classes of the new population were of a bad type, and these, coming into
contact with the natives, were guilty of cruelties which led to
reprisals and then to further cruelties, and finally to a complete
destruction of the black people in some districts.

In Tasmania, for instance, where the blacks were of a fine robust type,
convicts in the early days, escaping to the Bush, by their cruelties
inflamed the natives to hatred of the white disturbers, and outrages
were frequent. The state of affairs got to be so bad that the Government
formed the idea of capturing all the natives of Tasmania and putting
them on a special reserve on Tasman Peninsula. That was to be the black
man's part of the country, where no white people would be allowed. The
help of the settlers was enlisted, and a great cordon was formed around
the whole island, as if it were to be beaten for game. The cordon
gradually closed in on Tasman Peninsula after some weeks of "beating"
the forests. It was found, then, that one aboriginal woman had been
captured, and that was all. Such a result might have been foreseen.
Tasmania is about as large as Scotland. Its natural features are just as
wild. The cordon did not embrace 2,000 settlers. The idea of their being
able to drive before them a whole native race familiar with the Bush was
absurd.

After that the old conditions ruled in Tasmania. Blacks and whites were
in constant conflict, and the black race quickly perished. To-day there
is not a single member of that race alive, Truganini, its last
representative, having died about a quarter of a century ago.

On the mainland of Australia many blacks still survive; indeed, in a few
districts of the north, they have as yet barely come into contact with
the white race. A happier system in dealing with them prevails. The
Government are resolute that the blacks shall be treated kindly, and
aboriginal reserves have been formed in all the States. One hears still
of acts of cruelty in the back-blocks (as the far interior of Australia
is called), but, so far as the Government can, it punishes the
offenders. In several of the States there is an official known as the
Protector of the Aborigines, and he has very wide powers to shield these
poor blacks from the wickedness of others, and from their own weakness.
In the Northern States now, the chief enemies of the blacks are Asiatics
from the pearl-shelling fleets, who land in secret and supply the blacks
with opium and drin