of the Aborigines of Australia . 229 



close of 1839, the Yarra and Western Port tribes numbered 207 

 individuals, who, with five surviving children, subsequently born, 

 make a total of 212. The present number (June 1845), is less 

 by 47, or nearly twenty-three per cent, within the five-and-a-half 

 years. edj iu9 .aelfiW iJJijoS wM *io1 nevrg evodfi etemitee 



Mutual war, and hostilities with the whites. — In common with 

 the rest of mankind, in all stages of civilisation, the vicissitudes of 

 aboriginal life are still further diversified by mutual warfare. Mr 

 Robinson estimates that an annual loss of one in twenty of the abo- 

 rigines is due to this cause, independently of their conflicts with the 

 whites. Ten years ago, observe the Goulburn magistracy, the tribes 

 in that neighbourhood were always at war ; they are now, however, 

 much diminished in number, and mingle together as one tribe ; and 

 it is necessary that two or three tribes should join together for the 

 performance of a corrobboree. g fiivio erfo ic-1 m eri 8.6 t n\em 



Out of twenty-one tribes, numbering 421 aborigines, located be- 

 tween the Campaspe river and the west side of the Pyrenees, there 

 occurred twenty-five deaths within a period of two-and-a-half years, 

 ten of which resulted from collisions with aborigines, one with Eu- 

 ropeans, the remaining fourteen being due to natural causes. As 

 there were ten surviving children born during this period, the net 

 decrease amounted to fifteen individuals, or about one-and-a-half 

 per cent, per annum. Mr Parker intimates the satisfactory result, 

 that no aboriginal native has been shot within the last three years 

 and a half, though considerable numbers had been thus sacrificed 

 before the establishment of the protectorate. These outrages, on 

 the part of the colonists, are still practised upon the tribes of the 

 Murray, whose territories are situated beyond the influence of the 

 Protectorate. The decrease among these blacks, during the last five 

 years, he estimates at ten to twelve per cent. ; and in the district 

 west of the Pyrenees, where many have been killed by the colonists, 

 at the higher proportion of twenty per cent. 



The number of blacks who have been killed by the whites through- 

 out the Moreton Bay District cannot be ascertained ; but as about 

 fifty whites have already perished at the hands of the aborigines, the 

 destruction has probably been very considerable. Mr Robinson ap- 

 prehends that the settlers have not scrupled, on occasions, to make 

 use of poison in order to get rid of the aborigines ; and Mr Dredge 

 vehemently accuses the former of heartless cruelties towards these 

 unfortunate beings. [ bnu 



Diseases. — In the foremost rank among the miseries that have 

 resulted to the aboriginal population from their intercourse with the 

 whites, must be placed the introduction of that great scourge of 

 the vices of mankind — the venereal disease. Some doubts have, in- 

 deed, been expressed in opposition to the general opinion that this 

 disease was originally introduced into Australia by the colonists. The 

 Rev. Mr Schmidt, in reply to a question on this subject from one of 



