on, it is necessary to
show that they had the gift of reason, and that they knew the distinction
between _right_ and _wrong_, as well as between what food was good and
what was bad. Of these latter qualities their senses informed them; but
the knowledge of right and wrong could only proceed from reason. It is
true, they had no distinction in terms for these qualities--wee-re and
bood-yer-re alike implying what was good and bad, and right and wrong.
Instances however were not wanting of their using them to describe the
sensations of the mind as well as of the senses; thus their enemies were
wee-re; their friends bood-yer-re. On our speaking of cannibalism, they
expressed great horror at the mention, and said it was wee-re. On seeing
any of our people punished or reproved for ill-treating them, they
expressed their approbation, and said it was bood-yer-re, it was right.
Midnight murders, though frequently practised among them whenever passion
or revenge were uppermost, they reprobated; but applauded acts of
kindness and generosity, for of both these they were capable. A man who
would not stand to have a spear thrown at him, but ran away, was a
coward,jee-run, and wee-re. But their knowledge of the difference between
right and wrong certainly never extended beyond their existence in this
world; not leading them to believe that the practice of either had any
relation to their future state; this was manifest from their idea of
quitting this world, or rather of entering the next, in the form of
little children, under which form they would re-appear in this.

APPENDIX II-STATURE AND APPEARANCE

We observed but few men or women among them who could be said to be tall,
and still fewer who were well made. I once saw a dwarf, a female, who,
when she stood upright, measured about four feet two inches. None of her
limbs were disproportioned, nor were the features of her face unpleasant;
she had a child at her back, and we were told came from the south shore
of Botany Bay. I thought the other natives seemed to make her an object
of their merriment. In general, indeed almost universally, the limbs of
these people were small; of most of them the arms, legs, and thighs were
thin. This, no doubt, is owing to the poorness of their living, which is
chiefly on fish; otherwise the fineness of the climate, co-operating with
the exercise which they take, might have rendered them more muscular.
Those who live on the sea-coast depend entir