At sunset, a party of a score of the black aborigines passed by, each
carrying, in their accustomed manner, a bundle of spears and other
weapons. By giving a leading young man a shilling, they were easily
detained, and threw their spears for my amusement. They were all
partly clothed, and several could speak a little English: their
countenances were good-humoured and pleasant, and they appeared far
from being such utterly degraded beings as they have usually been
represented. In their own arts they are admirable. A cap being fixed
at thirty yards distance, they transfixed it with a spear, delivered by
the throwing-stick with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow of a
practised archer. In tracking animals or men they show most wonderful
sagacity; and I heard of several of their remarks which manifested
considerable acuteness. They will not, however, cultivate the ground,
or build houses and remain stationary, or even take the trouble of
tending a flock of sheep when given to them. On the whole they appear
to me to stand some few degrees higher in the scale of civilization
than the Fuegians.
It is very curious thus to see in the midst of a civilized people, a
set of harmless savages wandering about without knowing where they
shall sleep at night, and gaining their livelihood by hunting in the
woods. As the white man has travelled onwards, he has spread over the
country belonging to several tribes. These, although thus enclosed by
one common people, keep up their ancient distinctions, and sometimes go
to war with each other. In an engagement which took place lately, the
two parties most singularly chose the centre of the village of Bathurst
for the field of battle. This was of service to the defeated side, for
the runaway warriors took refuge in the barracks.
The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing. In my whole ride, with
the exception of some boys brought up by Englishmen, I saw only one
other party. This decrease, no doubt, must be partly owing to the
introduction of spirits, to European diseases (even the milder ones of
which, such as the measles, [1] prove very destructive), and to the
gradual extinction of the wild animals. It is said that numbers of
their children invariably perish in very early infancy from the effects
of their wandering life; and as the difficulty of procuring food
increases, so must their wandering habits increase; and hence the
population, without any apparent deaths from famine, is repressed in a
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