152 MATHEWS — DIVISIONS OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. [April 15 



the men of group A marry the sisters of the men of their own gen- 

 eration in group B, and vice versa. 



On examining the table further it will be observed that the 

 daughters of the women of group A belong to the same group as 

 their mothers, but to a different section or class of it. For example, 

 Ningulum has a daughter Palyareenya ; Palyareenya produces 

 Nooralum; Nooralum produces Bungareenya ; Bungareenya is the 

 mother of Ningulum, and this series is continually repeated. The 

 women of the A group pass through each of the four classes in as 

 many generations — the same class name reappearing in the fifth 

 epoch. If our example had been taken from the B group, an 

 analogous result would have been obtained. 



When on the Culgoa river some years ago I collected some in- 

 formation respecting a large tribe speaking the Moorawarrie lan- 

 guage, who occupy the country from about Goodooga on the 

 Bokara river to Barringun on the Warrego, extending southerly 

 about fifty miles and northerly into the Queensland frontier about 

 the same distance. They are divided into four sections, having the 

 same names for the men and women as those of the Kamilaroi tribe,, 

 with rules of marriage and descent as exemplified in the following 

 table : 



Husband. Wife. Sons and Daughters. 



Ippai, Kubbitha, Murri and Matha, 



Kumbo, Matha, Kubbi and Kubbitha, 



Kubbi , Ippatha, Kumbo and Butha, 



Murri. Butha. Ippai and Ippatha. 



