570 MATHEWS—THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. [Oct. 5, 
ious pages, and so became scattered among a large number of dif- 
ferent communities, as we find them at the present time. 
In the foregoing pages I have endeavored to give a brief outline 
of the Social Organization of the Australian aborigines by tracing 
it through its various stages of development by means of examples 
taken from the marriage laws still in operation in different parts of 
the continent. Having studied this branch of the subject for many 
years, I am led to the conclusion that neither promiscuous sexual 
intercourse nor what has been called ‘‘communal or group mar- 
riage’’ has ever existed among Australian tribes. I feel equally 
clear that the system of divisions into sections was not devised for 
the purpose of preventing consanguineous marriages, but was 
developed in the way I have attempted to explain in this paper. 
INITIATION CEREMONIES. 
In my descriptions of the initiation ceremonies of various Aus- 
tralian tribes, which I have from time to time contributed to dif- 
ferent learned societies, I have reported that there is a feigned 
quarrel between the fathers of the novices and the men who muster 
the latter out of the camp for the purpose of passing them through 
the ordeal of the inaugural ceremonial. I have also detailed how 
human blood is sprinkled upon stumps of trees; in other instances 
how it is collected in native vessels and eaten; and also how one 
or more of the men are killed to furnish a cannibalistic feast for the 
people present. 
This has suggested to me that perhaps the ceremonies were con- 
siderably modified, if not originated, during the wars between the 
clans or tribes referred to in the chapter on ‘‘ Social Organization.”’ 
If all the adult males were killed, as at present, then it is reason- 
able to expect that the young captive boys would be brought up in 
conformity with the ancestral customs of their captors. For the pur- 
pose of doing this it would be necessary to remove them from the 
influence of their mothers, who would naturally cling to the cus- 
toms of their forefathers and endeavor to bring up their sons with 
the same views. 
If we investigate the procedure in the initiation ceremonies cur- 
rent at the present day, for an example of which the Bora’ of the 
Kamilaroi tribe may be selected, we see that certain neighboring 
'R. H. Mathews, “ The Bora of the Kamilaroi Tribes,” Proc. Roy. Soc. Vie- 
zoria, Vol. ix, New Series, pp. 137-173. 
