to give the slightest thought
to cause or effect, and would, I believe eat and pass away their time
in a sort of trance-like apathy. Nothing appears to create surprise
in them, and nothing but hunger, or the sense of immediate danger,
arouses them from their listlessness.

20. I am aware of the great interest taken by his Excellency the
Governor and all the members of the Government of Queensland in the
promotion of missionary enterprise. I much fear, however, that the
mainland here will be found but a barren field for missionary labors.
One great obstacle to successful work is the unsettled nature of the
people. No inducement can keep them long in one place. Certainly a
missionary station might be formed on one of the neighbouring islands
--Albany or Mount Adolphus Island, for instance, where some of the
young natives might be kept in training, according to the system used
by Bishops Selwyn and Patterson for the instruction of the
Melanesians.

21. With the Kororegas or Prince of Wales Islanders, who, from
constant communication with the islands to the northward, have
acquired a higher degree of intelligence than the pure Australians, I
believe a successful experiment could be made. Missionary enterprise
beyond the protection and influence of this new settlement at
Somerset would, of course, at present be attended with considerable
risk.

22. To the Banks and Mulgrave Islanders in Torres' Straits, a
similar remark will apply. Those people, however, seem to be of a
more savage nature, although intelligent, and giving considerable
attention to the cultivation of yams, bananas, etc. Both the good
and bad features in their characters may, I believe, in a great
measure be attributed to the strong influence exercised among them by
a white man, called by the natives "Wini," who has been living there
for many years. This man, who is supposed to be an escaped convict
from one of the former penal settlements in Australia, no doubt
considers it politic to keep Europeans from visiting the island where
he resides, "Badu". The natives of Cape York hold him and the Banks
Islanders generally in the greatest dread, giving me to understand
that all strangers going to these islands are killed, and their heads
cut off. The latter appears to be the custom of these and the
neighbouring islands towards their slain enemies.

23. The natives of the islands more to the northward and eastward
are said to be of milder disposit