The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay: With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1789) — John Shaqi
The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay: With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1789)Phillip, Arthur
History
The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay: With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1789)
Phillip, Arthur
Natural history -- Australia -- New South Wales; New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Norfolk Island
The men are distinguished in a different manner: their fingers are not
mutilated, but most of them, as other voyagers have observed, want the
right front tooth in the upper jaw. Governor Phillip having remarked
this, pointed out to them that he had himself lost one of his front
teeth, which occasioned a general clamour; and it was thought he derived
some merit in their opinion from this circumstance. The perforation of
the cartilage that divides the nostrils, and the strange disfiguring
ornament of a long bone or stick thrust through it, was now observed, as
described by Captain Cook; and the same appellation of sprit-sail yard,
was ludicrously applied to it by the sailors. But several very old men
were seen in this excursion who had not lost the tooth, nor had their
noses prepared to receive that grotesque appendage: probably, therefore,
these are marks of distinction: ambition must have its badges, and where
cloaths are not worn, the body itself must be compelled to bear them.
Whether the scars raised upon the skin were of this kind, or as Captain
Cook understood by their signs, marks of sorrow for deceased friends,
could not now be learnt. They are of a very singular nature: sometimes
the skin is raised from the flesh for several inches, appearing as if it
were filled with wind, and forming a round surface of more than a quarter
of an inch diameter. Their bodies are scarred in various parts,
particularly about the breast and arms, and frequently on the instep. Nor
does the head always escape; one man in particular, putting aside the
hair on the forepart of his head, showed a scar, and then pointing to one
on the foot, and to others on different parts of the body, seemed to
intimate that he thought himself much honoured by having these marks upon
him from head to foot. The women did not appear equally forward to
produce the mutilated finger; nor was it always possible to ascertain
whether they had lost the joints or not. For though they made no attempt
to secrete themselves, nor seemed impressed with any idea that one part
of the body more requires concealment than another, yet there was a
shyness and timidity among them which frequently kept them at a distance.
They never would approach so readily as the men, and sometimes would not
even land from their canoes, but made signs that what was offered should
be given to the men. We are not yet enough acquainted with the manners of
the people to decide whether this reserve proceeds from the fears of the
women, or from the jealousy of their husbands, by whom they are evidently
kept in great subordination.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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