Joseph Banks

“ I shall say no more than that we had some time ago learnd to eat every identical species which came in our way: a hawk or a crow was to us as delicate and perhaps a better relished meal than a partridge or Pheasant to those who have plenty of dainties: we wanted nothing to reccomend any food but its not being salt, that alone was sufficient to make it a delicacy. ”

“ As for colour they would undoubtedly be calld blacks by any one not usd to consider attentively the colours of different Nations; myself should never have thought of such distinctions had I not seen the effect of Sun and wind upon the natives of the South sea Islands, where many of the Better sort of people who keep themselves close at home are nearly as white as Europeans, while the poorer sort, obligd in their business of fishing etc. to expose their naked bodies to all the inclemencies of the Climate, have some among them but little lighter than the New Hollanders. ”

“ Upon the whole New Holland, tho in every respect the most barren countrey I have seen, is not so bad but that between the productions of sea and Land a company of People who should have the misfortune of being shipwreckd upon it might support themselves, even by the resources that we have seen. ”

“ In this instance again providence seems to act the part of a leveler, doing much towards putting all ranks into an equal state of wants and consequently of real poverty: the Great and Magnificent want as much and may be more than the midling: they again in proportion more than the inferior: each rank still looking higher than his station but confining itself to a certain point above which it knows not how to wish, not knowing at least perfectly what is there enjoyd. ”

“ We often admird to see a man run along shore who seemd to carry no one thing in his hand and yet as he ran along, just stooping down every 50 or 100 yards, smoak and fire were seen among the drift wood and dirt at that place almost the instant he had left it. ”

“ Naked as these people are when abroad they are scarce at all better defended from the injuries of the weather when at home, if that name can with propriety be given to their houses--as I beleive they never make any stay in them but wandering like the Arabs from place to place set them up whenever they meet with one where sufficient supplys of food are to be met with, and as soon as these are exhausted remove to another leaving the houses behind, which are framd with less art or rather less industry than any habitations of human beings probably that the world can shew. ”

“ Thus live these I had almost said happy people, content with little nay almost nothing, Far enough removd from the anxieties attending upon riches, or even the possession of what we Europeans call common necessaries: anxieties intended maybe by Providence to counterbalance the pleasure arising from the Posession of wishd for attainments, consequently increasing with increasing wealth, and in some measure keeping up the balance of hapiness between the rich and the poor. ”

“ But should a people live inland who supported themselves by cultivation these inhabitants of the sea coast must certainly have learn'd to imitate them in some degree at least, otherwise their reason must be supposd to hold a rank little superior to that of monkies. ”

“ The Sea has I beleive been universaly found to be the cheif source of supplys to Indians ignorant of the arts of cultivation: the wild produce of the Land alone seems scarce able to support them at all seasons, at least I do not remember to have read of any inland nation who did not cultivate the ground more or less, even the North Americans who were so well versd in hunting sowd their Maize. ”

“ Tools among them we saw almost none, indeed having no arts which require any it is not to be expected that they should have many. A stone made sharp at the edge and a wooden mallet were the only ones we saw that had been formd by art; the use of these we supposd to be in making the notches in the bark of high trees by which they climb them for purposes unknown to us, and for cutting and perhaps driving wedges to take of the bark which they must have in large peices for making Canoes, Sheilds and water buckets and also for covering their houses. ”

“ We had great reason to beleive that at some season of the year the weather is much more moderate than we found it, otherwise the Indians never could have venturd in any canoes that we saw half so far from the main Land as Islands were on which we saw evident marks of their having been, such as decayd houses, fires, the before mentiond Turtle bones etc. May be at this more moderate time they may make and use such Canoes, and when the Blustering season comes on may convert the bark of which they were made to the purposes of covering houses, making Water buckets etc. ”

“ It is very probable that the Dry season which was at its hight when we were there had destroyd the leaves of the plants so that we had no guides, while the Indians knowing well the stalks might find them easily. Whether they knew or ever made use of the Coccos I cannot tell; the immence sharpness of every part of this vegetable before it is dressd makes it probable that any people who have not learnd the uses of it from others may remain for ever ignorant of them. ”

“ For food they seem to depend very much tho not intirely upon the Sea. Fish of all kinds, Turtle and even crabs they strike with their Lances very dextrously. These are generaly bearded with broad beards and their points smeard over with a kind of hard resin which makes them peirce a hard body far easier than they would do without it. In the sourthern parts these fish spears had 4 prongs and besides the resin were pointed with the sharp bone of a fish; to the Northward again their spears had only one point ”

“ A Soil so barren and at the same time intirely void of the helps derivd from cultivation could not be supposd to yeild much towards the support of man. We had been so long at sea with but a scanty supply of fresh provisions that we had long usd to eat every thing we could lay our hands upon, fish, flesh or vegetable which only was not poisonous ”

“ That such sheilds were frequently usd in that neighbourhood we had however sufficient proof, often seeing upon trees the places from whence they had been cut and sometimes the sheilds themselves cut out but not yet taken off from the tree; the edges of the bark only being a little raisd with wedges; which shews that these people certainly know how much thicker and stronger bark becomes by being sufferd to remain upon the tree some time after it is cut round. ”

“ Of Land animals they probably eat every kind that they can kill which probably does not amount to any large number, every species being here shy and cautious in a high degree. The only vegetables we saw them use were Yams of 2 sorts, the one long and like a finger the other round and coverd with stringy roots, both sorts very small but sweet; they were so scarce where we were that we never could find the plants that producd them, tho we often saw the places where they had been dug up by the Indians very newly. ”

“ They stung indeed but so little that it was scarce to be felt: the cheif inconvenience in handling the roots came from the infinite number, myriads would come in an instant out of many holes and running over the hand tickle so as to be scarce endurable. ”

“ For the article of timber, there is certainly no want of trees of more than midling size and some in the valleys very large, but all of a very hard nature; our carpenters who cut them down for fire wood complaind much that their tools were damagd by them. Some trees there were also to the Northward whose soft bark,which easily peels off, is in the East Indies applyd to the use of calking ships in Lieu of Oakum. ”

“ But industrious as they are their courage if possible excells their industry; if we accidentaly shook the branches on which such nest [s] were hung thousands would immediately throw themselves down, many of which falling upon us made us sensible of their stings and revengefull dispositions, especialy if as was often the case they got posession of our necks and hair. Their stings were by some esteemd not much less painfull than those of a bee, the pain however lasted only a few seconds. Another sort there were quite black whose manner of living was most extrordinary. ”

“ The Banks of Bays indeed are generaly clothd with thick mangroves sometimes for a mile or more in breadth; the soil under these is rank mud always overflowd every spring tide. Inland you sometimes meet with a bog upon which the grass grows rank and thick so that no doubt the soil is sufficiently fertile. The Valleys also between the hills where runs of water come down are thick clothd with underwood, but they are generaly very steep and narrow, so that upon the Whole the fertile soil Bears no kind of Proportion to that which seems by nature doomed to everlasting Barrenness. ”

“ We have reason to suppose that when they travel these are carried by the women from place to place; indeed the few opportunities we had of seeing the women they were generaly employd in some laborious occupation as fetching wood, gathering shell fish etc.
The men again maybe constantly carry their arms in their hands, 3 or 4 lances in one and the machine with which they throw them in the other; these serve them in the double capacity of defending them from their enemies and striking any animal or fish that they may meet with. ”

“ That they are a very pusilanimous people we had reason to suppose from every part of their conduct in every place where we were except Sting Rays bay, and there only the instance of the two people who opposd the Landing of our two boats full of men for near a quarter of an hour and were not to be drove away till serveral times wounded with small shot, which we were obligd to do as at that time we suspected their Lances to be poisned from the quantity of gum which was about their points ”

“ From them appear how small are the real wants of human nature, which we Europeans have increasd to an excess which would certainly appear incredible to these people could they be told it. Nor shall we cease to increase them as long as Luxuries can be invented and riches found for the purchase of them; and how soon these Luxuries degenerate into necessaries may be sufficiently evincd by the universal use of strong liquors, Tobacco, spices, Tea etc. ”

“ The ants however made ample amends for the want of them, 2 sorts in particular: one green as a leaf and living upon trees where he built his nest, in size between that of a mans head and his fist, by bending the leaves together and glueing them with a whiteish papery substance which held them firmly together. ”

“ Many thousands indeed are employd in the joint work; I have seen them holding down such a leaf, as many as could stand by one another each drawing down with all his might while others within were employd to fasten the glue. How they had bent it down I had not an opportunity of seeing, but that it was held down by main strengh I easily provd by disturbing a part of them, on which the leaf bursting from the rest returnd to its natural situation and I had an opportunity to try with my finger the strengh that these little animals must have usd to get it down. ”

“ Another reason we have to imagine that such a moderate season exists, and that the Winds are then upon the Eastern board as we found them, is that whatever Indian houses or sleeping places we saw on these Islands were built upon the summits of small hills if there were any, or if not, in places where no bushes or wood could intercept the course of the wind, and their shelter was always turnd to the Eastward. ”

“ They get fire very expeditiously with two peices of stick very readily and nimbly: the one must be round and 8 or nine inches long and both it and the other should be dry and soft; the round one they sharpen a little at one end and pressing it upon the other turn it round with the palms of their hands just as Europeans do a chocolate mill, often shifting their hands up and running them down quick to make the pressure as hard as possible ”

“ Our glasses might deceive us in many things but their colour and want of cloths we certainly did see and wherever we came ashore the houses and sheds, places where they had dressd victuals with heated stones, and trees notched for the convenience of climbing them sufficiently evincd them to be the same people. ”

“ Dirty as these people are they seem to be intirely free from Lice, a circumstance rarely observd among the most cleanly Indians, and which here is the more remarkable as their hair was generaly Matted and filthy enough. ”

“ It is probable however that these people have some method of Preparing them by which their poisonous quality is destroyd, as the inhabitants of the East Indian Isles are said to do by boiling them and steeping them 24 hours in water, then drying them and using them to thicken broth ”