The morning call., 1893-03-24
EXTINCTION OF A RACE.

The aboriginal tribes of Australia are
disappearing so fast before the civilization
Of the whites that their complete extnc-
ton is probable within fifty years. In Tas-
mania the last Of the native race perished
number OF years ago. An effort was
made to save a remnant by kind treatment
after the manner in which stock are herded
and fed, but 1t was kindness misdirected.
The Tasmanian was not adapted for any
other life than that which he had led
Certainly he was not adapted for any abrupt
transitions in his habits. The whites gave
him food, of which he had enough pre-
viously. but they also deprived him of the
exercise of roaming, hunting life, and he
withered away off the face of the earth.
1t was pity that lie could not be raised in
the plane of existence so as to approach
the standard of the white and persist as a
race. The Australian, belonging to the
same negrto stock as the Tasmanian, has
the same doom facing him, although not
limited in his wanderugs over vast conti-
mental area. Contact with whites is rapidly
fatal to a low type of savage such as the
Australians are, and not even races of a
high type, such as the Maoris Of New Zeal
and, can escape the blight Of attrition with
civilization. What the numbers of the
blacks in Australia were before colonization
proceeded with robust vigor upon the dis
covery of gold is largely matter of con-
lecture, but admittedly the diminulion has
been rapid. Perhaps not half the poll Of
aborigines could be taken now that existed
forty years ago. Victoria has less than a
thousand; New South Wales has more. but
there also they are melting away; and the
estimate Of abOrigines in Queensland made
by the explorer Meston, one of the most
competent authorities, is only 10000.
Within a generation they will be no more
The middle region Of Australia, from north
to south. and Western Australia. constitute
about two thirds of the total area, but 1t is
improbable that the aborigines number
100000. AS the white advance they, too,
will vanish. Soon after contact with white
civilization, destructive agencies overpower
efforts Of beneficial character to raise the
status of the blacks. Rum and diseases
to which the aborigInes were strangers
when undisturbed have played havoc. The
little enlightenment here and there at
tempted is not real advancement. 1t has
only given them the feeling to foresee their
doom more clearly.
The Maori of New Zealand is susceptible
of rising to high civilization. but his race
extinct. Education and an improved knowl-
edge of agriculture have not sufficed to
maintain his race in the healthy vitality
which insures preservation. There are less
than 10000 in the colony. In Cooks time
they were perhaps as numerous as the
colonists now are. There ought to be the
sincerest regret at the fading away OF this
fine stock, but there is no known method OF
arrestlng the decline. 1t is the march of
the inevitable. The future Of Australasia
as foothold for the industrious and pro-
gressive white Is not greatly involved in
the disappearance Of the native races. Only
the Maori is capable OF being Injured to
regular toll cheerfully. The average negrito
IS physically, morally and mentally un-
suited to systematic labor. How white
civilization win fare in the tropical parts of
Australia it is impossible TO predict. The
European stock is not fitted for bodily toll
under a tropical sun. 1t will do well In
New Zealand and Tasmania, and should
also succeed in the southern parts of Aus
tral!a, but In Northern Australia manual
Toll must be performed by other races to a
great extent or left undone. The islanders
oil the Pacific have been drafted into the
labor field with sorry results to their own
advancement They also will fall victims