309 
Aboriginal Languages of Tasmania . 
resident in Flinder’s Island. Those in italics are from 
D’Entrecasteaux’s list, taken in 1792. The spelling in the 
various documents has not been altered, since it would be 
difficult to select any one system as more appropriate than 
the rest, and almost impossible to restore with certainty 
the sounds intended to be expressed. But it will be seen that 
Jjidrapeuy , or Imirapuy, or Luiropay , a boat; Keeka , or 
Ileka, crystal; Leipa , or Lopa, fire ; Labittaka , or Labrica , 
afoot; &c. are identical words. It would appear that there 
are four dialects, one used in the eastern districts, a second 
spoken among the western tiers, a third used in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Port Davey, and a fourth by the tribe inhabiting the 
Circular Head district. The distinctions of these several dia¬ 
lects are not well established, and in one of the best vocabu¬ 
laries in the Colonial Secretary’s Office arc neglected. The 
words contained in that vocabulary are here placed in a fifth 
list, together with a set of words collected by Mr. Dove from 
the tribe which formerly inhabited the Ouse or Big River. It 
is difficult to imagine the rapid and ever-changing corruptions 
to which an oral language is subject in the mouths of a savage 
tribe ; and in the present case many words, borrowed from the 
English, have added to the confusion produced by the irregu¬ 
lar and careless pronunciation of the Aborigines. Thus Pica - 
nini, a child ; JJuchaloiv , or JBacala , bullocks ; Tablety (cor¬ 
rupted from travel), to go, which again was contracted into 
Tablec, are all from the English. Lubra is a word introduced 
by the English from the Sydney natives (who do not at all under¬ 
stand the languages of our Aborigines), and it appears to have 
been substituted for Lurga , or Lolnu 1 a woman. 
These remains of the Aboriginal dialects are recorded in 
their present unsatisfactory state, with the hope that someyeader 
of these pages may be able to afford such correction^ mid addi¬ 
tions as will possibly give a clue to the nature and origin of the 
language. The native tribes have no other memorial of the 
past, and even this is disappearing, as those who arc not of the 
same tribe appear to converse in broken English. The popula¬ 
tion of Flinder’s Island was 150 in 1834, now it is barely 50; 
and these, together with three or four at large in the north¬ 
western district, and a few perhaps still surviving in the 
families of settlers, are the last remnants of the people who, 
forty years ago, were the possessors of the country. 
These vocabularies might be considerably increased by 
that of a young man named Sterling, who made the native 
languages his study : his vocabulary was taken away at the 
death of its author by a person ignorant of its value. Another, 
drawn up by a person named SI* 1 Geary, was taken away by 
Dr. Lhotzky, but has since been communicated to the Geogra¬ 
phical Society of London. ( Journal , vol. ix., part 1.) 
