Their number was so considerable that it was believed that many more were concealed in the bushes...They were all perfectly naked except one young fellow who had a bunch of grass fastened round his waist which came up behind like the tail of a kangaroo. He was very merry, and from his gestures, possessed a keen sense of humour. "He would throw himself into a thousand antic shapes, and afforded no small entertainment."
"Having sent the boat on board with the seine," continues Grant, "I was anxious to get some kangaroos which, from the appearance of the shore, I made no doubt were to be found in plenty. I made signs to the natives for that purpose, and one of them offered his services. We walked towards the end of the beach we were then on, and entered the woods. We saw several parrots and smaller birds of beautiful plumage. Mr. Barrallier fired at one of the latter, which so frightened our guide that he took to his heels and ran back to his companions."
In this excursion the explorers were impressed by the silent grandeur of the forest trees: there was no underwood, but there was excellent grass, from which sprang coveys of quail, or partridges of New Holland.
The trees in general were the tall she-oak so common in the neighbourhood of Sydney.* (* Casuarina suberosa, commonly known as Beefwood.) Grant returned to the beach and went on board to dinner. In the afternoon he again made a party for the shore, consisting of Mr. Barrallier, Mr. Caley, botanist, and two soldiers. They entered the woods at the same place as before, intending to make a circuit back to the boat. Again, beautiful birds were seen, among them, some cockatoos which were perfectly black "excepting the breast and a few feathers on the wing which were yellow." They were so shy that no one could get near them. Other birds were killed—whose flesh, when cooked, was very palatable; that of the parrot resembled our pigeon in taste—"possibly because they feed on seeds of wild plants."
According to Grant, "no country in the world abounds with a greater variety of insects. We saw numbers buzzing about the trees...Having pursued our walk inland we fell in with a swampy land in a valley with much brush wood; a rivulet of excellent fresh water ran briskly through it, emptying itself in the sea near to where I had ordered our boat to haul the seine. We found the track of the natives and fell in with several of their gunnies or habitations. These are constructed with a few boughs stuck up to screen them from the wind; bones of beasts, birds and fish were lying about them. On the return to the boat, Mr. Barrallier shot a large hawk. Our fishing-party had caught some fish, and would have been very successful, but two sharks got into the seine and tore it in several places: they were both brought on shore, one measuring seven feet in length. The liver I ordered to be carried on board, to be boiled for the oil and used in our lamp.
"On the 11th of March, the wind still hanging to the south, I took some hands on shore to cut a boatload of wood and fill our water casks...Messieurs Barrallier and Caley, with two soldiers, accompanied me on another excursion. We took another direction inland...but saw no kangaroos. We met with two small lagoons and several streams of good water running through the thickest part of the woods. In this excursion we saw the Laughing Bird so called from the noise it makes resembling laughter.* (* The Giant Kingfisher or Kookaburra.)
"On our return to the boat we fell in with a spot of ground which appeared to have been selected by the natives for the purposes of festivity. It was a small eminence having no habitation near. We counted the marks of fifteen different fires that had been employed in cooking fish and other eatables, the bones of which were strewed about. Among them we picked up part of a human skull—the os frontis with the sockets of the eyes and part of the bones of the nose still attached to it. A little distance from where we found this we discovered a part of the upper jaw with one of the molars or back teeth in it, also one of the vertebrae of the back having marks of fire which the others had not.
"The grass was much trodden down, and many of the bones of the animals eaten appeared fresh...I brought off the human bones and on getting on board showed them to Euranabie. Finding two of the natives from the shore in the vessel, I desired him to ask them whether these bones belonged to a white man or not, and if they had killed and eaten him. I was anxious to have this cleared up, as the ship Sydney Cove from India to Port Jackson had been wrecked about twelve months before to the southward and it was reported that some of the crew were killed by the natives near this place."* (* The Sydney Cove from Bengal to New South Wales was wrecked on Preservation Island, Tasmania, on 8th February, 1797. Her long-boat was equipped and despatched on 27th February to Sydney, but the boat filled and went to pieces at a spot called Ninety Mile beach. Out of the crew of seventeen, who started to walk to Port Jackson, only three lived to reach their destination—some dying of fatigue and hunger, the others were murdered by the natives.)
Euranabie, who spoke English, made inquiries, and a soldier who understood the Sydney dialect, also endeavoured to extract the truth regarding the bones, from the two black fellows, who said that they were those of a white man that had come in a canoe from the southward where the ship "tumble down," meaning that it had been wrecked. Lieutenant Grant also questioned Worogan, and was informed that "the bush natives (who appeared to be a different tribe of people from those that lived by the seaside) did eat human flesh."
He now prepared to leave the port. "On the 12th, we got into a clean berth for getting under weigh, but in the morning the wind being variable and light we were prevented sailing. I went on shore with Mr. Barrallier to make a survey of the cove we were lying in. When preparing to return to the vessel we were joined by several natives who appeared anxious to go on board with us. Two of these were strangers who signified that they had come a long way to see us and that they were very hungry. They were both young, stout men with longer hair than the natives generally.