South Wales and Van Diemen's Land." At page 346, in stating some facts believed by him to explain the curtailment of power of continuing or procreating the species, he says that "of these, the most remarkable, and that which most directly bears upon the question, is the result of a union between an Aboriginal female and an European male—an intercourse freqnently brought about in these countries, either by local customs and notions of hospitality, or by the natural propensity of the sexes. Whenever this takes place, the native female is found to lose the power of conception on a renewal of intercourse with the male of her own race, retaining that of procreating only with the white men. Hundreds of instances of this extraordinary fact are in record in the writer's memoranda, all tending to prove that the sterility of the female being relative only to one and not to another male—and recurring invariably, under the same circumstances, amongst the Hurons, Seminoles, Red Indians, Yakies (Sinaloa), Mendoza Indians, Araucos, South Sea Islanders, and natives of New Zealand, New South Wales, and Van Diemen's Land—is not accidental, but follows laws as cogent, though as mysterious, as the rest of those connected with generation."
M. de Strezelecki's statement need not have been referred to here perhaps had it not been accepted and believed by so many, and made the text of some lay sermons intended to elevate the white man at the expense of his darker brother. A simple denial of the truth of it would be unsatisfactory, if not useless. The error has taken such deep root that it is necessary to confront a theory (though unsupported by evidence) by numerous incontrovertible facts collected by correspondents who have no theories to maintain, and who relate only what they know to be true.
The Rev. Mr. Hartmann, of the Lake Hindmarsh Station, says that a full-blooded black woman named Kitty had two half-caste children (Esther and Maggie) by a white man (Robertson), and subsequently had a pure Aboriginal child (Bobby) by a black man; and that on the River Murray a black woman named Charlotte had "Edward," a half-caste, and subsequently "Julia" by a full-blooded Australian named "Dick."
Mr. Green says that there is a woman now on the station named Borat (of the Yarra tribe) who has a half-caste son sixteen years of age, named Wandon, who is now living at Coranderrk; and that ten years ago she had a black son to "Andrew," of a Gippsland tribe; six years ago she had a black daughter to the same father; and that one year ago she had a black son to "Adam," of the Mordialloc tribe. The child is now living at Coranderrk. Mr. Green adds that "Eliza," of the Goulburn tribe, had a half-caste child twelve years ago (which she killed), and since she has had four full-blooded black children, namely, two sons and two daughters—and that the four are now living on the station at Coranderrk.
The Rev. Mr. Hagenauer, of the Lake Wellington Station, states that "Lucy," previous to her marriage with "Charles Rivers," her present husband, had two half-caste children, both living; and that after her marriage with the full-blooded black she has had six full-blooded Aboriginal children, two of whom are dead, and four are living, namely, "Charley," nine years old;
