weapons of defence in the places from whence they had fled: no doubt, they either carried them away, or carefully concealed them, for fear that we might employ them againſt themſelves.
Theſe ſcattered huts indicated a very ſcanty population; and the heaps of ſhells which we found near the ſea-ſhore, ſhewed that theſe ſavages derive their principal means of ſubſiſtence from the ſhell-fiſh which they find there. As we only once diſcovered human bones in this country, and thoſe partly burnt, it appears that they do not expoſe the bodies of their dead to the open air. It is difficult to know whether it be their uſual cuſtom to burn them: poſſibly they bury them in the earth, or throw them into the ſea.
The great number of tracks marked with prints of the feet of quadrupeds, ſhew that they abound in this country. They probably remain during the day-time in the thickeſt part of theſe inacceſſible foreſts.
A great number of ſmall rivulets diſcharge themſelves into the harbour. The ground was here ſo full of moiſture, that wherever a hole was dug of a moderate depth, it immediately became filled with water.
We generally took copious draughts of fiſhes
