ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 15 
child (male or female speaking), sister’s child (male or female speaking), father’s 
brother’s child, father’s sister’s child, mother’s brother’s child, mother’s sister’s child, 
brother, or sister. It will be seen on reference to the section on relationships why it 
is that, for instance, father and father’s brother stand in the same relation to any one 
individual. The Pirauru relation may not exist between persons of the same 
‘“‘Murdu” (totem), for the reason that all persons of the same ‘‘ Murdu ” are regarded 
as brother and sister, or mother and child, &c., as the case may be. 
A Dieri man, having passed through the Mindarie ceremony, may have a suitable 
Pirauru allotted to him. The Piraurus are allotted to each other by the council of 
old men on the evening before the ceremony of circumcision. As the relation of 
Pirauru always continues, some old men and women have as many as five or six or 
more Piraurus. Seniority in the man regulates the temporary right to any one 
Pirauru. Thus, supposing that an older and a younger man were both at the same 
camp, and that the latter had with him a Pirauru, the former being alone, the older 
man could lawfully claim the Pirauru common to both from the younger man, who 
would, in accordance with custom, resign her to him. ‘The principal men—for 
instance, the Headmen and the Heads of Murdus (totems), had more Piraurus than 
the other men, partly because of their eminence, and partly because through their 
position in the tribe, and their influence in neighbouring tribes, they were in a 
position to give many presents. 
b) 
A man and a woman became ‘“‘Noa”’ to each other, either by the woman being 
promised to the man during her infancy by her father, or by being allotted specially 
to him as ‘‘ Noa” by the Headman and the council of old men of the tribe for some 
special services to it. A man cannot acquire a Noa, that is, he is not permitted to 
take the girl promised to him until he has passed the ceremony of Wilyaru.* The 
relation of Noa is always superior to that of Pirauru, when the two co-exist or come 
into conflict. Thus, when sleeping ina camp, the two Noa lie next to each other, and 
the female Pirauru next to them. A distinction is drawn between the children of a 
Noa and the children of a Pirauru. For instance, a woman having a Noa and also a 
Pirauru, her children would call both of them “father,” but would distinguish by 
calling the Noa of its mother ‘“‘apiri murla” (real father), and her Pirauru “ apiri 
waka’ (little father). But, in fact, the women frequently are unable to distinguish 
the true father, and, as Mr. Gason puts it, “will not admit of only one father.” In 
the example just given the children of the Noa and of the Pirauru, whether of the 
same mother or some other woman, would regard each other as brothers and sisters, 
just as the children of a female Noa and of a female Pirauru would look upon each 
other as brothers and sisters. | When the Noa of a man died his Pirauru would take 
the children of the deceased and treat them as her own. 
* The ceremony of blood-letting which follows that of circumcision. The Mindarie or peace ceremony follows 
the Wilyaru. 
