COLONISTS A SOVEREIGN PEOPLE 133 



families have been driven away, and are seen there no 

 more. It does not follow that they have been extermi- 

 nated. I cannot say that any particular Australian animal 

 has become extinct within the last twenty or thirty years, 

 except, of course, locally ; but many have been driven 

 quite away from districts where twenty years ago they 

 were numerous. The cultivation of the soil has had as 

 much to do with this abandonment of haunts as the more 

 acute persecution of the gunners and bird-netters ; but 

 there are some species that will certainly soon be exter- 

 minated if active means are not resorted to for their 

 protection. The question is what means can be adopted? 

 Probably an appeal to the common sense of the people 

 would have more effect than drastic laws, for the Australians 

 are a people strongly imbued with republican notions, and 

 they have in several instances defied certain protective 

 laws (notably that for the preservation of the large gum- 

 trees), and they have shown that where the people are 

 determined to oppose an unpopular law, the authorities 

 are powerless to enforce it. This is hard to be believed by 

 law-reverencing Englishmen in the old country ; but when 

 and where did it ever happen that the mob in England, 

 impatient at official delay, took it upon themselves to 

 perform important public functions by force, thrusting the 

 " constituted authority " aside in no uncertain way ? Such 

 a thing has happened more than once in my native colony. 

 And I do not think the people would tolerate any inter- 

 ference with their shooting and hunting rights. But they 

 might be persuaded, and I hope they will, for that same 

 popular will which is strong enough to defy an unwelcome 

 law is strong enough also to enforce one the wisdom of 

 which is recognised — in fact would enforce it more 

 effectually than an army of police and justices could do. 

 There are certain birds for the curious or splendid 

 plumage of which there is a never-satisfied demand in the 

 large towns. This is a great inducement to a number of 

 scamps of " larrikin " type to devote their idle energies to 

 the capture of those particular birds, for an idly earned 

 shilling is more thought of by these fellows than a sovereign 



