anly
modesty--even after having lived so long among naked blacks; she seemed
acutely to feel the singularity of her position--dressed only in a couple
of shirts, in the midst of a crowd of her own countrymen.

When first seen on shore our new shipmate presented so dirty and wretched
an appearance that some people who were out shooting at first mistook her
for a gin, and were passing by without taking further notice, when she
called out to them in English: "I am a white woman, why do you leave me?"
With the exception of a narrow fringe of leaves in front, she wore no
clothing, and her skin was tanned and blistered with the sun, and showed
the marks of several large burns which had been received from sleeping
too near the fire on cold nights; besides, she was suffering from
ophthalmia, which had previously deprived her of the sight of one eye.
But good living, and every comfort (for Captain Stanley kindly provided
her with a cabin and a seat at his table) combined with medical
attention, very soon restored her health, and she was eventually handed
over to her parents in Sydney in excellent condition.

Although perfectly illiterate, Mrs. Thomson had made good use of her
powers of observation, and evinced much shrewdness in her remarks upon
various subjects connected with her residence among the blacks, joined to
great willingness to communicate any information which she possessed.
Much of this will be found in another part of this volume, incorporated
with the result of my own observations. Several hundred words of the
Kowrarega language, and a portion of its grammar, were also obtained from
time to time, and most of these were subsequently verified. And, although
she did not understand the language spoken at Cape York, yet, as some of
the Gudang people there knew the Kowrarega, through its medium I was
usually able to make myself tolerably well understood, and thus obtain an
explanation of some matters which had formerly puzzled me, and correct
various errors into which I had fallen. It was well, too, that I took an
early opportunity of procuring these words, for my informant afterwards
forgot much of her lately-acquired language, and her value as an
authority on that subject gradually diminished.

PROCEEDINGS WHILE ON BOARD.

Giaom was evidently a great favourite with the blacks, and hardly a day
passed on which she was not obliged to hold a levee in her cabin for the
reception of friends from the shore, while other v