useful. There are necessarily repetitions in the lists, which in the whole comprise more than two thousand words, but these could not well be avoided without doing injustice to the contributors, and without undertaking the responsibility of deciding, perhaps erroneously, in cases where there are discrepancies.
Any one who will take the trouble to examine a map of Australia will see that the greater number of the natural features, as well as the counties, towns, and settlements, have received names that sufficiently indicate the class of persons who gave them; and it is really not easy to say whether those who sought to gain the favor of persons in power, or the bushmen who used such appellations as best conveyed their meaning to the minds of their associates, have made the worst choice. There is time yet to remedy the injustice that has been done to the interests of the colonists, and that can be effected by erasing from the map at least all those names which are similar in sound to those associated in the mind with the natural scenery and the cities and towns of Europe. Several names—supposed to be native names—have been mutilated or so altered as to be no longer of any significance; and if the information I have gathered helps in any way towards an amendment in these and a change in others, it will be a source of satisfaction to many.
The records which I have preserved of the native names of a number of the trees and shrubs of the colony furnish a large number of euphonious words, from which it would be easy to select those most appropriate to any given locality. From the manner in which the lists have been prepared, it is practicable to identity nearly all the plants. The naturalist will recognise the utility of a work of this kind; and any one who lives in the country and takes any interest in the indigenous vegetation will not be slow to avail himself of the help which he will derive from the pages that refer to this subject.
The names were written down exactly as the blacks pronounced them; and the botanical names were added by the Government Botanist. The portfolios in which the plants were placed when they were collected, the labels pasted on each cover, and the specimens, are all in excellent order and well preserved.
Hereafter this collection will be highly valued. All those who are living in parts of the country that are frequented by the natives could with ease make similar collections; and it is certain that the Government Botanist would gladly examine the plants and furnish information respecting them.
Much light might be thrown on the principles which guided the natives in naming localities if the native words for the trees, shrubs, &c., and for the natural features of the country, were written down; and it is in the power of every educated person who comes into contact with the blacks to aid in this work. In a very short time the older blacks who possess the requisite knowledge will have died, and it will be impossible to obtain any such records for other parts of Australia as those I have preserved for some portions of Victoria.
All the vocabularies and all the lists under the head of Language, except one, relate to Victoria. One is a short vocabulary, compiled by Mr. Henry Withers, of Wagga Wagga, in New South Wales, and it is inserted both
