We had now completed a preliminary survey of the surviving speakers of rainforest languages. It was clear that five of these “tribal languages” were mutually intelligible and could be regarded, from a linguistic point of view, as dialects of a single language. These were Ngajan (a few speakers at Malanda), Wari (Millaa Millaa to Innisfail), Gulngay (Tully River), Girramay (Murray Upper) and Jirrbal (Murray Upper, Herberton, Ravenshoe and Mount Garnet). I was later able to add Mamu (South Johnstone River) and Jirru (Clump Point). These seven modes of speech have almost identical grammars and a common lexical core, although just a few words do have more than one form over the language area – “woman” is yibi in Ngajan and Wari, jugumbil in Jirrbal and Gulngay, and gumbul in Girramay. The Aborigines insisted that each tribe had its own language, and that the odd lexical differences were indexes of political affiliation – waju for “nape” in Ngajan, while all the tribes to the south have darra; gamu for “water” in Girramay, while all the rest have bana; and a few more.

It is rather like the situation in Scandinavia, where Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are very nearly mutually intelligible and could really be regarded as dialects of a single language, on linguistic criteria. But language is an indication of political identity, and each of these separate nations prefers to say that it has its own distinct language.