2 
whom they are superior, not only in stature and symmetry, but, 
generally speaking, in feature likewise. The aborigines of the 
Alligator and Mary River tribes, which possess similar character- 
istics and will probably be found to be in alliance, are the finest 
in physique and apparently the most numerous. They are feared 
by the other tribes, whom they hold in small esteem. A party 
of the former tribe every year or two make their way to Port 
Darwin, but they are not welcome visitors and the Larraki‘as 
breathe more freely when their five or six weeks’ sojourn is at an 
end. At Burrundi, where a camp is formed by some of them 
nearly every year, the Aggrakundi vacate the place entirely at 
their approach. Their speech is fuller, deeper, and more 
resonant than that of the others, and I regret that I am unable 
to give examples—“ kwaokh-dong-‘aok” (fire), Alligator River, 
is the only word I have noted. 
Second to these physically are the Wulnar and Larraki‘a, 
allied tribes between whom intermarriages are frequent ; some 
families of the Wiulnar, indeed, have a permanent camp at Port 
Darwin. In the speech of the Wiulnar a pretty intonation is 
observable, not used by the other tribes, but which Mr. Joseph 
Bradshaw tells me he found in a tribe in the north of Western 
Australia. The cadence is especially noticeable in the conversa- 
tion of the girls and younger women, but, curiously enough, I 
have not heard it adopted by a Larraki‘a conversing in Wulnar, 
nor is it used by a Wiilnar speaking Larraki‘a. For example, 
“enough” is in Larraki‘a “banuk,” and in Wilnar “®",,, -ya;” 
or, while a Larraki‘a calls a mosquito “lamtda,” an Awarra says 
“nael,”? and an Aggrakundi “kimmiel,’ the Wutlnar chants 
P RORR e  e So also in ‘“unggoingi,” the first syllable 
‘“ung-” is said in an even tone, there is a fall upon “-go” 
gliding into “ in-,” and a rise for the final syllable ‘-gi.” 
Inferior to the Larraki‘a and fewer in numbers are the Awarra 
and Aggrakundi, who again are allied tribes ; indeed they have 
been hitherto known to Europeans only as Wulwoéngga, and a 
member of either tribe will so designate himself. The Aggra- 
ktundi, it is said, were formerly more powerful and in alliance with 
a tribe called Awinmil, whose head camp was at Burrundi, but 
the mortality of one bad season so reduced the numbers of 
both tribes, and especially of the Awinmil, that they became 
one. 
There is no dialect common to any of these tribes in addition 
to the tribal tongue, as in some parts of Queensland. A 
Larraki‘a can hold no converse with a Wulnar unless one has 
learnt the language of the other, nor an Awarra with an Aggra- 
kundi except he be bi-lingual. The construction of the language, 
however, is the same throughout, the difference being merely in 
