have disgusting customs—­that they are revengeful and addicted to theft.  Still I would say they have redeeming qualities; for the first, I would fain believe that the horrors of which they have been guilty, are local; for the last, I do not see that they are worse than other uncivilized races.  Treachery and cunning are inherent in the breast of every savage.  I question, indeed, if they are not considered by them as cardinal virtues; but, admitting the Australian native to have the most unbridled passions, instances can be adduced of their regard for truth and honesty, that ought to weigh in any general estimate we may form of their character.  No European living, not even Mr. Eyre, has seen so many of the Aborigines of the Australian continent as myself; and that, too, under circumstances when strife might have been expected; and no man certainly has had less reason to complain of them.  If my party has ever been menaced by these people, if we have ever had their spears raised in hundreds against us, it has been because they have been taken by surprise, and have acted under the influence of fear.  If I had rushed on these poor people, I should have received their weapons, and have been obliged to raise my arm against them, but, by giving them time to recover from their surprise, allowing them to go through their wonted ceremonies, and, by pacific demonstrations, hostile collisions have been avoided.  If I had desired a conflict, the inclination might have been indulged without the fear of censure, but I saw no credit, no honour to be gained by such a course, and I therefore refrained.  I can look back to my intercourse with the Australian aborigines, under a consciousness that I never injured one of them, and that the cause of humanity has not suffered at my hands;—­but, I am travelling out of my proper course, and beg the reader to excuse me, it is for him, I allow, not for me, to draw such conclusions.

I have said, that I thought I could adduce instances of a regard for justice and honesty that would weigh in favour of the Australian native.  As one instance, let me ask, if anything could have been more just, than the feeling which prompted the native to return the blanket one of his tribe had stolen from the camp on the banks of the Castlereagh, as detailed in my former work, vol. i. page 141.  The man who restored the lost property was apprehensive of danger, from the fact of his having come armed, and from his guarded and menacing attitude when the soldier approached to ascertain what he wanted.  Had he been the father of the thief, we could only have said that it was a singular proof of honest pride by a single individual, but such was not the case, the whole tribe participated in the same feeling, for we learnt from them, that the thief had been punished and expelled their camp.  Could anything have been more noble than the conduct of the native, who remained neuter, and separated himself from them, when the tribes attempted to surprise