OF THE MISSIONARIES. 
421 
hitherto made to improve the physical circumstances 
or social relations of the Aborigines been attended 
with any better success. None have yet been in- 
duced permanently to adopt our customs, or com- 
pletely to give up their wandering habits, or to settle 
down fixedly in one place, and by cultivating the 
ground, supply themselves with the comforts and 
luxuries of life. It is not that the New Hollander 
is not as apt and intelligent as the men of any other 
race, or that his capacity for receiving instruction, 
or appreciating enjoyment is less; on the contrary, 
we have the fullest and most ample testimony from 
all who have been brought much into contact with 
this people that the very contrary is the case : a testi- 
tion appear to have been fruitlessly expended. It is., however, 
perfectly apparent that the termination of the mission has arisen 
solely from the Aborigines becoming extinct in these districts, 
and the very few that remain elsewhere are so scattered, that it 
is impossible to congregate them for instruction ; and when seen 
in the towns, they are generally unfit to engage in profitable con- 
versation. The thousands of Aborigines, if ever they did exist in 
these parts, decreased to hundreds, the hundreds have lessened 
to tens, and the tens will dwindle to units before a very few 
years will have passed away.” 
“ This mission to the Aborigines has ceased to exist, not from 
want of support from the British Government, nor from the in- 
clination of the agent, but purely from the Aborigines themselves 
becoming extinct in these parts ; and in leaving this scene of 
much solitariness, privation, and trial, it is earnestly hoped that 
He who fixes the bounds of our habitation, apparently in Sydney 
for a season, will guide our feet through life to his glory, and 
provide support for a numerous family, so that the ‘ ministry be 
not blamed.’ ” 
