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  These Mapoon tribes draw their natural food supplies chiefly from the sea. Lily roots and

[centred] 6
Musgrave. They all recognise the Mission Station as a refuge, and the missionaries as friends whose
good reputation has gone far beyond the immediate tribes. During my visit the missionary party included
Mr. and Mrs. Hey, Mrs. Ward (whose husband died there), and Mr. and Mrs. Brown, who arrived there
six months ago. The daily work of the station is conducted methodically. The ladies do all the house
work, bake all the bread for the aboriginals, superintend the cooking of their food, teach the native
girls sewing and cooking, and instruct the boys and girls daily in the school. The boys are also
employed in any suitable outdoor work, and the men fence, chop wood, and work in the cultivation. The
want of soil unfortunately makes much of the labour about as profitable as digging holes and filling them
up again. The school boys and girls were clean, tidy, and healthy. The Government grant of £250
per annum is chiefly expended on flour and rice. They get the flour both baked and raw, and the rice is
boiled. All who receive food are expected to do so much daily or weekly work; this rule is not applied
to the old people of either sex. Both men and women work willingly. They receive no tobacco, as Mr.
Hey is an uncompromising enemy of the weed in any form. One result is that in order to obtain a
supply the women are sold or sell themselves to the pearl-shell and bêche-de-mer boats. No man
loathes tobacco in every shape more than I do, but my opinion is not in favour of withholding it from the
aboriginal, certainly not from those who have once acquired the habit. Introduced among wild tribes it
is a potent pacificator and a valuable social agent. Their enjoyments are few, and as one vice having
apparently no seriously bad effect, they may be allowed to smoke their "calumet of
peace" without
restraint.
These Mapoon tribes draw their natural food supplies chiefly from the sea. Lily roots and
yams are found in the swamps, and the men spear a certain amount of game. They appeared to me to
lack the energy necessary to even supply themselves with sufficient food. There are weak parts in the
Mapoon system - the want of suitable land from which the aboriginal labour could raise its own food
supply, and the barren soil on which the labour is nearly all wasted in unproductive operations. The food
purchased for the Mission Station is given to only a few of the blacks, there not being enough for all,
and even the few do not receive sufficient to feed them properly.
So they leave their own hunting avocation, and linger about the Mission Station for the
allowance of flour or rice which they occasionally supplement in a spasmodic fashion with a few fish or
odd turtle speared by the men, or roots, yams, or seeds obtained by the women. The blacks at Mapoon
included some of the most listless-looking men and women seen by me on the whole journey. This is no
fault of the missionaries, who do their best with their resources. The one primary fatal mistake of
selecting a situation with no agricultural land produced all the other inevitable disadvantages which
operate so strongly against the Mapoon Station. With 50 acres of good land, such a man as Mr. Hey
could employ his available labour to feed - and feed well - the whole of his dependent aboriginals. Every
Mission Station should be able to raise at least the principal part of its own food supplies. If an
aboriginal is taken away from obtaining his own food by hunting, he must be required to get it by some
form of work. He is by no means idle in his wild state, and ought never to be idle in any other
condition. He hunts from compulsion or necessity, and will only work under a similar stimulus.
The buildings at the station are sufficient for all requirements. There is a comfortable and
commodious residence, a church, and schoolhouse. A new house was being erected for Mr. and Mrs.
Brown. All the white people have their allotted work, and each has the necessary enthusiasm. Their
lot is not to be envied. The situation is not particularly healthy; the heat in summer they find very
oppressive; there are millions of mosquitoes, and the plague of flies is quite as bad as on the Barcoo.
During my visit it was necessary to carry a bush and keep it in constant motion to protect the face from
myriads of flies. The blacks are peaceable and inoffensive, and have never given any serious trouble. At
the first a policeman was stationed there to guard the station, but he was removed on Mr. Ward's
request. Mr. Hey is acquiring the language, and there is mutual confidence between him and the
aboriginals. Many of them now speak more or less English. The chief trouble is with the old men who have
a plurality of wives. One of these aboriginal Mormans possessed eight partners. These ladies thus
compulsorily wedded to old men are generally in love with young ones, and so the "old man" is usually
on the warpath after some youth who has eloped with one of his faithless spouses.
When visiting the new rivers I was accompanied by Mr. Brown, who was anxious to discover a
suitable site for a proposed new Mission Station south from the Batavia. There are several reasons
why this station should not be opened, at least for some time to come. In the first place, I saw no good
soil for cultivation anywhere near the coast. Secondly, the blacks in that region have abundance of
food, are not interfered with by white men, nor likely to be for an indefinite period. To select a site on
poor land would be to repeat the mistake of Mapoon, and to start a station where there is no urgent
necessity for food or protection to the blacks would be to incur a heavy expenditure and subject the
missionaries in charge to a dreary and profitless existence.
There is far more urgent necessity for new stations in other localities where the blacks really are
in need of food and protection; places possessing the essential advantage of excellent soil, with good
water and a cheerful situation.
[centred] Cape Bedford.
The Cape Bedford Mission Station is situated on the north side of Cape Bedford, fourteen miles
by water from Cooktown or thirty miles by land. Six miles from this first station is another
situated north-west on the shore of a bay into which flow the Morgan and McIvor Rivers. Both stations
work harmoniously in the same cause. I found the Cape Bedford Station in charge of the Rev. Mr.
Schwarz, and the other controlled by the Rev. Mr. Poland, who is assisted by his wife and sister, all
educated people with refined and pleasing manners. Mr. Poland's work is confined almost entirely to
the education of the young aboriginal women, and he has been eminently successful. He speaks their
own language fluently, and besides ordinary education the girls are instructed in dressmaking and
housekeeping. Here are a large number of cocoa-nut trees in full bearing, many trees in earlier stages,
and a lot of young ones ready to plant out. Rice has been grown successfully, and much work has been
done from year to year on very unpromising soil consisting chiefly of sea-sand. During my visit the
pupils were over from the Cape Bedford Station, and the Sunday service was conducted entirely in their
own language, into which the hymns, chapters, prayers, and responses had been successfully translated.
The native language being soft and euphonious proved admirably adapted for music, and when the young