A profound respect, almost amounting to veneration, is paid in many districts of Australia to shining stones or pieces of crystal, which they call “Teyl.” These are carried in the girdles of men, especially of the sorcerers or corad-jes, and no woman is allowed to see the contents of the round balls made of woollen cord from the fur of the opossum in which these crystals are enclosed. They are employed as charms in sickness, and are sometimes sent from tribe to tribe for hundreds of miles on the sea-coast or in the interior. One of these stones, which was examined by an Englishman, to whom it was shown privately by a black, was of a substance like quartz, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, and transparent, like white sugar-candy. The small particles of crystal which crumble off are swallowed in order to prevent illness. Many other instances of the like superstitious folly might very easily be gathered from the writings of those who have had the best opportunities of becoming acquainted with the manners of the Australian tribes.
The following is from the pen of the Rev. G. King, a missionary of the Society for Propagating the Gospel, who speaks thus of the natives near Fremantle, in Western Australia: “The native children are intelligent and apt to learn, but the advanced men are so far removed from civilisation, and so thoroughly confirmed in roving habits, that all the exertions made in their behalf have found them totally inaccessible; but we have no reason to conclude that they have not a vague idea of a future state. They are exceedingly superstitious; they never venture out of their huts from sunset till sunrise, for fear of encountering goblins and evil spirits. When any of their tribe dies they say, ‘He’ll soon jump up, white man, and come back again in big ship;’ and when a stranger arrives, they examine his countenance minutely, to trace the lineaments of some deceased friend; and when they think they have discovered him they sometimes request him to expose his breast, that they may see where the spear entered which caused the life to fly away so long.”[71] Altogether, experience bears witness, in their case, of the same fact which is to be perceived in other parts of the globe, namely, that where there is little religion, there is often a great deal of superstition, and that those who do not “believe the truth,” almost always fall into the snares of falsehood, so as to “believe a lie.”
With all the disadvantages of having two races of men (one of which is thought inferior to the other) occupying the same territory; with the evils, likewise, unavoidably arising from the ease with which what is bad in Europeans may be learned and copied, and the difficulty of understanding or imitating what is good in us, the natives are placed in a very peculiar and unhappy situation. Their intercourse with the white men has hitherto, certainly, been productive of more injury, both moral and temporal, than benefit to them. Into the sad and disgusting details, affording a proof of this truth, which may be found in the evidence before the committees of the House of Commons upon the subject of transportation it will neither be suitable nor possible to enter. The fact is, indeed, acknowledged by men of all parties and opinions, while, by all right-minded men, it is deeply deplored.
Drunkenness and its attendant vices prevail to a fearful extent among the Europeans in New Holland, the lower orders especially; and what sins are more enticing than these to the ignorant, sensual savage? Tobacco and spirits, which the poor natives call “tumbledown,” are articles in constant request; and to purchase these of Europeans, the blacks will give almost anything they possess, even their wives.[72] Thus, a regular traffic in what is evil is carried on, and almost all that the heathen people of Australia learn from the so-called Christians with whom they associate, is to practise, with tenfold aggravation, sins which God abhors, and will not allow to go unpunished. Like children that have been always brought up in a family of foul-tongued transgressors, the very first words of English which the natives learn are words of wickedness and blasphemy; the only introduction to the name of their God and Saviour is in order that they may insult that holy Name, and blaspheme the Divine Majesty. And these lessons are taught them, let us remember, by men calling themselves, and perhaps even thinking themselves, civilised, enlightened, and Christian persons;—by men, certainly, belonging to a nation, which justly lays claim to these honourable epithets! But enough has been stated on this painful subject to fill every thoughtful mind with humiliation and fear, when it contemplates the “much” that “has been given” to civilised nations, and recalls the fixed rule of truth and justice, that so much the “more” will be required of them. Nor is this a matter concerning the British inhabitants of the colonies alone, and with which the nation at large has little or no concern. For if we inquire, who corrupt the natives? the answer is, our vile and worthless population, the very scum of mankind, whom we have cast out as evil from the bosom of their native land. But a further question naturally offers itself. Who were, in many instances, the passive, if not the active, corrupters of these very corrupters themselves? Who have neglected to provide means for their christian instruction, and so let them grow up to be worse than heathens, until they could be endured no longer in the land? What nation had within a single century more than doubled its population without having built or endowed a score of new churches? To whose neglect is it, partly, though not entirely, owing, that when heathens meet, in far distant countries, with our lower classes, or when their homes are visited in our great towns and cities, the very heathens are sometimes forced to yield the palm to them in wickedness and in sin? Such questions very nearly concern every Englishman, and they are, even now, only beginning to command the attention they deserve. High and low, rich and poor, clergy and laity, we are all alike implicated in those evils, which have arisen from national neglect and forgetfulness of God, and which are not unlikely to lead to national confusion and ruin. But we are still, thank God, blessed with a pure and apostolical Church in our native country, and this is a mighty instrument for good, if we will but support it, and render it as efficient as it ought to be. The children of our little sea-girt isle may almost be called the salt of the earth, so extensively is our naval and our moral power spread. If we can bring those children up in the right way, as dutiful children of God and faithful members of the Church of England, then, indeed, the blessings resulting from our efforts may make themselves felt in the very ends of the earth—in the solitary wilds of New Holland. But otherwise, if we continue to neglect our own people, and disgrace our profession of Christianity by encouraging tacitly the growth of heathenism around us, then we may judge by the moral and social evils which have already resulted from this course what the final consequences are likely to be. “If the salt have lost its savour wherewith shall it be salted: it is therefore good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.” (Matt. v. 13.)
With savages resembling those that dwell in the Australian forests, having no means of religious instruction among themselves, the only hope of producing an improvement in their moral and social character, must arise from their intercourse with christian people. But it must be repeated, unhappily, the great majority of christian people (especially in that country and among those classes where the native is most likely to have intercourse) are by no means adorning by their lives the faith and doctrine of that Master whose name they bear. Hence arises the deplorable condition of the natives, who are brought into contact chiefly with the lowest and worst of the Europeans, and who, beside many other hindrances, have the great stumbling-block of bad examples, and evil lives, constantly before them in their intercourse with the Christians. And, as though that were not enough, as though fresh obstacles to the conversion of these nations to God’s truth were needed and required, our holy religion is presented to them, not as it came from the hands of its Founder and his Apostles, inculcating “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,” but such as man’s weakness and wickedness delight in representing it,—a strange jumble of various “denominations.” And this unworthy course has been followed by government itself. Without any pleas arising from conscience, or the principle of toleration to excuse this, the British government, in what little they have done for converting to Christianity some of the natives, have afforded their help to bodies of Christians bearing different names. Nor can it be said that the Church of England and Ireland was without any zealous ministers ready to undertake this most difficult task, trusting in God’s strength for help to accomplish it, at least in some degree. It is the confession of Dr. Lang himself, who is no friend to the Church of England, that the only two missions[73] to the natives existing in 1837 were, as all ought to be, episcopalian; but one of these was stated, on the best authority, in 1841 to be “not in an encouraging state,”[74] although a third mission, to belong to the Presbyterians, was about to be commenced under the auspices of Government, among the natives in another station. It is fearlessly asserted that all missions to the heathen supported by Government ought to be subject to episcopal control; and the reasons for this may be briefly added. First, there is no tenderness of conscience, nor claim to toleration, which can stand in the way of an English government spreading among its native subjects the doctrine and discipline of the English Church; supposing these willing to become Christians at all, they cannot have a prior claim upon us to be brought up as dissenters from the Church. Secondly, since the Scotch discipline, though it prevails over a very small part of our population, is yet established by law in one portion of the island, it may put in (as it has done) its claim for help from Government; but, without entering into argument respecting this, might we not safely put it to every wise and rightly judging Presbyterian, whether it is not better to waive this claim of theirs, than to perplex the progress of Christianity, by offering to the heathen Australians, at the same time, and by the same temporal authority, the Bible, which speaks of one Church, and the choice between two churches? And lastly, whatever unhappy scruples and divisions among Christians have arisen respecting episcopacy, surely, if men had a truly christian spirit within them, they would quietly consent to the instruction of the natives being placed in the hands of a Church which they cannot deny to be scriptural, and of a ministry, which for 1500 years from Christ’s birth no sect of men ever thought of denying to be the only apostolical ministry. It is indeed a strange spectacle which our Christianity must offer to the eyes of those that are really desirous of becoming converts. Either we “bite and devour one another,” or else we quietly set aside our Lord’s commands and prayers for our union, and contentedly agree to divide ourselves into as many parties, sects, or denominations, as we please; and having done so, we go and inoculate our heathen converts with our own love of separation. St. Paul was shocked at hearing of divisions in the Church of Corinth, but enlightened statesmen of the nineteenth century appear to be shocked at the idea of allowing Christianity to be offered to the heathens without its unhappy divisions! What, it may be asked with all reverence, would have been the success of the Apostles in evangelizing the Gentile world, if the gospel of Christ had been offered to the heathens of that age, under the same disadvantages with which men of the present age prefer to clog and impede their missionary efforts? Can we wonder, under these circumstances, at the slow progress of the gospel? Is it not rather wonderful that it should make any progress at all? If the world is reluctant to believe in Christ’s mission, would not His own words, (John xvii. 21,) suggest to us our miserable divisions as a chief cause of this?
CHAPTER VI.
SKETCHES OF NATIVE CHARACTER.
Bennillong.—The first native who could be persuaded to live upon friendly terms of confidence with the British settlers in New South Wales was called Bennillong, and it was after no very long period, (within two years after the commencement of the colony,) that this intercourse with them began in the following manner:—In the spring of the second year the bodies of many of the natives were found in a lifeless or dying state upon different parts of the coast near Sydney, in consequence of the small-pox, which had been raging among them; and some of these having been brought up to the settlement, from motives of pity, the disease was taken by a native who had been captured shortly before, in hopes of opening through him a means of communication with the others. The intended interpreter died, but the governor, Captain Philip, still retained in his care two native children, whose lives had been saved from the small-pox, and succeeded, within a few months, in securing two other natives, both of them well known to the children, through whom they were assured of perfect safety. However, instead of remaining until they could become familiar with the English manners and language, so as to carry on an intercourse between the colonists and their own countrymen, these natives both made their escape, one of them very soon after he had been taken; the other, Bennillong, in about six months afterwards, when he had been treated with every kindness and indulgence, and had grown somewhat accustomed to the society of the English settlers. Bennillong made his escape in May 1790, and in the September following he saw some of the colonists, by whom he sent a present to the governor, namely, a piece of the whale which was then lying on the beach, and around which the natives were assembled at a feast. Wishing to see him again, the governor went immediately to the spot, where he found a number of natives, and both Bennillong, and the other one, Cole-be, who had first escaped. All went on amicably at first, and some wearing apparel, belonging to the men in the boat, was given to the savages, while Bennillong obtained a promise from his excellency that more should be brought in two days, and likewise some hatchets. The governor and his friends were retiring by degrees to their boat, having imprudently allowed the natives very nearly to surround them, when Bennillong, after presenting several of his friends by name, pointed out one, whom Captain Philip stepped forward to meet, holding out both his hands to him. The savage, not understanding this civility, and possibly thinking that he was going to seize him, threw his spear, and wounded the governor rather badly, but not mortally. Several other spears were thrown, and one musket fired, but no injury was done on either side. A few days after the accident Bennillong came with his wife and some companions very near to the settlement, and an interview between these and the British officers took place, in which it was agreed that the governor, as soon as he was able, should visit the same spot; Bennillong, meanwhile, assuring them that the man who had inflicted the wound had been severely beaten. On the tenth day his Excellency was so far recovered as to go to the place of the whale feast, together with several officers, all armed. Bennillong here repeated his assurances to the governor in person, that the offending party had been well beaten by him and Cole-be, and added that his throwing the spear was entirely the effect of his fears, and arose from an impulse of self-preservation. The day before this visit nearly 4000 fish had been taken by the colonists, and between 30 and 40 of these, weighing on an average about 5 lbs. each, were sent to Bennillong and his party on the north shore of Port Jackson. After this, tolerably friendly feelings continued, with some few interruptions, between the two nations, and Bennillong himself became very much attached to the governor, insomuch that he and another native resolved to accompany Captain Philip to England, when, towards the close of 1792, that excellent officer resigned his appointment, and embarked on board of the Atlantic transport-ship. The two Australians, fully bent upon the voyage, which they knew would be a very distant one, withstood resolutely, at the moment of their departure, the united distress of their wives and the dismal lamentations of their friends. No more was heard respecting these absentees until March 1794, when a message was brought from them in England, requesting that their wives might be told to expect them in the course of that year, since, though well, they had not so completely lost their love of liberty and of their native country, to prefer London, with its pleasures and abundance, to the woods of New South Wales. It was not, however, until August, 1795, that Bennillong reached his native shores, having become accustomed to the manners of civilized life, by his long sojourn among the English people. He declared to his old acquaintance, with an air and tone that seemed to expect compliance, that he should no longer suffer them to fight and cut each other’s throats, but should introduce peace among them, and make them love one another. When they visited him at Government House, he wished they would contrive to be somewhat more cleanly in their persons and less coarse in their manners; and he was quite offended at his sister, who came in such haste to see him, that she positively forgot to bring anything else upon her back, except a little nephew! Bennillong had been an attentive observer of manners, which he was not unsuccessful in copying; his dress was an object of no small concern to him, and every one was of opinion that he had cast off all love for savage life.