THE WOMBAT. 



If this supposition were true, then the suffixed pronouns 

 ik, ngin and duk would be an interesting parallel to the 

 Melanesian (New Hebrides) pronoun forms used as suffixes 

 to the verb, and also to the usage of the classic language, as 

 Latin ama-bam, ama-bas, ama-bai, &c. In fact, in 

 Aneityumese and other New Hebrides dialects k is the suffix 

 pronoun ' L' And ngin (which I have written) is the Lake 

 Macquarie pronoun ' thou ' ; elsewhere it is in. The duk of 

 the third person may be a local demonstrative used by the 

 Geelong tribe. There is always a great variety in these 

 demonstratives. 



(5) " Against taking ik for ' I ' lies the fact that this 

 same ik or lik occurs in your examples of the triple 1st, 2nd 

 and 3rd persons all through. Unless these examples are 

 wrong it cannot there mean ' I.' But when I examined 

 Taplin's Narrinyerri examples I found similar inconsistencies, 

 which I took to be errors made by the compiler. 



(6) " Although your dual and ternal examples seem to 

 contain the numbers 2 and 3, yet the difficulties in explaining 

 your whole paradigm of these pronouns on that footing are so 

 great that I would not lightly venture an opinion until I have 

 an opportunity of examining the sentences from which these 

 examples are taken. 



(7) " I have omitted to say that in the possessive forms, 

 in paragraph 2 of this opinion, I write ngo-di because ko, that 

 is, ngo, is a well-known Australian genitive form (as in Lake 

 Macquarie dialect), and ong (1st person) may be for ngo. The 

 Geelong ngo-di would then correspond with the Awabakal 

 ko-ba, genitive. 



In the Dravidian languages of India ko, ku, kei are the 

 common dative forms, but they are sometimes used for the 

 genitive." 



It is to be understood that the forepoing is merely a preliminary opinion, 

 formed on a hasty perusal of my M.S. (.4 Discovery in the Australian 

 Language), at a time when Dr. Fraser was fully occupied with preparations 

 for the work of his section (Anthropology) of the Science Congress at Sydney 

 (1898). 



Remarks Suggested by Dr. Fraser's " Opinion." 



Paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of Dr. Fraser's " Opinion " suggest 

 this question to me. (a) Are the Woddowro personal 

 pronouns really pronouns, or (/>) have the aborigines merely 

 transplanted a word or words of another class into the place 

 of pronouns ? Considering the second part of this question 

 (b), it may be conjectured, as bang occurs (or at least may be 

 used) in all the forms, that something of the kind has been done. 



