16 THE WOMBAT. 
(5) MOTU (Port Moresby), on south coast of New Guinea. 
Pron.-Singular. Binal, Ternal. Plural. 
Ist. — Lau Ai (or Ita)-ra-rua- Ai or Ita 
di 
2nd. — Oi Umui-ra-rua-di — Umui 
3rd. — Ia Idia-ra-rua-di ——- Idia 
(6) SAMOAN, 
Pron,-Singular. Binal, Ternal. Plural. 
Ist. — ‘O au, ‘ou, ‘Oitd-ua ‘O i ta-tou 
ta 
2nd. — ‘0 ‘oe ‘O ou-lua — ‘O ou-tou 
3rd. — ‘O ia ‘Oi ldua — O i la-tou 
(7) DUKE OF YORK (Tukiok) Island ; of the Bisrnarck Archipelago. 
Pron. Singular, Binal, Ternal, Plural, 
1st. — Iau, io. yo Da-ra Da-tul Dat 
2nd. — Uor ui Mou-ru Mu-tul Mu-at 
8rd. — Loria Dia-ra Di-tul Di-at 
(8) ANEITYUM, the most southerly island of the New Hebrides, 
Pron, Singular. { Binal. Ternal. Plural, 
Ist. — Ain-yak A-kai-jau A-kata-ij A-kai-ja 
2nd. — Ai-ek Ai-jau-rau Ai-jauta-ij Ai-ja-ua | 
3rd. — Ai-en A-rau A-hta-ij A-ra 
Although these examples cover a very wide area—from Port 
Moresby and Ancityum in the west to Samoain the east—I have 
no doubt that many similar examples could be collected if we only 
had grammars of the speech of other parts of Melanesia. These, 
however, will suffice to show that the use of a Binal and a Ternal 
number is not an isolated phenomenon in language. But let us 
note that it is only among the black men of Melanesia that all that 
is found. The Polynesian example from Samoa I account for by 
reverting to the arguments which 1 have advanced in other periodicals 
that the original substratum of the Samoan population, and hence 
of the Polynesian race, was an antecedent race of blacks. The 
Samoan example is further curious in this respect, that the plural 
there is really a Ternal number, for tow=tolu, ‘ three.’ 
By casting your eye over the paradigm of pronouns given 
above, you will find that every Binal contains in it the number 
‘two’ (rua, lua, ua, rau, jau, ru), and every Ternal has ‘ three’ 
(tolu, tou, tau, tul, hal); in the Aneityumese Ternal, # is the last 
syllable of ese-7j, ‘ three.’ 
My second Proposition is:—Most of the Melanesian Personal 
Pronouns begin with a syllable which is not an essential part of 
the word. 
Such a prothetic syllable, commonly the vowel a, is prefixed 
to nouns and other words in many of the Bantu dialects of South 
