Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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"In Naming The Fish, I Have Merely Attempted To Give The Aboriginal And
Popular Names Known To The Sealers And Settlers.
In obtaining the former,
no little difficulty has been experienced.
The younger natives generally
giving different names to those of the elder; but finding the fish named
by the latter more descriptive, I have, of course, in most instances,
adopted them.
"For instance, No. 1, KOJETUCK means the fish with the bones; which is
very descriptive, from Koje the bones, [Note 28: This was noticed by
Governor Grey.] having very singular bones placed vertically in the neck,
connecting the dorsal spines to the back, resembling small tobacco pipes.
"Also the KYNARNOCH, No 13, the bearded, etc. In many other instances the
savages of this province are equally clear in naming their animals; and
it is curious, even this applies to their children, who commonly receive
their name from some extraordinary circumstance at, or about the time of
their birth. I find, also, the old men are more minute in SPECIES; the
younger often call very different fish by the same name, as the MEMON,
Nos. 17, and 43, etc. but as this is curious, merely for the sake of fact,
it is otherwise of little importance to the naturalist, - the native name
being only useful to enable the collector to obtain any particular
species hereafter. As regards the fidelity of the drawings, it may be
worth while to mention a singular mistake made by my friend
TOOLEGETWALEE; one of the oldest and most friendly savages we have of the
King George tribe; who, in looking over my collection to assist me in
naming them, observed that the drawings were a little raised off the
paper; and like a monkey, began to touch them with his long talons; of
course I flew to their rescue, and asked what he meant?
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