^6 THE SPEECH OF THE TASMANIAN ABORIGINES. 



TWO — piawe, piawe-r-inna (with euphonic infix r 

 and diminutive suffix), pia-na-pawe, kata pawe, pala, 

 kata pawe, pala, kata, pawe. 



We note the frequency of the dupHcation of the 

 whole w^ord, most appropriate in this case, and not 

 found in any other number but " ten," whicli means 

 ■" two fives." 



THREE — ri-pa, pia-na-pa, h-ri, katia. 



FOUR — pagan-ta, pal-ia-pa, katia. 



FIVE — pugan-a, pala, kata, katia. 



TEN — kata-kata. 



The PERSONAL PRONOUNS recorded by H. 

 Ling Roth (p. 184) may also be simplified. 



Mina, I, me, mine, has been accounted for. 



Ni-na, na-ra (nard is evidently a misprint for nara), 

 neka, mean the " non ego," " that thing," " thou, he, she, 

 it, you, they." 



Warrandur is given for "' we ;" but it is doubtful 

 whether the Aborigines could grasp a collective notion ; 

 e.g., they had no plural, and no word for forest, tribe, 

 family. H. Ling Roth quotes from La P>illardiere and 

 Peron — tagari-lia, my family ; but their informants had 

 spoken of squalling babies; tagara means " to weep," 

 and tagara-na, weepers. 



A more plausible explanation is that warrander (as 

 Norman wrote it) is a form of warrane, which means 

 ■anything curved ; and its application to "we" was per- 

 haps due to the circumstance that Norman, addressing 

 one or more Aborigines, pointed to each in turn, be- 

 ginning or finishing with himself, to indicate the present 

 company (the we), and the latter only noticed the 

 circular motion of his finger, and told him this was 

 warrane (a circle), whereupon he put down warrane as 

 the equivalent of " we." 



Thus, on considering the numerals and the personal 

 pronouns, we again find the lowest possible stage of 

 human thought, and that the four words again sufficed 

 to express all that was required. 



