitudes, accompanied with every gesticulation that could be extorted by

pain, appeared to be at length delivered of a bone, which was to be used

in the ensuing ceremony. He was during this apparently painful process

encircled by a crowd of natives, who danced around him, singing

vociferously, while one or more beat him on the back until the bone was

produced, and he was thereby freed from his pain.

He had no sooner risen from the ground exhausted, drooping, and bathed in

sweat, than another threw himself down with similar gesticulations, who

went through the same ceremonies, and ended also with the production of a

bone, with which he had taken care to provide himself, and to conceal it

in a girdle which he wore.

We were told, that by these mummeries (for they were in fact nothing else)

the boys were assured that the ensuing operation would be attended with

scarcely any pain, and that the more these carrahdis suffered, the less

would be felt by them.

It being now perfectly dark, we quitted the place, with an invitation to

return early in the morning, and a promise of much entertainment from the

ensuing ceremony. We left the boys sitting silent, and in the position

before described, in which we were told they were to remain until morning.

On repairing to the place soon after daylight, we found the natives

sleeping in small detached parties; and it was not until the sun had

shown himself that any of them began to stir. We observed that the people

from the north shore slept by themselves, and the boys, though we heard

they were not to be moved, were lying also by themselves at some little

distance from the Yoo-lahng. Towards this, soon after sunrise, the

carrahdis and their party advanced in quick movement, one after the

other, shouting as they entered, and running twice or thrice round it.

The boys were then brought to the Yoo-lahng, hanging their heads and

clasping their hands. On their being seated in this manner, the

ceremonies began, the principal performers in which appeared to be about

twenty in number, and all of the tribe of Cammeray.

The exhibitions now performed were numerous and various; but all of them

in their tendency pointed toward the boys, and had some allusion to the

principal act of the day, which was to be the concluding scene of it. The

ceremony will be found pretty accurately represented in the annexed

Engravings. [The HTML version of this ebook contains the engravings. Ed.]

No. 1 Represents the young men, fifteen in number, seated at the head of

the Yoo-lahng, while those who were to be the operators paraded several

times round it, running upon their hands and feet, and imitating the dogs

of the country. Their dress was adapted to this purpose; the wooden

sword, stuck in the hinder part of the girdle which they wore round the

waist, did not, when they were crawling on all fours, look much unlike

the tail of a dog curled over his back. Every time they passed the place

where the boys were seated, they threw up the sand and dust on them with

their hands and their feet. During this ceremony the boys sat perfectly

still and silent, never once moving themselves from the position in which

they were placed, nor seeming in the least to notice the ridiculous

appearance of the carrahdis and their associates.

We understood that by this ceremony power over the dog was given to them,

and that it endowed them with whatever good or beneficial qualities that

animal might possess.

The dogs of this country are of the jackal species; they never bark; are

of two colours, the one red with some white about it; the other quite

black. They have an invincible predilection for poultry, which the

severest beatings could never repress. Some of them are very handsome.

No. 2 Represents the young men seated as before. The first figure in the

plate is a stout robust native, carrying on his shoulders a

pat-ta-go-rang or kangaroo made of grass; the second is carrying a load

of brush-wood. The other figures, seated about, are singing, and beating

time to the steps of the two loaded men, who appeared as if they were

almost unable to move under the weight of the burthen which they carried

on their shoulders. Halting every now and then, and limping, they at last

deposited their load at the feet of the young men, and retired from the

Yoo-lahng as if they were excessively fatigued by what they had done. It

must be noticed, that the man who carried the brush-wood had thrust one

or two flowering shrubs through the _septum nasi_. He exhibited an

extraordinary appearance in this scene.

By this offering of the dead kangaroo was meant the power that was now

given them of killing that animal; the brush-wood might represent its

haunt.

No. 3 The boys were left seated at the Yoo-lahng for about half an hour;

during which the actors went down into a valley near the place, where

they fitted themselves with long tails made of grass, which they fastened

to the hinder part of their girdles, instead of the sword, which was laid

aside during the scene. Being equipped, they put themselves in motion as

a herd of kangaroos, now jumping along, then lying down and scratching

themselves, as those animals do when basking in the sun. One man beat

time to them with a club on a shield, while two others armed, attended

them all the way, pretending to steal upon them unobserved and spear them.

This was emblematical of one of their future exercises, the hunting of

the kangaroo.

The scene was altogether whimsical and curious; the valley where they

equipped themselves was very romantic, and the occasion extraordinary and

perfectly novel.

No. 4 On the arrival of this curious party at the Yoo-lahng, it passed by

the boys, as the herd of Kangaroo, and then quickly divesting themselves

of their artificial tails, each man caught up a boy, and, placing him on

his shoulders, carried him off in triumph toward the last scene of this

extraordinary exhibition.

It must be remarked, that the friends and relations of the young people

by no means interfered, nor attempted to molest the north shore natives

in the execution of their business.

No. 5 After walking a short distance, the boys were let down from the

shoulders of the men, and placed in a cluster, standing with their heads

inclined on their breasts, and their hands clasped together. Some of the

party disappeared for above ten minutes to arrange the figure of the next

scene. I was not admitted to witness this business, about which they

appeared to observe a greater degree of mystery and preparation than I

had noticed in either of the preceding ceremonies. We were at length

desired to come forward, when we found the figures as placed in the plate

No. 5.

The group on the left are the boys and those who attended them; fronting

them were seen two men, one seated on the stump of a tree bearing another

man on his shoulders, both with their arms extended: behind these were

seen a number of bodies lying with their faces toward the ground, as

close to each other as they could lie, and at the foot of another stump

of a tree, on which were placed two other figures in the same position as

the preceding.

As the boys and their attendants approached the first of these figures,

the men who formed it began to move themselves from side to side, lolling

out their tongues, and staring as wide and horribly with their eyes as

they could open them. After this mummery had continued some minutes, the

men separated for them to pass, and the boys were now led over the bodies

lying on the ground. These immediately began to move, writhing as if in

agony, and uttering a mournful dismal sound, like very distant thunder.

Having passed over these bodies, the boys were placed before the second

figures, who went through the same series of grimaces as those who were

seated on the former stump; after which the whole moved forward.

A particular name, boo-roo-moo-roong, was given to this scene; but of its

import I could learn very little. I made much inquiry; but could never

obtain any other answer, than that it was very good; that the boys would

now become brave men; that they would see well, and fight well.

No. 6 At a little distance from the preceding scene the whole party

halted; the boys were seated by each other, while opposite to them were

drawn up in a half circle the other party, now armed with the spear and

the shield. In the centre of this party, with his face toward them, stood

Boo-der-ro, the native who had throughout taken the principal part in the

business. He held his shield in one hand, and a club in the other, with

which he gave them, as it were, the time for their exercise. Striking the

shield with the club, at every third stroke the whole party poised and

presented their spears at him, pointing them inwards, and touching the

centre of his shield.

This concluded the ceremonies previous to the operation; and it appeared

significant of an exercise which was to form the principal business of

their lives, the use of the spear.

No. 7 They now commenced their preparations for striking out the tooth.

The first subject they took out was a boy of about ten years of age: he

was seated on the shoulders of another native who sat on the grass, as

appears in this Plate.