AUSTRALIAN GROUP RELATIONS. 



803 



consider themselves as being u tlie fathers of all the tribes,"* but these 

 on their part regard the Dieri with mingled feelings of respect and fear. 



SKctcK Map of Australia' 



\ Dieri Tribe. 'VmMernai and Murring Tribes. 



The Dieri tribe may represent all the others. It is divided geograph- 

 ically into three sections, each of which takes the name of its principal 

 locality, and these sections arc- again locally divided. Its social organiza- 

 tion is based upon the division of the community into two classes, each 

 with its group of totems.f Each totem is under the direction of a head- 

 man, who is the oldest of the name. Each man is what I may term the 

 " totemic brother" of every other man and woman of his totem on the 

 same level with him in his generation. An illustration will show how 

 this works. When, for instance, a stranger arrives at a Dieri encamp- 

 ment from some neighboring tribe, the first question put to him is, 



* Quoted from information supplied to rne by Mr. S. Gason. 



t The Dieri word for totem is Murdu. This word has two meanings, one signifying 

 " taste," the other "totem"; that is to say, one of those names of animals, birds, 

 reptiles, fish, insects, or plants, which, according to the Dieri legend, the Great Spirit 

 Muramura oi'dercd the ancestors to assume when he instituted their class divisions. 



