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ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 1038 
The Woiworung tribe had the two primary classes and one sole surviving totem, 
but descent was through the father, and the classes were aggregated together, each 
one into separate localities. 
The Kurnai tribe had no classes or totems, but in some cases animal names 
remained transmitted from father to son, and the restrictions upon marriage were 
purely local. 
TRIBAL GOVERNMENT. 
Headmen and the Tribal Council.—When an Australian tribe is looked at from 
the standpoint of an ordinary observer, the conclusion seems to be justified that 
there is in it no recognised form of government. That is to say, there is not 
manifested any person or group of persons who have the right to command, under 
penalties for disobedience, and whose commands are obeyed by the community. 
There does not seem to be any person to whom the whole community yields 
submission, who has peculiar privileges which are patent to observation, or who 
is surrounded by more or less of savage pomp and ceremony. On a general 
view of an Australian tribe all that is seen by the superficial observer is that there 
ig a number of family groups, which roam over certain tracts of country in search 
of food, and that while they appear to show considerable respect to the old 
men, all the males enjoy so much liberty of action that each one may be considered 
to do that which seems best in his own eyes. A more intimate acquaintance with 
such a tribe shows clearly, however, that there must be some authority and restraint 
behind this seeming freedom. For it is seen that there are well-understood customs 
or social laws, which are perfectly binding upon the individual, and which regulate his 
actions towards others. 
It is quite true that many such customs or laws are obeyed without the dread of 
punishment being inflicted for their infraction by any tribal authority, individual or 
collective. Such laws are, for instance, those relating to the use of certain animals 
for food, or the doing of certain acts. 
But these laws are obeyed because the aborigine has been taught from his earliest 
childhood that their infraction will be followed by some supernatural punishment, 
personal to himself. For instance, taking again the case of laws relating to food, the 
Wakelbura youth is not permitted for a time to eat certain creatures after he has 
been initiated at the Bora ceremonies,* such as emu, spiney ant-eater, or black 
* Though Bora is a term only used by certain tribes for the initiation ceremonies, it is well known to anthropologists, 
and may be adopted as a convenient term for those rites. ; 
