17 



of the Lower Murray and lakes from Wood's Point to Poinl 

 Macleay, sometimes camping for varying periods on the sta- 

 tions and sometimes staying at a native camp at Brinkley. 

 In her younger days she was often employed on the stations 

 at shearing- time, and she told us how much better than the 

 white men she and other natives did their work in the wool- 

 sheds. 



Mrs. Karpeny related her reminiscences with much 

 dramatic vividness, and as they are interesting in themselves 

 I will make no apology for giving them at some length, even 

 when they refer to other matters than the immediate object 

 •of my inquiry. 



On the occasion of our interview she told how, when she 

 was quite a little girl and encamped with others of the tribe 

 on what is now Poltalloch Station, she and her young 

 brothers and sisters were much alarmed at the sight of twc 

 soldiers in red coats, and another man, on horseback, one of 

 the soldiers having a "feather sticking out of his hat." In 

 their fear the children went into the water and stood, hidden, 

 among the reeds until the soldiers had passed out of sight. 

 This could not have been before December, 1836 (the date of 

 the proclamation of the colony), but it was probably not long 

 afterwards, for, according to her story, this episode occurred 

 some time — she thought two or three years — before the wreck 

 of a ship (the "Maria") which occurred in 1840. Though 

 living at Poltalloch at the time, which place, however, is not 

 a great distance from the Coorong, when the episode took 

 place, she seemed to know all about the affair, the natives 

 concerned in it, and the punishment inflicted upon some of 

 the supposed participators in the murder of the crew and 

 passengers, for she related, with much circumstantial detail, 

 that two of the natives were hanged and two shot, a state- 

 ment which agrees with that given by Mr. Taplin (1, 5). At 

 that time she said, indicating her height, she was "quite a 

 big girl," about ten or twelve years of age, as she thought. 



Then, on being questioned, she spoke of the coming of 

 the great sickness which she called small-pox. She said it 

 occurred some time before the episode of the white soldiers, 

 and that she was a very little child at the time. 



Now, assuming that Mrs. Karpeny was of the age she 

 stated at the time of the "Maria" incident, she would have 

 been about seven when she saw the white soldiers — which, a9 

 we have said, could not have been before 1837 : and if she 

 were actually alive at the time (a point on which she in- 

 sisted) it would fix the date of the epidemic at not earlier 

 than 1830 — a date which it is important to remember— and 



