HER HISTORY. 805 



scattered tlioug'hts. At leng'th^ after a paiise^ she 

 found words to say^— ^'^ Sir^ I am a Christian^ and 

 would rather o-o back to my own friends." At the 

 same time^ it was remarked by every one that she 

 had not lost the feeling's of womanly modesty — even 

 after having* lived so long* among- naked blacks ] 

 she seemed acutely to feel the sino-ularity of her 



,j o «,■ 



position — dressed only in a couple of shirts^ in the 

 midst of a crowd of her own countrymen. 



When first seen on shore our new shipmate 

 presented so dirty and wretched an appearance that 

 some people who were out shooting* at first mistook 

 her for a gin^ and were passing* by without takings 

 further notice^ when she called out to them in 

 Eng'Hsh^ '' I am a white woman^ why do you leave 

 me ?'' With the exception of a narrow fring*e of 

 leaves in front, she wore no clothing*^ and her skin 

 was tanned and blistered with the sun^ and shewed 

 the marks of several larg*e burns which had been 

 received from sleeping* too near the fire on cold 

 nig'hts ; besides^ she was' suffering* from ophthalmia^ 

 which had previously deprived her of the sig*ht of 

 one eye. But g'ood living*^ and every comfort (for 

 Captain Stanley kindly provided her with a cabin 

 and a seat at his table)^ combined with medical 

 attention^ very soon restored her healthy and she 

 was eventually handed over to her parents in Syd- 

 ney in excellent condition. 



Although perfectly illiterate^ Mrs. Thomson had 

 made g'ood use of her powers of observation^ and 



VOL. I. X 



