were striken down with it, and a great many died, so much so that 

 they could not bury them all, but left the corpses lying about. 

 Among those that recovered were several who became totally 

 blind, and there are now four of these living in this immediate 

 neighbourhood. The disease lasted only during the dry season, 

 from about May to November, and disappeared when the wet 

 season set in. The Port Darwin natives call the disease 

 *' Goobimwah," and state it came from the Alligator Eiver 

 tribes, and travelled westward, but how far it went I cannot 

 ascertain ; no doubt it spread a long distance inland, as pock- 

 marked natives are found among all the inland tribes. 



The tradition of the Port Essiugton natives of the appear- 

 ance of smallpox in their tribe is very similar to that of the 

 Port Darwin natives. Some of the Port Essington tribe 

 (called " Yiarick," also " Ilnallah," now numbering only 

 about thirty all told) who had the disease are still alive, and 

 from information gathered from them it leaves no doubt but 

 that the malady raged there the same time and year it was at 

 Port Darwin. They state it was a long time ago, and a long 

 time after the soldiers had left (the old settlement was 

 abandoned in December, 1849), and came one year shortly after 

 the Malay prahus had started back for Macassar (about the end 

 of May), and when the grass was burned it came from the tribes 

 to the eastward of them, and went on to the Alligator and 

 other tribes to the west of them. Plenty of old and young 

 (and even dogs) died, but by the time the rain came on (about 

 October or November) the disease had disappeared. 



One of this tribe named Jack Davis (a name given him by 

 the soldiers), who is very intelligent and speaks English and 

 Malay fluently, informed me that very old people had told him 

 that when they were children smallpox (called by them 

 " Meeha-meeha") killed plenty blackfellows, and adds that 

 by-and-bye, when he will be an old man (he is now about 50), 

 " meeha-meeha" come on again. 



Malay prahus, about 30 in number, visit the coast eastward 

 from Port Essington to Blue Mud Bay in the Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria every year in search of " beche-de-mer," and have done 

 so in all probability^ for centuries past. They arrive from 

 Macassar the beginning of Januar}^ and leave again the end 

 of May. During the time they are here they employ all the 

 coast tribes trepanging for them, and they all live together ; 

 and I think there can be no doubt as to smallpox having been 

 brought to these shores by them, and on the last occasion by a 

 prahus that visited the Gulf, for they leave so soon as the 

 JSouth-East monsoon has fairly set in, and shortly after the 

 prahus had left the disease appeared, coming up the coast from 

 the Gulf with the S.E. winds, as stated by the natives, and 



