into a _cul-de-sac_ on Tasman's peninsula. The attempt failed; the
natives, having tied up their dogs, stole during one night through the
lines. This is far from surprising, when their practised senses, and
usual manner of crawling after wild animals is considered. I have been
assured that they can conceal themselves on almost bare ground, in a
manner which until witnessed is scarcely credible; their dusky bodies
being easily mistaken for the blackened stumps which are scattered all
over the country. I was told of a trial between a party of Englishmen
and a native, who was to stand in full view on the side of a bare hill;
if the Englishmen closed their eyes for less than a minute, he would
squat down, and then they were never able to distinguish him from the
surrounding stumps. But to return to the hunting-match; the natives
understanding this kind of warfare, were terribly alarmed, for they at
once perceived the power and numbers of the whites. Shortly afterwards
a party of thirteen belonging to two tribes came in; and, conscious of
their unprotected condition, delivered themselves up in despair.
Subsequently by the intrepid exertions of Mr. Robinson, an active and
benevolent man, who fearlessly visited by himself the most hostile of
the natives, the whole were induced to act in a similar manner. They
were then removed to an island, where food and clothes were provided
them. Count Strzelecki states, [6] that "at the epoch of their
deportation in 1835, the number of natives amounted to 210. In 1842,
that is, after the interval of seven years, they mustered only
fifty-four individuals; and, while each family of the interior of New
South Wales, uncontaminated by contact with the whites, swarms with
children, those of Flinders' Island had during eight years an accession
of only fourteen in number!"
The Beagle stayed here ten days, and in this time I made several
pleasant little excursions, chiefly with the object of examining the
geological structure of the immediate neighbourhood. The main points
of interest consist, first in some highly fossiliferous strata,
belonging to the Devonian or Carboniferous period; secondly, in proofs
of a late small rise of the land; and lastly, in a solitary and
superficial patch of yellowish limestone or travertin, which contains
numerous impressions of leaves of trees, together with land-shells, not
now existing. It is not improbable that this one small quarry includes
the only remaining record of the vegetation of Van Diemen's Land during
one former epoch.
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