Page:Some account of the wars, extirpation, habits.djvu/48

40 teaches before precept, I am a constant and regular attendant. Their conduct during divine worship is of the most exemplary kind. They are quiet and attentive to what is said, and the church is crowded. The ignorance of the natives heretofore in the first principles of religion was more the fault of the system than of the people, for I am fully persuaded they are capable of high mental improvement.

"This had always appeared to me a delightful part of worship, and as the natives were generally partial to music, I requested singing to be introduced. It is truly gratifying to see with what avidity they listen to this part of devotion. The singing of the women and of the native youth has a pleasing effect, their melody being soft and harmonious.

"My family and the civil officers and their wives act as teachers (i.e., of the native schools), and the average attendance is from 60 to 80. No language can do justice to the intense anxiety manifested by the adult aboriginal for learning, it must be seen to be properly comprehended. The desire of the natives for learning is not the result of compulsion, but is the free exercise of their own unbiassed judgment. Six months have now passed away since the schools were commenced, and there is not the slightest diminution of their number. The same vehement desire continues unabated. The anxiety of the natives for the attainment of knowledge is great. Their proficiency is astonishing. Some are now able to read in words of three syllables. The juveniles are making considerable proficiency in learning, and several are in writing, and have acquired a knowledge of the relation of numbers, and some can add tolerably correctly.

"The aborigines have shown every disposition to become civilised. The men are employed in rural and other pursuits, and the women are occupied in domestic concerns, and for which these people have shown the greatest aptitude, and by their frequent enquiries evinced the strongest desire to become acquainted with the arts of civilised life. Their wild habits are fast giving way. Their corroberies (i.e., violent dances, accompanied by vociferous singing) and perigrinations into the bush are less frequent. They are becoming more cleanly in their persons, and are rapidly acquiring industrious habits. The use of ochre and grease, to which they were so much addicted, they have entirely refrained from. The women take particular pains in the arrangement of their domestic economy. Their cottages are