Among the Murrumbidgee tribes "it is well known that as their children become older they [the parents] evince much attachment towards them."[694] A well-known tragic instance of parental love is reported about the New South Wales natives by the same author. "They display an extraordinary degree of affection for their dead offspring, evidenced by an act that almost exceeds credibility, had it not so often been witnessed among the tribes in the interior of the colony. I allude to the fact of deceased children, from the earliest age to even six or seven years, being placed in a bag made of kangaroo skin, and slung upon the back of the mother.... They carry them thus for ten or twelve months, sleeping upon the mass of mortal remains, which serves them for a pillow, apparently unmindful of the horrid fœtor which emanates from such a putrefying substance."[695] [694] Bennett, i. p. 123. [695] _Ibid._, pp. 125, 126. G. S. Lang in his account of the Australian blacks speaks of great leniency of treatment, and quotes several examples.[696] [696] p. 33. The author knew personally some tribes of New South Wales and Queensland. An exceptional statement is given by a member of the United States expedition. "As far as our observation went, the women appear to take little care of their children."[697] But we gather from the whole account that the authors had no good opportunities of making observations on the natives, if they had any at all. Probably the natives they saw were in a state of deterioration, hanging round towns, etc. [697] Chas. Wilkes (smaller ed.), i. p. 225. We read in the old account of J. Turnbull about the natives of New South Wales, that all children who escape infanticide are "nursed with an anxious affection, very creditable to these savages. The infant no sooner begins to use his limbs than he is instructed in throwing the spear; a bulrush or other reed being put into his hand for this purpose."[698] [698] p. 100. In his memoirs, Hodgson says that aboriginal children are very kindly and tenderly treated by their parents.[699] [699] p. 244 (N. S. Wales). The following statements, referring to New South Wales blacks, give a good testimonial to their parental feelings. "An old _mammy_, who was much about the farm of another of my friends, was a perfect picture of maternal sorrow," after the death of her son. "If you spoke of her son, she was dissolved in tears, and answered in whispers." "The women appear to be always kind to their children, carrying the young ones on their backs."[700] [700] Henderson, p. 121.