ng, and about two
deep. The bark was sewn together with much neatness, and it was
altogether the most artistic piece of workmanship I had seen among the
Aborigines of Australia. It was the last of that description we met with
in this direction, for we did not find canoes in use with the natives to
the westward of Clarence Strait, but only rafts, a fact alluded to in an
earlier portion of the work.

ALARM OF THE NATIVES.

Two young men only were in the craft, which ran close in under the
mangroves, through which we could see other natives passing. By
proceeding cautiously and slowly, I got pretty close to them. They were
evidently afraid that if they left it we should take their boat, and this
gave them courage to face the strange white men. Terror, however, was
marked in their countenances, and one of the two leaped on shore, as we
approached, in a state of great excitement, jumping and flinging his arms
about violently; whilst sometimes he would dip up a handful of water and
squirt it out with great force from the corners of his mouth. The size of
the boat appeared, as usual, to astonish the lad who remained in the
canoe. He appeared less frightened than the other, and I induced him to
accept a few presents from the end of a long stick. Though they had a
deficiency in the upper front teeth, they had not disfigured any other
part of their bodies. The stature of the two young men was small, perhaps
5 feet 7 inches, but those behind the mangroves were much taller.
Alligators being so very numerous I was surprised to notice what little
dread the natives appeared to have of them, dancing and wading about in
the water near the bank, as if they and the animal had entered into a
treaty of amity.

Their alarm appearing to have worn off, we continued our journey, but by
hoisting the sail, the good effect was in a great measure
counterbalanced, as the sight of it called forth a yell from the whole of
them, which catching the echoes, reverberated from side to side, and
resounded in our ears for some time afterwards. Proceeding, we gained the
end of the twelfth reach early in the afternoon, when we obtained
observations for longitude, that being the highest part of the river not
surveyed, and distant about fifteen miles from the mouth; we had also
just reached the portion frequented by the peculiar whistling wild duck,
of which we bagged about twenty, forming an agreeable addition to our
evening and next day meals. After conclud