114 ABORIGINES NAMES OF MINERALS AND ROCKS. 



sense to denote the length of a period. Wherever found, 

 it emphasises the good quahties, but not bad ones. 



Admitting that the word " wughta " stands for 

 " earth," that is to say in the meaning of ground or soil, 

 we come to a quite different translation if we assume 

 that " lena " means " water." The literal translation is, 

 therefore, according to my opinion, 



lena wughta rotaleebana 

 water soil very good. 



Now, what is the meaning of this ? To' anybody who 

 has actually seen the camping grounds there cannot be 

 the slightest doubt as to its interpretation. A warm 

 sandy soil was a most essential feature for a camping 

 ground, and to make it perfect it was necessary that it 

 should be close to fresh water (liena or lin'-eleebana). 

 Soil and water being satisfactory, such a locality was 

 chosen as a camping ground, and it is only too natural 

 that the primitive mind of the Aborigines should choose 

 those two qualities which were most essential to them to 

 .express the name of the locality. Water and soil being 

 good, it must be a satisfactory place to dwell on, argued 

 the primitive mind, hence its designation for encamp- 

 ment grounds. This is certainly a more probable trans- 

 lation than '' the huts of earth constructed for long 

 duration." 



Unfortunately, however, this interpretation of the 

 word for camping ground does not contain any indica- 

 tion of the word for " sand." If the soil, the ground, 

 the " wughta," was good, this presumed that it was of 

 an arenaceous nature, but this does not throw any light 

 on the meaning of the words mun-ga-ra and mun-ga-na. 

 These words may stand for sand along the shore, but 

 their literal meaning is at present unknown. , 



12. TOPAZ. — Under the above headings Milligan 

 gives the following words : — 



Eastern Tribes — ^Tendeagh. 

 Southern Tribes — Mugramallee. 



It will at once be seen that two completely different 

 substances are enumerated under the same English 

 heading-. 



