THE NATIVES. 
185 
guilty.* On the other hand, where natives commit 
offences against Europeans, if they can be caught, 
the punishment is certain and severe. Already since 
the establishment of South Australia as a colony, six 
natives have been tried and hung, for crimes against 
Europeans, and many others have been shot or 
wounded, by the police and military in their attempts 
to capture or prevent their escape. No European 
has, however, yet paid the penalties of the law, for 
aggressions upon the Aborigines, though many have 
deserved to do so. The difficulty consists in legally 
bringing home the offence, or in refuting the absurd 
stories that are generally made up in justification 
of it. 
A single instance or two will be sufficient, in illus- 
tration of the impunity which generally attends 
these acts of violence. On the 25th January, 1843, 
the sheep at a station of Mr, Hughes, upon the 
Hutt river, had been scattered during the night, and 
some of them were missing. It was concluded 
the natives had been there, and taken them, as the 
tracks of naked feet were said to have been found 
near the folds. Upon these grounds two of Mr. 
Hughes’ men, and one belonging to Mr. Jacobs, 
another settler in the neighbourhood, took arms, 
and went out to search for the natives. About a 
mile from the station they met with one native and 
his wife, whom they asked to accompany them back 
Vide Chapter 9, of Notes on the Aborigines. 
