Education.

These blacks, when taken away at an early age from the tribe, are capable of receiving a good education, and in this respect many compare favourably with the whites; but it is a question whether educating them beyond a certain standard is advisable, for when they grow up no white person likes to place them on an page 42 equal footing, notwithstanding their learning. At the same time they have been taught to look upon their parents and relatives as a degraded lot. The tinge of wild blood which ever flows through their veins, and which can never be eradicated, crops up at times and leads their thoughts to their native forests, whilst their education has tended to made them look with abhorrence upon such a roving life. Under these circumstances the result has been unsatisfactory.

The inherent love and natural desire for a life in the bush prevents them from remaining any length of time in one employment, notwithstanding all the advantages of a civilized life. In their written agreements as servants, they often stipulate for a certain number of days in order to visit their tribe. The men are very useful as shepherds, stockmen, &c., or at shearing-time. The women are frequently employed in washing and scrubbing; many of them learn to do needlework very neatly. In the far interior, many settlers are wholly dependent on these blacks as domestic servants. When sent on messages they perform their duty faithfully. A letter secured in the end of a cleft stick enables a man to pass safely through adjoining tribes—he feels proud of his burden.