THE KUMBAINGGERI TRIBE. 489 



I liave on several occasions drawn attention to the existence of 

 this mystic tongue,'^ and five years ago I contributed to the Roj'^al 

 Society of New South Walesf some shoi't vocabuh^ries of the secret 

 languages of the Kurnu and Kamilaroi tribes. 



In connection with this subject it may be nK-ntioned that in 11)01 

 I contributed an article to the Koyal Geographical Society of Queens- 

 land on some "Aboriginal Songs at Initiation Ceremonies. "| 



SOCIOLOGY. 

 The Kumbainggeri-speaking people have a social organisation 

 ^consisting of four intermarrying divisions or sections. The masculine 

 and feminine forms of the names of the sections, showing how they 

 usually intermariy, and the names of the respective sections to which 

 the children bekaig, will l^e leadily understood fi-om tlie following 

 table: — 



Cycle. Wife. Husband. Son. Daughter. 



. (Wirrakan Kurpoong Wirroong Wanggan 



( Wanggan Marroong Womboong AVirrakan 



-n C Kooran Womboong Marroong Karragan 



( Karragan Winoong Kurpoong Kooran 



To each of the above cycles there is an aggregate of totems at- 

 tached, consisting of animals, plants, and inanimate objects. The 

 totems of Cycle A belong to the sections Wirrakan and Wanggan in 

 ■common ; and the totems of Cycle B are common to the sections 

 Kooran and Karragan. The descent of the cycles, sections, and 

 totems is invariably determined through the mother's only. 



The marriages shown in the a]>ove table are the normal unions. 

 For example, a Wirrakan woman has a Kurpoong spouse, and her 

 children are Wirroong and Wanggan. She may, however, in certain 

 cases, many a Marroong man, but her children would still be 

 Wirroong and Wanggan. Moreover, the Wirrakan woman of our 

 example could, instead of either of the above men, wed a Womboong 

 husband, provided she were not debarred by too close a blood relation- 

 ship ; or, she could take a Wirroong spouse, unless similarly debarred ; 

 but her progeny would nevertheless be the same as in the above table, 

 ■quite regardless of the denomination of her husloand. 



INITIATION CEREMONIES. 

 The Kutiibainggeri tribe possesses some important and imposing 

 •ceiemonies of initiation, of which I have given a comprehensive 

 account in a paper to the American Philosophical Society at Phila- 

 delphia, U.S.A. § There is also an elementary form of initiation in 

 this tribe, which I have likewise described in an article contribut-ed 

 to the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. || 



* Jnnn. Anthrf)p. Tiitst., London, vol. .\xv.. p. 310 ; also American Anthropolo2;ist 

 vol. ii, N.S., p. 144. 



j .Tourn. Roy. yoe. N.S W , vol. \K\vi.. pp. 1.57-1()0. 



t Queensland OeoEfrapHical Journal, vol. xvii.. ]^]x Gl-H.". 



§ Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. xxxvii , pp. r,4-7'i 



II Queen.slmd Geograi)liical .lournal, vol. xv., pp. (J7-74. 



