st of New
Holland, the catalogue of a native's riches appears somewhat different,
from his maritime position.[66] A raft, made of several straight
branches of mangrove lashed together, broader at one end than at the
other;--a bunch of grass at the broad end where the man sits to
paddle,--a short net to catch turtle, or probably a young shark,--and
their spears and paddles seem to form the whole earthly riches of these
rude fishermen.[67] But one essential thing must not be overlooked in
the enumeration of a native's possessions. Fire, of procuring which they
have not very easy means, is usually carried about with them; and the
women commonly have the charge of the lighted stick, in addition to
their other cares.

[65] See p. 114.

[66] "In many places a log of wood, or a wide slip of bark, tied at
either end, and stuffed with clay, is the only mode invented for
crossing a river or arm of the sea, while in other parts a large tree,
roughly hollowed by fire, forms the canoe."--M. MARTIN'S _New South
Wales_, p. 147.

[67] Flinders' Voyage, vol. ii. p. 138.

It is no very easy matter for civilized man to realise the perfectly
free and unencumbered way in which these natives roam from place to
place, accordingly as seasons or provisions may serve, constantly
carrying with them a home wherever they go; and (what is far more
difficult in civilised society) leaving no cares of home behind them in
the spot from which they may have recently removed. Certainly there must
be something very delightful in this wild sort of life to every one, who
has from his early infancy been accustomed to its pleasure and inured to
its hardships, neither of which are by any means to be measured by the
standard of the cold and changeable climate of England. The grand
objects of the savage, in almost every part of the globe, are to baffle
his human enemies, and to assert his dominion over the lower races of
animals. For these purposes, the activity, secrecy, acuteness, and
sagacity of man in an uncivilised state are almost incredible; nor could
we have supposed, were not the truth shown in numberless instances, that
the senses of human beings were capable of so great perfection, their
bodies and limbs of such exertion and agility, as they gain by continual
practice and early training in the forests of America or Australia. In
these bodily excellencies, the inhabitants of the last-named continent
might safely challenge the whole wor