Primary tabs
Transcription
with fish some of them Very Good. The Natives Are to All Appearance the Lowest in Rank Among the Human Race. They go Quite Naked & Very Dirty. They do not Seem to Live in Community. but by Separate familys in Caves & Hollows of the Rocks & As far as we know live only on fish & the Root of the Fern. Which Grows here in Plenty. they Dive for fish & Oysters with Great Dexterity. They have Canoes of the Most Simple Construction Made of the Bark of A Tree Tied together at Each End We have Never Seen Above 40 of them in one place at a time Except on the 6.th of June. When A Party of Gentlemen With their Servants & four Soldiers Were Walking to Botany Bay. Met with a Body of 300 & upwards All Arm.d with Spears & Targets They Did not seem to feel their Superiority of Numbers but walk'd out of the Track our People were in & let them pass Without Showing Any Mischievous Intention - There is but one Way by Which I can Account for their being then Collected to Such Numbers. Which is that No Cannon had Ever been fired Since our Arrival on the Coast. (muskets indeed they had often heard & seen) till the 4.th of June. The Anniversary of His Majestys Birth Day. When the Sirius & Supply fir'd A Salute of 21 Cannon Each - At Sun Rise. Midday & at Sun Set Probably Some of the Natives had been Spectators from the Woods. Might take such A Terrible Noise. As A [.......] of War. & Were Collecting together for Mutual Assistance- They have Since been seen in familys As Usual In the Canoes, Catching fish & one Sunday three canoes Came Along side the Supply. but we Could not Prevail on Any of them to Come on board. there has been a Murder Committed by them on A Convict who with Another was sent into the Woods to Collect Some Herbs- & his Companion Was Wounded But on Enquiry We have Every Reason to believe that the Convicts had been the first Aggressors Some Days before-For my own part I Believe the Natives to be a Quiet Inoffensive People. Yet I Believe they are total Strangers to Personal fear- & have a Quick Sense of An Injury. The Convicts.(though they have Experienc.d Every Indulgence from the Governor. Whose Humanity & Attention to them Whilst At Sea & Since our Arrival here. Intitles[sic] him to their Esteem As their Best friend) in General Are A set of Hardend Wretches. The Tents were Scarce Set up before they Began Robing them ~ the Governor Began With them by trying. (After Sentence of Death had been Pass.d) What Lenient Measures Would do. & Alter'd their Sentence to Transportation on a Small Rocky Island in the Middle of the Harbour. Where they were fed upon Bread & Water During Pleasure. But this had no Good