488 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



The followino" is a partial conjugation of a verb in the singular 

 number, indicative mood : — 



Indicative Mood — Present Tense. 



C 1st person — I hear Npaia ngaranggi 



Singular < 2nd ,, Thou hearest NginHa ngaranggi 

 ( 3rd ,, He hears Guladhu ngaranggi 



and so on through all tlie persons of the dual and plural. 



Past Tense. 

 Singular 1st person — I heard Ngaia ngarawang 



Future Tense. 



Singular 1st person — I will hear IS'gaia ngaranggu 



The imperative, conditional, reflexive, and reciproqal forms of the 

 verb are omitted for want of space. 



Prepositions. 

 Between, pimita. On the other side, kawatadyula. On this side, 

 ilamgidda. Around, kokari. In rear, wallungga. In front, munggara. 

 Down, warri. Up, kaba. 



Adverbs. 

 The following are a few of the more commonly used adverbs: — 

 Yes, nge. No, byekkai. To-day, gili. To-morrow, guraguradyu. 

 Yesterday, nvuggundvirra. Bye and bj-e, gung-a. Long ago, tyal- 

 lumbo. Soon, yaregili. Certainly, yare. Here, nyamyala. There, 

 njiragara. None, biwai. Always, illagaingai. Wlien, muUa. How, 

 clyugirgai. 



The aboriginal equivalents of the English adverbs "here" and 

 " there," and their modifications, are frequently used, as demon- 

 strative pronouns of the third person, and take the same declensions 

 as the nouns they qualify. 



Conjunctions, interjections, and exclamations are not important 

 or numerous in this language, and will be passed over for the present. 



Numerals. 

 One, guragun. Two, bulari. Several, umaka. 



A MYSTIC OR SECRET LANGUAGE. 

 Before concluding this brief paper on the speech of the Aus- 

 tralian aborigines, I wish to refer to a secret language, used by the 

 men at the ceremonies of initiation, but is never spoken in the 

 presence of women, or in the presence of such youths as have not 

 passed through the necessary ceremonies. While the novices are 

 away in the bush with the elders of the tribe they are taught a 

 mystic name for surrounding objects, animals, parts of the human 

 body, and sliort phrases of general utility. This language varies in 

 different communities. 



