63B 
APPENDIX. 
[D. 
The preceding' brief collection, of words used by the natives in 
various parts of the Coasts of Australia and Van Diemen's Land, 
has been inserted to shew the great dissimilarity that exists in the 
languages of the several tribes : and it may be remarked, that of 
thirty-three objects, one only, the Eye, is expressed by nearly the 
same term at each place. In this list, it is true, there is a striking 
resemblance between the terms used to signify the hair at Port 
Jackson, namely, dewarra, or kewarra, or gewarroo, and those 
which denote the same thing in the language of some of the islands 
of the Eastern Seas ; such, for instance, as arouroo or hooroo- 
hooroo of the Society Islands ; lo-ooroo of the Friendly Islands ; 
hooroo of New Zealand ; and, perhaps, oouho of the Marquesas* : 
but at New Caledonia, which is situated between these places 
and Port Jackson, the same thing is expressed by poow, a sound 
totally distinct. And to render the anomaly still more decisive, it 
is only necessary to remark, that, within two hundred miles of 
Port Jackson, the natives of three tribes, Port Macquarie, Burrah- 
Burrah, and Limestone Creek, signify the hair, by the words 
wollack, mundar, and bulla-ye-ga. 
The aboriginal connexion of Australia with other lands must 
be proved, as far as language is concerned, by a general re- 
semblance of the words, and not merely by a few examples of 
coincidence, which can only be considered as accidental: and as 
our knowledge of the Australian languages, except in the vicinity 
of Port Jackson, does not yet exceed thirty or forty words, no 
comparison, derived from such limited information, can be em- 
ployed with any certainty to determine the question. The con- 
nexion must be sought for, probably, where the continent, at its 
north-eastern extremity, most nearly approaches other lands ; but 
even then the chain will remain imperfect until New Guinea and 
its neighbouring islands are explored, and correct and extensive 
vocabularies of their languages obtained. Forster t, who has paid 
considerable attention to this subject, and whose opinions are 
the more valuable from their being the result of personal ob- 
* Forster’s Observations, p. 283. 
t Ibid. 
