they were evidently
somewhat lower than the common standard of Englishmen, and perhaps less
in every respect, except in the disproportionate size of the head; and
indeed this was not general. In the features of the face, particularly in
the elongation of the lower ones, in the small calf to the leg, and the
curve of the thigh, they bore a general resemblance to the natives of
Port Jackson; but there was not one in all this group, whose countenance
had so little of the savage, or the symmetry of whose limbs expressed
strength and agility, so much, as those of their companion Bong-ree.

A hawk presenting himself in an interval of conversation, Mr. Flinders
thought it a fair opportunity of showing his new friends a specimen of
the effect and certainty of his fire-arms. He made them comprehend what
was intended; but, while shifting the buck shot which were in the musket
for a charge of small shot, their agitation was so great, that they
seemed to be on the point of running into the woods; however, an
expedient to keep them was devised; the seamen placed them in a cluster
behind themselves, and in this situation they anxiously saw Mr. Flinders
approach toward the bird, and fire. What must have been his sensations at
this moment! for the hawk flew away, though not indeed unhurt, as the
natives noticed that the leg was broken. This disappointment brought to
his recollection how ineffectual had been some former attempts of his to
impress them with an idea of the superior refinement of his followers.
Bong-ree, his musician, had annoyed his auditors with his barbarous
sounds, and the clumsy exhibition of his Scotch dancers unaccompanied
with the aid of music, had been viewed by them without wonder or
gratification.

It is almost unnecessary to say that these people go naked. They,
however, wore belts round the waist, and fillets about the head and upper
parts of the arm. These were formed of hair, twisted into yarn-like
threads, and then into bandages, mostly reticulated. Indeed the
inhabitants of this bay appeared to possess in general a very pointed
difference from, if not a superiority over, those of New South Wales,
particularly in their net-works. A seine eighty feet in length, and the
scoop nets which they use, have been mentioned. To these may be added the
bag in which they seemed to carry their portable property, and which was
most probably of the same kind as those mentioned by Captain Cook; but
they were seen of differ