Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0382
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[Page 382]
278
Some account of New Holland
and a girl so many at least we saw & there might be more especialy women - who we did not see the men were remarkably short & slender built in proportion the tallest we measurd was 5 feet 9 the shortest 5-2. their medium hight seemd to be about five feet six as the tall man appeard more disproportioned in size from his fellows than the short one
[Margin note] Colours
what their absolute colour is is difficult to say they were so compleatly coverd with dirt, which seemd to have stuck to their hides from the day of their birth without their once having attemptd to remove it I tryd indeed by spitting upon my finger & rubbing but alterd the colour very little which as nearly as might be resembled that of Chocolate
[Margin note] appearance
the beards of several were bushy and thick their hair which as well as their beards was black they wore cropped close round their ears in some it was lank as a Europeans in others a little crispd as is common in the South sea Islands but in none of them at all resembling the wool of Negroes
[Margin note] fore teeth
they had also all their fore teeth in which two things they differ cheifly from those