804 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



" What is your totem ?"* This being ascertained, his totemic brethren 

 take charge of him, protect him, and treat him with hospitality, even to 

 the extent of providing him with 'a temporary wife of that totem with 

 which his own intermarries. 



These totems are strictly exogamous under the severe penalty of 

 death. Thus, a man being A 1 (that is, Matteri and Eaglehawk; see 

 Table I), may marry, according to the Dieri rule, a B woman of any of 

 the B totemic divisions, and so on with A 2, A 3, &c, and vice versa, 

 always provided that tbe parties do not stand to one another within 

 certain close degrees to be hereinafter specified. Even casual amours 

 between persons who are forbidden to each other, either by this near- 

 ness of actual kinship or by identity of class and totem, are regarded 

 with the utmost abhorrence and are punished by death. Yet this rule 

 differs somewhat in different tribes, for, among the Kunandaburi, the 

 prohibition is relaxed upon a woman's marriage, when the jus primce 

 noctis includes all the men present at the camp without regard to class or 

 kin.t Among the Dieri the rule is never relaxed on any occasion, and 

 this tribe is, as I shall show, in some respects slightly in advance of 

 the Kunandaburi, while both stand at the commencement of the long 

 progressive series formed by all the Australian tribes concerning which 

 I have hitherto collected data. At the other end of this series stand 

 tribes such astheKurnai, of Gippsland, whose class system has become 

 almost extinguished, and whose local divisions have become agnatic 

 clans. 



IV. — THE RELATIONSHIP TERMS. — MARITAL GROUPS. 



The terms denoting relationship which are used by the Australian 

 tribes belong to the classificatory system of Dr. Morgan. After collect- 

 ing and studying a great number from all parts of Australia, I have 

 found that there are several types under which the relationship terms 

 of different tribes may be arranged; and that they show a progressive 

 change from a system of extreme simplicity to one, whicb, although still 

 classificatory, has developed far more individual distinctions than our 

 own descriptive system. 



Looked at as a whole, these types show a progressive development, 

 which is certainly connected with a progressive social change, indicated 

 in most cases by the change in the line of descent. What I now pro- 

 pose is, not to enter upon a general discussion of the Australian rela- 

 tionship terms, but to point out the connection between them and the 



* This question, "Minna murdu?" can be put by means of gesture language, to 

 ■which in the same way a suitable reply can be made. Thus it is possible to learn, at 

 a safe distance, whether a stranger is friend or enemy, even more certainly than by 

 using the well understood sign for " peace." 



t This extreme and exceptional extension of the jus primee noctis is given on the sole 

 authority of Mr. J. W. O'Donnell, who resided for some years in the Kunandaburi 

 country. I have not been able to obtain any further information on the matter. 



