hey are worse than other uncivilized
races. Treachery and cunning are inherent in the breast of every savage.
I question, indeed, if they are not considered by them as cardinal
virtues; but, admitting the Australian native to have the most unbridled
passions, instances can be adduced of their regard for truth and honesty,
that ought to weigh in any general estimate we may form of their
character. No European living, not even Mr. Eyre, has seen so many of the
Aborigines of the Australian continent as myself; and that, too, under
circumstances when strife might have been expected; and no man certainly
has had less reason to complain of them. If my party has ever been
menaced by these people, if we have ever had their spears raised in
hundreds against us, it has been because they have been taken by
surprise, and have acted under the influence of fear. If I had rushed on
these poor people, I should have received their weapons, and have been
obliged to raise my arm against them, but, by giving them time to recover
from their surprise, allowing them to go through their wonted ceremonies,
and, by pacific demonstrations, hostile collisions have been avoided. If
I had desired a conflict, the inclination might have been indulged
without the fear of censure, but I saw no credit, no honour to be gained
by such a course, and I therefore refrained. I can look back to my
intercourse with the Australian aborigines, under a consciousness that I
never injured one of them, and that the cause of humanity has not
suffered at my hands;--but, I am travelling out of my proper course, and
beg the reader to excuse me, it is for him, I allow, not for me, to draw
such conclusions.

I have said, that I thought I could adduce instances of a regard for
justice and honesty that would weigh in favour of the Australian native.
As one instance, let me ask, if anything could have been more just, than
the feeling which prompted the native to return the blanket one of his
tribe had stolen from the camp on the banks of the Castlereagh, as
detailed in my former work, vol. i. page 141. The man who restored the
lost property was apprehensive of danger, from the fact of his having
come armed, and from his guarded and menacing attitude when the soldier
approached to ascertain what he wanted. Had he been the father of the
thief, we could only have said that it was a singular proof of honest
pride by a single individual, but such was not the case, the whole tribe
p