216 
HABITS OF LIFE. 
accompanied me to the house, where every thing 
he saw recalled the memory of his child. 
Innate propriety of behaviour is also frequently ex- 
hibited by the Aborigines in their natural state, in 
the modest unassuming manner in which they take 
their positions to observe what is going on, and in 
a total absence of any thing that is rude or offensive. 
It is true that the reverse of this is also often to be met 
with ; but I think it will usually be found that it is 
among natives who have before been in contact with 
Europeans, or where familiarities have been used 
with them first, or an injudicious system of treatment 
has been adopted towards them. 
Delicacy of feeling is not often laid to the charge 
of the Aborigines, and yet I was witness to a singular 
instance of it at King George’s Sound. I was 
looking one evening at the natives dancing, and 
who were, as they always are on these occasions, in 
a state of complete nudity. In the midst of the per- 
formance, one of the natives standing by as spec- 
tator, mentioned that a white woman was passing up 
the road ; and although this was some little dis- 
tance away, and the night was tolerably dark, they 
all with one accord crossed over to the bushes where 
their cloaks were, put them on, and resumed their 
amusement. 
It has been said, and is generally believed, that 
the natives are not courageous. There could not be a 
greater mistake, at least as far as they are them- 
selves concerned, nor do I hold it to be any proof 
