498 EVIL RESULTS ARISING FROM 
circumstances are not easily recognizable upon a hasty 
view, and still less so, if either they, or the observer, 
are in a state of excitement at the time. Is it pos- 
sible for the natives to be blind to the unequal mea- 
sure of justice, which is thus dealt out, and which 
will still continue to be so as long as the law remains 
unchanged ? 
I have no wish to give the native evidence a 
higher character than it deserves, but I think that it 
ought not to be rendered unavailable in a prosecu- 
tion ; the degree of weight or credibility to be at- 
tached to it, might be left to the court taking cogni- 
zance of the case, but if it is consistent and probable, 
I see no reason why it should not be as strong a 
safeguard to the black man from injury and oppres- 
sion, as the white man’s oath is to him. There are 
many occasions on which the testimony of natives 
may be implicitly believed, and which are readily 
distinguishable by those who have had much inter- 
course with this people— unaccustomed to the intri- 
cacies of untruth, they know not that they must be 
consistent to deceive, and it is therefore rarely diffi- 
cult to tell when a native is prevaricating. 
Among the natives themselves, the evil effects 
resulting from the inability of their evidence to 
produce a conviction are still more apparent and 
injurious. # It has already been shewn how highly 
* Upon the inability of natives to give evidence in a court of 
justice, Mr. Chief Protector Robinson remarks, in a letter to His 
Honour, the Superintendent of Port Phillip, dated May, 1843 — 
