24 



The same form can also have a conditional meaning, as, for 

 example, era ntaineikannnga, ta ntainahala, " because he has not 

 speared, I have done so." 



The same form without the termination of the participle, 

 " nga,^^ " tuikana,'' has again another meaning, as, rula jinga 

 entai, ta tuikana, " give me a stick that I may beat," which is 

 rather a form of optative. 



Another form is ivoka unta tumnrpa, or perfect woka uiita 

 tukarpa ? which is a prohibitive form, meaning, " what for you 

 beat ? " at the same time expressing, it is not right to do so, and 

 also that the speaker himself saw it, which ice cannot express in one 

 ivord at all. 



Finally, there are still to be specified some forms which are 

 only either reduplications of the verb, or else augmentations. 

 Such are — 



I. " Tutjinahuta tutjinahuta,^^ or " tntnabutatunahuta,^^ both 



meaninsf, " I shall beat again. 



II. Tulinja tulindama,, " to beat always ." widinja wulin- 



dnina, " to hear always /" lalinja lalindama, " to go 

 always." 



III. tidinja mhura, also signifying, " to beat always." 



IV. tulatnlanma, " to beat seldom ;" rualilalauma, " to run 



seldom " (water in creeks), as, inbonta 7'ualilalauma 



" The Finke runs seldom." 

 v. tuma, "T have finished beating;" Ukuma, "I have 



finished eating." The Negative is expressed by tuni- 



kana and ilkunikana, " I have not finished beating or 



eating." 

 VI. hitjima, " to come," but bitjimalalhura, "just arrived." 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CONCLUSIOX. 



It is evident from the foregoing that the language of these 

 Australian natives is by no means as simple as many are in- 

 clined to think. Certainly, as jompared with the languages of 

 other more intelligent races, it is to be called poor ; but the chief 

 cause of this is, according to my opinion, their isolation. Owing 

 to the localities capable of supporting human life being so far 

 distant from each other, it necessitates a division into very small 

 fragments of tribes, each often consisting only of a few families. 

 However, for objects that they can see and hear of in their daily 

 life, they ha\'e words and expressions enough. Take for instance 

 the verb, how many different forms they can obtain from a single 

 verb I As seen by Table II., Appendix, they can form not less 

 than 300 different phrases. 



