Soon after the watering-party commenced their work some shrill voices were heard near them among the trees: in a short time two natives made their appearance and were easily persuaded to approach. They were unarmed, and communicated with confidence, and apparently were disposed to be friendly; one of them gave Mr. Roe a fishing-line spun and twisted of strips of bark, to the end of which was attached a hook made from a turtle-shell.
Our gentlemen revisited the shore in the afternoon but without seeing the natives. In wandering about they discovered some stumps of trees close to the beach that bore marks of having been felled with a sharp instrument; and near some huts they found several strips of canvas lying on the ground, from which it would appear that the place had recently been visited by Europeans.
July 22.
I landed the next morning with a theodolite in order to obtain some bearings from the summit of the hill over the beach, but my intention was frustrated by a visit from the natives, five of whom made their appearance upon the hills as the boat arrived at the shore. The party consisted of three men and two boys: one of the men carried a spear, another had a boomerang* of a smaller size but otherwise similar to that which the Port Jackson natives use; and the boys each carried a short branch of a tree in their hands: they met us halfway and allowed us to approach with our muskets, a circumstance which dispelled all suspicion of any unfriendly feeling towards us; nor do I think any did exist when we first met.
(*Footnote. The boomerang is a very formidable weapon; it is a short, curved piece of heavy wood, and is propelled through the air by the hand in so skilful a manner that the thrower alone knows where it will fall. It is generally thrown against the wind and takes a rapid rotary motion. It is used by the natives with success in killing the kangaroo, and is, I believe, more a hunting than a warlike weapon. The size varies from eighteen to thirty inches in length, and from two to three inches broad. The shape is that of an obtuse angle rather than a crescent: one in my possession is twenty-six inches long, its greatest breadth two inches and a half, thickness half an inch, and the angle formed from the centre is 140 degrees. Boomerang is the Port Jackson term for this weapon, and may be retained for want of a more descriptive name. There is a drawing of it by M. Lesueur in Plate 22 Figure 6 of Peron's Atlas; it is there described by the name of sabre a ricochet. This plate may, by the way, be referred to for drawings of the greater number of the weapons used by the Port Jackson natives, all of which, excepting the identical boomerang, are very well delineated. M. Lesueur has however failed in his sabre a ricochet.)
In order to divert them and obtain as much information as we could whilst the boat's crew were filling the water-casks, we seated ourselves on the grass and commenced a conversation that was perfectly unintelligible to each other, accompanied with the most ridiculous gestures, a species of buffoonery that is always acceptable to the natives of this part of the world, and on more than one occasion has been particularly useful to us. An attempt was made to procure a vocabulary of their language, but without success, for we were soon obliged from their impatience to give it up. Not so easily, however, were they diverted from their object, for every article of our dress, and everything we carried, they asked for with the greatest importunity; our refusal disappointed them so much that they could not avoid showing the hostile feelings they had evidently begun to entertain towards us. Seeing this, I took an opportunity of convincing them of our power, and after some difficulty persuaded the native that carried the spear to throw it at a paper-mark placed against a bush at the distance of twelve yards. He launched it twice, but, much to his mortification, without striking the object. Mr. Hunter then fired and perforated the paper with shot, which increased the shame that the native and his companions evidently felt upon the occasion: Mr. Hunter then killed a small bird that was skipping about the branches of an overhanging tree; upon the bird being given to them, they impatiently and angrily examined it all over, and particularly scrutinized the wound that caused its death.
We now found that the proved superiority of our weapons, instead of quieting them, only served to inflame their anger the more; and we were evidently on the point of an open rupture. One of them seized the theodolite-stand, which I carried in my hand, and I was obliged to use force to retain it. They then made signs to Mr. Hunter to send his gun to the boat; this was of course refused, upon which one of them seized it, and it was only by wrenching it from his grasp that Mr. Hunter repossessed himself of it.
Many little toys were now given to them, on receiving which their countenances relaxed into a smile; and peace would perhaps have been restored, had we not unfortunately presented them with a looking-glass, in which they were, for the first time, witnesses of their hideous countenances, which were rendered still more savage from the ill-humour they were in. They now became openly angry; and in very unequivocal terms ordered us away. Fortunately the Indian that carried the spear was the least ill-tempered of the party, or we should not perhaps have retreated without being under the necessity of firing in self-defence.
We retired however without any farther rupture and left them seated on the bank, whence they continued to watch our movements until the boat was loaded and we left the shore. They then came down to the beach and searched about for whatever things we might accidentally have left behind; and after examining with great attention some marks that, for amusement, some of our party had scratched upon the sand, they separated. The old man and the two boys embarked in a canoe and paddled round the point towards the Cape, in which direction also the other two natives bent their steps.
The tall, slender form of the Port Jackson natives and their other peculiarities of long curly hair, large heads, and spare limbs are equally developed in the inhabitants of this part. The bodies of these people are however considerably more scarified than their countrymen to the southward, and their teeth are perfect. One of our visitors had a fillet of plaited grass, whitened by pigment, bound round his head, and this was the only ornament worn by them.