24 DIALECTS OF AUSTRALIA. 



ceased person, who has perhaps been called after a 

 tree, bird, or animal ; which then receives another 

 appellation, the old one passing away. From the 

 few words given of the respective dialects of Port 

 Essington and Swan River, they would appear essen- 

 tially to differ, and from what has since come under 

 my own observation, as well as from facts collected by 

 others, I feel confident that there are many distinct 

 dialects spoken in Australia. It is easy enough for 

 those who hold to the theory that Australia pro- 

 duces few dialects, to create for themselves a resem- 

 blance in words by mutilation and addition ; but on 

 careful examination, the similarity will not be found 

 to exist. The natives we took from Swan River, 

 never could understand any of those we met on the 

 North-west coast, though certainly Mr. Moore recog- 

 nized a few words spoken by the natives on the West 

 coast, about 200 miles north of Swan River, as 

 being identical with the language used at the latter 

 place. 



It may here be as well to quote Strzelecki on 

 this subject, ere we pursue our narrative : — 



*' The circumstance of the three natives who accompanied 

 Captain Fhnders and Captain P. P. King, in the survey of New 

 Holland, and of those who accompanied me amongst the different 

 tribes of New South Wales, being unable to understand one word 

 spoken by tribes of other districts, would lead to the belief that 

 the dialects spoken in New Holland, are far from possessing 

 those affinities, still less those identities of language, from which 

 a common root might be inferred. Those European visitors or 

 explorers who adduce, in support of a common root, some hun- 



