196 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



be found in the table of comparative proportions at the end of the 

 fifth volume. 



*>£>= 



They are difficult to manage, taking offence easily when they are 

 ill treated ; and if any one attempts to control, thwart, or restrain their 

 wandering habits, they at once resort to the woods, and resume their 

 primitive mode of life, subsisting upon fish, grubs, berries, and occa- 

 sionally enjoying a feast of kangaroo or opossum-flesh. They eat the 

 larvae of all kinds of insects with great gusto. Those who reside 

 upon the coast, fish with gigs, or spears, which are usually three- 

 pronged ; they have no fish-hooks of their own manufacture. 



When they feel that they have been injured by a white settler, 

 they gratify their revenge by spearing his cattle ; and it is said upon 

 good authority, that not a few of the whites, even of the better class, 

 will, when they can do so with impunity, retaliate in the blood of 

 these wretched natives ; and it is to be regretted that they are not 

 very scrupulous in distinguishing the guilty from the innocent. 



The natives of New South Wales are a proud, high-tempered race : 

 each man is independent of his neighbour, owning no superior, and 

 exacting no deference; they have not in their language any word 

 signifying a chief or superior, nor to command or serve. Each 

 individual is the source of his own comforts, and the artificer of his 

 own household implements and weapons ; and but for the love of 

 companionship, he might live with his family apart and isolated from 

 the rest, without sacrificing any advantages whatever. They have 



