m 
NORTH AUSTRALIA, 
possesaedj in a considerable de^vee^ that obliquity in the 
position of the cycs^ which is considered as being charac- 
teristic of some of the Polynesian tribes. These appear- 
&noes were even more developed in the people from the 
moiintain range who occasionaJIy visited tis. Upon the 
whole, I am very much inclined to suppose that there 
has been some infusion of Polynesian blood among the 
aborigines of this part of the continent. With regard to 
this point, however, it will be necessary to enter into 
some farther details, which I propose deferring imtil I 
have disposed of the tribes on the Cohurg Peninsula. 
" Of the four dialects spoken by the tribes of the penin- 
sula, one only appears to differ in its general construction 
from those spoken in other parts of the continent, and 
this difference consists only in the words almost invariabJy 
ending in a vowel, I think this peculiarity is accidental 
for it occurs in the lyi triBc, which in evety other respect 
closely resembles the Yaulo, or Port Essington tribe. 
The consonants s and / are rejected throughout the 
dialects of the peninsula, and this is also the case with 
the h aspirate. With the single exception mentioned 
above, two-thirds at least of the words end in a conso- 
nantj and often in double consonants, as ' alk/ ' irt,' &e. 
The nasal ' ug' is very common. In addressing a 
person at a distance, the words are made to run into one 
another, so that a sentence is spoken as if it formed only 
one word of many syllables. In the Croker Island 
dialect, a 'cluck' occasionally occurs in the middle of a 
word, which is effected by striking the tongue against the 
roof of the mouth. 
