A circumstance which corroborated this
supposition was, that in the excursions made by Mr. Bass into the
country, having seldom any other society than his two dogs, he could have
been no great object of dread to a people ignorant of the effects of fire
arms, and would certainly have been hailed by any one who might have seen
him.
They fell in with many huts along the different shores of the river, of
the same bad construction as those of Port Dalrymple, but with fewer
heaps of mussel shells lying near them. The natives of this place,
probably, draw the principal part of their food from the woods; the bones
of small animals, such as opossums, squirrels, kangaroo rats, and
bandicoots, were numerous round their deserted fire-places; and the two
spears which they saw in the hands of the man were similar to those used
for hunting in other parts. Many trees also were observed to be notched.
No canoes were ever seen, nor any tree so barked as to answer that
purpose. And yet all the islands in Frederick Henry Bay had evidently
been visited.
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