ggests itself here: Could the natives of the west side of
the Gulph of Carpentaria have learned the rite of circumcision from these
Malay Mahometans? From the short period that the latter had frequented
the coast, and the nature of the intercourse between the two people, it
seems to me very little probable.]

They had no knowledge of any European settlement in this country; and on
learning the name Port Jackson, the son of Pobassoo made a memorandum of
it as thus, (foreign characters), writing from left to right. Until this
time, that some nutmegs were shown to them, they did not know of their
being produced here; nor had they ever met with cocoa nuts, bananas, or
other edible fruits or vegetables; fish, and sometimes turtle, being all
they procured. I inquired if they knew of any rivers or openings leading
far inland, if they made charts of what they saw, or used any charts? To
all which Pobassoo answered in the negative. There was a river at Timor,
into which the ship could go; and he informed me of two turtle islands,
one of them not far to the north-west of our situation in the road; the
other would be seen from the mast head as we sailed along the shore.

I could find no other nautical instrument amongst them than a very small
pocket compass, apparently of Dutch manufacture; by this their course is
directed at sea, without the aid of any chart or astronomical
observation. They carry a month's water, in joints of bamboo; and their
food is rice, cocoa nuts, and dried fish, with a few fowls for the
chiefs. The black _gummotoo_ rope, of which we had found pieces at Sir
Edward Pellew's Group, was in use on board the prows; and they said it
was made from the same palm whence the sweet syrup, called _gulah_, is
obtained.

My numberless questions were answered patiently, and with apparent
sincerity; Pobassoo even stopped one day longer at my desire, than he had
intended, for the north-west monsoon, he said, would not blow quite a
month longer, and he was rather late. I rewarded his trouble and that of
his companions with several presents, principally iron tools, which they
seemed anxious to possess; and he begged of me an English jack, which he
afterwards carried at the head of his squadron. He also expressed a
desire for a letter, to show to any other ship he might meet; and I
accordingly wrote him a note to captain Baudin, whom it seemed probable
he might encounter in the Gulph, either going or returning.

So soon as