1907.] 



OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 365 



Then, if we compare the Erhstoiin vocabulary with the one pub- 

 Hshed by Sir George Grey in 1839 of the Perth language, we find 

 that eleven of the words are the same and that six are closely similar. 

 In 1903 I published a vocabulary of the dialect spoken at Roebourne, 

 taken down by myself from a black fellow belonging to that portion 

 of Western Australia. In comparing that vocabulary with the 

 Erlistoun, six hundred miles distant, we notice that seven of the 

 words are the same and two similar. These agreements in several 

 words of the vocabularies of tribes separated from each other by 

 many hundreds of miles point to a common origin of the speech of 

 the people over a very large geographic area. 



Vocabulary. 



The following vocabulary contains 127 words of the Loritya lan- 

 guage and 103 of the Erlistoun. The words of a similar character 

 are grouped together under separate headings instead of being 

 arranged in alphabetical sequence. 



It may be explained here that I sent the same category of English 

 words to both my Loritya and Erlistoun correspondents, which en- 

 ables us to make a ready comparison. In the case of my Roebourne 

 vocabulary of 1903, referred to in an earlier page, I had a more or 

 less different list of English words for which to obtain equivalents. 

 This remark applies also to Sir George Grey's vocabulary. It is 

 probable that if we were to go to Roebourne or Perth with the list 

 of words contained in the attached vocabulary and interview the 

 natives, the identity or resemblance of many more words could be 

 established than we can see in the present list. 



For the Loritya grammar and vocabulary I am indebted to Mr. 

 C. F. T. Strehlow, who has known the tribe for several years. The 

 vocabulary and other particulars of the Erlistoun natives were sup- 

 plied by Mr. Kenneth Young. Both these men have been in corre- 

 spondence with me for some time and I can rely upon their infor- 

 mation, which was obtained direct from the aborigines. 



