CHAPTER VII. 
LANGUAGE, DIALECTS, CUSTOMS, &C. — GENERAL SIMILARITY 
THROUGHOUT THE CONTINENT — CAUSES OF DIFFERENCES 
ROUTE BY WHICH THE NATIVES HAVE OVERSPREAD 
THE COUNTRY, &C. 
During the last few years much has been done 
towards an examination and comparison of the dia- 
lects spoken by the aboriginal tribes of Australia in 
different portions of the continent. The labours of 
Mr. Threlkeld, of Captain Grey, of Messrs. Tei- 
chelman and Schiirmann, of Mr. Meyer, of Mr. 
Schurman, with the occasional notes of visitors and 
travellers, have done much to elucidate this subject, 
and have presented to the world vocabularies of the 
Hunter’s River and Lake Macquarie districts in 
New South Wales ; of Swan River and King 
George’s Sound in Western Australia ; of Adelaide, 
of Encounter Bay, and of Port Lincoln, in South 
Australia; besides occasional phrases or scanty 
manuals of various other dialects spoken in different 
districts. From these varied contributions it would 
appear that a striking coincidence exists in the per- 
sonal appearance, character, customs, traditions, 
dialects, &c. among the many and remotely sepa- 
rated tribes scattered over the surface of New Hol- 
land. Each of these, no doubt, varies in many 
particulars from the others, and so much so some 
