Post annum primum aut alterum
morbus evanescit, interdum mortem affert. Semper autem aegrotis miseris
cruciatus maximus et dolores perpetui inde flunt. Moorhousi de morbo hoc
opiniones in paucis a meis experimentis dissident, quum ille num glandem
penis aut inguinis, principio nunquam, glandem autem penis rarissime vel
secundo attingere arbitrabatur. Ego autem et hoc et illud in ripis
Murray fluminis vidi.]
Many natives of deformed persons are occasionally to be met with,
especially in the extremities. I have seen natives tall, and perfect, and
well built in the body and limbs, from the head down to the knees: but
from that point downwards, shrivelled and blighted, presenting but skin
and bone. Many are blind in one eye, some in both; sometimes this appears
the effect of inflammation, or of cataract; at others, it may be the
result of accident. Among those natives inhabiting the sandy drifts along
the western coast, where the sand is always circling about in a perfect
shower, I have no doubt but that many become blind from its effects.
In October, 1839, Mr. Moorhouse found nine inhabitants in two huts to the
south; out of these, five were quite blind, and one had lost one eye;
they were occupied in making nets.
Deaf and dumb persons are not often found among the Aborigines, but I
have met with instances of this kind. One of the most intelligent natives
I ever met with, was a deaf and dumb youth at the Wimmera. From this poor
boy, I could more readily and intelligibly obtain by signs a description
of the country, its character, and localities, than from any native I
ever met with, whose language I was at the time quite unacquainted with.
The blind, or the infirm, are generally well treated, and taken care of
when young, but as soon as they advance in years, or become an impediment
to the movements of the tribe, they are abandoned at once by their
people, and left to perish.
The crimes committed by the natives against Europeans do not bear any
proportion, either numerically, or in magnitude, to their number, as a
people, and the circumstances of their position. When we consider the low
state of morals, or rather, the absence of all moral feeling upon their
part, the little restraint that is placed upon their community, by either
individual authority, or public opinion, the injuries they are smarting
under, and the aggressions they receive, it cannot but be admitted that
they are neither an ill disposed, nor a very vindictive people. The
following are the returns of the convictions of natives in South
Australia for the years 1842 and 1843, viz. : -
SUPREME COURT.
- - - - - - -
OFFENCE. 1842 1843 1844
Larceny 2 0 2
Assault with intent to murder 2 0 0
Wilful murder 0 3 1
Sheep stealing 1 2 1
Cattle stealing 0 1 2
RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Assault 0 3 3
Breaking windows 1 0 0
Intoxication 3 0 0
Injuring park trees 0 0 2
- - - - -
9 9 11
In the colony of New South Wales, the return of all the trials of the
Aborigines, from 10th February, 1837, to the 24th July, 1843, amounted to
thirty-three cases, and implicated sixty-one individuals.
