lost upon the aboriginal female mind; and I found that the chance of a young native husband was regarded by the native girls as forming a special contingent advantage of being brought up at "the Mission." Moreover, in the process of rescuing a race from utter barbarism a species of feudalism, which will provide protectors and instructors, seems an indispensable ingredient, and, if the reclaimed native is to stick to industrious habits, and to live on his own allotment, it must be by his remaining beneath the protecting eyes of those who have lifted him from his original position, and whose benevolent supervision alone will prevent his sinking back to it.
There is no doubt also that the fact of the Benedictines being fellow-workers with the natives not only as their instructors but as their personal companions, and, as I may say, brother journeymen in all useful arts and occupations, such as shoe-making, building, harvesting, and shepherding, has much helped in persuading traditional hunters to adopt the life of orderly peasants: for it must be remembered that the natives were the lords of their own country until the arrival of its English masters, and that though they have now lost their heritage of land they still retain that of pride: no eye so quick as theirs to recognize the deference that is paid by white people to all those whose circumstances exempt them from the necessity of manual labour, and the native, not unnaturally, thinks that the less work he does the more he resembles a gentleman.
Even with regard to a knowledge of the native language, I was assured that to speak it badly gained more respect for oneself from the natives than to speak it well, as the
