Our frequent and amicable communication with the natives of this country has been mentioned. The women were, however, kept out of sight with seeming jealousy; and the men appeared to suspect the same conduct in us, after they had satisfied themselves that the most beardless of those they saw at the tents were of the same sex with the rest. The belief that there must be women in the ship induced two of them to comply with our persuasion of getting into the boat, one morning, to go on board; but their courage failing, they desired to be relanded, and made signs that the ship must go on shore to them.
It was with some surprise that I saw the natives of the east coast of New South Wales so nearly portrayed in those of the south-western extremity of New Holland. These do not, indeed, extract one of the upper front teeth at the age of puberty, as is generally practised at Port Jackson, nor do they make use of the womerah, or throwing stick; but their colour, the texture of the hair, and personal appearance are the same; their songs run in the same cadence; the manner of painting themselves is similar; their belts and fillets of hair are made in the same way, and worn in the same manner. The short, skin cloak, which is of kangaroo, and worn over the shoulders, leaving the rest of the body naked, is more in the manner of the wood natives living at the back of Port Jackson than of those who inhabit the sea coast; and everything we saw confirmed the supposition of captain Vancouver, that they live more by hunting than fishing. None of the small islands had been visited, no canoes were seen, nor was any tree found in the woods from which the bark had been taken for making one. They were fearful of trusting themselves upon the water; and we could never succeed in making them understand the use of the fish hook, although they were intelligent in comprehending our signs upon other subjects.
The manners of these people are quick and vehement, and their conversation vociferous, like that of most uncivilised people. They seemed to have no idea of any superiority we possessed over them; on the contrary, they left us, after the first interview, with some appearance of contempt for our pusillanimity; which was probably inferred from the desire we showed to be friendly with them. This opinion, however, seemed to be corrected in their future visits.
Notwithstanding the similarity of person and manner to the inhabitants of Port Jackson, the language of these people is very different. We found their pronunciation difficult to be imitated; more so, indeed, than our language was to them. Several English words they pronounced perfectly; whilst of such where an f or an s entered they could make but little: Finger, was pronounced bing-gah, ship, yip; and of King George they make Ken Jag-ger. In the difficulty of pronouncing the f and s they resemble the Port Jackson natives; and the word used by them in calling to a distance, cau-wah! (come here) is nearly similar to cow-ee! The word also to express eye is nearly the same. But in the following table, which contains all the words that, with any certainty, I was able to collect, the most essential differences will be found both from the Port Jackson language and from that of the south end of Van Diemen's Land; and the words collected by Captain Cook at Endeavour River bear no resemblance to any of them.
English. K. George's Sound. Port Jackson.* Van Diemen's Land.**
Head Kaat Ca-ber-ra
Hair Kaat-jou De-war-ra Pelilogueni
Nose Mo-il No-gro Mugui (Muidge, Cook)
Cheek, or beard Ny-a-nuk Yar-rin Canguine
Teeth Yea-al Da-ra Pegui or Canan (Kamy, C)
Ear Du-ong Go-ray Vaigui (Koygee, Cook)
Lips Ur-luk Wil-ling Mogude lia
Throat Wurt Cad-le-an
Nipple Bpep Na-bung
Belly Ko-bul Bar-rong Lomangui
Posteriors Wa-la-kah Boong Nune
Thigh Dtou-al
Knee Wo-nat Go-rook Ronga
Leg Maat Dar-ra Lerai
Foot Jaan Ma-no-e Pere
The sun Djaat Co-ing Panubere
[* From Collins' Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. I. p. 610-611]
[** Voyage de D'Entrecasteaux, par M. de Rossel. Tome I. p. 552 et seq. These words are written after the French pronunciation of the letters.]
The following anatomical admeasurement of one of the best proportioned of our visitors was furnished by the surgeon, Mr. Hugh Bell:
Full height Ft. in.
Circumference of the head 5 7 6
From the transverse nasal suture to the posterior ridge 1 11 0
of the occiput 1 3 0
From the small rim of each ear across the forehead 1 0 0
From the nasal suture, over the nose, to the tip of the chin 0 5 2
From ditto to the tip of the nose 0 1 0
From the tip of the nose to the edge of the upper lip 0 1 0
From the edge of the under lip to the tip of the chin 0 1 5
Extent of the mouth 0 2 1
nostrils 0 1 6
lower jaw from each angle 0 8 6
Length of the arm 1 1 6
fore arm 1 0 0
middle metacarpal bone 0 4 0
middle finger 0 4 3
femur, from the great trochanter
to its lower end 1 5 6
tibia 1 4 6
foot 0 10 0
Length from the protuberance of the inner ankle to the tip
of the heel 0 3 9
Ditto to the end of the great toe 0 8 6
Circumference of the neck 1 0 6
chest 2 8 9
pelvis 2 4 9
arm 0 10 6
elbow joint 0 9 6
fore arm 0 9 9
wrist 0 6 0
thigh 1 7 6
Circumference just above the knee joint 1 1 0
of the knee joint 1 1 0
of the leg, immediately below the knee joint 0 11 0
of the leg 1 0 0
of the leg small 0 7 6
of the foot 0 10 6
Our operations at the observatory were not favoured by the weather; but a sufficient number of observations was obtained for all the purposes of navigation: