EVIL EXAMPLE OF CONVICTS. 437 



minated and vitiated, their women corrupted, and 

 the badly disposed among the islanders rendered 

 worse ; and instead of our advent bringing with it the 

 light of the gospel, and the real and substantial bless- 

 ings of civilization, we should enjoy the unenviable 

 privilege of still further degenerating the savage. 

 The evil thus caused in New Zealand has been in- 

 calculable ; to the bad example of convicts we owe 

 much of the ills which have there arisen ; the line 

 fearless bearing of the wild man, has been partially 

 exchanged for the low cunning, acquired from the 

 runaway felon ; who reckless of his own life can 

 have no regard for that of others. The worst crimes 

 of the dregs of a civilized population have been 

 introduced ; and many of those wretched beings, 

 who might otherwise have been reclaimed from the 

 rude vices of savage life, have, through the white 

 man's instrumentality, perished in sin.* 



The number of Malays proas that visit this 

 part of the continent, would also furnish facilities 

 for the escape of convicts from the neighbourhood 

 of Port Essington. 



' We shall now fulfil our promise to the reader, of 

 laying before him Captain Stanley's interesting cruise 

 to the islands we have just alluded to, which 

 will occupy the remaining portion of the present 

 volume. 



* I knew an instance of a convict, who when dying actually 

 picked a man's pocket. The ruling passion, strong in death, was 

 here painfully exemplified. — J. L. S. 



