Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/135

Gulph of Carpentaria.]

In the upper parts of the port the country was well covered with wood, mostly eucalyptus; but near the entrance it was little better than bare sand, with some scattered trees of the casuarina and pandanus: a stone of imperfectly concreted coral sand and shells formed the basis. Foot marks of the kanguroo were imprinted on the sand, and a dog was seen; drupes of the pandanus, which had been sucked, lay in every direction, and small cockle shells were scattered on the beaches. I sought in vain for the canoe which had landed here, nor did I find any huts of the natives.

Before quitting the shore, a hatchet was made fast to the branch of a tree, and set up conspicuously near the water side. We had scarcely shoved off, when the party of Indians, sixteen in number, made their appearance and called to us; but when the boat's head was turned toward them, they ran away. On the south side of the entrance were four other natives, who also ran at our approach; we therefore set up another hatchet for them on the beach, and returned back to the ship.

These people were all naked; and in colour, as in every thing else, seemed to have a perfect resemblance to the inhabitants of the east and south coasts of Terra Australis. In Torres' Strait bows and arrows are the offensive weapons; but here we saw spears only: each man had several in his hand, and something which was supposed to be a throwing stick.

This small opening appears to be the Coen River of the Dutch chart; but the entrance is too small and shallow to admit any thing larger than boats: its latitude is 12° 13′ south, and longitude 141° 47′ east; and the variation of the compass, observed with the ship's head in the magnetic meridian, was 4° 36′ east. The tide was running from south-west, at ten in the morning, and on entering the inlet it was found to be setting in with considerable strength; at two in the afternoon the flood was still running; and admitting that it would be high water an hour afterwards, as seemed probable, the time would be five hours and a half after the moon passed the lower