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LALLA ROOKH, THE LAST TASMANIAN.
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and several hundreds of persons visited the cemetery in the afternoon. On the facts being communicated to Sir Richard Dry, he, in company with the Hon. Attorney-General, visited the grave, where they were met by Mr. J. W. Graves. The skull found on the surface was buried in their presence, and a general examination of the ground was made. Whether any other step will be taken respecting the violation of the grave we are unable to say. The visit of ministers to the grave was, we understand, consequent upon a report that the coffin had been removed, and had this been the case a search warrant would have been issued at their instance, as executors of "Billy Lanné," with instructions, in the event of any portions of the body being found in the course of its execution, that they should be taken possession of. Sir Richard and Mr. Dobson satisfied themselves, however, of the presence of the coffin, and therefore no step was taken, as it is doubtful whether any legal property in the body exists. Many rumours are afloat as to what has become of the body, and the men employed in the cemetery state that blood was traced from the grave to the gate opposite the stores of the Anglo-Australian Guano Company in Salamanca Place, but that there the traces were lost. There can be little doubt that the body has been secured by the individual who made off with the head, and possibly the fact that it is minus feet and hands may yet lead to the restoration of that important portion, as the skeleton will be comparatively valueless unless perfect We have been informed by the Hon. Sir Richard Dry that Dr. Crowther waited upon him on Saturday morning prior to the mutilation being reported, and made a request that the body should be granted to him, in order that he might secure the skeleton for the Royal College of Surgeons, England Sir Richard Dry informed the Doctor of the prior claim of the Royal Society, and expressed his opinion that if the skeleton was to be preserved at all, it should be in the Hobart Town Museum, where all scientific inquiries respecting the aboriginal race would most probably be made.
It is sufficient to add that Dr. Crowther was suspended as honorary surgeon of the hospital, that the skeleton was in possession of the Royal Society of Tasmania, and that, according to the Launceston Examiner, "it is expected that one of the first orders on the assembling of Parliament will be a 'return of King Billy's head!'"
The "Last Man" has gone. The Last Woman is no less a person than the historical Truganina, or Lalla Rookh!
The woolly-haired Tasmanian no longer sings blithely on the Stringy-bark Tiers, or twines the snowy clematis blossom for
