108 ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 
his own totem or his native locality. I remember such a case at Lake Hope, where 
the Headman was the oldest man of the Kurawura Murdu (eagle totem). He was this 
by reason of his age, and he wore a circlet of red feathers as token thereof, but he had 
little influence. 
These Piraurus, collectively, were the Headmen of the tribe. Of them some one 
was superior to all others. At the time when I knew the tribe, and when Mr. 
Gason speaks of it, the Headman was one Jalina Piramurana.* He was the Head of 
the Kunaura Murdu or Portulacat totem, and he was recognised as the Headman of 
the whole Dieri tribe. Mr. Gason describes him, from a personal acquaintance of six 
years, as aman of polished manners, of persuasive eloquence, a skilful and brave 
warrior, and a powerful wizard. As the supreme Headman of the Dieri he presided 
at the Council of Headmen, sent out embassies to the neighbouring tribes, and even 
had the power in his own tribe of giving young women, not related to him, in 
marriage, of separating men from their wives when they could not agree, and of 
making for them fresh matrimonial arrangements. 
He periodically visited the various hordes of the Dieri, from which he also 
periodically received presents. Distant tribes, even as far as three hundred miles off, 
sent him presents, which were passed on from tribe to tribe. { ; 
The Heads of totems and of hordes, the great orators, warriors, and wizards, and 
speaking generally, the old men, met at times in secret, when the tribe was more or 
less assembled to concert upon matters of importance. ‘To reveal to outsiders what 
took place at such meetings was punishable by death. 
Mr. Gason, after a long time, and only when he had learned to speak the Dieri 
language, was permitted to be present at these councils. The council was directed 
by the principal Headman. It dealt with offences against the tribe and against tribal 
morality. When an offender had been adjudged guilty of having caused the death of 
another by magic he was, as I have already stated, killed by an armed party (pinya) 
sent out by the Headman. It also dealt with offenders against the strict rules which 
govern the intermarriages of the classes, and which prohibit cohabitation between 
those who, by the Dieri system of relationship, are held to be too closely related to 
each other. It also made the arrangements for the holding of the several ceremonies 
of initiation, and allotted to each other the several pairs of Pirauru, to whom are 
permitted new marital privileges at the ceremony of circumcision.§ 
* From Pira = moon, and Murana — new. 
+ Portulaca oleracea. 
{ In the memoirs of Buckley, the so-called “‘ wild white man,’’ it is recorded that a message came from far off, 
passes a by tribe to tribe, demanding that presents should be sent to the man who had charge of certain props supporting 
e wor 
§ See infra. p. 124. 
