An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1 / With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The / Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some / Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From / The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.

Ceremony of burning a corpse.

APPENDIX XII--LANGUAGE

In giving an account of an unwritten language many difficulties occur. For things cognizable by the external senses, names may be easily procured; but not so for those which depend on action, or address themselves only to the mind: for instance, a spear was an object both visible and tangible, and a name for it was easily obtained; but the use of it went through a number of variations and inflexions, which it was extremely difficult to ascertain; indeed I never could, with any degree of certainty fix the infinitive mood of any one of their verbs. The following sketch is therefore very limited, though, as far as it does proceed, the reader may be assured of its accuracy.

Their language is extremely grateful to the ear, being in many instances expressive and sonorous. It certainly has no analogy with any other known language (at least so far as my knowledge of any other language extends), one or two instances excepted, which will be noticed in the specimen. The dialect spoken by the natives at Sydney not only differs entirely from that left us by Captain Cook of the people with whom he had intercourse to the northward (about Endeavour river) but also from that spoken by those natives who lived at Port Stephens, and to the southward of Botany Bay (about Adventure Bay), as well as on the banks of the Hawkesbury. We often heard, that people from the northward had been met with, who could not be exactly understood by our friends; but this is not so wonderful as that people living at the distance of only fifty or sixty miles should call the sun and moon by different names; such, however, was the fact. In an excursion to the banks of the Hawkesbury, accompanied by two Sydney natives, we first discovered this difference; but our companions conversed with the river natives without any apparent difficulty, each understanding or comprehending the other.

We have often remarked a sensible difference on hearing the same word sounded by two people; and, in fact, they have been observed sometimes to differ from themselves, substituting often the letter b for p, and g for c, and vice versa. In their alphabet they have neither s nor v; and some of their letters would require a new character to ascertain them precisely.

What follows is offered only as a specimen, not as a perfect vocabulary of their language.

[* On seeing a shoal of porpoises, they sing while the fish is above water, Note-le-bre la-la, No-te-le-bre la-la, until it goes down, when they sing the words No-tee, No-tee, until it rises again]

Go-gan-ne-gine           the Laughing jack-Ass
Po-book                  Musquito hawk
Wau-gan                  Crow
Jam-mul jam-mul          Common hawk
Gare-a-way               White cockatoo
Ca-rate                  Black ditto
Ur-win-ner-ri-wing       Curlew

INSECTS, REPTILES

Mar-rae-gong             A spider
Mi-a-nong                A fly
Go-ma-go-ma              A beetle
Gil-be-nong              A grasshopper
Bur-roo-die-ra           A butterfly
Go-na-long               Caterpillar
Can-nar-ray              Centipede
Calm                     Snake
Po-boo-nang              A black ant

PECULIARITIES OF LANGUAGE

To the men when fishing they apply the word Mah-ni; to the women, Mahn.

They make some distinction in another instance when speaking of crying, they say the men Tong-i; the women Tong-e.

The following difference of dialect was observed between the natives at the Hawkesbury and at Sydney.

COAST          INLAND          ENGLISH
Ca-ber-ra      Co-co           Head
De-war-ra      Ke-war-ra       Hair
Gnul-lo        Nar-ran         Forehead
Mi             Me              Eye
Go-ray         Ben-ne          Ear
Cad-lian       Gang-a          Neck
Ba-rong        Ben-di          Belly
Moo-nur-ro     Boom-boong      Navel
Boong          Bay-ley         Buttocks
Yen-na-dah     Dil-luck        Moon
Co-ing         Con-do-in       Sun
Go-ra          Go-ri-ba        Hail
Go-gen-ne-gine Go-con-de       Laughing jack-ass

WORDS OF A SONG

Mdng-en-ny-wau-yen-go-nah, bar-ri-boo-lah, bar-re-mah. This they begin at the top of their voices, and continue as long as they can in one breath, sinking to the lowest note, and then rising again to the highest. The words are the names of deceased persons.

E-i-ah wan-ge-wah, chian-go, wan-de-go. The words of another song, sung in the same manner as the preceding, and of the same meaning.

I met with only two or three words which bore a resemblance to any other language.

The middle head of Port Jackson is named Ca-ba Ca-ba--in Portuguese Caba signifies a head. Cam-ma-rade, a term of affection used among girls, has a strong resemblance to the French word Cammerade; and may not some similitude be traced between the word E-lee-mong, a shield, and the word Telamon, the name given to the greater Ajax, on account of his being lord of the seven-fold shield? How these words came into their language must be a mystery till we have a more intimate knowledge of it than I can pretend to.

I could have enlarged very much the foregoing account of the natives of New South Wales; but, both in describing their customs and in detailing their language, I have chosen to mention only those facts about which, after much attention and inquiry, I could satisfy my own mind. That they are ignorant savages cannot be disputed; but I hope they do not in the foregoing pages appear to be wholly incapable of becoming one day civilized and useful members of society.

POSTSCRIPT

Since the preceding account was printed, letters have been received from New South Wales of as late date as the 20th of August 1797. By these it appears, that his Majesty's ship Reliance, in her passage from the Cape of Good Hope to Port Jackson, met with uncommon bad weather, which kept her out eleven weeks and one day. About the latitude of 41 degrees S and 77 degrees E longitude, the sea suddenly became violently agitated, and at last broke on board the ship, staving a boat which was over the stern, and doing considerable damage to the ship. Captain Waterhouse, however, landed safely thirty-nine head of black cattle, three mares, and near sixty sheep.

Information was also received through the same channel, that a ship called the Sydney Cove had been fitted out for Port Jackson from Bengal; but springing a leak at sea, she was run ashore on the southernmost part of the coast of New Holland: seventeen of the crew attempted to get to Port Jackson in their long-boat, but were driven on shore, and lost their boat. They then attempted to reach it by land, in which hazardous undertaking only three of them succeeded, the other either dying on the route or being killed by the natives. They were eighty days in performing this journey, and reported that in their way they had found great quantities of coal. This was afterwards confirmed by the surgeon of the Reliance, who went down to the wreck, and brought specimens of it back with him, having found immense strata of this useful article. Some part of the cargo was got on shore and housed where the ship was stranded.

When these letters left the colony, it continued in as flourishing a state as when the Britannia sailed. May it continue to prosper!

An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1 / With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The / Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some / Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From / The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.

About This Book

APPENDIX XII--LANGUAGE

POSTSCRIPT

THE END