DIALECTS. 
403 
Captain Flinders observed the same difference to 
exist in various parts of New Holland, which he 
visited, and yet that judicious navigator inclined to 
the opinion that all the various tribes had originally 
one common origin. Vol. ii. p. 213-14, he says, 
“ I do not know that the language of any two parts of Terra 
Australis, however near, has been found to be entirely the same ; 
for even at Botany Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay, not only 
the dialect, but many words are radically different ; and this con- 
firms one part of an observation, the truth of which seems to be 
generally admitted, that although similarity of language in two 
nations proves their origin to be the same, yet dissimilarity of 
languages is no proof of the contrary position. 
“The language of Caledon Bay (north-west coast) may there- 
fore be totally different to what is spoken on the east and south 
coasts, and yet the inhabitants have one common origin; but I 
do not think that the language is absolutely and wholly different, 
though it certainly was no better understood by Bongarree (a 
Sydney native) than by ourselves. In three instances I found a 
similarity. The personal pronoun of Port Jackson, * Ngia’ (I), 
was used here, and apparently in the same sense. When inquiry 
was made after the axe, the natives replied * yehangeree-py/ 
making signs of beating, and py signifies to beat in the Port 
Jackson language. The third instance was that of the lad Woga 
calling to Bongarree in the boat, which after he had done several 
times without being answered, he became angry, and exclaimed 
Bongarree -gah in a vehement manner, as Bongarree himself 
would have done in a similar case.” 
Captain Grey, in speaking of the Aborigines of 
New Holland, says (vol. ii. p. 209), 
“ One singularity in the dialects spoken by the Aborigines in 
different portions of Australia is, that those of districts widely 
removed from one another, sometimes assimilate very closely, 
2 d 2 
