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they had cut off from the under part and left part of the upper side overhanging; the inside also was not ill hollowd and the sides tolerably thin. What burthen it was capable of carrying we had many times an opportunity to see: 3 people or at most 4 were as many as dare venture in it and if any more wanted to come over the river, which in that place was about a half a mile broad, one of these would carry back the Canoe and fetch them.
This was the only peice of workmanship which I saw among the New Hollanders that seemd to require tools. How they had hollowd her out or cut the ends I cannot guess but upon the whole the work was not ill done; Indian patience might do a great deal with shells &c. without the use of stone axes, which if they had had they would propably have used to form her outside as well as inside. That such a canoe takes them up much time and trouble in the making may be concluded from our seeing so few, and still more from the moral certainty which we have that the
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) *292, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-306.html