it, all built of marine lime-stone.

As the particulars which I then learned respecting this island were
afterwards confirmed by experience and more extended information, I
may as well enter upon its history at once.

The gentleman who was then Governor of Western Australia, was Mr.
John Hutt, a man of enlightened mind, firm, sagacious, and
benevolent. From the first, he adopted an admirable policy with
regard to the native inhabitants.

Exhibiting on all occasions a friendly interest in their welfare, he
yet maintained a strict authority over them, which they soon learned
to respect and fear. The Aborigines were easily brought to feel that
their surest protection lay in the Government; that every act of
violence committed upon them by individual settlers was sure to be
avenged by the whites themselves; and that, as certainly, any
aggression on the part of the natives would call down the utmost
severity of punishment upon the offenders. By this firm
administration of equal justice the Aboriginal population, instead of
being, as formerly, a hostile, treacherous, and troublesome race, had
become harmless, docile, and in some degree useful to the settlers.

But it was not the policy of Mr. Hutt merely to punish the natives
for offences committed against the whites; he was anxious to
substitute the milder spirit of the British law in lieu of their own
barbarous code; and to make them feel, in process of time, that it
was for their own interest to appeal for protection on all occasions
to the dominant power of Government, rather than trust to their own
courage and spears. This was no easy task, and could only be