26 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 



CHAPTER XI. 



LAWS OF MAERIAGE. 



The laws of marriage among the aborigines are remarkably well devised ; 

 and exhibit a method and ingenuity which could not have been looked for 

 among a people who were so long considered the lowest of the human race. 



The object of these laws is to prevent marriages between those of ' one 

 flesh' — 'Tow'wil yerr.' 



As has been shown in the first chapter, the aborigines are divided into 

 tribes. Every person is considered to belong to his father's tribe, and cannot 

 maiTy into it. Besides this division, there is another which is made solely for 

 the purpose of preventing marriages with maternal relatives. The aborigines 

 are everywhere divided into classes ; and everyone is considered to belong to his 

 mother's class, and cannot marry into it in any tribe, as all of the same class 

 are considered brothers and sisters. 



There are five classes in all the tribes of the Western District, and these 

 take their names from certain animals — the long-billed cockatoo, kuurokeetch ; 

 the pelican, kartpcerapp ; the banksian cockatoo, kappatch ; the boa snake, 

 kirtuuk ; and the quail, kuunamit. 



According to their classes the aborigines are distinguished, as — 



Kuurokeetch, male ; kuurokaheear, female. 

 Kartpcerapp, male ; kartpcerapp heear, female. 

 Kappatch, male ; kappaheear, female. 

 Kirtuuk, male ; kirtuuk heear, female. 

 Kuunamit, male ; kuunamit heear, female. 



Kuurokeetch and kartpcerapp, however, are so related, that they are looked 

 upon as sister classes, and no marriage between them is permitted. It is the 

 same between kappatch and kirtuuk ; but as kuunamit is not so related, it can 

 marry into any class but its own. Thus a kuurokeetch may marry a kappaheear, 

 a kirtuuk heear, or a kuunamit heear, but cannot marry a kuurokaheear or a 

 kartpcerapp heear. A kappatch may marry a kuurokaheear, a kartpcerapp heear, 

 or a kuunamit heear, but cannot marry a kappaheear or a kirtuuk heear. A 



