in the system of policy he may adopt?  Weighing candidly, then, the points to which reference has been made, can we wonder, that in the outskirts of the colony, where the intercourse between the native and the European has been but limited, and where that intercourse has, perhaps, only generated a mutual distrust; where the objects, the intentions, or the motives of the white man, can neither be known nor understood, and where the natural inference from his acts cannot be favourable, can we wonder, that under such circumstances, and acting from the impression of some wrong, real or imagined, or goaded on by hunger, which the white man’s presence prevents him from appeasing, the native should sometimes be tempted to acts of violence or robbery?  He is only doing what his habits and ideas have taught him to think commendable.  He is doing what men in a more civilized state would have done under the same circumstances, what they daily do under the sanction of the law of nations—­a law that provides not for the safety, privileges, and protection of the Aborigines, and owners of the soil, but which merely lays down rules for the direction of the privileged robber in the distribution of the booty of any newly discovered country.  With reference to the particular case in question, the murder of Master Hawson, it appears from Dr. Harvey’s report (already quoted), that in addition to any incentives, such as I have described, as likely to arise in the minds of the natives, there had been the still greater provocation of their having been fired at, but a short time previously, from the same station, and by the murdered boy’s brother.  We may well pause, therefore, ere we hastily condemn, or unjustly punish, in cases where the circumstances connected with their occurrence, can only be brought before us in a partial and imperfect manner.

The 7th was spent in preparing my despatches for Adelaide.  On the 8th I sent in a dray to Port Lincoln, with Mr. Scott’s luggage, and those things that were to be sent to Adelaide, comprising all the specimens of geology and botany we had collected, a rough chart of our route, and the despatches and letters which I had written.  The boat was not ready at the time appointed, and Mr. Scott returned to the tents.  In the evening, however, he again went to the settlement, and about ten, P.M., he, and the man who was to manage the boat, went on board to sail for Adelaide.  I had been taken very ill during the day, and was unable to accompany him to the place of embarkation.  The following is a copy of my despatch to the Governor, and to the Chairman of the Northern Expedition Committee, embodying my reasons for going to the westward.

“Port Lincoln, October, 1840.

“Sir,—­Having fallen back upon Port Lincoln for supplies, an opportunity has occurred to me of writing a brief and hurried report of our proceedings.  I have, therefore, the honour to acquaint you, for the information of His Excellency, the Governor, and the colonists interested in the Northern Expedition, with the result of my examination of the country north of Spencer’s Gulf, and of the further steps I contemplate taking to endeavour to carry out the wishes of the Committee, and accomplish the object for which the expedition was fitted out.