SOME ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 2 1 9 



A legend is current amongst these blacks that a supernatural 

 monster in serpent form made all the rivers as he travelled inland 

 from the sea, which is his home. Once he camped for a long time 

 at the lake into which Sturt Creek empties, and it is owing to his 

 urine that the water there is salt. The saltness of other lakes in 

 that part of the country is ascribed to the same cause. This 

 creature is known as Wonnaira in some districts and as Ranbul 

 in others. 



Mr. N. H. Stretch, a long resident in Western Australia, has 

 under my directions, collected the Nining equivalents of the follow- 

 ing phrases : — The man and his wife — Mauan umbir. The sister 

 and her brother — Kaulu naje. I saw the brother of my friend — 

 Chalache ingo nia nia naje. My wife saw her brother — Umbir 

 anninga nia nia najengo. I gave the fruit of the tree to my 

 daughter— Mungari ana yungo kutu bununga. The dog will eat 

 some of the opossum — Gunyar wonnan kiri. You have taken the 

 skin of the big kangaroo — Uto manning uro nyundo. I am eating 

 a yam — Mungari unnung unnungo. You have eaten the porcu- 

 pine — Nyundo unning unningo bugauru. We will eat the black 

 duck — Alliba unnung unnungo guraba. I want these men to 

 carry water from the creek to our camp— -Ngappa mundellula 

 kilyila moraura kangalu. Eat some of this kangaroo — Unjalu 

 jache yunganing. I should like to give the bandicoot to our 

 children — Ane yungo yutobru allinga jinga. 



The foregoing phrases were taken down carefully by my f riend, 

 who is a very reliable observer, but as he did not sufficiently know 

 the grammar of the language there are some manifest defects. 

 The expressions are, however, of value, and contain several root 

 words of very wide prevalence in Australian speech. 



Nouns are declined for number and case by the addition of 

 suffixes. The declension of adjectives is similar to that of the 

 qualified nouns. Verbs and pronouns are inflected in an exhaus- 

 tive manner, and are subject to numerous modifications. Prepo- 

 sitions and adverbs have their places in the language. 



