168 
STATE OF OUR RELATIONS 
Thirdly , That our presence and settlement, in 
any particular locality, do, in point of fact, actually 
dispossess the aboriginal inhabitants.* 
Fourthly , That the localities selected by Euro- 
peans, as best adapted for the purposes of cultivation, 
or of grazing, are those that would usually be 
equally valued above others, by the natives them- 
selves, as places of resort, or districts in which they 
could most easily procure their food. This would 
especially be the case in those parts of the country 
where water was scarce, as the European always 
locates himself close to this grand necessary of life. 
The injustice, therefore, of the white man’s intru- 
sion upon the territory of the aboriginal inhabi- 
tant, is aggravated greatly by his always occupying 
the best and most valuable portion of it. 
Fifthly, That as we ourselves have laws, customs, 
or prejudices, to which we attach considerable im- 
portance, and the infringement of which we con- 
sider either criminal or offensive, so have the natives 
theirs, equally, perhaps, dear to them, but which, 
from our ignorance or heedlessness, we may be con- 
tinually violating, and can we wonder that they 
should sometimes exact the penalty of infraction ? 
do not we do the same ? or is ignorance a more 
valid excuse for civilized man than the savage ? 
Sixthly , What are the relations usually subsisting 
between the Aborigines and settlers, locating in the 
more distant, and less populous parts of the country ; 
* Vide, Notes on the Aborigines, chap. I* 
