It Must Nevertheless Be Confessed That The Women
Often Artfully Study To Irritate And Inflame The Passions Of The Men,
Although Sensible That The Consequence Will Alight On Themselves.
Many a matrimonial scene of this sort have I witnessed.
Lady Mary Wortley
Montague, in her sprightly letters from Turkey, longs for some of the
advocates for passive obedience and unconditional submission then existing
in England to be present at the sights exhibited in a despotic government.
A thousand times, in like manner, have I wished that those European
philosophers whose closet speculations exalt a state of nature above
a state of civilization, could survey the phantom which their heated
imaginations have raised. Possibly they might then learn that a state
of nature is, of all others, least adapted to promote the happiness of
a being capable of sublime research and unending ratiocination. That a
savage roaming for prey amidst his native deserts is a creature deformed
by all those passions which afflict and degrade our nature, unsoftened by
the influence of religion, philosophy and legal restriction: and that the
more men unite their talents, the more closely the bands of society are
drawn and civilization advanced, inasmuch is human felicity augmented,
and man fitted for his unalienable station in the universe.
Of the language of New South Wales I once hoped to have subjoined to this
work such an exposition as should have attracted public notice, and have
excited public esteem. But the abrupt departure of Mr. Dawes, who,
stimulated equally by curiosity and philanthropy, had hardly set foot
on his native country when he again quitted it to encounter new perils
in the service of the Sierra Leona company, precludes me from executing
this part of my original intention, in which he had promised to co-operate
with me; and in which he had advanced his researches beyond the reach
of competition. The few remarks which I can offer shall be concisely
detailed.
We were at first inclined to stigmatised this language as harsh and
barbarous in its sounds. Their combinations of words in the manner they
utter them, frequently convey such an effect. But if not only their
proper names of men and places, but many of their phrases and a majority
of their words, be simply and unconnectedly considered, they will be found
to abound with vowels and to produce sounds sometimes mellifluous and
sometimes sonorous. What ear can object to the names of Colbee,
(pronounced exactly as Colby is with us) Bereewan, Bondel, Imeerawanyee,
Deedora, Wolarawaree, or Baneelon, among the men; or to Wereeweea,
Gooreedeeana, Milba*, or Matilba, among the women. Parramatta, Gweea,
Cameera, Cadi, and Memel, are names of places. The tribes derive their
appellations from the places they inhabit. Thus Cemeeragal, means the men
who reside in the bay of Cameera; Cedigal, those who reside in the bay
of Cadi; and so of the others. The women of the tribe are denoted by
adding 'eean' to any of the foregoing words. A Cadigaleean imports a woman
living at Cadi, or of the tribe of Cadigal. These words, as the reader
will observe, are accented either on the first syllable or the penultima.
In general, however, they are partial to the emphasis being laid as near
the beginning of the word as possible.
[*Mrs. Johnson, wife of the chaplain of the settlement, was so pleased
with this name that she christened her little girl, born in Port Jackson,
Milba Maria Johnson.]
Of compound words they seem fond. Two very striking ones appear in the
journal to the Hawkesbury. Their translations of our words into their
language are always apposite, comprehensive, and drawn from images
familiar to them. A gun, for instance, they call 'gooroobeera', that is,
a stick of fire. Sometimes also, by a licence of language, they call
those who carry guns by the same name. But the appellation by which they
generally distinguished us was that of 'bereewolgal', meaning men come from
afar. When they salute any one they call him 'dameeli', or namesake, a term
which not only implies courtesy and good-will, but a certain degree of
affection in the speaker. An interchange of names with any one is also
a symbol of friendship. Each person has several names; one of which,
there is reason to believe, is always derived from the first fish
or animal which the child, in accompanying its father to the chase or a
fishing, may chance to kill.
Not only their combinations, but some of their simple sounds, were
difficult of pronunciation to mouths purely English. Diphthongs often
occur. One of the most common is that of 'ae', or perhaps, 'ai',
pronounced not unlike those letters in the French verb 'hair', to hate.
The letter 'y' frequently follows 'd' in the same syllable. Thus the word
which signifies a woman is 'dyin'; although the structure of our language
requires us to spell it 'deein'.
But if they sometimes put us to difficulty, many of our words were to them
unutterable. The letters 's' and 'v' they never could pronounce. The
latter became invariably 'w', and the former mocked all their efforts,
which in the instance of Baneelon has been noticed; and a more unfortunate
defect in learning our language could not easily be pointed out.
They use the ellipsis in speaking very freely; always omitting as many
words as they possibly can, consistent with being understood. They
inflect both their nouns and verbs regularly; and denote the cases of the
former and the tenses of the latter, not like the English by auxiliary
words, but like the Latins by change of termination. Their nouns, whether
substantive or adjective, seem to admit of no plural. I have heard
Mr. Dawes hint his belief of their using a dual number, similar to the
Greeks, but I confess that I never could remark aught to confirm it.
The method by which they answer a question that they cannot resolve is
similar to what we sometimes use. Let for example the following question
be put:
Enter page number
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