The party of natives in question were taken by some sealers on the western coast, near Arthur's River, and not far from the Van Diemen's Land Agricultural Company's station at Point Woolnorth, to which place they were first brought. A reward of 50 pounds had been offered for their apprehension, on account of some depredations they were said to have from time to time committed. A countrywoman of their own, the wife of one of the sealers, was instrumental in their capture. Pretence was made that the boat would carry them to some good hunting ground; but when they were all afloat, and prostrated by sea-sickness, the sealers made sail for the Company's station at Point Woolnorth, with a freight more valuable than seal-skins.
THE LAST MAN.
These were supposed to be the last of the aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania; though a report at one time prevailed that a solitary young man had been left behind. If this be the case, his position must be truly lamentable. Alone of all his race on that vast island, belonging to a people against whom the deepest prejudices are entertained, who have been hunted down like wild beasts by the new population, professing a religion which should teach them to act otherwise towards their brethren, no resource must have been left to him but to fly to the most inaccessible fastnesses, to hide in the gloomiest forests and darkest caverns, and to pass the remainder of his miserable life in constant struggles to prolong it, and in ceaseless endeavours to stave off that final consummation which could alone ensure him peace, and safety, and rest. Whether or not the report of the existence of this Last Man was true I cannot say; but, certainly, his story, imaginary or real, suggests numerous reflections, and opens a wide field for conjecture and speculation. What was the character of his thoughts, what importance he attached to the prolongation of his life, cut off as he was from the world, a solitary being, with no future prospect of the enjoyment of society, with no hope of seeing his race continued, we cannot tell. But his fate, at least, must force upon us the questions--have we dealt justly by these wild people? have we nothing to answer for, now that we have driven them from their native land, leaving no remnant, save one single individual, whose existence even is problematical? Without wishing to press too hard on any body of my countrymen, I must say I regret that that page of history which records our colonization of Australia must reach the eyes of posterity.
The woman, whose capture I have more than once alluded to, was, doubtless, the wife of one of the young men taken by the sealers, and mother of the boy who accompanied him. The prospect of meeting her probably lightened the hours of his captivity. But what a tale of suffering she had to relate! What had she not undergone as the penalty of an attempt to procure food for her family. With the narrative of her sorrows fresh in my memory, I could not but sympathize deeply with the last five of the aboriginal Tasmanians that now stood before me.
CHARACTERISTICS AND REMOVAL OF NATIVES.
These natives differed even more than others I had seen as the wives of sealers, from the inhabitants of the Australian continent, possessing quite the negro cast of countenance, and hair precisely of their woolly character. These characteristics are nowhere to be found on the continent, natives from every part of which have come under my observation. The difference existing is so great, that I feel warranted in pronouncing them to be a distinct race. Excellent likenesses of Tasmanian natives will be found in Strzelecki's work on New South Wales, where the truth of these remarks will be perceived at a glance.
Having thus been engaged in the removal of the last of the natives to Flinders Island, I feel that it is incumbent on me to give a short account of the causes which led to it. In the first place, history teaches us that whenever civilized man comes in contact with a savage race, the latter almost inevitably begins to decrease, and to approach by more or less gradual steps towards extinction. Whether this catastrophe is the result of political, moral, or physical causes, the ablest writers have not been able to decide; and most men seem willing to content themselves with the belief that the event is in accordance with some mysterious dispensation of Providence; and the purest philanthropy can only teach us to alleviate their present condition, and to smooth, as it were, the pillow of an expiring people. For my own part I am not willing to believe, that in this conflict of races, there is an absence of moral responsibility on the part of the whites; I must deny that it is in obedience to some all-powerful law, the inevitable operation of which exempts us from blame, that the depopulation of the countries we colonize goes on.
WAR OF EXTERMINATION.
There appear to me to be the means of tracing this national crime to the individuals who perpetrate it; and it is with the deepest sorrow that I am obliged to confess that my countrymen have not, in Tasmania, exhibited that magnanimity which has often been the prominent feature in their character. They have sternly and systematically trampled on the fallen. I have before remarked that they started with an erroneous theory, which they found to tally with their interests, and to relieve them from the burden of benevolence and charity. That the aborigines were not men, but brutes, was their avowed opinion; and what cruelties flowed from such a doctrine! It is not my purpose to enter into details; I will only add that the treatment of the poor captive native by her inhuman keeper was in accordance with the sentiments prevailing, at one time, in the colony, and would not have received the condemnation of public opinion.
The natural consequence of such conduct by the whites, commenced in the very infancy of the colony, was a system of frightful retaliation on the part of the natives. These led to counter-reprisals, every year accumulating the debt of crime and vengeance on either hand, until the memory of the first provocation was lost, and a war of extermination, the success of which was, in the end, complete, began to be carried on.