enquiry, it could only have been admitted as a specimen of
brutal gasconade, and in proof of how much a cruel fancy could exceed
the actual guilt of mankind. It sometimes happened, that an unfortunate
servant would receive the spear intended for his predecessor in the same
employ, to whom it was justly due. Among the whites, there were men
distinguished for the malicious vigour with which they tracked and
murdered the native people. A lad, on his arrival from England, was sent
into the interior, and warned never to wander from his dwelling; but he
forgot the danger he did not see, and straying a short distance, he was
murdered. He had never injured his destroyers; but then he lived on the
lands just before in charge of a villain, and who, like a Roman warrior,
took his name of "Abyssinian Tom," from the locality of his exploits.

The infliction of judicial punishments, interrupted the friendly
intercourse of the tribe that visited Hobart Town, and who were
encouraged to resort to Kangaroo Point, where huts were erected for
their use. The arrest of two of their number filled them with
apprehension. The aborigines, Jack and Dick, were executed on the 16th
September, 1826, an event which terminated all present hope of amicable
relations. The murder of a shepherd at Oyster Bay, Great Swan Port, was
proved against them by the evidence of convict stock-keepers; a topic of
contemporary complaint: but the courts regularly relied on the same
class of witnesses, and in this case there is no special reason for
suspicion. The fact was not questioned: the culprits had been treated
with kindness by the government, and efforts had been made by Colonel
Arthur to acquaint them with the obligations of British subjects. He
asserts that, by personal interviews, he was fully convinced that they
understood the benevolent views of the crown. One of these blacks was so
far civilised, as to be admitted to the sacrament of the English church.
His companion was a youth, and denied his guilt. The old black was
carried to the scaffold, and resisted the execution: the younger,
disentangled his arms, and struggled for his life. It was, indeed, a
melancholy spectacle. Successive Governors had witnessed crimes against
their race, atrocious and unpunished: hundreds had fallen unavenged by
that public justice which treated them as murderers.

On the day of their execution, the Governor addressed the colony. He
vindicated this act of severity, as requisit