8o THE SPEECH OP THE TASMANIAN ABORIGINES. 



A free but essentially more accurate version would 

 be : — When I go hunting in my native place, I find not 

 one kangaroo where there Avere wont to be man3\ The 

 white warrior is there ; his dogs are where my kangaroos 

 were. The white man goes and comes there and lies 

 down to sleep. The white man has done many acts of 

 violence to me ; my heart is broken. 



In Braim's songs, a characteristic phenomenon is the 

 presence of a multiplicity of hyphens. These indicate 

 the rhythmical tune and drum-beat to which the words 

 W'cre sung, as v/e have observed in Mrs. Fanny Smith's 

 song. Two songs will suffice for the present, to which 

 I will add my version. The first is : — 



A re-na-too 



Ket-a-ta-e-vepa 



Mel-re-pa-too 



A re-na-too. 



In our spelling, we get 

 A rena to 

 Keta taipewa 



Mebrepa to (Mel is an error) 

 A rena to. 



This means: O, run hither (to me) Little one, do 

 come ! Fly to me ! O, run to me ! 



The second is : — 



Ne-par-me-ry-wa 

 Ne-cat-a-ba-wa 

 Ne-par-me-ry-wa 

 Ne-cat-a-ba-wa. 



This is characteristic of the child-like mind of the 

 Aborigines. The words are merely : — Ne pamerewa, ne 

 katapawe, twice over, and their meaning is : — " Here is 

 one, look ! here are two !" 



CONCLUSION. 



It would be easy to add further examples in illustra- 

 tion of my theory, for the material available is surpris- 

 ingly ample ; and my notes are copious ; but it does not 

 seem necessarv to do so. 



