rse: savage children are not subject to that
sort of restraint. Whether school discipline may have any thing to do
with the difference so remarkable between the animal spirits of children
of civilised parents and those of savages, I shall make no remark; but
that the buoyancy of spirit and cheerfulness of the youth amongst the
savages of Australia, seem to render them agreeable companions to the men
on their hunting excursions, almost as soon as they can run about. If the
naturalist looks a savage in the mouth, he finds ivory teeth, a clean
tongue, and sweet breath; but in the mouth of a white specimen of
similar, or indeed less, age, it is ten to one but he would discover only
impurity and decay, however clean the shoes and stockings worn, or
however fine the flour of which his or her food had consisted. What,
then, is civilization in the economy of the human animal? one is led to
inquire. A little reflection affords a satisfactory answer. Cultivated
man despises the perishable substance, and pursues the immortal shadow.
Animal gratification is transient and dull, compared to the acquisition
of knowledge--the gratification of mind--the raptures of the poet, or the
delight of the enthusiast, however imaginary. It is true that, amongst
civilized men, substance is still represented by the yellow ore, and that
the votaries of beauty "bend in silken slavery;" but are not beauty or
gold as dust in the balance, substantial though they be, when weighed in
lofty minds against glory or immortality? When the shadow he pursues is
worth more, and is more enduring than the substance, well might it be
said that "Man is but a shadow, and life a dream." Such were my
reflections on this day of rest, in the heart of a desert, while
protected from the sun's rays by a blanket, and in some uncertainty how
long these dreams under it would continue undisturbed.

"The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell: a
hell of heaven!"

Thermometer, at 6 P. M., 90 deg..

28TH SEPTEMBER.--Thermometer, at 6 A. M., 63 deg.. The horses were much
refreshed by that day's repose, and we this morning continued our journey
in an easterly direction, over downs and through open scrubs, meeting no
impediment from brigalow. We crossed the various branches of a
considerable tributary coming from E.S.E., the only water seen this day,
besides the great river; which we met with, exactly where, according to
its general course, it was to be looke