ry remarkable. Those residing in and about
Sydney cannot converse with those on the Hunter, who, in their turn, are
ignorant of the dialect spoken on Liverpool Plains; and this is the case
throughout the Colony. When Sir Edward Parry was manager of the
Australian Agricultural Company's affairs, he made a tour of inspection
through its estates, taking with him some few black followers as guides.
They were not fifty miles from their home, when, to Sir Edward's
astonishment, he heard them speaking English to their countrymen of the
districts through which they were passing. On inquiring the reason, he
was told, that the two parties were entirely ignorant of each other's
language.

I never could make out the religious notions of these aboriginal tribes,
further than that they believe in a future state. They do not appear to
have much affection for their children, if one may judge from the way in
which they treat them; yet, the mother bemoans the loss of one of her
little ones very piteously, daubs her face and arms with lime in token
of mourning, and spends many days in the neighbourhood of the grave. In
common with all savage nations, the Australian blacks treat their women
ill. These poor creatures get the worst of all their food, with the
hardest of all their work; and are frequently very severely beaten by
their hard and ruthless taskmasters. Degraded as are these aborigines
generally, those in the immediate vicinity of Sydney are a more abject
race than their more fortunate brethren who inhabit the distant parts of
the Colony. This may be partly, if not wholly accounted for, by the
facility with which at Sydney they can obtain ardent spirits, to procure
which they will do almost any thing. I have never seen human beings
elsewhere reduced to a state of such utter degradation and misery as
these poor people exhibit. To shew how much they dislike any thing like
labour, I may mention, that Government, on one occasion, set aside a
piece of land for a tribe near Sydney, and had it cleared, tilled, and
planted with maize for their use, exacting from them a promise that they
would tend the growing corn, keep it clean, and gather the crop when
ripe: they did neither the one nor the other, but, when called on to
gather the grain that was to be their own, said, it was too much
trouble. The result was, that the corn was plucked for them; and no
further attempt was made to induce them to work.

Several praiseworthy individuals hav