Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/395

 AND THKTR CUSTOMS. 383 higher opinion of them than I had formed from the behaviour of 1786 those seen in Captain Cook's voyage, and their confidence and manly 15 jfay. behavioor made me give the name of Manlj Cove to this plaoa The same people afterwards joined ns where we dined ; they were all armed with lances, two with shields and swords, the latter The made of wood, the gripe small, and I thought less formidable than a good stick. As their curiosity made them very troublesome when we were preparing our dinner, I made a <nrcle round us; there was little difficulty in making them understand they were not to come within it, and they then sat down very quiet. The white clay rubbed on the upper part of the face of one of these men had the appearance of a mask ; and a woman that appeared on some rocks near which the boats passed was marked with white on the face, neck, and breasts in such a manner as to render her the most horrid figure I ever saw. They are not often seen marked in this manner, and it is done only on some particular occasions. Several Native women landed from their canoes the morning the boats stopped in a small bay near the entrance of the harbour, when I was going to examine the coast to the northward, and three -of them were very big with child. Ribbons, baize, &c., they tied round their necks when they were given to them. Several of them had chil- dren with them in the canoes. They appeared to be less dieerful than the men, and under great subjection. Two canoes with three women in each, and one canoe with a man and woman, came off to us when we were a mile from the land, and came alongside the boat to receive some fish-hooks and lines which were offered them. Tn Broken Bay several women came down to the beach with the men where we landed, one of whom, a young woman, was very talkative and remarkably cheerful. They all readily assisted us in making a fire, and behaved in the most friendly manner. In a bay in which we landed to haul the seine, many of the natives joined us, and I now observed that the women had lost two joints cutting off of the little finger of the left hand. As they appeared to be all Jofntel^ married women, I supposed it to be a part of the marriage cere- mony ; but in going into a hut where there were several women and children, who did not seem inclined to show themselves, I found one woman who appeared to have had children, and a very old woman, on neither of whom this operation had been performed. There was likewise a child of five or six years of age that had lost the two joints. It is the women only that suffer this operation, Digitized by Google