hich such a race exists can duly
appreciate the evils both moral and physical which such a degraded
position entails upon them.

CAUSES OF THEIR DEPRESSED CONDITION. PREJUDICES AGAINST THEM.

If we enquire into the causes which tend to retain them in their present
depressed condition we shall find that the chief one is prejudice. The
Australians have been most unfairly represented as a very inferior race,
in fact as one occupying a scale in the creation which nearly places them
on a level with the brutes, and some years must elapse ere a prejudice so
firmly rooted as this can be altogether eradicated, but certainly a more
unfounded one never had possession of the public mind.

INADEQUACY OF SUPPORT BY LABOUR.

Amongst the evils which the natives suffer in their present position one
is an uncertain and irregular demand for their labour, that is to say,
they may one day have plenty of means for exerting their industry
afforded them by the settlers, and the next their services are not
required; so that they are necessarily compelled to have recourse to
their former irregular and wandering habits.

Another is the very insufficient reward for the services they render. As
an example of this kind I will state the instance of a man who worked
during the whole season as hard and as well as any white man at getting
in the harvest for some settlers, and who only received bread and
sixpence a day whilst the ordinary labourers would earn at least fifteen
shillings. In many instances they only receive a scanty allowance of
food, so much so that some settlers have told me that the natives left
them because they had not enough to eat.

The evil consequence of this is that a native, finding he can gain as
much by the combined methods of hunting and begging as he can by working,
naturally prefers the former and much more attractive mode of procuring
subsistence to the latter one.

Many of the natives have not only a good idea of the value of money but
even hoard it up for some particular purpose; several of them have shown
me their little treasure of a few shillings, and have told me it was
their intention to save more until they had enough to buy a horse, a gun,
or some wished-for article, but their improvidence has always got the
better of their thriftiness, and this sum has eventually been spent in
treating their friends to bread and rice.

EVIL EFFECTS FROM THEIR FEROCIOUS CUSTOMS REMAINING UNCHECKED.

Another evil is the v