Few Australian vocabularies are thus similar—a fact which may be said to prove too much; since it may lead to inference that the so-called Papuan tongue of Torres Strait is really Australian. Nevertheless, although I do not absolutely deny that such is the case, the evidence of the whole body of ethnological facts—e. g. those connected with the moral, intellectual, and physical conformation of the two populations—is against it.
And so is the philology itself, if we go further. The Erroob pronouns are,
| Me = ka | you = ma | his = ela |
| Mine = ka-ra | your = ma ra |
all of which are un-Australian.
Are we then to say that all the words of the table just given are borrowed from the Australian by the Papuans, or vice versâ? No. Some belong to the common source of the two tongues, pit = nose being, probably, such a word; whilst others are the result of subsequent intercourse.
Still, it cannot absolutely be said that the Erroob or Miriam tongue is not Australian also, or vice versâ. Still less, is it absolutely certain that the former is not transitional between the New Guinea language and the Australian. I believe, however, that it is not so.
The doubts as to the philological position of the Miriam are by no means diminished by reference to the nearest unequivocally Papuan vocabulary, viz. that of Redscar Bay. Here the difference exceeds rather than falls short of our expectations. The most important of the few words which coincide are
| English. | Redscar Bay. | Erroob. |
|---|---|---|
| Head | quara | herem |
| Mouth | mao | mit = lips |
| Testicles | abu | eba = penis |
| Shoulder | paga | pagas = upper arm |
On the other hand, the Redscar Bay word for throat, kato, coincides with the Australian karta of the Gudang of Cape York. Again, a complication is introduced by the word buni-mata = eyebrow. Here mata = eye, and, consequently, buni = brow. This root re-appears in the Erroob; but there it means the eyeball, as shewn by the following words from Jukes' Vocabulary.
| Eye | irkeep |
| Eyebrow | irkeep moos = eye-hair |
| Eye ball | poni |
| Eyelid | poni-pow = eyeball-hair |