issionary is stationed at Encounter Bay, and is now conducting a
school, mainly established through his own exertions and influence.

The fourth is stationed at Port Lincoln. All the four missionaries have
learned the dialects of the tribes where they are stationed, and three
have published vocabularies and grammars as the proof of their industry.

Such is the general outline of the efforts that have hitherto been made
in South Australia, and the progress made. It may be well to inquire,
what are likely to be the results eventually under the existing
arrangements. From the first establishment of the schools, until June
1843, the children were only instructed at the location, their food was
given to them to take to the native encampments to cook, and they were
allowed to sleep there at night. The natural consequence was, that the
provisions intended for the sonolars were shared by the other natives,
whilst the evil influence of example, and the jeers of their companions,
did away with any good impression produced by their instruction. I have
myself, upon going round the encampments in Adelaide by night, seen the
school-children ridiculed by the elder boys, and induced to join them in
making a jest of what they had been taught during the day to look upon as
sacred.

A still more serious evil, resulting from this system was, that the
children were more completely brought into the power, and under the
influence of the parents, and thus their natural taste for an indolent
and rambling life, was constantly kept up. The boys naturally became
anxious to participate and excel in the sports, ceremonies, or pursuits
of their equals, and the girls were compelled to yield to the customs of
their tribe, and break through every lesson of decency or morality, which
had been inculcated.

Since June, 1843, the system has so far been altered, that the children,
whilst under instruction, are boarded and lodged at the school houses,
and as far as practicable, the boys and girls are kept separate. There
are still, however, many evils attending the present practice, most of
which arise from the inadequacy of the funds, applicable to the
Aborigines, and which must be removed before any permanent good can be
expected from the instruction given. The first of these, and perhaps one
of the greatest, is that the adult natives make their encampments
immediately in the neighbourhood of the schools, whilst the children,
when out of school, roam in