154 ACCOUNT OF NEINMAL^ 



tive of much g"ood in rendering' them less dang-erous 

 and more useful to their white neig'hbours^ without 

 however permanently reclaiming- more than a few 

 from their former wandering" and savag'e mode of 

 life_, and enabling* them and their families to live 

 contentedly on the produce of their own labour. I 

 am not one of those who consider that the Austra- 

 lian is not susceptible of anything- like such perma- 

 nent improvement as may be termed civilization^ 

 althoug"h it appears to have been sufficiently proved 

 that his intellectual capacity is of a very low order. 

 Many of the Port Essing-ton natives have shewn 

 a remarkable deg-ree of intellig'ence, far above the 

 averag-e of Europeans^ uneducated^ and living- in 

 remote districts^ — among- others I may mention the 

 name of Neinmal (the same alluded to in the pre- 

 ceding- parag-raph)^ of whose character I had g-ood 

 opportunities of judging-^ for he lived with me for 

 ten months. During* my stay at Port Essing'ton^ 

 he became much attached to me^ and latterl}^ accom- 

 panied me in all my wandering's in the bush^ while 

 investig-ating' the natural history of the district^ 

 following" up the researches of my late and much 

 lamented friend Gilbert.* One day^ while detained 

 by rainy weather at my camp^ I was busy in skin- 

 ning- a fish^—Neinmal watched me attentively for 

 some time and then withdrew^ but returned in half 

 an hour afterwards^ with the skin of another fish in 



* See Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia, &c. by 

 Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt, p. 309, for an account of his death. 



