Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/18

 viii INTRODUCTION. wandering savages, seldom staying long at one place, and dependent almost entirely upon the spoils of the chase or upon their success in fishing for subsistence. Such dwellings as they erect are of the most temporary character, consisting only of boughs piled together against the wind, so as to form a rude shelter, and thicker in the rainy season than in the summer, to keep out the wet. They do not cultivate the soil. At certain periods of the year, when roots of particular kinds are fit for use, or the seeds of indigenous plants are ripe, the women dig up the former and collect the latter for food; but they are dependent entirely upon the spontaneous operations of nature to supply this portion of their sustenance in abundance or scarcity, as the nature of the seasons may determine. The Aborigines who occupied the country in and around the site of the present City of Adelaide were neither numerous nor warlike. They offered no opposition either to the landing or to the settlement of the Europeans; indeed, their conduct was anything but unfriendly. A good understanding was readily established with them. Captain Hindmarsh, R.N., the first Governor of the new colony, in his first interview with them in 1836, gave them clothes and blankets, with which they were apparently well pleased, and they generally lived harmoniously with the white settlers. Lord Stanley, when Secretary of State for the Colonies, was most earnest and persistent in his instructions to the Governors of the different Australian colonies respecting the treatment of the Aborigines of New Holland. He was deeply sensible of their condition, and he fully recognised the obligations towards them which he considered attached to those who had occupied their territories. He constantly urged the adoption of some policy by which effectual protection should be secured for them, and he expressed the utmost readiness to co-operate with the local authorities in any arrangement which would offer any reasonable prospect of bringing them within the range of the influences of civilisation. His humane wishes remain unfulfilled, and all the exertions of the various Governors have signally failed to attain