152 THE ABORIGINES 



and tables for their meals, and to be supplied with knives 

 and forks like Europeans. 



Some of the women learned to make bread, to wash 

 clothes, and to sew, and to use soap and water daily. 



The Friends remark: "The scrupulous care they 

 evince not to take anything that does not belong to them 

 entitles them to the character of honesty. They are 

 observing, and have retentive memories, affording very 

 sufficient proofs that they are not deficient in intellect. 

 Among other traits, we remarked less indisposition to 

 personal exertion than is usually attributed to savages. 

 The willingness and promptitude with which they perform 

 little services for those whom they consider their friends, 

 as in bringing wood and water for daily use, show that 

 they are not of a sluggish disposition when there is a 

 sufficient inducement to labour ... In the morning 

 daily they may be seen walking in procession, each 

 bearing a load of wood on his shoulder, which is cheer- 

 fully deposited in the proper place. They are said to 

 have taken great pleasure in cutting and bringing in the 

 wattles and grass for building and thatching ; also in 

 fencing, breaking up, and planting with potatoes the acre 

 and a half of ground in front of their cottages [at 

 Wvbalenna]. The latter was accomplished almost 

 entirely by their own unassisted efforts. . . They will 

 generally do anything they are required to do that is 

 reasonable. It is kind treatment that ensures its per- 

 formance." 



They showed all the usual improvidence of savages. 

 Though they were finally led to take care of their tin 

 plates and eating utensils and to keep them clean, it was 

 at first difficult to prevent them throwing away these 

 articles. They had been accustomed to a mutton-fish 

 shell, or something as simple, as a drinking vessel, and 

 could not understand the necessity of taking care of 

 things adapted for permanent use. In hunting they 

 destroyed the game recklessly, and could not be 

 restrained from killing the kangaroo as long as their 

 dogs would run. On an adjoining island, where there 

 were large numbers of wallaby, the blacks in three or 

 four hunting excursions killed over a thousand head. 

 By this kind of wholesale destruction, kangaroo, once 

 very abundant in the neighbourhood of the Flinders. 

 Settlement, soon became extremely scarce. 



