Mary Island is the subject of several local myths, including one that the island is subject to a Māori curse. Such stories are dismissed by local Māori. The island is famous for the discovery of a burial site of a Māori woman in 1967, who is known as "the lady of the lake" by Southland locals. The burial site is in a cave on the eastern side of the island. Believed to have been placed on the burial site sometime between the late 16th century and 17th century, possibly around 1660, the woman was laid to rest wearing a flax cloak and a dog skin collar with weka feather edging around her neck, and was seated upright on a bier made of sticks and leaves. The reasons for the burial in this manner are uncertain, although it has been suggested that these burials were to either make sure the remains were protected from desecration by enemies, or to protect living descendants from a dangerous "tapu" (sacred, forbidden or taboo) that Māori may have believed the ancestral bones possessed. This led to the belief that this woman was of high-ranking status, and it was later discovered through an archaeological investigation that she was a chieftain of the Ngāti Moimoi tribe. The burial remains on the island today, with a grille made of steel and wire mesh ensuring that people can still view the burial, but the woman will remain untouched. Natural history Trees are mainly matai, totara, rimu, tawhai pango, tawhai, Pseudopanax linearis and rautawhiri (Pittosporum Colensoi). The lake is one of the few not yet colonised by invasive water weeds, except the bulbous rush, Juncus bulbosus, so it retains plants such as Nitella stuartii algae, Callitriche petriei water-starwort, Isoetes kirkii quillwort, Pilularia novaezelandiae pillwort fern, Trithuria inconspicua waterlilies and Charales fibrosa. Pests include stoats and possums, which arrived in the 1990s. They are controlled by trapping, bait stations and periodic 1080 drops. See also Lakes of New Zealand List of lakes of New Zealand References Lakes of Fiordland