808 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



the Pirauru of the Dieri gives in actual practice. This, however, is in 

 accord with the general customs of the Kunandaburi, who are the least 

 advanced of all the tribes known to me. While, with the Dieri, the 

 sexual intercourse of persons who, according to their notions, are too 

 nearly related is forbidden under all circumstances by a death penalty ; 

 with the Kunandaburi, there is, according to Mr. O'Donnell, no such 

 restriction on the occasion of the marriage of a betrothed girl. This 

 gentleman also says that, though it is considered improper that there 

 should be intercourse between women and their husbands' own brothers, 

 or between men and their wives' actual sisters, such intercourse con- 

 stantly takes place with little more than a mere pretense of concealment.* 

 The Dieri would regard this as abominable — at least, if the ISToa were 

 present in the camp — and yet the third, fourth, seventh, and eighth re- 

 lationship terms (Table II) show that, in all probability, it was once 

 their practice, as it still is, in at least one of the tribes composing the 

 group to which they belong. 



In tribes such as those with which I have been dealing, the terms of 

 relationship fit in more or less completely with the actual group relations 

 of the class divisions and their members. The inference to be drawn 

 theoretically from an inspection of the terms is that a group of tribal 

 brothers have their wives in common, and that a group of tribal sisters 

 have their husbands in common. When this is compared with the actual 

 custom now prevalent among the tribes inhabiting the Barcoo delta, 

 it is found, as I have already stated, that the contemporarv generation t 

 of each class division is composed of "brothers and sisters"; that the 

 men of one class, who are thus " brothers " to one another, marry the 

 women of the other class, who are thus "sisters" to one another; that 

 at all times there is between the intermarrying groups a modified com- 

 munal right, which becomes general among those who have been allotted 

 to each other as Pirauru ; and that the marital rights, which are in- 

 herited in common under the laws of the social organization, are con- 

 trolled and restricted by the local organization through the great coun- 

 cil of the tribe. 



It now remains to be seen how far these conclusions are borne out by 

 an examination of tribes in other parts of the Australian continent. 



Of all the tribes which I have hitherto met with the least advanced 

 socially (that is, as to their social organization) are those of Central 



*Mr. Fison tells rue that this was the case in some, at least, of the Fijian tribes. 

 And, after this memoir was completed, information reached mo from Mr. S. Gason 

 that "the Jaw allows intercourse" between these parties, but only in the absence of 

 theNoa. 



tThe word "generation" is of uncertain meaning, and its use may be misleading. 

 I do not use it as implying a line of ascendants and descendants. Nor do I use it in 

 the common acceptation as "the present generation," which includes all those now 

 living, as distinguished from those who are gone, and from those who are yet to come. 

 Perhaps the best among several unsatisfactory definitions which suggest themselves 

 is that I mean by it " all those on the same level in a generation." Thus, all the 

 young people who are marriageable would be oh the same level iu the generation to 

 which t he v belong. 



