as the blacks of the Murray say; it recalls the memory of the dead, and must be no more used. The illusion of those who believe that the languages of savages is simple would be rudely dispelled if they addressed themselves to an examination of the dialects of any part of Australia. They are highly inflected, complex, and many of the sentences are so constructed as to make a translation impossible. It is as difficult to give the meaning in English of some of their phrases as it would be to translate into Greek or Latin the pigeon patois of Hong Kong.
Examples are given of the gesture-language in use amongst the natives of Cooper's Creek. It appears to be well understood, and of great use to them. It is referred to by Mr. Samuel Gason, who had on some occasions to have recourse to it.
It was believed for a length of time that there were several distinct languages in Australia—languages, that is to say, not belonging even to the same class. The works of Threlkeld, Grey, Teichelmann, Schürmann, Moore, and Moorhouse, and the investigations made by Bulmer, Hartmann, and Hagenauer, establish the fact of the unity of the tongues throughout the continent. The Australian languages, like those of the Indo-European race, are derived from a common source. The comparative tables in this work—imperfect as they are—confirm the conclusions of the more advanced among philologists; and it may be safely assumed that further researches will more distinctly prove the truth of the theory propounded by the gentlemen whose published works I have referred to.[1]
Large tracts, with well-marked natural boundaries, are peopled by "nations," each composed of many separate tribes, differing amongst themselves but little in speech, in laws, and in modes of warfare; and it is believed that the languages or dialects of the "nations" stand in a much closer relationship to the mother tongue than the Italian, French, and Spanish stand to the Latin. Messengers (Gualla wattow) find no difficulty in acquiring a complete knowledge of the languages and dialects of the neighbouring tribes; and men belonging to tribes far remote from each other are able to make themselves mutually understood after they have been together for a few hours.
The reasons for the belief in the unity of the Australian languages are as follows:—
- Numerous words are nearly the same in sound, and have the same meaning in various localities throughout the entire continent. Amongst these are the words for eye, tongue, hand, teeth, blood, sun, and moon.
- The words in use throughout the continent are of the same character and have a similar sound.
- ↑ "I have no hesitation in affirming that as far as any tribes have been met and conversed with by the colonists, namely, from one hundred miles east of King George's Sound up to two hundred miles north of Fremautle, comprising a space of above six hundred miles of coast, the language is radically and essentially the same. And there is much reason to suppose that this remark would not be confined to these limits only, but might be applied, in a great degree, to the pure and uncorrupted language of the whole island."—Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language in common use
