century) is that certain graven symbols were agreed upon as a warning of certain facts. Not words, but ideas were signified by certain marks. The institution of heralds (mentioned in page 102 of chap. 2) facilitated the conveyance of messages by means of the marks; and if the author's memory be not dimmed by lapse of time, the marks employed by one system of tribes were not the same as those employed by another. The minutest deviation from the appropriate symbol would be at once detected. The Kamilaroi tribes were numerous, and a summons to war could rapidly be sent in many directions if danger was apprehended. The subject seems to have been recently discussed at a meeting of the British Association.[1]
There has been much discussion as to the extent to which Captain Cook's own words were embodied in the official narrative edited by Dr. (afterwards Sir) John Hawkesworth.[2] The Admiralty confided to
- ↑ Dr. Harley gave an address, illustrated by specimens, on "Points of Resemblance between Irish Ogams of the Past and the Australian Aborigines' Stick-writing of the Present." He pointed out that an understanding of the principles of the fast-dying system in Australia of conveying ideas by horizontal straight lines might afford a clue to the better interpretation of the ancient Irish ogams, as these two systems resemble each other, as not only the form but to a certain extent the modes of arrangement were identical. The Gilas of Central Asia also had the same lineal form of writing, the same grouping of the characters, and a distinctly columnar arrangement. Dr. Harley thought that the Australian aborigines had advanced one stage beyond the ancient Irish, inasmuch as they possessed two distinctly different kinds of line characters, small and large, analogous to our capital letters, and also adopted the plan of emphasizing the small characters by turning them into a kind of italics. All the natives did not write alike. The woman's sign character was shown on the screen, and also a man's, more developed, which was said to curiously resemble that of the Samoyeds of the Arctic regions. Some were again less developed, and still in the stage of picture and hieroglyphic writing. The written language was illustrated by the representation of a secret war message.—Times, 24th September, 1896.
- ↑ "Hawkesworth's Voyages," London, 1773. It is only fair to Hawkesworth to say that he stated that he submitted his compilation to Banks and Solander, "in whose hands as well as in those of Captain Cook the work was left for a considerable time."
