ithout underwood, standing at such a
distance from each other, that the whole country, at least where the
swamps do not render it incapable of cultivation, might be cultivated
without cutting down one of them: Between the trees the ground is
covered with grass, of which there is great abundance, growing in tufts
about as big as can well be grasped in the hand, which stand very close
to each other. We saw many houses of the inhabitants, and places where
they had slept upon the grass without any shelter; but we saw only one
of the people, who the moment he discovered us ran away. At all these
places we left presents, hoping that at length they might produce
confidence and good-will. We had a transient and imperfect view of a
quadruped about as big as a rabbit: Mr Banks's grey-hound, which was
with us, got sight of it, and would probably have caught it, but the
moment he set off he lamed himself, against a stump which lay concealed
in the long grass. We afterwards saw the dung of an animal which fed
upon grass, and which we judged could not be less than a deer; and the
footsteps of another, which was clawed like a dog, and seemed to be
about as big as a wolf; we also tracked a small animal, whose foot
resembled that of a polecat or weasel. The trees over our head abounded
with birds of various kinds, among which were many of exquisite beauty,
particularly loriquets and cockatoos, which flew in flocks of several
scores together. We found some wood which had been felled by the natives
with a blunt instrument, and some that had been barked. The trees were
not of many species; among others there was a large one which yielded a
gum not unlike the _Sanguis draconis_; and in some of them steps that
had been cut at about three feet distance from each other, for the
convenience of climbing them.

From this excursion we returned between three and four o'clock, and
having dined on board, we went ashore again at the watering-place, where
a party of men were filling casks. Mr Gore, the second lieutenant, had
been sent out in the morning with a boat to dredge for oysters at the
head of the bay; when he had performed this service, he went ashore, and
having taken a midshipman with him, and sent the boat away, set out to
join the waterers by land. In his way he fell in with a body of
two-and-twenty Indians, who followed him, and were often not more than
twenty yards distant; when Mr Gore perceived them so near, he stopped,
and faced about