first edition
1886 · Melbourne
by Macdonald, D., Rev
Melbourne: Mason, Firth & M. Cutcheon, printers, 1886. First edition, 8vo, pp. 34; near fine in original terracotta wrappers, side-stapled. A paper read at the Royal Society of Australia 11 March, 1886. It includes sections on personal pronouns, and numerals, with an appendix on Australian and Tasmanian numerals. Macdonald was erroneous in his assumption that the Pacific languages were Semitic, but he did compile in the year following this publication, Three New Hebrides Languages (Efatese, Eromangan, Santo). He went to New Hebrides in 1872 after his ordination at the Presbyterian Church in Melbourne, where he studied and translated the local languages (truncated)