Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/30

 XX INTRODUCTION.

preservation o£ their lives, fixed and deepened their degradation, and prevented even the possibility of amelioration and elevation. The natives of the 8outh Sea islands, whose lot has been a fairer one, have had many yams and. cocoa-nuts and bananas and other things to count, and so have developed a wide system of numbers ; but our poor blackfellows, whose only personal property is a few spears or so, have not felt it necessary to speak of more than ' one,' ' two,' or ' three ' objects at once. Then, as to the linguistic question on which Sir John Lubbock builds his charge, I think it could be shown that even the Aryan system of numbers — the most highly developed system of any — is founded on the words for ' one,' ' two,' ' three,' and no more, all the rest being combinations of these by addition or by multiplication. Further, the Aryans have singular and dual forms for nouns and pronouns, that is, they have number-forms for ' one ' and ' two,' but all the rest beyond that is included in the general name of plural, that is 'more'; indeed the Sanskrit uses its word for ' four ' in a general way to mean a considerable number, exactly as to our blackfellows all else beyond two or three is bula, ' many.' For these reasons I think that this charge against our blackfellows ought to be laid on better ground than that afforded by their numerals.

Y. The Australian Numerals.

If Bopp's dictum is well founded, the numerals 'one,' ' two,' ' three,' Avhen tested, may tell us something about the origin of our Australian blacks. I, therefore, now proceed to examine these numerals. And here I may be permitted to say that I alone am responsible for the arguments drawn from the evidence pro- duced in this inquiry. So far as I know, these arguments have never been advanced previously ; indeed, I am convinced that no one has ever discussed these numerals before, for it is com- monly alleged that it is impossible to give any account of them.

1. The Numeral 'One.'

(a.) Of the words for ' one,' T take up first that which is least common, pir, ' one.' It is used in the Walarai country (see map). It must be an old and genuine word, for I know that, in another dialect, the word piriwal means 'chief,' and pir seems to me to bear the same relation to piriwal that the Latin primus, ' first,' bears to princeps, ' chief,' ' first,' or the Latin preposi- tion pro, ' before,' to proceres, ' chiefs,' or our English word 'first' to the German fiirst, 'aprince.' In fact, I regard pro and pir as the same word originally.

Now, do not mistake me here ; I'or I do not assert that the languages spoken by our Australians are uterine brothers to the Latin and the Greek ; but I do assert that all languages have

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