Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, 1830-1840 - Page 46
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[Page 46]
flour &c &c were found, and it was then discovered that this single tribe had extended their depredations all over the colony from North to South, & from the Eastward to the most Western of the Settlement; for the various articles they had carried away from different and distant points were distinctly recognized. They had in their possession many things which could not be of the slightest use to them, & which they could only have taken from motives of mischief. It was happy indeed for the white inhabitants of Van Diemans's Land, that the Aborigines would not, or could not , learn the use of fire-arms. From the different journals before me. it appears however, pretty plain, that in the year 1830, the blacks must have exceeded five hundred in number. An attempt was made to send out a conciliatory mission, and then the numerical strength of the natives was more clearly understood & discerned than heretofore - The Port Davy, the Western, the Cape Grim, the Oyster Bay and the Big River tribes [indecipherable] & Stoney Creek alone amounted to nearly upwards of four hundred and fifty, and there are also less numerous parties other small local tribes of them in other parts of the island. When the blacks finally surrendered, their number did not exceed two hundred, but no conjecture can be formed, for so many could have been carried off since 1831, during