Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0253
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[Page 253]
249.
April 1770. Botany Bay
some beads, ribbands, cloths &c. as presents & went away we however thought it no improper measure to take away with us all the lances which we could find about the houses, amounting in number to forty or fifty they were of various lenghs from 15 to 6 feet in lengh both those which were thrown at us & all we found except one had 4 points prongs headed with very sharp fish bones which were besmeard with a greenish colourd gum that at first gave me some suspicions of Poison -
the people were blacker than any we have seen in the Voyage tho by no means negroes their beards were thick & bushy & they seemd to have a redundancy of hair upon those parts of the body where it commonly grows the hair of their heads was bushy & thick but by no means wooley like that of a Negro they were of a common size lean & seemd active & nimble their voices were coarse & strong upon examining the lances we had taken from them we found that the very most of them had been usd in striking fish at least we concluded so from sea weed which was found stuck in among the four prongs - having taken the resolution before mentiond we returnd