dogs; _mirridyimma_, several dogs.

_Gender_.--_Baual_, a man; _bullan_, a woman. Words for "male" and
"female" distinguish the gender of animals, as, _gurabun muddun_, a
bear, male; _gurabun dhuruk_, a bear, female.

_Case_.--The principal cases are the nominative, causative,
instrumental, genitive, accusative, dative and ablative.

The nominative is the name of the sbuject at rest, and is without
flexion.

The causative, or nominative-agent, represents the subject in action,
as, _bullanga gudha ngubumuin_, a woman a child beat.

_Instrumental_.--_Baualga burraingu nguburin dyuinga_, a man a wallaby
killed with a spear. Here the instrument, a spear, takes the same
suffix as the causative. The wallaby, _burrai_, takes the genitive
affix, as being the possessor or recipient of the killing.

_Accusative_.--Except in such instances as the wallaby in the last
example, the accusative is the same as the nominative.

The genitive case is represented by an affix to the name of the
property as well as to that of the owner, a peculiarity which I was
the first to report[15] in Australian languages. _Baualngu mirriwung_,
a man's dog.

Every object over which ownership may be exercised can be declined for
number and person, as under:--
Singular 1st Person My dog (dog my) _Mirridya_.
2nd " Thy dog _Mirridyi_.
3rd " His dog _MIrriwung_.
and so on through all the persons of the dual and plural.

If a couple or more articles be claimed, an infix is inserted between
the noun root and the possessive affix, thus: _Mirribuladya_, dogs
both mine; _mirridyimmadya_, dogs several mine.

_Dative_.--_Ngurani munnagai_, to the camp come.

_Ablative_.--_Ngurawurradyi yerribiwurri_, from the camp go away.

_Adjectives_.

Adjectives follow the qualified nouns, and are inflected in the same
manner for number and case. _Buru mununmang_, a kangaroo large;
_burubula mununbula_, a couple of large kangaroos; _burudyimma
munundyimma_, several large kangaroos.

_Casuative._--_Baualga mununga mirri ngubuningga_, a man large a dog
will beat. The other cases are also declined like the nouns.
Frequently one of the affixes, both in number and case, is omitted
sometimes the affix of the noun, and in other instances that of the
adjective, being thus eliminated, according to the euphony of the
expression.

A predicative adjective becomes an intransitive verb, and is
conjugated accordingly. An examp