BY FRITZ NOETLING, PH.D., ETC. II3 



the two must be wrong, and there is a great proba- 

 bihty that the translation " a flint " is wrong. The second 

 word, 'nguna, which could also be written 'ngana or 

 'ngara seems to indicate that the word for sand in the 

 dialect of the Southern tribes must be similar to that of 

 the Eastern tribes. It is therefore very probable that 



Mun-ga-ra or 



Mun-ga-na 



is the Tasmanian word for sand. 



Considering that the largest and favourite camps are 

 always situated on nice warm sandy soil, it might be ex- 

 pected that the word for " camping ground " might give 

 a clue. 



Milligan gives the following words for encamp- 

 ment : — 



Eastern Tribes — Lena wughta rotaleebana. 

 Southern Tribes — Line rotali. 



We know that the word eleebana in particular ro(o)t- 

 eleebana an emphasis of the good qualities, is frequently 

 used, and it is therefore certain that the words 



Lena wughta 

 Line 



really express the word for camp, and rotali or rotalee- 

 bana simply mean that Lena wughta or line are exceed- 

 ingly good. 



Ling Roth literally translates 



Lena wughta rotaleebana 

 hut earth long, 



meaning thereby that on such places more permanent 

 structures were erected. (It has been shown on pp. 107- 

 III tliat the natives constructed two sorts of huts or 

 break-winds — those which on the rambhngs of small 

 parties were to last for a night only, and those more 

 permanent ones to last for a season; hence the last- 

 named — viz., the above word — explains itself. Aborig.,. 

 p. 189.) 



It would be out of place to go here into the discus- 

 sion of the correctness of this statement, but it is certain 

 that " rotaleebana " was never applied in a chronological 



