54 MATHEWS — NATIVE TRIBES OF VICTORIA. [March 4, 



Stated Meeting, March 4, 1904. 

 President Smith in the Chair. 



A communication was received from the Committee of 

 Organization of the Fourteenth Congres Internationale des 

 OrientaUstes, announcing that the Congress will be held in 

 Algiers, in Easter week in 1905, and inviting the Society to 

 send delegates. On motion, the President was authorized to 

 appoint delegates. 



A hst of donations to the Library was laid on the table and 

 thanks were ordered for them. 



The following papers were read: 



" Literary Remuneration in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth 

 Centuries/^ by Prof. Albert H. Smyth. 



"Uranium Minerals and their Photographic Action/' by 

 Prof. George F. Barker. 



" The Native Tribes of Victoria : Their Languages and Cus- 

 toms/' by P. H. Mathews. 



THE NATIVE TRIBES OF VICTORIA : THEIR LAN- 

 GUAGES AND CUSTOMS. 



BY R. H. MATHEWS, L.S. 



(Bead March ^, 1904.) 



Synopsis. — Prefatory. Orthography. Dhauhurtwurru Language 

 and Vocabulary. Initiation Ceremonies. Folklore. Sociology. 



The object of the present short paper is to supply some missing 

 links in the literature of the aborigines of Victoria. For a number 

 of years past I have devoted a portion of the leisure of a busy pro- 

 fessional man to taking special journeys among the remnants of 

 the Victorian tribes, for the purpose of adding to our knowledge 

 of their languages, ceremonies, sociology and customs generally. 

 When first entering upon this congenial task I found that little or 



