THE NATIVES. 
161 
enclosed, and access to them is frequently forbidden. 
The fields are fenced in, and the natives are no 
longer at liberty to dig up roots — the white man claims 
the timber, and the very firewood itself is occasion 
ally denied to them. Do they pass by the habita- 
tion of the intruder, they are probably chased away 
or bitten by his dogs, and for this they can get no 
redress. * Have they dogs of their own, they are 
unhesitatingly shot or worried because they are an 
annoyance to the domestic animals of the Europeans. 
Daily and hourly do their wrongs multiply upon 
them. The more numerous the white population 
becomes, and the more advanced the stage of civili- 
zation to which the settlement progresses, the greater 
are the hardships that fall to their lot and the more 
completely are they cut off from the privileges of 
their birthright. All that they have is in succes- 
* I have known repeated instances of natives in Adelaide 
being bitten severely by savage dogs rushing out at them 
from the yards of their owners, as they were peaceably passing 
along the street. On the other hand I have known a native 
imprisoned for throwing his waddy at, and injuring a pig, which 
was eating a melon he had laid down for a moment in the street, 
and when the pig ought not to have been in the street at all. 
In February 1842, a dog belonging to a native was shot by order 
of Mr. Gouger, the then Colonial Secretary, and the owner as 
soon as he became aware of the circumstance, speared his wife 
for not taking better care of it, although she could not possibly 
have helped the occurrence. If natives then revenge so severely 
such apparently trivial offences among themselves, can we 
wonder that they should sometimes retaliate upon us for more 
aggravated ones. 
VOL. II. 
M 
