1,300 in number, would give
useful ideas of the bounty of their benefactors. It had been thought
desirable to reward the aboriginal guides, and one hundred ewes and
three rams were forwarded to the establishment, to be distributed among
them: a large addition was made by private benevolence. The increase of
their flock, became a source of temporary profit to the natives: the
wool was brought to Launceston, and exchanged for haberdashery, and
other articles of domestic use.

The British government, after much hesitation, fearful of its
consequences to the Tasmanians, consented to their removal. In 1838, Mr.
Robinson received the appointment of Chief Protector to the Aborigines
of New Holland: the nature or the utility of that office, does not
belong to this work to discuss. By treaty with Sir George Gipps, the
government of Van Diemen's Land agreed to pay a sum annually for each
ten who might survive. The deportation was sanctioned by the blacks
themselves: the certificate, which bears their signatures, might be
supposed to represent a congress of heroes, or the pack of a
huntsman--names, which are chiefly borne by dogs and princes.[22] They
were anxious for the change, but quite incapable of estimating its
results. A party of twenty-two therefore accompanied Mr. Robinson, but
the issue was disastrous: called away by the duties of his office, he
could not extend to them a proper supervision: they were again exposed,
in another land, to their old adversaries and seducers, the
stock-keepers: they were too few to form a village, and death thinned
their numbers: two returned to Van Diemen's Land, and afterwards to
Flinders'. Of the rest, two were executed for murder. Mr. Batman had in
his house at Port Phillip, a native woman and two boys; but the New
Hollanders were rather the objects of aversion than sympathy: and,
fearful of their violence, the Tasmanians avoided their company, and
showed no disposition to forsake their protector.

During the whole period of their residence at Flinders' Island, it does
not appear that any white man on the station, or even of their own
colour, had preferred a criminal charge against one of them. The
commandant, as magistrate, possessed a summary jurisdiction; and the
restrictions in his court he could supplement with the forms and
ensignia of power. A late commandant, when he sentenced to small
penalties for petty offences, sat at night; and to impress their
imaginations, the hall of ju