-
Articles/Ads
Article NEW SOUTH WALES, ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
New South Wales,
with a sort of spear , or dart , extremely long ( generally pointed in the . same manner as the fishing instrument ) , and a kind of wooden sling to throw them with , which they use very dexterously , throwing with precision to a very considerable distance , as several of the convicts have fatally experienced . Some of these instruments are a little carved with shells , but in a rude manner . The writer of this has in his . possession specimens of the different instruments & c . similar ones
, to most of which are deposited in Parkinson ' s Museum . It is said , these people worship the sun , and that their marriages are solemnized by the man ' s striking the woman on the head with a womrah ( cudgel ) jand sucking the blood from the wound * . The most conciliatory measures have all along been adopted , in order to their civilization , but generally speaking they are shy ancl
unsocial . They learn the English language with facility : their own ( if it deserves to be called one ) seems very mean and nowise comprehensive . On Governor Phillip ' s return to England , two of the natives came oyer , who appeared to be tolerably civilized . Several of the different kinds of animalsof which there is not a great variety of species ,
, were brought over at the same time ; and likewise specimens of the plants , & c . which are preserved in one of the Royal Gardens . ; The animals in this country , the Kangaroo , excepted , are not particularly interesting to the naturalist . Their dogs , called by the '
natives Jttngoqs , resemble both the won and fox , but the latter most . A dog and bitch were brought to England , which had a fierce aspect , "but were both very tame , though the female had been caught wild . These animals are not kept domestically by the natives , but eaten by them , and are said , to be good food , especially if properly fattened for the purpose : but the Kangaroo is the animal most useful to the nativesthe bones of whichas well as the flesh and skinare to them
, , , very valuable ; and that . and the dog are the only quadrupeds yet discovered of which the flesh is eatable . There are Opossums , Guaijoes f , a wild cat , nearly , of the form and size of a weazel , and spotted like a leopard ; a flying squirrel ; a rat , of the size and colour of the common Norway rat , resembling the Kangaroo , the hinder being much longer than the fore legs , and snakes of a great length . On
the rocky shore , at low water mark , are abundance of oysters uncommonly large and fine . Plere . is a great variety of birds , of the most beautiful plumage ; those resembling ours very large , comparatively . Paroquets , extremely numerous ; variety of pigeons ; a magpie , nearly the same as ours , but rather blacker ; a tall long-legged bird , of a cream colour , very large , . ' called an Hamoo , somewhat like an ostrich ; aud { rara avis ) a black swan , or at least a large aquatic fowl of that colour , having great resemblance to it .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
New South Wales,
with a sort of spear , or dart , extremely long ( generally pointed in the . same manner as the fishing instrument ) , and a kind of wooden sling to throw them with , which they use very dexterously , throwing with precision to a very considerable distance , as several of the convicts have fatally experienced . Some of these instruments are a little carved with shells , but in a rude manner . The writer of this has in his . possession specimens of the different instruments & c . similar ones
, to most of which are deposited in Parkinson ' s Museum . It is said , these people worship the sun , and that their marriages are solemnized by the man ' s striking the woman on the head with a womrah ( cudgel ) jand sucking the blood from the wound * . The most conciliatory measures have all along been adopted , in order to their civilization , but generally speaking they are shy ancl
unsocial . They learn the English language with facility : their own ( if it deserves to be called one ) seems very mean and nowise comprehensive . On Governor Phillip ' s return to England , two of the natives came oyer , who appeared to be tolerably civilized . Several of the different kinds of animalsof which there is not a great variety of species ,
, were brought over at the same time ; and likewise specimens of the plants , & c . which are preserved in one of the Royal Gardens . ; The animals in this country , the Kangaroo , excepted , are not particularly interesting to the naturalist . Their dogs , called by the '
natives Jttngoqs , resemble both the won and fox , but the latter most . A dog and bitch were brought to England , which had a fierce aspect , "but were both very tame , though the female had been caught wild . These animals are not kept domestically by the natives , but eaten by them , and are said , to be good food , especially if properly fattened for the purpose : but the Kangaroo is the animal most useful to the nativesthe bones of whichas well as the flesh and skinare to them
, , , very valuable ; and that . and the dog are the only quadrupeds yet discovered of which the flesh is eatable . There are Opossums , Guaijoes f , a wild cat , nearly , of the form and size of a weazel , and spotted like a leopard ; a flying squirrel ; a rat , of the size and colour of the common Norway rat , resembling the Kangaroo , the hinder being much longer than the fore legs , and snakes of a great length . On
the rocky shore , at low water mark , are abundance of oysters uncommonly large and fine . Plere . is a great variety of birds , of the most beautiful plumage ; those resembling ours very large , comparatively . Paroquets , extremely numerous ; variety of pigeons ; a magpie , nearly the same as ours , but rather blacker ; a tall long-legged bird , of a cream colour , very large , . ' called an Hamoo , somewhat like an ostrich ; aud { rara avis ) a black swan , or at least a large aquatic fowl of that colour , having great resemblance to it .