248 Characteristics of the 
dear to them) may be regretted, it is a gratifying fact 
that no exertions are spared by the Colonial Government 
to supply their wants, and to render their lot as com¬ 
fortable as a sense of exile will permit it to be. Apart, 
however, from all considerations of the heritage which 
has been wrested from them, the study of their intel¬ 
lectual and social characteristics is well entitled to a 
place in the investigations of Christian philosophy. It 
is calculated not only to meet the cravings of a laudable 
curiosity, but to supply us with a key to the most likely 
method by which instruction may be addressed to them 
with effect. Nor can the heart of the true Christian, who 
views the intensity of the moral gloom in which these 
children of the forest were enveloped, fail to be pene¬ 
trated by a sense of gratitude to the great Author and 
Source of the high privileges which he enjoys, and of 
the solemn responsibility which they entail on him. 
Our researches into the structure and properties of the 
human mind might also be aided by the contemplation 
of its feeble, but yet clear and strongly marked, de¬ 
velopments in the lowest stage of barbarism. Even 
where our nature appears to be but slightly elevated 
above the rank of the beasts which perish, a closer 
inspection will bring to light unquestionable proofs of 
its sublime origin and capabilities. Savage life exhibits 
mind in that low and almost infantine stac:e of action in 
which its elementary laws and tendencies may be most 
easily discerned. Impelled by the pressure of his 
physical wants, the savage calls to his aid the resources 
witli which intelligence has supplied him; nor do the 
expedients which he is led to devise for the purposes of 
safety and subsistence ever fall short of his conceptions 
of what is requisite and desirable. Nature is subjected 
to his power up to the extent of his immediate wishes ; 
and it is only necessary that a higher standard should be 
