n and improvement, or to use
the apt and expressive language of Captain Grey upon this point, vol. ii.
p. 217 :--

"He (the native) is in reality subjected to complex laws, which not only
deprive him of all free agency of thought, but at the same time, by
allowing no scope for the development of intellect, benevolence, or any
other great moral qualification, they necessarily bind him down in a
hopeless state of barbarism, from which it is impossible for him to
emerge, so long as he is enthralled by these customs, which, on the other
hand, are so ingeniously devised as to have a direct tendency to
annihilate any effort that is made to overthrow them."

Those customs regulate all things, the acquisition and disposal of wives,
the treatment of women, of the elders, the acquiescence of the younger
members of a tribe in any measure that may have been decided upon by the
old men, the rules which guide the international intercourse between
different tribes, the certain restrictions or embargoes that are put upon
different kinds of food or at certain ages, the fear of sorcery or
witchcraft if they transgress the orders of the elders, or break through
the ordinances that have been imposed upon them, and many other similar
influences.

In their intercourse with each other I have generally found the natives
to speak the truth and act with honesty, and they will usually do the
same with Europeans if on friendly terms with them. In their treatment of
each other, and in the division of food, policy and custom have induced
them to be extremely polite and liberal. Old men are especially well off
in this respect, as the younger people always give them the best and
largest share of everything. Males generally are generous and liberal to
each other in sharing what food they have, but it is not often that the
females participate in the division. When following their usual pursuits
upon the Murray, I have seen the men after an hour or two's fishing with
the nets, sit down and devour all they had caught, without saving
anything for their family or wives, and then hurry about noon to the
camps to share in what had been procured by the women, who usually begin
to return at that hour, with what they have been able to collect.
Favourite kinds of food are also frequently sent as presents from one
male to another, and at other times two parties will meet and exchange
the different kinds they respectively bring. Among the younger people I
have o