186 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



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. 



NATIVE OF AUSTRALIA. 



"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 indi- 

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

 household implements and weapons; and but for the love of com- 

 panionship, he might live with his family apart and isolated from the 

 rest, without sacrificing any advantages whatever. They have an air 

 of haughtiness and insolence arising from this independence, and 

 nothing will induce them to acknowledge any human being as their 

 superior, or to show any marks of respect. In illustration of this, 

 Mr. Watson the missionary is the only white man to whose name they 



