BY FRITZ NOETLING, M.A., PH.D., ETC. 37 



Ling Roth has already remarked, and nobody can 

 fail to note this, that IMilligan's translations are some- 

 what free, and it is almost certain that this applies with 

 some force to the above sentence. 



Notwithstanding the different spelling, we recognise 

 in the first word — 

 Tugga-na — 

 the Tasmanian word for a grown-up (adult) man, and 

 the last word represents our well-known trowatta, the 

 stone implement. We have therefore 



Pagga-na — the adult man (black) 

 Pugheranymee — ( ?) 

 Trautta — flint. 



Of course, the use of the impersonal, " the adult 

 black man," instead of the personal pronoun, " he," sig- 

 nifies nothing". But what did he do with the trautta ? If 

 Milligan's translation were correct 



" Pugheranymee " 



must mean " to cut the hair," considering that we have 

 accounted for the first and last word. This conjecture 

 is,, perhaps, rather hazardous. Whether clotted with 

 red ochre or not, " hair " is represented by the words — 



Eastern Tribes — Poing-lyenna, 



Southern Tribes — Poiete-longwinne, 



but it is impossible to recognise this word in the above. 

 It rather seems as- if " pugheranymee," if divested of 

 the unnecessary suffix, is a kind of plural of the singular 

 pugga-na. However that may be, it is certain that Milli- 

 gan's translation cannot be correct. The adult black 

 man does something with a flint, but he certainly does 

 not cut his own hair (i). The second word rather seems 

 to suggest that the " black man " does something with 

 his flint for his brethren. Could it be accepted that this 

 something was " hair cutting," the first view, namely, 

 that " vale " was an attribute of " terana," and that a 



(i) It may be remarked here that, if analysed, Ivliihgan's 

 sentence seems to be somewhat hazj^ Is it probable that an 

 Aborigine would have cut his own hair with his own hands 

 with a flint? It is more than probable that somebody else per- 

 formed the operation for him than he himself. 



