An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 2: An Account Of The English Colony In New South Wales, From Its First Settlement In 1788, To August 1801: With Remarks On The Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. Of The Native Inhabitants Of That Country. To Which Are Added, Some Particulars Of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From The Mss. Of Lieutenant-Governor King; And An Account Of The Voyage Performed By Captain Flinders And Mr. Bass.Collins, David
History
An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 2: An Account Of The English Colony In New South Wales, From Its First Settlement In 1788, To August 1801: With Remarks On The Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. Of The Native Inhabitants Of That Country. To Which Are Added, Some Particulars Of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From The Mss. Of Lieutenant-Governor King; And An Account Of The Voyage Performed By Captain Flinders And Mr. Bass.
Collins, David
New South Wales -- Description and travel
At daylight in the morning of Wednesday the 17th, the sloop was got under
weigh, and turned up with a southerly breeze, as long as the flood tide
lasted, anchoring about half past ten o'clock, a mile and a half from a
point with red cliffs. A little to the westward of this point, Mr.
Flinders found the latitude to be 27 degrees 16 minutes 25 seconds south.
The rocks here were of stone, strongly impregnated with iron, having some
small pieces of granite and crystal scattered about the shore.
From Red-cliff Point, they pulled over to a green head-land, about two
miles to the westward. The small reefs which lay off this head presented
a miniature of those which form such a barrier to the northern shore of
New South Wales, and render it almost inaccessible.
In a house which stood upon the west side of the head, they found a net,
or seine, about fourteen fathoms long, the meshes of which were much
larger than any English seine, and the twine much stronger; but its depth
was much less, being not more than three feet. At each end it had a
pointed stick of about the same length. Upon the shoal near the house,
there was more than one inclosure of a semicircular form, and the sticks
and branches of which it was made were set and interwoven so close, that
a fish could not pass between. This net Mr. Flinders supposed was to be
placed diametrically across the semicircle at high water, and thus secure
all the fish that might get within the inclosure, until the falling tide
should leave them dry. He brought away the net, as a proof of the
superior ingenuity of these over the natives of Port Jackson, leaving
them in return a hatchet, the only present which he had to make them; and
that they might the sooner learn the great use of their new acquisition,
and be consoled for the loss of their net, he cut down some branches and
laid them before the hut.
The wood, which at high water was collected for their fire, proved, when
cut up, to be cedar, and of a fine grain. The remains of a canoe made of
the stringy bark were lying upon the shore, near the house whence the net
had been taken.
There were traces of dogs, kangaroos, and emus upon the beach. Two hawks
of a moderate size were shot, but their plumage was unlike that of any
known at Port Jackson. That which was the most remarkable was of an
unvariegated dull red colour in the body, with a milk-white neck, breast,
and head.
In the afternoon they made some further progress with the sloop,
anchoring for the night on a soft muddy bottom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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