220 R. H. MATHEWS. 



Gender. — For the human family this is expressed by 

 different words, as, maie, a man ; winnar, a woman. For 

 animals the gender is indicated by using a word signifying 

 'male ' and ' female,' as, mundaiwa, a male ; guninger, a 

 female. These words follow the name of the animal 

 spoken of, and are declined like other adjectives. 



Case. — The principal cases are the nominative, causative, 

 genitive, instrumental, accusative, dative, and ablative. 



There are two forms of the nominative. When the action 

 is described by an intransitive verb, as, winnar yuwunna, 

 the woman lies (on the ground), the noun is without flexion. 

 But when a transitive verb is used, the noun takes a 

 causative suffix, as, murrawandu wirmedhi, a kangaroo 

 scratched me. 



Genitive — Murrawanggu dhun, a kangaroo's tail. Maingu 

 bulga, a man's boomerang. 



Every object or article over which ownership can be 

 exercised is subject to inflection for person and number, as: 

 bulgadhi, my boomerang; bulganu, thy boomerang ; bulga- 

 lugu, liis boomerang, and so on through the dual and plural, 

 which also contain ' inclusive ' and ' exclusive ' forms in 

 the first person. 



If a couple or several articles be claimed, an infix is 

 inserted between the root of the noun and the possessive 

 affix, as : bulgambuladhi, my two boomerangs ; bulgagir- 

 badhi, my several boomerangs. 



Instrumental — When an instrument is the remote object 

 of a transitive verb, it takes the same affix as the second 

 nominative which I have called the causative. 



Ablative — Ngurandidhi, from my camp. 



The dative is the same as the first nominative. 



