Author: Sidney H. Ray

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-03

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13: 9781330639825

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Excerpt from Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, 1907, Vol. 3 During my first Expedition to Torres Straits I collected a large number of native words of the Eastern and Western languages, as well as some from the neighbouring coast of British New Guinea. The Rev. A. E. Hunt, then resident Missionary on Murray Island, kindly permitted me to copy the English-Miriam Vocabulary he had compiled, and the Rev. E. B. Savage similarly allowed me to copy his Vocabulary of Miriam, Mabuiag and Daudai, in which the English equivalents were not given. I also had access to the Rev. Dr S. MacFarlane's Vocabulary of English-Mabuiag and Miriam, and finally Mr Robert Bruce permitted me to transcribe his copy of a valuable Vocabulary of Saibai-English compiled by James Sharon, who for a short time was the schoolmaster appointed by the Queensland Government to teach English to the natives of Saibai. The late Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., the Government Resident, gave me permission to make what use I pleased of the Sharon MS. In addition to these manuscripts I obtained various printed books, such as translations of Gospels and service books. On my return home I offered all my material to the Rev. Dr Codrington, whose name is so well known to all those who interest themselves in Melanesia, in the hope that this distinguished scholar would undertake its elucidation and publication. This he was unable to do, but he suggested my applying to Mr Sidney H. Ray, whom he recommended as a careful and diligent student of the languages of Oceania. I immediately followed Dr Codrington's advice and Mr Ray kindly consented to work through my material as well as that which was previously available in books. In due course we conjointly elaborated "A Study of the Languages of Torres Straits, with Vocabularies and Grammatical Notes," which was published by the Royal Irish Academy. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking that illustrious body for printing so large a memoir on a subject which was certainly remote from the ordinary interests of the members. I would also like to assure the Members of the Academy that if that memoir had not been printed it is extremely probable the present volume would never have been published; at all events it greatly reduced the labour which would subsequently have been entailed and it certainly led to a more clear conception of the languages with which it was concerned. When I determined upon a second Expedition, my first thought was to endeavour to secure the co-operation of Mr Ray. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Download or read book Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, 1907, Vol. 3 (Classic Reprint) written by Sidney H. Ray and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-03 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, 1907, Vol. 3 During my first Expedition to Torres Straits I collected a large number of native words of the Eastern and Western languages, as well as some from the neighbouring coast of British New Guinea. The Rev. A. E. Hunt, then resident Missionary on Murray Island, kindly permitted me to copy the English-Miriam Vocabulary he had compiled, and the Rev. E. B. Savage similarly allowed me to copy his Vocabulary of Miriam, Mabuiag and Daudai, in which the English equivalents were not given. I also had access to the Rev. Dr S. MacFarlane's Vocabulary of English-Mabuiag and Miriam, and finally Mr Robert Bruce permitted me to transcribe his copy of a valuable Vocabulary of Saibai-English compiled by James Sharon, who for a short time was the schoolmaster appointed by the Queensland Government to teach English to the natives of Saibai. The late Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., the Government Resident, gave me permission to make what use I pleased of the Sharon MS. In addition to these manuscripts I obtained various printed books, such as translations of Gospels and service books. On my return home I offered all my material to the Rev. Dr Codrington, whose name is so well known to all those who interest themselves in Melanesia, in the hope that this distinguished scholar would undertake its elucidation and publication. This he was unable to do, but he suggested my applying to Mr Sidney H. Ray, whom he recommended as a careful and diligent student of the languages of Oceania. I immediately followed Dr Codrington's advice and Mr Ray kindly consented to work through my material as well as that which was previously available in books. In due course we conjointly elaborated "A Study of the Languages of Torres Straits, with Vocabularies and Grammatical Notes," which was published by the Royal Irish Academy. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking that illustrious body for printing so large a memoir on a subject which was certainly remote from the ordinary interests of the members. I would also like to assure the Members of the Academy that if that memoir had not been printed it is extremely probable the present volume would never have been published; at all events it greatly reduced the labour which would subsequently have been entailed and it certainly led to a more clear conception of the languages with which it was concerned. When I determined upon a second Expedition, my first thought was to endeavour to secure the co-operation of Mr Ray. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.