1836.] THE ABORIGINES. 427 



partly clothed, and several could speak a little English : 

 their countenances were good-humoured and pleasant, and 

 they appeared far from being such utterly degraded beings 

 as they have usually been represented. In their ou^n arts 

 they are admirable. A cap being fixed at thirty yards 

 distance, they transfixed it with a spear, delivered by the 

 thro wing-stick with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow 

 of a practised archer. In tracking animals or men they 

 show most wonderful sagacity ; and I heard of several of 

 their remarks which manifested considerable acuteness. 

 They will not, however, cultivate the ground, or build 

 houses and remain stationary, or even take the trouble of 

 tending a flock of sheep when given to them. On the 

 whole they appear to me to stand some few degrees higher 

 in the scale of civilisation then the Fueglans. 



It is very curious thus to see in the midst of a civilised 

 people, a set of harmless savages wandering about without 

 knowing where they shall sleep at night, and gaining their 

 livelihood by hunting in the woods. As the white man has 

 travelled onwards, he has spread over the country belong- 

 ing to several tribes. These, although thus enclosed by 

 one common people, keep up their ancient distinctions, 

 and sometimes go to war with each other. In an engage- 

 ment which took place lately, the two parties most 

 singularly chose the centre of the village of Bathurst for 

 the field of battle. This was of service to the defeated 

 side, for the runaway warriors took refuge in the barracks. 



The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing. In my 

 whole ride, with the exception of some boys brought up 

 by Englishmen, I saw only one other party. This decrease, 

 no doubt, must be partly owing to the introduction of 

 spirits, to European diseases (even the milder ones of 

 which, such as measles,* prove very destructive), and to the 

 gradual extinction of the wild animals. It is said that 

 numbers of their children Invariably perish in very early 

 infancy from the effects of their wandering life ; and as 

 the difficulty of procuring food increases, so must their 

 wandering habits increase ; and hence the population, 

 without any apparent deaths from famine, is repressed in 



* It is remarkable how the aamc diseaRs is modified in difFcrent climates. At 

 the little island of St. Helena, the introduction of scarlcl-fever is dreaded as .-i 

 plagruc. In some countries, foreijjncrs and natives are as diflferently affected bv 

 certain contagious disorders, as if they had been different animals; of whicij 

 fact some instances have occurred in Chile; and, according to Humboldt, in 

 Mexico. (" Polit. Essay." New Spain, vol. Iv.) 



