rcumstances of the utmost atrocity, the victims being
surprised asleep unconscious of danger and perfectly defenceless, then
aroused to find themselves treacherously attacked by numbers, who, after
spearing them in many places, fearfully mangled the bodies with clubs.

In some of the settled districts of Australia missionaries have been
established for many years back, still it must be confessed that the
results of their labours are far from being encouraging. Indeed no less
an authority than Mr. Eyre, writing in 1848, unhesitatingly states as
follows: "Nor is it in my recollection," says he, "that throughout the
whole length and breadth of New Holland, a single real and permanent
convert to Christianity has yet been made amongst them."* From what I
myself have seen or heard, in the colony of New South Wales, I have
reason to believe the missionary efforts there, while proving a complete
failure so far as regards the Christianising of the blacks, have yet been
productive of much good in rendering them less dangerous and more useful
to their white neighbours, without however permanently reclaiming more
than a few from their former wandering and savage mode of life, and
enabling them and their families to live contentedly on the produce of
their own labour. I am not one of those who consider that the Australian
is not susceptible of anything like such permanent improvement as may be
termed civilisation, although it appears to have been sufficiently proved
that his intellectual capacity is of a very low order.

(*Footnote. Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia
etc. by E.J. Eyre volume 2 page 420.)

Many of the Port Essington natives have shown a remarkable degree of
intelligence, far above the average Europeans, uneducated, and living in
remote districts--among others I may mention the name of Neinmal (the
same alluded to in the preceding paragraph) of whose character I had good
opportunities of judging, for he lived with me for ten months. During my
stay at Port Essington, he became much attached to me, and latterly
accompanied me in all my wanderings in the bush, while investigating the
natural history of the district, following up the researches of my late
and much lamented friend Gilbert.* One day, while detained by rainy
weather at my camp, I was busy in skinning a fish--Neinmal watched me
attentively for some time and then withdrew, but returned in half an hour
afterwards, with the skin of anot