Now as the three dialects have all undoubted Malay affinities, the statement of Marsden must be received with qualifications.
V. Concerning the language of Van Diemen's Land; I venture upon the following statements, the proofs which I hope, ere long, to exhibit in extenso.
[a]α]. The Language is fundamentally the same for the whole island; although spoken in not less than four dialects mutually unintelligible.
[a]β]. It has affinities with the Australian.
[a]γ]. It has affinities with the New Caledonian.
A fourth 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 Diemens ran round Australia rather than across it.
The following affinities occur between the vocabularies published in the present volume and the Malay and Monosyllabic dialects; and they are the result of a very partial collation.
1. Blood = mam, Darnley Island; muhum, South Jooroo dialect of Malacca; mau, Anamitic of Cochin China.
2. Nose = peet, Darnley Island; peechi, Massied; pih, Chinese; pi, Kong Chinese.
3. Face = awop aup, Murray Islands; eebu = (head) Cape York, Massied; oopoo = (head) Tahiti; epoo, Sandwich Islands; aopo, Easter Island.