Among others, a very large handsome
print of her royal highness the Dutchess of Cumberland being produced,
he called out 'woman', a name by which we had just before taught him to call
the female convicts. Plates of birds and beasts were also laid before him;
and many people were led to believe, that such as he spoke about and pointed to
were known to him. But this must have been an erroneous conjecture,
for the elephant, rhinoceros, and several others, which we must have discovered
did they exist in the country, were of the number. Again, on the other hand,
those he did not point out, were equally unknown to him.
His curiosity here being satiated, we took him to a large brick house,
which was building for the governor's residence: being about to enter,
he cast up his eyes, and seeing some people leaning out of a window
on the first story, he exclaimed aloud, and testified the most extravagant
surprise. Nothing here was observed to fix his attention so strongly
as some tame fowls, who were feeding near him: our dogs also he
particularly noticed; but seemed more fearful than fond of them.
He dined at a side-table at the governor's; and ate heartily of fish and ducks,
which he first cooled. Bread and salt meat he smelled at, but would not taste:
all our liquors he treated in the same manner, and could drink nothing
but water. On being shown that he was not to wipe his hands on the chair
which he sat upon, he used a towel which was gave to him,
with great cleanliness and decency.
In the afternoon his hair was closely cut, his head combed, and his beard
shaved; but he would not submit to these operations until he had seen them
performed on another person, when he readily acquiesced. His hair,
as might be supposed, was filled with vermin, whose destruction seemed
to afford him great triumph; nay, either revenge, or pleasure, prompted him
to eat them! but on our expressing disgust and abhorrence he left it off.
To this succeeded his immersion in a tub of water and soap, where he was
completely washed and scrubbed from head to foot; after which a shirt,
a jacket, and a pair of trousers, were put upon him. Some part
of this ablution I had the honour to perform, in order that I might ascertain
the real colour of the skin of these people. My observation then was
(and it has since been confirmed in a thousand other instances) that they are
as black as the lighter cast of the African negroes.
Many unsuccessful attempts were made to learn his name; the governor therefore
called him Manly, from the cove in which he was captured: this cove
had received its name from the manly undaunted behaviour of a party of natives
seen there, on our taking possession of the country.
To prevent his escape, a handcuff with a rope attached to it, was fastened
around his left wrist, which at first highly delighted him; he called it
'bengadee' (or ornament), but his delight changed to rage and hatred
when he discovered its use. His supper he cooked himself: some fish
were given to him for this purpose, which, without any previous preparation
whatever, he threw carelessly on the fire, and when they became warm
took them up, and first rubbed off the scales, peeled the outside
with his teeth, and ate it; afterwards he gutted them, and laying them again
on the fire, completed the dressing, and ate them.
A convict was selected to sleep with him, and to attend him wherever
he might go. When he went with his keeper into his apartment he appeared
very restless and uneasy while a light was kept in; but on its extinction,
he immediately lay down and composed himself.
Sullenness and dejection strongly marked his countenance on the following
morning; to amuse him, he was taken around the camp, and to the observatory:
casting his eyes to the opposite shore from the point where he stood,
and seeing the smoke of fire lighted by his countrymen, he looked earnestly
at it, and sighing deeply two or three times, uttered the word
'gweeun' (fire).
His loss of spirits had not, however, the effect of impairing his appetite;
eight fish, each weighing about a pound, constituted his breakfast,
which he dressed as before. When he had finished his repast,
he turned his back to the fire in a musing posture, and crept so close to it,
that his shirt was caught by the flame; luckily his keeper soon
extinguished it; but he was so terrified at the accident, that he was
with difficulty persuaded to put on a second.
1st. January, 1789. To-day being new-year's-day, most of the officers
were invited to the governor's table: Manly dined heartily on fish
and roasted pork; he was seated on a chest near a window, out of which,
when he had done eating, he would have thrown his plate, had he not
been prevented: during dinner-time a band of music played in an adjoining
apartment; and after the cloth was removed, one of the company sang
in a very soft and superior style; but the powers of melody were lost on Manly,
which disappointed our expectations, as he had before shown pleasure
and readiness in imitating our tunes. Stretched out on his chest,
and putting his hat under his head, he fell asleep.
To convince his countrymen that he had received no injury from us,
the governor took him in a boat down the harbour, that they might see
and converse with him: when the boat arrived, and lay at a little distance
from the beach, several Indians who had retired at her approach,
on seeing Manly, returned:
