76 R. H. MATHEWS. 



together, or at any rate fraternize when they meet in any 

 part of their common territory. There are certain spots 

 scattered up and down at short intervals in this territory 

 which are traditionally haunted, some by one animal or 

 object and some by another, from which the children 

 receive their totemic names instead of from the mother. 

 It appears then that, like the Kamilaroi, the totems are 

 dispersed throughout the tribal hunting grounds, but are 

 allotted to the offspring according to the locality of con- 

 ception instead of parentage. 



In the greater part of New South Wales descent of the 

 totems is counted through the mother. A totemic clan or 

 group possesses a more or less extensive tract of country 

 which all the members of the clan occupy as their common 

 birthright. The hunting grounds of every Australian tribe, 

 and consequently of all the partitions and repartitions of 

 the tribe, descend from the fathers to the sons for ever. 

 The children of every marriage belong to the father's tribe, 

 no matter whether the totems descend through the mothers 

 or the fathers, or are acquired by the accident of con- 

 ception. Among the Chingalee, Arranda, Wombaia, and 

 other tribes there are similar tracts of country occupied 

 by totemic clans or groups, but instead of taking the totem 

 from the mother, this matter as already stated is deter- 

 mined by locality. In other words, the totems, instead of 

 being inherited from living subjects scattered over their 

 hunting grounds, are obtained from certain hills, trees, 

 rocks, etc., similarly scattered at random throughout the 

 ancestral territory. 



Again, in all Australian tribes, whether the descent of 

 the children is maternal or paternal, or acquired by acci- 

 dent, the privilege of working incantations, making rain, 

 performing initiatory ceremonies and other important func- 

 tions, descends from the men of the tribe to the sons. This 



