And now, only seventy years later, what has become of the grandchildren and descendants of those unfortunate natives? Let the reply to this inquiry be made in the very words given in evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, in 1838.[55]--"_There is not a native in Van Dieman's Land._ The last portion that was secured was sent to a small island called Gun Carriage Island, where they are maintained at the expense of government, and I believe some attempts at civilisation have been made.--There has been a lingering desire to come back again; but they have no means of getting back; the island is some distance from Van Dieman's Land; they are pining away and dying very fast.--I believe more than one half of them have died, not from any positive disease, but from a disease which we know in medicine under the name of _home-sickness_, a disease which is very common to some Europeans, particularly the Swiss soldiers and the Swiss peasantry: they are known to die from a disease of the stomach, which comes on entirely from a desire to return to their country." [55] See Evidence of J. Barnes, Esq., in minutes of evidence taken before the Select Committee on Transportation, Quest. 417-422, pp. 48, 49. It may be difficult for the christian moralist to condemn altogether the system of colonisation which has been practised; it cannot be denied that the occupation of these vast and favoured regions by civilised and christian nations is, in itself, a highly desirable object; yet the man of right principles will surely hesitate before he approves, for the sake of the good that is to follow, of the evil which has been done. In this instance, as in many other evils to be seen under the sun, it is more easy to perceive the mischief, than to point out the means of avoiding or of remedying it. But, at least, it may be said, let those who now hold the beautiful and frequently fertile lands, which once belonged to the poor and helpless native, beware of having their hearts lifted up with pride,--of forgetting themselves or their God. Past evils are not to be prevented, but future events are still in their power. The warning and reasoning of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, (Rom. xi. 17-24,) although upon quite another subject, are still not without application here. Nor should the British colonist ever forget, while he surveys the fruitful fields which he may now call his own, the emphatic words of St. Paul: "If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee." [Illustration: NATIVES OF THE MURRAY ISLANDS IN BOATS.] CHAPTER V. MANNERS AND HABITS OF THE NATIVES.