36 



to the same conclusion as that so often expressed by those 

 who were actual witnesses of its symptoms and behaviour, 

 viz., that it was true small-pox. If it was not small-pox, then 

 medical science has no name for it. 



Advance of the Disease to the Lower Murray. 



Having so far attempted to discover the origin of the 

 introduction of this epidemic disease, to trace its course 

 throughout the land, and to discuss, very briefly, its nature, 

 it is time to consider the evidence on which it may be con- 

 sidered to have reached Swanport and other localities on the 

 Lower Murray. 



Speaking from the standpoint of South Australia the re- 

 seems to have been a very general belief, which finds frequent 

 expression both in the statements of the blacks and in written 

 accounts, that the disease came from the east and eventually 

 travelled down the Murray. 



Published notices directly making, or implying, this state- 

 ment are to be found in Teichelmann and Schurmann (12, 34), 

 Curr (3, I., 2, 16), Eyre (18, II., 379), and Howitt (4, 195), and 

 the separate facts, some of which have been mentioned, con- 

 firm the tradition. Many of the places and tribes which are 

 specifically mentioned by Bennett, Curr, Mrs. Langloh 

 Parker (19, 39), and other writers as having been subject to 

 outbreaks are situated on, or close to, tributary streams of 

 the River Murray system — some on their upper waters, some 

 lower down. 



Thus from Curr we hear of it from an eye-witness of a case 

 near Echuca in 1841 or 1842 ; at Towanniney (Towanninie), 

 which is near the Murray ; and at Swa.n Hill, on the Murray, 

 at a date estimated to have been about 1807. Its presence at 

 Swan Hill is also alluded to by Mr. Joseph Hawdon in his 

 "MS. Journal" (20, 40), U7) a . copy of which is in the pos- 

 session of the Public Library of South Australia. 



There is thus ample evidence of the existence of the 

 disease at many places situated on, or near, the banks of the 

 two great tributary rivers that, by their junction at Went- 

 worth, form the main stream of the Murray, and this soon 

 afterwards enters South Australian territory. 



From the Darling River and Victorian Murray districts, 

 southwards, I have not been able to trace its successive stages 



(17) As this Journal has never been published, and therefore 

 not generally accessible, I will quote the writer's words: — "In 

 the evening some of the blacks came to Swan Hill, where we 

 were encamped. After holding a little conversation with us 

 across the river they swam over to us. They were fine, well- 

 made men, about 5 ft. 11 in. in height; their faces were nearly 

 all marked with small-pox, but otherwise their features were 

 pleasing." 



