NORTH AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 



33 



In the Dieri Tribe it will be noticed that there are two classes, and that the 

 children take the mother's name. Now Mr. Howitt thinks that all the tribes 

 with four classes have each a still more fundamental division into two main classes, 

 with father or mother right. This is substantially the plan lying at the founda- 

 tion of our Indian clans. Observe now the Yerrunthuly Tr'ibe. The children 

 are named alter their grandparents, that is, after mother's mother or father's 

 father. This method is not found in North America. The Mycoolon Tribe ex- 

 hibit a still greater differentiation. Here males and females have separate class 

 titles. The boys are named after fathers' fathers, and the girls after their mothers' 

 mothers. 



Bearing in mind Mr. Hovvitt's remark upon the two fundamental, generic 

 classes, and observing whether the boys' or the girls' names are taken from the 

 same fundamental class, we discover that among the Mycoolon the girl is of the 

 same class name as her mother's mother. In the Kamilaroi system, with mother- 

 right, the son is of the same class as his father's father. In other words, says 

 Mr. Howitt, in the Kamilaroi system descent is uterine ; in the Mycoolon, it is 

 agnatic. As Mr. Dorsey has shown us that, among our own Indians, the law 

 requiring a youth to marry out of his clan has many addenda, pointing out whom 

 the bride shall be; so among the Australians, it is not quite true that any Koor- 

 gielah may marry any Coobaroo. We have primary class, and secondary class, 

 and, in addition, totems. Mr. Wm. H. Flower has been able to give us a table 

 illustrating this in the Kuin-Murbura Tribe : 



MALE. 



Kurpal — eagle-hawk. 

 Kurpal — laughing-jackass. 

 Kuialla — eagle-hawk. 

 Kuialla — laughing jackass. 

 Karilbura — curlew. 

 Karilbura — clear water. 

 Karilbura — wallaby. 



Karilbura — hawk. 

 Munal — curlew. 



Munal — clear water. 

 Munal — wallaby. 



Munal — h^wk. 



MARRIES. 



Karilburan — hawk. 

 Karilburan — curlew. 

 Munalan — hawk. 

 Munalan — curlew [ass. 

 Kurpalan — laughing jack- 

 Kurpalan — eagle-hawk. 

 Kurpalan — laughing-jack- 



[ass. 

 Kurpalan — eagle-hawk. 

 Kuiallan — laughing-jack- 



[ass. 

 Kuiallan — eagle-hawk. 

 Kuiallan — laughing-jack- 



[ass. 

 Kuiallan — eagle-hawk. 



CHILDREN ARE. 



Munal — hawk. 

 Munal — curlew. 

 Karilbura — hawk. 

 Karilbura — curlew. 

 Kuialla — laughing-jackass 

 Kuialla — eagle-hawk. 

 Kuialla — laughing-jackass 



Kuialla — eagle hawk. 

 Kurpal — laughing jackass. 



Kurpal — eagle-hawk. 

 Kurpal— laughing-jackass. 



Kurpal — eagle-hawk. 



In this scheme the law of naming is the same in essence, but is more com- 

 plex. In the Karilbura and Munal there are two female totems and four male 

 totems ; while the Kurpal and Kuialla have two male and four female totems. 

 In the subclasses, a modified form of uterine descent is followed in the totems, 

 the line runs as in the primary classes. 



Mr. Palmer devotes a large space to the Australian languages, giving vocab- 

 ularies of seven. 



VIII-3 



