AI5()l{lGl>sAI. ('l'S'r().MS IX NORTH giEENSLAXD. 



By R. H. MATHEWS, Licensed Surveyor. 



lliiul I'i'fore thr Hui/til Smirfii i>l' lifiiccnslinid, Sr/itciiilnr 1 1 , ISH', 



Introductory. — On soNtTul occasions I have contributed paper.-i 

 to different Societies on the customs of the aborigines, my object 

 being to stimulate enquiry and and encourage others to embark 

 on the same line of in\estigation. In some of the papers referred 

 to, I drew special attention to the necessity for anthropological 

 research in those parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory 

 which abut on the (lulf of Carpentaria. Since writing the 

 previous articles, I have gathered some further information 

 respecting the natives scattered over the country mentioned. In 

 the present paper it is proposed lo nuike a few cursory remarks 

 in regard to their class systems — their imitation ceremonies — 

 and their practice of drawing upon rocks, upon trees and on the 

 surface of the ground, together with other matters of ethnological 

 interest. 



Class Systems, i -There ai'e a nuud)er of tribes occupying the 

 country on the Leichhardt, Cloncarry, Flinders, Norman, Gilbert, 

 Mitchell and Kennedy Rivers, extending from the Gulf of Car- 

 pentaria across the Cape York l*eninsula to Princess Charlotte's 

 ]'>ay, and reaching southerly fi-otii the Gulf to the Main Dividing 

 Range. These tril)es are divided uito four sections or classes 

 after the Kamilaroi type, the men of one section marrying the 

 women of another, and the desc-enl of the children is counted on 

 the nuiternal side, the same as already described by me in the 

 Kamilaioi tribes. The names of the four classes are different in 

 different districts, owing to diversity of dialects, and in nearly 

 all cases the names of the women are different from the men. 



' Vhr ica.lfi- is referred lo uiv |)ttpers on iliis aahject in Proc. Rov. Geog. Hoc, 

 AiiM., (C,)!., 1, l«-a4; Aiueri.'aii AiithrHiKilo^ist, ix, 411 416; Journ. Ri'./. Roo. X.S, 

 W :ilf s, xK\i. 



