Notices of New Books. 7599 



which is now certainly more like England than any we possess, abound- 

 ing in religious sects of all denominations, and yet no pains are taken 

 to instruct or convert these poor savages. Perhaps it is not possible to 

 do so. Perhaps they are better off as they are ; and this is probably 

 the case, for, as Bouwick justly observes, ' We liave a sad tale to tell 

 when we speak of our so-called civilization upon these aborigines.' 

 To adopt our habits they n)ust be entirely removed from the associ- 

 ations of the mia-mia, and what have we to offer in exchange for 

 endearing relations, joyous freedom and an unanxious existence ? 

 The black man is thrust upon a competition society to earn his bread, 

 he is exposed to the gibes and contempt of the lowest of our country- 

 men, he is without sympatliy and without friends, and is herded with 

 men from whom he learns the most obviously developed principles of 

 European civilization — swearing and drinking. It is true he eats better 

 food, wears better clothes, and sleeps in better dwellings ; but where is 

 his home } Who will be his sister, his mother, his brother ? Who will 

 ally herself as wife to his dark skin ? Can he ever know the sweetness 

 of a child's love? No! He soon tiresof our food, our work, our confined 

 habitations, our heartless ridicule, and hastens back to his camp fire 

 to find a friend, to feel himself a man, to dwell with those that can 

 love him. 



" When I camped at Mordialloc I lived on very neighbourly terms 

 with the ' Bomerang ' tribe, for they generally had their ' miamies ' 

 close to my hut, and as 1 never made too free with them, or gave them 

 a promise 1 did not intend to keep, I was a bit of a favourite with 

 them. Like most other savages they strictly imitate the white man in 

 all his vices, and this tribe is f;ist paying the penalty, for since I knew 

 it first more than two-thirds have been swept away by disease and 

 intemperance, and in a few years it will exist only in name. It is 

 melancholy to see a whole race of beings thus disappear without any 

 apparent cause. There is no prostration of physical strength or mental 

 activity ; they wither in the prime of life, and sink into the grave, as 

 though a blight had fallen on them. 



" Of the many thousands who inhabited this colony before the 

 arrival of the white man not two thousand survive, and most of these 

 are on the banks of the Murray. Although debased far below their own 

 savage level, since their intercourse with the white man, the few that 

 are left still retain much of that free independent spirit and wild roving 

 disposition which characterises all savages who have to gain a living 

 by the chase, for, although they can get their rations all the year 

 round at the head station, they never care to live long in one place, 



