VOCABULARIES OF THE GEELONG AND COLAC TRIBES. 845 
Thus finding triple form expressed by a word not known to the 
speakers as a numeral, does not its presence indicate what may be 
termed the survival of a grammatical form of precision ? 
The supposition regarding triple pronouns as the conjoining of 
the numerical syllable to roots expressive of pronominal relation- 
ship seems to be thus fairly set aside. But turn to the dual form, 
and what do we find? Here we clearly see that, in the three 
dialects, bul,‘‘ is contained in the word for two.”* In Wod- 
dow-ro, bulad, two, is traceable in Buk-ar-bul-ok—the residence of 
the late Captain Fyans—signifying between two waters ; and in 
dajorongbullok, the eldest of two sisters. This second example, 
which seems quite akin to the dual pronoun bangbullok, is found 
among names of family relationship, recorded by Tuckfield ; and 
the following derivation of both examples is drawn by me from 
his MS. :—Bukarballok-bokariu, middle; bulad, two; yaliok, 
water; dajorongbullok-dajorong, implying priority of birth ; bwlad, 
two ; worok, denoting female. 
Now, although the termination of in the dual pronouns remains 
unexplained, it must be admitted that the element bul in those 
compounds, in bukarbwllok, dajorongbwlok and bulad may with 
good reason be considered as the same identical root syllable. 
But granting that, may we not reasonably ask what evidence 
is there showing bul to be a veritable numeral? May it not first 
have been applied to some right, act, or powers of two individuals, 
and then by a natural transition of meaning, like our couple or 
brace, have acquired an exact numerical significance ? 
Benjeroo, two, is shown by Bunce to also mean couple, brace, 
and two wives. 
It seems, indeed, as feasible to suppose that the dual form 
supplied the Wod-dow-ro with the numeral adjective, as to 
suppose that they allowed the word for three to drop out of use 
as a numeral, and yet retained its root syllable in pronominal 
usage. If the word fell into disuse on the death of a native in 
whose name it occurred, it would have wholly disappearedt ; 
a personal application of such a term would be the least likely to 
survive. 
* Tuckfield’s MS. contains no numerals. The following are from Eyre’s ‘‘ Jowrnals of 
Discovery,” vol. ii, p. 400 :— 
Two and two— 
W. Bul-ad-barp-bul-ad. 
D. Bul-ad-da-bul-da-da. 
K. Bul-ad-duk-bul-ad-duk. 
+ “‘The Australians believe that a dead man’s ghost creeps into the liver of the impious 
wretch who has dared to utter his name.”—Clodd’s Myths and Dreams. 
