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water out, which they are constantly obliged to do to prevent their canoe from sinking; in shoal water the paddles are superseded by a pole, by which this fragile bark is propelled.  We endeavoured to persuade them to bring off some spears to barter, for they had no weapon of any description with them, but they evidently would not understand our meaning.  In the evening our gentlemen proceeded to return these visits, at the spot which was pointed out by our morning guests:  on landing they were met by the natives and conducted to their huts, where they saw the whole of the male part of this tribe, which consisted of fifteen, of whom two were old and decrepit, and one of these was reduced to a perfect skeleton by ulcerated sores on his legs that had eaten away the flesh and left large portions of the bone bare; and this miserable object was wasting away without any application or covering to his sores.

No teeth were deficient in their jaws; all had the septum narium perforated, but without wearing any appendage in it.  The only ornament they appeared to possess was a bracelet of plaited hair, worn round the upper arm.  An open wicker basket, neatly and even tastefully made of strips of the Flagellaria indica, was obtained from one of them by Mr. Roe, in which they carry their food and fishing lines; besides which each native has his gourd, the fruit of the Cucurbita lagenaria, which grows plentifully on all parts of the beach, and furnishes a very useful vessel to these simple savages for the purpose of carrying water.

At the north-east end of the sandy beach a fine stream was noticed, from which water might with facility be obtained.  Near this stream Mr. Cunningham observed several of their ovens, similar to those used by the natives of Taheite.  A circular hole is dug, at the bottom of which is placed a layer of flat stones, on which, after they have been heated by fire, the meat is placed; this is covered by another layer of stones, and over them they make a fire which very soon cooks their repast.  In short, the natives of this bay seem to be much more ingenious and to understand better what is useful than the generality of their countrymen.*

(Footnote.  Lieutenant Jeffreys, of the Kangaroo, armed transport, on his passage to Ceylon in 1815 communicated with these natives; they came on board his vessel and conducted themselves in an amicable manner towards him.)

June 21.

The next morning we left Rockingham Bay; and steering to the northward passed within the three easternmost of the Family Islands, as the Endeavour did, and landed on the north-easternmost of the group, where the latitude was found to be 18 degrees 2 minutes 9 seconds.  This island, like the rest, is of small extent, and is surrounded by huge detached rounded blocks of granite, over which it was not easy to pass.  It rises to a peaked summit of a moderate height, but the face of the hill is so thickly covered with underwood and climbing plants as to render it perfectly inaccessible.