preliminary remarks. 
149 
met me with readiness and confidence. My wishes 
became their law ; they conceded points to me that 
they would not have done to their own people, and 
on many occasions cheerfully underwent hunger* 
thirst, and fatigue to serve me. 
Former habits and prejudices in some respects 
gave way to the influence I acquired. Tribes that 
never met or heard of one another before were 
brought to mingle in friendly intercourse. Single 
individuals traversed over immense distances and 
through many intervening tribes, which formerly 
they never could have attempted to pass, and in 
accomplishing this the white man’s name alone was 
the talisman that proved their safe-guard and pro- 
tection. 
During the whole of the three years I was Resi- 
dent at Moorunde, not a single case of serious 
injury or aggression ever took place on the part of 
the natives against the Europeans ; and a dis- 
trict, once considered the wildest and most dan- 
gerous, was, when I left it in November 1844, 
looked upon as one of the most peaceable and 
orderly in the province. 
Independently of my own personal experience, on 
the subject of the Aborigines, I have much pleasure 
in acknowledging the obligations I am under to M. 
Moorhouse, Esq. Protector of Aborigines in Ade- 
laide, for his valuable assistance, in comparing and 
discussing the results of our respective observations, 
on matters connected with the natives, and for the 
