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There have been two determinations made of the parallax of this star; the first determination was by the heliometer by Gill in 1882, and the second was by micrometric measures by Hall in 1884. The results were:

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If we assume the mean of these, or o". 19, as the most probable value, the dimensions of the orbit and the combined mass of the two components can readily be determined. We find that the sum

of the masses of the two components is nine-tenths the mass of our sun, and that the semi-major axis of the true orbit is 23.5 times the distance from the earth to the sun. The orbit is thus larger than the orbit of Uranus, but inferior to that of Neptune.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, PHILADELPhia.

SOME ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES OF QUEENSLAND AND VICTORIA.

BY R. H. MATHEWS, L.S.,

MEMB. ASSOC. ETRAN. SOC. D'ANTHROP. DE PARIS.

(Read October 3, 1902.)

Last year I contributed to this Society a short description of the Gundungurra, one of the native tongues of New South Wales. In the following pages it is proposed to furnish the outlines of the grammatical structure of some aboriginal languages spoken by the native tribes of Queensland and Victoria.

The method of spelling adopted is that recommended by the Royal Geographical Society of London, with the following qualifications:

As far as possible vowels are unmarked, but in some instances the long sound of a, e, and u are indicated thus, ā, ē, ū. In a few cases, to avoid ambiguity of pronunciation, the short sound of u is thus represented, ů.

G is hard in all cases. R has a rough, trilled sound, as in "hurrah!" W always commences a syllable or word. Y at the beginning of a word or syllable has its ordinary consonant value.

The sound of the Spanish ñ often occurs; at the beginning of a

word or syllable I have given it as ny, but when terminating a word the Spanish letter is employed.

Ng at the beginning of a word or syllable has a peculiar nasal sound. At the end of a syllable it has substantially the sound of ng in "sing."

Dh is pronounced nearly as th in "that," with a slight sound of d preceding it. Nh has likewise nearly the sound of th in " that," but with an initial sound of the n. A final h is guttural, resembling Ich in the German word "bach."

T is interchangeable with d, p with b, and g with k, in most words where these letters are used.

Ty and dy at the commencement of a word or syllable has nearly the sound of j. At the end of a word ty or dy is pronounced nearly as tch in "batch" or "ditch," omitting the final hissing sound.

All the details supplied in this article were taken down by myself from the lips of the natives speaking the languages herein dealt with a tedious and laborious task.

THE MURAWARRI LANGUAGE.

In a communication to this Society in 1898 I described the social divisions and laws of intermarriage prevailing in the Murawarri tribe, together with a comprehensive list of totems, and will now proceed to exhibit the structure of their language. This tribe occupies an extensive region on the southern frontier of Queensland, between the Warrego and Culgoa rivers, reaching also some distance into New South Wales. Languages similar in grammar to the Murawarri, although differing somewhat in vocabulary, extend northerly into Queensland for hundreds of miles.

NOUNS.

Number.-Nouns have three numbers, the singular, dual and plural. Gula, a kangaroo. Gulabural, a pair of kangaroos. Guladhunna, several kangaroos. The suffix dhunna is frequently shortened to dhu, in rapid conversation.

Gender.-Men, a man. Mugiñ, a woman. Guthera, a small boy. Gutheragamba, a small girl. The sex of animals is distinguished by using, after the name of the creature, the words dhungur, male, and guni, female, and these words take inflexion for number and

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Case. The principal cases are the nominative, causative (or nominative-agent), genitive, accusative, instrumental, dative and

ablative.

The nominative merely names the animal or thing, as, nguruñ, emu; dhagguñ, padamelon; wirri, bandicoot; wagan, crow; mulli, boomerang; kinni, yamstick; gūndal, dog; gugai, opossum; ngura, a camp; wungga, a bird's nest.

Causative: Guladyu ngunna wirrunga, a kangaroo me scratched. Instrumental: Mēndyu wagan mullinyu bundhara, a man a crow with a boomerang hit.

Genitive: Mugingu kinni, a woman's yamstick. Wagangu wungga, a crow's nest.

Dative: Dhan yanna nguranggu, come to the camp.

Ablative Dhirri yanna ngurango, go away from the camp.
Accusative: This is the same as the nominative.

ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives are placed after the nouns they qualify, and are similarly inflected for number and case.

Nominative: Gundal kittyu, a dog small; gundalbural kittyubural, a couple of small dogs; gundaldhu kittyudhunna, several small dogs. Causative: Mugindyu thurdadyu guthera bundhara, a woman large a child beat.

Genitive: Mēngu thurdagu mulli, the large man's boomerang. Adjectives are compared by using such phrases as, thurda nhu, kittyu nūngga, large this, small that. Superiority is implied by saying, thurdaburra, very large.

PRONOUNS.

Pronouns are inflected for number and person, and comprise the nominative, possessive and objective cases, some examples of which are given in the following table. There are forms in the first person of the dual and plural to express the inclusion or exclusion of the party addressed:

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""" from me,"

There are forms of the pronouns signifying "to me,' "with me," and so on, as in the following few illustrations:

Dhangandhera dhiga, he brought it to me.

Dhirrithunggia dhigamil, he ran away from me.
Ngunnhura niambu, with me rests he.

Interrogatives: Ngannga, who? Nganngabural, who (dual)? Nganngadhunna, who (plural)? Ngangagu, whom belonging to? Minya, what? Minyanggu, what for?

Demonstratives: This, nhu; that, nhurana. These demonstratives are very numerous, according as the object referred to is in front of, behind, near, or far from the speaker. Many of them take inflexion for number and person.

VERBS.

Verbs have the singular, dual and plural numbers, the usual persons and tenses, and three principal moods-indicative, imperative and conditional. There is a distinctive form of the verb for each tense-present, past and future; but number and person are shown by short pronominal suffixes to the stem of the verb. These rules will be readily understood on perusing the following conjugation of the verb, bundhera, to beat:

Indicative Mood-Present Tense.

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It is thought unnecessary to give the dual and plural numbers of the past and future tenses.

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The second and third persons of the dual and plural also take reciprocal inflexion.

The following examples show the native way of expressing the English verb "to be":

PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XLII. 173. M. PRINTED AUG. 1, 1903.

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