posed may have received some provocation."

The following extract from a letter addressed by the Chief Protector of
the Port Phillip district, Mr. Robinson, to his Honour the Superintendent
at Melbourne, shews that officer's opinion of the feeling of the lower
class of the settlers' servants, with regard to the Aborigines in
Australia Felix.

"Anterior to my last expedition I had seen a large portion of this
province; I have now seen nearly the entire, and, in addition, have made
myself thoroughly acquainted with the character of its inhabitants.

"The settlers are, for the most part, a highly respectable body of men,
many, to my knowledge, deeply commiserating the condition of the natives;
a few have been engaged in the work of their amelioration; these,
however, are but isolated instances; the majority are averse to having
the natives, and drive them from their runs.

"Nothing could afford me greater pleasure than to see a reciprocity of
interest established between the settler and aborigine, and it would
delight me to see the settlers engaged in the great work of their
amelioration; and though on the part of the settlers, a large majority
would readily engage, I nevertheless feel persuaded that, until a better
class of peasantry be introduced, and a code of judicature suited to the
condition of the natives, its practicability, as a general principle, is
unattainable.

"In the course of my wanderings through the distant interior, I found it
necessary, in order to arrive at a correct judgment, to observe the
relative character of both classes, i. e. the European and the Aborigine.
The difficulty on the part of the Aborigine by proper management can be
overcome; but the difficulty on the part of the depraved white man is of
far different character, and such as to require that either their place
should be supplied by a more honest and industrious peasantry, or that a
more suitable code of judicature be established, to restrain their
nefarious proceedings with reference to the aboriginal natives.

"I found, on my last expedition, that a large majority of the white
servants employed at the stock stations in the distant interior were, for
the most part, men of depraved character; and it was with deep regret
that I observed that they were all armed; and in the estimation of some
of these characters, with whom I conversed, I found that the life of a
native was considered to be of no more value than that of a wild dog.