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Although some support is given by all ethnologists to the enunciation, the premises have been questioned on the ground that at the time they were put forth the science of comparative philology was new, and therefore there was a strong tendency to attach too much weight to it. Professor A. H. Keane, however, in his "Man: Past and Present" written half a century later, appears to confirm Grey. "To the observer arriving on the north coast of Australia from New Guinea," he says, "this homogeneous character of the aborigines is very striking. … Strong support is given to this assumption by the absolutely independent and uniform character of Australian speech." He points out that the divergences from a common form are few, while the phonetic system is everywhere identical. The absence of sibilant sounds is also commented upon, and from the whole he deduces that "here we have complete accord between linguistic and anatomical characters, both alike arguing for a common racial origin."

The theory is strengthened by little divergence in physique between natives of different parts, and by the fact that throughout the continent similar fundamental ideas prevail in the system of tribal and social organization, as well as in the various rites and ceremonies. "The most striking fact," according to Spencer and Gillen, "in regard to them [the aborigines] at the present day is that over the whole continent, so far as is known, we can detect a community of customs and social organization sufficient to show that all the tribes inhabiting various parts are the offspring of ancestors who, prior to their migrating in various directions across the continent and thus giving rise to groups separated to a great extent from one another by physical barriers, already practised certain customs and had the germs of an organization which has been developed along different lines in different localities. The class and totem systems, variously modified as we now find them in different tribes, can only be adequately accounted for on the hypothesis that, when the ancestors of the present natives reached the country, they spread over it in different directions, separated into local groups, and developed, without the stimulus derived from contact with outside peoples, along various lines, each group retaining features in its customs and organizations such as can only be explained by supposing them all to have had a common ancestor." As an instance of this the practice of knocking out a tooth is mentioned. Along the eastern side of the continent this has been retained as an integral part of the initiation rites, while in districts farther west only traces of it remain, yet agreement in important details proves the common origin of the custom. In this regard it seems certain that the present numerous ceremonies were not introduced in the forms that now exist, but have been evolved from the early traditions with gradual local divergence. This development probably took place before the interior of Australia became a dry and thirsty desert, almost devoid of water and animal life; when the climatic conditions of the country made intercommunication between the tribes easy and circumstances were favourable to homogeneity. The changes in the physical conformation of the country caused diversion and isolation. "With this gradual segregation, which really consisted of a drawing in toward certain centres where in time of drought physical conditions were more favourable than elsewhere, intercommunication between the various groups became less and less frequent on anything like an extensive scale, and thus in time the various dialects arose. While words can become modified and changed with more or less ease in savage tribes, it is quite otherwise in the case of customs and beliefs, more especially those associated with sacred matters. When once they have become settled then they are, of all things among savage peoples, the least liable to change." The totemic system affords evidence of this, and is further an indication of facility of intercourse in earlier times, as well as of a common descent.

It thus seems certain that the aborigines of Australia are descendants of a common ancestry. Whence these ancestors came is still a matter for debate, but it is practically agreed that invasion occurred in the north, and from there spread out in three distinct lines from north to south, ultimately reaching Tasmania, which must then have been portion of the mainland, or separated only by shallows. Some ages afterwards a second migration occurred, according to the opinion of those best qualified to judge, which was of a type somewhat higher in the scale of civilization. This in turn followed the lines of dispersion already in existence, and arrived at the Southern Ocean, but did not cross to Tasmania, as in the meantime that island had become completely separated by Bass Strait. This may be seen from the traces that still remain of the aboriginal inhabitants of that part, which prove them to have been of a lower grade than those of Australia. The Tasmanian aborigines, now extinct, probably therefore represented the pure original stock. The severance of the continent by the formation of straits in the north then cut off any further stream of immigration, so that our present Australian black represents in all probability the result of the admixture of these two migrations, modified by local conditions in various parts, but wholly unaffected by further alien immigration, except perhaps locally, within historic times in the north, where traces of Malay influence may be found.

The theory of a double migration, it may be said, is not approved by all ethnologists, but it certainly appears to rest upon evidence difficult to controvert. It was put forward by Flower and Lydekker some twenty years ago, and in a measure it meets the views of the Rev. John Mathew, Professor Keane, and others who base their contention, inter alia, on the facts that the