Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/128

 66 ESTABLISHMENT OF MISSION. CHAPTER VIII. THE HISTORY OF THE MISSION TO THE ABORIGINES AT POINT MACLEAY. IN May, 1859, it was resolved by the Aborigines’ Friends’ Association of Adelaide to establish an institution for the instruction and evangelisation of the Lake Tribes of Aborigines. I had been, about a month previously, appointed as their Missionary Agent. By direction of the Committee of this Association, I travelled over the country inhabited by the people whom we wished to benefit, and after some research and inquiry pitched upon Point Macleay, on the south side of Lake Alexandrina, as the best spot for our purpose. It is situated on a peninsula, formed by the lake above mentioned and Lake Albert and the Coorong; consequently the spot is very much isolated, being separated from the settlements by fifteen miles of water. It is a favourite resort of the Aborigines, who come there to assemblies of the tribes for various purposes. I now began to prepare a dwelling for myself and family, and in the course of five months got a small house built. While this was being erected I camped out among the natives, leaving my wife and family at Port Elliot. During this time I was led to observe that the Aborigines were composed of a mixture of two races, and my researches into their language have since confirmed the impression. In one class of natives I observed that both males and females were tall and slight, with small features, and usually with straight hair, while the other had broader and coarser features, clumsy limbs, and very curly hair. I have since seen persons of both become true and earnest Christians; I have, however, noticed that when a member of the former class becomes a Christian he is a more intelligent believer than one of the latter,