165 



West Coast system is somewhat similar ; but whatever system 

 obtained on the West Coast in the early days, there is no 

 system whatever at present. Most of the [ju:lbari] people 

 are dead, and the numerous natives at present frequenting 

 the West Coast come from districts far north and east of 

 the Great Western Railway, and, as will be seen by the tribal 

 names, are hopelessly mixed. One man has had as wife a 

 woman, her own mother (his mother-in-law), and his wife's 

 own daughter (by another father). The man became blind, 

 "because he did this thing" the natives say. Cross-cousin, 

 ■or first-cousin marriages, apparently did not obtain amongst 

 the West Coast tribes. West of Eucla area, near Twilight 

 Cove, I found one tribe where cross-cousin marriages was the 

 law or rule. 



Ceremonial Dances. 



An interesting circumstance happened during my resi- 

 dence in the camps of the Eucla and West Coast natives, and 

 that was the meeting of two "corroborees," whose starting 

 points were in North-eastern Queensland and North-western 

 Australia respectively. The travels of these two ceremonies 

 •occupied many years. Dr. Roth mentions having seen the 

 north-eastern ceremony called [muilui/ga] in the Diamantina 

 district in 1904 (see Roth's "Bulletin"). The |mu:lu?7ga] 

 arrived at Penong, on the West Coast, in 1915, taking thus 

 eleven years to travel down from the Diamantina. Shortly 

 before the [mu :lu^ga] reached Penong the [wandjiwandji] had 

 arrived from the Nor' -west and had been performed at that 

 place. I have only been able to trace the [wandjiwandji] 

 beyond Laverton, Western Australia, as yet ; but I feel sure 

 the ceremony had not its origin there. Most probably it 

 started in the Kimberley area, where I have known the 

 natives to "compose" new dances and send them along cer- 

 tian routes, to be bartered to those to whom they are shown 

 and taught, and who in their turn barter them to other tribes. 

 These two ceremonies represent in their travels a broad V, 

 and, coupled with other circumstances, I assume that there 

 has been a highway along this great distance for many 

 generations. For instance, a turtle (sea turtle) ceremony 

 was composed by an ancestor of one of the Broome district 

 tribes. I saw the "dance" when I was in Broome, and noted 

 the names of certain important objects that played their part 

 in this special "dance." I have discovered that this "dance," 

 with the same names, attached to similar objects, was known 

 to the [ba :du, wadi] and other groups living in the Boundary 

 Dam area. And if I add to this the numerous dialectic words 

 •similar in the Boundary Dam and Nor '-west areas, I think 

 it quite possible that the route by which the present dances 



