78 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



can thus place the tabu upon yams, etc. The particular piece of 

 ground reserved for the holding of the initiation ceremonies is 

 always strictly tabu from all those who are not specially 

 privileged to visit it. 



1 1. The tabu of names of persons deceased has been fully dealt 

 with already, and the explanation given 3 accounting for it. At 

 Cape Bedford whenever an Aboriginal unintentionally makes use 

 of such a forbidden word, he will immediately correct himself, 

 and say " barkar kada," i.e., "(my) mouth (is) foul/' ami expec- 

 torate. 



12. Certain of an individual's relatives are strictly tabu from 

 him, in so much that he must neither approach, converse with, 

 accept from, nor give them anything. This especially refers to 

 the father-in-law and mother-in-law. These, and other relation- 

 ship restrictions are, however, far from constant. Thus, on the 

 Pennefather a man must not look at either of his step- 

 parents, though it is permissible for him to converse with them 

 witli face averted ; a woman may talk with both in a natural 

 manner, the business of the mother-in-law here being to attend 

 her in her confinements. At Miriam Vale, south of Rock- 

 hampton, and at Boggy Creek, Upper Nornianby River, as well 

 as elsewhere, a man may, under certain circumstances, address 

 his step-parents from a distance in a comparative whisper. On 

 the Tullv, both male and female talk to the father-in-law either 

 by his individual name, whatever it may be, or by the generic one 

 of ni-ubi ; but their teeth would rot out were they to converse 

 with the mother-in-law, though they may speak of her by the 

 generic term of wai-min, but never by her individual name. 

 With the sole exception, perhaps, of those cases where the 

 mother-in-law acts as midwife, the practice of both males and 

 females refusingto touch any food prepared by their step-parents 

 is universal. Jn some districts it is usual for the wife not even to 

 converse with her husband's blood-brothers, but on the Tully she 

 may lawfully have marital relations with them; the converse of 

 husband and wife's blood-sisters, with its corresponding incon- 

 Btancy, also holds true. It is the usual practice for a man never 

 to talk to his blood-sister, or sometimes not even mention her 

 name, after she has once reached womanhood ; her father, 

 mother's or father's brother, or her husband if she has one, looks 

 after her interests, and when necessary takes up her quarrels. 



:i Roth— Bull. 5— Sect. 72. 



