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make the stoutest quail. If, in addition to their knowledge of the country, they had fire arms and a little practice, the rifle brigade would scarcely be a match for them. They would put an end to the settlement in less than a month.
The ancient custom of interring the remains of the dead, with the face towards the East, and that of depositing the arms of the warrior in or beside the gave, are prevalent.
The belief universally entertained that the whites are their ancestors come to life again, proves that, notwithstanding their migrations and wanderings, and their final settlement in a country so distant from the scenes of Revelation, they still retain the doctrines of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. In speaking of death, they use the very figure adopted for illustration by the apostle, calling it a sleep.
There can be no doubt, barbarian though they be, that they possess all the tender feelings which belong to human nature. I have seen them weep at the sight of each other's woe, whilst the tears poured unaffectedly down their sable cheeks, indicating at once their relationship to the human family and their forlorn condition; for they sorrow as them that have no hope.
Ever exposed to danger by war or treachery, their lives are never secure. Hence, the eye is continually on the watch and the hand on the spear. The very rustling of a leaf will make them spring upon their legs, armed and ready for action; never expecting any thing in the sound of a strange foot but an enemy. The unchangeable and never ceasing law of retaliation, invariably requiring blood for blood, and the wars which, thence arising, are continually raging among them, confirm the scriptural testimony, that "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." Death reigns in this part of the territories of Shem. He perambulates the rest of the world, occasionally shooting in the private chamber, dredging in the dungeon, hunting in the solitude of life, angling in the streams of business, sporting amidst the reserves of treasure, tilting in the scenes of gaiety and pleasure, or mowing in the battle field; but here, encircled by the ocean and shrouded in darkness, he sits enthroned upon a vast mound—a continent—of graves, amidst the bones of the dead, the groans of the dying, and the carnage of the living. When will thee day-spring from on high visit Australia! When will the sun of righteousness arise and dispel the perpetual night in which the southern hemisphere is enveloped!
Can I obtain the ear of the Christian world for a moment How long will Australia be neglected? Here is a people free from idolatry, prejudice, and the contamination of European vices, and so far prepared for the reception of the gospel—a people whose very designation—moorn, darkness, mourning—
