Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia: Performed Between the Years 1818 and 1822, Volume 1

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Libraries Board of South Australia, 1827 - Australia
 

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Page 200 - Their canoes were not more than five feet long, and generally too small for two people; two small strips of bark, five or six inches square, serves the double purpose of paddling and for baling the water out, which they are constantly obliged to do to prevent their canoe from sinking ; in shoal water the paddles are superseded by a pole, by which this fragile bark is propelled.
Page 134 - SSE, which courses carry them to the coast of New Holland. The body of the fleet then steers eastward, leaving here and there a division of fifteen or sixteen proas under the command of an inferior rajah, whose is the only proa that is provided with a compass.
Page 92 - As a harbour, Port Essington is equal, if not superior, to any I ever saw ; and from its proximity to the Moluccas and New Guinea, and its being in the direct line of communication between Port Jackson and India, as well as from its commanding situation with respect to the passage through Torres' Strait, it must, at no very distant period, become a place of great trade, and of very considerable importance.
Page 135 - Pobasso (the rajah in command) knew nothing of them : he had heard of Coepang, a Dutch settlement, but said it was upon another island.
Page 134 - His proa is the only vessel which is provided with a compass ; it also has one or two swivels, or small guns, and is, perhaps, armed with muskets. Their provisions chiefly consist of rice and cocoa-nuts ; and their water, which during the westerly monsoon is easily replenished on all parts of the coast, is carried in joints of bamboo.
Page 193 - The numbers seen by us were indeed incredible ; the stem of every grass tree, ( Xanthorrha-a,) which plant grows abundantly upon the hills, was covered with them ; and on their taking wing, the air appeared, as it were, in perfect motion.
Page 134 - They get the trepang by diving in from three to eight fathoms water; and where it is abundant a man will bring up eight or ten at a time. The mode of preserving it is this: the animal is split down one side, boiled and pressed with a weight of stones, then stretched open...
Page 134 - Trepang by diving, in from three to eight fathoms water ; and where it is abundant, a man will bring up eight or ten at a time. The mode of preserving it is this : — the animal is split down one side, boiled, and pressed with a weight of stones, then stretched open...
Page 193 - We found also an incredible number of butterflies, so that for the space of three or four 'acres the air was so crowded with them, that millions were to be seen in every direction, at the same time that every branch and twig was covered with others that were not upon the wing.
Page 111 - Head, they stopped and invited us to land, which we should have done, had it not been that the noises they made soon collected a large body of natives, who came running from all directions to their assistance; and, in a short time, there were twenty-eight or thirty natives assembled.

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