8 THE WOMBAT. 
for Section F, of which I was Secretary. ‘This he accordingly did. 
The paper was read at one of the meetings of the Section, and was 
handed to a small committee of three members for further 
copsideration. I do not know if that committee made any use of 
Mr. Cary’s communication or reported on it, but the paper itself 
was published in Vol. VII. (Sydney meeting) of the Australasian 
Association for the Advancement of Science. Since then, I have 
given a little more careful attention to these Woddowro pronouns, 
and, in consequence, I seem to understand what they are. The 
results of my investigation I am now requested to make known in 
the pages of the Wombat. Mr. Cary’s discovery is unique and 
important, for the Australian dialects have not furnished any other 
instance of the use of a ternalnumber in the pronouns, and this 
example of it seryes as a link to connect our blacks with the 
Melanesians of the islands of the Western Pacific. 
The history of the discovery is this, In the year 1838—only 
a few years later that the first settlement of white men on the 
shores of Port Phillip—the Wesleyan Methodists began a mission 
to the Woddowro, Dantgurt and Kolijen tribes, in what is now the 
Geelong district. One of those who engaged in this labour of love 
was Francis Tuckfield, 2 young man who had come from Cornwall, 
full of hope and zeal for the betterment of the natives by trying to 
christianize and civilize them. In this work he spent ten of the 
best years of his life. Mr. Cary goes on to say, “ A large 
vocabulary was compiled in the first years of the mission, but it was 
unfortunately lost in a fire that destroyed the mission-house. 
. . In his note book is preserved a collection of about two 
united short sentences, some translations of Seripture, and a 
vocabulary of over two hundred words. By the kindness of the 
Tuckfield family, it has been my privilege to inspect their father’s 
journal, letters, and note book ; and, when perusing the latter, I 
unearthed a grammatical form of number hitherto practically 
unnoticed as a peculiarity in Australian language. That dual 
number is a feature of several Australian dialects is well-known ; 
but with the Woddowro, number as a means of precision was 
amplified yet another degree. And herein lies the discovery ; 
these natives of the Geelong district used triple number.” 
This then is the history of the case ; I will now proceed to 
show what I can make of it. And in doing so, I shall use the 
terms Singular, Binal, Ternal, Plural number. The word ‘ dual’ 
has so established itself in ‘grammar that everybody seems to have 
acquiesced in its use, but, on the analogy of Singular 
(from Lat.  singuli, ‘ one-by-one’) it ought to be Binal, 
which is suitable, for it marks that two are spoken of each time. 
The name ‘ trial ” for the triple number is an awkward word; and 
so, on analogy again, I use Vernal. And in discussing this 
question I will advance by a series of Propositions. 
