Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0388
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[Page 388]
284
Some account of New Holland
Fish bones we saw near their fires provd them to be no indifferent artists.
For striking of Turtle they use a peg of wood well bearded & about a foot long this fastens into a socket of a staff of light wood as thick as a mans wrist & 8 or 9 feet long besides which they are tied together by a loose line of 3 or 4 fathoms in lengh the use of this must undoubtedly be that when the Turtle is struck the staff flies off from the peg & serves for a float to shew them where the the Turtle is as well as assists to tire him till they can with their canoes overtake & haul him in, that they throw this Dart with great force we had occasion to observe while we lay in Endeavours river, where a turtle which we killd had one of them intirely buried in its body just across its breast, it seemd to have enterd at the soft place where one of the fore fins work but not the least outward mark of the wound remaind Besides
Besides these things we saw near their fire places plentifull remains of lobsters shell fish of all kinds & to the Southward the skins of those Sea animals which from their