252 JOHN FRASER. 



the New Hebrides this verb 'to eat' becomes jena, in another, 

 •ca-ig, in others, ka-ni : in fact, the same word is found in various 

 forms in all the islands both of Melanesia and Polynesia. Can 

 this be the result of accident or of borrowing ? 



Summary of Results. — I have not touched the Australian pro- 

 nouns ; that is a large subject, and requires separate treatment. 

 But I have shown that the Australian numerals, and, incidentally, 

 one of the postpositions, are connected with root-words, which 

 must be as old as the origin of language; for such ideas as 'before,' 

 'begin,' 'first,' 'another,' 'follow,' 'change,' 'many,' seem to be 

 essential to the existence of any language. I think I may safely 

 say the same thing about the root-words for 'water ' and 'dumb,' 

 &c. It thus appears, from the present investigation, that our 

 Australians have a common heritage, along with the rest of the 

 world, in these root-words; for if these blacks are a separate 

 creation and so have no kindred elsewhere, or were never in con- 

 tact with the other races of mankind, I cannot conceive how they 

 have come to possess primitive words so like those in use over a 

 very wide area of the globe. I therefore argue that they are an 

 integral portion of the human race. Tf so, what is their origin ? 

 On this point too, our investigations in language may have thrown 



some light. 



8. Conclusion. 



And now that I have said all that I can venture to say with- 

 out trying your patience too much, I think I can hear some utili- 

 tarian voice asking, ' What's the use of all this talk about words; 

 what profit does it bring 1 ?' Well, I acknowledge that the money 

 value of it is small ; but still it may be of some interest to us, 

 Australians, to know where our natives came from, and even a 

 very little assistance towards the attaining of that knowledge 

 may have a value, although not in gold. I have therefore en- 

 deavoured to show that, so far as some words in their language 

 can be cited in proof, our indigenes are connected with the blacks 

 of the New Hebrides and the New Britain groups of islands, and 

 ultimately with the black races of Southern India. This present 

 argument is founded entirely on considerations drawn from lan- 

 guage. But some of you may remember that, nearly ten years 

 ago, in Volume xvi. of your Journal, I advanced arguments drawn 

 from what I call religious beliefs and customs, to prove that on 

 that view, apart from any other, our indigenes are related to the 

 black races of Africa as well as of India. I pointed to the Dra- 

 vidians of the Dekkan as the connecting link. I was not aware 

 at that time that M. de Quatrefages of Paris, the well-known 

 authority on ethnology, had just the year before given a very 



