Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/661

 6t6 APPENDIX. [D. Taa preceding brief co!loction, of words used by th natives in various paris. of the Coasts of Australia and Van Diemou's Land, has been inserted to sbew the great dissimilarity that exists in the languages of the several tribes: and it may be remarked, that thirty-three objects, one only, tAe gye, is expressed by nearly the same term at each place. In this llst. it is true, tbere is a rosembhnce between the terms used to signify tAe Aair at Port Jackson, namely, dee, a,-,, or/etaa,a, or A, etaa*oo, and these which denote the same thing in the la .nrna otome of the ishnds of th Eastern Seas; such, for instance, as arouroo or Acooo of the Society Islands; oor of the Friendly Islands; Aorta of New Zealand; end, perhaps, couAo of the M .arquesn*: bnt at New Caledonia, which is.situated between tiMme places and Port Jackson. the same thin is expressed by ],eel, a sound totally distinct. And to render the anomaly still more decisive, it is only necessary to remark, that, within. two hundred milos Port Jackson, the natives of three tribes, Port Macquarie. Burr, b- Burr*b, and Limostone Creek. signity the hair, by the words ek, mu,zr, and The aberiinal connexion of Australia with other lands must be proved, as far as language is concerned, by a general re- semblance of the words, and not merely by a few e-*ples-of coincidence, which can only be considered as accidental: and our knowledge of the Australian languages, except in the vicinity of Port Jackson, does not yet exceed thirty or forty words, no comparison, derived from such limited information, can he ployed with any ecrtinty to determine the question. The con- nexion must he sought for, probably, where the continent. at its north*eastern extramiry, most ly approachos other lands; but even then the chain will remain imperfect until New Guinea and its neihbouring islands are explored, and correct and extensive vocabularies of their languages obtained. Forster % who bas paid considerable attention to this subject. and whose opinions are the more* valuable from their being the result of personal
 * Forster's Observations,' p. 8S. ? Ibid.

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