CHAPTER VIII. 
EFFECTS OF CONTACT WITH EUROPEANS — ATTEMPTS AT 
IMPROVEMENT AND CIVILIZATION ACCOUNT OF SCHOOLS 
—DEFECTS OF THE SYSTEM. 
Some attempts have been made in nearly all the 
British Settlements of Australia to improve the con- 
dition of the aboriginal population ; the results have, 
however, in few cases, met the expectations of the 
promoters of the various benevolent schemes that 
have been entered upon for the object; nor have the 
efforts hitherto made succeeded in arresting that 
fatal and melancholy effect which contact with civi- 
lization seems ever to produce upon a savage people. 
It has already been stated, that in all the colonies 
we have hitherto established upon the continent, 
the Aborigines are gradually decreasing in number, 
or have already disappeared in proportion to the 
time their country has been occupied by Europeans, 
or to the number of settlers who have been located 
upon it. 
Of the blighting and exterminating effects pro- 
duced upon simple and untutored races, by the ad- 
vance of civilization upon them, we have many and 
painful proofs. History records innumerable in- 
stances of nations who were once numerous and 
powerful, decaying and disappearing before this 
