112 ABORIGINES NAMES OF MINERALS AND ROCKS. 



The attribute " eleebana " apparently expresses a 

 particular emphasis of the g-ood qualities of something. 

 Lia was water; lia-eleebana particularly good water. 

 Now, I do not think that the sense of taste of the 

 Aborigines was so hig"lily cultivated as to distinguish 

 different qualities of water. Good water was any water 

 that was fiit for drinking, though, in the opinion of 

 modern man, this same water may be disgustingly dirty. 

 Lia-noia or lia-noattye was bad water — that is to say, 

 unfit for drinking- purposes, however clear such water 

 may have been. Now we can fully understand the origin 

 of the third word, which stands for '* salt water." Arriv- 

 ing at a waterhole or passing a creek a European would 

 probably ask his native guide. Is this fresh water? The 

 Aborigine would reply, Lia-noattye, meaning thereby, 

 " This is water not fit for drinking." The European 

 would promptly taste it, and, finding its taste saline, 

 would jump at the conclusion that lia-noia or noattye 

 means salt water, while it really had no association with 

 fhe word " salt " at all. 



II. — SAND. — Sand forms one of the most con- 

 spicuous features of the Tasmanian landscape, particu- 

 larly along the sea shore. Sandy soil was the favourite 

 camping ground of the Aborigines, but only two words 

 are contained in the vocabularies to denote sand, and 

 even one of these seems doubtful. 



Milligan gives the following words : — 



Eastern Tribes— Mungara mena. 

 Southern Tribes — 'Nguna. 



The second word is unquestionabh' incomplete, as 

 the main part, the root, is evidently missing. It is, how- 

 ever, the first one which is the most curious. The word 

 " mena " is apparently a sufftx, and the main part is the 

 word " mungara." This is exactly the same word that 

 has puzzled me when discussing the native words for 

 stone implements (i). Milligan states that the Southern 

 tribes used the word mungara to denote " a flint." If 

 that be so, it is hardly probable that the Eastern tribes 

 used exactlv the same word to denote " sand." One of 



(r) The Aboriginal Designations for Stone Implements, 

 Pap. and Proceed. Roy. Soc. Tas., 1908. 



