kept separate for a certain period of the year. Some of their other domestic and personal habits resemble those inculcated by the laws of Moses. Their social intercourse is regulated by very strict and ceremonious customs, but both superstitions and customs are becoming less influential in proportion to their intimacy with the settlers.
The attention of the Government has always been directed to the welfare of the aborigines—and yet but little has been done. In the early days of the Colony there was a sort of refuge to which they might resort for food and shelter, where the Invalid Dépôt now is under Mount Eliza. Protectors were also appointed for them, but their opinions did not, as they were not likely to, accord with those of many of the colonists. Great difficulties also resulted from the antagonism of the British Laws, to which, as subjects of the Crown, they were amenable, and the native laws and customs. Schools were, however, established at Perth and Fremantle with some useful results, and the school conducted by the Wesleyans, at Wanneroo, near Perth, afterwards removed to York, gave the first proof that they were capable of adopting the habits of civilized life, and of conversion to Christianity. The ultimate failure of these efforts is to be attributed to the first having been made in the towns, and that at Wanneroo to the mistake in selection of the locality and the small quantity of land available for it. To the Benedictine Monks was reserved the full and satisfactory proof of these facts, which are apparent at their settlement of New Norcia, which was originally established by the Fathers Serra and Salvado, mainly by assistance rendered them by some Protestants in Perth. An account of it will be found in another place. Further evidence
