This must have been a very serious loss to such simple savages, but one that they richly deserved.

The canoe was nearly new, it measured eighteen feet in length, and two in breadth, and would easily carry eight persons; the sides were supported by two poles fastened to the gunwhale by strips of a climbing plant (Flagellaria indica), that grows abundantly hereabouts, and with which also the ends of the canoe were neatly, and even tastefully joined; the poles were spanned together on either side by rope constructed of strips of bark.

The canoe was made of one sheet of bark, but in the bottom, within it, short pieces were placed cross-ways, in order to preserve its shape, and increase its strength.

The description of a canoe seen by Captain Flinders at Blue Mud Bay, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, differs very little from the above.** (*Footnote.

Lamarck tome 6 part 1 page 42.Chemn.Conch.7 page 201.