Joseph Banks - Endeavour Journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0296
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[Page 296]
Georges Island
28. Many of our freinds were with us very early even before day some strangers with them Terapo was observd to be among the women on the outside of the gate I went out to her & brought her in tears stood in her eyes which the moment she enterd the tent began to flow plentifully I began to enquire the cause she instead of answering me took from under her garment a sharks tooth & struck it into her head with great force 6 or 7 times a profusion of Blood followd these strokes & alarmd me not a little for two or 3 minutes she bled freely more than a pint in quantity during that time she talkd loud in a most melancholy tone I was not a little movd at so singular a spectacle & holding her in my arms did not cease to enquire what might be the cause of so strange an action she took no notice of me till the bleeding ceas'd nor did any Indian in the tent take any of her all talkd & laugh'd as if nothing melancholy was going forward but what surpriz'd me most of all was that as soon as the bleeding ceas'd she lookd up smiling & immediately began to collect peices of cloth which during her bleeding she had thrown down to catch the blood these she carried away out of the tents & threw into the sea carefully dispersing them abroad as if desirous that no one should be reminded of her action by the sight of them she then went into the river & after washing her whole body returnd to the tents as lively & chearfull as any one in them
After breakfast Mr Molineux came ashore & the moment he enterd the tent fixing his eyes upon a woman who was setting there declard her to be the Dolphins Queen she also instantly acknowledg'd him to be a person who she had before seen our attention was now intirely diverted from every other object to the examination of a personage who we had heard so much spoken of in Europe she appeard to be about 40 tall & very lusty her skin white & her eyes full of meaning she might have been hansome when young but now few or no traces of it were left.