176 THE RAINFALL Al’ BRISBANE, 
the subject that our Australian blacks were not examples of the 
lowest class of men, and that there was good evidence for believ- 
ing that they presented the result of a decadence from a much 
higher type of savage man than might at first thought have been 
supposed. He also stated that during his official residence in 
South Australia he had been in correspondence with the late 
eminent philologist, Dr. Bleek, who had invited him to collect 
what matter he could relating to the blacks, and that having 
done so, Dr. Bleek came to the conclusion,on grounds philological, 
that the Australian blacks were, linguistically, more closely 
related to the bushmen of South Africa than to any other savage 
people; and, moreover, that there was unmistakable evidence 
that they had at one time arrived in the development of their 
race at a much higher stage of civilization than that which they 
at present displayed. His Excellency further remarked that 
Mr. Palmer’s statements afforded evidence of another kind in 
justification of such a conclusion, and were especially valuable 
as tending to promote inquiry on a subject which might well 
engage the attention of the Society. 
THE RAINFALL AT BRISBANE 
AND INVESTIGATION A8 Or 
PERIODICITY : 
COMPILED BY 
B. WAGENKNECHT, Esa. 
(Communicated by W. D. Nisbet, M. Inst. C. EH.) 
(Pirates VI.—IX.) 
AurnoucH I have the record of the rainfall at Brisbane for only 
a very limited number of years, viz., since 1860, at my disposal, 
I nevertheless have endeavoured to obtain with these limited 
data, by means of cycles and curves of periodicity, the probable 
rainfall for future years. 
