Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/17

 century) is that certain graven symbols were agreed upon as a warning of certain facts. Not words, but ideas were signified by certain marks. The institution of heralds (mentioned in page 102 of chap. 2) facilitated the conveyance of messages by means of the marks; and if the author's memory be not dimmed by lapse of time, the marks employed by one system of tribes were not the same as those employed by another. The minutest deviation from the appropriate symbol would be at once detected. The Kamilaroi tribes were numerous, and a summons to war could rapidly be sent in many directions if danger was apprehended. The subject seems to have been recently discussed at a meeting of the British Association.

There has been much discussion as to the extent to which Captain Cook's own words were embodied in the official narrative edited by Dr. (afterwards Sir) John Hawkesworth. The Admiralty confided to