Observing this, he gave it to one of the people to take away; but this he
afterwards thought was wrong, as tending to make them suspicious of every
thing they saw, and thus be a means of destroying their friendly
intercourse. By this shot belt they seemed to recognise Mr Flinders as
the person who had fired upon them before, and were more desirous that he
should keep at a distance than any other person. Three of the sailors,
who were Scotch, were desired to dance a reel, but, for want of music,
they made a very bad performance, which was contemplated by the natives
without much amusement or curiosity. Finding they could not be persuaded
to visit the sloop, our people parted with them, but in a very friendly
manner.
Having weighed the anchors (Thursday the 25th) they turned two or three
miles further up the river in the afternoon, for the convenience of being
nearer to the Glass-House peaks, which he now intended to visit. In the
deepest parts of the river, there were from four to six fathoms water;
but the channel was much divided, and narrow.
Pages:
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439