This was the first man they had spoken with in Van Diemen's land, and his frank and open deportment led them not only to form a favourable opinion of the disposition of its inhabitants, but to conjecture that if the country was peopled in the usual numbers, he would not have been the only one whom they would have met. A circumstance which corroborated this supposition was, that in the excursions made by Mr. Bass into the country, having seldom any other society than his two dogs, he could have been no great object of dread to a people ignorant of the effects of fire arms, and would certainly have been hailed by any one who might have seen him. They fell in with many huts along the different shores of the river, of the same bad construction as those of Port Dalrymple, but with fewer heaps of mussel shells lying near them. The natives of this place, probably, draw the principal part of their food from the woods; the bones of small animals, such as opossums, squirrels, kangaroo rats, and bandicoots, were numerous round their deserted fire-places; and the two spears which they saw in the hands of the man were similar to those used for hunting in other parts. Many trees also were observed to be notched. No canoes were ever seen, nor any tree so barked as to answer that purpose. And yet all the islands in Frederick Henry Bay had evidently been visited. Besides the small quadrupeds already mentioned, they observed the grey and red kangaroo, but not in any numbers, and once they heard the tread of an emu. The feathered tribes were apparently similar to those of Port Dalrymple. Here again they daily ate their swan, the flocks of which even exceeded those that they had before met with. The most formidable among the reptiles was the black snake with venomous fangs, and so much in colour resembling a burnt stick, that a close inspection only could detect the difference. Mr. Bass once, with his eyes cautiously directed towards the ground, stepped over one which was lying asleep among some black sticks, and would have passed on without observing it, had not its rustling and loud hiss attracted his attention the moment afterwards.