AUSTRALIAN DIVISIONAL SYSTEMS. 67 



a headman or chief, and these headmen collectively are the rulers 

 of the whole tribe. The customary laws are administered by 

 these headmen, who, in the exercise of their authority, are 

 supported by all the initiated men of their respective divisions. 

 "When a number of these tribes are bound together by having the 

 same divisional (or class) systems — speaking dialects of the same 

 tongue, participating in identical or similar initiation ceremonies, 

 and among whom intermarriage is more or less frequent — they 

 form communities. Aggregates of these communities may be 

 called nations. 



The members of a tribe, and of course, also of its component 

 sub-tribes, are divided into two exogamous intermarrying groups, 

 bearing distinctive appellations, and having a more or less varied 

 selection of totems attached to each. In some tribes these two 

 groups are the only divisions observable — the individuals of one 

 group intermarrying with those of the other — of which the Mattiri 

 and Karraru groups at Port Lincoln, South Australia, may be 

 taken as an example. 



In other tribes the two groups are subdivided into smaller 

 segments. "For example, the Yuipera tribe at Mackay is composed 

 of two primary groups, called Wootaroo and Youngaroo ; the 

 former is again divided into two sections, called Woongo and 

 Coobaroo, and the latter into two, called Bunbia and Gurgila. 



In other communities, of which some tribes in the Northern 

 Territory may be taken as an example, the two primary groups 

 are segregated into four sections each. Group A. is subdivided 

 into Choolum, Jamerum, Chenum and Yacomary. Group B. is 

 similarly divided into Chingalum, Bungarin, Chooralum and 

 Palyarin. 



There are other tribes, especially in some parts of West Aus- 

 tralia, whose divisions appear to be of an abnormal type, but I 

 shall be glad to receive further particulars before coming to any 

 definite conclusions respecting them. 



Besides the segregation of the community into the groups and 

 sections to which I have referred, there is another partition of 



