Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/83

Rh morning, or generally as in futurity; and besides this, there is another curious fact opposed to the conclusion of the writer's note, which reads thus: "Of the paulo-post-futurum of the Greeks, we have taken no notice, because it is found only in the passive voice; to which if it were necessary, it is obvious that it would be necessary in all voices, as a man may he about to act, as well as to suffer, immediately." Now, such is the very idiom of this language, as will be seen in the conjugation of the participle; for the pronoun, being used either objectively or nominatively, will place the phrase either in the one sense or the other, such change in the pronoun constituting the equivalent to the passive voice or the active voice. The most particular attention is necessary to the tense of the participle as well as that of the verb, each tense being confined to its own particular period, as shown in the conjugation of the verbs. The various dialects of the blacks may yet prove, as is already ascertained in the Islands, to be a difficulty more apparent than real; but when one dialect becomes known, it will assist materially in obtaining a speedier knowledge of any other that may be attempted, than if no such assistance had been rendered.

Although tribes within 100 miles do not, at the first interview, understand each other, yet I have observed that after a very short space of time they are able to converse freely, which could not be the case were the language, as many suppose it to be, radically distinct. The number of different names for one substantive may occasion this idea. For instance, 'water' has at least five names, and 'fire' has more; the 'moon' has four names, according to her phases, and the kangaroo has distinct names for either sex, or according to size, or different places of haunt; so that two persons would seldom obtain the same name for a kangaroo, if met wild in the woods, unless every circumstantial was precisely alike to both inquirers. * The quality of a thing is another source from which a name is given, as well as its habit or manner of operation. Thus, one man would call a musket 'a thing that strikes fire;' another would describe it as 'a thing that strikes,' because it hits an object; whilst a third would name it 'a thing that makes a loud noise;' and a fourth would designate it 'a piercer,' if the bayonet was fixed. Hence arises the difficulty to persons unacquainted with the language in obtaining the correct name of that which is desired. For instance, a visitor one day requested the name of a native cat from M'Gill, my aboriginal, who replied minnaring; the person was about to write down the word minnaring, 'a native cat,' when I prevented the naturalist, observing that the word was not the name of the native cat, but a question, namely,