Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-07-28
NO. 1SO.
9nistellaneous.
THE COLORED RACES IN AUSTRALIA.

The colored races of Australia are of
three principal varieties. The aboriginal
is black, the Chinaman is yellow, and the
Polynesian may be of any tint from cop
per to black. Since the conclusion of the
Maori war in New Zealand the aboriginal
has not attracted any attention beyond the
limits Of Australia. The colOnists, howev
er, especially in the North, have by no
means heard the last of him. The fine
race of New Zealand are rapidly declining
through the combined efforts of too much
rum, and apparently, too little fighting.
Drink and inactivity cooperate toward
the same result Peace is now maintained
between the natives and the settlers, and
the former are more considerably treated
than of yore: but alike in peace or war.
whether drinking rum or cutting throats,
the native New Zealander goes down be-
fore the advance of civilization. The alb
originals of Tasmania are extinct. On the
continent their condition becomes more
degraded and hopeless in proportion as
they are remote from the sea. The coast
natives are far superior to those OF the
inland districts The former are capable
of continuous industry, and display a con-
siderable amount of intelligence. Some
specimens that | saw about Moreton Bay
(thr entrance TO the River Brisbane) were
remarkably fine men. In the north OF
Queensland-in the Peninsula of Cape
York and round about the Gull OF Car
pentaria the native is of an entirely dlf-
ferent race, and probably migrated origi-
nallv from the islands of the great Indian
Archipelago. He is athletic, intelligent. fe-
rocious. untamable, is credited with
an appetite for human flesh. Traces OF
canibalism have also been found Ill the
western interior, but nothing exact is
known of the natives of that unexplored
region. The most degraded of the abor-
iginal tribes have proved less unteachabie
than might have been inferred from the ac-
counts of early travellers; but nowhere
have these races been so advantageously
affected by civilization as to afford any
hope of their escaping that natural law
which dooms the weaker race to disappear
before the stronger The blacks will oc-
casionallv work for the squatters, and
work we'll but they soon grow tired OF
remaining in one place. Continuous ap-
plication seems beyond them. They are
useful in tracking malelactors-a business
for which most of them have qualified by
long training as evil-doers on their own
account. In some places areas have been
set apart for them, and homes have been
established under the care of white officers.
Here the aboriginal has acquired little
knowledge of agriculture and some OF the
simpler arts but it is noticeable that wo-
men or old and infirm men mostly seek
these institutions, which thus do little to
leaven the lump of able-bodied savagery.
In Northern Queensland the relationship
between the whites and the blacks is one
of war to the knife. The savage uses his
spear. the settler HE rifle, whenever an
opportunity presents itself Nothing is at
tempted in the way of negotiation. over
lures for peace, or reclamation. The lat
ter is pronounced to be an impossibility
but no effort has been made TO establish
moduS Uirendi. 1t is said--aud probably
with too much truth-that the irreconcila-
BILE hostility of these northern savages was
first provoked by atrocities on the part of
the early settlers; but it is not at all cer-
tain that the blacks could not be propitiat-
ed.-Ihe Fortnightiy ReUteU.