NOTES ON SOME ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 67 



NOTES ON SOME ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 



By R. H. Mathews, l.s., 



Oorres. Memb. Anthrop. Soc, Vienna. 



[Bead before the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, August 7, 1907. ~] 



In this paper I have supplied some genealogies which have 

 never before been published respecting the intermarrying 

 laws of the aborigines in different parts of the Australian 

 continent. The genealogies referred to, contained in 

 Tables II., IV., and V., are the results of several years' 

 careful inquiry, and it is believed that their accuracy is 

 unassailable. The application of these genealogical tables 

 to the sociology of several tribes is briefly and clearly 

 explained. A few remarks are added on the absence of 

 exogamy among any of the tribes treated in this article. 



Since 1895 I have been devoting some attention to the 

 sociology of the Arranda tribe, amongst others, in the 

 Northern Territory. Mr. W. H. Willshire, who resided at 

 Alice Springs from 1881 for a number of years, gave this 

 region the name of "Central Australia," being a specious 

 and romantic name for his book. That name was adopted 

 by Spencer and Gillen for the same reason. There is, 

 however, no such place as Central Australia known to 

 geographers — that portion of the continent being shown on 

 our maps as the Northern Territory. I have not personally 

 visited the country occupied by the Arranda, but I have 

 been fortunate enough to collect much information from 

 persons who went out to the mineral fields, from managers 

 of cattle and horse stations, from telegraph operators, 

 the police and others; all of whom have resided in that 

 district for many years. 



