DAMPIEr’s ACCOUNT OF NEW HOLLAND.

486

of the Ifle lies in 3 0 10' fouth latitude. It is very populous; the natives are very black,ftrong, and well limbed people; having great round heads, their hair naturally curledand fhort, which they fhave into feveral forms, and dye it alfo of divers colours, viz.red, white, and yellow. They have broad round faces, with great bottle-nofes, yetagreeable enough, till they disfigure them by painting, and by wearing great thingsthrough their nofes as big as a man’s thumb, and about four inches long; thefe arerun clear through both noftrils, one end coming out by one cheek-bone, andthe other end againft the other j and their nofes fo ftretched, that only a fmall flip ofthem appears about the ornament; they have alfo great holes in their ears, whereinthey wear fuch (tuff as in their nofes. They are very dextrous active fellows in theirproes, which are very ingenioufly built. They are narrow and long, with out-riggerson one fide, the head and ftern higher than the reft, and carved into many devices,viz. fome fowl, fifh, or a man’s head painted or carved; and though it is but rudelydone, yet the refemblance appears plainly, and {hews an ingenious fancy. But withwhat inftruments they make their proes or carved work, I know not, for they feem tobe utterly ignorant of iron. They have very neat paddles, with which they managetheir proes dextroufly, and make great way through the water. Their weapons arechiefly lances, fwords and flings, and fome bows and arrows : they have alfo woodenfifsgigs, for ftriking fifh. Thofe that came to affault us in Slingers Bay on the main,are in all refpetts like thefe ; and I believe thefe are alike treacherous. Their fpeechis clear and diftinfl:; the words they ufed raoft, when near us, were vacoufee allamais ,and then they pointed to the fliore. Their figns of friendfhip are either a greattruncheon, or bow of a tree full of leaves, put on their heads, often ftriking their headswith their hands.

The next day, having a frefli gale of wind, we got under a high ifland, about fouror five leagues round, very woody, and full of plantations upon the fides of the hills;and in the bays, by the water-fide, are abundance of cocoa-nut trees. It lies in the lati-tude of 3° 25' fouth, and meridian diftancefrom CapeMabo 1316 miles. Onthefouth-eaft part of it are three or four other fmall woody iflands, one high and peaked, theother low and flat, all bedecked with cocoa-nut trees and other wood. On the norththere is another ifland of an indifferent height, and of a fomewhat larger circumfer-ence than the great high ifland laft-mentioned. We paffed between this and the highifland. The high ifland is called in the Dutch drafts Anthony Cave’s Ifland. Asfor the flat low ifland, and the other fmall one, it is probable they were never feen bythe Dutch, nor the iflands to the north of Garret Dennis’s Ifland. As foon as we camenear Cave’s Ifland, fome canoes came about us, and made figns for us to come afhore,as all the reft had xione before, probably thinking we could run the {hip a ground anywhere, as they did their proes, for we faw.neither fail nor anchor among any of them,though moft Eaftern Indians have both. Thefe had proes made of one tree, well dug,with out-riggers on one fide ; they were but fmall, yet well Ihaped. We endeavoured toanchor, but found no ground within a mile of the Ihore; we kept clofe along thenorth-fide, ftill founding till we came to the north-eaft end, but found no ground, thecanoes ftill accompanying us, and the bays were covered with men going along as wefailed ; many of them ftrove to fwim off to us, but we left them aftern. Being at thenorth eaft point, we found a ftrong current fetting to the north-weft, fo that thoughwe had fteered to keep under the high ifland, yet we were driven towards the flat one-At this time three of the natives came on board : I gave each of them a knife, a look-ing-glafs, and a ftring of beads. I {hewed them pumpkins and cocoa-nut {hells, andmade figns to them to bring fome aboard, and had prefently three cocoa-nuts out of