Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/34

 xxiv INTRODUCTION. bable, but not in the time in which their disappearance has occurred. Opinions differ to some extent as to whether such institutions as those at Pooraindie and at Point Macleay might not, if established at the outset of the European occupation, have been successful in reducing the natives to a condition of civilisation. With great respect for the views of those who hold this theory, the writer deems that the attempt would have been futile. The whites for some years were not sufficient in number nor in influence to bring the bulk of the natives within the scope of their customs. There was, in fact, neither the means nor the machinery for it. The difficulties which are encountered, even now,* from the old men of such tribes as are under control, were paramount then, and they would have resisted, as a whole, what they sometimes now successfully resist in detail. The process of extermination, in fact, began as soon as the white men took possession of the soil. The fencing in and occupation of the territory deprived the natives of the wild animals which constituted the principal part of their daily food. Kangaroos, emus, &c., were killed and driven further back into places where they could remain undisturbed. The wild-fowl were scared away by the fire-arms of the settlers. The destruction of the trees consequent upon the clearing of the ground for tillage, drove away the opossums, and left little shelter for parrots and other winged creatures which resorted to them, and the people who had been disappointed were thrown back on the hunting grounds of their neighbours, or compelled to become dependent on the bounty of the white men. In the former case, wars and murders according to tribal customs were inevitable; in the latter, unaccustomed food, clothing, strong drinks, the use of tobacco, and other things wholly unsuited to the condition of savages, made a change in their mode of life which they could not survive. The authorities who were first called upon to administer the affairs of South Australia did not recognise the fact that distinct territorial rights existed amongst the native inhabitants. Each tribe had its own country distinct from that of any other tribe. Its boundaries
 * See Taplin.