MORTALITY AMONG NATIVES. 469 



to the bush, occasionally, for several days together; 

 and in order to enjoy all the freedom of limb to 

 which they had been accustomed, throwing off their 

 European clothing. This practice has been ex- 

 pressly prohibited, as from the sudden resumption 

 of savage habits, and the abandonment of the cover- 

 ing to which they had become accustomed, severe 

 illness resulted. To this may in part be attributable 

 the rapid mortality which exists among them, and 

 which leads us to suppose that at no distant period 

 their utter extinction must take place. Out of two 

 hundred who were originally taken to Flinders Island, 

 more than one hundred and fifty had perished 

 in 184^, to replace which loss, an addition of only 

 fourteen by births, besides seven brought in the 

 Vansittart, had been made. It seems, in truth, im- 

 possible that a race transported from their country, 

 suddenly compelled to change all their habits and 

 modes of life, kept under restraint, however mild 

 and paternal, obliged to repress all the powerful 

 instincts which lead them to desire a renewal of 

 their wild and unfettered life, tormented by the 

 memory of the freedom they once enjoyed, and 

 galled by the moral chain which they now wear, 

 constantly sighing in secret for the perilous charms 

 of the wilderness, for their hunts, and their corrob- 

 beries, for the hills and mountains and streams of 

 their native land — it is impossible, I say, that a 

 people whose life has undergone such a change, 

 who cherish such reminiscences and such regrets, 



