Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/203

 LANGUAGE. 129 have totally different roots. This indication of their being two races of Aborigines is supported by other facts. A kind of caste distinction has been found to exist among some which does not exist in others. The Kamilaroi and Dippil tribes, on the Upper Darling and its tributaries, were the Aborigines amongst whom this was discovered. The Rev. W. Ridley was the first to make this known. Amongst the nations of Aborigines a system of relationship prevails similar to the Tamilian; but it is not universal, and it appears that it is modified by some tribes having originally had a different system. Again, there is a remarkable difference in colour and cast of features. Sir George Grey noticed this in Western Australia. Some natives have light complexions, straight hair, and a Malay countenance; while others have curly hair, are very black, and have the features of the Papuan or Melanesian. It is therefore probable that there are two races of Aborigines; and, most likely, while some tribes are purely of one race or the other, there are tribes consisting of a mixture of both races. Before closing this chapter on native languages I should like to say that I do not think it would be possible to translate the whole Bible into the Aboriginal tongue without importing into it a great number of foreign words. At the same time, the simple truths of the Gospel can be expressed in it. We can say "Pornir an amb itye, Jesuse ngurn ambe;" that is, "Jesus died instead of us." A few chapters containing the most essential truths of the Biblesuch as Creation, the Decalogue, the New Birth, and the Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesushave been translated; but the natives are rapidly learning English, and any other means of communicating truth will soon be unnecessary. In translating Scripture into a barbarous language, we find it almost impossible to render those words ending with ation—such as regeneration, sanctification, justification; but we discover that the truths wrapped up in these terms can be translated by means of the figurative expressions through which the Bible sets them