Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/45

] garment of one was a strip of kangarou's skin, about two inches broad, which was wrapped six or seven times round the waist; another had a collar of skin round the neck; and some had a slender cord bound several times round the head. I afterwards learned, that most of these cords were fabricated from the bark of a shrub of the spurge family, very common in this country.

A pole-axe, which we used for cutting off some branches from the trees, excited the admiration of these people. As they perceived us willing to give them any thing in our possession, they did not scruple to beg it; and when we granted their request, they were overcome with joy. They were fully sensible of the value of our knives, likewise; and received a few tin vessels with pleasure. When I shewed them my watch, it attracted their desire; and one of them, in particular, expressed his wish to possess it: but he quickly desisted from his request, when he found, that I was not willing to part with it.

The readiness with which we gave them our things, no doubt, led them to presume, that they might take any thing belonging to us, without asking for it: this obliged us to set bounds to their desires; but we found, to our great satisfaction, that they returned to us, without the least