NDTMS ON SOCIAL AM> INIHVlhl AL 



.\OMK.\('LATrKJ': AMOXO ('KKTAIN NOKTll 



(lUEMNSLANIi AHORKilXALS. 



By WALTER E. ROTH 



(Liite Demy of Ma.^clalen College, Oxfonli. 



[Haul hrfio;- t/ir l!(ii/<il S',;,-/,/// ,//' (Jinriishdiil , Xorrnihn- Vi, 1897.] 



I N T E O D U C T O K ^' . 

 DuKixc the past three antl a-lialf years I have had opportunities 

 of personally obtainini^' information on this subject in the 

 nei,<>hl)!)ui'hoc)(] of Boulia, Cloncurry and Normanton on one side 

 of the Colony, and at CooktoAvn, Townsville, Marlborough, 

 Yaand)a, Kockhanipton, Gladstone, etc., on the other. A total 

 of about twenty-four (24) tribes has been enquired into. Among 

 the a-bofigiuals of all these districts, practically identical 

 systems of social and indi\idual nomenclature have been met 

 with, a,nd it will be my endeavour now to render them somewhat 

 intelligil)le. 



Every individual aboriginal is related or connected in one 

 way or another, not only with all other members of his own 

 tribe, but also with all those of other friendlies perhaps hundreds 

 of miles distant, the majority of whom he has probably never 

 heard of or stcn. Unfortunately in the white man's language, 

 there are no tidequate terms to give suitable expression to such 

 connecting ties, and hence the various English names that will 

 be brought into requisition must be understood as having a far 

 more extended I'ange of signification than has hitherto been 

 usually applied to them, even then, the introduction of some new 

 appellatives has been forceil upon me. 



