t2 O'Donohue, Wanderings on the Murray Flood-Plain, [vlhxxxii 



less suddenly, by the vices and diseases of civilization. The 

 old native's account supports the generally accepted belief 

 that the disease came down the Murray, or from the direction 

 of Svdnev. where it was introduced in January, 1788, at Botany 

 Bay, hy the first convict Meet, and subsequently spread prac- 

 tically throughout the whole of the continent, destroying, it 

 is computed, at least a third of the Australian aborigines. 

 Incidentally, we were also informed by the wood-getter that 

 a sand-hill to the south of our camp had been a burial-ground 

 o! the Kulkyne tribe, and contained hundreds of perfed 

 skeletons, many o1 which had been exposed during recent 

 years by wind erosion. 



Conversation was continued far into the night, and before 

 retiring to our not too comfortable resting-place Mr. Kosenhain 

 and I determined to pay the necropolis an early visit on the 

 morrow. I was astir before 5 a.m.. ami wandered some 

 distance into tin- still dark vistas of the bush to hearken to the 

 calls ot the birds, which were then beginning to herald the 

 advent of dawn with more or less vehemence. The most 

 persistent calls were those originating from the Curlew, the 

 Boobook, the Spotted Bower-bird, the Laughing Jackass, the 

 Brown Flycatcher, the Black-and-White Fantail, and the White- 

 plumed Honey-eater. The White-fronted Heron, the Black 

 Duck, and the Spur-winged Plover frequently contributed to 

 the medley. 



Breakfast was well on the way towards completion before 

 the sun had risen, and. aftet rendering Mr. Milligan some little 

 assistance in packing the camp impedimenta, Mr. Rosenhain 

 and I set ou1 with our cameras for the sand-dune. Striking 

 due south at a rapid rate, through rank growths oi Tangled 

 urn. thickets "l the Eumong Acacia, and (lie Black Box, 

 Eucalyptus bicolor, all of which were inundated when the rivei 

 overflowed its banks, we soon discerned a long, irregular hill, 

 trending east and west, and rising omewhat abruptly bom 

 the level ground. So fai as our investigations extended, we 

 found this to be thickly invested with the I all Thickhead. 

 Myriocefhalus Stuartii, and the Small-leaved Swainsona, 

 tinsona microphylla. The introduced yellow-flowered com- 

 posite, Verbesina encelioides, 01 < rownbeard, was also abundant. 

 and is reputed locally to have occasioned the death oi many 

 head oi stock which had browsed upon it. This, however, is 

 .in erroneous opinion, sinc< Professoi Ewart, to whom the 

 plant, with others, was submitted foi identification, points 

 (,nt thai no species oi the genus to which the ' rownbeard 

 belongs is known to be poi onous, and any injurious action it 

 may have is a me< hani< al one. 



Proceeding to those parts oi the dune where the north wind 



