About an hour after he had returned and I had determined upon taking him, the breeze freshened and raised a short swell which, causing a slight motion, affected our friend’s head so much that he came to me and, touching his tongue and pointing to the shore, intimated his wish to speak to the natives.  He was therefore immediately landed and Mr. Baskerville, after purchasing some spears and waiting a few minutes, prepared to return on board:  upon getting into the boat he looked at our volunteer but Jack, having had a taste of sea-sickness, shook his head and hung back; he was therefore left on shore.  Upon the boat’s leaving the beach the natives dispersed for the night but Jack, as usual, was perceived to separate himself from his companions and to walk away without exchanging a word with them.

December 31.

The weather at daylight the next morning (31st) was too unsettled and the breeze too strong from the westward to think of moving from the anchorage.  Jack and another native were down on the rocks at an early hour, hallooing and waving to us, and at eight o’clock some natives appeared on the opposite shore with spears and knives to barter, but we had no communication with them.

During our visit we have obtained from these people about one hundred spears, thirty throwing-sticks, forty hammers, one hundred and fifty knives, and a few hand-clubs, the value of each being at from half to one-eighth of a biscuit.  We saw no fizgig, shield, nor boomerang; it is probable that they may have such weapons but did not produce them from a dislike at parting with them; but the knives, spears, and hammers which did not require much labour to manufacture were always ready for barter, particularly the first, but the greater part were, like Peter Pindar’s razors, only made for sale.

Altogether we saw about forty natives of whom ten were boys:  they were in most respects similar to their neighbours, having the same long curly hair and slight figure; they did not appear to be a navigating tribe, for we saw no canoes, nor did we observe any trees in the woods with the bark stripped, of which material they are usually made; and, from the timid manner they approached the water, it is more than probable that they are not much accustomed even to swimming.  Captain Flinders is mistaken in stating that the natives of this place do not use the throwing-stick; but it is probable they did not produce those instruments to him, for fear of being deprived of them, for it required much persuasion on our part to prevail upon them to let us have any; they were much more ingeniously formed than others that we had previously seen, and different also, in having a small sharp-edged shell, or piece of quartz, fixed in a gummy knob at the handle, for the purpose of scraping the points of the spears:  the shaft is broad, smooth and flat.  Some of these throwing-sticks, or mearas, were three inches broad and two feet six inches long.  See Woodcut 3.