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[Page 34]
Their cloaks consist of from 10 to twenty opossum Skins, neatly sewed together, and the fleshy side which is worn inwards ornamented with various devices, such as squares, chequers, and sometimes human figures in dancing attitudes. This is done by some sharp instrument which is slightly drawn over the skin, so as not to cut it through. Their war spears are barbed at one end with pieces of white spar, fixed on with the red gum, their lenght about 10 feet and when used with the throwing stick (which is the same as at Port Jackson) must be very dangerous offensive weapons. Their fish gigs are pointed with the leg bone of the Kangaroo, and with these they strike the rays which abound in the shoal water. No appearance of Canoe or water conveyance of any kind was seen*, and this circumstance seems to verify what I have already said of the scarcity of fish in the harbour. Their ingenuity in procuring food seems confirmed to the construction of a rude trap composed of sticks and grass upon the projecting stony points where the water fowl lighting at night are entangled and caught; but from the decayed state of these traps, this does not appear to be the season when they are useful.
The
* I have since learned that Capt Flinders found Canoes at the River in the Northern bight: