science, and accordingly he fell back in a good stage attitude, crying out, "Pepper tea! I die! I poison!" On this the poor half-drowned wife burst into a laugh, which was echoed by the defunct, and the two immediately became as merry as a couple of children.
I took some pains to learn the native vocabulary, and was much interested at finding that the word "me-ul," signifying "an eye," which figures in the little list of words written down by Captain Cook from the lips of the savages that he met in New South Wales, was used in the same sense by our friends of Western Australia. I did not, however, attain to much proficiency in the study, and beyond an ostentatious display to Khourabene of any new word or phrase which I had picked up, was obliged to content myself with the conventional jargon which is universally adopted in speaking to the natives by all who are not really conversant with their language. This sort of hotch-potch is composed of native words largely mingled with English, and is better understood by the natives than plain English; it consists also in getting rid of all prepositions, driving the verbs to the end of the sentence, and tacking on to them the syllable "um" as an ornamental finish wherever it sounds euphonious. Thus I heard Khourabene calling out one day, "Dog hollarum, water wantum"; implying that he thought our house-dog was whining with thirst. A large quantity of anything is expressed by the words "big-fellow," as "big-fellow-rain," "big-fellow fond of," but in showing pity or condolence "poor old fellow" is the received form, and is of such universal application that it is quite as suitable to a baby cutting its teeth,
