eks, or months pass away, and they see them still
remaining. Compelled at last, it may be by enemies without, by the want
of water in the remoter districts, by the desire to procure certain kinds
of food, which are peculiar to certain localities, and at particular
seasons of the year, or perhaps by a wish to revisit their country and
their homes, they return once more, cautiously and fearfully approaching
what is their own--the spot perhaps where they were born, the patrimony
that has descended to them through many generations;--and what is the
reception that is given them upon their own lands? often they are met by
repulsion, and sometimes by violence, and are compelled to retire again
to strange and unsuitable localities. Passing over the fearful scenes of
horror and bloodshed, that have but too frequently been perpetrated in
all the Australian colonies upon the natives in the remoter districts, by
the most desperate and abandoned of our countrymen; and overlooking,
also, the recklessness that too generally pervades the shepherds and
stock-keepers of the interior, with regard to the coloured races, a
recklessness that leads them to think as little of firing at a black, as
at a bird, and which makes the number they have killed, or the atrocities
that have attended the deeds, a matter for a tale, a jest or boast at
their pothouse revelries; overlooking these, let us suppose that the
settler is actuated by no bad intentions, and that he is sincerely
anxious to avoid any collision with the natives, or not to do them any
injury, yet under these even comparatively favourable circumstances, what
frequently is the result? The settler finds himself almost alone in the
wilds, with but few men around him, and these, principally occupied in
attending to stock, are dispersed over a considerable extent of country;
he finds himself cut off from assistance, or resources of any kind,
whilst he has heard fearful accounts of the ferocity, or the treachery of
the savage; he therefore comes to the conclusion, that it will be less
trouble, and annoyance, and risk, to keep the natives away from his
station altogether; and as soon as they make their appearance, they are
roughly waved away from their own possessions: should they hesitate, or
appear unwilling to depart, threats are made use of, weapons perhaps
produced, and a show, at least, is made of an offensive character, even
if no stronger measures be resorted to. What must be the natural