_Head_ _quara_ _herem_
_Mouth_ _mao_ _mit_ = _lips_
_Testicles_ _abu_ _eba_ = _penis_
_Shoulder_ _paga_ _pagas_ = _upper arm_
On the other hand, the Redscar Bay word for _throat_, _kato_, coincides
with the Australian _karta_ of the Gudang of Cape York. Again, a
complication is introduced by the word _buni-mata_ = _eyebrow_. Here
_mata_ = _eye_, and, consequently, _buni_ = brow. This root re-appears
in the Erroob; but there it means the _eyeball_, as shewn by the
following words from Jukes' Vocabulary.
_Eye_ _irkeep_
_Eyebrow_ _irkeep moos_ = _eye-hair_
_Eye ball_ _poni_
_Eyelid_ _poni-pow_ = _eyeball-hair_
Probably the truer meaning of the Redscar Bay word is _eyeball_.
No inference is safer than that which brings the population of the
Louisiade Archipelago, so far, at least, as it is represented by the
Vocabularies of Brierly Island and Duchateau Island, from the eastern
coast of New Guinea. What points beyond were peopled from Louisiade is
another question.
For the islands between New Ireland and New Caledonia our _data_ are
lamentably scanty; the list consisting of--
1. A short vocabulary from the Solomon Isles.
2. Short ones from Mallicollo.
3. The same from Tanna.
4. Shorter ones still from Erromanga and
5. Annatom.
6. Cook's New Caledonian Vocabulary.
7. La Billardiere's ditto.
The collation of these with the Louisiade has led me to a fact which
I little expected. As far as the very scanty _data_ go, they supply
the closest resemblance to the Louisiade dialects, from the two New
Caledonian vocabularies. Now New Caledonia was noticed in the Appendix
to the Voyage of the Fly (vol. ii. p. 318) as _apparently_ having
closer philological affinities with _Van Diemen's Land_, than that
country had with Australia; an apparent fact which induced me to write
as follows: "A proposition concerning the Tasmanian language exhibits
an impression, rather than a deliberate opinion. Should it, however, be
confirmed by future researches, it will at once explain the points of
physical contrast between the Tasmanian tribes and those of Australia
that have so often been insisted on. It is this--that the affinities
of language between the Tasmanian and the New Caledonian are stronger
than those between the Australian and Tasmanian. This indicates that
the stream of population for Van Diemen's Land ran _round_ Australia,
rather than across it." Be this as it may, the remark, with our present
scanty materials, is, at best, but a suggestion--a suggestion, however,
which would account for the physical appearance of the Tasmanian being
more New Caledonian than Australian.
The chief point of resemblance between the Louisiade and the New
Caledonian is taken from the numerals. In each system there is a
_prefix_, and in each that prefix begins with a labral letter--indeed
the _wa_ of New Caledonia and the _pahi_ of Louisiade seem to be the
same roots.
1. 2.
Brierly Island paihe-tia pahi-wo
Cook's New Caledonia wa-geeaing wa-roo
La Billardiere's do. oua-nait oua-dou
3. 4.
Brierly Island paihe-tuan paihe-pak
Cook's New Caledonia wa-teen wa-mbaeek
La Billardiere's do. oua-tguien oua-tbait
5. 6.
Brierly Island paihe-lima paihe-won
Cook's New Caledonia wa-nnim wa-nnim-geeek
La Billardiere's do. oua-nnaim ou-naim-guik
7. 8.
Brierly Island pahe-pik paihe-wan
Cook's New Caledonia wa-nnim-noo wa-nnim-gain
La Billardiere's do. oua-naim-dou ou-naim-guein
9. 10.
Brierly Island paihe-siwo paihe-awata
Cook's New Caledonia wa-nnim-baeek wa-nnoon-aiuk
La Billardiere's do. oua-naim-bait oua-doun-hic
The Redscar Bay numerals are equally instructive. They take two
forms: one with, one without, the prefix in _ow_, as recorded by Mr.
Macgillivray.
This system of prefix is not peculiar. The Tanna and Mallicollo
numerals of Cook are--
ENGLISH. TANNA. MALLICOLLO.
One r-eedee tsee-kaee
Two ka-roo e-ry
Three ka-har e-rei
Four kai-phar e-bats
Five k-reerum e-reeum
Six ma-r-eedee tsookaeee
Seven ma-k-roo gooy
Eight ma-ka-har hoo-rey
Nine ma-kai-phar good-bats
Ten ma-k-reerum senearn
Here, although the formations are not exactly regular, the prefixion
of an initial syllable is evident. So is the quinary character of the
numeration. The prefix itself, however, in the Tanna and Mallicollo is
no _labial_, as in the Louisiade and New Caledonian, but either _k_ or
a vowel.
The next fact connected with the Louisiade vocabularies is one of
greater interest. Most of the names of the different _parts of the
body_ end in _da_. In the list in question they were marked in italics;
so that the proportion they bear to the words not so ending was easily
seen. Now it is only the words belonging to this class that thus
terminate. Elsewhere the ending _da_ is no commoner than any other.
What does this mean? If we look to such words as _mata-da_ = eyes,
_sopa-da_ = lips, _maka-da_ = teeth, and some other naturally _plural_
names, we should infer that it was a sign of _number_. That this,
however, is not the case is shewn by the equivalents to _tongue_,
_nose_, and other _single_ members where the affix is equally common.
What then is its import? The _American_ tongues help us here.