Intellectual energy of the Australians. 1 5 



Much has also been done already in Australia for the dif- 

 fusion of the principles of social economy and the diliiision 

 of political and linguistic knowledge ; and the historical 

 writings of Dr. J. D. Lang,* and the philological works ol 

 Dr. Threlkeld, both men of high attainments and of similar 

 zeal in promoting the welfare of their fellow-men, furn- 

 ished us with profound information as to the political history 

 of tlie country, as well as the original language of the 

 aborigines. 



Since the appearance of the first ethnographic works of 

 Count Strzelecki there has appeared little that is new re- 

 specting the origin, migration, and history of the black races 

 of Australia, and what we have to say on this momentous 

 topic, whether in the result of personal intercourse or of in- 

 formation derived from other sources, we shall reserve for 

 the narrative of our excursion into the interior of the colony, 

 and our foregathering with the primitive inhabitants of the 

 back settlements, t 



* This distinguished gentleman, conspicuous ahke as a theologian and a politician, 

 who plays a by no means insignificant part in the legislative assemblies of the colonies, 

 presented an address to the Parliament of Frankfort in 1848, in which he set forth 

 the advantage of founding a German colony in the Pacific. Owing to the ignorance 

 prevalent on the subject this brochure passed unnoticed, and New Caledonia, the island 

 which the worthy Doctor had designed for a German colony, was taken possession of 

 by the French. He has since published a most interesting and valuable work on 

 Queensland, in which he gives some very curious details about the native practice of 

 skinning their dead, when the true skin being of a white colour, the corpse has a 

 most ghastly appearance. He says this is the reason some of the tribes so highly 

 reverence the ivhite man, whom they regard as their own ancestors restored to life, 

 but in an improved nature ! ! 



t The depopulation of the natives is advancing so rapidly that one of our Sydney 



