Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/132

( 107 ) to the weapons of their enemies; and hence arise the most bloody contests between the different tribes, which the severest punishments cannot suppress. National hatred is one of the strongest principles in the minds of the ignorant, and a real John Bull as heartily despises a Frenchman when fellow-prisoner as when at liberty.

The native Indians in the district of Rio Janeiro are few; the Portuguese accuse them of aversion to any kind of labour, and only employ them on the water as boatmen. They are declared; by government entirely free, and their conversion to Christianity is strictly ordered to be attempted by persuasion alone. The missionaries are numerous, and have so far succeeded in their tual