'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎377] (486/496)

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must have been given them by the former settlers : they pronounced the
words very distinctly, and were quite proud to be so called.
The next day the carpenter with a party of hands were sent on shore
to select some trees in order to construct a new rudder, and although a
large number were cut down, only two were found fit for the purpose
required,—the remainder being perfectly hollow inside, the very heart
having been eaten through by those destructive insects the white ants.
The timber, to all outward appearance, was perfectly sound, and it was
only when felled that its inutility was discovered. The trees were a
species of iron gum, which abounds throughout this extensive forest. The
wood is of a dark mahogany colour, very hard and exceedingly difficult
to cut ; but I should imagine it would be found most durable, and
capable of taking a very high polish. During our stay in this harbour
we made frequent excursions to the shore, and were seldom molested by
the natives : though we roamed about the whole day, shooting and collect
ing curiosities, never more than twenty appeared at one time together,
and when this number did come, they remained only a short time : we
saw none of their women, neither could we discover where they were
concealed. Kot a vestige of a hut or habitation of any kind was seen,
and from this circumstance I should imagine they lived, as that quaint old
navigator Bampier describes them, entirely in the open air, covering them
selves up at night in the barks of trees, and sleeping like beasts of the
field on the cold damp ground. They have no sort of cultivation, and
their only food are shell-fish and a species of fern root. The latter is
pounded between two stones until it becomes a soft pulp, which is then
eaten, and this they are constantly chewing the whole day as an ox would
its cud. Some of their baskets (which were invariably slung round the back
of their neck) were made of grass very ingeniously plaited, and oi an
oblong shape, about a foot long and five inches in diameter. The baskets,
as well as the ones before described, usually contained their food. These
savages were all similar in appearance to those that visited the vessel the
previous evening, and the whole were minus two teeth in tne upper
jaw. Several we particularly noticed were not only fearfully cicatrised, but
they had also white and red ochre bands or stripes painted on various
parts of the body. This is supposed by many writers to be a sign of
mourning for a friend or relation. They carried spears about live or six
feet long, made of a hollow reed pointed with hard wood, many being
barbed and notched deeply, so that if these entered the flesh they could
with difficulty be extracted. A few only were possessed of the farfamed
Australian instrument called the bomerang, w