1836.] ABORIGINES. 429 



fort. Coming from the Spanish settlements, where such magnificent 

 care has generally been paid to the fortifications, the means of 

 defence in these colonies appeared very contemptible. Comparing 

 the town with Sydney, I was chiefly struck with the comparative 

 fewness of the large houses, either built or building. Hobart Town, 

 from the census of 1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole 

 of Tasmania 36,505. 



All the aborigines have been removed to an island in Bass's 

 Straits, so that Van Diemen's Land enjoys the great advantage of 

 being free from a native population. This most cruel step seems to 

 have been quite unavoidable, as the only means of stopping a fearful 

 succession of robberies, burnings, and murders, committed by the 

 blacks ; and which sooner or later would have ended in their utter 

 destruction. I fear there is no doubt, that this train of evil and 

 its consequences, originated in the infamous conduct of some of our 

 countrymen. Thirty years is a short period, in which to have 

 banished the last aboriginal from his native island, and that island 

 nearly as large as Ireland. The correspondence on this subject, 

 which took place between the government at home and that of Van 

 Diemen's Land, is very interesting. Although numbers of natives 

 were shot and taken prisoners in the skirmishing, which was going 

 on at intervals for several years ; nothing seems fully to have im- 

 pressed them with the idea of our overwhelming power, until the 

 whole island, in 1830, was put under martial law, and by procla- 

 mation the whole population commanded to assist in one great 

 attempt to secure the entire race. The plan adopted was nearly 

 similar to that of the great hunting-matches in India: a line was 

 formed reaching across the island, with the intention of driving 

 the natives into a cul-de-sac on Tasman's peninsula. The attempt 

 failed; the natives, having tied up their dogs, stole during one 

 night through the lines. This is far from surprising, when their 

 practised senses, and usual manner of crawling after wild animals 

 is considered. I have been assured that they can conceal them- 

 selves on almost bare ground, in a manner which until witnessed 

 is scarcely credible ; their dusky bodies being easily mistaken for 

 the blackened stumps which are scattered all over the country. I 

 was told of a trial between a party of Englishmen and a native, who. 

 was to stand in full view on the side of a bare hill ; if the English- 

 men closed their eyes for less than a minute, he would squat down, 

 and then they were never able to distinguish him from the sur- 



