in the language they speak; the latter are, indeed, frequently so great,
that even to a person thoroughly acquainted with any one dialect, there
is not the slightest clue by which he can understand what is said by a
tribe speaking a different one.

The only account I have yet met with, which professed to give any
particular description of the Aborigines of New Holland, is that
contained in the able papers upon this subject, by Captain Grey, in the
second volume of his travels. When it is considered, that the material
for that purpose was collected by the author, during a few months
interval between his two expeditions, which he spent at Swan River, and a
short time subsequently passed at King George's Sound, whilst holding the
appointment of Government Resident there; it is perfectly surprising that
the amount of information amassed should be so great, and so generally
correct, on subjects where so many mistakes are liable to be made, in all
first inquiries, when we are ignorant of the character and habits of the
people of whom information is to be sought, and unacquainted with the
language they speak.

The subject, however, upon a portion of which Captain Grey so
successfully entered, is very extensive, and one which no single
individual, except by the devotion of a life-time, could hope fully to
discuss. The Continent of Australia is so vast, and the dialects,
customs, and ceremonies of its inhabitants so varied in detail, though so
similar in general outline and character, that it will require the lapse
of years, and the labours of many individuals, to detect and exhibit the
links which form the chain of connection in the habits and history of
tribes so remotely separated; and it will be long before any one can
attempt to give to the world a complete and well-drawn outline of the
whole.