they aſſerted that the age of this woman was no ſecurity for her againſt the attempts of ſome of the ſailors: however, ſhe was ſtill young enough to make her eſcape, leaving behind her two baſkets, in which were found a lobſter, ſome muſcles, and a few roots of a fern, which I recogniſed to belong to a new ſpecies of pteris, of which I had before collected a conſiderable quantity. Probably the ſavages chew theſe roots, in order to expreſs the nutritious juice, which always abounds more or leſs in plants of this ſpecies.
This woman, like the other ſavages, had the ſkin of a kangarou wrapped about her ſhoulders: ſhe had likewiſe another of theſe ſkins bound round her waiſt in the form of an apron. I ſuppoſe that ſhe had provided herſelf with this piece of clothing, more on account of the inclemency of the ſeaſon, than from a principle of modeſty; for thoſe of the ſavage women who were ſeen at Adventure-bay by Captain Cook, at a diſtance of not many hundred toiſes from this place, were ſtark naked: and it is not probable that there ſhould be much difference of manners between the natives of two countries ſo near to each other.
28th. A wind from the north blew in ſuch violent ſqualls during the night, that the Eſperance was ſet adrift, though ſhe held by a very large anchor.
We
