Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/63

 LOSS OF THE MARIA. 5 horrible crime. The poor souls had marched above eighty miles from the wrecktoiled along wearily day after day through the wild and dreary waste, longing for the sight of the European faces which they were never to see! Their tracks were afterwards discovered and followed, and it could be seen where the children had got tired and had been carried by their loving friends; and then all were foully murdered! The murderers stripped them of their clothes, and thrust some of the bodies into wombat holes, and others they buried in the sand. A woman told me only a few weeks ago that she assisted in burying in the sand of the Coorong what may have been a mother and two daughters, for she said it was an elderly woman and a young woman, and a little girl. Another woman was found thrust into a wombat hole, and with her was a family Bible with the names of the family to which it belonged and their births, deaths, and marriages written therein. The spoils of the slaughtered people were of little value to the Narrinyeri. I was told by a woman who was then the wife of a shepherd on the runs on the Adelaide side of the Lakes, that she saw in the possession of the natives large and small silver spoons, rolls of silk, and clothing of all kinds. The crime was quickly made known to the authorities in Adelaide. Very soon, sufficient particulars were gathered, and the whole affair came out. An expedition then started under Major O’Halloran to avenge the crime and punish its perpetrators. They marched to the Coorong by way of Encounter Bay, swam the Murray at its mouth, and immediately came upon traces of the murders. They rapidly passed on and found a camp where large quantities of clothing and other articles made it evident that these were some of the guilty parties. Two of the most ill-looking and ferocious men were seized and hanged by the neck in trees without further ceremony, and two others were shot. I knew an old native named Pepeorn who was one of those who attempted to withstand the advance of the whites. He was a tall and powerful savage. He suddenly came out from behind a bush with a heavy spear, and proceeded to aim it at Major O’Halloran as he rode by; but the Major was too quick, and