determined to attempt proceeding, having heard that the settlement on Flinders Island was suffering for want of provisions; he therefore sailed from Preservation, and by the assistance of J. Munro, as pilot, passed Long Island, Badger Island, Chapel Island, and a number of others, and succeeded in reaching the anchorage under Green Island, the nearest place of safety to the settlement, at which a vessel could lie.
On approaching Flinders Island, a smoke was observed on the shore, which we afterwards learned was a signal to the boats of the Settlement that were out, where they could not see the cutter. Two boats soon came off, in which were the Commandant, Ensign William J. Darling, and A. Mc'Lachlan, the surgeon of the Establishment for the Aborigines. The arrival of the Charlotte was hailed with joy, the white inhabitants of the settlement having been reduced in supplies, to potatoes and oatmeal, and the Aborigines, who do not like oatmeal, to potatoes and rice ; so that had it not been for the supply of Mutton-birds which they were able to obtain, they would have been greatly straitened. Happily their tea and sugar also, were not exhausted; for of tea, as a beverage, the Aborigines are not less fond than the Europeans, from whom they have acquired this taste.
Before proceeding with my Journal, I will introduce a brief notice of Van Diemens Land and its Aboriginal Inhabitants, and of their history up to the time we first visited them on Flinders Island.
