Page:New history of Botanybay (sic) and Port Jackson.pdf/6

 of New Holland, denominated by that Navigator New South Wales. It is well sheltered from all winds, which induced him to anchor there. He sent an officer to sound the entrance, who reported, on his return that in a cove, a little within the harbour, some of the natives came down to the beach and invited him to land, by signs and words, of which he knew not the meaning. All of them were armed with long pikes, and a wooden weapon, shaped somewhat like a scymetar, which was two feet and a half long. The Indians, who had not followed the boat, seeing the ship approach, used many threatening gestures, and brandished their weapons.

As Botany Bay is not many leagues distant from Port Jackson, and the native are exactly the same in their dispositions, manners, and customs, as also the animal and vegetable productions, and the climate and soil varying but in a small degree, we shall therefore copiously describe them under the head of Port Jackson as related by the new Colonists, who had more time to observe, and more leisure to digest these particulars, than the first discoverers.