160 E. H. MATHEWS. 



or the female line." 1 He places the Kumbainggeri amongst 



others un 



descent." 



others under a general heading of Tribes with male 



In 1897 2 and again in 1901 3 I published a table of the 

 four intermarrying sections of the Kumbainggeri tribe, 

 exhibiting how the sections are divided into two phratries 

 or cycles, and supplying lists of totems belonging to each 

 cycle. I stated that "the rules of marriage and descent 

 are precisely the same as in the Kamilaroi tribe." I 

 showed that Kurpoong corresponds to Murri, Marroong to 

 Kubbi, Wirroong to Ippai, and Womboong to Kumboofthe 

 Kamilaroi divisions. I also pointed out that whether a 

 woman of the Womboong section marries a Kurpoong or 

 Marroong husband, her offspring is always Wirroong, thus 

 illustrating the alternative law of marriage, as well as the 

 normal or tabular law. 



Having been engaged in sociological, linguistic and other 

 investigations among the Kumbainggeri natives for a 

 number of years, J am unwilling that Dr. Howitt's asser- 

 tion that "the line of descent cannot be given" should go 

 forth uncontradicted, especially as my works above quoted 

 have made it indisputably clear that descent of the sections 

 and totems is counted through the mother in all cases. 



Dr. Hewitt states that the tribes on the Brisbane River 

 and at the Bunya Bunya ranges have descent in the male 

 line. 4 In 1898 I reported that in both the tribes mentioned 

 descent is counted on the female side, the children always 

 taking the phratry (cycle) and totem of their mother. 5 



In 1883 Dr. Howitt published a table of the four inter- 

 marrying divisions of the Mycoolon tribe, stating that 



1 Op. cit., pp. 105 and 269. 



2 This Journal, xxxi., pp. 169, 170. 



3 Queensland Geographical Journal, xvi., p. 41. 



4 Native Tribes of South-east Australia, pp. 136, 137 and 229. 



6 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, Phila., xxxvu., pp. 328 - 331, with map. 



