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AUSTRALIAN.
"AUSTRALIA, a vast region which nearly equals Europe in
extent, and which is now rapidly
becoming peopled by British colonists,
is the native home of a thinly-scattered race of Oceanic negroes,
who in some of their peculiarities approach the true African type, and in
others as widely recede from
it. The Australian negroes possess lank instead of woolly hair, and
are weak and puny as compared
with the African negro: physically considered, they appear to rank among the
lowest of the human
species.
This singular race, besides possessing the interior of several
of the islands above described, inhabit
the insular region of which Solomon
Islands and the New Hebrides form
the eastern, and Papua or New
Guinea the northern, margin. The principal groups of islands in which
this people is predominant
are New Britain, New Ireland, Louisiade, the
Pelew, and the Marianne or
Ladrone Islands. Whether
the languages spoken by the negro population of these islands have any
connection with those spoken
by the negroes of Australia remains yet to be proved, but no resemblance has
hitherto been traced. It
has been clearly ascertained, however, that although the several tribes of
Australia have each a distinct
language, yet these languages, differing as they do in vocables, are all
subject to the same laws of
construction, and may therefore be regarded as members of one family.
Further analysis has led to the
discovery of some curious analogies subsisting between the
Tamul and other languages of the
Deccan
and the languages of Australia. Similar grammatical principles appear
to be inherent in both these
groups, and some of their personal pronouns seem to have been derived from
one and the same source.
The Australian languages have evidently no affinity with the Polynesian,
being remarkable for the
variety and complexity of their grammatical forms; whereas, simplicity is the
prominent characteristic
of all the Polynesian dialects. The Australian dialect of the
neighbourhood of Adelaide has not only
a dual and plural, but regular inflexions to mark the cases in declension.
It has no double dual and
plural of pronouns like the Polynesian languages; and is by no means simple
in the forms of conjuga-
tion. It is a remarkable fact that, although living geographically
speaking so near the Pacific islanders,
they have in common with them neither language, race, nor customs.
Their origin is altogether
distinct. The Australian also differs from the Polynesian in the form
and composition of words, the
former employing many consonants, and the latter abounding in vocalic
sounds.
Concerning the number of aborigines in Australia, nothing like
an accurate calculation has been
formed, nor is it possible, in our present ignorance of immense tracts of the
interior, a large portion of
which is yet wholly unexplored, to form any trustworthy estimate on the
subject. Major Mitchell, who
had explored a seventh part of the Australian continent, observed that the
regions through which he
passed were very thinly peopled; and he considered that the total number of
inhabitants could not
exceed, and probably might be considerably under, 6,000. The tribes
comprise but few individuals--
often not more than forty or fifty in number, and rarely exceeding a hundred;
and they are widely
dispersed over large tracts of country. The gradual decrease of the
native population has long been
noticed. As long since as 1832, Mr. Handt, of the Church My. Society,
wrote, "The aborigines
are very fast wearing away wherever the whites get a footing. This
arises from the consequences of those
vices into which the Europeans initiate them.
Satan has sent his messengers first, and
they have been
very active: I doubt whether the ministers of
Christ will be as
indefatigable." The process of decay
has since, it is to be feared, advanced with accelerated speed.
Several attempts have been made to translate
the Scriptures into the languages of
Australia, but
hitherto only detached portions have been completed. On one occasion,
when a chapter translated by
the Church mies. into the language of the tribe among whom they
laboured was read publicly,
the natives of their own accord approached the reader, and when he had
finished, one of them almost
in an ecstacy jumped up and exclaimed, "Book for
blackfellows! Book for blackfellows!" Similar
instances from time to time have occurred, showing that labour is not in vain
in the Lord; yet the deep
moral degradation of the natives is a formidable impediment to my. efforts.
The debased state
of their intellectual and moral faculties has been ascribed to a politico-
religious system, which, though
purely oral, pervades the whole of Australia. The origin of this
artfully-contrived system is wholly
unknown. It consists, says Sir George Grey, of "complex laws which not only deprive the Austral of
all free agency of thought, but, at the same time, by allowing no scope
whatever for the development
of any great moral qualification, necessarily bind him down to a hopeless
state of barbarism, from which
it is impossible for him to emerge; while those laws are so ingeniously
devised as to have a direct
tendency to annihilate any effort to overthrow them."
The Rev. Mr. Threlkeld has translated the
Gospel of St.
Luke into the Lake Macquarie
dialect;
but although his grammar of tliat dialect evinces some acquaintance with the
idiom, no opportunities
have yet occurred to test the critical merit of his version." --The
Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info
only]
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