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The whole of the Island went first by the name of New Holland, but it now applied to the north and west parts of the country.—The eastern part, called New South Wales, was taken possession of, in his late Majesty's name, by Captain Cook, and now forms a part of the British dominions a colony being lately formed there, chiefly of the convicts sentenced to transportation.
The inhabitants of this part of New Holland have little of that wild or fierce appearance common to the people of this island, but, on the contrary, seem mild and cheerful, without reserve or jealousy to strangers. This, however. may arise from their having little to lose or care for. With respect to personal activity or genius, little can be said of either. They do not seem to possess the first in any remarkable degree; and as for the last, they have, to appearance, less than the half-animated inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, who have not invention sufficient to make clothing for defending them from the rigour of their climate, though furnished with materials. It must be owned, however, that they are masters of some contrivance, in their manner of cutting their arms and bodies in lines of different lengths and directions, which are raised considerably above the skin; so that it is difficult to guess the method they use in executing this embroidery of their persons. Their colour is a dull black, like that of the Negroes. It would seem also, that they sometimes heighten their black colour, by smutting their bodies, as a mark is left behind on any clean substance,such
