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 V.I 
 
 Totemism and exoaamy, a treatise on cert 
 
 3 1924 032 414 645 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
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 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
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 TORONTO 
 
Totemism and Exogamy 
 
 A Treatise on Certain Early Forms 
 of Superstition and Society 
 
 EV 
 
 J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D., F.B.A. 
 
 ■~ FRLLOW OP TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 
 
 PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES 
 VOL. I 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 
 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 
 
 1910 
 
 T 
 
7^ 
 
 
 La jyauvre htmianiU est ainsi faite quelle n^obtient le bien qtCati 
 irix du mal, la virit^ qtCen traversant Verreur. 
 
 E. Ren AN, Histoire du peuple d' Israel, 
 livre iv. chapitre vii. 
 
 '7 <v \. 
 
 IV^ 
 
TO 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
 TO WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSPIRATION 
 
 I OWE MORE THAN I CAN TELL 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 
 AS A MEMORIAL 
 
 OF LOVE AND GRATITUDE 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The man who more than any other deserves to rank as the 
 discoverer of totemism and exogamy was the Scotchman 
 John Ferguson McLennan. It was not that he was the first 
 to notice the mere existence of the institutions in various 
 races nor even that he added very much to our knowledge 
 of them. But with the intuition of genius he perceived 
 or divined the far-reaching influence which in different ways 
 the two institutions have exercised on the history of society. 
 The great service which he rendered to science was that he 
 put the right questions ; it was not that he answered them 
 aright. He did indeed attempt, with some confidence, to 
 explain the origin of exogamy, but his explanation is prob- 
 ably erroneous. On the origin of totemism he did not even 
 speculate, or, if he did, he never published his speculations. 
 To the last he appears to have regarded that problem as 
 unsolved, if not insoluble. 
 
 While McLennan's discovery of exogamy attracted atten- 
 tion and excited discussion, his discovery of totemism made 
 comparatively little stir, and outside of a small circle of 
 experts it passed almost unnoticed in the general world of 
 educated opinion. The very few writers who touched on the 
 subject contributed little to its elucidation. For the most 
 part they contented themselves with repeating a few familiar 
 facts or adding a few fresh theories ; they did not attempt a 
 wide induction on the basis of a systematic collection and 
 classification of the evidence. Accordingly, when in the 
 
viii TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
 year 1886 my revered friend William Robertson Smith, a 
 disciple of McLennan's, invited me to write the article on 
 totemism for the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopcedia Brtt- 
 annica, which was then in course of publication under his 
 editorship, I had to do nearly the whole work of collection 
 and classification for myself with very little help from my 
 predecessors. The article which embodied my researches 
 having proved somewhat too long for its purpose, an abridg- 
 ment of it only was inserted in the EncyclopcBdia ; but 
 through Robertson Smith's friendly mediation Messrs. 
 A. & C. Black kindly consented to publish the original 
 article, unabridged and unchanged, in the form of a small 
 volume. The book comprised little more than a classified 
 collection of facts, for when I wrote it I had as yet formed 
 no theory either of totemism or of exogamy. However, the 
 new evidence which it contained appears to have been 
 welcome to students of primitive man ; for since the appear- 
 ance of the volume in 1887 totemism has received a large, 
 perhaps exorbitant, share of their attention ; the literature 
 of the subject, which was extremely scanty before, has 
 swollen enormously in volume ; and, better than all, there 
 has been a large accession of facts observed and recorded 
 among living totemic tribes by competent scientific investi- 
 gators. As the little book has long been out of print and 
 is still, I am told, in demand, I decided to reprint it f and it 
 now occupies the first place in these volumes. The errors 
 which subsequent research has revealed in it are generally 
 not very serious. Such as they are, the reader will find 
 them corrected in the Notes appended to the last volume, 
 in which I have also been careful to retrench the boundaries 
 of totemism wherever, in the first ardour of exploration, I 
 had pushed them too far. I beg the reader, therefore, to 
 read the "Notes and Corrections" throughout in connection It 
 with my original treatise. v 
 
 Having decided to reprint Totemism I resolved to add 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 to it by way of supplement some essays which in the mean- 
 time I had written on the subject. The main purpose of 
 these essays, which appeared in The Fortnightly Review for 
 the years 1899 and 1905, was to direct attention to the 
 great importance of the discoveries of Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen in Central Australia and to point out the necessity 
 of revising and remodelling our old ideas of totemism and 
 exogamy in the light of the new evidence. My judgment as 
 to the need of that revision has never wavered since, but it is 
 only after many years of study that I have come to see 
 how thoroughgoing that revision must be if our conceptions 
 are to square with the facts. Holding this view I felt that 
 to reprint Totemism without noticing discoveries which had, 
 in my opinion, revolutionised the whole aspect of the sub- 
 ject, would be unpardonable ; hence my decision to add the 
 essays in question as an appendix to the reprint. They 
 now occupy the second place in this work. Like the 
 original Totemism they are republished without any change 
 except the addition of a marginal summary. Such correc- 
 tions and modifications of them as subsequent reflection and 
 increased knowledge have suggested will be found in the 
 Notes appended to the last volume. 
 
 This was all that at first I proposed to do ; for my 
 intention had long been to defer writing a larger treatise on 
 totemism until the whole totemic harvest should have been 
 reaped and garnered ; and moreover at the time, a little 
 more than two years ago, I was deeply engaged in other 
 work which I was unwilling to interrupt. To-day the 
 totemic harvest still stands white to the sickle in many 
 fields, but it may be left for others hereafter to see the 
 sheaves brought home. My sun is westering, and the 
 lengthening shadows remind me to work while it is day. 
 Be that as it may, having begun with a notice of the new 
 Australian evidence I thought I could hardly pass over in 
 silence the additions which had been made to our know- 
 
X TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
 ledge of totemism in other parts of the world, and thus 
 insensibly, step by step, I was led into writing the Ethno- 
 graphical Survey of Totemism which now forms the great 
 bulk of this book. Its aim is to provide students with what 
 may be called a digest or corpus of totemism and exogamy, 
 so far as the two institutions are found in conjunction. 
 I have taken pains to compile it from the best sources, both 
 published and unpublished, so far as these were accessible, 
 to the rigid exclusion of all such as appeared to me to be 
 of dubious or less than dubious authority. The facts are 
 arranged in ethnographical order, tribe by tribe, and an 
 attempt has been made to take account of the physical 
 environment as well as of the general social conditions of 
 the principal tribes which are passed in review. In this 
 way I have sought to mitigate the disadvantages incidental 
 to the study of any institution viewed abstractedly and apart 
 from the rest of the social organism with which it is vitally 
 connected. Such abstract views are indeed indispensable, 
 being imposed by the limitations of the human mind, but 
 they are apt to throw the object out of focus, to exaggerate 
 some of its features, and to diminish unduly others which 
 may be of equal or even greater importance. These dangers 
 cannot be wholly avoided, but they may be lessened by 
 making our study as concrete as is compatible with the 
 necessary degree of abstraction. This accordingly I have 
 attempted to do in writing the Survey. 
 
 My account of the facts would be very much more im- 
 perfect than it is, had it not been for the liberal assistance 
 which I have received from experts, who have freely im- 
 parted to me of their knowledge, generously permitting me 
 in many cases to make use of unpublished information. 
 Amongst those to whom I am indebted for help of various 
 kinds I desire particularly to thank : for Australia, Professor 
 Baldwin Spencer and the late Dr. A. W. Howitt ; for New 
 Guinea, Dr. C. G. Seligmann ; for Melanesia and Polynesia, 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 the Rev. George Brown, D.D., and especially Dr. W. H. R. 
 Rivers ; for India, Mr. J. D. Anderson, Mr. W. Crooke, 
 Colonel P. R. T. Gurdon, Sir Herbert Risley, and Mr. Edgar 
 Thurston ; for Africa, the Hon. K. R. Dundas, Mr. C. W. 
 Hobley, Mr. A. C. Hollis, Mr. T. A. Joyce, the Rev. H. E. 
 Maddox, Mr. H. R. Palmer, the Rev. John Roscoe, and Mr. 
 N. W. Thomas. My gratitude above all is due to my valued 
 friend the Rev. John Roscoe, formerly of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society, for the great generosity with which he has 
 placed all the stores of his unrivalled knowledge of Central 
 African tribes, especially of the Baganda, unreservedly at my 
 disposal for the purposes of this work. If my account of 
 Central African totemism contains not a little that is new and 
 instructive, it is to him chiefly that I owe it. For America, 
 I desire to return my grateful thanks to the authorities of the 
 Bureau of American Ethnology, the Smithsonian Institution, 
 the American Museum of Natural History at New York, and 
 the Field Columbian Museum at Chicago, who have liberally 
 supplied me with many valuable publications which have 
 been of the greatest assistance to me in my work. Nor 
 would I omit to mention my gallant correspondent, the late 
 Captain J. G. Bourke, of the United States Cavalry, who in 
 the intervals of his arduous professional duties devoted 
 much time to studying and describing with the pen the 
 Indians whom he had fought with the sword. 
 
 My primary subject is totemism, and I have treated of 
 exogamy for the most part only so far as it occurs in con- 
 junction with totemism ; for the two institutions not only 
 differ but overlap, each of them being sometimes found 
 without the other. Tribes which are exogamous without 
 being totemic do not properly fall within the scope of the 
 book ; but I have noticed a few of them, such as the Todas 
 in India and the Masai in Africa, either on the ground of 
 their association with totemic tribes or because their social 
 system presents some features of special interest However, 
 
xii TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
 I must request the reader to bear constantly in mind that 
 the two institutions of totemism and exogamy are funda- 
 mentally distinct in origin and nature, though they have 
 accidentally crossed and blended in many tribes. The dis- 
 tinction was for the first time placed in a clear light by the 
 epoch-making researches of Spencer and Gillen in Central 
 Australia, which proved that the exogamous class is a 
 totally different social organisation from the totemic clan 
 and not, as we had previously inclined to suppose, a 
 mere extension of it. Still more recently the same sharp 
 line between totemism and exogamy has been detected by 
 Dr. W. H. R. Rivers in the Banks' Islands, where the 
 natives have pure totemism and pure exogamy, existing 
 side by side, without the one institution exercising the least 
 influence upon the other. That example should finally set 
 at rest the doubt whether exogamy is or is not a necessary 
 feature of true totemism. If the reader will only remember 
 that the two things, though often conjoined, are really 
 distinct and independent, he will escape many perplexities 
 and much confusion of thought in tracing the history of 
 their relations to each other in the following pages. 
 
 Inseparably connected with exogamy is the classificatory 
 system of relationship, and accordingly I have treated it as 
 an integral part of my subject. The discovery of that 
 remarkable system, which is now known to obtain through- 
 out a large part of the human race, was the work of the 
 great American ethnologist L. H. Morgan alone. In spite 
 of its apparent complexity the system originated very 
 simply. A community was bisected into two exogamous 
 and intermarrying groups, and all the men and women 
 were classified according to the generation and the group to 
 which they belonged. The principle of the classification 
 was marriageability, not blood. The crucial question was 
 not. Whom am I descended from ? but, Whom may I 
 marry ? Each class no doubt included blood relations but 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 they were placed in it not on the ground of their con- 
 sanguineous but of their social relationship to each other as 
 possible or impossible husbands and wives. When the 
 custom of group marriage had been replaced by individual 
 marriage, the classificatory terms of relationship continued 
 in use, but as the old group rights fell into abeyance the 
 terms which once expressed them came more and more 
 to designate ties of blood and affinity in our sense of the 
 words. Hence in most races of the world the classificatory 
 system of relationship now survives only as a social fossil 
 testifying to a former condition of exogamy and group 
 marriage which has long passed away. 
 
 Having completed the survey of totemism, exogamy, 
 and the classificatory / system of relationship I have en- 
 deavoured in the last volume to mark the place which the 
 institutions occupy in the history of society, to discuss some 
 theories of their origin, and to state those which I believe 
 to be true or probable. That my conclusions on these 
 difficult questions are final, I am not so foolish as to pre- 
 tend. I have changed my views repeatedly, and I am 
 resolved to change them again with every change of the 
 evidence, for like a chameleon the candid enquirer should 
 shift his colours with the shifting colours of the ground he 
 treads. All I can say is that the conclusions here formu- 
 lated are those which I have at present reached after a 
 careful consideration of all the facts known to me. I have 
 not discussed the vexed question of totemism in classical 
 and Oriental antiquity. With the evidence at our disposal 
 the problem hardly admits of a definite solution, and in any 
 case an adequate discussion of it would require a treatise 
 to itself. 
 
 In estimating the part played by totemism in history I 
 have throughout essayed, wherever the occasion offered, to 
 reduce within reasonable limits the extravagant pretensions 
 which have sometimes been put forward on behalf of the 
 
xiv TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
 institution, as if it had been a factor of primary importance 
 in the religious and economic development of mankind. As 
 a matter of fact the influence which it is supposed to have 
 exercised on economic progress appears to be little more 
 than a shadowy conjecture; and though its influence on 
 religion has been real, it has been greatly exaggerated. ^ By 
 comparison with some other factors, such as the worship of 
 nature and the worship of the dead, the importance of 
 totemism in religious evolution is altogether subordinate. 
 Its main interest for us lies in 'the glimpse which it affords 
 into the working of the childlike mind of the savage ; it is 
 as it were a window opened up into a distant past. 
 
 Exogamy is also a product of savagery, but it has few 
 or none of the quaint superstitions which lend a certain 
 picturesque charm to totemism. It is, so to say, a stern 
 Puritanical institution. In its rigid logic, its complex rules, 
 its elaborate terminology, its labyrinthine systems of 
 relationship, it presents an aspect somewhat hard and 
 repellant, a formality almost mathematical in its precision, 
 which the most consummate literary art could hardly mollify 
 or embellish. Yet its interest for the student of history is 
 much deeper than that of its gayer and more frivolous sister. 
 For whereas totemism, if it ever existed among the ancestors| 
 of the civilised races, has vanished without leaving a trace j 
 among their descendants, exogamy has bequeathed to 
 civilisation the momentous legacy of the prohibited degrees 
 of marriage. 
 
 I However the two institutions may have survived into 
 
 I higher planes of culture, both of them have their roots in 
 I savagery, and the intrinsic interest of their study is enhanced 
 by the circumstances of the age in which iwe live. Our 
 contemporaries of this and the rising generation appear to 
 be hardly aware that we are witnessing the last act of a long 
 drama, a tragedy and a comedy in one, which is being 
 silently played, with no fanfare of trumpets or roll of drums, 
 
PREFACE XV 
 
 before our eyes on the stage of history. Whatever becomes 
 of the savages, the curtain must soon descend on savagery 
 for ever. Of late the pace of civilisation has so quickened, 
 its expansion has become so beyond example rapid, that 
 tnany savage races, who only a hundred years ago still led 
 their old life unknown and undisturbed in the depth of 
 virgin forests or in remote islands of the sea, are now being 
 rudely hustled out of existence or transformed into a pathetic 
 burlesque of their conquerors. With their disappearance or 
 transformation an element of quaintness, of picturesqueness, 
 of variety will be gone from the world. Society will probably 
 be happier on the whole, but it will be soberer in tone, 
 greyer and more uniform in colouring. And as savagery 
 recedes further and further into the past, it will become more 
 and more an object of curiosity and wonder to generations 
 parted from it by an impassable and ever-widening gulf of 
 time. Its darker side will be forgotten, its brighter side will 
 be remembered. Its cruelties, its hardships, its miseries will 
 be slurred over ; memory will dwell with delight on what- 
 ever was good and beautiful, or may seem to have been good 
 and beautiful, in the long-vanished life of the wilderness. 
 Time, the magician, will cast his unfailing spell over these 
 remote ages. An atmosphere of romance will gather round 
 them, like the blue haze which softens into tender beauty 
 the harsher features of a distant landscape. So the patri- 
 archal age is invested for us with a perennial charm in the 
 enchanting narratives of Genesis and the Odyssey, narratives 
 which breathe the freshness of a summer morning and 
 glister as with dewdrops in the first beams of the rising sun 
 of history. 
 
 It is thus that by some strange witchery, some freak of 
 the fairy imagination, who plays us so many tricks, man 
 perpetually conjures up for himself the mirage of a Golden 
 Age in the far past or the far future, dreaming of a bliss 
 that never was and may never be. So far as the past is 
 
xvi TOTEM ISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
 concerned, it is the sad duty of anthropology to break that 
 dream, to dispel that mirage, to paint savagery in its true 
 colours. I have attempted to do so in this book. I have 
 extenuated nothing, I have softened nothing, and I hope I 
 have exaggerated nothing. As a plain record of a curious 
 form of society which must soon be numbered with the past, 
 the book may continue to possess an interest even when, 
 with the progress of knowledge, its errors shall have been 
 corrected and its theories perhaps superseded by others 
 which make a nearer approach to truth. For though I have 
 never hesitated either to frame theories which seemed to fit 
 the facts or to throw them away when they ceased to do so, 
 my aim in this and my other writings has not been to blow 
 bubble hypotheses which glitter for a moment and are gone ; 
 it has been by a wide collection and an exact classification, 
 of facts to lay a broad and solid foundation for the inductive 
 study of primitive man. 
 
 J. G. FRAZER. 
 
 Cambridge, 
 iTth February 1910. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface ......... Pp. vii-xvi 
 
 ToTEMiSM. Reprinted from the First Edition, Edinburgh, 1887 
 
 Pp. 1-87 
 
 Totem defined, 3 ; etymology of the word, 3 ; totem distinguished from fetish, 4 ; 
 kinds of totem — clan totem, sex totem, individual totem, 4 ; religious 
 and social sides of totemism, 4 sq. 
 
 I. Clan Totems, 4-47, 53-76. 
 
 Religious Side of Totemism. Descent from totem, 5-8 ; marks of 
 1* respectfor totem, 8-13 ; cross totems, cross-split totems, 14 ; totem animal 
 kept in captivity, \^ sq. ; dead totem mourned and buried, \^ sq. ; totem 
 not spoken of directly, 16 ; supposed ill eflects of ill-treating the toleni, 
 16-18 ; Samoan mode of appeasing offended totem, 18 ; Australian food 
 taboos, X^sq.; diminished respect for totem, 19 jy. ; totem expected to help 
 his people, 20 ; tests of kinship with sacred animals, 20 sq. ; some judicial 
 ordeals and oaths perhaps derived from totemism, 2.1 sq. ; totem cures, 22 ; 
 totem omens, 22 sq. ; compulsion applied to totem, 23 sq. ; inanimate 
 totems, 24 sq. ; artificial totems, 25 ; assimilation of men to their totems 
 by dressing in the skins, etc., of their totems, 25 sq. ; by dressing hair in 
 imitation of totems, 26 sq. ; by knocking out or filing teeth, 27 ; by nnsc- 
 sticks, 27 sq. ; by tattooing, 28 sq. ; by painting, 29 ; toleni carved or 
 painted on huts, canoes, grave-posts, etc., 29-31 ; birth ceremonies, 31 
 sq, ; marriage ceremonies, 32-34 ; death and burial ceremonies, 34-36 ; 
 initiation ceremonies at puberty, 36-45 ; social side of these ceremonies, 
 36-38; dances at initiation, 37-39; other animal dances, 39 sq. ; religious 
 or magical side of initiation ceremonies, 40-45 ; food taboos imposed 
 at initiation, 40-42 ; admission to life of clan by blood-smearing, etc., 
 42 sq. ; initiatory ceremony of resurrection and new birth, 43 sq. ; cere- 
 monial killing of sacred animals, 44 sq. ; sacred dancing associations in 
 North America, 46 sq. 
 
 II. Sex Totems, 47 sq, 
 1 
 
 III. Individual Totems, 49-52. 
 
 Individual totems in Australia, 49 ; individual totems in .America, 50 ; 
 sacrifices to individual totems, 50 sq. ; modes of acquiring individual 
 totems, ^\ sq. \ the tamaniu in the Banks' Islands, 52. 
 Social Side of Totemism. Blood feud, 53 sq. ; exogamy. i;d-6i; : 
 phratries, 55-62 ; phratries in America, 55-60 ; origin of phratries and 
 of split totems, 57-60 ; phratries in Australia, 60-62 ; equivalence of 
 tribal subdivisions throughout Australia, 63 sq. ; Australian traditions as 
 xvii 
 
xviii TOTEM ISM AND EXOGAMY 
 
 to the origin of these tribal subdivisions, 64 sq. ; rules of descent, 6573 r 
 female and male descent in Australia, America, Africa, and India, 05-00 , 
 indirect female and male descent in Australian subphratries, 6S sq. ; sons 
 reported to take totem from father, daughters from mother, 69 sq. j 
 transition from female to male descent, transference of children, or ot 
 wife and children, to husband's clan, 71-73 ! couvade, 72 sq. ; cannibalism, 
 73-75 ; arrangement of totem clans in camp, village, and graveyard, 75 sq. 
 
 IV. Subphratric and Phratric Totems, 76-78. 
 
 V. Subtotems, 78-80. 
 
 Subtotems, clan totems, subphratric and phratric totems, how related to 
 
 each other, 81 ; transformation of totems into anthropomorphic gods with 
 
 animal attributes, 81-83 ; transformation of totem clans into local clans, 
 
 8^ J relaxatio n of the rule of exogam y, 83 sq. 
 
 Gffompn55rdlflusion ot totemism, 84-87 ; origin of totemism, S7 ; 
 
 influence of totemism on animals and plants, 87 ; literature of totemism, 
 
 87. 
 
 The Origin of Totemism. Reprinted from the Fortnightly Review, 
 April and May 1899 Pp. 89-138 
 
 The Beginnings ob- Religion and Totemism among the 
 Australian Aborigines. Reprinted from the Fortnightly 
 i?m«z£/, July and September 1905 . . . Pp. 139-172 
 
 The beginnings of religion, I4I-IS3 ; the beginnings of totemism, 154-172. 
 
 An Ethnographical Survey of Totemism . . Pp. 173-579 
 Chapter I. — Totemism in Central Australia Pp. 175-313 
 
 § I. The Social Line of Demarcation in Central Australia, pp. 175 sq. 
 
 § 2. Totemism in the Urabunna Tribe, pp. 176-186. 
 
 § 3. Totemism in the Arunta and North-Central Tribes, pp. 186-256. 
 
 § 4. Exogamous Classes in the Arunta Nation and Northern Tribes, 
 pp. 256-271. 
 
 § 5. On the Exogamous Organisation of Australian Tribes, pp. 271-288. 
 
 § 6. The Classilicatory System of Relationship in the Central and Northern 
 Tribes, pp. 289-313. 
 
 Chapter II. — Totemism in South-Eastern Australia 
 
 Pp. 314-514 
 
 § I. Physical Geography of South-Eastern Australia in Relation to 
 Aboriginal Society, pp. 314-339. 
 
 § 2. Tribes with two Classes (Kararu and Matteri) and Female Descent, 
 PP- 339-380. 
 
 § 3. Tribes with two Classes (Mukwara and Kilpara) and Female Descent, 
 pp. 380-392. 
 
 § 4. Tribes with two Classes (Eagle-hawk and Crow) and Female Descent, 
 pp. 392-395. 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 § 5, Tribes with four Subclasses and Female Descent, pp. 395-434. 
 § 6. Tribes with two Classes and Male Descent, pp. 434-441. 
 § 7. Tribes with four Subclasses and Male Descent, pp. 441-451. 
 
 § 8. Tribes with Anomalous Class Systems and Female Descent, pp. 
 
 451-472. 
 § 9. 'Tribes with Anomalous Class Systems and Male Descent, pp. 
 472-493- 
 § 10. Tribes with neither Exogamous Classes nor Totem Clans, pp. 493- 
 
 .,5P7- . 
 
 § II . Equivalence of the Exo t fam nng Classw, pp. 5ny-5T/|. 
 
 Chapter III. — Totemism in North-East Australia 
 
 • PP- 515-545 
 
 Chapter IV. — Totemism in West Australia . Pp. 546-579 
 
 § I. Totemism in South-West Australia, pp. 546-567. 
 § 2. Totemism in North-West Australia, pp. 567-579. 
 
TOTEMISM 
 
 Reprinted from the First Edition, Edinburgh 1887 
 
 VOL. I 
 
TOTEMISM 
 
 A TOTEM is a class of material objects which a savage Totem 
 regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists '*^'^"^'^- 
 between him and every member of the class an intimate 
 and altogether special relation. The name is derived from 
 ah Ojibway (Chippeway) word totem, the correct spelling of 
 which is somewhat uncertain. It was first introduced into 
 literature, so far as appears, by J. Long, an Indian inter- 
 preter of last century, who spelt it totam} The form 
 toodaim is given by the Rev. Peter Jones, himself an 
 Ojibway ; ^ dodaim by Warren ° and (as an alternative 
 pronunciation to totem) by Morgan ; * and ododam by 
 Francis Assikinack, an Ottawa Indian.^ According to the 
 abb6 Thavenet* the word is properly ote, in the sense of 
 "family or tribe," possessive otem, and with the personal 
 pronoun nind otem " my tribe," kit otem " thy tribe." In 
 English the spelling totem (Keating, James, Schoolcraft,^ 
 etc.) has become established by custom. The connection Connection 
 between a man and his totem is mutually beneficent ; the man^nd* 
 totem protects the man, and the man shows his respect for his totem. 
 the totem in various ways, by not killing it if it be an 
 
 ' Voyages and Travels of an Indian langue Algonquine (Montreal, 1886), 
 
 Interpreter, p. 86, London, 1 791. p- 312. Thavenet admits that the 
 
 ' History of the Ojebway Indians, Indians use ote in the sense of " mark " 
 
 London, 1861, p. 138. (limited apparently to a family mark), 
 
 ' " History of the Ojibways," in but argues that the word must mean 
 
 Collections of the Minnesota Historical family or tribe. 
 
 Society, yo\. v. (St. Paul, Minn., 1885) ' Expedition to Itasca Lake, New 
 
 p. 34. York, 1834, p. 146. etc. Petitot 
 
 * Amient Society, p. 165. spells it lodem in his Monographic des 
 
 ' See Academy, 27th Sept. 1884, Dhti-DindjU, p. 40; but he writes 
 
 p. 203., otimisme in his Traditions Indiennes 
 
 " In J. A. Cuoq's Uxiqne de la dii Canada Nord-ouest, p. 446. 
 
4 TOTE MIS M 
 
 animal, and not cutting or gathering it if it be a, plant. As 
 distinguished from a fetich, a totem is never an isolated ; 
 individual, but always a class of objects, generally a species 
 of animals or of plants, more rarely a class of inanimate 
 natural objects, very rarely a class of artificial objects. 
 
 Considered in relation to men, totems are of at least 
 Threekinds three kinds: — (i) the clan totem, common to a whole clan, 
 the cia^ ' ^"d passing by inheritance from generation to generation ; 
 totem, the (2) the scx totcm, common either to all the males or to all 
 theindl™' the females of a tribe, to the exclusion in either case of the 
 viduai other sex ; (3) the individual totem, belonging to a single 
 individual and not passing to his descendants. Other kinds 
 of totems exist and will be noticed, but they may perhaps 
 be regarded as varieties of the clan totem. The latter is by 
 far the most important of all ; and where we speak of 
 totems or totemism without qualification, the reference is 
 always to the clan totem. 
 The clan The Clan Totem. — The clan totem is reverenced by a 
 
 totem. body of men and women who, call themselves by the name 
 of the totem, believe themselves to be of one blood, de- 
 scendants of a common ancestor, and are bound together 
 by common obligations to each other and by a common 
 Totemism faith in the totem. Totemism is thus both a religious and 
 ligious and ^ social System. In its religious aspect it consists of the 
 a social relations of mutual respect and protection between a man 
 sys em- ^^jj j^jg totem ; in its social aspect it consists of the relations 
 of the clansmen to each other and to men of other clans. 
 In the later history of totemism these two sides, the religious 
 and the social, tend to part company ; the social system 
 sometimes survives the religious ; and, on the other hand, 
 religion sometimes bears traces of totemism in countries 
 where the social system based on totemism has disappeared. 
 How in the origin of totemism these two sides were related 
 to each other it is, in our ignorance of that origin, impossible 
 to say with certainty. But on the whole the evidence points 
 strongly to the conclusion that the two sides were originally 
 inseparable ; that, in other words, the farther we go back, 
 the more we should find that the clansman regards himself 
 and his totem as beings of the same species, and the less he 
 distinguishes between conduct towards his totem and towards 
 
TOTEMISM 5 
 
 his fellow-clansmen. For the sake of exposition, however, 
 it is convenient to separate the two. We begin with the 
 religious side. 
 
 Totemism as a Religion, or the Relation between axotemism 
 Man and his Totem. — The members of a totem clan call ^,.^. -^ 
 
 religion. 
 
 themselves by the name of their totem, and commonly 
 believe themselves to be actually descended from it. 
 
 Thus the Turtle clan of the Iroquois are descended from Belief in 
 a fat turtle, which, burdened by the weight of its shell in 'jf^peop""' 
 walking, contrived by great exertions to throw it off, and from their 
 thereafter gradually developed into a man.^ The Bear and '°'*™^' 
 Wolf clans of the Iroquois are descended from bears and 
 wolves respectively.^ The Cray-Fish clan of the Choctaws 
 were originally cray-fish and lived underground, coming up _^ 
 occasionally through the mud to the surface. Once a party 
 of Choctaws smoked them out, and, treating them kindly, 
 taught them the Choctaw language, taught them to walk on 
 two legs, made them cut off their toe nails and pluck the 
 hair from their bodies, after which they adopted them into 
 the tribe. But the rest of their kindred, the cray-fish, are 
 still living underground.* The Carp clan of the Outaouaks 
 are descended from the eggs of a carp which had been 
 deposited by the fish on the banks of a stream and warmed 
 by the sun.* The Ojibways are descended from a dog.' 
 The Crane clan of the Ojibways are descended from a pair 
 of cranes, which after long wanderings settled on the rapids 
 at the outlet of Lake Superior, where they were transformed 
 by the great spirit into a man and woman." The Black 
 Shoulder clan (a Buffalo clan) of the Omahas were originally 
 buffaloes and dwelt under the surface of the water.^ The 
 Osages are descended from a male snail and a female beaver. 
 The snail burst his shell, developed arms, feet, and legs, and 
 
 ' Second Annual Report of the the Continent of North Ameriia, p. 
 
 Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, cxviii j Bancroft, Native Races of the 
 
 1883, p. 77. Pacific States, i. 118. So with the 
 
 ' Timothy Dwight, Travels in New Kaniagmuts, Dall, Alaska and its 
 
 En.^land and New York (London, Resources, p. 404 sq. 
 1823), iv. p. 184. " Morgan, Aiu. Soc, p. 180. 
 
 ^ Catlin, North American Indians, ' Third Ann. Rep. of Bur. oj 
 
 ii. p. 128. ^ Ethnol., Washington, 1884, pp. 229, 
 
 * Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, 231. Another Buffalo clan among 
 
 Paris, 1 78 1, vi. p. 171. the Omahas has a similar legend (ib. 
 
 ' A. Mackenzie, Voyages through p. 233). 
 
6 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Belief in became a fine tall man; afterwards he married the beaver 
 *« desre"' maid.i The clans of the lowas are descended from the 
 from°he1r animals from which they take their names, namely, eagle, 
 '°'^'"'- pigeon, wolf, bear, elk, beaver, buffalo, and snake." The 
 Moquis say that long ago the Great Mother brought from 
 the west nine clans in the form of deer, sand, water, bears, 
 hares, tobacco-plants, and reed-grass. She planted them on 
 the spots where their villages now stand and transformed 
 them into men, who built the present pueblos, and from 
 whom the present clans are descended.* The Californian 
 Indians, in whose mythology the coyote or prairie-wolf is a 
 leading personage, are descended from coyotes. At first 
 they walked on all fours ; then they began to have some 
 members of the human body, one finger, one toe, one eye, 
 etc., then two fingers, two toes, etc., and so on till they 
 became perfect human beings. The loss of their tails, which 
 they still deplore, was produced by the habit of sitting 
 upright.* The Lenape or Delawares were descended from 
 their totem animals, the wolf, the turtle, and the turkey; 
 but they gave precedence to the Turtle clan, because it was 
 descended, not from a common turtle, but from the great 
 original tortoise which bears the world on its back and was 
 the first of living beings.® The Haidas of Queen Charlotte 
 Islands believe that long ago the raven, who is the chief 
 figure in the mythology of the north-west coast of America, 
 took a cockle from the beach and married it ; the cockle 
 gave birth to a female child whom the raven took to wife, 
 and from their union the Indians were produced.* The 
 
 ' %<^0<Azx3i\.,The American Indians, living authority on the Californian 
 
 p. 95 sq. ; Lewis and Clarke, Travels Indians, finds no totems among them 
 
 to the Source of the Missouri River, (Tribes of California, p. 5). See, 
 
 8vo, London, 1815, i. p. 12. however, pp. 147, 199 of his work for 
 
 2 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, iii. some traces of totemism. 
 268 sq. 5 Brinton, The Lenape and their 
 
 ^ Schoolcraft, Ind. Tri., iv. 86. Legends, p. 39. 
 With the Great Mother Mr. Morgan ^ Geological Stirvey of Canada, Re- 
 
 compares the female deity worshipped port of Progress for iSyS-jg, p. 149B 
 
 by the Shawnees under the title of sq. ; F. Poole, Queen Charlotte Islands, 
 
 "Our Grandmother" [Anc. Soc, p. p. 136; Ausland, 6th October 1884, 
 
 i79«-)- P- 796. Among the neighbouring 
 
 * Schoolcraft, op. cit., iv. 224 sq., Thlinkets the raven (Jeshl) is rather a 
 
 cf. V. 217 ; Boscana, in A. Robinson's creator than an ancestor. See Holm- 
 
 Life in California, p. 298. Mr. berg, " Ethnographische Skizzen ueber 
 
 Stephen Powers, perhaps the best die Voelker des russischen Amerika," 
 
TOTEM ISM 7 
 
 Kutchin trace the origin of their clans to the time when all 
 beasts, birds, and fish were people ; the beasts were one 
 clan, the birds another, and the fish another,^ The Arawaks 
 in Guiana assert that their clans are descended from the 
 eponymous animal, bird, or plant.^ Some of the aboriginal 
 tribes of Peru (not the Inca race) were descended from 
 eagles, others from condors.' Some of the clans of Western 
 Australia are descended from ducks, swans, and other water 
 fowl.* The Geawe-gal tribe in New South Wales believe 
 that each man is akin to his totem in an unexplained way.* 
 The Santals in Bengal, one of whose totems is the wild 
 goose, trace their origin to the eggs of a wild goose." In 
 Senegambia each family or clan is descended from an 
 animal (hippopotamus, crocodile, scorpion, etc.) with which 
 it counts kindred.'^ The inhabitants of Funafuti or EUice 
 Island in the South Pacific believe that the place was first 
 inhabited by the porcupine fish, whose offspring became 
 men and women.* The Kalang, who have claims to be 
 considered the aborigines of Java, are descended from a 
 princess and a chief who had been transformed into a dog.' 
 Some of the inhabitants of the islands Ambon, Uliase, 
 Keisar (Makisar), and Wetar, and the Aaru and Babar 
 archipelagoes, are descended from trees, pigs, eels, crocodiles, 
 sharks, serpents, dogs, turtles, etc." 
 
 Somewhat different are the myths in which a human Descent of 
 ancestress is said to have given birth to an animal of the ^"'f^s 
 totem species. Thus the Snake clan among the Moquis from 
 
 women. 
 
 in Acta Sac, Sc, Fennicae, Helsingfors, * Sir George Grey, Vocabulary of 
 
 iv. (1856) p. 292 sq.; Baer and Ike Dialects o/Sottth-lVeslem Australia, 
 
 Helmersen, Beitr. zur Kenntn. des pp. 29, 61, 63, 66, 71. 
 
 russ. Retches, i. p. 104. So with tlie ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 
 
 wolf in North-West America j it made Kumai, p. 280. 
 
 men and women out of two sticks * Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of 
 
 (Baer and Helmersen, op. cit. i. 93). Bengal, p. 209; Asiat. Quart. Rev., 
 
 In Thlinket mythology the ancestor of July 1886, p. 76. 
 
 the Wolf clan is said never to appear ' Revue d' Elhnographie, iii. p. 396, 
 
 in wolf form (Holmberg, op. cit., p. v. p. 81. 
 
 293). ' Turner, Samoa, p. 281. 
 
 ' Dall, Alaska, p. 197. » Raffles, History of Java, ed. 1817, 
 
 ' Im Thurn, Among the Indians of i. p. 328. 
 
 Guiana, p. 184. '° J- O. F. Riedel, De sluik- en 
 
 * Garcilasso de la Vega, Royal Com- kroesharige Rassen tusschen Selebes en 
 
 mentarits of the liuas, pt. i. bk. i. Papua (The Hague, 1886), pp. 32, 
 
 ch». 9, 18. 253. 334. 4«4. 432- 
 
TOTEM ISM 
 
 Other 
 myths ex- 
 planatory 
 of totem- 
 ism. 
 
 Respect 
 shown to 
 totems : 
 totem 
 animals 
 not killed 
 nor eaten. 
 
 of Arizona are descended from a woman who gave birth 
 to snakes.^ The Bakalai in Western Equatorial Africa 
 believe that their women once gave birth to the totem 
 animals ; one woman brought forth a calf, others a crocodile, 
 hippopotamus, monkey, boa, and wild pig.^ In Samoa the 
 prawn or cray-fish was the totem of one clan, because an 
 infant of the clan had been changed at birth into a number 
 of prawns or cray-fish.^ In some myths the actual descent 
 from the totem seems to have been rationalised away. 
 Thus the Red Maize clan among the Omahas say that the 
 first man of the clan emerged from the water with an ear of 
 red maize in his hand.* A subclan of the Omahas say that 
 the reason why they do not eat buffalo tongues and heads 
 is that one of their chief men, while praying to the sun, once 
 saw the ghost of a buffalo, visible from the flank up, rising 
 out of a spring.^ Two clans of Western Australia, who are 
 named after a small species of opossum and a little fish, 
 think that they are so called because they used to live 
 chiefly on these creatures." Some families in the islands 
 Leti, Moa, and Lakor reverence the shark, and refuse to eat 
 its flesh, because a shark once helped one of their ancestors 
 at sea.*^ The Ainos of Japan say that their first ancestor 
 was suckled by a bear, and that is why they are so hairy.* 
 
 Believing himself to be descended from, and therefore 
 akin to, his totem, the savage naturally treats it with respect. 
 If it is an animal he will not, as a rule, kill or eat it. In 
 the Mount Gambler tribe (South Australia) " a man does 
 not kill or use as food any of the animals of the same sub- 
 division with himself, excepting when hunger compels ; and 
 then they express sorrow for having to eat their wingong 
 (friends) or tumanang (their flesh). When using the last 
 word they touch their breasts, to indicate the close relation- 
 ship, meaning almost a part of themselves. To illustrate : 
 — One day one of the blacks killed a crow. Three or four 
 
 ' Bouike, Snake Dance of the Moquis 
 of Arizona, p. 177. 
 
 ^ Du Chaillu, Explorations and Ad- 
 ventures in Equatorial Africa, p. 308. 
 
 ^ Turner, op. cit., p. 77. 
 
 * E. James, Expedition from Pitts- 
 burgh to the Rocky Motmtains, London, 
 
 1823, ii. p. 48 sq. ; Third Ann. Rep. 
 of Bur. of Ethnol., p. 231. 
 
 '' Third Report, p. 231. 
 
 " Grey, Vocabulary, 4, 95. 
 
 ' Riedel, op. cit., p. 376 sq. 
 
 8 Reclus, Nouv. Giogr. Univ., vii. 
 p. 755- 
 
TOTEMISM 9 
 
 days afterwards a Boortwa (crow) named Larry died. He 
 had been ailing for some days, but the killing of his 
 wingong hastened his death." ^ Here the identification of 
 the man with his totem is carried very far ; it is of the 
 same flesh with him, and to injure any one of the species 
 is physically to injure the man whose totem it is. Mr. 
 Taplin was reproached by some of the Narrinyeri (South 
 Australia) for shooting a wild dog ; he had thereby hurt 
 their ngaitye (totem).^ The tribes about the Gulf of Car- 
 pentaria greatly reverence their totems ; if any one were 
 to kill the totem animal in presence of the man whose 
 totem it was, the latter would say, "What for you kill 
 that fellow ? that my father ! " or " That brother belonging 
 to me you have killed ; why did you do it ? " ' Again, 
 among some Australian tribes " each young lad is strictly 
 forbidden to eat of that animal or bird which belongs to 
 his respective class, for it is his brother."* Sir George 
 Grey says of the Western Australian tribes that a man 
 will never kill an animal of his kobong (totem) species if 
 he finds it asleep ; " indeed, he always kills it reluctantly, 
 and never without affording it a chance to escape. This 
 arises from the family belief that some one individual of 
 the species is their nearest friend, to kill whom would be 
 a 'great crime, and to be carefully avoided." '^ Amongst 
 the Indians of British Columbia a man will never kill his 
 totem animal ; if he sees another do it, he will hide his face 
 for shame, and afterwards demand compensation for the act. 
 Whenever one of these Indians exhibits his totem badge (as 
 by painting it on his forehead), all persons of the same 
 totem are bound to do honour to it by casting property 
 before it.® The Osages, who, as we have seen, believe them- 
 selves descended from a female beaver, abstained from 
 hunting the beaver, " because in killing that animal they 
 killed a brother of the Osages." ' The Ojibways (Chippe- 
 ways) do not kill, hunt, or eat their totems. An Ojibway 
 
 ' Stewart, in Fison and Howitt, ' Qte.y, Journals of Two Expeditions 
 
 Kamitaroi and Kurtiai, p. 169. of Discoveryin Norlh-Westand IVestem 
 
 " Native Tribes of South Australia, Australia, ii. p. 228. 
 
 p. 64. ° R. C. Mayne, British Columbia, 
 
 ^ Jour. Anthrop. Inst., xiii. p. 300. p. 258. 
 
 * lb., p. 303. ' Lewis and Clark, i. p. 12. 
 
Totem 
 animals 
 not killed 
 nor eaten. 
 
 lo TOTEM ISM 
 
 who had unwittingly killed his totem (a bear) described 
 how, on his way home after the accident, he was attacked 
 by a large bear, who asked him why he had killed his totem. 
 The man explained, apologised, and was dismissed with a 
 caution.^ Being descended from a dog, the Ojibways will 
 not eat dog's flesh, and at one time ceased to employ dogs 
 to draw their sledges.^ Some of the Indians of Pennsylvania 
 would not kill the rattlesnake, because they said it was their 
 grandfather, and gave them notice of danger by its rattle. 
 They also abstained from eating rabbits and ground-hogs, 
 because " they did not know but that they might be related 
 to them." ^ The Damaras in South Africa are divided into 
 totem clans, called " eandas " ; and according to the clan to 
 which they belong they refuse to partake, e.g., of an ox 
 marked with black, white, or red spots, or of a sheep without 
 horns, or of draught oxen. Some of them will not even 
 touch vessels in which such food has been cooked, and avoid 
 even the smoke of the fire which has been used to cook it.* 
 The negroes of Senegambia do not eat their totems.^ The 
 Mundas (or Mundaris) and Oraons in Bengal, who are 
 divided into exogamous totem clans, will not kill or eat 
 the totem animals which give their names to the clans.^ 
 A remarkable feature of some of these Oraon totems is, 
 that they are not whole animals, but parts of animals, as 
 the head of a tortoise, the stomach of a pig. In such cases 
 (which are not coniined to Bengal) it is of course not the 
 whole animal, but only the special part which the clansmen 
 are forbidden to eat. Such totems may be distinguished as 
 split toteins. The Jaganndthi Kumhdr in Bengal abstain 
 ft-om killing or injuring the totems of their respective clans 
 
 * J. Long, op. cit., p. 87. 
 
 ^ A.. Mackenzie, loc. cit. ; Bancroft, 
 i. 118. The dog does not appear in 
 the list of Ojibway totems given by 
 Morgan (A. S., p. 166) and P. Jones 
 (Hist, of Ojebway Indians, p. 1 38). 
 
 ^ J. Heckewelder, "Account of the 
 History, Manners, and Customs of the 
 Indian Nations who once inhabited 
 Pennsylvania and the neighbouring 
 States," in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc, 
 Philadelphia, 1S19, i. p. 245. This, 
 combined with the mention of the 
 ground-hog in the myths of their origin, 
 
 points, as Heckewelder observes, to 
 a ground-hog tribe or clan (id., p. 
 244). 
 
 ■* C. J. Andersson, Laie Ngami, p. 
 222 sq. 
 
 ^ Revue dEthnographie, iii. p. 396. 
 
 " Dalton, in Trans. Ethnolog, Sac., 
 Ne-w Series, vi. p. 36 ; id., Ethnok of 
 Bengal, pp. 189, 254; As. Quart. 
 Rev., July 1886, p. 76. Among the 
 Munda totems are the eel and tortoise ; 
 among the Oraons the hawk, crow, 
 heron, eel, kerketar bird, tiger, monkey, 
 and the leaves of the Ficus Indicus. 
 
TOTEM ISM II 
 
 (namely tiger, snake, weasel, cow, frog, sparrow, tortoise), 
 and they bow to their totems when they meet them.^ The 
 Badris, also in Bengal, may not eat of their totem, the heron.^ 
 The inhabitants of Ambon Uliase, Keisar (Makisar), Wetar, 
 and the Aaru and Babar archipelagoes may not eat the pigs, 
 crocodiles, sharks, serpents, dogs, turtles, eels, etc., from which 
 they are respectively descended.^ 
 
 When the totem is a plant the rules are such as these. Respect 
 A native of Western Australia, whose totem is a vegetable, ^^°™ '" 
 " may not gather it under certain circumstances and at a plants. 
 particular period of the year."* The Oraon clan, whose 
 totem is the leaf of the Ficus Indicus, will not eat from the 
 leaves of that tree (the leaves are used as plates).^ Another 
 Oraon clan, whose totem is the Kujrar tree, will not eat the 
 oil of that tree, nor sit in its shade.* The Red Maize clan 
 of the Omahas will not eat red maize.'' Those of the people 
 of Ambon and Uliase who are descended from trees may 
 not use these trees for firewood.* 
 
 The rules not to kill or eat the totem are not the only other 
 taboos ; the clansmen are often forbidden to touch the '°'*™ 
 
 taboos. 
 
 totem or any part of it, and sometimes they may not even 
 look at it. 
 
 Amongst the Omaha taboos are the following. ( i ) The Omaha 
 Elk clan neither eat the flesh nor touch any part of the '^boos. 
 male elk, and they do not eat the male deer.' (2) A sub- 
 clan of the Black Shoulder (Buffalo) clan may not eat 
 buffalo tongues nor touch a buffalo head (split totem).*" (3) 
 The Hanga clan is divided into two subclans, one of which 
 may not eat buffalo sides, geese, swans, nor cranes, but they 
 may eat buffalo tongues ; the other may not eat buffalo 
 tongues but may eat buffalo sides (split totems)." (4) 
 Another subclan may not touch the hide of a black bear 
 nor eat its flesh.'^ (5) The Eagle subclan, curiously enough, 
 
 • As. Quart. /!ev.,]\i\y 1886, p. 79. ' E. James, Expeditim from Pitts- 
 ' Dalton, Ethnol. of Bengal,'^. 327. burgh to the Rocky Mountains, ii. p. 
 ' Riedel, 0/. fiV., pp. 61, 253, 341, 48; Third Rep. Bur. Ethnol., p. 
 
 414. 432. 231. 
 
 * Gtey, Journals, ii. 228 sg. * Riedel, op. cil., p. 61. 
 
 ' Dalton, Ethn. of Bengal, p. 254 ; " James, «/. <-;/., ii. 47 ; Third Rep., 
 
 As. Quart. Rev., July 1886, p. 76. 225. 
 
 "Dalton, op. cit., 254; id., in •" 7V/«Vrf A'«/., 231. 
 
 Trans. Ethnol. Soc, vi. p. 36; As. " /*., 235. 
 
 Quart. Rev., loc. cit. '^ rb., 237. 
 
12 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Totem may not touch a buffalo head.^ (6) A Turtle subclan may 
 taboos ^ ^^ ^ xxxr^Xe, but they may touch or carry one.^ (7) 
 
 among the ' ^ •' ^ ra\ T^u "R ^ \c\ 
 
 Omahas. Another clan may not touch verdigris. (8) ine tsunaio- 
 Tail clan may not eat a calf while it is red, but they may 
 do so when it turns black ; they may not touch a buffalo 
 head ; they may not eat the meat on the lowest rib, because 
 the head of the calf before birth touches the mother near 
 that rib.* (9) The Deer-Head clan may not touch the skin 
 of any animal of the deer family, nor wear moccasins of deer 
 skin, nor use the fat of the deer for hair-oil ; but they may 
 eat the flesh of deer.* (10) A subclan of the Deer-Head 
 clan had a special taboo, being forbidden to touch verdigris, 
 charcoal, and the skin of a wild cat. According to others, 
 the whole Deer- Head clan was forbidden to touch charcoal.^ 
 (11) Another clan does not eat a buffalo calf.^ (12) Another 
 clan does not touch worms, snakes, toads, frogs, nor any 
 other kind of reptiles ; hence they are sometimes called 
 Reptile People.^ 
 
 Totem Of the totem clans in Bengal it is said that they " are 
 
 prohibited from killing, eating, cutting, burning, carrying, 
 using, etc.," the totem.® The Keriahs in India not only do 
 not eat the sheep, but will not even use a woollen rug.^° 
 Similarly in ancient Egypt (a nest of totems) the sheep was 
 reverenced and eaten by no one except the people of Wolf 
 town (Lycopolis), and woollen garments were not allowed 
 to be carried into temples.^^ Some of the Bengal totem 
 taboos are peculiar. The Tirki clan of the Oraons, whose 
 totem is young mice, will not look at animals whose eyes 
 are not yet open, and their own offspring are never shown 
 
 1 Third Rep., 22,^. There seems to was thought to symbolise the blue 
 be a cross connection between the Eagles sky. 
 and the Buffaloes among the Omahas; ' Third Rep., 248. 
 for a subclan of the Buffalo clan (the ^ James, ii. 50; Third Rep., 248. 
 Black Shoulder clan) had a series of " As. Qitart. Rev.,']\i\y 1886, p. 75. 
 eagle birth -names in addition to the "^ V. Ball, yK«^/« Life in Itidia, p. 
 buffalo birth - names common to the 89. 
 whole clan {ib., 231 sq.). " Herod., ii. 42, 81 ; Plut. Is. et 
 
 2 lb., 240. James (op. cit., ii. 49) Os., §§ 4, 72. Again the sheep was 
 says they "do not touch turtles or worshipped in Samos (Aelian, N. A. 
 tortoises." xii. 40; Clem. Alex., Protrept., 39); 
 
 3 James, /oi:. «V. ; Third Rep., 2^1. and Pythagoras, a native of Samos, 
 * James, loc. cit. ; Third Rep., 244. forbade his followers to wear or be 
 '' James, loc. cit. ; Third Rep., 245. buried in woollen garments (Herod., ii. 
 
 taboos in 
 India. 
 
 Third Rep., 245 sq. Verdigris 81; Apuleius, Z>« ^^/a^'a, 56). 
 
TOTEM ISM 13 
 
 till they are wide awake.^ Another Oraon clan objects to 
 water in which an elephant has bathed.^ A Mahili clan will 
 not allow their daughters to enter their houses after marriage ; 
 a Kurmi clan will not wear shell ornaments ; another will 
 not wear silk ; another give children their first rice naked.* 
 
 The Bechuanas in South Africa, who have a well- Totem 
 developed totem system, may not eat nor clothe themselves ^^^T '" 
 in the skin of the totem animal.* They even avoid, at least 
 in some cases, to look at the totem. Thus to a man of the 
 Bakuena (Bakwain) or Crocodile clan, it is " hateful and 
 unlucky " to meet or gaze on a crocodile ; the sight is 
 thought to cause inflammation of the eyes. So when a 
 Crocodile clansman happens to go near a crocodile he spitsl 
 on the ground as a preventive charm, and says, " There is* 
 sin." Yet they call the crocodile their father, celebrate it in 
 their festivals, swear by it, and make an incision resembling 
 the mouth of a crocodile in the ears of their cattle as a 
 mark to distinguish them from others.* The puti (a kind 
 of antelope) is the totem of the Bamangwats, another 
 Bechuana clan ; and to look on it was a great calamity to 
 the hunter or to women going to the gardens.* The common 
 goat .is the sacred animal (totem ?) of the Madenassana 
 Bushmen ; yet " to look upon it would be to render the i 
 man for the time impure, as well as to cause him undefined 
 uneasiness." ' 
 
 A Samoan clan had for its totem the butterfly. The Totem 
 insect was supposed to have three mouths ; hence the slimoL" 
 Butterfly men were forbidden " to drink from a cocoa-nut 
 shell water-bottle which had all the eyes or openings 
 perforated. Only one or at the most two apertures for 
 drinking were allowed. A third would be a mockery, and 
 bring down the wrath of his butterflyship." ^ 
 
 ' Dalton, in TV. Ethnol. Soc, vi. 36. ^ As. Quart. Rev., July 1886, p. 77. 
 
 For the totem, id., Ethnol. of Bengal, * Casalis, The Basutos, p. 211. 
 
 p. 254 ; As. Quart. Rev., 76. The ^ Livingstone, Missionary Travels 
 
 reason of the taboo is perhaps a fear of and Researches in Smith Africa, p. 255 ; 
 
 contracting blindness. Some North John Mackenzie, Ten Years North of 
 
 American Indians will not allow their the Orange River, p. 135 n. ; Casalis, 
 
 children to touch the mole, believing The Basutos, p. 211. 
 
 that its blindness is infectious (J. Adair, » J. Mackenzie, op. cit., 391 sq. ; 
 
 History of the Avierican Indians, p. cf. Jour. Anthrop. Inst. , xvi. p. 84. 
 
 133), ' J. Mackenzie, op. cit., 135. 
 
 » Tr. Ethnol. Soc, vi. 36. ' Turner, Samoa, p. 76. 
 
14 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Cross Cross Totems. — Another Samoan clan had for its totem 
 
 '"'Totems the ends of leaves and of other things. These ends were 
 
 which considered sacred, and not to be handled or used in any 
 
 sewrat^ way. It is said to have been no small trouble to the 
 
 dSct clansmen in daily life to cut off the ends of all the tafo, 
 
 species. bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut leaves required for cooking. 
 
 Ends of yams, bananas, fish, etc., were also carefully laid 
 
 aside and regarded as being as unfit for food as if they had 
 
 been poison.^ This is an example of what may be called a 
 
 cross totem, i.e. a totem which is neither a whole animal or 
 
 plant, nor a part of one particular species of animal or 
 
 plant, but is a particular part of all (or of a number of 
 
 species of) animals or plants. Other examples of cross 
 
 totems are the ear of any animal (totem of a Mahili clan in 
 
 Bengal) ; ^ the eyes of fish (totem of a Samoan olan) ; ^ bone 
 
 (totem of the Sauks and Foxes in North America);* and 
 
 blood (totem of the Blackfeet Indians).^ More exactly, 
 
 such totems should be called cross-split totems ; while the 
 
 name cross totem should be reserved for a totem which, 
 
 overstepping the limits of a single natural species, includes 
 
 under itself several species. Examples of such cross totems 
 
 are the small bird totem of the Omahas, the reptile totem of 
 
 the Omahas,^ and the big tree totem of the Sauks and Foxes." 
 
 Totem Sometimes the totem animal is fed or even kept alive j 
 
 ammaisfed jj^, captivity. A Samoan clan whose totem was the eel usedl 
 
 Or lc6Dt in 
 
 captivity, to present the first fruits of the taro plantations to the eels ;' 
 another Samoan clan fed the cray-fish because it was their 
 totem.^ The Delawares sacrificed to hares ; to Indian corn 
 they offered bear's flesh, but to deer and bears Indian corn ; 
 to fishes they offered small pieces of bread in the shape of 
 fishes.-^" Amongst the Narrinyeri in South Australia men 
 of the Snake clan sometimes catch snakes, pull out their 
 teeth or sew up their mouths, and keep them as pets.^'j j 
 In a Pigeon clan of Samoa a pigeon was carefully kept and 
 
 ^ Turner, Samoa, 70. * Turner, op. cil., p. 71. 
 
 2 As. Quart. Rev., July 1886, » /b., p. 77. 
 
 p. 77- '" Loskiel, History of the Mission of 
 
 ^ Turner, op. cit., p. 74. the United Brethren in North America, 
 
 * Morgan, ^. 5., p. 170. i. p. 40; De Schweinitz, Life of 
 
 ■' lb., p. 171. Zeisberger, p. 95 sq. 
 
 •■ Third Rep., 238, 248. " Native Tribes of South Austraiia, 
 
 ' Morgan, A. S., 170. p. 63. 
 
TOTEMISM 15 
 
 fed.^ Amongst the Kalang in Java, whose totem is the 
 red dog, each family as a rule keeps one of these animals, 
 which they will on no account allow to be struck or ill-used 
 by any one.* Eagles are kept in cages and fed in some of 
 the Moqui villages, and the eagle is a Moqui totem.^ The 
 Ainos in Japan keep eagles, crows, owls, and bears in cages, 
 and show a superstitious reverence for them ; the young 
 bear cubs are suckled by the women.* 
 
 The dead totem is mourned for and buried like a dead Dead 
 clansman. In Samoa, if a man of the Owl totem found a '°'5'" , 
 
 ' animals 
 
 dead owl by the road-side, he would sit down and weep mourned 
 over it and beat his forehead with stones till the blood ^""^ ''""^''• 
 flowed. The bird would then be wrapped up and buried 
 with as much ceremony as if it had been a human being. 
 " This, however, was not the death of the god. He was 
 supposed to be yet alive, and incarnate in all the owls in 
 existence." ° The generalisation here implied is characteristic 
 of totemism ; it_is _not merely an individual but the species v^^^^ 
 th^t_isj;eserenced. — The Wanika in Eastern Africa look on 
 the hyaena as one of their ancestors, and the death of a 
 hyaena is mourned by the whole people ; the mourning for a 
 chief is said to be as nothing compared to the mourning for 
 a hyaena." A tribe of Southern Arabia used to bury a dead 
 gazelle wherever they found one, and the whole tribe 
 mourned for it seven days.' The lobster was generally 
 considered sacred by the Greeks, and not eaten ; if the 
 people of Seriphos (an island in the Aegean) caught a lobster 
 in their nets they put it back into the sea ; if they found a 
 dead one, they buried it and mourned over it as over one of 
 themselves.* At Athens any man who killed a wolf had to 
 
 ' Turner, op. cit. , p. 64. akin to the Ainos (Scheube, Die Ainos, 
 
 2 Raffles, Hist, of Java, i. p. 328, p. 17; Revue d'Ethnographie, ii. p. 
 
 ed. 181 7. 307 sq.). 
 
 ' Bourke, Snake Dance of the Moquis ' Turner, op. cit. , p. 2 1 , ^ 26,60 sq. 
 
 ef Arizona, pp. 252, 336. " Charles New, Life, Wanderings, 
 
 * y. A. I., ii. 252, 254; id., iii. and Labours in Eastern Africa, f. 122. 
 239 ; Kein, Japan, i. 446 sq. ; Siebold, ' Robertson Smith, Kinship and 
 Ethnol. Stud, ueber die Ainos, p. 26; Marriage in Early Arabia, p. 195. 
 Scheube, Der Baerencultus und die * Aelian, N. A., xiii. 26. The 
 Batrenfest der Ainos, p. 44 sq. Young solemn burial of a sardine by a river- 
 bears are similarly brought up (though side is a ceremony observed in Spain 
 not suckled) by the Giljaks, a people on Ash Wednesday (Folk-Lore Record, 
 on the lower Amoor, who are perhaps iv. 184 sq.). 
 
1 6 TOTEMISM 
 
 bury it by subscription.^ A Californian tribe which rever- 
 enced the buzzard held an annual festival at which the chief 
 ceremony was the killing of a buzzard without losing a drop 
 of its blood. It was then skinned, the feathers were pre- 
 served to make a sacred dress for the medicine-man, and the 
 body was buried in holy ground amid the lamentations of 
 the old women, who mourned as for the loss of a relative or 
 friend.^ 
 Totem As some totem clans avoid looking at their totem, so 
 
 sp™en^of° others are careful not to speak of it by its proper name, but 
 by their use descriptive epithets instead. The three totems of the 
 names. Delawares — the wolf, turtle, and turkey — were referred to 
 respectively as " round foot," " crawler," and " not chewing," 
 the last referring to the bird's habit of swallowing its food ; 
 and the clans called themselves, not Wolves, Turtles, and 
 Turkeys, but " Round Feet," " Crawlers," and " Those who 
 do not chew." ^ The Bear clan of the Ottawas called them- 
 selves not Bears but Big Feet.* The object of these 
 circumlocutions is probably to give no offence to the 
 worshipful animal, just as Swedish herd girls are careful 
 not to call the wolf and the bear by their proper names, 
 fearing that if they heard themselves so called the beasts 
 would attack the cattle. Hence the herd girls call the 
 wolf " the silent one," " grey legs," " golden tooth " ; and the 
 bear " the old man," " great father," " twelve men's strength," 
 " golden feet," etc.'^ Similarly the Kamtchatkans never 
 speak of the bear and wolf by their proper names, believing { 
 that these animals understand human speech.'^ Bushmen 
 think it very unlucky to refer to the lion by name.^ 
 Supposed The penalties supposed to be incurred by acting dis- 
 
 iii-trSg^''^spe'=tfully to the totem are various. The Bakalai think 
 the tot^m. that if a man were to eat his totem the women of his clan 
 / would miscarry and give birth to animals of the totem kind, 
 
 1 6.-^dpu ai)7-(? TO. ■wph% tt)v Ta.<j>-fii'. 4 Acad., 27th Sept. 1884, p. 203, 
 Schol. on ApoUonius Rhodius, ii. 124. quoting from the Catiadian Journal 
 
 2 Boscana, in Alfred Robinson's (Toronto), No. 14, March 1858. 
 Life iti California, p. 291 sq. ; Ban- ^ l, UoyA, Peasant Life in Sweden, 
 croft. Native Races of the Pacific States, p. 251. 
 
 iii. p. 168. 6 steller, Beschr. von deni Lande 
 
 •> Brinton, The Lenape and their Kamtschatka, p. 276. 
 
 Legends, p. 39; Morgan, A. 5., p. 7 J. Mackenzie, Ten Years North of 
 
 171 ; Heckewelder, p. 247. the Orange River, p. 151. 
 
TOT EM ISM 17 
 
 or die of an awful disease.^ The Elk clan among the 
 Omahas believe that if any clansman were to touch any 
 part of the male elk, or eat its flesh or the flesh of the male 
 deer, he would break out in boils and white spots in different 
 parts of the body.^ The Red Maize subclan of the Omahas 
 believe that, if they were to eat of the red maize, they would 
 have running sores all round their mouth.^ And in general 
 the Omahas believe that to eat of the totem, even in 
 ignorance, would cause sickness, not only to the eater, but 
 also to his wife and children.* White hair is regarded by 
 them as a token that the person has broken a totem taboo, 
 e.g. that a man of the Reptile clan has touched or smelt 
 a snake." The inhabitants of Wetar think that leprosy 
 and madness are the result of eating the totem.^ The 
 worshippers of the Syrian goddess, whose creed was 
 saturated with totemism, believed that if they ate a sprat or 
 an anchovy their whole bodies would break out in ulcers, 
 their legs would waste away, and their liver melt, or that 
 their belly and legs would swell up.^ The Egyptians, one 
 of whose totems seems to have been the pig, thought that if 
 a man drank pig's milk his body would break out in a scab.* 
 The Bosch negroes of Guiana think that if they ate the 
 capiat (an animal like a pig) it would give them leprosy.' 
 The Singhie tribe of Dyaks, whose totem seems to be the 
 deer (they will not eat its flesh nor allow it to be carried 
 into their houses or cooked at their fires ; the grown men 
 will not even touch it), believe that if any man were to eat 
 deer's flesh he would go mad ; a man who ran about the 
 forest naked, imitating the noises and habits of a deer, was 
 thought to have eaten venison.^" 
 
 The Samoans thought it death to injure or eat their in Samoa 
 totems. The totem was supposed to take up his abode in conle-'*"^ 
 the sinner's body, and there to gender the very thing qiience of 
 which he had eaten till it caused his death." Thus ifloiem"^ 
 
 ' Du Chaillu, Equal. Afr., p. 309. ' V\\x\.axch, De Siipent., 10; Selden, 
 
 2 Third Rep., 225. De dis Syris, p. 269 sj., Leipsic, 1668. 
 
 » /«., 231. 8 Plutarch, Isis et Os., 8. 
 
 • James, Expedition to the Rocky " J.Crevaux, Voyages dans P AnUrique 
 
 Mountains, ii. p. 50. du Sud, p. 59. 
 
 » Third Rep., 275. '" Low, Sarawak, p. 265 sq., 306. 
 
 " Riedel, op. at., p. 452. " Turner, Samoa, p. 17 sq. 
 
 VOL. I C 
 
1 8 TOTEM ISM 
 
 In Samoa a Turtle man ate of a turtle he grew very ill, and the 
 conS-*^ voice of the turtle was heard in his inside saying, "He 
 quenceof ate me; I am killing him."^ If a Prickly Sea- Urchin 
 totem"^*''man consumed one of these shell-fish, a prickly sea-urchin 
 grew in his body and killed him.^ Pig's heart and octopus 
 were equally fatal to the eater who had these for his totem.* 
 If a Mullet man ate a mullet he squinted.* If a Cockle man 
 picked up a cockle and carried it away from the shore, it 
 appeared on some part of his person ; if he actually ate it, 
 it grew on his nose.^ If a man whose totem was the ends 
 of banana leaves used one of them as a cap, baldness was 
 the result.^ If a Butterfly man caught a butterfly, it struck 
 him dead.'' The Wild Pigeon clan might not use as plates 
 the reddish -seared breadfruit leaves "under a penalty of 
 being seized with rheumatic swellings, or an eruption all 
 over the body called tangosusu, and resembling chicken- 
 pox." ^ If a Domestic Fowl man ate of that bird, delirium 
 and death were the consequence.® 
 Samoan In such cases, however, the Samoans had a mode of 
 
 a'p°ptas'ing appeasing the angry totem. The offender himself or one of 
 an offended his clan was wrapped in leaves and laid in an unheated oven, 
 ° ^™' as if he were about to be baked. Thus if amongst the 
 Cuttle-Fish clan a visitor had caught a cuttle-fish and cooked 
 it, or if a Cuttle-Fish man had been present at the eating of 
 a cuttle-fish, the Cuttle-Fish clan met and chose a man or 
 woman who went through the pretence of being baked. 
 Otherwise a cuttle-fish would grow in the stomach of some 
 of the clan and be their death.^" So with the stinging ray 
 fish and the mullet. But if a member of the clan of which 
 these two fish were the joint totem tasted either of them, 
 then, in addition to the baking, he had to drink a cup of 
 rancid oil dregs, probably as a purgative." This pretence 
 of cooking a clansman seems to have been especially 
 obligatory when the totem had been cooked in the oven. 
 To have afterwards used the oven without going through 
 this form of expiation would have been fatal to the family .^^ 
 In Australia, also, the punishment for eating the totem 
 
 ' Turner, Samoa, p. 50. 8 jj,^ y^ 9 j^ ,» 
 
 ^ ^''■' 51- ' ^i; 72. i» lb., 31 sq. 11 Ib\ 38, cf. 72. 
 
 "t^e:"- ri^e.- '^^*-. 59.^/. 58, 69 .,.,7.. 
 
TOTEM ISM 19 
 
 appears to have been sickness or death.^ But it is not Food 
 merely the totem which is tabooed to the Australians ; they A^traiia. 
 have, besides, a very elaborate code of food prohibitions, 
 which vary chiefly with age, being on the whole strictest and 
 most extensive at puberty, and gradually relaxing with 
 advancing years. Thus young men are forbidden to eat 
 the emu ; if they ate it, it is thought that they would be 
 afflicted with sores all over their bodies.^ The restrictions 
 on women till they are past the age of child-bearing seem 
 to be more numerous than those on men. Children are not 
 restricted at all, nor are old men and old women.^ These 
 restrictions are removed by an old man smearing the person's 
 face with the fat of the forbidden animal.* 
 
 In some tribes the respect for the totem has lessened or Respect 
 disappeared. Thus the Narrinyeri in South Australia do i°sse°ed"or 
 not kill their totem unless it is an animal which is good for 'o^t. 
 food, when they have no objection to eating it.° Mr. Eyre 
 never observed any reluctance on the part of the natives of 
 South Australia to kill their totems.^ Some natives of New 
 South Wales, though they will not themselves kill their 
 totem, have no objection to any one else killing it and they 
 will then eat it' The Dieri in South Australia pay no 
 particular respect to their totems, and they eat them.* A 
 Samoan of the Turtle clan, though he would not himself eat 
 a turtle, would help a neighbour to cut up and cook one ; 
 but in doing so he kept a bandage over his mouth lest an 
 embryo turtle should slip down his throat, grow up, and kill 
 him.' 
 
 A Bechuana will kill his totem if it be a hurtful animal. Apologies 
 e.g. a lion, but not without apologising to the animal ; and totem. "^ 
 the slayer must go through a form of purification for the 
 sacrilege.^" Similarly in North America, if an Outaouak of 
 the Bear clan killed a bear, he made the beast a feast of its 
 
 ' y. A. /., xiii. p. 192. ' Native Tribes of South Australia, 
 
 ' T. L. Mitchell, Three Expeditions p. 63. 
 
 into the Interior 0/ Eastern Australia, " Eyre,_/o«r., ii. 328. 
 
 ii. p. 341. ' /. A. I., xiv. 350. 
 
 ' See especially Eyre, Journals of ' Mr. Samuel Gason of Beltana, 
 
 Expeditions of Discovery into Central South Australia, in a letter to the 
 
 Australia, ii. 293 sq. ; but see below, present writer. See/. A. I., xvii. 
 
 p. ^l sq. " Turner, op. cit., p. 67 sq. 
 
 * /. A. /., xiii. 456, xiv. 316. •» Casalis, The Basutos, p. 211. 
 
20 TOTE MIS M 
 
 own flesh and harangued it, apologising for the necessity he 
 was under of killing it, alleging that his children were hungry, 
 etc.^ Some but not all of the Moqui clans abstain from 
 eating their totems.^ The tribes about Alabama and Georgia 
 had no respect for their totems, and would kill them when 
 they got the chance.^ The Omahas do not worship their 
 totems.* 
 Totem The relation between a man and his totem is one of 
 
 expected to muj-yal help and protection. If the man respects and cares 
 people. / for the totem, he expects that the totem will do the same by 
 him. In Senegambia the totems, when they are dangerous'/ 
 animals, will not hurt their clansmen ; e.g. men of the ( 
 Scorpion clan affirm that scorpions (of a very deadly kind) 
 will run over their bodies without biting them.^ A similar 
 immunity from snakes was claimed by a Snake clan 
 (Ophiogenes) in Cyprus.^ Another Snake clan (Ophiogenes) 
 in Asia Minor, believing that they were descended from 
 snakes, and that snakes were their kinsmen, submitted to a 
 practical test the claims of any man amongst them whom 
 they suspected of being no true clansman. They made a I 
 snake bite him ; if he survived, he was a true clansman ; if 
 he died, he was not.^ 
 Tests of Similar is the test of a medicine-man among the Moxos 
 
 wUh'^sacred °^ P^ru. One of their totems is the tiger (jaguar) ; and a 
 animal. Candidate for the rank of medicine-man must prove his 
 kinship to the tiger by being bitten by that animal and 
 surviving the bite.^ The Psylli, a Snake clan in Africa, had 
 a similar test of kinship ; they exposed their new-born 
 children to snakes, and if the snakes left them unharmed 
 or only bit without killing them, the children were legitimate ; 
 otherwise they were bastards.^ In Senegambia, at the 
 
 1 Lett. Edif., vi. p. 171. 8 " Relation de la Mission des Moxes 
 
 2 Morgan, A. S., p. 180, cf. id., 86. dans le Perou," printed in Fr. Coreal's 
 ^ KAsSx, Hist. Amer. Indians,^. \t. Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, iii. 
 * Dotsey, in American A/i/ifuai-iau, p. 249, and in Left. Edif., viii. 
 
 V. 274. p. 89. 
 
 "> Revue d'Ethnograp/iie, iii. p. 396. » Varro, loc. cit. ; Pliny, N. H., vii. 
 
 8 Pliny, N. H., xxviii. 30. § 14. Pliny has got it wrong end on. 
 
 ' Varro in Priscian x. 32, vol. i. p. He says that if the snakes did not leave 
 
 524, ed. Keil. For the snake descent the children they were bastards. We 
 
 of the clan see Strabo, xiii. i, 14 ; may safely correct his statement by 
 
 Aelian, N. A., xii. 39. Varro's. 
 
TOTEM ISM 21 
 
 present day, a python is expected to visit every child of the 
 Python clan within eight days after birth ; a Mandingo of 
 this clan has been known to say that if his children were 
 not so visited, he would kill them.^ The Malagasy custom 
 of placing a new-born child at the entrance to a cattle- 
 pen, and then driving the cattle over it to see whether 
 they would trample on it or not, was perhaps originally 
 a kinship test.^ Another birth test of kinship with the 
 sacred animal (though of a different kind) is that used 
 to discover the new Dhurma Raja in Assam. He is 
 supposed to be an incarnation of the deity ; and when 
 he dies the child that refuses its mother's milk and prefers 
 that of a cow is the new Dhurma Raja.^ This points to a 
 cow totem. 
 
 Other totem clans regard a man who has been bitten by 
 the totem, even though he survives, as disowned by the 
 totem, and therefore they expel him from the clan. Among 
 the Crocodile clan of the Bechuanas, if a man has been 
 bitten by a crocodile, or merely had water splashed over him 
 by a crocodile's tail, he is expelled the clan.^ Some judicial some 
 ordeals may have originated in totem tests of kinship. Ju^'^'fi 
 
 , , ordeals and 
 
 Thus, in Travancore, there was a judicial ordeal by snake- oaths 
 bite ; the accused thrust his hand into a mantle in which a p^'^^'^p^ 
 
 ' ... derived 
 
 cobra was wrapped up ; if it bit him, he was guilty ; if not, from 
 he was innocent.'' That we have here a relic of totemism 'o'*""^'"- 
 appears not only from the worship of snakes in the district, 
 but also from the fact that, if a dead cobra was found by 
 the people, it was burned with the same ceremonies as the 
 body of a man of high caste.^ Oaths were originally ordeals, 
 and some of them are of totem origin. The Crocodile clan 
 of the Bechuanas swear by the crocodile ; the Santals (or 
 Sonthals), a totem tribe of Bengal, are said to adore the 
 tiger (which probably means that the tiger is one of their 
 
 ' Revue cT Ethnographie, iii. p. * Livingstone, South Africa, p. 255. 
 
 397. ' J. Canter Visscher, Letters from 
 
 - Ellis, Hist, of Madagascar, i. p. Malabar, p. 69. For an ordeal by 
 
 157. According to Mr. Sibree, this crocodiles in Madagascar (where the 
 
 was only done with children born in crocodile is much reverenced) see Folk- 
 
 the month Alakaosy (Folk-Lore Rec, Lore Rec, ii. p. 35, cf. p. 21. 
 
 ii. 35 sg.). ° \"isscher, op. cit., p. 162. For 
 
 ' Robinson, Descriptive Account of ordeal by snake-bite cf. Asiatick 
 
 Assam, p. 342 sq. Researches, i. p. 391. 
 
TOTEM ISM 
 
 Benefits 
 conferred 
 by the 
 totem on 
 his people. 
 
 Totem 
 gives 
 omens to 
 his people. 
 
 totems), and to swear ona tiger's skin is their most solemn 
 oath.^ 
 
 But it isno t enough that the totem should merely abstain / 
 fr om imunng, he must positively benefit the men who put ^ 
 t heir fai t h in hl twr- The Snake clan (Ophiogenes) of Asia 
 Minor believed that if they were bitten by an adder they 
 had only to put a snake to the wound and their totem 
 would suck out the poison and soothe away the inflammation 
 and the pain.^ Hence Omaha medicine-men, in curing the 
 sick, imitate the action and voice of their (individual) totem.* 
 Members of the Serpent clan in Senegambia profess to heal 
 by their touch persons who have been bitten by serpents.* 
 A similar profession was made in antiquity by Snake 
 clans in Africa, Cyprus, and Italy.* The Small Bird 
 subclan of the Omahas, though ordinarily they are for- 
 bidden to eat small birds, in sickness may eat prairie 
 chickens." The Samoan clan whose totem was the ends 
 of leaves and of other things, though in ordinary life they 
 might not use them, were allowed and even required to 
 fan a sick clansman with the ends of cocoa-nut leaflets.''' 
 Members of the Sea- Weed clan in Samoa, when they went 
 to fight at sea, took with them some sea-weed, which they 
 threw into the sea to hinder the flight of the enemy ; if the 
 enemy tried to pick it up it sank, but rose again when any 
 of the Sea- Weed clan paddled up to it* This resembles 
 the common incident in folk tales of magic obstacles thrown 
 out by fugitives to stay pursuit. 
 
 Again, the totem gives his clansmen important informa- 
 tion by means of omens. In the Coast Murring tribe of 
 New South Wales each man's totem warned him of coming 
 danger ; if his totem was a kangaroo, a kangaroo would 
 warn him against his foes.^ The Kurnai in Victoria reverence 
 
 ' Daltcn, Eih. of Ben., p. 214. 
 For the Sonthal (Santal) totems see 
 As. Quart. Rev., July i886, p. 76. 
 For other oaths bearing strong impress 
 of a totem origin (swearing on a bear's 
 skin, a lizard's skin, earth of an ant 
 hill, etc.) see Dalton, op. cit., pp. 38, 
 158, 294. 
 
 2 Strabo, xiii. i, 14. In Madagascar 
 a god of healing was also, like Aescula- 
 
 pius, a god of serpents ; his attendants 
 carried living serpents in their hands 
 (Folk-Lore Rec, ii. 20). 
 
 3 James, Expedition to the Rocky 
 Mountains, i. p. 247. 
 
 * Revue d'El/mographie, iii. p. 396. 
 
 5 Pliny, N. H., xxviii. 30. 
 
 6 Third Rep., 238. 
 
 '' Turner, Samoa, 70. 8 /i.^ p. 71. 
 "/. A. /., xiii. 195 «., xvi. 46. 
 
TOTEMISM 23 
 
 the crow as one of their ancestors, and think that it watches 
 over them and answers their questions by cawing.^ The 
 Samoan totems gave omens to their clansmen. Thus, 
 if an owl flew before the Owl clan, as they marched to 
 war, it was a signal to go on ; but if it flew across their 
 path, or backwards, it was a sign to retreat* Some kept a 
 tame owl on purpose to give omens in war.' The appearance 
 of the totem in or about the house was by some clans 
 regarded as an omen of death ; the totem had come to 
 fetch his kinsman. This was the case with land-crabs 
 and eels.* 
 
 When the conduct of the totem is not all that his Compui- 
 clansmen could desire, they have various ways of putting j^°"^*pp''*'^ 
 pressure on him. In harvest time, when the birds eat the 
 corn, the Small Bird clan of the Omahas take some corn 
 which they chew and spit over the field. This is thought 
 to keep the birds from the crops.^ If worms infest the corn 
 the Reptile clan of the Omahas catch some of them and 
 pound them up with some grains of corn which have been 
 heated. They make a soup of the mixture and eat it, 
 believing that the corn will not be infested again, at least 
 for that year." During a fog the men of the Turtle subclan 
 of the Omahas used to draw the figure of a turtle on the 
 ground with its face to the south. On the head, tail, middle 
 of the back, and on each leg were placed small pieces of a 
 red breech-cloth with some tobacco. This was thought to 
 make the fog disappear.^ Another Omaha clan, who are 
 
 >/./<./., XV. p. 415. 'Third Rep., 248. With this 
 
 ' Turner, Samoa, 21, 24, 60. custom compare a Syrian superstition. 
 
 ' lb., 25 sg- Other omens were When caterpillars invaded a vineyard 
 
 drawn from the rainbow (ib., 21, 35), or field the virgins were gathered and 
 
 shooting star (21), species of fish (27), one of the caterpillars was taken and a 
 
 clouds (27), cuttle-fish (29), herons (35), girl made its mother. Then they be- 
 
 a creeper-bird (38), lizards (44, 47), a wailed and buried it. Thereafter they 
 
 speciesofbird(48), kingfishers (48, 54), conducted the "mother "to the place 
 
 dogs(49), bats(Sl), shark's teeth (55), where the caterpillars were, consoling 
 
 lightning (59 sf.), rail bird (61, 65), her, in order that all the caterpillars 
 
 the bird called porphyris Samoensis might leave the garden (Lagarde, 
 
 (64), eels (66), and centipedes (69). Jitliquia juris EccUsiastici Anti- 
 
 « Turner, ib., 66, 72. quissinue, p. 135). Cf. Zeitschrift fur 
 
 ' Third Report, p. 238 sq. The Elhnologit, xv. p. 93 ; The People of 
 
 idea perhaps is that the birds eat in the Turkey, by a Consul's daughter and 
 
 persons of their clansmen, and give wife, ii. p. 247. 
 
 tangible evidence that they have eaten ' Third Rep., 240. 
 
 their fill. But cf. Riedel, op. cit. , p. 327 . 
 
24 TOTE MIS M 
 
 described as Wind people, " flap their blankets to start a 
 breeze which will drive off the mosquitoes." ^ 
 Inanimate It is more difficult to realise the relation between a man 
 
 totems ^^ and his totem when that totem is an inanimate object. 
 But such totems are rare. 
 
 In Australia we find : thunder (Encounter Bay tribe, S. 
 Australia) {Nat. Tr. S. Aust., i86), rain (Dieri, S. Australia) 
 (J. A. I., xii. 33 «.), the star a Aquilae or Fomalhaut (Muk- 
 jarawaint, W. Victoria) {id., xii. 33 n., xiii. 193 n.), hot wind 
 and sun (Wotjoballuk, N.W. Victoria) {id., xvi. 31 n.; 
 Report of the Smithsonian Institution for i88j, p. 818), 
 honey (Kamilaroi, N.S. Wales) (/. A. I., xii. 500), and clear 
 water (Kuin-Murbura, Queensland) {id., xiii. 344). Flood- 
 water and lightning are names of what Messrs. Fison and 
 Howitt call the two primary classes of the Kiabara tribe in 
 Queensland {id., xiii. 336). As we shall see, they probably 
 are or were totems. In America we find ice (Punka totem) 
 (Morgan, A. S., 155), thunder (Omaha, Kaw, Winnebago, 
 Potawattamie, Sauk and Foxes) (?3., 155, 156, 157, 167, 
 170), earth (Kaw) {ib., 156), water (Minnitaree, Miami, 
 Moqui) {ib., 159, 168; Bourke, Snake Dance of the Moquis 
 of Arizona, 50, 117, 335), wind (Creek) (Morgan, op. cit., 
 161; Adair, Hist. Amer. Indians, p. i 5 ; Gatschet, Migra- 
 tion Legend of the Creek Indians, i. p. 155), salt (Creek) 
 (Morgan, loc. cit. ; Gatschet, op. cit., i. 156), sun (Miami, Moqui) 
 (Morgan, op. cit., 168; Bourke, op. cit., 50, 117, 335 sq^, 
 snow (Miami) (Morgan, loc. cit. ; cf. below, p. 36), bone (Sauk 
 and Foxes) {ib., 170), sea (Sauk and Foxes) {ib., 170), sand 
 (Moqui) {ib., 179; Bourke, op. cit., 335), and rain (Moqui) 
 (Morgan, op. cit., 179). In Africa sun and rain are Damara 
 totems (Andersson, Lake Ngami, p. 221). In India one of 
 the constellations is a Santal (Sonthal) totem {As. Quart. 
 Rev., July 1886, p. 76); and the foam of the river is an 
 Oraon totem and not to be eaten by the clansmen (Dalton 
 in Tr. Ethnol. Soc, N. S., vi. 36). In Samoa we have the 
 rainbow, shooting star, cloud, moon, and lightning (Turner, 
 Samoa, 21, 27, 35, 53, 59, 67). 
 
 , In a few cases colours are totems : thus red is an 
 Omaha totem (Morgan, A. S., p. 155), red paint and blue 
 
 1 Third Rep., 241. 
 
TOTEM ISM 25 
 
 are Cherokee totems {ib., 1 64), and vermilion is the name of 
 a subdivision of the Delawares (ib., 172; however, the nature of 
 these subdivisions of the three Delaware clans is not clear). 
 This perhaps explains the aversion which some tribes exhibit 
 for certain colours. Thus red was forbidden in one district 
 of Mangaia (in the South Pacific) because it was thought 
 offensive to the gods (Gill, Myths and Songs of the South 
 Pacific, p. 29). Light yellow is a detestable colour to a 
 Hervey islander {ib., 227). The Yezidis abominate blue 
 (Layard, Nineveh, i. p. 300). 
 
 It is remarkable how small a part is played in totemism The 
 by the heavenly bodies. In the lists of totems before us, ^{^'jj 
 the sun occurs once in Australia, once in Africa, and several totems, 
 times in America (besides Morgan and Bourke as above, 
 cf. M'Lennan in Fortn. Rev., October 1869, p. 413). The 
 sun was the special divinity of the chiefs of the Natchez, but 
 that it was a totem is not certain ; cf. Lafitau, Mceurs des 
 Sauvages Ameriquains, i. 168 ; Charlevoix, Hist, de la 
 Nouvelle France, vi. 177 sq. ; Lett, ^.dif, vii. 9 sq. ; Chateau- 
 briand, Voyage en Atnerique, 227 sq., ed. 1 2 mo, Michel L6vy ; 
 C. C. Jones, Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 23); but 
 a star or constellation appears only twice, and the moon 
 appears, with a doubtful exception in America (S. Hearne, 
 Journey from Prince of Wales Fort in Hudson's Bay to the 
 Northern Ocean, p. 148 ; it may have been an individual 
 totem), only in Samoa. 
 
 With regard to artificial totems, we are told generally Artificial 
 that Bengal totems include artificial objects {As. Quart. Rev.,°^^^^ 
 July 1886, p. 75), and net is given as a Kurmi totem {ib., 
 yy). In America, tent is a totem of the Kaws (Morgan, 
 A. S., 156); ball of the Onondaga Iroquois {ib., gi);^ good 
 knife of the Mandans {ib., 158); and knife, lodge, and 
 bonnet of the Minnitarees {ib., 159). Schoolcraft gives cord 
 as a Huron (Wyandot) totem, but it is not included in 
 Morgan and Powell's lists of Huron totems (Schoolcraft, Ind, 
 Tr., iv. 204 ; Morgan, op. cit., 153; First Rep. Bur. EthnoL, 
 
 P- 59). 
 
 In order, apparently, to put himself more fully under 
 
 ' But according to Mr. Beauchamp no such totem existed, and the mention 
 {American Antiquarian, viii. p. 8$) of it is due to a misunderstanding. 
 
26 TOTEMISM 
 
 Assimiia- the protection of the totem, the clansman is in the habit of 
 tionof men assimilating himself to the totem by dressing in the skin or 
 
 to their ° •' I • J 
 
 totems. Other part of the totem animal, arrangmg his hair and 
 mutilating his body so as to resemble the totem, and repre- 
 senting the totem on his body by cicatrices, tattooing, or 
 paint. The mental state thus revealed is illustrated by the 
 belief held by many North American Indians that they have 
 each an animal (bison, calf, tortoise, frog, bird, etc.) in their 
 bodies.^ 
 
 Dressing in In going to battle the Minnitarees dress in wolf skins ; 
 
 the skm or j.j^g ^Y\x\ with the tail attached hangs down the back, the 
 
 feathers of a • 
 
 the totem, man's head is inserted in a hole in the skin, and the wolfs 
 head hangs down on his breast.^ Lewis and Clarke saw a 
 Teton Indian wearing two or three raven skins fixed to the 
 back of the girdle, with the tails sticking out behind ; on 
 his head he wore a raven skin split into two parts and tied 
 so as to let the beak project from the forehead.* Amongst 
 the Thlinkets on solemn occasions, such as dances, memorial 
 festivals, and burials, individuals often appear disguised in 
 the full form of their totem animals ; and, as a rule, each 
 clansman carries at least an easily lecognisable part of his 
 totem with him.* Condor clans in Peru, who believed them- 
 selves descended from the condor, adorned themselves with 
 the feathers of the bird.'' 
 The hair The lowa clans have each a distinguishing mode of 
 
 fmUation"of dressing the hair, e.g. the Buffalo clan wear two locks of hair 
 the totem, in imitation of horns. These modes of dressing the hair, 
 however, are confined to male children, who, as soon as they 
 are grown, shave off all the hair except the scalp-lock, with 
 a fringe of hair surrounding it.^ Amongst the Omahas, the 
 smaller boys of the Black Shoulder (Buffalo) clan wear two 
 locks of hair in imitation of horns.'' The Hanga clan of the 
 Omahas (also a Buffalo clan) wear a crest of hair about two 
 
 1 Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, Reise London, 1815. 
 
 in das innere Nord- Amerika, ii. pp. * Holmberg, in Acta Soc. Scient. 
 
 190,270. Fennica, iv. 293 sq., 328; Petroflf, 
 
 2 lb., ii. 224. The Minnitarees Report on the Population, Itidustries, 
 regard the wolf as especially strong and Resources of Alaska, fi. 166. 
 "medicine" [ib.). This is the spirit, « j q MUller, Gesch. d. american- 
 if not the letter, of totemism. isc/ien Urreligionen, p. 327. 
 
 3 Lewis and Clarke, Travels to the « Schoolcraft, Ind. Tr., iii. 269. 
 Source of the Missouri River, \.'^. \2T„ ? Third Rep., 22^. 
 
TOTEM ISM 27 
 
 inches long, standing erect and extending from ear to ear ; 
 this is in imitation of the back of a buffalo.^ The Small 
 Bird clan of the Omahas " leave a little hair in front, over 
 the forehead, for a bill, and some at the back of the head, 
 for the bird's tail, with much over each ear for the wings." ^ 
 The Turtle subclan of the Omahas " cut off all the hair from 
 a boy's head, except six locks ; two are left on each side, 
 one over the forehead, and one hanging down the back in 
 imitation of the legs, head, and tail of a turtle." * Amongst 
 the Manganja in Eastern Africa " one trains his locks till 
 they take the admired form of the buffalo's horns ; others 
 prefer to let their hair hang in a thick coil down their backs, 
 like that animal's tail." * 
 
 The practice of knocking out the upper front teeth at Teeth 
 puberty, which prevails in Australia and elsewhere, is, or ^^"^^ 
 was once, probably an imitation of the totem. The Batoka chipped, 
 in Africa who adopt this practice say that they do so in ?^^[^tionof 
 order to be like oxen, while those who retain their teeth are the totem. 
 like zebras,^ The Manganja chip their teeth to resemble 
 those of the cat or crocodile.* It is remarkable that among 
 some Australian tribes who knock out one or two of the 
 upper front teeth of boys, the most prized ornaments of the 
 women are the two upper front teeth of the kangaroo or 
 wallaby ; those are tied together at the roots so as to form 
 a Vi 'i"d are worn in a necklace or hung amongst the 
 hair.'^ In other cases it is the boys' teeth which the women 
 wear round their necks.* 
 
 The bone, reed, or stick which some Australian tribes Nose-stick 
 thrust through their nose may be also an imitation 6f the perhaps an 
 
 ° ' imitation of 
 
 totem. It is not worn constantly, but is mserted when the totem. 
 danger is apprehended ; which perhaps means that the man 
 then seeks most to assimilate himself to his totem when he 
 
 • Third Rep., 235. ' TV. Ethnol. Soc, New Series, i. 
 ' lb., 238. ' lb., 240. p. 287 sq. ; Jour, and Proc. R. Soc. 
 
 ♦ Livingstone, Zambesi, p. 114. N.S. Wales, xvii. (1883) p. 26; cf. 
 But it does not appear whether this G. F. Angas, Savage Life and Scenes in 
 people have totems or not. Austr. and New Zeal., i. pp. 92, 98 ; 
 
 » Livingstone, South Africa, p. 532. 'Eyxe, Jour. , ii. p. 342. 
 
 " Id., Zambesi, p. 115. On the * Collins, Account of the English 
 
 general custom of filing the teeth Colony of N.S. Wales, London, 1798, 
 
 among savages see Zeitschrift fiir p. 581. 
 Ethnologie, xiv. p. 213 sq. 
 
28 TOTEM ISM 
 
 most needs the totem's protection.^ Kurnai medicine-men 
 
 could only communicate with the ghosts when they had 
 
 these bones in their noses.^ 
 
 Totems The Haidas of Queen Charlotte Islands are universally 
 
 tattooed on tattoocd, the desiffn being in all cases the totem, executed 
 
 the bodies ) & & ™ 
 
 of the in a conventional style. When several families of different 
 people. totems live together in the same large house, a Haida chief 
 will have all their totems tattooed on his person.^ The 
 Iroquois tattooed their totems on their persons.* Mr. E. 
 James, a high authority on the North American Indians, 
 denies that it was a universal — from which we infer that it 
 was a common — practice with them to have their totems 
 tattooed on their persons.^ Mackenzie says that the Ojib- 
 ways (Chippeways) are tattooed on their cheeks or forehead 
 " to distinguish the tribe to which they belong." ^ The 
 Assinibois (Assiniboels) tattooed figures of serpents, birds, 
 etc. (probably their totems) on their persons.'^ Tribes in 
 South America are especially distinguished by their tattoo 
 marks, but whether these are totem marks is not said.* 
 The same applies to the natives of Yule Island,^ Eskimos 
 of Alaska,^" and Manganjas in Africa." In one of the 
 Hervey Islands (South Pacific) the tattooing was an 
 imitation of the stripes on two different species of fish, 
 probably totems.^^ The Australians do not tattoo but raise 
 cicatrices ; in some tribes these cicatrices are arranged in 
 patterns which serve as the tribal badges, consisting of lines, 
 
 ' T. L. Mitchell, Three Expeditions The StUfia of Bharut, plate Hi. 
 
 into the Interior of New South Wales, < E. de Schweinitz, Life and Times 
 
 "• P- 339- of David Zeisberger, p. 78. 
 
 2 Fison and Hewitt, Kamilaroi and * James, in Narrative of the Captivity 
 
 Kurnai, p. 253. atid Adventures of fohn Tanner, p. 
 
 ^ Geolog. Stirv. of Canada, Hep. for 315. 
 
 iSyS-jg, pp. io8b, 1353; Smithsonian « A. Mackenzie, Voyages through the 
 
 Contrih. to Knowl, vol. xxi. No. 267, Cofitinent of North America, p. cxx. 
 
 p. 3 sj. ; Nature, 20th January 1887, ^ Lettr. Edif, vi. 32. 
 
 p. 285 ; Fourth Anntml Report of the 8 Martins, Zur Ethnographie Amer- 
 
 Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, ica's zumal Brasiliens, -p. ^e,. 
 
 1886, p. 67 sq. How different the » D'Albertis, iV«<- Camea, i. p. 419. 
 
 conventional representation in tattooing i» Bancroft, Native Haces of the 
 
 may be from the true, we learn from Pacific States, i. 48. 
 
 the Hindu tattoo marks (conventionally " Livingstone, Last Journals, i, p. 
 
 supposed to represent ducks, geese, no, cf p. 125. 
 
 peacocks, etc.) depicted by Major- 12 Gill, Myths and Songs of the S. 
 
 General A. Cunningham in his work. Pacific, p. 95. 
 
TOTEM ISM 29 
 
 dots, circles, semicircles, etc.^ According to one authority, 
 these Australian tribal badges are sometimes representations 
 of the totem.^ For the cases in which the women alone 
 tattoo see the note below.^ 
 
 Again, the totem is sometimes painted on the person of Totems 
 the clansman. This, as we have seen (p. 9), is sometimes f^e"bodie" 
 done by the Indians of British Columbia. Among the of 'he 
 Hurons (Wyandots) each clan has a distinctive mode of^^°''^' 
 painting the face, and, at least in the case of the chiefs at 
 installation, this painting represents the totem.* Among the 
 Moquis the representatives of the clans at foot-races, dances, 
 etc., have each a conventional representation of his totem 
 blazoned on breast or back.^ A Pawnee, whose totem was 
 a buffalo head, is depicted by Catlin with a buffalo's head 
 clearly painted on his face and breast.* 
 
 The clansman also affixes his totem mark as a signature Totems 
 to treaties and other documents,^ and paints or carves it on ^^^^^ °l 
 his weapons, hut, canoe, etc. weapons, 
 
 Thus the natives of the upper Darling carve their totems canoes, etc 
 on their shields.* The Indians who accompanied Samuel 
 
 1 Brough Smyth, Aborigines of captive they may be recognised by 
 
 Victoria, i. pp. xli j-jf., 295, ii. 313; their own people when opportunity 
 
 Eyre, Journ., ii. 333, 33S ; Ridley, serves. This idea, Mr. Powers says, 
 
 Kamilaroi,'^. i^O'iJourn. and Proceed. is borne out by the fact that "the 
 
 K. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1882, p. 201. California Indians are rent into such 
 
 '■* Mr. Chatfield, in Fison and infinitesimal divisions, any one of 
 
 Hewitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. which may be arrayed in deadly feud 
 
 66 ». On tattooing in connection with against another at any moment, that the 
 
 totemism see Haberlandt, in Mittheil. slight di6Ferences in their dialects would 
 
 der anthrop. Gesell. in Wien, xv. not suffice to distinguish the captive 
 
 (1885) p. [53] -r?- squaws" (Powers, Tr. of Calif, p. 
 
 ^ Among most of the Californian 109). There may therefore be a grain 
 
 tribes, the Ainos of Japan, the Chukchi of truth in the explanation of tattooing 
 
 in Siberia, and many of the aborigines given by the Khyen women in Bengal ; 
 
 of India, it is the women alone who they say that it was meant to conceal 
 
 are tattooed. See S. Powers, Tribes their beauty, for which they were apt 
 
 of California, p. 109 ; Siebold, Et/inol. to be carried off by neighbouring tribes 
 
 Sliid.ueberdieAinos,p.l$; Scheube; (Asiattci Researches, xvi. p. 268; 
 
 Die .^(«oj, p. 6 ; Nordenskiold, Voyage Dalton, op. cit., p. 114). 
 
 of the Vega, p. 296, popular edition ; < First Rep., pp. 62, 64. 
 
 Dalton, Ethnol. of Bengal, pp. 114, * Bourke, Snake Dance, p. 229. 
 
 157, 161, 219, 251. (Among the " Catlin, N. Amer. Ind., ii. plate 
 
 Nagas of Upper Assam the men tattoo. 140. 
 
 Dalton, op. cit., p. 39 sq.) Old ' Heckewelder, Indian Nations, p. 
 
 pioneers in California are of opinion 247. 
 
 that the reason why the women alone ' Brough Smyth, Aborigines of 
 
 tattoo is that in case they are taken Victoria, i. pp. xlii, 284. 
 
30 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Totems Hcame on his journey from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific 
 cOTved^o'n painted their totems (sun, moon, and diverse birds and beasts 
 
 weapons, of prey) on their shields before going into battle.^ Some 
 
 huts, 
 canoes, etc. 
 
 "'^' Indian tribes going to war carry standards, consisting of 
 
 representations of their totems drawn on pieces of bark, which 
 are elevated on poles.^ Among the Thlinkets shields, helmets, 
 canoes, blankets, household furniture, and houses are all 
 marked with the totem, painted or carved. In single com- 
 bats between chosen champions of different Thlinket clans, 
 each wears a helmet representing his totem.^ In front of 
 the houses of the chiefs and leading men of the Haidas are 
 erected posts carved with the totems of the inmates. As 
 the houses sometimes contain several families of different 
 totems, the post often exhibits a number of totems, carved 
 one above the other.* Or these carvings one above the 
 other represent the paternal totems in the female line, which, 
 descent being in the female line, necessarily change from 
 generation to generation.^ The coast Indians of British 
 Columbia carve their totems on the beams which support 
 the roofs of their lodges, paint them over the entrance, 
 and paint or carve them on their paddles and canoes.^ The 
 Pawnees mark their huts and even articles of apparel with 
 their totems.^ The Delawares (Lenape) painted their totems 
 on their houses. The Turtle clan painted a whole turtle ; 
 but the Turkey clan painted only a foot of a turkey ; and 
 the Wolf clan only one foot of a wolf, though they sometimes 
 added an outline of the whole animal* In the Ottawa 
 villages the different clans had separate wards, at the gates 
 of which were posts bearing the figure of the clan totem or 
 
 1 S. 'K'iaxxie:, Journey to the Northern Ausland, October 6, 1884, p. 794; id., 
 Ocean, p. 148 sq. These, however, 7 September 1885, p. 701. Totem- 
 may have been individual totems. posts, 50 to loo feet high, in front of 
 Some of the Indians had many such nearly every Thlinket house (Petroff, 
 figures on their shields. Report on Alaska, p. 165 ; Krause, 
 
 2 Chateaubriand, Voy. en. Amdr., i.e. ; Sheldon Jackson, Alaska, p. 
 pp. 194, 199, 224 ; Charlevoix, Hist. 78). 
 
 de la Nowv. Fr., v. p. 329. 6 American Antiquarian, ii. p. no ; 
 
 3 YiolmbtiigfrciActaSoc.Sc.Fennicae, Sheldon Jackson, Alaska, p. 81. 
 
 iv. 294, 323 ; Aurel Krause, Die « Mayne, Brit. Columb., p. 257 sq. 
 
 Tlittkit-Indianer, -p. 1^0 sq. ; Petroff, ' Magazine of American History, n. 
 
 Report on Alaska, pp. 166, 170. p. 260. 
 
 '' Smithsonian Contrib. to Knowl., * Heckewelder, op. cit. p. 247 • 
 
 xxi. No. 267, p. 3 sq. ; Geol. Surv. of Brinton, The Lenape and their Legaids, 
 
 Canada, Rep. for iSyS-yg, p. 148B; pp. 39 sq., 68 sq. 
 
ceremonies. 
 
 TOTEM ISM 31 
 
 of parts of it.^ The Omaha clans paint their totems on 
 their tents." Amongst the Iroquois the totem sign over each 
 wigwam consisted, at least in some cases, of the skin of the 
 totem animal, as of a beaver, a deer, a bear.' Sometimes 
 the skin is stuffed and stuck on a pole before the door.* 
 Lastly, the totem is painted or carved on the clansman's tomb 
 or grave-post, the figure being sometimes reversed to denote 
 death. It is always the Indian's totem name, not his personal 
 name, which is thus recorded.' Sometimes the stuffed skin 
 of the totem is hung over the grave, or is placed at the dead 
 man's side.* 
 
 The identification of a man with his totem appears 
 further to have been the object of various ceremonies observed 
 at birth, marriage, death, and other occasions. 
 
 Birth Ceremonies. — On the fifth day after birth a child Totemic 
 of the Deer-Head clan of the Omahas is painted with red '" 
 spots on its back, in imitation of a fawn, and red stripes are 
 painted on the child's arms and chest. All the Deer-Head men 
 present at the ceremony make red spots on their chests.' 
 When a South Slavonian woman has given birth to a child, an 
 old woman runs out of the house and calls out, " A she- wolf has 
 littered a he-wolf," and the child is drawn through a wolfskin.as 
 if to simulate actual birth from a wolf Further, a piece of 
 the eye and heart of a wolf are sewed into the child's shirt, 
 or hung round its neck ; and if several children of the family 
 have died before, it is called Wolf. The reason assigned for 
 some of these customs is, that the witches who devour 
 children will not attack a wolf.* In other words, the human 
 child is disguised as a wolf to cheat its supernatural foes. 
 The same desire for protection against supernatural danger 
 may be the motive of similar totemic customs, if not of 
 totemism in general. The legend of the birth of Zamolxis 
 
 ' Acad., Sept. 27, 1884, p. 203. Antiguarian, ii. p. 112. It has 
 
 * Third Rep., 229, 240, 248. been conjectured that the animal- 
 ' Second Rep., p. 78. shaped mounds in the Mississippi valley 
 
 * R. I. Dodge, Our Wild Indians (chiefly in the State of Wisconsin) are 
 (Hartford, Conn., 1882), p. 225. representations of totems (American 
 
 ' Schoolcraft, /«rf. 7>., i. p. 356 j?., Antiquarian, iii. p. 7 sq. ; vi. pp. 8, 
 
 ii. 49, V. 73 ; A. Mackenzie, Voyages, 326 sq.). 
 
 etc., pp. xcix, 316 ; J. Dunn, Hist, of » Dodge, op. cii., pp. 158, 225. 
 
 the Oregon 'J'erritoiy, p. 94; Mayne, ' Third Rep., p. 245 .^q. 
 
 ^r. Co/«»i*., pp. 258, 271 ; A. Krause, ^ Krauss, Sitte und Branch der 
 
 £)ieTlinkil-Indianer,'p.2yi; American SUdslavcn, p. 541 sq. 
 
ceremonies. 
 
 32 TOTEM ISM 
 
 (it is said that he was so called because a bearskin was 
 thrown over him at birth ^) points to a custom of wrapping 
 infants at birth in a bearskin, and this again perhaps to a 
 bear totem. The belief of the Getae that their dead went 
 to Zamolxis would thus be the totemic view that the 
 dead clansman is changed into his totem. When a Hindu 
 child's horoscope portends misfortune or crime, he is born 
 again from a cow, thus : being dressed in scarlet and tied on 
 a new sieve, he is passed between the hind legs of a cow 
 forward through the fore legs to the mouth and again in the 
 reverse direction, to simulate birth ; the ordinary birth 
 ceremonies (aspersion, etc.) are then gone through, and the 
 father smells his son as a cow smells her calf.^ In India 
 grown persons also may be born again by passing through 
 a golden cow in simulation of birth ; this is done when, e.g., 
 they have polluted themselves by contact with unbelievers.^ 
 Totemic Marriage Ceremonies. — Among the Kalang of Java, 
 
 marriage whose totem is the red dog, bride and bridegroom before 
 marriage are rubbed with the ashes of a red dog's bones.* 
 Among the Transylvanian gypsies, bride and bridegroom 
 are rubbed with a weasel skin.^ The sacred goatskin 
 {aegis) which the priestess of Athene took to newly 
 married women may have been used for this purpose." 
 At Rome bride and bridegroom sat down on the skin of 
 the sheep which had been sacrificed on the occasion.'^ An 
 Italian bride smeared the doorposts of her new home with 
 wolf's fat* It is difficult to separate from totemism the 
 custom observed by totem clans in Bengal of marrying the 
 bride and bridegroom to trees before they are married to 
 each other. The bride touches with red lead (a common 
 
 1 Porphyry, Vit. Pythag., 14. On 160, cf. p. 138. 
 the etymology of Zamolxis and the * Raffles, Hist, of Java, i. 328. 
 
 possible identity of — olxis with the On rubbing with ashes as a religious 
 
 Greek S,pKTOi, Latin iirsus, " a bear," ceremony cf. Spencer, De legists 
 
 see V. Hehn, K'tilturpflanzen tind Hebraeonnn ritualibus, vol. ii. Diss. 
 
 Hausthiere, p. 450. iii. Lib. iii. cap. i. 
 
 '^ Jour. Asiat. Soc. Beng., liii. {1884) <> Original-Mittheil. aiis der ethnolog. 
 
 pt. i. p. loi. Abtheil. der Konjgl. Museen zu Berlin, 
 
 ' Asiatick Researches., vi. p. 535 i. p. 15G. 
 sq. ; Liebrecht, GervasiusvouTilbttry, i" Suidas, s.v. alyh. 
 
 p. 171 ; id., Ztir Volkskimde, p. 397. ? Servius on Virgil, Aen., iv. 374; 
 
 For an Ojibvvay birth ceremony cf. P. Festus, s.v. In pelle. 
 Jones, Hist, of Ojebxvay Indians, p. 8 piiny, Nat. Hist., xxviii. 142. 
 
TOTEMISM 33 
 
 marriage ceremony) a mahwi tree, clasps it in her arms, 
 and is tied to it. The bridegroom goes through a like 
 ceremony with a mango tree.'^ 
 
 Traces of marriage to trees are preserved in Servia. Marriage 
 The bride is led to an apple-tree (apples often appear in '° "*^' 
 South Slavonian marriage customs) under which stands a 
 pitcher full of water. Money is thrown into the pitcher ; 
 the bride's veil is taken from her and fastened to the tree ; 
 she upsets the pitcher of water with her foot ; and a dance 
 three times round the tree concludes the ceremony.^ Tree 
 marriage appears very distinctly in the Greek festival of the 
 Daedala, at which an oak-tree, selected by special divina- 
 tion, was cut down, dressed as a bride, and conveyed, like a 
 bride, in solemn procession on a waggon with a bridesmaid 
 beside it. The mythical origin of the festival was a mock 
 marriage of Zeus to an oak.^ The identification with a tree, 
 implied in these marriage ceremonies, is illustrated by a 
 Ricara custom. Ricara Indians used to make a hole in the 
 skin of their neck, pass a string through it, and tie the other 
 end to the trunk of an oak-tree ; by remaining tied in this 
 fashion for some time, they thought they became strong and 
 brave like the tree.* 
 
 The idea of substitution or disguise, which seems to be Marriage 
 at the root of these marriage (as of the birth) ceremonies, '"anu**^' 
 appears in some Hindu marriages. Thus when a man has earthen 
 lost several wives in succession, he must marry a bird with ^^^^'^ ^' ^"^ 
 all ceremony before another family will give him their 
 
 ' Dalton, Ethn. of Bengal, p. 194 La Mare an Diable, Appendix v. ; 
 
 (Mundas), p. 319 (Kurmis). Among Folk-Lore Kec.,\n. ^. ZTi sg.). 
 the Mundas both bride and bridegroom ' Pausanias, ix. 3 ; Eusebius, J'raep. 
 
 are sometimes married to mango trees. Evang., iii. i and 2. The oak was 
 
 For Kurmi totems see As. Quart. especially associated with Zeus. See 
 
 Rev., July 1886, p. 77. Bdtticher, Der BatimhiUus der 
 
 '^ Krauss, Sudsl., p. 450. With f/el/enen, 'p. ^o$ sq. The oak of Zeus 
 
 regard to upsetting the pitcher, it is to (like a totem) gave omens to its wor- 
 
 be noted that water is an important shippers ; and the ceremony of making 
 
 element in marriage ceremonies, e.g. rain by means of an oak branch ( Paus. , 
 
 among the same Mundas who are viii. 38) is remarkably like ceremonies 
 
 married to trees, a pitcher of water is observed for the purpose of making 
 
 poured over both bride and bridegroom rain by the sacred Buffalo society 
 
 (Dalton, op. cit., 194). Two cabbages, among the Omahas ( Third Rep., p. 347) 
 
 one from the garden of the bride and and by a set of worshippers in totem - 
 
 another from that of the bridegroom, ridden Samoa (Turner, Samoa, p. 45). 
 play a very important part in rural ■* Lewis and Clarke, i. p. 155, 8vo, 
 
 weddings in Lorraine (George Sand, 1815. 
 
 VOL. I ^ 
 
34 TOTEMISM 
 
 daughter to wife.^ Or wishing to marry a third wife, 
 whether his other wives are aUve or not, he must first 
 formally wed a plant of a particular -kind.^ When the 
 planets threaten any one with misfortune in marriage, he or 
 she is married to an earthen vessel.^ Dancing girls of Goa 
 are married to daggers before they may exercise their 
 profession.* Courtesans born of courtesans are married to 
 flowering plants, which are planted in the house for the 
 purpose ; they water and tend the plants, and observe 
 mourning for them when they die.° 
 
 Some cases of marriage of human beings to inanimate 
 objects seem to be unconnected with totemism.'' A totemic 
 marriage ceremony of a different kind is that observed by a 
 Tiger clan of the Gonds, in which two men imitate tigers by 
 tearing to pieces a living kid with their teeth.'' 
 Totemic Death Ceremonies. — In death, too, the clansman seeks to 
 
 ?™^„.,:o. become one with his totem. Amongst some totem clans it is 
 
 ceremonies. o 
 
 an article of faith that as the clan sprang from the totem, 
 so each clansman at death reassumes the totem form. Thus 
 the Moquis, believing that the ancestors of the clans were 
 
 1 Indian Antiquary, x. p. 333. The custom seems to be the foundation 
 
 ^ Ind. Antiq. , i v. p. 5 ; Jour. Asiat. of legends like those of Andromeda 
 
 Soc. Bengal, liii. pt. i. p. 99 sq. and Hesione. For a Norse Andromeda 
 
 ^ J. A. S. Beng., liii. i. p. 100. see Asbjornsen og Moe, Norske Folke- 
 
 ■• Ind. Antiq., xiii. p. 168 sq. £z;««/j/?- (First Series), No. 24(Dasent's 
 
 '" Ind. Antiq., ix. p. 77. yNe. are Tales from the Norse, p. 125 sq.). 
 
 reminded of the Gardens of Adonis. The custom shadowed forth in these 
 
 See W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und legends may be only another form of 
 
 Feldkulte, p. 279 sq. the Egyptian customs referred to by 
 
 ^ Thus in Java the man who taps a Pindar (in Strabo, xvii. 1, 19 — the full 
 
 palm for palm wine goes through a passage is omitted in some MSB. and 
 
 form of marriage with the tree before editions ; cf. Aelian, Nat. An., vii. 19; 
 
 he begins to tap it (Wilken, in De Herodotus, ii. 46 ; Plutarch, -gra/. .ffa/. 
 
 Indische Gids, June 1884, p. 963, cf. Uti, 5 ; Clemens Alex., Protr., 32 ; 
 
 962). The Hurons annually married and of which a trace appears in Italy 
 
 their fishing nets, with great ceremony, (Ovid, Fast., ii. 441). This would 
 
 to two young girls [Relations des bring us round to totemism. It is 
 
 Jhitites, 1636, p. 109; ih., 1639, p. therefore notable that the Andromeda 
 
 95; Chai\t\oh!., Hist, de la Nouv. Fr., story occurs in Senegambia, where 
 
 V. p. 225 ; Chateaubriand, Voy. en totemism exists. See Berenger-Feraud, 
 
 Anier., p. 140 sq. ; Parkman, /^j-aito Contes populaires de la Senegambia, p. 
 
 of North America, p. Ixix.). The old 185 sq. The Mandan custom (Catlin, 
 
 Egyptian custom, in time of drought, 0-Kee-pa, Fol. reserv. ii.) is hardly 
 
 of dressing a woman as a bride and parallel, though Liebrecht {Zur Volks-' 
 
 throwing her into the Nile is the subject kiinde, p. 395) seems to ihink so. 
 of Ebers's novel Nilbraut, noticed in 1 Dalton, op. cit., p. 280. 
 
 the Alhenccum, July 2, 1887, p. 12. 
 
TOTEMISM 35 
 
 respectively rattlesnakes, deer, bears, sand, water, tobacco, 
 etc., think that at death each man, according to his clan, is 
 changed into a rattlesnake, a deer, etc.^ Amongst the 
 Black Shoulder (Buffalo) clan of the Omahas a dying clans- 
 man was wrapped in a buffalo robe with the hair out, his 
 face was painted with the clan mark, and his friends 
 addressed him thus : " You are going to the animals (the 
 buffaloes). You are going to rejoin your ancestors. You are 
 going, or your four souls are going, to the four winds. Be 
 strong." ^ Amongst the Hanga clan, another Buffalo clan of 
 the Omahas, the ceremony was similar, and the dying man 
 was thus addressed : " You came hither from the animals, and 
 you are going back thither. Do not face this way again. 
 When you go, continue walking." ^ 
 
 Members of the Elk clan among the Omahas, though in xotemic 
 life they may not touch any part of a male elk nor taste ''""''' . 
 
 ' ' J ^ ceremonies, 
 
 of a male deer, are buried in moccasins of deer skin.* 
 Egyptian queens were sometimes buried in cow-shaped 
 sarcophaguses.' Among the Australian Wotjoballuk, men 
 of the Hot- Wind totem are buried with the head in the 
 direction from which the hot wind blows, and men of the 
 Sun totem are buried with their heads towards the sunrise." 
 Among the Marias, a Gond clan whose name is thought to 
 be derived from Mara, " a tree," the corpse of an adult male 
 is fastened by cords to a mahwa tree in an erect position 
 and then burned.^ On the anniversary of the death of their 
 kinsmen, the Nataranes in Paraguay carried dead ostriches 
 in procession as representatives of the deceased, probably 
 
 ' Schoolcraft, /ttd. Tr., iv. 86. /«rf. , pp. 127, 204 ; id., Ind. Tr., iv. 
 
 * Third Rep., p. 229. As to the 70 ; Arctic Papers for the Expedition 
 
 "four souls," many savages are much of iSyj, p. 275 ; Williams, Fiji, i. p. 
 
 more liberally provided with souls than 241 ; Wilken, " Het animisme bij de 
 
 civilised men. See Kel. des Jis., 1636, volken van den indischen archipel," in 
 
 p. 133 ; Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, Ind. Gids, ]une 1884, p. 929 jy. ; id., 
 
 Nord-Amerika, ii. 206 ; Charlevoix, Ueher das Haaropfer, p. 75 «. 
 
 Hist, de la Nouv. Fr., vi. p. 75 ; ^ Third Rep., p. 233. 
 
 Laborde, " Rel. de I'origine, etc., des * lb., 225. 
 
 Caraibes," p. IS, in Recueil de divers ' 'Lsfsms, Chroiiologie der Aegypter, 
 
 Voyages fails en Afrique el en p. 309 n. ; cf. Herodotus, ii. 1 29 ; 
 
 FAmerigue (Paris, 1684) ; Washington Stephanus Byzant. s.v. Boi^i^is. 
 
 Matthews, The Hidalsa Indians, p. » /. A. /., xvL p. 31 «. 
 
 so; Macfhixson, Memorials of Service ' HaXion, Ethn. of Beng. , ^f. 278, 
 
 in India, p. 91 sq. ; Schoolcraft, Am. 283. 
 
36 TOTE MI SM 
 
 because the ostrich was the clan totem.^ Men of the Snow 
 totem among the Pouteoiiatmi, contrary to the general 
 custom of the tribe, were burned instead of buried, the belief 
 being that, as snow comes from on high, so the bodies of 
 ■men of the Snow totem should not be poked away under- 
 ground, but suffered to rejoin their Snow kindred in the 
 upper air. Once when a man of the Snow totem had been 
 buried underground, the winter was so long and the snow 
 fell so deep that nobody ever thought to see spring any 
 more. Then they bethought them of digging up the corpse 
 and burning it ; and lo, the snow stopped falling and spring 
 came with a burst.^ 
 Ceremonies Ceremonies at Puberty. — The attainment of puberty is 
 at puberty, celebrated by savages with ceremonies, some of which seem 
 to be directly connected with totemism. The Australian 
 rites of initiation at puberty include the raising of those 
 scars on the persons of the clansmen and clanswomen which 
 serve as tribal badges or actually depict the totem. They 
 also include those mutilations of the person by knocking out 
 teeth, etc., which we have seen reason to suppose are meant 
 to assimilate the man to his totem. When we remember 
 that the fundamental rules of totem society are rules regulat- 
 ing marriage, or rather sexual intercourse, and that these 
 rules are based on distinctions of totem, persons of the 
 same totem being forbidden, under pain of death, to have 
 connection with each other, the propriety of imprinting 
 these marks on the persons of the clansmen and of incul- 
 cating these rules on their minds at the very moment when 
 transgression of these all -important rules first becomes 
 possible, is immediately apparent ; and the necessity for 
 such marks will further appear when we consider the minute 
 subdivision of savage tribes into local groups, which, at once 
 united and divided by an elaborate code of sexual permis- 
 sions and prohibitions, are at the same time disjoined by a 
 difference of dialect or even of language, such as, in the 
 absence of some visible symbolism, must have rendered all 
 these permissions and prohibitions inoperative. On this 
 view, a chief object of these initiation ceremonies was to 
 
 1 Charlevoix, Hist, du Paraguay y i. 2 ^^/_ des Jh., 1667, p. 19 ; Lettr. 
 
 V- 462. Edif., vi. 169 sq. 
 
TOTEM ISM 37 
 
 teach the youths with whom they might or might not have 
 connection, and to put them in possession of a visible 
 language, consisting of personal marks and (as we shall see 
 immediately) gestures, by means of which they might be 
 able to communicate their totems to, and to ascertain the 
 totems of, strangers whose language they did not under- 
 stand. So far, the consideration of these ceremonies would 
 fall naturally under the section dealing with the social side 
 of totemism. But as the rules which it is an object of these 
 ceremonies to inculcate are probably deductions from that 
 fundamental and as yet unexplained connection between a 
 man and his totem, which constitutes the religion of 
 totemism, they may fairly be considered here. 
 
 That lessons in conduct, especially towards the other Lessons in 
 sex, form part of these initiatory rites is certain. The ^'"^"ft 
 
 , '^ ' imparted at 
 
 youth is charged " to restrict himself to the class (totem initiation. 
 division) which his name confines him to. . . . The secrets 
 of the tribe are imparted to him at this time. These 
 instructions are repeated every evening while the Bora 
 ceremony lasts, and form the principal part of it." ^ To 
 supply the youth with a gesture language for the purpose 
 already indicated may be the intention of the totem 
 dances or pantomimes which form part of the initiatory 
 rites. 
 
 E.g., at one stage of these rites in Australia a number Animal 
 of men appear on the scene howling and running on all panto- °^ 
 fours in imitation of the dingo or native Australian dog ; at mimes at 
 last the leader jumps up, clasps his hands, and shouts the '"'"^"°"- 
 totem name " wild dog." ^ The Coast Murring tribe in 
 New South Wales had an initiatory ceremony at which the 
 totem name " brown snake " was shouted, and a medicine- 
 man produced a live brown snake out of his mouth.' The 
 totem clans of the Bechuanas have each its special dance or 
 pantomime, and when they wish to ascertain a stranger's 
 
 ' J. A. /., xiii. 296, if. 450. Maternus, De errore profaii. rclig., 10 ; . 
 
 ■i /. .4. /., xiii. 450. Clem. Alex., Protrept., § 16. Cf. 
 
 ' lb., xvi. p. 43. At the initiatory Demosth., p. 313 (De Corona, § 260) ; 
 
 rites of the Phrygian god Sabazius, a Slrab., x. 3, 18. See Foucart, Des 
 
 snake (or a golden image of one) was Associa/ions rcligieiises chez les Grecs, 
 
 drawn through the novice's robe. p. 66 sq. 
 Arnobius, Adv. Nat., v. 21 ; Firmicus 
 
38 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 clan, they ask him " What do you dance ? " ^ We find 
 elsewhere that dancing has been used as a means of sexual 
 selection. Thus among the Tshimsians, one of the totem 
 tribes on the north-west coast of North America, one of the 
 ceremonies observed by a girl at puberty is a formal dance 
 before all the people.^ Amongst the Kasias in Bengal, 
 amongst whom husband and wife are always of different 
 clans, Kasia maidens dance at the new moon in March ; 
 the young men do not dance but only look on, and many 
 matches are made at these times.^ On the 15 th day of the 
 month Abh the damsels of Jerusalem, clad in white, used to 
 go out and dance in the vineyards, saying, " Look this way, 
 young man, and choose a wife. Look not to the face but 
 rather to the family."* Attic maidens between the ages 
 of five and ten had to pretend to be bears ; they were 
 called bears, and they imitated the action of bears. No 
 man would marry a girl who had not thus " been a 
 bear." ^ 
 
 The totem dances at initiation are to be distinguished 
 from those animal dances, also practised at initiation, the 
 object of which appears to be to give the novice power over 
 the animals represented. Thus an initiatory ceremony in 
 fee New South Wales is to present to the novices the eflfigy of 
 
 a kangaroo made of grass. " By thus presenting to them 
 the dead kangaroo, it was indicated that the power was 
 about to be imparted to them of killing that animal." The 
 men then tied tails of grass to their girdles and hopped 
 about in imitation of kangaroos, while two others followed 
 
 Animal 
 dances in- 
 tended to 
 give the 
 novice 
 power over 
 
 1 Livingstone, South Africa, p. 13 ; 
 J. Mackenzie, Ten Years North of the 
 Orange River, p. 391, 9^ p. 135 «. ; 
 
 /. A. /., xvi. p. 83. 
 
 2 Geol. Siirv. of Canada, Report for 
 1878-7^, p. 131B ; for the Tshimsian 
 totems, ih., 134B. 
 
 ' Tr. Eth. Soc. , New Series, vii. 309 ; 
 for Kasia exogamy, Dalton, Ethn. of 
 Beng., p. 56. 
 
 * Mishna, Tdanith, iv. 8 (Surenhus., 
 ii. p. 385). 
 
 '' Schol. on Aristophanes, Lysist. 
 645 ; Harpocration, s.v. dpicrdiaai ; 
 Suidas, s.v. ipKreOaai and Apicros jj 
 Ppavpuvtois ; Bekker's Atiecd. Gr., p. 
 
 206, 4 ; ib. 444, 30. This sacred 
 dance or pantomime was a dedication 
 of the damsels to either the Brauronian 
 or Munychian Artemis ; and legend 
 said that a tame bear had been kept in 
 her sanctuary. The Arcadian Artemis, 
 as K. O. Miiller says {Dorier,^ i. p. 
 376), appears to be identical with 
 Callisto ; and Callisto was the ancestress 
 of the Arcadians ( = Bear people, from 
 fipKos, another form of ipxros), was her- 
 self turned into a bear, and was repre- 
 sented seated on a bearskin (Pans., x. 
 31, 10). For an African example see 
 Dapper, Description de VAfriqne 
 (Amsterdam, 1686), p. 249. 
 
TOTEM ISM 39 
 
 them with spears and pretended to wound them.^ An 
 imitation of a wallaby hunt forms another Australian 
 initiatory ceremony." These hunting dances, or rather 
 pantomimes, at initiation are therefore closely similar to 
 those pantomimes which savage hunters perform before 
 going to the chase, believing that through a sort of 
 sympathetic magic the game will be caught like the 
 actors in the mimic hunt. Thus, before the Koossa Caffres 
 go out hunting one of them takes a handful of grass in 
 his mouth and crawls about on all fours to represent the 
 game, while the rest raise the hunting cry and rush at him 
 with their spears till he falls apparently dead.* Negroes 
 of Western Equatorial Africa, before setting out to hunt the 
 gorilla, act a gorilla hunt, in which the man who plays the 
 gorilla pretends to be killed.* 
 
 Before hunting the bear the Dacotas act a bear panto- Animal 
 mime, in which a medicine-man dresses entirely in the skin ''^'"=«s 
 
 ' ^ or panto- 
 
 of a bear, and others wear masques consisting of the skin mimes 
 of the bear's head, and all of them imitate bears.^ When ^nt"g_ 
 buffaloes are scarce, the Mandans dance wearing the skins of 
 buffaloes' heads with the horns on their heads.'' " Each 
 hunt," says Chateaubriand, " has its dance, which consists 
 in the imitation of the movements, habits, and cries of the 
 animal to be hunted ; they climb like a bear, build like a 
 beaver, galop about like a buffalo, leap like a roe, and yelp 
 like a fox." ^ The Indians of San Juan Capistrano acted 
 similar hunting pantomimes before the stuffed skin of a 
 coyote or of a mountain cat before they set out for the 
 chase." The ancient Greeks had similar dances for the 
 purpose of catching beasts and birds. Thus a man wearing 
 a headdress or necklace in imitation of a species of owl 
 
 • Collins, Account of the English Dacotas " pretend to charm some kinds 
 Colony of New South Wales, London, of animals by mimicking them, and 
 1798, pp. 569, 571 ; Angos, Savage sometimes succeed in killing game in 
 Life and Scenes in Australia and Ne^v this way. " 
 
 Zealand, ii, p. 219. ' Catlin, op. cit.,\. 127. Cf. Maxi- 
 
 "y. A. I., xiii. p. 449. milian, Prinz zu Wied, Nord-Amerika, 
 
 ' Lichtenstein, Travels in S. Afr., ii. p. 263 sq. 
 
 i. p. 269. ' Chateaubriand, Voy. en Amir., p. 
 
 * W. W. Reade, Savage Africa, p. 142 sg. 
 
 10^ so. * Bancroft, Nal. Races of the Pac. 
 
 » Catlin, Amer. Indians, i. p. 245. St., iii. p. 167. 
 Cf. Schoolcraft, Ind. Tr., iv. 60; the 
 
40 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 ceremonies 
 at initia- 
 tion. 
 
 mimicked the bird and was supposed thus to catch it.-' 
 Such pantomimes, acted in presence of the animal, may be 
 entirely rational, as in the common cases where the savage 
 disguises himself in the animal's skin and is thus enabled 
 either to act as a decoy to the herd ^ or to approach and 
 kill the animal.^ But these pantomimes, when they are 
 acted before the hunt takes place, are of course purely 
 magical.* 
 Magical But in these rites of initiation the religious aspect of 
 
 totemism is also prominent. In some of the dances this is 
 certainly the case. Thus at their initiatory rites the Yuin 
 tribe in New South Wales mould figures of the totems in 
 earth and dance before them, and a medicine-man brings 
 up out of his inside the '' magic " appropriate to the totem 
 before which he stands : before the figure of the porcupine 
 he brings up a stuff like chalk, before the kangaroo a stuff 
 like glass, etc.° Again, it is at initiation that the youth is 
 solemnly forbidden to eat of certain foods ; but as the list 
 of foods prohibited to youths at puberty both in Australia 
 and America extends far beyond the simple totem, it would 
 seem that we are here in contact with those unknown 
 general ideas of the savage, whereof totemism is only a 
 special product. Thus the Narrinyeri youth at initiation 
 are forbidden to eat twenty different kinds of game, besides 
 any food belonging to women. If they eat of these for- 
 bidden foods it is thought they will grow ugly." In the 
 
 Food 
 taboos ini' 
 posed at 
 initiation. 
 
 ' Julius Pollux, iv. 103 ; Aelian, 
 N. A., XV. 28 ; Athenaeus, sgia/i, 
 629/ 
 
 2 Schoolcraft, /«</. Tr., iv. 93. 
 
 ^ £.ff. American Naturalist, iv. 
 136 sq. ; American Antiquarian, viii. 
 328. Iroquois hunters wore skeleton 
 frameworks of wood over which they 
 threw the skin of whatever animal they 
 wished to imitate. J. A. /., xiv. p. 
 246. 
 
 * For other examples of animal 
 dances or pantomimes (some of them 
 apparently merely recreations) see 
 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tr., v. p. 277 ; 
 Catlin, Amer. Ind., ii. 126, 248; 
 Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, Nord- 
 Amerika, ii. p. 246 ; S. Powers, Tr. 
 of Calif., p. 199 sq. ; Bancroft, Nat. 
 
 Races of the Pac. St., i. p. 706 ; Rep. 
 of Internal. Polar Exped. to Point 
 Barrow, Alaska, p. 41 sq. ; E. James, 
 Exped. to the Rocky Mountains, ii. 58 ; 
 American Antiquarian, vii. p. 211; 
 A. R. Wallace, Travels on the Amazon 
 and Rio Negro, p. 296 sq. ; Revue 
 d'Ethnografhie, vi. (1887) p. 54; 
 Dalton, Ethjt. of Beng., p. 155 sq. ; 
 Pallas, Reise durch verschiedene Tkeile 
 des russischen Reichs, iii. p. 64 sq. ; 
 Andersson, Lake Ngami, p. 230 ; 
 Original -Mittheil. aus der ethnolog. 
 Abth. der Konigl. Ahcseen zu Berlin, 
 i. pp. 179 sq., 184 ; "E-yie, Journals, ii. 
 P- 233- 
 
 I* Journ. and Proc. R. Soc. N.S. 
 Wales, 1882, p. 206. 
 
 » Nat. Tribes of S. Austral., p. 17. 
 
TOTEM ISM 41 
 
 Mycoolon tribe, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, the youth at 
 initiation is forbidden to eat of eaglehawk and its young, 
 native companion and its young, some snakes, turtles, ant- 
 eaters, and emu eggs.' In New South Wales the young 
 men at initiation are forbidden to kill and eat (i) "any 
 animal that burrows in the ground, for it recalls to mind 
 the foot-holes^ where the tooth was knocked out, e.g. the 
 wombat ; (2) such creatures as have very prominent teeth, 
 for these recall the tooth itself; (3) any animal that climbs 
 to the tree tops, for they are then near to Daramulun,^ e.g. 
 the native bear ; (4) any bird that swims, for it recalls 
 the final washing; (5) nor, above all, the emu, for this is 
 Ngalalbal, the wife of Daramulun, and at the same time 
 ' the woman ' ; for the novice during his probation is not 
 permitted even so much as. to look at a woman or to speak 
 to one ; and even, for some time after, he must cover his 
 mouth with his rug when one is present." These rules are 
 relaxed by degrees by an old man giving the youth a 
 portion of the forbidden animal or rubbing him with its 
 fat,* The Kurnai youth is not allowed to eat the female 
 of any animal, nor the emu, nor the porcupine. He 
 becomes free by having the fat of the animal smeared on 
 his face.° On the other hand, it is said that " initiation 
 confers many privileges on the youths, as they are now 
 allowed to eat many articles of food which were previously 
 forbidden to them." " Thus in New South Wales before 
 initiation a boy may eat only the females of the animals 
 which he catches ; but after initiation (which, however, may 
 not be complete for several years) he may eat whatever he 
 finds.' About the lower Murray boys before initiation are 
 forbidden to eat emu, wild turkey, swan, geese, black duck, 
 and the eggs of these birds ; if they infringed this rule, 
 " their hair would become prematurely grey, and the 
 
 ' J. A. /., xiii. p. 295. ceremonies (_/. ./. /., xiii. 442, 
 
 - Amongst these tribes the novice is 446). 
 
 placed with his feet in a pair of holes * J. A. /., xiii. p. 455 sq. 
 
 preparatory to the knocking out of ^ lb., xiv. p. 316. 
 
 the tooth (/. A. /., xiii. p. 446 «/. ; " Jb., 360. So with the Uaup^s on 
 
 ib., xiv. p. ■^c,^ ; /oum. and Proc. K. the Amazon (A. R. Wallace, Travels 
 
 Soc. N.S. Wales, 1883, p. 26). on the Amazon and Rio Negro, p. 496). 
 
 ' I.e. the mythical being who is " Joiirn. and Proc. A'. Soc. N.S. 
 
 supposed to have instituted these ll'a/,<, 1SS2, p. 208. 
 
42 TOTEMISM 
 
 muscles of their limbs would waste away and shrink up." ' 
 The Dieri think that if a native grows grey or has much 
 hair on his breast in youth, it has been caused by his eating 
 iguana in childhood.^ In North America the Creek youths 
 at puberty were forbidden for twelve months to eat of young 
 bucks, turkey-cocks, fowls, peas, and salt.^ The Andamanese 
 abstain from various kinds of food, including turtle, honey, 
 and pork, for a year or several years before puberty ; and 
 amongst the ceremonies by which they are made free of 
 these foods is the smearing of their bodies by the chief with 
 honey and the melted fat of turtle and pork.* 
 Initiatory These ceremonies seem also to be meant to admit the 
 
 ceremonies ^^^^ j^to the life of the clan, and hence of the totem. 
 
 intended to .' 
 
 admit the The latter appears to be the meaning of a Carib ceremony, 
 the"i^feof i" which the father of the youth took a live bird of prey, 
 the clan, of a particular species, and beat his son with it till the 
 bird was dead and its head crushed, thus transferring the 
 life and spirit of the martial bird to the future warrior. 
 Further, he scarified his son all over, rubbed the juices of 
 the bird into the wounds, and gave him the bird's heart to 
 eat.^ Amongst some Australian tribes the youth at initia- 
 tion is smeared with blood drawn from the arms either of 
 aged men or of all the men present, and he even receives the 
 blood to drink. Amongst some tribes on the Darling this 
 tribal blood is his only food for two days.^ The meaning 
 
 ^ Joum. and Proc. R. Soc. N.S. pp. no, 170; Grierson, Bihar 
 
 Wales, 1883, p. 27. Peasant Life, p. 405. For an African 
 
 2 Native Tribes of S. Australia, p. example of the prohibition of different 
 279. foods at successive periods of life see 
 
 3 Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Dapper, Description de PAfrique, p. 
 Creek Indians, i. p. 185. For super- 336. 
 
 stitious abstinence from salt cf. Adair, * E. H. Man, Aboriginal Inhabit- 
 
 Hist. Amer. Indians, pp. 59, 115, ants of the Andaman Islands, ■^. ()2 sq. 
 
 125, 166; Acosta, Hist, of the Indies, ^ Rochefort, Hist. nat. et mor. des 
 
 V. 17; Schoolcraft, Ind. Tr., v. p. lies Antilles (Rotterdam, 1666), p. 
 
 268 ; Du Tertre, Histoire generate des 556 ; Du Terlre, Histoire generate des 
 
 Antilles, vol. ii. (Paris, 1667) p. 371 ; Antilles, vol. ii. p. 377. 
 
 Bancroft, Nat. Races of the Pac. St.,\. ^ J. A. I., xiii. 128, 295 ; G. F. 
 
 p. 520 ». ; Sievers, Reise in der Sierra Angas, Savage Life and Scenes in 
 
 Nevada de Santa Marta, p. 94 ; C. Austr. and New Zeal. , i. 11$; NeU. 
 
 "BocV, Headhtmters of Borneo, ^f). 21^, Tribes of S. Austr., 162 sg,, 227, 
 
 223; Plutarch, Qu. Conviv., viii. 8, 2 ; 232, 334, 270 ; Brough Smyth, i. 67 
 
 id.. Is. et Osir., 5; A. R. Wallace, sq. ; Fison and Howitt, 286. The 
 
 Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Australians also draw blood from them- 
 
 p. 502 ; Asiatick Researches, vii. p. selves and give it to their sick relations 
 
 307; Duff Macdonald, Afncana, i. to drink (y. ^. /., xiii. 132 j-y.). So 
 
TOTEM ISM 43 
 
 of this smearing with blood seems put beyond a doubt by 
 the following custom. Among the Gonds, a non-Aryan 
 race of Central India, the rajas, by intermarriage with 
 Hindus, have lost much of their pure Gond blood, and are 
 half Hindus ; hence one of the ceremonies at their installa- 
 tion is " the touching of their foreheads with a drop of blood 
 drawn from the body of a pure aborigine of the tribe they 
 belong to."* Further, the Australians seek to convey to 
 the novices the powers and dignity of manhood by means 
 of certain magic passes, while the youths receive the 
 spiritual gift with corresponding gestures.^ Among some 
 tribes the youths at initiation sleep on the graves of their 
 ancestors, in order to absorb their virtues.' It is, however, 
 a very notable fact that the initiation of an Australian youth 
 is said to be conducted, not by men of the same totem, but 
 by men of that portion of the tribe into which he may 
 marry.* In some of the Victorian tribes no person related 
 to the youth by blood can interfere or assist in his initiation.^ 
 Whether this is true of all tribes and of all the rites at 
 initiation does not appear." 
 
 Connected with totemism is also the Australian cere- initiatory 
 mony at initiation of pretending to recall a dead man to of^su"'^ 
 life by the utterance of his totem name. An old man lies rection and 
 down in a grave and is covered up lightly with earth ; but "^*' '"'^ ' 
 
 do the Hare Indians in America (Peti- another. For another way of corn- 
 tot, Monographic des Dini-DindjU, p. municating the common life of the clan 
 60 ; id. , Traditions Indiennes du to a sick member of it, see Jour, and 
 Canada Nord-ouest, p. 269). Amongst Proc. R. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1883, p. 32. 
 the Guamos on the Orinoco the chief ' J. Forsyth, Highlands of Central 
 was bound to draw blood from his India, p. 137. 
 body wherewith to anoint the stomach "^ J. A. I., xiii. 451. 
 of a sick clansman. If sickness was at ^ Jour, and Proc. K. Soc. N.S. 
 all prevalent he was thus reduced to Wales, 1882, p. 172. 
 great emaciation (Gumilla, Hist, de * Howitt, in/. A. I., xiii. 458. 
 rOrmoque, i. p. 261). The Chinese ' Dawson, Australian Aiorigines, 
 sometimes cut pieces out of their flesh p. 30. 
 
 and give them to their sick parents to • We should certainly expect it not 
 
 eat (Dennys, Folk-Lore of China, p. 68 to be true of the blood-smearing. And 
 
 sq. ). Amongst some of the Caribs a this ceremony appears not to be prac- 
 
 new-born child was smeared with its tised by the tribes referred to by 
 
 father's blood (Rochefort, op. cit., p. Howitt and Dawson, ll.cc. The 
 
 552). In all these cases the idea is plucking out of the hair of the pubis 
 
 that the life of the clan or femily is in (see below) is performed by men of a 
 
 the blood, and may be transferred with different tribe (Eyre, Journals, ii. p. 
 
 the blood from one member of it to 337). 
 
44 TOTEM ISM 
 
 at the mention of his totem name he starts up to life."^ 
 Sometimes it is believed that the youth himself is killed 
 by a being called Thuremlui, who cuts him up, restores 
 him to life, and knocks out a tooth.^ Here the idea 
 seems to be that of a second birth, or the beginning of a 
 new life for the novice ; hence he receives a new name at 
 the time when he is circumcised, or the tooth knocked out, 
 or the blood of the kin poured on him.^ Amongst the 
 Indians of Virginia and the Quojas in Africa, the youths 
 ■» after initiation pretended to forget the whole of their former 
 lives (parents, language, customs, etc.) and had to learn 
 everything over again like new-born babes.* A Wolf clan 
 in Texas used to dress up in wolf skins and run about on 
 all fours, howling and mimicking wolves ; at last they 
 scratched up a living clansman, who had been buried on 
 purpose, and, putting a bow and arrows in his hands, bade 
 him do as the wolves do — rob, kill, and murder.* This may 
 have been an initiatory ceremony, revealing to the novice 
 in pantomime the double origin of the clan — from wolves 
 and from the ground. For it is a common belief with 
 totem clans that they issued originally from the ground.® 
 Ceremonial Connected with this mimic death and revival of a clans- 
 sacred° '"^■^ appears to be the real death and supposed revival of 
 animals, the totem itself. We have seen that some Californian 
 Indians killed the buzzard, and then buried and mourned 
 over it like a clansman. But it was believed that, as often 
 as the bird was killed, it was made alive again. Much the 
 same idea appears in a Zuni ceremony described by an eye- 
 witness, Mr. Gushing. He tells how a procession of fifty 
 
 1/. A. I., xiii. 453 sq. VM\mc\ier,m Zeitschrififiir Etkttologie, 
 
 2 lb., xiv. 358. XV. p. 194 sq. 
 
 3 Angas, i. 115 ; Brough Smyth, i. 5 Schoolcraft, Itid. Tr., v. 683. 
 
 75 «• ;/■ A- I; xiv. 357, 359; Nat. « Lewis and Clarke, i. 190, ed. 1815; 
 
 7>. 0/5. ^!«/;-., pp. 232, 269. Hence, Vlm^laX, Travels in New England and 
 
 too, the plucking of the hair from the New York, iv. p. 185 ; Third Rep., 
 
 pubis or incipient beard of the youth p. 237 ; Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, 
 
 at initiation. See Eyre, Journals, ii. Nord-Amerika, ii. 160 ; C. C. Jones, 
 
 PP- 337 ■>■?•. 340; Native Tribes of S. Antiquities of the Southern Indians, 
 
 Australia, p. 188. p. 4 sq. The Californian Indians 
 
 ^ R. Beverley, History of Virginia think that their coyote ancestors were 
 
 (London, 1722), p. 177 sq. ; Dapper, moulded directly from the soil (S. 
 
 Description de FAfrique, p. 268. On Powers, Tribes of California, pp. S, 
 
 initiation regarded as a new birth see 147). 
 
TOTE MIS M 45 
 
 men set off for the spirit-land, or (as tiie Zunis call it) 
 "the home of our others," and returned after four days, 
 each man bearing a basket full of living, squirming turtles, 
 One turtle was brought to the house where Mr. Gushing 
 was staying, and it was welcomed with divine honours. 
 It was addressed as, " Ah ! my poor dear lost child or 
 parent, my sister or brother to have been ! Who knows 
 which? May be my own great great grandfather or 
 mother ? " Nevertheless, next day it was killed and its 
 flesh and bones deposited in the river, that it might 
 " return once more to eternal life among its comrades 
 in the dark waters of the lake of the dead." The idea 
 that the turtle was dead was repudiated with passionate 
 sorrow ; it had only, they said, " changed houses and 
 gone to live for ever in the home of ' our lost others.' " ^ 
 The meaning of such ceremonies is not clear. Perhaps, as 
 has been suggested,^ they are piacular sacrifices, in which 
 the god dies for his people. This is borne out by the 
 curses with which the Egyptians loaded the head of the 
 slain buU.^ Such solemn sacrifices of the totem are not to 
 be confused with the mere killing of the animal for food, 
 even when the killing is accompanied by apologies and 
 tokens of sorrow. Whatever their meaning, they appear 
 not to be found among the rudest totem tribes, but only 
 amongst peoples like the Zuni and Egyptians, who, retaining 
 totemism, have yet reached a certain level of culture. The 
 idea of the immortality of the individual totem, which is 
 brought out in these ceremonies, appears to be an extension 
 of the idea of the immortality of the species, which is, 
 perhaps, of the essence of totemism, and is prominent, e.g., 
 in Samoa. Hence it is not necessary to suppose that the 
 similar festivals, which, with mingled lamentation and joy, 
 celebrate the annual death and revival of vegetation,'' are 
 directly borrowed from totemism ; both may spring inde- 
 pendently from the observation of the mortality of the 
 individual and the immortality of the species. 
 
 I Mr. Gushing, in Ci!'«/'«>7/1/a^c»"<', ^ Herod., ii. 39. 
 
 May 1883. ■* See Eiuy. Bn'l., ninth ed. , 
 
 * See Encyclopaedia Brilannica, article "Thesmophoria." 
 article "Sacrifice," vol. xxi. p. 137. 
 
46 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Sacred Closely connected with totemism, though crossing the 
 
 asMcia^ regular lines of totem kinship, are the sacred dancing bands 
 tions in or associations, which figure largely in the social life of many 
 America. North American tribes. These bands for the most part 
 bear animal names, and possess characteristic dances, also 
 badges which the members wear in dancing, and which 
 often, though not always, consist of some parts (skin, claws, 
 etc.) of the animals from which the bands take their name. 
 As distinguished from totem clans, these bands consist not 
 of kinsmen, but of members who have purchased the 
 . privilege of admission, and who in each society are generally 
 all about the same age, boys belonging to one band, youths 
 to another, and so on through the different stages of life. 
 In some tribes both sexes belong to all the bands ; in others 
 there are separate bands for the sexes. Some of the bands 
 are entrusted with certain police functions, such as maintaining 
 order in the camp, on the march, in hunting, etc.^ Such 
 associations probably originate in a feeling that the protection 
 of the totem is not by itself sufficient ; feeling this, men seek 
 an additional protection. Hence some of these bands have 
 " medicines " with which they rub their bodies before going 
 into battle, believing that this makes them invulnerable.^ 
 However, in the Snake Band of the Moquis we have an 
 instance of a kinship group expanding by natural growth 
 into a religious association,^ and this is probably not an 
 isolated case. The " clans " which Mr. Philander Prescott 
 described as existing among the Dacotas in 1 847 * appear 
 to have been religious associations rather than totem clans. 
 These Dacota " clans " were constituted by the use of the 
 same roots for " medicine " ; each " clan " had its special 
 " medicine," and there were constant feuds between them 
 owing to the belief that each " clan " employed its magic 
 " medicine " to injure men of other " clans." Each " clan " 
 had some sacred animal (bear, wolf, buffalo, etc.), or 
 part of an animal (head, tail, liver, wing, etc.), which they 
 venerated through life, and might not eat nor (if it was a 
 
 1 See Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, 2 Third Report, 349, 351. 
 
 Nord-Amerika, i. 401, 440 sq., 576- 3 Bourke, Snake Daiue, p. 180 
 
 579, ii. 138-146, 217-219, 240 sq. ; sq. 
 
 Third Rep., pp. 342-355, cf. Second * In Schoolcraft's Arf. Tr., ii. 171, 
 
 Rep., p. 16. 175. 
 
TOTEM ISM in 
 
 whole animal) kill ; nor might they step on or over it.^ 
 Violation of these rules was thought to bring trouble on the 
 offender. All this is totemic ; but the mode of admission 
 to the " clans " (namely, through the great medicine dance) 
 seems appropriate rather to associations. 
 
 At this point a few words may be added on two 
 subordinate kinds of totems which have been already 
 referred to. 
 
 Sex Totems. — In Australia (but, so far as is known at Sex 
 present, nowhere else) each of the sexes has, at least in some A^^^^ija 
 tribes, its special sacred animal, whose name each individual 
 of the sex bears, regarding the animal as his or her brother 
 or sister respectively, not killing it nor suffering the opposite 
 sex to kill it. These sacred animals therefore answer strictly 
 to the definition of totems. Thus amongst the Kurnai all 
 the men were called Yeerung (Emu-Wren) and all the 
 women Djeetgun (Superb Warbler). The birds called 
 Yeerung were the " brothers " of the men, and the birds called 
 Djeetgun were the women's " sisters." If the men killed an 
 emu-wren they were attacked by the women, if the women 
 killed a superb warbler they were assailed by the men. 
 Yeerung and Djeetgun were the mythical ancestors of the 
 Kurnai.^ The Kulin tribe in Victoria, in addition to 
 sixteen clan totems, has two pairs of sex totems ; one 
 pair (the emu-wren and superb warbler) is identical with 
 the Kurnai pair ; the other pair is the bat (male totem) 
 and the small night-jar (female totem). The latter pair 
 extends to the extreme north-western confines of Victoria 
 as the " man's brother " and the " woman's sister." ' 
 Amongst the Coast Murring tribe, as among the Kurnai 
 and Kulin, the emu -wren is the "man's brother," but 
 the " woman's sister " is the tree creeper.'' Among the 
 Mukjarawaint in Western Victoria, who have regular clan 
 totems (white cockatoo, black cockatoo, iguana, crow, 
 eaglehawk, etc.), all the men have, besides, the bat for 
 their totem, and all the women have the small night-jar 
 
 ' Stepping over a person or thing is ^ Fison and Howitt, 194, 201 sq., 
 
 not, to the primitive mind, merely 215, 235. 
 
 disrespectful; it is supposed to exercise '^ J. A. /., xv. p. 416, c/. xii. p. 
 
 an injurious influence on the person or 507. 
 thing stepped over. * J^d., xv. 416. 
 
48 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Sex for theirs.^ The Ta-ta-thi group of tribes in New South 
 
 Australia Wales, in addition to regular clan totems, has a pair of sex 
 totems, the bat for men and a small owl for women ; men 
 and women address each other as Owls and Bats ; and there 
 is a fight if a woman kills a bat or a man kills a small owl.^ 
 Of some Victorian tribes it is said that "the common bat 
 belongs to the men, who protect it against injury, even to 
 the half killing of their wives for its sake. The fern owl, 
 or large goatsucker, belongs to the women, and although 
 a bird of evil omen, creating terror at night by its cry, it is 
 jealously protected by them. If a man kills one, they are 
 as much enraged as if it was one of their children, and will 
 strike him with their long poles." ^ At Gunbower Creek on 
 the lower Murray the natives called the bat "brother belonging 
 to blackfellow," and would never kill one ; they said that if a 
 bat were killed, one of their women would be sure to die.* 
 Among the Port Lincoln tribe. South Australia, the male 
 and female of a small lizard seem to be the male and female 
 totems respectively ; at least either sex is said to have a 
 mortal hatred of the opposite sex of these little animals, the 
 men always destroying the female and the women the male. 
 They have a myth that the lizard divided the sexes in the 
 human species.^ 
 Sex totems Clearly these sex totems are not to be confounded with 
 distinct *-'''■" totems. To see in them, as Messrs. Fison and Howitt 
 from clan do or did, merely clan totems in a state of transition from 
 female to male kinship is to confound sex with kinship. 
 Even if such a view could have been held so long as sex 
 totems were only known to exist among the Kurnai, who 
 have no clan totems left, it must have fallen to the ground 
 when sex totems were found coexisting with clan totems, 
 and that either with female or male (uterine or agnatic) 
 descent. The sex totem seems to be still more sacred than 
 the clan totem ; for men who do not object to other people 
 killing their clan totem will fiercely defend their sex totem 
 against any attempt of the opposite sex to injure it." 
 
 !/• -4. /., xii. 45. '^ Trans. Philosoph. Soc. N.S. 
 
 2 Id., xiv. 350. ^?^«->'' 1862-1865, P- 359 ^■ 
 
 " Angas, op. cit., i. 109 ; Nat. Tr. 
 ^ Dawson, Australian Abongiiies, of S. Austr., p. 241. 
 P- 52- 15 /. A. /., xiv. p. 350. 
 
 totems. 
 
TOTEM ISM 49 
 
 Individual Totems. — It is not only the clans and the individual 
 sexes that have totems ; individuals also have their own •°'^'"^- 
 special totems, i.e. classes of objects (generally species of 
 animals), which they regard as related to themselves by those 
 ties of mutual respect and protection which are characteristic 
 of totemism. This relationship, however, in the case of the 
 individual totem, begins and ends with the individual man, 
 and is not, like the clan totem, transmitted by inheritance. 
 The evidence for the existence of individual totems in 
 Australia, though conclusive, is very scanty. In North 
 America it is abundant. 
 
 In Australia we hear of a medicine-man whose clan individual 
 totem through his mother was kangaroo, but whose " secret " Au™aiia. 
 {i.e. individual) totem was the tiger-snake. Snakes of that 
 species, therefore, would not hurt him.^ An Australian 
 seems usually to get his individual totem by dreaming that 
 he has been transformed into an animal of the species. 
 Thus a man who had dreamed several times that he had 
 become a lace-lizard was supposed to have acquired power 
 over lace-lizards, and he kept a tame one, which was thought 
 to give him supernatural knowledge and to act as his 
 emissary for mischief. Hence he was known as Bunjil 
 Bataluk (Old Lizard).^ Another man dreamed three times 
 he was a kangaroo ; hence he became one of the kangaroo 
 kindred, and might not eat any part of a kangaroo on which 
 there was blood ; he might not even carry home one on 
 which there was blood. He might eat cooked kangaroo ; 
 but if he were to eat the meat with the blood on it, the 
 spirits would no longer take him up aloft.* 
 
 ' /. A. /., xvi. p. 50. spirits of the beast, which it would be 
 
 * lb. 34. a most horrid abomination to eat " («i. , 
 
 3 lb!, 45. The aversion, in certain p. 117)- Many of the Slave, Hare, 
 
 cases, of savages to blood seems to be and Dogrib Indians will not taste the 
 
 an important factor in their customs. blood of game ; hunters of the two 
 
 The North American Indians, "through former tribes collect the blood in the 
 
 a strong principle of religion, abstain paunch of the animal and bury it in 
 
 in the strictest manner from eating the snow at some distance from the 
 
 the blood of any animal " (Adair, flesh (Petitot, Monographie des Dhii- 
 
 Hist. Amer. Ind., p. 134)- They Dindjii, f. ^e). Men have a special 
 
 "commonly pull their new-killed veni- objection to see the blood of women, 
 
 son (before they dress it) several times at least at certain times ; they say that 
 
 through the smoke and flame of the if they were to see it they would not be 
 
 fire, both by the way of a sacrifice and able to fight against their enemies and 
 
 to consume the blood, life, or animal would be killed (Mrs. James Smith, 
 VOL. I ^ 
 
50 TOTEMISM 
 
 Individual In America the individual totem is usually the first 
 
 Am^ica" animal of which a youth dreams during the long and 
 generally solitary fasts which American Indians observe at 
 puberty. He kills the animal or bird of which he dreams, 
 and henceforward wears its skin or feathers, or some part of 
 them, as an amulet, especially on the war-path and in 
 hunting.^ A man may even (though this seems exceptional) 
 acquire several totems in this way ; thus an Ottawa 
 medicine-man had for his individual totems the tortoise, 
 swan, woodpecker, and crow, because he had dreamed of 
 them all in his fast at puberty.^ The respect paid to the 
 individual totem varies in different tribes. Among the 
 Slave, Hare, and Dogrib Indians a man may not eat, skin, 
 nor if possible kill his individual totem,, which in these 
 tribes is said to be always a carnivorous animal. Each man 
 carries with him a picture of his totem (bought of a trader) ; 
 when he is unsuccessful in the chase, he pulls out the picture, 
 smokes to it, and makes it a speech.^ 
 Sacrifices to The Sacrifices made to the individual totem are sometimes 
 totems"'' very heavy ; a Mandan has been known to turn loose the 
 whole of his horses and abandon them for ever as a sacrifice 
 to his " medicine " or individual totem.* The sacrifices at the 
 fasts at puberty sometimes consist of finger joints.^ The 
 Mosquito Indians in Central America, after dreaming of the 
 beast or bird, sealed their compact with it by drawing blood 
 from various parts of their body.** The Innuits of Alaska 
 (who are not Indians, but belong to the Eskimo family and 
 
 The Booandik Tribe, p. 5). Hence, Jones, Hist. Ojebivay Indians, p. 87 
 
 although bleeding is a common Aus- sq. ; Loskiel, i. 40 ; Tr. Ethnol. Soc, 
 
 tralian cure for men, women are not New Series, iv. 281, 295 sq. ; Tetitot, 
 
 allowed to be bled (Angas, i. p. iii). Monographie des Dini-Dindjii, p. 36 
 
 This aversion is perhaps the explanation Collect. Minnes. Hist. 5w., v. p. 65 
 
 of that seclusion of women at puberty, American Antiquarian, ii. p. 10 
 
 child-birth, etc., which has assumed Parkman, Jesuits in North America, 
 
 different forms in many parts of the p. Ixx sq. 
 w°''''- - Schoolcraft, Am. Ind., p. 210. 
 
 Catlm, N. Amer. Indians, i. p. 36 3 Annual Report of the Smithsonian 
 
 sq.; Schoolcraft, /«(/. rn, V. p. _,! 96; Institution for 1S66, p. 307; cf. 
 
 id., Amer. Ind., p. 213 ; Lettr. Edif, Petitot, I.e. 
 
 vi. 173; Washington Matthews, jy^afefaa < Lewis and Clarke, i. p. 189 sq., 
 
 Indians, p. 50; Sproat, Scenes and 8vo ed., 1815. 
 
 Studies of Savage Life, p. 173 sq. ; 6 Maximihan, Prinz zu Wied, ^orrf- 
 
 Bancroft, 1. 283 sq. ; id., iii. 156; Amerika, \\. ■^. 166. 
 
 Mayne, Brit. Columb., p. 302 ; P. 6 Bancroft, i. p. 740 
 
 sq. 
 
TOTEM ISM 51 
 
 have no clan totems) do not scruple to eat their guardian 
 animals, and, if unsuccessful, they change their patron. 
 Innuit women have no such guardian animals/ The Indians 
 of Canada also changed their okki or manitoo (individual 
 totem) if they had reason to be dissatisfied with it ; amongst 
 them, women had also their okkis or manitoos, but did not 
 pay so much heed to them as did the men. They tattooed 
 their individual totems on their persons.^ Amongst the 
 Indians of San Juan Capistrano, a figure of the indi- 
 vidual totem, which was acquired as usual by fasting, was 
 moulded in a paste made of crushed herbs on the right 
 arm of the novice. Fire was then set to it, and thus the 
 figure of the totem was burned into the flesh.* Sometimes Various 
 the individual totem is not acquired by the individual himself at "cqutring 
 puberty, but is fixed for him independently of his will at individual 
 birth. Thus among the tribes of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, ° ^^^' 
 when a woman was about to be confined, the relations 
 assembled in the hut and drew on the floor figures of 
 different animals, rubbing each one out as soon as it was 
 finished. This went on till the child was born, and the 
 figure that then remained sketched on the ground was the 
 child's tona or totem. When he grew older the child 
 procured his totem animal and took care of it, believing that 
 his life was bound up with the animal's, and that when it 
 died he too must die.'' Similarly in Samoa, at child-birth 
 the help of several " gods " was invoked in succession, and 
 the one who happened to be addressed at the moment of 
 the birth was the infant's totem. These " gods " were dogs, 
 eels, sharks, lizards, etc. A Samoan had no objection to 
 eat another man's " god " ; but to eat his own would have 
 been death or injury to him.* Amongst the Quiches in 
 Central America, the sorcerer gives the infant the name of 
 an animal, which becomes the child's guardian spirit for 
 life.* In all such cases there is the possibility of the totem 
 being ancestral ; it may be that of the mother or father. 
 
 ' Dall, Alaska, p. 145. ^ Boscana, in A. Robinson's Life 
 
 '^ C)\&x\evoiyi, Hist, de 1,1 Notiv. Fr., in California, pp. 270 sq., 273; 
 
 vi. 67 sg. The word okki \s Huron; Bancroft, i. 414, iii. 167 sg. 
 
 maniloo is Algonkin [ib. ; Sagard, Le ' Bancroft, i. 661. 
 
 jii-and Voyage du pays di-s Hiirons, p. ' Turner, Samoa, 17. 
 
 231). " Bancroft, i. 703. 
 
a 
 
 52 TOTEM ISM 
 
 In one Central American tribe tiie son of a chief was free 
 to choose whether he would accept the ancestral totem or 
 adopt a new one ; but a son who did not adopt his father's 
 totem was always hateful to his father during his life.-^ 
 Sometimes the okkis or manitoos acquired by dreams are 
 not totems but fetiches, being not classes of objects but 
 individual objects, such as a particular tree, rock, knife, pipe, 
 etc.^ When the okkis or manitoos are, as sometimes 
 happens, not acquired by a special preparation like fasting, 
 but picked up at hazard, they have no longer any 
 resemblance to totems, but are fetiches pure and simple.* 
 The Andamanese appear to have individual totems, for 
 every man and woman is prohibited all through life from 
 eating some one (or more) fish or animal ; generally the 
 forbidden food is one which the mother thought disagreed 
 with the child ; but if no food disagreed with him, the 
 The person is free to choose what animal he will avoid.* Some 
 
 "^"uvAoi °^ ^^ people of Mota, Banks Islands, have a kind of 
 individual individual totem called tamaniu. It is some object, generally 
 
 totem in . , ... , , . . , 
 
 the Baniis ^^ animal, as a lizard or snake, but sometimes a stone, with 
 
 Islands. which the person imagines that his life is bound up ; if it 
 
 dies or is broken or lost, he will die. Fancy dictates the 
 
 choice of a tamaniu ; or it may be found " by drinking an 
 
 infusion of certain herbs and heaping together the dregs. 
 
 Whatever living thing is first seen in or upon the heap is 
 
 the tamaniu. It is watched but not fed or worshipped." 
 
 It is thought to come at call.' But as the tamaniu seems 
 
 to be an individual object, it is a fetich rather than a 
 
 totem. 
 
 otherkinds Besides the clan totem, sex totem, and individual totem, 
 
 ems. |.j,gj.g ^j.g (^g^g i^j^g h^zn indicated) some other kinds or varieties 
 
 of totems ; but the consideration of them had better be 
 
 deferred until the social organisation based on totemism has 
 
 been described. 
 
 \ Bancroft, i. 753. 6 The Rev. R. H. Codrington, in 
 
 2 Lafitau, Ma-iirs des Sanva^es Trans, and Proc. Roy. Soc. of Victoria, 
 
 Ameriquains, i. 370 sq. ; Charlevoix, xvi. p. 136. The Banks Islanders are 
 
 Hist, de la Notiv. Fr., s\. 68 ; Kohl, divided into two exogamous inter- 
 
 Ritchi Garni, i. 85 sq. marrying divisions with descent in 
 
 Kel. desjc's., 164S, p. 74^,7. the female line {ib., p. 119 sq.), but 
 
 * E. H. Man, Aboriginal Inhabit- these divisions seem not to possess 
 
 ants of t/ie Andaman Islands, -(1. 134. totems. 
 
TOTEMISM 53 
 
 Social Aspect of Totemism, or the relation of the men sodaj 
 of a totem to each other and to men of other totems. ^p^^of 
 
 . . rotemism. 
 
 (i; All the members of a totem clan regard each other 
 as kinsmen or brothers and sisters, and are bound to help 
 and protect each other.' The totem bond is stronger than The totem 
 the bond of blood or family in the modern sense. This isi'^?'^? 
 
 ^ body of 
 
 expressly stated of the clans of Western Australia and of kinsmen 
 North-western America,^ and is probably true of all societies g°J{j"^ [°' 
 where totemism exists in full force. Hence in totem tribes the obiiga- 
 every local group, being necessarily composed (owing to bio"dfeud. 
 exogamy) of members of at least two totem clans, is liable 
 to be dissolved at any moment into its totem elements by 
 the outbreak of a blood feud, in which husband and wife 
 must always (if the feud is between their clans) be arrayed 
 on opposite sides, and in which the children will be arrayed 
 against either their father or their mother, according as 
 descent is traced through the mother, or through the father.* 
 In blood feud the whole clan of the aggressor is responsible 
 for his deed, and the whole clan of the aggrieved is entitled 
 to satisfaction.* Nowhere perhaps is this solidarity carried 
 further than among the Goajiros in Colombia, South America. 
 The Goajiros are divided into some twenty to thirty totem 
 clans, with descent in the female line ; and amongst them, 
 if a man happens to cut himself with his own knife, to fall 
 off his horse, or to injure himself in any way, his family on 
 the mother's side immediately demand payment as blood- 
 money from him. " Being of their blood, he is not allowed 
 to spill it without paying for it." His father's family also 
 demands compensation, but not so much.° 
 
 ' James, mNaii-ative of the Captivity Iroquois, p. 82; Mayne, Brit. Colnmb., 
 
 and Adventures of John Tanner, p. p. 257 ; American Antiquarian, ii. p. 
 
 313; '?.]o'cxs. Hist. Ojebway Indians, 109). 
 
 p. 138; Geol.Surv. of Canada, Rep. for ' Grey, Journals, ii. 230, 238 sq. ; 
 
 i8y8-yg, p. 134B; H. Hale, The Smithsonian Rep., he. cit. 
 Iroquois Book of Riles, p. 52 ; A. ■• Fison and Howitt, 156 sq., 216 
 
 Hodgson, Letters from North America, sq. Sometimes the two clans meet 
 
 i. p. 246 i Morgan, League of the and settle it by single combat between 
 
 Iroquois, p. 81 sq. picked champions (Journ. and Proc. 
 
 « Grey, Journ., ii. 231 ; Report of R. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1882, p. 226). 
 the Smithsonian Inst, for t866, p. ' Simons, in Proc. R. Geogr. Soc, 
 
 315; Petroff, Rep. on Alaska, p. Nov. 1885, p. 789 sq. Simons's 
 
 165. Other authorities speak to the information is repeated by W. Sievers, 
 
 superiority of the totem bond over the in his Reise in der Sierra Nevada de 
 
 tribal bond (Morgan, league of the 5'a«/rt^l/«r/<J (Leipsic, 1887), p. 255 jjt. 
 
54 TOTE MIS M 
 
 To kill a fellow-clansman is a heinous offence. In 
 Mangaia " such a blow was regarded as falling upon the 
 god [totem] himself; the literal sense of 'ta atua ' [to kill 
 a member of the same totem clan] being god-striking or 
 god-killing." 1 
 Exogamy (2) Exogamy. — Persons of the same totem may not 
 
 "^em clan • n^^JTy Or have sexual intercourse with each other. The 
 persons of Navajos believe that if they married within the clan 
 t'otera mly " their bones would dry up and they would die." ^ But 
 not marry the penalty for infringing this fundamental law is not 
 er. j^gj.g[y. natural ; the clan steps in and punishes the 
 offenders. In Australia the regular penalty for sexual 
 intercourse with a person of a forbidden clan is death. 
 It matters not whether the woman be of the same local 
 group or has been captured in war from another tribe ; a 
 man of the wrong clan who uses her as his wife is hunted 
 down and killed by his clansmen, and so is the woman ; 
 though in some cases, if they succeed in eluding capture for 
 a certain time, the offence may be condoned. In the 
 Ta-ta-thi tribe. New South Wales, in the rare cases which 
 occur, the man is killed but the woman is only beaten or 
 speared, or both, till she is nearly dead ; the reason given 
 for not actually killing her being that she was probably 
 coerced. Even in casual amours the clan prohibitions are 
 strictly observed ; any violations of these prohibitions " are 
 regarded with the utmost abhorrence and are punished by 
 death." ^ Sometimes the punishment stops short at a severe 
 beating or spearing. Amongst some of the Victorian tribes, 
 " should any sign of affection and courtship be observed 
 between those of ' one flesh,' the brothers or male relatives 
 of the woman beat her severely ; the man is brought before 
 the chief, and accused of an intention to fall into the same 
 flesh, and is severely reprimanded by the tribe. If he 
 persists and runs away with the object of his affections, they 
 beat and ' cut his head all over,' and if the woman was a 
 consenting party she is half killed." ^ An important 
 
 1 Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Inst, for iSSj, p. 804 ; Fison and 
 Pacific, p. 38. Howitt, pp. 64-67, 289, 344 sq. ; 
 
 2 Bourke, Snake Dance of the J. A. /., xiv. p. 351 sq. 
 Moquis of Arizona, p. 279. * Dawson, Austr. Abor., p. 28. 
 
 ' Howitt, in Rep. of the Smithsonian 
 
TOTEM ISM 55 
 
 exception to these rules, if it is correctly reported, is that 
 of the Port Lincoln tribe, which is divided into two clans 
 Mattiri and Karraru, and it is said that though persons of 
 the same clan never marry, yet " they do not seem to 
 consider less virtuous connections between parties of the 
 same class [clan] incestuous."^ Another exception, which 
 also rests on the testimony of a single witness, is found 
 among the Kunandaburi tribe.^ Again, of the tribes on the 
 lower Murray, lower Darling, etc., it is said that though the 
 slightest blood relationship is with them a bar to marriage, 
 yet in their sexual intercourse they are perfectly free, and 
 incest of every grade continually occurs.^ 
 
 In America the Algonkins consider it highly criminal Exogamy 
 for a man to marry a woman of the same totem as himself, °^J^^ g]j^„ 
 and they tell of cases where men, for breaking this rule, in America, 
 have been put to death by their nearest relations.* 
 Amongst the Ojibways also death is said to have been 
 formerly the penalty.^ Amongst the Loucheux and Tinneh 
 the penalty is merely ridicule. " The man is said to have 
 married his sister, even though she may be from another 
 tribe and there be not the slightest connection by blood 
 between the two." " 
 
 In some tribes the marriage prohibition only extends to Often the 
 a man's own totem clan ; he may marry a woman of any ^rohibufor 
 totem but his own. This is the case with the Haidas of the extends to 
 Queen Charlotte Islands,'^ and, so far as appears, the ^^^^ 
 Narrinyeri in South Australia,* and the Western Australian clans : 
 tribes described by Sir George Grey.* Oftener, however, e"ogamous 
 the prohibition includes several clans, in none of which is ^"P^^^ 
 a man allowed to marry. For such an exogamous group be caUed a 
 of clans within the tribe it is convenient to have a name ; phratry. 
 we shall therefore call it a phratry (L. H. Morgan), defining 
 it as an exogamous division intermediate between the tribe 
 
 1 Nat. Tr. of S. Australia, p. ^ Collect. Minnesota Histor. Soc, v. 
 222. P' 42- 
 
 2 Hewitt, in Ann. Rep. of the » Ann. Rep. Smithson. Inst, for 
 Smithsonian Inst, for 18S3, p. 804. j866, p. 3I5- 
 
 » Joum. and Proc. R. Soc. N.S. ' Geol. Stirv. of Canada, Rep. for 
 
 Wo/w, 1883, p. 24; Transactions of the 1878-79, p- 134". 
 
 Royal Society of Victoria, \i. p. 16. ' Nat. Tr. of S. Austr., p. 12; 
 
 « James, in Tanner's Narr., p. /. A. /., xii. p. 46. 
 
 ,,,_ " Giey, /oum., ii. p. 226. 
 
 ion 
 
56 TOTEMJSM 
 
 and the clan. The evidence goes to show that in many 
 cases it was originallj' a totem clan which has undergone 
 subdivision. 
 Exogamous Examples. — The Creek Indians are at present divided 
 phratries jf||-Q about twenty clans (Bear, Deer, Panther, Wild-Cat, Skunk, 
 Racoon, Wolf, Fox, Beaver, Toad, Mole, Maize, Wind, etc.), 
 and some clans have become extinct. These clans are (or 
 were) exogamous ; a Bear might not marry a Bear, etc. 
 But further, a Panther was prohibited from marrying not 
 only a Panther but also a Wild-Cat. Therefore the Panther 
 and Wild-Cat clans together form a phratry. Similarly a 
 Toad might not marry a member of the extinct clan Tchu- 
 Kotalgi ; therefore the Toad and Tchu-Kotalgi clans formed 
 another phratry. Other of the Creek clans may have been 
 included in these or other phratries ; but the memory of such 
 arrangements, if they existed, has perished.^ The Moquis of 
 Arizona are divided into at least twenty-three totem clans, 
 which are grouped in ten phratries ; two of the phratries include 
 three clans, the rest comprise two, and one clan (Blue-Seed- 
 Grass) stands by itself^ The Choctaws were divided into 
 two phratries, each of which included four clans ; marriage 
 was prohibited between members of the same phratry, but 
 members of either phratry could marry into any clan of the 
 other.^ The Chickasas are divided into two phratries — (i) 
 the Panther phratry, which includes four clans, namely, the 
 Wild-Cat, Bird, Fish, and Deer ; and (2) the Spanish phratry, 
 which includes eight clans, namely, Racoon, Spanish, Royal, 
 Hush-ko-ni, Squirrel, Alligator, Wolf, and Blackbird.* The 
 Seneca tribe of the Iroquois was divided into two phratries, 
 each including four clans, the Bear, Wolf, Beaver, and 
 Turtle clans forming one phratry, and the Deer, Snipe, 
 Heron, and Hawk clans forming the other. Originally, as 
 among the Choctaws, marriage was prohibited within the 
 phratry but was permitted with any of the clans of the 
 other phratry ; the prohibition, however, has now broken 
 down, and a Seneca may marry a woman of any clan but 
 his own. Hence phratries, in our sense, no longer exist 
 
 1 Gatschet, Migration Legend of the and Collect. Americ. Antiq. Soc, vol. 
 Creek Indians, ■^. ll\ sq. ii. p. 109; Morgan^ A. S., pp. 99, 
 
 2 Bourke, Snake Dance, p. 336. 162. 
 
 3 Archaologia Americana, Trans. * Morgan, A. S., pp. 99, 163. 
 
TOTEMISM 57 
 
 among the Senecas, though the organisation survives for 
 certain religious and social purposes.^ The Cayuga tribe of 
 Iroquois had also two phratries and eight clans, but one 
 phratry included five clans (Bear, Wolf, Turtle, Snipe, Eel) 
 and the other included three (Deer, Beaver, Hawk).^ The 
 Onondaga-Iroquois have also eight clans, unequally distributed 
 into two phratries, the Wolf, Turtle, Snipe, Beaver, and Ball 
 forming one phratry, and the Deer, Eel, and Bear clans 
 forming the other.' Amongst the Tuscarora- Iroquois the 
 Bear, Beaver, Great Turtle, and Eel clans form one phratry ; 
 and the Grey Wolf, Yellow Wolf, Little Turtle, and Snipe 
 form the other.* The Wyandots (Hurons) are divided into 
 four phratries, the Bear, Deer, and Striped Turtle forming 
 the first ; the Highland Turtle, Black Turtle, and Smooth 
 Large Turtle the second ; Hawk, Beaver, and Wolf the 
 third ; and Sea Snake and Porcupine the fourth.* 
 
 The phratries of the Thlinkets and the Mohegans deserve Phratries 
 especial attention, because each phratry bears a name which is sometimes' 
 
 '^ ' ^ ■' apparently 
 
 also the name of one of the clans included in it. The Thlinkets formed by 
 are divided as follows : — Raven phratry, with clans Raven, ^'j^jg^n'of 
 Frog, Goose, Sea-Lion, Owl, Salmon ; Wolf phratry, with totem 
 clans Wolf, Bear, Eagle, Whale, Shark, Auk. Members of '''^"'• 
 the Raven phratry must marry members of the Wolf phratry, 
 and vice versa^ Considering the prominent parts played in 
 Thlinket mythology by the ancestors of the two phratries, 
 and considering that the names of the phratries are also 
 names of clans, it seems probable that the Raven and Wolf 
 were the two original clans of the Thlinkets, which afterwards 
 by subdivision became phratries. This was the opinion of 
 the Russian missionary Veniaminof, the best early authority 
 on the tribe.' Still more clearly do the Mohegan phratries 
 appear to have been formed by subdivision from clans. 
 They are as follows : * — Wolf phratry, with clans Wolf, 
 Bear, Dog, Opossum ; Turtle phratry, with clans Little 
 Turtle, Mud Turtle, Great Turtle, Yellow Eel ; Turkey 
 
 ' Morgan, a/. «V., pp. go, 94 jjT. 112, 220; Holmberg, op. cit., 293, 
 
 * Morgan, op. cit., p. 91. 313; I'inart, in Bull. Soc. Anihrop. 
 
 ' Morgan, op. cit., p. 91 sq, Paris, 7th Nov. 1872, p. 792 sq. ; 
 
 < Morgan, op. cit., p. 93. Petroff, Kep. on Alaska, p. 165 sq. 
 t First Rep., p. 60. ' Petroff, op. cit., p. 166. 
 
 " A. Krausc, Die Tlinkit-Jmliaiur, ' Morgan, 0/. cit., p. 174. 
 
S8 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Explana- 
 tion of the 
 origin of 
 split 
 totems. 
 
 Personal 
 names 
 derived 
 from the 
 totem of 
 the clan. 
 
 phratry, with clans Turkey, Crane, Chicken. Here we are 
 almost forced to conclude that the Turtle phratry was 
 originally a Turtle clan which subdivided into a number of 
 clans, each of which took the name of a particular kind of 
 turtle, while the Yellow Eel clan may have been a later 
 subdivision. Thus we get a probable explanation of the 
 origin of split totems ; they seem to have arisen by the 
 segmentation of a single original clan, which had a whole 
 animal for its totem, into a number of clans, each of 
 which took the name either of a part of the original animal 
 or of a subspecies of it. We may conjecture that this was 
 the origin of the Grey Wolf and the Yellow Wolf, and the 
 Great Turtle and the Little Turtle clans of the Tuscarora- 
 Iroquois (see above, p. 57) ; the Black Eagle and the White 
 Eagle, and the Deer and Deer-Tail clans of the Kaws ; ^ 
 and of the Highland Turtle (striped). Highland Turtle 
 (black). Mud Turtle, and Smooth Large Turtle clans of the 
 Wyandots (Hurons).^ This conclusion, so far as concerns 
 the Hurons, is strengthened by the part played in Huron 
 (and Iroquois) mythology by the turtle, which is said to 
 have received on its back the first woman as she fell from 
 the sky, and to have formed and supported the earth by the 
 accretion of soil on its back.^ 
 
 This explanation of the origin of split totems is confirmed 
 by the custom of calling each member of a clan by a name 
 which has some reference to the common totem of the clan. 
 Thus among the birth-names * of boys in the Elk clan of the 
 Omahas the following used to be given to sons in order of 
 
 1 Morgan, op. cit., p. 156. 
 
 2 First Rep., p. 59. 
 
 3 Rel. des Jis., 1636, p. lOI ; 
 Lafitau, Mceiiis des Sauvages Ameri- 
 quains, i. p. 94 ; Charlevoix, Hist, de 
 la Nouv. Fr., vi. p. 147 ; T. Dwight, 
 Travels in New England and New 
 York, iv. p. 180 sq. Precedence was 
 
 given to the Turtle clan among the 
 Iroquois (the kindred of the Hurons) 
 (T. Dwight, op. cit., iv. p. 185 ; 
 Zeisberger, in H. Hale, The Iroquois 
 Book of Rites, p. 54 n.), the Delawaves 
 (Brinton, The Lenape and their Legends , 
 p. 39 ; De Schweinitz, Life of Zeis- 
 berger, p. 79), and the Algonkins 
 
 (Leland, Alg07iqiiin\ Legends of New 
 England, p. 51 n.) ; and Heckevfelder 
 (op. cit. , p. 8 1 ) states generally that the 
 Turtle clan alvi'ays takes the lead in the 
 government of an Indian tribe. In 
 the Delaware mytliology the turtle plays 
 the same part as in the Huron mythology 
 (see above, p. 6). 
 
 * ' ' Two classes of names were in 
 use, one adapted to childhood and the 
 other to adult life, which were exchanged 
 at the proper period in the same formal 
 manner ; one being taken away, to use 
 their expression, and the other be- 
 stowed in its place " (Morgan, A. S., p. 
 79). 
 
TOTEM ISM 59 
 
 their birth — Soft Horn, Yellow Horn, Branching Horn, etc. 
 Amongst the men's names in the same clan are Elk, Standing 
 Elk, White Elk, Big Elk, Dark Breast (of an elk), Stumpy 
 Tail (of an elk), etc. Amongst the women's names in the 
 same clan are Female Elk, Tail Female, etc.^ Amongst the 
 names of men in the Black Shoulder (Buffalo) clan of the 
 Omahas are Black Tongue (of a buffalo), He that walks 
 last in the herd. Thick Shoulder (of a buffalo), etc.^ And 
 so with the names of individual members of other clans.^ 
 The same custom of naming clansmen after some part or 
 attribute of the clan totem prevails also among the Encounter 
 Bay tribe in South Australia ; a clan totem of that tribe is 
 the pelican, and a clansman may be called, e.g., Pouch of a 
 Pelican.* Clearly split totems might readily arise from 
 single families separating from the clan and expanding into 
 new clans, while they retained as clan names the names of 
 their individual founders, as White Elk, Pouch of a Pelican. 
 Hence such split totems as Bear's Liver,^ Head of a Tortoise, 
 Stomach of a Pig (see above, p. i o) ; such taboos as those 
 of the subclans of the Omaha Black Shoulder clan (see 
 above, p. ii); and such subclans as the sections of the 
 Omaha Turtle subclan, namely. Big Turtle, Turtle that does 
 not flee, Red-Breasted Turtle, and Spotted Turtle with red 
 eyes.* Finally, Warren actually states that the numerous 
 Bear clan of the Ojibways was formerly subdivided into 
 subclans, each of which took for its totem some part of the 
 Bear's body (head, foot, ribs, etc.), but that these have now 
 merged into two, the common Bear and the Grizzly Bear." 
 The subdivision of the Turtle (Tortoise) clan, which on this 
 hypothesis has taken place among the Tuscarora- Iroquois, is 
 nascent among the Onondaga-Iroquois, for among them " the 
 name of this clan is Hahnowa, which is the general word 
 for tortoise ; but the clan is divided into two septs or 
 subdivisions, the Hanyatengona, or Great Tortoise, and the 
 
 > Third Rep., p. 227 sq. ■• Nat. Tr. of S. Austr., p. 187. 
 
 „ „ ^ P. Jones, Hist. Ojebway Ind., p. 
 
 ' "'•^ =^32. ,38. / ^ P 
 
 ' lb., 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, » Third Kep., p. 240 sq. 
 
 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250 J ^ Collections 0/ the Minnesota His- 
 
 Morgan, A. S., p. 169 «. torical Society, v. p. 49. 
 
6o 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Fusion of 
 
 totem- 
 
 clans. 
 
 Phratries in 
 Australia. 
 
 In Aus- 
 tralia the 
 phratries 
 are often 
 subdivided 
 into sub- 
 phratries. 
 
 Examples 
 of Aus- 
 tralian 
 tribes 
 divided 
 into two 
 phratries 
 with totem 
 clans. 
 
 Nikahnowaksa, or Little Tortoise, which together are held 
 to constitute but one clan."^ 
 
 On the other hand, fusion of clans is known to have 
 taken place, as among the Haidas, where the Black Bear 
 and Fin-Whale clans have united ; ^ and the same thing has 
 happened to some extent among the Omahas and Osages.^ 
 We may also suspect fusion of clans wherever apparently 
 disconnected taboos are observed by the same clan, as, e.g., 
 the prohibition to touch verdigris, charcoal, and the skin of 
 a cat {supra, p. 1 2). Fusion of clans would also explain 
 those totem badges which are said to be composed of parts 
 of different animals joined together.* 
 
 In Australia the phratries are still more important than 
 in America. Messrs. Howitt and Fison, who have done so 
 much to advance our knowledge of the social system of the 
 Australian aborigines, have given to these exogamous 
 divisions the name of classes ; but the term is objectionable, 
 because it fails to convey (i) that these divisions are kinship 
 divisions, and (2) that they are intermediate divisions ; 
 whereas the Greek term phratry conveys both these meanings, 
 and is therefore appropriate. 
 
 We have seen examples of Australian tribes in which 
 members of any clan are free to marry members of any clan 
 but their own ; but such tribes appear to be exceptional. 
 Often an Australian tribe is divided into two (exogamous) 
 phratries, each of which includes under it a number of totem 
 clans ; and oftener still there are subphratries interposed 
 between the phratry and the clans, each phratry including 
 two subphratries, and the subphratries including totem clans. 
 We will take examples of the former and simpler organisa- 
 tion first. 
 
 The Turra tribe in Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, is 
 divided into two phratries, Wiltu (Eaglehawk) and Multa 
 (Seal). The Eaglehawk phratry includes ten totem clans 
 (Wombat, Wallaby, Kangaroo, Iguana, Wombat- Snake, 
 Bandicoot, Black Bandicoot, Crow, Rock-Wallaby, and 
 
 1 H. Hale, The Iroquois Book of ^ Third Rep., p. 235; American 
 Rites, p. 53 sq. Naturalist, xviii. p. 114. 
 
 2 Geol. Stirv. of Canada, Rep. for * Acad., 27th Sept. 1884, p. 203. 
 J'S7S-79, p. 134B. 
 
TOTEM ISM 6 1 
 
 Emu) ; and the Seal phratry includes six (Wild Goose, 
 Butterfish, Mullet, Schnapper, Shark, and Salmon). The 
 phratries are of course exogamous, but (as with the 
 Choctaws, Mohegan, and, so far as appears, all the American 
 phratries) any clan of the one phratry may intermarry with 
 any clan of the other phratry.^ Again, the Wotjoballuk 
 tribe in North-western Victoria is divided into two phratries 
 (Krokitch and Gamutch), each of which includes three totem 
 clans ; the rule of intermarriage is the same as before.^ The 
 Ngarego and Theddora tribes in New South Wales are 
 divided into two phratries, Merung (Eaglehawk) and 
 Yiikembruk (Crow) ; and each phratry includes eight totem 
 clans.' 
 
 In Australia, as in America, we have an instance of a 
 tribe with its clans arranged in phratries, but with an odd 
 clan unattached to a phratry. This occurs in Western 
 Victoria, where there are five totem clans thus arranged : 
 
 -...,.. r (i) Long-Billed Cockatoo clan. 
 
 First phratry • { ) { -n v i 
 
 '^ ' >. (2) Pelican clan. 
 
 £, J . ^ ( i'i) Banksian Cockatoo clan. 
 
 Second phratry • { j^j ^^^ g^^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 (5) Quail clan. 
 
 Here clans i and 2 may marry 3, 4, 5 ; 3 and 4 may 
 marry i, 2, 5 ; 5 may marry i, 2, 3, 4.'' 
 
 But the typical Australian tribe is divided into two The typical 
 exogamous phratries ; each of these phratries is subdivided ^"n'^jf"^" 
 into two subphratries ; and these subphratries are subdivided divided 
 into an indefinite number of totem clans. The phratries ph°atri« 
 being exogamous, it follows that their subdivisions (the four sub- 
 subphratries and clans) are so also. The well-known an™a™^' 
 Kamilaroi tribe in New South Wales will serve as an indefinite 
 example. Its subdivisions are as follows : ^ — totem 
 
 _^ clans. 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, p. 285. ' /. A. /., xiii. p. 437 n. 
 
 2 Howitt, in Rep, of the Smithson. ■• Dawson, Aiistr. Abor., p. 26 sq. 
 Inst, for /SSj, p. 818. * /. A. /., xii. 500. 
 
 [Table. 
 
62 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Dilbi. 
 
 Kupathin. 
 
 Subphratries. 
 
 Muri.i 
 Kubi. 
 
 Ipai. 
 Kumbo. 
 
 Totem Clans. 
 
 Kangaroo, Opossum, Bandicoot, 
 Padimeion, Iguana, Black Duck, 
 Eaglehawk, Scrub Turkey, Yellow- 
 Fish, Honey-Fish, Bream. 
 
 Emu, Carpet-Snake, Black Snake, 
 Red Kangaroo, Honey, Walleroo, 
 Frog, Cod-Fish. 
 
 The free- In such tribes the freedom of marriage is still more 
 
 marriage Curtailed. A subphratry is not free to marry into either 
 much re- subphratry of the other phratry ; each subphratry is re- 
 a typical" strictcd in its choice of partners to one subphratry of the 
 Australian other phratry ; Muri can only marry Kumbo, and vice versa ; 
 Kubi can only marry Ipai, and vice versa. Hence (sup- 
 posing the tribe to be equally distributed between the 
 phratries and subphratries), whereas under the two phratry 
 and clan system a man is free to choose a wife from half 
 the women of the tribe, under the phratry, subphratry, and 
 clan system he is restricted in his choice to one quarter of 
 the women. 
 
 The Kiabara tribe, south of Maryborough in Queens- 
 land, will furnish another example : ^ — 
 
 Phratries. 
 
 Subphratries. 
 
 Totem Clans. 
 
 Dilebi (Flood-Water). | 
 Cubatine (Lightning). -j 
 
 Baring (Turtle). 
 Turowine (Bat). 
 Bulcoin (Carpet-Snake). 
 Bundah (Native Cat). 
 
 } ' 
 } ' 
 
 Here Baring marries Bundah, and Turowine marries 
 Bulcoin, and vice versa. 
 
 1 The names of the subphratries 
 here given are the names of the male 
 members of each. There is a corre- 
 sponding female form for each, formed 
 by the addition of tha to the masculine. 
 Thus Muri — Matha (contracted for 
 Muvitha), Kubi — Kubitha, Ipai — 
 Ipatha, Kumbo — Butha (contracted 
 for Kumbatha) (Fison and Howitt, p. 
 37 «. ). In a tribe of Western Victoria 
 the feminine termination is heear 
 (Dawson, Aiistr. Abor., p. 26) ; in a 
 Queensland tribe it is an (Fison and 
 
 Howitt, p. 33) J in some tribes it is 
 tm or gun (Ridley, in Brough Smyth, 
 ii. p. 288). The tribe at Wide Bay, 
 Queensland, appears to have five sub- 
 phratries, with male and female names 
 (Ridley, loc. cit.). In some tribes the 
 male and female names of the sub- 
 phratries are distinct words (see 
 /. A. I., xiii. pp. 300, 343, 345). In 
 describing the rules of marriage and 
 descent these feminine forms or names 
 are for simplicity's sake omitted. 
 V- ^'- I-, xiii. 336, 341. 
 
TOTEM ISM 63 
 
 A remarkable feature of the Australian social organi- The divi- 
 sation is that divisions of one tribe have their recognised Austr^^ian 
 equivalents in other tribes, whose languages, including the tribes have 
 names for the tribal divisions, are quite different. A native 'ecognised 
 who travelled far and wide through Australia stated that equivaJents 
 " he was furnished with temporary wives by the various ["ites." 
 tribes with whom he sojourned in his travels ; that his right 
 to these women was recognised as a matter of course ; and 
 that he could always ascertain whether they belonged to the 
 division into which he could legally marry, ' though the 
 places were 1000 miles apart, and the languages quite 
 different' " ^ Again, it is said that " in cases of distant 
 tribes it can be shown that the class divisions correspond 
 with each other, as for instance in the classes of the Flinders 
 river and Mitchell river tribes ; and these tribes are separated 
 by 400 miles of country, and by many intervening tribes. 
 But for all that, class corresponds to class in fact and in 
 meaning and in privileges, although the name may be quite 
 different and the totems of each dissimilar." '^ Particular 
 information, however, as to the equivalent divisions is very 
 scanty.* Hence it often happens that husband and wife 
 speak different languages and continue to do so after 
 marriage, neither of them ever thinking of changing his or 
 her dialect for that of the other.* Indeed, in some tribes 
 of Western Victoria a man is actually forbidden to marry a 
 wife who speaks the same dialect as himself; and during 
 the preliminary visit which each pays to the tribe of the 
 other neither is permitted to speak the language of the tribe 
 whom he or she is visiting.* This systematic correspondence 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, p. 53 sq. ; cf. Transiauiana, i. 200 sq. ; ib., ii. 23 ; 
 Brough Smyth, i. p. 91. Krauss, SUdsl., p. 450 ; Hahn, 
 "^ J. A, I., xiii. p. 300, Albanes. Stud., i. 147). Hence too 
 ^ For a few particulars see Fison perhaps the folk-loie incident of the 
 and Howitt, 38, 40 ; Brough Smyth, silent bride (cf. Grimm, Kinder tind 
 ii. 288 ; _/. A. /., xiii. 304, 306, 346, Hausmahrchen,^o. 3; Ctane, Po/iular 
 xiv. 348 sq., 351. Italian Tales, p. 54 sq.). In a modern 
 * Nat. Tr. of S. Austr., p. 249. Greek folk-tale which presents some 
 ' Dawson, Austr. Abor,, 27, 30 sq. ; points of resemblance to the legend of 
 cf. Fison and Howitt, p. 276. The Peleus and Thetis the silent bride is a 
 custom observed in some places of Nereid ; hence Schmidt conjectures 
 imposing silence on women for a long with great probability that the ex- 
 time after marriage may possibly be a pression of Sophocles, quoted by the 
 relic of the custom of marrying women scholiast on Pindar, Nem. iv. 60 
 of a different tongue (cf. Haxthausen, (i.(pBlrfiam Yimous), means that Thetis 
 
64 TOTEM ISM 
 
 This between the intermarrying divisions of distinct and distant 
 
 corre'"^'"^ tribes, with the rights which it conveys to the members of 
 spoiidence thcsc divisions, points to sexual communism on a scale to 
 marr'ylnff which there is perhaps no parallel elsewhere, certainly not 
 divisions in in North America, where marriage is always within the 
 AusTrafian tribe, though outside the clan.^ But even in Australia a 
 tribes man is always bound to marry within a certain kinship 
 sexuaicom- group ; that group may extend across the whole of Australia, 
 munisra on jjuj- nevertheless it is exactly limited and defined. If endo- 
 
 a great . , . , _,.,.. 
 
 scale. gamy is used m the sense of prohibition to marry outside 
 of a certain kinship group, whether that group be exclusive 
 of, inclusive of, or identical with the man's own group, then 
 marriage among the totem societies of Australia, America, 
 and India is both exogamous and endogamous ; a man is 
 forbidden to marry either within his own clan or outside of 
 a certain kinship group.^ 
 Australian Native Australian traditions as to the origin of these 
 
 traditions various tribal divisions, though small credit can be given to 
 
 as to the ' ^ ° 
 
 origin of them, deserve to be mentioned. The Dieri tribe has a legend 
 divisions ^ '^^'^ mankind married promiscuously till Muramura (Good 
 Spirit) ordered that the tribe should be divided into branches 
 which were to be called after objects animate and inanimate 
 (dogs, mice, emus, iguanas, rain, etc.), the members of each 
 division being forbidden to intermarry.^ The tribes of 
 Western Victoria, whose totems are long-billed cockatoo, 
 pelican, banksian cockatoo, boa snake, and quail, say that 
 their progenitor was a long -billed cockatoo who had a 
 
 was silent during her married life (B. dans PAmirique Mih-idiona/e, ii. p. 
 
 Schmidt, Volksleben der Nengriechoi, io6). In the Booandik tribe. South 
 
 p. 1 1 6). Amongst the Caribs the Australia, persons connected by 
 
 language of the men differed to some marriage talk to each other in a low 
 
 extent from that of the women (see whining voice and use words different 
 
 Rochefort, Hist, des Iks Antilles, p. from those in common use (Mrs. James 
 
 350 ; La Borde, " Relation de Smith, The Booandik Tribe, p. 5). 
 
 I'origine, etc., des Caraibes," in liec. ' First Rep., p. 63. Between 
 
 de divers voyages fails en Afr. et en North-American tribes " there were no 
 
 I'Amer., Paris, 1684, pp. 4, 39; intermarriages, no social intercourse, 
 
 Humboldt, Reise in die Aeqninoctial- no intermingling of any kind, except 
 
 Gegenden des Neuen Continents, iv. that of mortal strife" (Dodge, Cm- fl^«'/(^ 
 
 ■2.0\sq. (Hauff's German trans.); Im Indians, p. 45). 
 
 Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, 2 Qy_ p^^^^ Rep., loc. cit. ; As. Quart. 
 
 186; Lucien de Rosny, Les lies Rev.,]u\y 1886, p. Sg sq. 
 
 Antilles, 23, 261). So amongst the 8 ^^^^ Xr. of S. Aiistr., p. 260 
 
 Mbayas in Paraguay (Azara, Voyages sq. 
 
TOTEM ISM 65 
 
 banksian cockatoo to wife ; their children, taking their clan 
 from their mother, were Banksian Cockatoos ; but, being 
 forbidden by the laws of consanguinity to marry with each 
 other, they had to introduce " fresh flesh," which could only 
 be done by marriage with strangers ; so they got wives from 
 a distance, and hence the introduction of the pelican, snake, 
 and quail totems.^ 
 
 (3) Rules of Descent. — In a large majority of the totem in a large 
 tribes at present known to us in Australia and North {^^^^"rij^s 
 America descent is in the female line, i.e. the children the descent 
 belong to the totem clan of their mother, not to that of "^Jjj''^'^"''^'" 
 their father. In Australia the proportion of tribes with female line. 
 female to those with male descent is as four to one ; in 
 America it is between three and two to one. The table 
 which follows is a very rough one. For instance, the 
 Western Australians, given as one tribe, no doubt include 
 many ; and it is possible that the Western Victorian tribes 
 given on Dawson's authority may include some tribes 
 mentioned separately by other authorities. 
 
 Table of Male and Female Descent. 
 
 Australia. — Female Descent. — i, West Australians Female 
 (Grey, >«m, ii. 226; Brough Smyth, ii. 267); 2 and 3, fhe^oTeml. 
 Ngarego and Theddora (/. A. /., xiii. 437) ; 4, Wakelbura Australia. 
 (/. A. I., xii. 43) ; S, Kunandaburi {ib) ; 6, Mukjarawaint 
 {tb>) ; 7, Yerrunthully (/. A. /., xiii. 339, 342); 8, Koogo- 
 Bathy {ib., 339, 343); 9, Kombinegherry \ib., 340, 343); 
 10, Wonghibon («^., xiv. 348, 350); 11, Barknji {ib., 349, 
 350) ; 12, Ta-ta-thi (/(^.) ; 13, Keramin {ib:) ; 14, Wiraijuri 
 [id., xiii. 436); IS, Wolgal {ib., 437); 16, Wotjoballuk 
 \Smithson. Rep. for 1883, p. 8 1 8) ; 1 6-26, Western Victorian 
 tribes, ten in number (Dawson, Aust. Ab., i sq., 26) ; 27, 
 Wa-imbio (Fison and Howitt, 291 ; Brough Smyth, i. 86) ; 
 28, Port Lincoln tribe {Nat. Tr. of S. Aust., 222) ; 29, 
 Kamilaroi (Fison and Howitt, 43, 68) ; 30, Mount Gambier 
 tribe {ib., 34); 31, Darling River tribe («3.) ; 32, Mackay 
 tribe, Queensland {ib!). 
 
 ' Dawson, Austr. Abor., p. 27. 
 VOL. I f 
 
66 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Male Male Descent.— !, Turra (Fison and Howitt, 285; 
 
 fhetmemin/- ^' ^- ^"- 44) ', 2, Narrinyeri (/. A. I., xii. 44, So8 ; Nat. 
 Australia. Tr. of S. Aust., p. 1 2) ; 3, Kulin (/. A. I., xii. 44, 507) ; 4, 
 Aldolinga (/. ^. /., xii. 506); 5, Wolgal {ib.); 6, Ikula — 
 partly male (/. A. /., xii. 509) ; 7, Kiabara (/. A. I., xiii. 
 336, 341) ; 8, Mycoolon (/. A. I., xiii. 339, 343); a large 
 tribe or group of tribes (no names given) to the south of the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria (/. A. I., xii. 504). The Gournditch- 
 Mara have male descent, but among them the rule of 
 exogamy has disappeared (Fison and Howitt, p. 275 sq.). 
 
 With regard to the Kurnai in Victoria, after all the 
 explanations of Messrs. Fison and Howitt, it remains un- 
 certain whether descent in that tribe is female or male. The 
 existence of sex totems among them (which Messrs. Fison 
 and Howitt took as evidence that descent was " male as to 
 boys, female as to girls ") proves nothing. The tribe is 
 organised in local districts, and apparently a man may take 
 a wife neither from his father's nor his mother's district 
 (Fison and Howitt, p. 226 sq.). How deceitful inferences 
 from local prohibitions may be appears from Dawson's 
 account of the Western Victorian tribes. Among these 
 tribes a man may not marry into his father's tribe (which 
 seems to be a local division). From this one might infer 
 that descent was male. But in addition to these local 
 exogamous divisions, there are among these tribes totem 
 clans, and children belong to their mother's clan and may 
 not marry into it. Therefore in these tribes descent is after 
 all female (Dawson Aust. Abor., p. 26). 
 Female AMERICA. — Female Descent. — i, Thlinkets (A. Krause, 
 
 fheToIlm ^^^ Tlinket-Ind., p. 231 sq^; 2, British Columbians (Mayne, 
 in America. .Sr. Columb., 258); 3, Haidas {Geol. Surv. of Canada, Rep. 
 for 1878-79, p. 134B); 4, Loucheux {Smithson. Rep. for 
 1866, p. 315); 5, Kutchin (Dall, Alaska, p. 197); 6, 
 Iroquois (Morgan, League of the Iroquois, 83 ; id., A. S., 
 64) ; 7, Wyandots or Hurons {First Report, 60 ; Morgan, 
 A. S., 153); 8, Bella Coola Indians, British Columbia 
 {Original- Mittheil., etc., i. p. 186); 9-17, Creeks, Seminoles, 
 Hitchetes, Yoochees, Alabamas, Coosatees, Natchez (Gatschet, 
 Migration Legend of the Creek Indians, p. 153; Morgan, 
 A. S., 160 sq.\ Archceologia Americana, ii. p. 109); 18, 19, 
 
TOTEM ISM (fj 
 
 Choctaws, Cherokees {Archceol. Amer., loc. cit. ; Morgan, op. 
 cit., 162, 164); 20, Lenape or Delawares (Morgan, op. cit., 
 166, 172); 21,22, Otoes and Missouris (Morgan, op. at., 
 156) ; 23, Mandans (Morgan, op. cit., 158); 24, Minnitarees 
 {ib., 159); 25, Upsarokas or Crows (ib., 159); 26, Chickasas 
 {ib., 163); 27, Menominees {ib., 170); 28, Munsees {ib., 
 173); 29, Mohegans (z(J., 174); 30, Pequots {ib); 31, 
 Narragansetts {ib) ; 32, Moquis (Bourke, Snake Dance, p. 
 230); 33, Goajiros {Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc, December 1885, 
 P- 790) ; 34, Arawaks (Brett, Ind. Tr. of Guiana, 98 ; Im 
 Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 185). 
 
 Male Descent. — i, Omahas {Third Rep., 225 ; Morgan, Male 
 op. cit., 15 5); 2, Punkas (Morgan, loc. cit.); 3, lowas f.^^^-J^"' 
 (Morgan, 156); 4, Kaws {ib.) ; 5, Winnebagoes {id., 157) ; in America. 
 6, Ojibways {id., 166 ; Collect. Minnesota Histor. Soc, v. p. 
 42); 7, Pottawatamies (Morgan, op. cit., 167); 8, Miamis 
 {id., 168); 9, Shawnees {id., 169); 10, Sauks and Foxes 
 {id., 170); II, Blood Blackfeet {id., 171); 12, Piegan 
 Blackfeet {ib.); 13, Abenakis {id., 175). 
 
 As to the totem tribes of Africa, descent among the Rules as to 
 Damaras is in the female line,^ and there are traces of^l^g""^^^ 
 female kin among the Bechuanas.^ Among the Bakalai in Africa 
 property descends in the male line, but this is not a con- ''" 
 elusive proof that descent is so reckoned ; ^ all the clans in 
 the neighbourhood of the Bakalai have female descent both 
 for blood and property.* In Bengal, where there is a con- 
 siderable body of totem tribes, Mr. Risley says that after 
 careful search he and his coadjutors have found no tribe 
 with female descent, and only a single trace of it in one.^ 
 Colonel Dalton, however, states that the Kasias in Bengal 
 are divided into exogamous tribes with descent in the female 
 line ; and with regard to this people he mentions, on the 
 
 ' Andersson, Lake Ngami, p. 221. (i.e. to sister's children), but personal 
 
 2 Casalis, The Basutos, p. 179 sg. property in the male line [i.e. to sons) ; 
 
 3 Because property may descend in but the practice is for the sons to 
 the male, while kinship is traced in the redeem the land with the personal 
 female line, as with the natives of property. See the Rev. R. H. Cod- 
 Western Australia (Grey, Journals, ii. rington, in Trans, and Proc. Roy. Soc. 
 230, 232 /y.) and some Victorian tribes of Victoria, xvi. p. \\<) sq. 
 (Dawson, Austral. Aborigines, 7, 26). ■• Du Chaillu, Jouriuy to Ashango 
 In Mota, Banks Islands, where kinship Land, 429 ; id.. Equal. A/r., 308 sq. 
 is traced in the female line, landed ' As. Quart. Rev., July 1886, p. 
 property descends in the female line 94. 
 
68 
 
 TOTEMISM 
 
 Indirect 
 
 male and 
 
 female 
 
 descent in 
 
 typical 
 
 Australian 
 
 tribes. 
 
 authority of Colonel Yule, that " some individuals have a 
 superstitious objection to particular kinds of food, and will 
 not allow such to be brought into their houses, Is not this 
 superstition," asks Colonel Dalton very properly, " connected 
 with their tribal divisions as amongst the Oraons of Chota 
 Nagpur and the Bechuanas of Africa, who cannot eat the 
 animal after which their tribe is named ? " At least if 
 this is not totemism, it is uncommonly like it.^ In the 
 exogamous clans or '' motherhoods " of the Garos in Bengal 
 descent is also in the female line, and some of the Garo 
 legends point to totemism.^ It is remarkable either that 
 these examples should have been overlooked by Mr. Risley 
 and his coadjutors or that both these tribes should have 
 exchanged female for male kinship within the fourteen * 
 years which elapsed between the publication of Colonel 
 Dalton's work and Mr. Risley's paper. With regard to the 
 other undoubtedly totem tribes of Bengal (Oraons, etc.), we 
 may take it on Mr. Risley's authority that descent is in the 
 male line. 
 
 In the Australian tribal organisation of two phratries, 
 four subphratries, and totem clans, there occurs a peculiar 
 form of descent of which no plausible explanation has yet 
 been offered. It seems that in all tribes thus organised the 
 children are born into the subphratry neither of their father 
 nor of their mother, and that descent in such cases is either 
 female or male, according as the subphratry into which the 
 children are born is the companion subphratry of their 
 mother's or of their father's subphratry. In the former case 
 we have what may be called indirect female descent ; in the 
 latter, indirect male descent. But it is only in the sub- 
 phratry that descent is thus indirect. In the totem clan it 
 is always direct ; the child belongs to the clan either of its 
 mother or of its father. Thus in the typical Australian 
 organisation, descent, whether female or male, is direct in the 
 phratry, indirect in the subphratry, and direct in the clan. 
 To take examples, the following is the scheme of descent, so 
 far as the phratries and subphratries are concerned, in the 
 Kamilaroi. 
 
 ' Dalton, Ethnol. of Beng., p. 56 sq. 
 
 '•* Dalton, op. cit., 60, 63. 
 
 ^ Or seven years, if we accept the 
 
 statements in the Indian Antiquary, 
 viii. (1879) p. 205 ; but these may be 
 borrowed from Colonel Dalton. 
 
TOTEMISM 
 
 69 
 
 Phratries. 
 
 Male. 
 
 Marries 
 
 Children are 
 
 Dilbi . . 1 
 Kupathin • ■ 
 
 Muri. 
 Kubi.. 
 Ipai. 
 Kumbo. 
 
 Kumbo. 
 Ipai. 
 Kubi. 
 Muri. 
 
 Ipai. 
 Kumbo. 
 Muri. 
 Kubi. 
 
 1 
 
 Indirect 
 
 female 
 
 descent. 
 
 This is an example of indirect female descent, because 
 the children belong to the companion subphratry of their 
 mother, not to the companion subphratry of their father. 
 But in the totems the female descent is direct ; e.g. if the 
 father is Muri-Kangaroo and the mother is Kumbo-Emu, 
 the children will be Ipai-Emu ; if the mother is Kumbo- 
 Bandicoot the children will be Ipai-Bandicoot.^ 
 
 The following is the scheme of descent in the Kiabara indirect 
 
 2 _ male 
 
 tribe ■ 
 
 descent. 
 
 Phratries. 
 
 Male. 
 
 Marries 
 
 Children are 
 
 Dilebi ■ . 1 
 Cubatine • | 
 
 Baring 
 Turowine. 
 Bulcoin. 
 Bundah. 
 
 Bundah. 
 Bulcoin. 
 Turowine. 
 Baring. 
 
 Turowine. 
 Baring. 
 Bundah. 
 Bulcoin. 
 
 This is an example of indirect male descent, because the 
 children belong to the companion subphratry of their 
 father, not to the companion subphratry of their mother. 
 We have no information as to the totems, but on the 
 analogy of indirect female descent we should expect them 
 to be taken from the father. This at any rate is true of a 
 large tribe or group of tribes to the south of the Gulf of 
 Carpentaria ; their rules of marriage and descent, so far as 
 concerns the subphratries, are like those of the Kiabara, and 
 the totems (which at the lower Leichhardt river are the 
 names of fish) are inherited from father to son.' 
 
 In some Australian tribes sons take their totem from Fathers 
 their father and daughters from their mother. Thus the J°^^™^it,gj 
 Dieri in South Australia are divided into two phratries, to sons. 
 each of which includes under it sixteen totem clans "o°enrto 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, p. 37 sq. ; to whom we are indebted for this infor- daughters. 
 
 /. A. /., xiii. 335, 341, 344- mation, omits to give the names of the 
 
 2 /. ./. /., xiii. 336, 341. tribe and its subdivisions. 
 3/. A. /., xii. 504. Mr. HowiU, 
 
7° 
 
 TOTEMISM 
 
 Descent of (Caterpillar, Mullet, Dog, Rat, Kangaroo, Frog, Crow, 
 
 totem to etc.);^ and if a Dog man marries a Rat woman, the sons 
 
 sons, and of this marriage are Dogs and the daughters are Rats.^ 
 
 totem to' The Ikula (Morning Star) tribe, at the head of the Great 
 
 daughters. Australian Bight, has, with certain exceptions, the same rule 
 
 of descent.^ The tribe includes four totem clans, namely, 
 
 Budera (Root), Kura (Native Dog), Budu (Digger), and 
 
 Wenung (Wombat). The rules of marriage and descent are 
 
 as follows : — 
 
 Male. 
 
 Marries 
 
 Children are 
 
 (m.)* Budera • \ 
 
 (f.) Kura . 
 
 or 
 (f.) Wenung 
 
 (m.) Budera; (f.) Kura. 
 (m.) and (f.) Budera. 
 
 (m.) Kura . \ 
 
 (f.) Budera . 
 
 or 
 (f.) Budu . 
 
 (m.) Kura ; (f.) Budera. 
 (m.) and (f.) Kura. 
 
 (m.) Budu 
 
 (f.) Wenung. 
 
 (m.) Budii ; (f.) Wenung. 
 
 (m.) Wenung . 
 
 (f.) Budu . 
 
 (m.) Wenung ; (f.) Budu. 
 
 Here, in all cases except two, the son takes his totem 
 from his father, the daughter from her mother. The excep- 
 tions are where Budera (m.) marries Wenung (f.), and where 
 Kura (m.) marries Budu (f ) ; in both which cases the 
 children, whether sons or daughters, take their father's totem. 
 This, combined with the fact that no male of Budu or 
 Wenung is allowed to marry a female of Budera or Kura, 
 points, as Mr. Howitt says, to a superiority of Budera and 
 Kura over Budu and Wenung. 
 
 It is obvious that the totems of the Dieri and Ikula are 
 not sex totems. A sex totem is confined to members of 
 one sex ; whereas all the totems of the Dieri and Ikula are 
 common to both men and women. It is of these totems 
 (and not of sex totems) that it may be said in the words of 
 Messrs. Fison and Howitt, that descent is " male as to boys, 
 female as to girls." * 
 
 1/. A. /., xii. 500. rule of descent (sons belong to the 
 
 2 Letter of Mr. S. Gason to the mother's, daughters to the father's 
 
 present writer. 3 y, ^, /., xii. 509. family) is observed in the islands of 
 
 J m. =male ; f. =female. Leti, Moa, and Lakor (Riedel, op. cit., 
 
 ° J. A. I., xii. 45. The opposite pp. 384, 392). 
 
TOTEM ISM 71 
 
 Besides the tribes whose line of descent is definitely Tribes 
 fixed in the female or male line, or, as with the Dieri and t^^^en^ 
 Ikula, half-way between the two, there are a number of female and 
 tribes which are wavering between female and male descent ; descent, 
 amongst whom, in other words, a child may be entered in 
 either his mother's or his father's clan. After the researches 
 of Bachofen, M'Lennan, and Morgan, we may be sure that 
 such a wavering marks a transition from female to male 
 descent, and not conversely. Among the Haidas, children 
 regularly belong to the totem clan of their mother ; but in 
 very exceptional cases, when the clan of the father is 
 reduced in numbers, the newly born child may be given to 
 the father's sister to suckle. It is then spoken of as belong- 
 ing to the paternal aunt, and is counted to its father's clan.' 
 Amongst the Delawares descent is regularly in the female 
 line ; but it is possible to transfer a child to its father's clan 
 by giving it one of the names which are appropriated to 
 the father's clan.^ A similar practice prevails with the 
 Shawnees, except that with them male descent is the rule 
 and transference to the mother's clan (or any other clan) by 
 naming is the exception.' In the Hervey Islands, South 
 Pacific, the parents settled beforehand whether the child 
 should belong to the father's or mother's clan. The father 
 usually had the preference, but sometimes, when the father's 
 clan was one which was bound to furnish human victims 
 from its ranks, the mother had it adopted into her clan by 
 having the name of her totem pronounced over it.'* In 
 Samoa at the birth of a child the father's totem was usually 
 prayed to first ; but if the birth was tedious, the mother's 
 totem was invoked ; and whichever happened to be invoked 
 at the moment of birth was the. child's totem for life.^ 
 
 These modes of effecting the change of kin touched only Xransfer- 
 the children ; others affected the children through the ''^^^°l^ 
 mother ; they were transferred to their father's clan by the from 
 previous transference of the mother. This, as M'Lennan "^"fathers 
 
 clan. 
 
 • Geol. Surv. of Canada, Kef. for * Turner, Samoa, p. 78 sq. The 
 1878-79, p. 134B. child might thus be transferred to a 
 
 2 Morgan, A. S., p. 172 sj. clan which was that neither of his 
 
 3 /*., 169. father nor of his mother (see above, 
 
 * Gill, Afyt/is and Songs of the South p. 51). 
 Pacific, p. 36. 
 
72 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Transfer- 
 ence of 
 children 
 from 
 mother's 
 to father's 
 clan. , 
 
 has observed, was perhaps the intention and doubtless must 
 have been the effect of the custom in Guinea of dedicating 
 one wife to the husband's Bossum or god.^ The transfer- 
 ence of the wife to the husband's clan seems to have been 
 the intention of smearing bride and bridegroom with each 
 other's blood.^ Amongst some of the totem clans of Bengal 
 the bride is transferred to the husband's clan by ceremoni- 
 ously eating or drinking with him.^ Another mode is to 
 purchase the woman and her offspring. Amongst the 
 Banyai on the Zambesi, if the husband gives nothing, the 
 children of the marriage belong to the wife's family ; but if 
 he gives so many cattle to his wife's parents the children 
 are his.* In the Watubela Islands between New Guinea 
 and Celebes a man may either pay for his wife before 
 marriage, or he may, without paying, live as her husband 
 in her parents' house, working for her and her parents. In 
 the former case the children belong to him ; in the latter 
 they belong to his wife's family, but he may acquire them 
 subsequently by paying the price.^ So in Sumatra." 
 Similarly in some Californian tribes, the husband must live 
 with his wife's family and work for them till he has paid 
 the full price for her and her children ; the children of a 
 wife who has not been paid for are regarded as bastards, 
 and treated with contempt.' 
 
 The couvade or custom in accordance with which the 
 
 XXV. (1879) p. 116; Ausland, l6th 
 June 1884, p. 469 ; Journals tf James 
 Bi-ooie, Rajah of Sarawak, i. p. 204 ; 
 Carl Bock, Head-Hitnters of Borneo, 
 p. 222). 
 
 ^ Dalton, op. cit., 193, 216; cf. 
 Lewin, Wild Races of South- Eastern 
 India, 177 sq. 
 
 ■* Livingstone, Travels in S. Afr., 
 622 sq. ; cf. M'Lennan, Patriarchal 
 Theory, 324 sq. 
 
 ^ Riedel, Z>e sluik- en kroesharige 
 rassen iiisschen Papua en Sdebes, 205 
 sq. 
 
 <5 Marsden, Hist, of Sumatra, 257 
 sq. ; Schreiber, Die Battas in ihrem 
 VerhSltniss su den Malaien von 
 Sumatra, p. 34 ; Junghuhn, Die 
 Battaliinder auf Sumatra, ii. 131 sq. 
 
 ' Bancroft, Native Races of the 
 Pacific States, i. 350. 
 
 ' M'Lennan, Patriarchal Theory, 
 235 sq.; Bosnian's "Guinea," in 
 Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, xvi. 
 420. 
 
 ^ Dalton, Eth. of Beng., p. 220. 
 In some parts of New Guinea bride 
 and bridegroom draw blood from each 
 other's foreheads (S. Miiller, Reizen 
 en Onderzoekingen in den Indischen 
 Archipcl, i. p. 105). In Bengal the 
 ceremony appears to have usually de- 
 generated into smearing each other 
 with red lead (Dalton, op. cit., 160, 
 194, 216, 253, 319). The blood of 
 animals, when used for this purpose, 
 as by the Dyaks, may be a substitute 
 for that of the bride and bridegroom ; 
 possibly it may be the blood of the 
 totem (Perelaer, Ethnogr. Beschrijv. 
 der Dajaks, p. 52 ; Tijdschrift v. 
 Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, 
 
TOTE MIS M 73 
 
 husband takes to his bed and is treated as an invalid when ^he 
 his wife has given birth to a child, is perhaps a fictipn couvade 
 intended to transfer to the father those rights over the marriage '° 
 children which, under the previous system of mother-kin, customs 
 had been enjoyed by the mother alone.^ The same may been 
 possibly be the intention of the apparently widespread '"'ended to 
 
 . c I • rr- 7 f transfer the 
 
 custom ot men dressmg as women and women as men at children to 
 marriage. Thus in the Greek island of Cos the bridegroom [Jj^^ij^^, 
 was attired as a woman when he received his bride.^ In dan. 
 Central Africa a Masai man dresses as a girl for a month 
 after marriage.^ Argive brides wore false beards when 
 they slept with their husbands.^ The Alsatian custom of 
 men dressing as women and women as men at the vintage 
 festival is clearly part of an old marriage ceremony.^ But 
 perhaps all these mummeries are to be otherwise explained. 
 
 Lastly, the transference of the child to the father's clan custom 
 may be the object of a ceremony observed by the Todas observed 
 in Southern India. When the wife has gone seven months -podas in 
 with her first child she retires with her husband to the 'he seventh 
 forest, where, at the foot of a tree, she receives from her pregnancy. 
 husband a bow and arrows. She asks him, " What is the 
 name of your bow ? " each clan apparently having a different 
 name for its bow. The question and answer are repeated 
 three times. She then deposits the bow and arrows at the 
 foot of the tree. The pair remain on the spot all night, 
 eating a meal in the evening and another in the morning 
 before they return home." 
 
 As a rule, perhaps, members of the same totem clan do Rujes of 
 not eat each other. To this, however, there are large excep- pannibai- 
 tions. The Kurnai and Maneroo observe the rule, eatmg totem 
 their slain enemies but not their slain friends.' But tribes <^''^°^- 
 
 > This is the view of Bachofen, * Mannhardt, Der Baumiullus, 
 
 Miitlerrecht, 255 sq. ; Giraud-Teulon, 314. For forms of marriage as means 
 
 Les origines du niariage et de la of communicating fertility to the fields 
 
 famille, 138 sq. ; Post, Die Anfiinge cf. ib., 480 sq. ; id., Mythol. Forsch., 
 
 des Slaats- tind Rtchtslebens, 18 ; and 340 ; Wilken, in De Indische Gids, 
 
 (with some limitations) Zmigrodzki, June 1884, pp. 958, 962. 
 
 Die Mutter bei den Volkeni des arischen "Marshall, Travels among the 
 
 Stam ines, 2yo. Todas, 2H sq. The Todas have male 
 
 ^ Plutarch, Qu. Gr., 58. descent for themselves, but retain female 
 
 3 J. Thomson, Through Masai Land, descent for their s.icred cattle (ib., 132). 
 
 ^^2. ' Fison and Howitt, 214, 218, 223 
 
 ' Plutarch, De mul. virt., 4. ly. 
 
74 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Rules of about the Gulf of Carpentaria after a battle eat their slain 
 cannibal- fj-jg^ds but not their enemies ; and amongst them children, 
 
 ism among ' => _ ^ ' 
 
 totem when they die, are eaten.^ Some Victorian tribes kill their. 
 
 '^^"^^ new-born children, eat them, and give them to their elder 
 children to eat, believing that the latter will thus possess the 
 strength of the babes in addition to their own.^ In some 
 parts of New South Wales it was the custom for the first- 
 born child of every woman to be eaten by the tribe as part 
 of a religious ceremony.^ The eating of aged relations * is 
 intelligible on the principle that " the life is not allowed to 
 go out of the family." Some of the Victorian tribes, who 
 ate their relations but not their enemies nor members of a 
 different tribe, asserted that they did so, not to gratify their 
 appetites, but only as a symbol of respect and regret for the 
 dead. They only ate the bodies of relations who had died 
 by violence.^ The Dieri have exact rules according to 
 which they partake of the flesh of dead relations ; the 
 mother eats of her children and the children eat of their 
 mother ; but the father does not eat of his offspring, nor the 
 offspring of their father.^ This custom points to the time 
 when the Dieri had female kinship, when therefore the father, 
 as a member of a different tribe, had no right to partake of 
 his child. The eating of dead relations is parallel to the 
 custom of smearing the person with the juices which exude 
 from their decaying corpses.'' The object of these and 
 similar ceremonies (see above, p. 42 sq?) is to keep the life, 
 regarded as incarnate in the body and blood of the kinsmen,, 
 within the circle of the kin. Hence in some tribes at cir- 
 cumcision boys are laid on a platform, formed by the living 
 bodies of the tribesmen,^ and when the tooth is knocked out 
 they are seated on the shoulders of men on whose breast 
 the blood flows and is not wiped away.^ The blood of the 
 
 ' /. A. I., xiii. 283. 5 Dawson, Austr. Ador., 67. 
 
 2 Trans. Ethn. Soc, New Series, i. <■ JVat. Tr. of S. Australia, p. 274. 
 289- ' Fison and Hewitt, 243 sq. ; 
 
 3 Brough Smyth, ii. 311. Riedel, op. cit., p. 308. 
 
 * For examples see Jouiiials of 8 y\r^_ 7y_ ^ ^_ Austr., 230- 
 
 JaiTUS Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, i. p. Brough Smyth, i. 75 n. ; Eyre 
 
 209 ; Garcilasso de la Vega, Royal Journals, ii. p. 335. 
 Commentaries of the Incas, I. i. I2; Collins, Account of the English 
 
 Riedel, op. cit., p. 267; Herodotus, Colony of N.S.W., London, 1798, 
 
 iv. 26 ; Mela, 11. i, 9. p. 580. 
 
TOTEMISM 75 
 
 tribe is not allowed to be spilt on the ground, but is received 
 on the bodies of tribesmen. Bleeding is a native Australian 
 cure for headache, etc. ; but in performing the operation 
 they are very careful not to spill any of the blood on the 
 ground, but sprinkle it on each other.^ Similarly when 
 bleeding is done as a means of producing rain, the blood is 
 made to flow on men, not on the ground.** Another form 
 of transferring the blood, i.e. the life of the kin, is seen in 
 an Australian funeral ceremony ; the relations gash them- 
 selves over the corpse till it and the grave are covered with 
 their blood ; this is said to strengthen the dead man and 
 enable him to rise in another country.^ Among some South 
 American tribes the bones of deceased relations are ground 
 into powder, mixed with a liquid, and so swallowed.* 
 
 When a North American tribe is on the march, the Totem 
 members of each totem clan camp together, and the clans grouped 
 are arranged in a fixed order in camp, the whole tribe being together 
 
 , . . , . , ... ^ in camp, 
 
 arranged in a great circle or in several concentric circles, village, and 
 When the tribe lives in settled villages or towns, each clan graveyard. 
 has its separate ward.^ The clans of the Osages are divided 
 into war clans and peace clans ; when they are out on the 
 buffalo hunt, they camp on opposite sides of the tribal 
 circle ; and the peace clans are not allowed to take animal 
 life of any kind ; they must therefore live on vegetables 
 unless they can obtain meat in exchange for vegetables 
 from the war clans.^ Members of the same clan are buried 
 together and apart from those of other clans ; hence the 
 remains of husband and wife, belonging as they do to 
 separate clans, do not rest together.^ It is remarkable that 
 
 1 Angas, Savage Life and Scenes in sq. ; American Naturalist, xviii. p. 
 Australia and New Zealand, i. wo sq. 113 sq. 
 
 2 Nat. Tr. of S. Aust., 277. " Gatschet, Migration Legend of the 
 ' Brough Smyth, ii. 274; Grey, Creek Indians, 154; Bourke, Snake 
 
 Joum., ii. 332 ;y. A. /., xiii. 134 f?. Dance, 229; Acad., 27th Sept. 1884, 
 
 * J. G. Miiller, Gesch. der Amerik. p. 203. 
 Urreligionen, 289 sq. ; A. R. Wallace, ^ The Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, in 
 
 Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, American Naturalist, xviii. p. 113. 
 p. 498. Artemisia drank the ashes * Adair, Hist. Amer. Itid. 183 sq. ; 
 
 of Mausolus (Aulus Gellius, x. 18; Morgan, ,/. S., 83 sq.; Brinton, The 
 
 Valerius Maximus, iv. 6, S). On the Lenape and their Legends, 54 ; id., 
 
 question of American cannibalism cf. Myths of the New World, 87 n. ; A. 
 
 MtlUer, op. cit., p. 144 sq. ; R. I. noi^^an, Lc/lcrs from North America, 
 
 Doige, Hunting Grounds of the Great i. p. 259; Dalton, Eth. of Beng., 
 
 West p. 420. 56 ; (/• Robertson Smith, Kinship 
 
 6 First Rep., 64 J Third Rep., 219 and Marriage in Early Arabia, i\t,sq. 
 
76 TOTEM ISM 
 
 among the Thlinkets the body must always be carried to 
 the funeral pyre and burned by men of another totem/ and 
 the presents distributed on these occasions by the repre- 
 sentatives of the deceased must always be made to men of 
 a different clan.^ 
 
 Here we must revert to the religious side of totemism, 
 in order to consider some facts which have emerged from 
 Evidence the study of its social aspect. We have seen that some 
 existence phr^tries, both in America and Australia, bear the names 
 of phratrio of animals ; ^ and in the case of the Thlinkets and Mohegans 
 we have seen reason to believe that the animals which give 
 their names to the phratries were once clan totems. The 
 same seems to hold of the names of the Australian phratries, 
 Eaglehawk, Crow, and Seal, or at least of the two former. 
 For Eaglehawk and Crow are clan totems in other tribes, 
 and are, besides, important figures in Australian mythology. 
 Eaglehawk and Crow, as names of phratries, " extended 
 over a large part of Victoria and over the greater part of 
 the extreme west of New South Wales." * They are clan 
 totems of the Dieri in South Australia,* the Mukjarawaint 
 in Western Victoria," and the Ta-ta-thi and the Keramin 
 tribes in New South Wales.' The eaglehawk is besides 
 a clan totem of the Kamilaroi in New South Wales,^ the 
 Mycoolon in Queensland,'' the Barinji in New South Wales,^" 
 and the Kuinmurbura in Queensland." The crow is 
 further a clan totem of the Turra tribe,^^ and the Mount 
 Gambler tribe in South Australia," the Kunandaburi in 
 Queensland," and of the Wonghibon in New South Wales." 
 Among the Dieri the eaglehawk was supposed to inflict a 
 penalty for violating a rule in connection with the knocking 
 
 1 Holmberg, op. cit., 324. 6/. A. /., xii. 500; id., xiii. 33S. 
 
 ^ \s.icax\st, DieTlinkit-Indianer,22Ti, (i Id., xii. 45. 
 
 ' As among the Chicliasas, Thlin- ' Id., xiv. 349. 
 
 kets, and Mohegans in America; and 8 /(/_^ ^ii. 500, xiii. 335. 
 
 the Turra, Ngarego, and Theddora " Id., xiii. 303, 339. 
 
 tribes in Australia (see above, pp. i" Id., xiv. 348. 
 
 56-58, 60 sq.). The subphratries of " /(/., xiii. 336, 344. 
 
 the Kiabara also bear animal names. '^ Id., xii. 45. 
 
 See above, p. 62. " Fison and Howitt, 168. 
 
 ^ /. A. /., xiii. 437, u. I ; Fison " /. A. /., xii. 45, xiii. 338. 
 
 and Howitt, 322. " id., xiv. 348. 
 
TOTEM ISM Tj 
 
 out the teeth at initiation.^ Among the Kurnai the eagle- 
 hawli is greatly reverenced ; his plumes and talons were 
 used in necromancy ; and he figures in their stories in 
 company with the little owl.^ The Kurnai also reverence 
 the crow as one of their ancestors,^ and consult it as a bird 
 of omen.* According to a Victorian myth, the crow and 
 the eaglehawk were the progenitors, or among the pro- 
 genitors, of the human race, and now shine as stars in the 
 sky.^ According to another Victorian myth the eagle and 
 the crow were the creators of the world, and divided the 
 Murray blacks into two classes (clans or phratries), the Eagle- 
 hawk and Crow.° 
 
 Further, there are traces in Australia of the splitting of Traces of 
 totems. Thus in the Ta-ta-thi tribe in New South Wales '!'^ ^Pj"" 
 
 ting of 
 
 there are two Eaglehawk clans, namely, the Light Brown totems in 
 Eaglehawk and the Brown Coloured Eaglehawk, one in ^"^"■^''^• 
 each of the two phratries.'' Amongst the Kamilaroi there 
 is a Kangaroo clan and a Red Kangaroo clan, one in each 
 of the two phratries.* In the Kunandaburi tribe in Queens- 
 land there are totem clans — Brown Snake, Speckled Brown 
 Snake, Carpet-Snake, also Rat, Kangaroo Rat, and Bush 
 Rat." In the Mukjarawaint in Western Victoria there are 
 White Cockatoo and Black Cockatoo, also Buff-coloured 
 Snake and Black Snake ; ^^ in other Victorian tribes there 
 are the Long-Billed Cockatoo and the Banksian Cockatoo ; " 
 in the Wakelbura in Queensland there are Large Bee and 
 Small Bee in different phratries ; ^^ in the Mycoolon there 
 are Whistling Duck and Black Duck.^'* 
 
 From all this we should infer that the objects from I'hratric 
 which the Australian phratries take their names were once '^jJ^atH^ 
 totems. But there seems to be direct evidence that both totems in 
 the phratries and subphratries actually retain, at least in -^""raUa, 
 some tribes, their totems. Thus the Port Mackay tribe in 
 Queensland is divided into two phratries, Yungaru and 
 Wutaru, with subphratries Gurgela, Burbia, Wungo, and 
 
 1 Nat. Tr. of S. Aiistr., 267. ' /. A. /., xiv. 349. 
 
 2 Fison and Hewitt, 323. ' /d., xii. 500. 
 
 ■> /. A. /., XV. 415- " /• ^- '■' "i- 45- '" II'- 
 
 \ /J_^ xvl. 46. " Dawson, Austr. Ahcr., p. 26. 
 
 1 Bro'ugh Smyth, i. 43'- '' /• ^- ^■< ><'''• 337- 
 
 " Id., i. 423 sc/. " /*., 339- 
 
78 
 
 TOTEMISM 
 
 Phratric 
 and sub- 
 phratric 
 totems in 
 Australia. 
 
 Subtotems, 
 i.e. natural 
 objects 
 classed 
 under the 
 totem and 
 sharing the 
 respect due 
 to it. 
 
 Kubera ; and the Yungaru phratry has for its totem the 
 alligator, and Wutaru the kangaroo ; -^ while the sub- 
 phratries have for their totems the emu (or the carpet 
 snake), iguana, opossum, and kangaroo (or scrub turkey).^ 
 As the subphratries of this tribe are said to be equivalent 
 to the subphratries of the Kamilaroi, it seems to follow 
 that the subphratries ^ of the Kamilaroi (Muri, Kubi, Ipai, 
 and Kumbo) have or once had totems also. Hence it 
 appears that in tribes organised in phratries, subphratries, 
 and clans, each man has three totems — his phratry totem, 
 his subphratry totem, and his clan totem. If we add a 
 sex totem and an individual totem, each man in the typical 
 Australian tribe has five distinct kinds of totems. What 
 degree of allegiance he owes to his subphratry totem and 
 phratry totem respectively we are not told ; indeed, the 
 very existenre of such totems, as distinct from clan totems, 
 appears to I^ave been generally overlooked. But we may 
 suppose that the totem bond diminishes in strength in 
 proportion to its extension ; that therefore the clan totem 
 is the primary tie, of which the subphratry and phratry 
 totems are successively weakened repetitions. 
 
 In these totems superposed on totems may perhaps 
 be discerned a rudimentary classification of natural objects 
 under heads which bear a certain resemblance to genera, 
 species, etc. This classification is by some Australian tribes 
 extended so as to include the whole of nature. Thus the 
 Port Mackay tribe in Queensland (see above, p. "jy sg.) 
 divides all nature between the phratries ; the wind belongs 
 to one phratry and the rain to another ; the sun is Wutaru 
 and the moon is Yungaru ; the stars, trees, and plants are 
 also divided between the phratries.* As the totem of Wutaru 
 
 1 Fison and Howitt, 38 s^., 40. 
 The Rockhampton tribe (Queensland) 
 has the same phratries, but its sub- 
 phratries are different (_/. A. /., xiii. 
 336). 
 
 2 Fison and Howitt, p. 41. The 
 totems of the phratries and sub- 
 phratries are given by different authori- 
 ties, who write the native names of 
 the subphratries different;Jy. But they 
 seem to be speaking of the same 
 
 tribe ; at least Mr. Fison understands 
 them so. 
 
 2 The names of the Kamilaroi 
 phratries, Dilbi and Kupathin, are 
 clearly identical with Dilebi and Cuba- 
 tine, the names of the Kiabara phratries 
 (see above, p. 62), and the latter 
 mean Flood-water and Lightning. Are 
 these phratric totems both of the 
 Kamilaroi and Kiabara? 
 
 * Brough Smyth, i. 91 ; Fison and 
 Howitt, 168 ; cf./. A. /., xiii. 300. 
 
TOTEM ISM 
 
 79 
 
 is kangaroo and of Yungaru alligator, this is equivalent to 
 making the sun a kangaroo and the moon an alligator. 
 
 The Mount Gambier tribe in South Australia is divided subtotems 
 into two phratries (Kumi and Kroki), which again are sub- Mount 
 
 divided into totem clans, 
 a totem clan, thus ^ : — 
 
 Everything in nature belongs to Gambier 
 
 tribe. 
 
 Phratries. 
 
 Kumi. \ 
 
 Kroki. 
 
 Totem Clans. 
 
 1. Mula = Fish-Hawk. 
 
 2. Parangal = Pelican. 
 
 3. Wa = Crow. 
 
 4. Wna = Black Cockatoo. 
 Karato=:A harmless Snake. 
 
 Werio= Tea-Tree. 
 
 Murna=An edible Root. 
 
 Karaal = Black crestless 
 Cockatoo. 
 
 Includes 
 
 Smoke, honeysuckle, trees, etc. 
 / Dogs, blackwood trees, fire, frost 
 \ (fern.) 
 
 {Rain, thunder, lightning, winter, 
 hail, clouds, etc. 
 Stars, moon, etc. 
 /Fish, stringybark trees, suals, 
 \ eels, etc. 
 
 /Ducks, wallabies, owls, c;ay- 
 \ fish, etc. 
 
 /Bustards, quails, dolvich (a sm.iU 
 ( kangaroo). 
 
 {Kangaroo, sheoak trees, summi r, 
 sun, autumn (fern.), wind (fern.) 
 
 With reference to this classification Mr. D. S. Stewart, 
 the authority for it, says, " I have tried in vain to find some 
 reason for the arrangement. I asked, ' To what division 
 does a bullock belong ? ' After a pause came the answer, 
 ' It eats grass : it is Boortwerio.' I then said, ' A cray-fish 
 does not eat grass ; why is it Boortwerio ? ' Then came 
 the standing reason for all puzzling questions : ' That is 
 what our fathers said it was.' " ^ Mr. Stewart's description 
 of the respect paid by a tribesman to the animals of the 
 same " subdivision " as himself has been already quoted (see 
 above, p. 8 sq^ ; it seems to imply that a man is debarred from 
 killing not only his clan totem (when that is an animal) but 
 also all the animals which are classed under his clan. The 
 natural objects thus classed under and sharing the respect 
 due to the totem may be conveniently called, as Mr. Howitt 
 proposes,' subtotems. Again, the Wakelbura tribe (Elgin Subtoten.s 
 Downs, Queensland) is divided into two phratries (Mallera wlkeibura 
 and Wuthera), four subphratries (Kurgila, Banbe, Wungo, iribe. 
 and Obu), and totem clans. Everything in nature is classed 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, he. cit. 
 2 Fison and Howitt, 169. 
 
 ^ In Smilhson, Kep. for i8S^, p. 
 818. 
 
80 
 
 TOTE MIS M 
 
 Subtotems 
 of the 
 Wakelbura 
 tribe. 
 
 Subtotems 
 of the 
 Wotjobal- 
 luk tribe. 
 
 under its phratry and subphratry. Thus the broad-leaved 
 box-tree is of the Mallera phratry and the Banbe subphratry, 
 and so is the dingo or native dog. When a man of this 
 tribe dies his corpse must be covered with the boughs of a 
 tree which belongs to the same phratry and subphratry as 
 himself; thus if he is Mallera-Banbe he is covered with 
 boughs of the broad-leaved box-tree, for it also is Mallera- 
 Banbe/ So in summoning an assembly the message stick 
 carried by the messenger must be of the same tribal division 
 as the sender and the bearer of the message.^ Of a group 
 of tribes in N.S. Wales it is said that everything in nature 
 is divided among the tribesmen, some claiming the trees, 
 others the plains, others the sky, stars, wind, rain, and so 
 forth.^ Again, the Wotjoballuk tribe in North - western 
 Victoria has a system of subtotems, thus * : — 
 
 Phratries. 
 
 Totem Clans. 
 
 Subtotems. 
 
 f 
 
 I. Hot Wind. 
 
 Each totem has subordinate to it 
 
 Krokitch. { 
 
 2. White crestless Cockatoo. 
 
 a number of objects, animal or 
 
 1 
 
 3. Belonging to the Sun. 
 
 vegetable, e.g. kangaroo, red 
 gum-tree, etc. 
 
 Gamutch. ^. 
 
 4. Deaf Adder. 
 
 
 5. Black Cockatoo. 
 
 Do. 
 
 6. Pelican. 
 
 
 Of the subtotems in this tribe Mr. Howitt says, " They 
 appear to me to be totems in a state of development. Hot 
 wind has at least five of them, white cockatoo has seventeen, 
 and so on for the others. That these subtotems are now in 
 process of gaining a sort of independence may be shown by 
 the following instance : a man who is Krokitch- Wartwut 
 (hot wind) claimed to own all the five subtotems of hot 
 wind (three snakes and two birds), yet of these there was 
 one which he specially claimed as ' belonging ' to him, 
 namely, Moiwuk (carpet-snafe). Thus his totem, hot wind, 
 seems to have been in process of subdivision into minor 
 totems, and this man's division might have become hot wind 
 carpet-snake had not civilisation rudely stopped the process 
 by almost extinguishing the tribe." 
 
 1 J. A. I., xiii. 191, 337. 
 
 2 lb., 438 n. 
 
 ' J. A. /., xiv. 350. 
 
 * Smithson. Rep., loc. cit. 
 
TOTEM ISM 8 1 
 
 Combining this important evidence as to the growth of Growth, 
 totems with the evidence already noticed of the process by ^^"^'/^ 
 which clans tend to become phratries, we get a view of the of totems. 
 growth, maturity, and decay of totems. As subtotems they 
 are growing ; as clan totems they are grown ; as subphratric 
 and phratric totems they are in successive stages of decay. 
 As fast as one totem attains its full development, and then, 
 beaten out thinner and thinner, melts into the vast reservoir 
 of nature from which it sprang, it is followed at equal 
 intervals by another and another ; till all things in nature 
 are seen to be, as it were, in motion, and after a period of 
 mustering and marshalling to fall into their places in the 
 grand totem march.^ 
 
 When, through the change of female to male kinship. Under the 
 and the settlement of a tribe in fixed abodes, society has 0"*^"^^"^^ 
 ceased to present the appearance of a constantly shifting changes 
 kaleidoscope of clans, and has shaken down into a certain [end°to"'^ 
 stability and permanence of form, it might be expected that pass into 
 with the longer memory which accompanies an advance in go™^ith 
 culture the totems which have been generalised into the animal 
 divinities of larger groups should no longer pass into 
 oblivion, but should retain an elevated rank in the religious 
 hierarchy, with the totems of the subordinate tribal divisions 
 grouped under them either as subordinate divinities or as 
 different manifestations of the general tribal gods. This 
 appears to have been the state of totemism in Polynesia, 
 where geographical conditions favoured an isolation and 
 hence a permanence of the local groups such as was scarcely 
 attainable by savages on the open plains of Australia or the 
 prairies and savannahs of America.^ Hence in Polynesia 
 we find a considerable approximation to a totem Olympus. 
 In Samoa there were general village gods as well as gods of 
 particular families ; and the same deity is incarnate in the 
 form of different animals. One god, for example, is 
 
 I In America, as in Australia, the going changes, forming, dividing, 
 
 totems seem always to have been in a coalescing, vanishing" (H. Hale, The 
 
 state of flux. Mr. Beauchamp has Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 51). On 
 
 shown this for the Iroquois {^American the rapid disintegration of North 
 
 Antiquarian, viii. 82 sq.). American tribes whenever external 
 
 ' Mr. Horatio Hale says that the pressure is removed see Dodge, Our 
 
 American totem clans " were not Wild Indians, p. 45 sq. 
 permanent, but were constantly under- 
 
 VOL. I G 
 
82 
 
 TOTEM ISM 
 
 Transfor- 
 mation of 
 totems into 
 human 
 gods with 
 animal 
 symbols. 
 
 Tendency 
 to create a 
 deity pre- 
 siding over 
 the totem 
 species. 
 
 incarnate in the lizard, the owl, and the centipede ; ^ another 
 in the bat, domestic fowl, pigeon, and prickly sea urchin ; ^ 
 another in the bat, the sea-eel, the cuttle-fish, the mullet, 
 and the turtle ; ^ another in the owl and the mullet ; * another 
 in the bird Porphyris Samoensis, the pigeon, the rail-bird, 
 and the eel ; ° another in the turtle, sea-eel, octopus, and 
 garden lizard.* It seems a fair conjecture that such multi- 
 form deities are tribal or phratric totems, with the totems of 
 the tribal or phratric subdivisions tacked on as incarnations. 
 As the attribution of human qualities to the totem is of the 
 essence of totemism, it is plain that a deity generalised from 
 or including under him a number of distinct animals and 
 plants must, as his animal and vegetable attributes con- 
 tradict and cancel each other, tend more and more to throw 
 them off and to retain only those human qualities which to 
 the savage apprehension are the common element of all the 
 totems whereof he is the composite product. In short, the 
 tribal totem tends to pass into an anthropomorphic god. 
 And as he rises more and more into human form, so the 
 subordinate totems sink from the dignity of incarnations 
 into the humbler character of favourites and clients ; until, 
 at a later age, the links which bound them to the god having 
 wholly faded from memory, a generation of mythologists 
 arises who seek to patch up the broken chain by the cheap 
 method of symbolism. But symbolism is only the decorous 
 though transparent veil which a refined age loves to throw 
 over its own ignorance of the past. 
 
 Apart from the social changes which have favoured the 
 passage of totemism into a higher form of faith, we can 
 detect in the totemic philosophy itself some advances 
 towards the formation of a deity distinct from and superior 
 to all the individuals of the totem species. Thus some 
 North American Indians think that each species of animal 
 has an elder brother, who is the origin of all the animals of 
 the species, and is besides marvellously great and powerful. 
 The elder brothers of birds are in the sky ; the elder 
 brothers of animals are in the waters.'' The Patagonians, 
 
 1 Turner, Samoa, 46 sq. ^ lb., 72. 
 
 ^ ^i-' SI- / Hel. des/a., 1634, 13; cf. Letir. 
 
 ' lb., s6 sg. Edif., vi. 334; Charlevoix, Hist, de 
 
 * /*., 60 sq, 5 lb., 64 sq. la Nouv. Fr., v. 443, vi. 78. 
 
TOTEM ISM 83 
 
 who are divided into clans of the Tiger, Lion, Guanoco, 
 Ostrich, and so on, think that these clans have each its 
 appropriate deity living in vast caverns underground, with 
 whom the souls of dead clansmen go to dwell.^ The 
 Peruvians thought that " of all the beasts of the earth, there 
 is one alone in heaven like unto them, that which hath care 
 of their procreation and increase." "^ In all such views the 
 strict totemic standpoint is abandoned. Pure totemism is 
 democratic ; it is a religion of equality and fraternity ; one 
 individual of the totem species is as good as another. 
 When, therefore, one individual of the totem species is, as 
 elder brother, guardian spirit, or what not, raised to a 
 position of superiority over all the rest, totemism is 
 practically given up, and religion, like society, is advancing 
 to the monarchical stage. 
 
 While totemism as a religion tends to pass into the Totem 
 worship first of animal gods and next of anthropomorphic to^p^'/i"'Jo 
 gods with animal attributes, totem clans tend, under the local clans, 
 same social conditions, to pass into local clans. Amongst 
 the Kurnai, shut in between the mountains and the sea, 
 phratries and clans have been replaced by exogamous local 
 groups, which generally take their names from the districts, 
 but in some cases from men of note.^ The Coast Murring 
 tribe in New South Wales has also substituted exogamous 
 local groups for kinship divisions ; but, though their totems 
 are decadent and anomalous, they still keep a dying grip 
 on the people, for a man cannot marry a woman of the 
 permitted locality if she is of the same totem as himself.* 
 
 The totem clans of the Bechuanas have made some pro- 
 gress towards becoming local groups"; for the clans as a 
 rule keep together in their own districts, which are known 
 accordingly as " the dwelling of the men of the chamois," 
 " the abode of the men of the monkey," etc.^ In America, Relaxation 
 if we cannot detect the substitution of local for kindred °f g^o ™ ^ 
 groups, we can at least see a step towards it in that relaxa- gamy- 
 tion of the rule of exogamy which has been observed in 
 widely separated tribes. For example, among the Omahas, 
 
 • T. Falkner, Description of Pala- ^ Fison and Hewitt, 224 sq. 
 
 ^ff«io (Hereford, 1774). P- "4- * /. A I xiii 417. 
 
 ' Acosta, History of the Indies, ii. ■' 
 
 p. 30s (Hakluyt Society). ' Casalis, The Basutos, p. 212. 
 
84 TOTEMISM 
 
 who have male descent, a man may marry a woman of 
 
 the same totem as himself provided she be of another 
 
 tribe.^ 
 
 Distribit- Geographical Diffusion of Totemism. — In Australia 
 
 tion of totemism is almost universal.^ In North America it may 
 
 totemism ^ ^ 
 
 in Australia be roughly Said to prevail, or have prevailed, among all the 
 America tribes east of the Rocky Mountains,^ and among all the 
 Indian (but not the Eskimo) tribes on the north-west coast 
 as far south as the United States frontier. On the other 
 hand, highly competent authorities have failed to find it 
 among the tribes of Western Washington, North-western 
 Oregon, and California.* In Panama it exists apparently 
 among the Guaymies : each tribe, family, and individual 
 has a guardian animal, the most prevalent being a kind of 
 parrot.^ In South America totemism is found among the 
 Goajiros on the borders of Colombia and Venezuela,^ the 
 Arawaks in Guiana,' the Bosch negroes also in Guiana,* 
 and the Patagonians.' Finding it at such distant points of 
 the continent, we should expect it to be widely prevalent ; 
 but with our meagre knowledge of the South American 
 Indians this is merely conjecture. The aborigines of Peru 
 
 * Third Rep., 257. For general For the latter see Fison and Howitt, 
 
 statements of the relaxation of exogamy p. 275. Of the aborigines on the 
 
 see Baer and Helmersen, Beiti: s. lower Murray it is said that " they are 
 
 Kenntn. des russischen Reiches, i. 104; not divided into clans, castes, or grades, 
 
 P, Jones, ^zj^. Ojebway Indians, 138; but live on a footing of perfect equality " 
 
 Collect. Minnesota Hist. Soc, v. p. 42 ; (Beveridge, inTrans. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 
 
 Smithson Rep. for 1866, 315; Dall, vi. p. 21). But probably this does not 
 
 Alaska, 196 sq. ; Im Thurn, Among exclude the existence of totem clans. 
 the Indians of Guiana, 175. The 3 Q3.\.%QhsX, Migi-ation Legend of the 
 
 Dacotas (Sioux) seem to have lost the Creek Indians, 153 ; H. Hale, The 
 
 totem system since 1767 (see Morgan, Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 51. 
 A. S., 154; J. Carver, Travels, 255 ^ George Gibbs, in Contrib. to N. 
 
 j^., London, 1781 ; Keating, Expedi- American Ethnol.,\. 184; S. Powers, 
 
 tion to the Source of the Missouri River, Tr. of Calif., 5. 
 
 ii- 157; James, in Tanner's A^ar^-a^zW, ^K. Pinart, in Remie d'Ethno- 
 
 313 sq. ; Collect. Minnes. Hist. Soc, graphic, vi. p. 36. 
 V. p. 43). In Australia, though the « Simons, in Proc. R. Geog. Soc, 
 
 exogamy of the clan seems to remain Dec. 1885, pp. 786, 796. 
 intact, the exogamy of the subphratiy ' Brett, Ind. Tribes of Guiana, 98 ; 
 
 is relaxed in the case (apparently ex- Im Thurn, Among the Indians of 
 
 ceptional) of the Kamilaroi permission Guiana, 175 sq. 
 
 to marry a half-sister on the father's 8 Crevaux, Voyages dans FAmMque 
 
 side (see Fison and Howitt, p. 42 sq.). du Sud, p. 59. One clan has the red 
 
 2 Perhaps the only known exceptions ape for its totem, others the turtle, 
 
 are the Kurnai in eastern, and the crocodile, etc. 
 Gournditch-mora in Western Victoria. » Falkner, Descr. of Patagonia, 114. 
 
TOTEM ISM 85 
 
 and the Salivas on the Orinoco believed in the descent of 
 their tribes from animals, plants, and natural objects, such 
 as the sun and earth ; ^ but this, though a presumption, is 
 not a proof of totemism. 
 
 In Africa we have seen that totemism prevails in Sene- Distribu- 
 gambia, among the Bakalai on the equator, and among the Jo°"^fsn, 
 Damaras and Bechuanas in Southern Africa.^ There are in Africa, 
 traces of totemism elsewhere in Africa. In Ashantee 
 different animals are worshipped in different districts, which 
 points to totemism.' In Eastern Africa the Gallas are 
 divided into two exogamous sections and have certain for- 
 bidden foods.* In Abyssinia certain districts or families 
 will not eat of certain animals or parts of animals.* The 
 territory of the Hovas in Madagascar is divided and sub- 
 divided into districts, the names of the subdivisions re- 
 ferring " rather to clans and divisions of people than to 
 place." One of these names is " the powerful bird," i.e. 
 either the eagle or the vulture. The same clan is found 
 occupying separate districts." One Madagascar tribe regard 
 a species of lemur as " an embodiment of the spirit of their 
 ancestors, and therefore they look with horror upon killing 
 them." ' Other Malagasy tribes and families refrain from 
 eating pigs and goats ; ' others will not eat certain vegetables 
 nor even allow them to be carried into their houses." The 
 only occasion when the Sakalava tribe in Madagascar kill 
 a bull is at the circumcision of a child, who is placed on the 
 bull's back during the customary invocation." 
 
 In Bengal, as we have seen, there are numerous totem Distribu- 
 tribes among the non-Aryan races. In Siberia the Yakuts J^^^fj^ 
 are divided into totem clans ; the clansmen will not kill in .^sia. 
 
 ■ Garcilasso de la Vega, Royal Com- ' Bowdich, Mission to Ashantee, ed. 
 
 mentaries of the Iiuas, pt. i. bk. i. 1873, p. 216. 
 
 chs. 9, 10, II, 18; Gumilla, Hist, de ■• Charles New, Life, Wanderings, 
 
 VOrenoqtu, i. 175 sq. and Labours in Eastern Africa, 272, 
 
 ^ Revtu d" Ethnographic, iii. 396 sq., 274. 
 V. 81 ; Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr., 308 ' Mansfield Parkyns, Life in Abys- 
 
 sq.; id.. Journey to AshangoLaitd,^zT, sinia, 293; TV. Ethnol. Soc., New 
 
 429 ; ■ C. J. Andersson, Lake Ngami, Series, vi. 292. 
 221 sq.; Livingstone, Trav. in S. " EMh, If ist. of Madagascar, i. Sy . 
 
 Africa, 13 ; Casalis, The Basutos, 211 ; ' Folk-Lore Record, ii. 22. 
 
 J. Mackenzie, Ten Years North of the ' /*. 
 
 Orange River, 393 ; /. A. I., xvi. » /*., 30. 
 
 83 sq. '" I<l-, iv. 45- 
 
86 TOTEM ISM 
 
 their totems (the swan, goose, raven, etc.) ; ^ and the clans 
 
 are exogamous.^ The Altaians, also in Siberia, are divided 
 
 into twenty-four clans, which, though interfused with each 
 
 other, retain strongly the clan feeling ; the clans are ex- 
 
 ogamous ; each has its own patron divinity and religious 
 
 ceremonies ; and the only two names of clans of these and 
 
 kindred tribes of which the meanings are given are names 
 
 Totemism of animals.* There are traces of totemism in China.* In 
 
 nesTa^ Polynesia it existed, as we have seen, in Samoa. In 
 
 Melanesia, Melanesia it appears in Fiji,^ the New Hebrides,^ and 
 
 indies^^etc. ^h^ Solomon Islauds.'^ Amongst the Dyaks there are 
 
 traces of totemism in the prohibition of the flesh of certain 
 
 animals to certain tribes, respect for certain plants, etc.* 
 
 It exists in the islands of Ambon, Uliase, Leti, Moa, 
 
 Lakor, Keisar (Makisar), Wetar, and the Aaru and Babar 
 
 archipelagoes.' In the Philippine Islands there are traces 
 
 of it in the reverence for certain animals, the belief that 
 
 the souls of ancestors dwell in trees, etc.^" 
 
 Totemism With regard to ancient nations, totemism may be re- 
 
 cM^fd*^ garded as certain for the Egyptians, and highly probable 
 
 races of for the Semites,^^ Greeks, and Latins. If proved for one 
 
 antiquity, p^^y^if^ people, it might be regarded as proved for all ; since 
 
 totemism could scarcely have been developed by any one 
 
 Aryan branch after the dispersion, and there is no evidence 
 
 or probability that it ever was borrowed. Professor Sayce 
 
 1 Strahlenberg, Description of the ^ Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, 
 North and Eastern Parts of Europe ed. i860, i. 219 sq. 
 
 and Asia, but more particularly of * Turner, Samoa, 334. 
 
 Russia, Siberia, and Great Tartary, ^ Fison and Howitt, p. 37 k. 
 
 London, 1738, p. 383. 8 Lq^^ Sarawak, 265 sq., 272-274, 
 
 2 Middendorf, Siber. Reise, p. 72, 306 ; Journal of the Indian Archi- 
 quoted by Lubbock, Origin of Civilisa- pelago, iii. p. 590 ; St. John, Life in 
 tion, p. 135. The present writer has the Forests of the Far East, i. i86 sq., 
 been unable to find the passage of 203 ; cf. Wilken, in Ind. ' Gids, June 
 Middendorf referred to. 1884, p. 988 i-?. ; Ausland, 1 6th June 
 
 3 W. Radloff, Aus Siherien, i. 216, 1884, p. 470. 
 
 258. The Ostiaks, also in Siberia, « Riedel, De sluik- en kroesharige 
 
 are divided into exogamous clans, and rassen tusschen Papua en Selebes, pp. 
 
 they reverence the bear (Castren, Voi-- 32, 61, 253, 334, 341, 376 sq., 414, 
 
 lesungen ueber die Altaischen Volker, 432. 
 
 107,115,117). This, however, by no "> 'S.\v.mm\.nt\., Der Ahnetuultus und 
 
 means amounts to a proof of totemism. die religiosen Anschauungen der Mai- 
 
 ^ Morgan, A. S., p. 364 sq. One aien des Philippinen Archipel, 159 
 
 of the aboriginal tribes of China sq. 
 
 worships the image of a dog (Gray, " See W. Robertson Smith, Kinship 
 
 China, ii. 306). and Marriage in Early Arabia. 
 
TOTEM ISM 87 
 
 finds totemism among the ancient Babylonians, but his 
 evidence is not conclusive/ 
 
 Origin of Totemism. — No satisfactory explanation of Spencers 
 the origin of totemism has yet been given. Mr. Herbert |'^f°'7 **"*' 
 
 ^ ' o totemism 
 
 Spencer finds the origin of totemism in a " misinterpreta- originated 
 tion of nicknames": savages first named themselves after !°4"reta- 
 natural objects ; and then, confusing these objects with tion of 
 their ancestors of the same names, reverenced them as they °"^''"*™^- 
 already reverenced their ancestors.^ The objection to this 
 view is that it attributes to verbal misunderstandings far 
 more influence than, in spite of the so-called comparative 
 mythology, they ever seem to have exercised. Sir John 
 Lubbock also thinks that totemism arose from the habit 
 of naming persons and families after animals ; but in 
 dropping the intermediate links of ancestor-worship and 
 verbal misunderstanding, he has stripped the theory of all 
 that lent it even an air of plausibility.* 
 
 Lastly, it may be observed that, considering the far- Effects of 
 reaching effects produced on the fauna and flora of a district on'^the^™ 
 by the preservation or extinction of a single species of fauna and 
 animals or plants, it appears probable that the tendency country.^ 
 of totemism to preserve certain species of plants and 
 animals must have largely influenced the organic life of the 
 countries where it has prevailed. But this question, with 
 the kindred question of the bearing of totemism on the 
 original domestication of animals and plants, is beyond the 
 scope of the present article. 
 
 Literature. — Apart from the original authorities which have been 
 referred to, the Uterature on totemism is very scanty. The importance 
 of totemism for the early history of society was first recognised by Mr. 
 J. F. M'Lennan, in papers published in the Fortnightly Review (October 
 and November 1869, February 1870). The subject has since been 
 treated of by E. B. Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 284 sq.\ 
 Sir John Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, 260 sq. ; A. Lang, Custom 
 and Myth, p. 260, etc. ; E. Clodd, Myths and Dreams, p. 99 sq. ; 
 W. Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. See 
 also Encyclopadia Britannica, 9th ed., article "Sacrifice," vol. xxi. 
 p. I35. 
 
 > A. H. Sayce, The Keligion of the 2 Spencer, Principles of Sociology, 
 
 Ancient Babylonians (Hibbert Lee- i. 367. 
 
 tures, 1887), p. 279 sq. ' Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, 
 
 p. 260. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 Reprinted from the Fortnightly Review, 
 April and May i8gg 
 
 89 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 Nearly thirty years have passed since, in the pages of the Totemism 
 Fortnightly Review, the late J. F. M'Lennan drew the attention ^^^^^^ 
 of students to Totemism as a system which, in his opinion, concerning 
 had deeply influenced the religious and social history of ' ' 
 mankind.^ His brilliant disciple, my lamented friend the 
 late W. Robertson Smith, took up the subject, and, carrying 
 out the investigation on the lines laid down by his pre- 
 decessor, essayed to show that Totemism lay at the root 
 of Semitic religion, and hence of the faith which is now 
 embraced by the most civilised nations of the earth. Of 
 late years the theory has been pushed still further by 
 Mr. F. B. Jevons, who finds in this rude scheme of society 
 and superstition the germs out of which not only all religion 
 but all material progress have been evolved in the course 
 of ages. 
 
 It is fortunate that while theories on this subject have Totemism 
 accumulated, facts have also accumulated, though perhaps America 
 not in an equal proportion. The two regions of the world and 
 in which the Totemic system is known to have prevailed 
 most extensively are North America and Australia, and 
 both of them, within the last three decades, have yielded a 
 harvest, not inconsiderable in amount, to the anthropological 
 reaper. In North America the enlightened efforts of the 
 United States Government, setting an example which, alas, 
 no other Government has had the wisdom to follow, have 
 
 ' J. F. M'Lennan, "The Worship Review, Oct. and Nov. 1869, Feb. 
 of Animals and Plants," Fortnightly 1870. 
 
 9' 
 
92 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 been directed towards gleaning all that still remains to be 
 learned of the ancient manners and customs of the aboriginal 
 race, who are now rapidly disappearing or being absorbed 
 by their conquerors. On the north-west coast of the same 
 continent, where the disintegrating influence of European 
 civilisation has penetrated more slowly, and where, con- 
 sequently, the fabric of native society has held longer 
 together, inquiries instituted by the British Association have 
 also borne good fruit. In Australia the harvest is still 
 abundant, but the labourers are few. Yet the study of the 
 aborigines of this continent is of incalculable importance for 
 the history of man, since in their archaic forms of society 
 and modes of thought we seem to touch the farthest past, 
 the most rudimentary stage of human life now open to 
 observation on the globe. It is the honourable distinction 
 of two men, Mr. A. W. Howitt and Mr. Lorimer Fison, to 
 have perceived the immense value of the Australian facts, 
 and to have laboured untiringly to collect and explain them. 
 To their influence and example it is due in large measure 
 that we now possess a considerable body of information on 
 the remarkable social organisation of the Australian tribes, 
 and not the least of their claims to be gratefully remembered 
 The work by posterity will be the stimulus they gave to the inquiries 
 °'^d gT^'^ of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, whose great work on the 
 on the natives of Central Australia has lately been published.' In 
 Cenlrai°^ this work we possess for the first time a full and authentic 
 Australia, account of thoroughly primitive savages living in the totem 
 stage, and practically unaffected by European influence. 
 Its importance as a document of human history can, there- 
 fore, hardly be over-estimated. A little consideration will 
 enable the reader to realise this more clearly. 
 The back- Amoug the great land masses or continents of the world 
 
 onh^^^^ Australia is at once the smallest and the most isolated, 
 Australian and hence its plants and animals are in general of a less 
 efflcrof^" developed and more archaic type than those of the other 
 their Continents. For the same reason aboriginal man has 
 
 isolation. 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central F. J. Gillen, Special Magistrate and 
 
 Australia. By Baldwin Spencer, Sub- Protector of the Aborigines, Alice 
 
 M.A., some time Fellow of Lincoln Springs, South Australia. London: 
 
 College, Oxford, Professor of Biology Macmillan & Co. 1899. 
 in the University of Melbourne ; and 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 93 
 
 remained on the whole, down to the present day, in a more 
 primitive state in Australia than elsewhere. In the struggle 
 for existence progress depends mainly on competition : the 
 more numerous the competitors the fiercer is the struggle, 
 and the more rapid, consequently, is evolution. The com- 
 paratively small area of Australia, combined with its 
 physical features — notably the arid and desert nature of a 
 large part of the country — has always restricted population, 
 and by restricting population has retarded progress. This 
 holds true above all of the central region, which is not only 
 cut off from the outer world by its position, but is also 
 isolated by natural barriers from the rest of the continent. 
 Here, then, in the secluded heart of the most secluded 
 continent the scientific inquirer might reasonably expect to 
 find the savage in his very lowest depths, to detect humanity 
 in the chrysalis stage, to mark the first blind gropings of our 
 race after freedom and light. 
 
 The reader who turns to The Native Tribes of Central ^he 
 Australia with such hopes and expectations will not, I ness of'the 
 venture to predict, be disappointed. Here he will find a full Central 
 
 , . . - , . , , ,. Australians 
 
 description of what is perhaps the most extraordinary set of illustrated 
 customs and beliefs ever put on record. To illustrate the?''.'™. . 
 
 *^ facts, their 
 
 gulf which divides these savages from ourselves it must here lack of aii 
 suffice to mention two facts. In the first place, although a°d''thfir 
 they suffer much from cold at night under the frosty stars belief that 
 of the clear Australian heaven, the idea of using as garments "oTyopa-^ 
 the warm furs of the wild animals which they kill and eat e^ted by 
 has never entered into their minds. They huddle, naked of the 
 and shivering, about little fires, into which, when they drop *'='"==• 
 off to sleep, they are apt to roll and scorch themselves. ' In 
 the second place, they have no notion that mankind is 
 propagated by the union of the sexes \ indeed, when the 
 idea is suggested to them they steadfastly reject it. Their 
 own theory to account for the continuation of the species is 
 sufficiently remarkable. They suppose that in certain far- 
 off times, to which they give the name of " Alcheringa," 
 their ancestors roamed about in bands, each band consisting 
 of members of the same totem group. Where they died 
 their spirits went into the ground and formed, as it were, 
 spiritual store-houses, the external mark of which is some 
 
94 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 natural feature, generally a stone or tree. Such spots are 
 scattered all over the country, and the ancestral spirits who 
 haunt them are ever waiting for a favourable opportunity to 
 be born again into the world. When one of them sees his 
 chance he pounces out on a passing girl or woman and 
 enters into her. Then she conceives, and in due time gives' 
 birth to a child, who is firmly believed to be a reincarnation 
 of the spirit that darted into the mother from the rock or 
 tree. It matters not whether a woman be young or old, a 
 matron or a maid, all are alike liable to be thus impregnated 
 by the spirits, although it has been shrewdly observed by 
 the natives that the spirits on the whole exhibit a preference 
 for such women as are young and fat. Accordingly, when 
 a plump damsel, who shrinks from the burden of maternity, 
 is obliged to pass one of the spots where the disembodied 
 spirits are supposed to lurk, she disguises herself as a 
 withered old hag and hobbles past, bent up double, leaning 
 on a stick, wrinkling her smooth young face, and mumbling 
 in a cracked and wheezy voice, " Don't come to me, I am 
 an old woman." Thus, in the opinion of these savages, 
 every conception is what we are wont to call an immaculate 
 conception, being brought about by the entrance into the 
 mother of a spirit apart from any contact with the other 
 sex. Students of folk-lore have long been familiar with 
 notions of this sort occurring in the stories of the birth of 
 miraculous personages,^ but this is the first case on record 
 of a tribe who believe in immaculate conception as the sole 
 cause of the birth of every human being who comes into the 
 world. A people so ignorant of the most elementary of 
 natural processes may well rank at the very bottom of the 
 savage scale. 
 Great im- Thus it Will be obvious that a complete and accurate 
 
 fherTcord^f^'^°''^ °f *^^ thoughts and habits of a people so low down 
 of these in the scale of humanity must possess the highest scientific 
 the^'e'ari/ '"terest ; for it is now generally admitted that all the 
 history of civilised races of mankind have at some time passed through 
 man tm . ^^^ stage of Savagery, and that on a close scrutiny the seeds 
 of most of the institutions on which we pride ourselves may 
 
 1 Many examples are collected by Mr. E. S. Hartland, in his learned 
 work, The Legend of Perseus. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 95 
 
 be discovered, still partially or wholly undeveloped, in the 
 customs of the rudest tribes. A record of this sort has 
 been given to the world by the devoted labours of Messrs. 
 Spencer and Gillen, who have thereby earned the gratitude, 
 not of this generation only, but of all future generations 
 who shall henceforth interest themselves in tracing the slow 
 evolution of civilisation out of savagery. It is no exaggera- 
 tion to say that, among the documents which students of 
 the early history of man will in future be bound to consult, 
 there can, from the nature of the case, be few or none of 
 more capital importance than The Native Tribes of Central 
 Australia. For in a few years the simple savages who, at 
 the end of the nineteenth century still think the thoughts 
 and retain the habits of primeval man, will have perished, 
 or be so changed that all their old-world ways will be gone 
 irretrievably. Everywhere the savages are dying out, and 
 as they go they take with them page after page of the most 
 ancient history of our race. The study of savage man may 
 be compared to the Sibyl, who, as she threw away leaf after 
 leaf, still demanded the same price for the ever diminishing 
 number that remained. Our chances of preserving for 
 future generations a record of these tribes — the beaten and 
 dying runners in life's race — are lessening year by year, 
 enhancing rather than diminishing, as they drop away, the 
 value of the few trustworthy records we have secured. For 
 there is this difference between the Sibyl of Cumae and the 
 Sibyl of anthropology : the revelation promised by the 
 former was not lost for ever with the fluttering leaves — the 
 future will in time reveal itself to the future ; but who shall 
 read in ages to come the vanished record of the past ? 
 
 I will illustrate by a single example the way in which illustration 
 the customs and beliefs of these Central Australian savages "hro'^n'fy' 
 may throw light on the growth of a great institution. The thecustoms 
 institution which I shall select is great enough, for it is the central 
 Roman Empire. We have all read in our schooldays of Australians 
 the device to which Romulus is said to have resorted for ^owth of 
 the purpose of peopling the city that was destined to institutions. 
 become the mistress of the ancient world. On the slope of 
 the Capitoline Hill, then buried deep in the shady horror 
 of a dark and tangled wood, he established a sanctuary of 
 
96 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 Origin of some god or spirit unknown, and proclaimed that all who 
 f„°?.!,i'?„, resorted thither, whether bond or free, should be safe, and 
 
 till a-syiuni 
 
 for out- should receive lands and citizenship. Lured by these 
 ''^"^^ promises, a multitude of broken men — slaves escaping from 
 
 their masters, debtors who had outrun the bailiffs, murderers 
 with the avengers of blood hot on their tracks — flocked 
 from all the country round to the new town on the Tiber, 
 and a motley population of wretches, ruffians, and des- 
 peradoes soon gathered within the massive walls and became 
 the terror of their neighbours.^ This tradition has not 
 received from historians the attention it deserves. There 
 are good grounds for believing that many cities have sprung 
 up in nearly the same way as Rome is said to have done, 
 not so much through the arbitrary decree of a founder as 
 through the existence of an immemorial sanctuary, within 
 which outlawed and desperate men have found safety and 
 taken up their abode. I propose to show that the germ of 
 such an institution exists, or has existed, in many savage 
 communities, and that the full-grown institution still 
 flourishes in various parts of the world. 
 Asylums in To begin with the lowest savages, the natives of Central 
 Australia Australia have certain sacred spots — generally caves in the 
 New heart of their wild and lonely hills — which may be regarded 
 
 and"^^ as the first rudiment of a city or house of refuge. Here are 
 America, kept the mysterious sticks and stones {churingd) with which 
 the spirits not only of all their dead ancestors but also of 
 all the living members of the tribe are intimately associated. 
 Everything in such spots and their immediate neighbourhood 
 is sacred ; nothing must be done to disturb the spirits. No 
 plant may be pulled there, no branch broken. The very 
 animals that run thither are safe from the hunter ; no native 
 would dare to spear a kangaroo or wallaby on the holy 
 ground. Within its limits men, too, are safe from their 
 pursuers ; so long as they do not pass the bounds they may 
 not be touched.^ In some parts of New Guinea the dubu 
 or temple serves as an asylum. A man who is pursued by 
 
 1 Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Anti- 2 Spencer and Gillen, The Native 
 
 quit. Rom., K. 15; Livy, i. 8; Strabo, Tribes of Central Australia, p. 134 
 V. 230, ed. Casaubon ; Plutarch, sq. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 97 
 
 his enemy and takes refuge in it is perfectly safe. If 
 any one tried to smite him in the temple it is believed that 
 his arms and legs would shrivel up, and that he could do 
 nothing but wish for death.^ Similarly, among the rude 
 Indians of California, described by the Spanish missionary. 
 Father Boscana, every temple enjoyed the right of asylum. 
 Criminals who had once reached a temple (vanqueck) were 
 secure, not only within but also outside the precinct ; they 
 might thenceforth go abroad without fear of molestation ; 
 the mere entrance into the sacred place had purged their 
 guilt.^ The Ojibways are said to have had sanctuaries in 
 which every murderer might seek refuge, it being universally 
 believed that no vengeance might be taken on him there. 
 The German traveller, J, G, Kohl, heard that the murderer 
 of a Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company was actually 
 living at the time securely in one of these asylums.^ 
 
 Among more advanced peoples it seems that the tombs, Asylums i« 
 or other places believed to be haunted by the spirits ofg^™^^*"*^ 
 dead chiefs or kings, are especially apt to develop into 
 asylums. Thus in the monarchical States of the Gallas, in 
 Eastern Africa, homicides enjoy a legal right of asylum if 
 they have succeeded in taking refuge in a hut near the 
 burial-place of the King, which is not far from the King's 
 house.* Similarly, among the Barotse of Southern Africa, the 
 tombs of the Kings, in number about seventy-five, are 
 sanctuaries or places of refuge ; and so, too, are the residences 
 of the Queen and the Prime Minister.* Among the 
 Ovambo of South-western Africa the village of a great chief 
 is abandoned at his death ; only the members of a certain 
 family remain to prevent it from falling into utter decay. 
 Condemned criminals who contrive to escape to one of 
 these deserted villages are safe, at least for a time ; for even 
 the chief himself may not pursue a fugitive into the sacred 
 place." In Upolu, one of the Samoan islands, a certain 
 
 ' J. Chalmeis and W. Wyatt Gill, * Ph. Paulitschke, Ethnographie 
 
 Work and Adventure in New Guinea, Nordost-Afrikas : Die Geistige Cullur 
 
 p. 186. der Dan&kil, Gallaund Somdl,^. 157. 
 
 ^ Boscana, in [A. Robinson's] Life Berlin, 1896. 
 in California, p. 262. New \'ork, ' L. Decle, Three Years in Savage 
 
 1846. Africa, p. 75. London, 1898. 
 
 ' J. G. Kohl, Kitschi-Gami, ii. p. " H. Schinz, Deutsch-Siidwest- 
 
 67. Bremen, 1859. Afrika, p. 312. 
 
 VOL. I H 
 
98 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 god, Vave, had his abode in an old tree, which served as an 
 asylum for murderers and other offenders who -had incurred 
 the penalty of death. " If that tree was reached by the 
 criminal, he was safe, and the avenger of blood could pursue 
 no farther, but wait investigation and trial. It is said that 
 the King of a division of Upolu, called Atua, once lived at 
 that spot. After he died the house fell into decay, but the 
 tree was fixed on as representing the departed King, and out 
 of respect for his memory it was made the substitute of a 
 living and Royal protector. It was called o le asi pulu 
 tangata, ' the asi tree, the refuge of men.' This reminds me 
 of what I once heard from a native of another island. He 
 said that at one time they had been ten years without a 
 King, and so anxious were they to have some protecting 
 substitute that they fixed upon a large O'a tree {Bischoffia 
 Javanicd), and made it the representative of a King, and an 
 asylum for the thief or the homicide when pursued by the 
 injured in hot haste for vengeance." ■" 
 Asylum in In Koetei, a district of Borneo, criminals guilty of capital 
 
 Borneo. offcnces who Can take refuge in the Sultan's dalam may not 
 be slain there, but they lose their freedom for ever, and 
 their children also become slaves. Such refugees, male and 
 female, generally intermarry, and serve the Sultan as 
 domestics, retainers, soldiers, police-agents, and so on. 
 They are a curse to the country. Being drawn, for the 
 most part, from the scum of the population, and always 
 going about armed, they terrify peaceable folk by their 
 brutal and insolent behaviour.^ 
 How This last example is instructive. It shows how outlaws 
 
 asylums r 
 
 may grow ^'^ refugees may grow mto an important and dangerous 
 into cities, element of the population. All that is needed to produce 
 this effect is, besides immunity, a rule that the descendants 
 of outcasts shall themselves be outcasts. Where this rule 
 prevails, and the outlaws are segregated in towns or villages 
 of their own, it is obvious that we have a state of matters 
 very like that which is said to have obtained at Rome in its 
 earliest days. Now such a condition of things actually 
 
 1 G. Turner, Samoa, pp. 64 sq. land-en volkenkunde van Nederlandsch 
 
 S. W. Tromp, " Uit de Salasila Indie, xxxvii. p. 84 sq. 1888. 
 van Koelei," Bijdragen tot de taal- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 99 
 
 exists at present among the secluded and barbarous tribes 
 of the Siah Posh Kafirs, who inhabit the savage glens and 
 highlands of the Hindu Kush. Amongst them every man- 
 slayer is obliged to quit his home and take up his abode in one 
 or other of certain villages or " cities of refuge," as Sir George 
 Robertson calls them. And it is not merely the slayer 
 himself who is thus banished : his sons, if they are not 
 grown up at the time of the homicide, generally become 
 outcasts too, and so do his daughters' husbands and their 
 descendants. The result is that there are whole villages 
 peopled mainly by manslayers or their offspring.^ It is 
 well known that the Hebrews had cities of refuge, within 
 which a manslayer might not be touched by the avenger of 
 blood.^ A similar institution existed among the more 
 advanced aboriginal tribes of North America, and has been 
 described by a writer of last century, who laboured under 
 the impression that in the Redskins he had discovered the 
 long lost Ten Tribes of Israel. This luminous idea does 
 not, however, impair the value of his testimony, of which 
 we have independent confirmation. He says : " Each of 
 these Indian nations have either a house or a town of 
 refuge, which is a sure asylum to protect a manslayer or the 
 unfortunate captive if they can once enter into it. The 
 Cheerake, though now exceedingly corrupt, still observe the 
 law so inviolably as to allow their beloved town the privilege 
 of protecting a wilful murderer ; but they seldom allow him 
 to return home afterwards in safety — they will revenge 
 blood for blood, unless in some very particular case." 
 " Formerly," says the same writer, " when one of the 
 Cheerake murdered an English trader, he immediately ran 
 off for the town of refuge ; but as soon as he got in view 
 of it the inhabitants discovered him by the close pursuit of 
 the shrill war whoo-whoop, and, for fear of irritating the 
 English, they instantly answered the war-cry, ran to arms, 
 intercepted, and drove him off into Tennase River (where 
 he escaped, though mortally wounded), lest he should have 
 entered the reputed holy ground and thus it had been stained 
 with the blood of their friend, or he had obtained sanctuary 
 
 ' Sir G. S. Robertson, The Kafirs of the Hindu Kmh, p. 440 sq., London, 
 1896. * Numbers, xxxv. 6-34. 
 
100 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 to the danger of the community."^ Among the Creek 
 Indians the cities of refuge were called the White Towns, 
 while the towns which afforded no asylum were known as the 
 Red or War Towns.^ 
 Sanctuaries A link is wanting to connect these cities of refuge in 
 developing ^^lerica, Palestine, and the Hindu Rush, with the less 
 
 into cities ' ' , . , 1 • -L. 
 
 of refuge developed forms of asylum which we have met with among 
 Afrk'r' various tribes of savages. For none of these cities is 
 reported to have grown up gradually through the drifting of 
 the waifs and strays of society towards a rock of refuge, 
 such as a tomb or other holy place offers in the troubled sea 
 of barbarism. This missing link appears to be supplied in 
 Western Africa. Here, in the regions of the French Congo 
 and Calabar, are sanctuaries in which evildoers of all kinds 
 — for example, thieves, sorcerers, and women who have 
 been guilty of the inexpiable offence of giving birth to twins 
 — seek, and find, safety. These sanctuaries cover consider- 
 able tracts of ground, being large enough to contain a whole 
 village with its lands. Whoever can make good his escape 
 to one of them is absolutely secure. But the society, as 
 might be expected, is rather numerous than select ; its great 
 charm lies more in a general easiness and freedom of 
 manners than in any natural delicacy or studied refinement. 
 A man of Miss Kingsley's acquaintance, who had been 
 obliged to betake himself for a time to one of these com- 
 munities, found the society so intolerable that he preferred 
 to quit it at all hazards.^ 
 Many cities With these facts before us, we may fairly conjecture that 
 originated "°t ^ f^^ towns in ancient and modern times may have 
 in this way. arisen through the gradual accretion of the dregs and out- 
 casts of society about some spot of peculiar holiness. The 
 view that Rome originated in this manner is supported by 
 tradition, and is, perhaps, not belied by anything in the 
 ancient or modern history of the city ; certainly it accords 
 well with the belief of the ancients themselves that the 
 Romans were a mixed race. Thus, to go back to the point 
 
 ' J. Adair, History of the American in West Africa, p. 466. London, 
 
 Indians, p. 158. London, 1775. 1897. In the text I have embodied 
 
 2 H. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes cf some additional details, which Miss 
 
 the United States, v. p. 279. Kingsley was kind enough to give me 
 
 2 Miss Mary H. Kingsley, Travels in conversation. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM loi 
 
 from which we started, the sacred caves of the rude savages 
 in the wilds of Australia may not unreasonably be regarded 
 as representing in germ an institution out of which a great 
 city, perhaps even a great empire, might, under more favour- 
 able circumstances, have been developed. 
 
 But it is time to turn to my more immediate subject. Novel 
 In this paper I desire to call attention to some of the J^c"ntrai 
 novel features of Central Australian Totemism, as they are Australian 
 disclosed to us by the researches of Messrs. Spencer and '^°'^""*"'- 
 Gillen, and further to consider how far the new facts may 
 require us to modify or recast our old views of Totemism 
 in general. It may be well to begin by reminding the 
 reader that a totem is a class of natural phenomena or 
 material objects — most commonly a species of animals or 
 plants — between which and himself the savage believes that 
 a certain intimate relation exists. The exact nature of the 
 relation is not easy to ascertain ; various explanations of it 
 have been suggested, but none has as yet won general 
 acceptance. Whatever it may be, it generally leads the 
 savage to abstain from killing or eating his totem, if his 
 totem happens to be a species of animals or plants. 
 Further, the group of persons who are knit to any particular 
 totem by this mysterious tie commonly bear the name of the 
 totem, believe themselves to be of one blood, and strictly 
 refuse to sanction the marriage or cohabitation of members 
 of the group with each other. This prohibition to marry 
 within the group is now generally called by the name of 
 Exogamy. Thus, Totemism has commonly been treated as 
 a primitive system both of religion and of society. As a 
 system of religion it embraces the mystic union of the 
 savage with his totem ; as a system of society it comprises 
 the relations in which men and women of the same totem oid canons 
 stand to each other and to the members of other totemic °f Totem 
 groups. And corresponding to these two sides of the prohibi- 
 system are two rough - and - ready tests or canons of i'o°s to kiii 
 
 — . - . , . 1 .11 or eat the 
 
 Totemism : first, the rule that a man may not kill or eat totem 
 his totem animal or plant ; and second, the rule that he may animal or 
 not marry or cohabit with a woman of the same totem, to marry a 
 Whether the two sides — the religious and the social — have ^o^^n of 
 
 ° the same 
 
 always co - existed or are essentially independent, is a totem. 
 
102 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 question which has been variously answered. Some writers 
 — for example, Sir John Lubbock and Mr. Herbert Spencer 
 — have held that Totemism began as a system of society 
 only, and that the superstitious regard for the totem 
 developed later, through a simple process of misunderstand- 
 ing. Others, including J. F. M'Lennan and Robertson Smith, 
 were of opinion that the religious reverence for the totem is 
 original, and must, at least, have preceded the introduction 
 of Exogamy. 
 Discrep- Now, when we consider the totemic system of the 
 
 rween fte Central Australian tribes, as it is described by Messrs. 
 traditions Spencer and Gillen, one of the things that strikes us most is 
 practice of the extraordinary discrepancy between their traditions and 
 the Central their practice. If their traditions may be trusted, their 
 
 Australians .,,., , . ,., 
 
 in regard to ancestors certamly did not observe the totemic rules which 
 Totemism. ^j-g jjq^ practised by their descendants. Let us take what 
 I have called the canons of Totemism and see how they 
 apply to the present practice of these natives, and to what 
 is represented as having been the practice of their forefathers 
 in days gone by. 
 First, First, the rule that a man may not kill or eat his totem 
 
 nanvls It" aninial or plant. Roughly speaking, this rule is fairly well 
 present do observed, with certain remarkable exceptions, by the Central 
 aUy kmTr Australians at present. " A man will only eat very spar- 
 eat their ingly of his totem, and even if he does eat a little of it, 
 seems^hat which is allowable to him, he is careful, in the case, for 
 their ances- example, of an Emu man, not to eat the best part, such as 
 
 tors did so . ^ „ ■] _ , . ^ 
 
 regularly, the fat. In a note on this passage the authors add : " The 
 people of the Emu totem very rarely eat the eggs, unless 
 very hungry and short of food, in which case they would 
 eat, but not too abundantly. If an Emu man found a nest 
 of eggs, and was very hungry, he might cook one, but he 
 would take the remainder into camp and distribute them. 
 If he were not very hungry all the eggs would be distributed. 
 The flesh of the bird may be eaten sparingly, but only a 
 very little of the fat ; the eggs and fat are more ekirinja, or 
 taboo, than the meat. The same principle holds good 
 through all the totems ; a Carpet-snake man will eat 
 sparingly of a poor snake, but he will scarcely touch the 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 202. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 103 
 
 reptile if it be fat." Elsewhere, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen 
 observe that " at the present day the totemic animal or 
 plant, as the case may be, is almost, but not quite, taboo, or, 
 as the Arunta people call it, ekirinja, to the members of the 
 totem," ^ Yet the traditions of these same natives represent 
 their ancestors as possessing and freely exercising the right 
 to kill and eat their totem animals and plants, " as if this 
 were, indeed, a functional necessity." ^ 
 
 Second, the rule that a man may not marry or cohabit Though 
 with a woman of the same totem. At the present day this thrcemrai 
 rule is strictly observed by a group of Central Australian tribes, Australians 
 of which the Urabunna may be taken as typical. It is not "bMrie'the 
 observed at all by another group of tribes, of which the Arunta ■'"■e of 
 may be regarded as representative. Among these latter tribes Tap^s 
 the totemic system has no effect on marriage and descent ; "'^^ ^^^" 
 
 ° ancestors 
 
 a man may marry a woman of the same totem or he may not, on the 
 and his children may belong either to his or to his wife's totem, ^n'r^ry 
 
 , always 
 
 or to neither, or some to one and some to the other. Very married 
 different was the state of things in the past, if we may trust 15^°"^™°'^ 
 tradition, the evidence of which " seems to point back to a totem as 
 time when a man always married a woman of his own ' ^^^^ ^"' 
 totem. The reference to men and women of one totem 
 always living together in groups would appear to be too 
 frequent and explicit to admit of any other satisfactory 
 explanation. We never meet [in tradition] with an instance 
 of a man living with a woman who was not of his own 
 totem." ' 
 
 Thus the Central Australian tribes have clear and The very 
 positive traditions of a time when they regularly killed and [hese^radi- 
 ate their totem, and always married women of the same tions con- 
 totem as themselves. Such traditions, it is plain, fly straight p'^^esent 
 in the face of all our old notions of Totemism. Are we, practice of 
 therefore, at liberty to reject them as baseless ? Certainly jj tjjg best 
 not. Their very discordance with the practice of the natives P™°f °f 
 
 . . . , 1 , - 'heir 
 
 at the present day is the best guarantee that they contam a genuine- 
 substantial element of truth. They could not have been ""=■ 
 invented to explain customs which they contradict. Every 
 theory of Central Australian Totemism must reckon with 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central 2 Op. cit., p. 209. 
 
 Australia, p. 206. ' Op. cit., p. 419. 
 
104 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 them ; none can be satisfactory which does not show how 
 the gulf between the present and past totemic system of the 
 natives can be bridged. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, let us look at the existing system 
 more closely. First, we must note that while the totems of these 
 tribes are generally animals or plants, they are not exclusively 
 so : we hear of totems of the wind, the sun, the evening 
 star, fire, water, cloud, and so on ; " in fact there is scarcely 
 an object, animate or inanimate, to be found in the country 
 occupied by the natives which does not give its name to some 
 Each totem totcmic group of individuals." ^ Next, let us observe that 
 s™"P each totem group performs certain sacred ceremonies called 
 
 performs . ^ , . , , , , 
 
 ceremonies Intichiuma, the object of which, whenever the totem happens 
 "uuMuma ^° ^^ ^" animal or plant, is to ensure the multiplication of 
 for the the animals or plants of that species. These ceremonies, to 
 ™o"n'rf tht which the natives seem to attach more importance than to 
 totem any others,^ are generally held at what may be called the 
 Xnt^ ""^ approach of the Australian spring. " The Intichiuma are 
 closely associated with the breeding of the animals and 
 the flowering of the plants with which each totem is 
 respectively identified, and as the object of the ceremony 
 is to increase the number of the totemic animal or 
 plant, it is most naturally held at a certain season. In 
 Central Australia the seasons are limited, so far as the 
 breeding of animals and the flowering of plants is concerned, 
 to two — a dry one of uncertain and often great length, and 
 a rainy one of short duration and often of irregular occurrence. 
 The latter is followed by an increase in animal life and an 
 exuberance of plant growth which, almost suddenly, trans- 
 forms what may have been a sterile waste into a land rich 
 in various forms of animals, none of which have been seen 
 for, it may be, many months before, and gay with the blossoms 
 of endless flowering plants. In the case of many of the totems 
 it is just when there is promise of the approach of a good 
 season that it is customary to hold the ceremony." ^ 
 
 The analogy of these ceremonies to the spring and mid- 
 summer festivals of our European peasantry, as the latter 
 have been interpreted by W. Mannhardt, is obvious. To 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central ^ Op. cit., p. 167. 
 
 Australia, p. 112. ^ Op, cit., p. 169 sq. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 105 
 
 dwell on the analogy would be out of place here. I shall The 
 have an opportunity elsewhere of pointing the moral ^"'^^^^J"^ 
 which is to be drawn from it. Here I will only ask the are magical 
 reader to observe that, like their European analogues these rei'^lo *"° 
 Australian ceremonies are in their essence magical rather 
 than religious. The distinction between religion and magic 
 may be said to be that while the former is an attempt to 
 propitiate or conciliate the higher powers, the latter is an 
 attempt to compel or coerce them. Thus, while religion 
 assumes that the great controlling powers of the world are 
 so far akin to man as to be liable, like him, to be moved 
 by human prayers and entreaties, magic makes no such 
 assumption. To the magician it is a matter of indifference 
 whether the cosmic powers are conscious or unconscious, 
 spiritual or material, for in either case he imagines that he 
 can force them by his enchantments and spells to do his 
 bidding. Now as the Intichiuma ceremonies are supposed 
 to produce their effect directly and necessarily, and " their 
 performance is not associated in the native mind with the 
 idea of appealing to the assistance of any supernatural 
 being," ^ it is plain that they are magical in their nature, 
 rather than religious. A brief notice of some of them will 
 set this in a clear light 
 
 In order to ensure a plentiful supply of a certain grub Ceremonies 
 known as the witchetty grub, which is a favourite article of ^ wiTch- 
 diet with the natives, and only appears for a short time after etty Grub 
 rain, the men of the Witchetty Grub totem repair to a m™tipUca-* 
 shallow cave in a ravine, where lies a large block of quartzite, "o" of 
 
 witchctlv 
 
 surrounded by some small rounded stones. The large block grubs. 
 represents the full-grown grubs ; the small stones stand for 
 the eggs. On reaching the cave the head man of the totem 
 group begins to sing, while he taps the large block with a 
 wooden trough, such as is used for scooping the earth out of 
 burrows. All the other men at the same time tap it with 
 twigs of a particular gum-tree, chanting the while. The 
 burden of their song is an invitation to the insect to go and 
 lay eggs. Next the leader takes up one of the smaller 
 stones, representing an egg, and strikes each man in the 
 stomach with it, saying, " You have eaten much food," after 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 170. 
 
io6 THE ORIGIN OF TOTE MIS M 
 
 which he butts at the man's stomach with his forehead. When 
 this ceremony is over, they all descend from the cave into 
 the bed of the ravine, and stop under a rock, at which a 
 great leader of the Witchetty Grub totem in the far past is 
 said to have cooked, pulverised, and eaten the grub. The 
 head man of the party strikes this rock with his trough, 
 while the older men again chant invitations to the animal to 
 come from all directions and lay eggs. Ceremonies of the 
 same sort are performed at ten different places. When the 
 round has been completed the party returns home. Here, 
 at some distance from the main camp, a long narrow structure 
 of boughs has meanwhile been got ready ; it is designed to 
 represent the chrysalis from which the full-grown insect 
 emerges. Into this structure the men, every one with the 
 sacred design of the totem painted in red ochre and pipeclay 
 on his body, enter and sing of the grub in the various stages 
 of its development. After chanting thus for a while, they 
 shuffle out of the mock chrysalis one by one with a gliding 
 motion, singing all the time about the emergence of the real 
 insect out of the real chrysalis, of which their own per- 
 formance is clearly an imitation. The whole of these 
 ceremonies, from beginning to end, must be performed by 
 the men fasting ; not until the whole is over are the 
 performers allowed to eat and drink. 
 Ceremonies When men of the Emu totem desire to multiply emus 
 ^y"'^™^'^ they set about it as follows. Several of the men open veins 
 men for the in their arms and allow the blood to stream on the ground, 
 tilTn'Iif '"''" '^i^^ ^ -^dXz^x about three yards square is saturated with it. 
 emus. When the blood is dry it forms a hard surface, on which the 
 men of the totem paint in white, red, yellow and black a 
 design intended to represent various parts of the emu, such 
 as the fat, of which the natives are very fond, the eggs in 
 various stages of development, the intestines, and the 
 feathers. Further, several men of the totem, acting the part 
 of ancestors of the Emu clan, dress themselves up to resemble 
 emus and imitate the movements and aimless gazing about 
 of the bird ; on their heads are fastened sacred sticks 
 {churinga), about four feet long, and tipped with emu 
 feathers, to represent the long neck and small head of the 
 emu. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 107 
 
 Again, when men of the Hakea Flower totem wish to Ceremonies 
 produce a plentiful supply of the flower they go to a certain ^"^™^ 
 stone which stands in a shallow pit beside an ancient hakea Fiowermen 
 tree. The stone is supposed to represent a mass of hakea ["pu^t""'' 
 flowers, and the tree to mark the spot where an ancestress of hakea 
 of the clan passed into the ground long ago. The men sit *'°*^'''- 
 down in the pit round about the stone and chant songs, 
 inviting the tree to flower much, and the blossoms to be full 
 of honey. Then one of them opens a vein in his arm, and 
 lets the blood spurt all over the stone ; this is meant to 
 imitate the preparation of a favourite beverage made by 
 steeping the flower in water. 
 
 Again, there is a sort of manna which the natives use as Ceremonies 
 food, and which forms the totem of one of their clans. It ^^^^^ 
 is produced by the mulga tree (Acada aneura). When the men for tiie 
 members ' of the totem clan desire to ensure an abundant uo"n"of "^^ 
 crop of this manna they resort to a certain great boulder of manna. 
 grey rock, which is oddly marked with black and white 
 seams. This boulder is thought to represent a mass of the 
 manna, and the same significance is attributed to some 
 smaller stones which lie on the top of it. The ceremony 
 begins by the digging up of a sacred bull-roarer (churinga), 
 which is buried in the ground at the foot of the great 
 boulder. It, too, stands for a mass of manna. Then the 
 head man climbs to the top of the boulder and rubs it with 
 the bull-roarer, after which he takes the smaller stones and 
 rubs them, too, on the great boulder. Meanwhile, the other 
 men, sitting around, chant an invitation to the dust produced 
 by the rubbing of the stones to go out and generate a 
 plentiful supply of manna on the mulga trees. Finally, 
 with twigs of the mulga, the leader sweeps away the dust 
 which has gathered on the surface of the stone ; his intention, 
 thereby, is to cause the dust to settle on the trees, and so 
 produce manna. 
 
 The last of the Intichiuma ceremonies which I shall cite Ceremonies 
 is the one performed by men of the Kangaroo totem, to ^°™^ 
 ensure the multiplication of kangaroos. For this purpose Kangaroo 
 they proceed to the foot of a hill on the slope of which, ™uuipii(^-* 
 some twenty feet above the plain, two blocks of stone tion of 
 project, one above the other. One of these stones is supposed "8"°°^' 
 
io8 THE ORIGIN OF TOTE MIS M 
 
 to represent a male kangaroo, and the other a female 
 kangaroo. The head man of the totem clan and another 
 man, who stands to the former in the relation of mother's 
 uncle, whether blood or tribal, climb up the hill and rub 
 these two blocks with a stone, one of them rubbing the one 
 block and the other the other. Lower down the hill is a 
 rocky ledge, supposed to be haunted by the spirits of 
 multitudes of kangaroos which died here long ago. This 
 ledge is next painted with alternate vertical stripes of red 
 and white to indicate the red fur and white bones of a 
 kangaroo. When the painting is done, some young men go 
 up, seat themselves on the ledge, and opening veins in their 
 arms, allow the blood to spurtle over the edge of the rock 
 on which they are seated. The object of this ceremony, 
 according to the natives, is to drive the spirits of the 
 kangaroos out of the rock in all directions, and so to ensure 
 the multiplication of the animals. While the young men 
 are thus bleeding themselves on the top of the ledge the 
 others sit down below, watching them and singing songs in 
 reference to the increase in the number of kangaroos which 
 is expected to follow from this performance. 
 These cere- Without entering into more details, I may say that 
 thrmuur ceremonies of the same general character as the preceding 
 plication of appear to be practised by members of all the other clans or 
 and"^ants g^oups who have animals or plants for their totems. The 
 are in- object of all such cercmonies, avowedly, is to increase the 
 increase °he '^u'^ber of the totem animal or plant, and this object the 
 supply of natives sincerely believe that they attain by these means. 
 the tribe. Thus we scc that cach totem clan imagines itself possessed 
 of a direct control over the animal or plant whose name it 
 bfears, and this control it exercises for the purpose of multi- 
 plying the number of its totem plant or animal. But the 
 question at once suggests itself. Why should they trouble 
 themselves to multiply animals or plants which, by their 
 rules, they are almost wholly debarred from eating? For 
 it is to be remembered that the totem animal or plant is 
 almost, though not quite, tabooed to men and women of the 
 totem. The answer to this question can only be that, 
 though the members of each totem group do not benefit, or 
 hardly benefit at all, by multiplying their totem animal or 
 
THE ORIGIN Op- TOTEM ISM 109 
 
 plant, the members of all the other totem groups do benefit 
 by it, since their food supply is believed to be increased 
 thereby. In other words, the Intichiuma ceremonies are 
 performed by each totem group, not on its own behoof, but 
 on behoof of all the others, the general effect of all the 
 ceremonies being supposed to be an increase of the total 
 supply of food available for the whole tribe, which, it is 
 needful to bear in mind, includes a large number of totem 
 clans. The system is, in fact, one of co-operative magic — 
 each group works its spells for the good of all the rest and 
 benefits in its turn through the enchantments practised by 
 the others. 
 
 The conclusion that ceremonies for the multiplication of Hence it 
 certain plants and animals, all of which are used as food by ^^at^e 
 some members of the tribe, can have no other aim than that function of 
 of increasing the food supply of the tribe as a whole may ciln'trto 
 seem so obvious as to need no argument in its support, provide a 
 Yet the view of Totemism which it implies is so novel and u's'wt^m 
 so totally opposed to all our previous notions on the subject animal or 
 that it is desirable to put it beyond the reach of doubt. [he"con-'^ 
 For the view is neither more nor less than this : that one at sumption 
 least of the functions of a totem clan is to provide a plentiful of the tribe. 
 supply of its own totem animal or plant to be used as food 
 by the other members of the tribe. That this is, indeed, 
 the intention of the Intichiuma ceremonies among the 
 Central Australian tribes is clearly brought out by the 
 following facts. 
 
 When the ceremony for the multiplication of the TheWitch- 
 witchetty grubs has been performed, and the grub becomes ^'op^™'' 
 plentiful and fully grown, the Witchetty Grub men, women, collect and 
 and children go out daily and collect large supplies of the q^ntiUe^^ 
 grub, which they bring into camp and cook, so that it of witchetty 
 becomes dry and brittle ; and in this state they store it ^pie who 
 away in wooden troughs and pieces of bark. At the same ,<*° "°' ^■ 
 time, the others, who do not belong to the Witchetty Grub witchetty 
 totem, are also out gathering the grub, but they must bring ^™^ 
 all that they find into the camp ; for this food must on no 
 account be eaten like other food out in the bush, or the men 
 of the totem would be angry and the grub would disappear. 
 The supply of grubs lasts only a very short time, and when 
 
no THE ORIGIN OF TOT EM ISM 
 
 they grow less plentiful the store of cooked grubs is taken 
 
 to the men's camp, where, acting under the instructions of 
 
 the head man of the Witchetty Grub totem, all the men 
 
 assemble. Those who do not belong to the totem then 
 
 place their stores before those who do, and the head man 
 
 thereupon takes one of the troughs and, with the help of 
 
 other men of the totem, grinds up the dried grubs between 
 
 stones. Next he and the same men all help themselves to 
 
 a little of the food and eat it, after which he hands back 
 
 what remains to the other people. Then he takes a trough 
 
 from his own store, and after he has ground up the contents 
 
 he and the men of the totem once more eat a little ; lastly, 
 
 they pass the bulk of what remains to those who do not 
 
 belong to the Witchetty Grub totem. After this ceremony, 
 
 the Witchetty Grub men and women may eat very sparingly 
 
 of the grub. They are not absolutely forbidden to eat it, 
 
 but they must do so only to a small extent, for if they were 
 
 to eat too much the power of successfully performing the 
 
 Intichiuma ceremony would depart from them, and there 
 
 would be very few grubs. On the other hand, it is just as 
 
 important for them, and especially for the head man, to eat 
 
 a little of the totemic animal, since to eat none would have 
 
 the same disastrous effect as to eat too much. 
 
 Ceremony Similarly, when the ceremony for increasing the number 
 
 performed ^f kangaroos has been performed, the younger men go out 
 
 garoo men hunting kangaroos and bring back the animals which they 
 
 before the h^ve killed to the older men, who have stayed in the camp. 
 
 rest of the ' . 
 
 people may Here the old men of the Kangaroo totem eat a little of the 
 
 eat kan- kangaroo and anoint the bodies of those who took part in 
 
 garoos. o ^ 
 
 the ceremony with its fat, after which the meat is distributed 
 to all the men assembled. When this has been done, the 
 Kangaroo men may eat sparingly of kangaroos ; but there 
 are certain choice parts of the animal, such as the tail, which 
 no Kangaroo man or woman must on any account touch. 
 Ceremony Again, there is a certain bulb of a Cyperaceous plant 
 
 by'^inen'of which the natives call irriakura. When the men of the 
 the irria- Irriakura totem have performed their ceremony for multiply- 
 before the i"g the bulb, they do not eat of it for some time afterwards. 
 irriakura Then persons who do not belong to the totem brinsr in a 
 
 bulb may . r . i i, i , , , . 
 
 be eaten quantity of the bulb to the camp and hand it over to the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM in 
 
 head man and other men of the Irriakura totem. These 
 latter rub some of the tubers between their hands, thus 
 getting rid of the husks, and then, putting the tubers in 
 their mouths, blow them out again in all directions. After 
 this the Irriakura people may eat sparingly of the bulbs. 
 
 After the magic rite for multiplying bandicoots has Ceremony 
 been performed by men of the Bandicoot totem the animal P"B™f'' 
 is not eaten until it becomes plentiful. When this is so, coot men 
 men who do not belong to the Bandicoot totem go out in ^ndfcoots 
 search of a bandicoot, and when they have caught it they may be 
 bring it into the camp and there put some of the animal's ^'*''' 
 fat into the mouths of the Bandicoot men ; moreover, they 
 rub the fat over their own bodies. After this the Bandicoot 
 men may eat a little of the animal. 
 
 Once more, when the Intichiuma ceremony for increasing Ceremony 
 the supply of the idnimita grub has been performed, and P'=''f°"''"ed 
 the grub (which is that of a large longicorn beetle) has of the 
 become plentiful, the men who do not belong to the Jot"™"* 
 Idnimita totem collect the insects and bring them into the before the 
 camp. There they lay their store before the men ofg^^^'^m^y 
 the totem, who eat some of the smaller grubs and hand be eaten, 
 back the rest to the men who do not belong to the totem. 
 When this has been done the men of the Idnimita totem 
 may eat sparingly of the grub. 
 
 Thus we see that, after the ceremonies for the multipli- Thus the 
 cation of the various totemic animals and plants have been [h"/^rt°/i°^ 
 observed, these animals and plants are killed or gathered tma cere- 
 and eaten, sparingly by the men who have the particular [^°",J^^| 
 animal or plant for their totem, but freely by the rest, a plentiful 
 There can, therefore, be no doubt that the intention of the food for° 
 Intichiuma ceremonies, so far as the totems are edible ">e tribe, 
 animals or plants, is to ensure a plentiful supply of food for 
 the tribe. In other words, the performance of one of these 
 solemn rites by men who have an animal for their totem is 
 merely a means to enable the other members of the tribe to 
 kill and eat that animal. Indeed, the men of the totem 
 will even, as we saw in the case of the Witchetty Grub 
 men, kill and cook their totem in large quantities for the 
 benefit of the rest of the community. The same readiness 
 .on the part of a man to aid others in catching and killing 
 
112 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 his own totem came out in the case of a Euro man who 
 made and charmed a magic implement {churingd) for the 
 express purpose of thereby enabHng a Plum-tree man to 
 catch and kill euros (a kind of kangaroo).^ 
 The cere- This explanation of the Intichiuma rites is the one 
 
 monies myen bv Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, whose arguments and 
 
 seem to & ■' '^ 1.11 i"/-r 
 
 show that conclusion I have merely stated m a slightly different form. 
 
 oflTotlm No other explanation of the ceremonies seems to me to be 
 
 are sup- possible. But further, as the authors acutely point out, the 
 
 oniy'to""' facts which we have passed in review appear to indicate 
 
 control the that the men of any particular totem are supposed not 
 
 tiwTr to?em Only to control the numbers of their totem animal or plant, 
 
 animal or \^^i^ ^\^q ^q have a first right to eat it. This appears from 
 
 also to have the custom of bringing in the first supply of the animal 
 
 the first Qj. plant into camp, and laying it before the men of the 
 
 eat it, totem, who are permitted, and indeed required, to eat of it 
 
 before any one else is allowed to do so. The same idea 
 
 comes out very clearly in some of the native traditions. 
 
 Thus they say that once on a time a Hakea Flower woman 
 
 was changed into a Bandicoot woman by another woman of 
 
 the latter totem, and that after the transformation she ate 
 
 bandicoots, that is, her totem animal. Again, it is said that 
 
 a Euro man once started out in pursuit of a kangaroo which 
 
 he was anxious to kill and eat, but that to enable himself 
 
 to do so he first of all changed himself into a Kangaroo 
 
 man. These traditions point to a time when, if you wished 
 
 to eat bandicoot you had to belong to the Bandicoot totem ; 
 
 and if you wished to kill and eat kangaroos, you had to 
 
 /belong to the Kangaroo totem ; in short, they seem to 
 
 / carry us back to a time when among these tribes a man's 
 
 J special function in life was to kill and eat his totem animal. 
 
 At the present day this old system, if it was indeed such, 
 
 has been greatly modified. As a rule, a man no longer 
 
 kills and eats his totem animal, and the aid which he gives 
 
 his fellow-tribesmen in filling their stomachs with it, though 
 
 it is regarded as very important, is still only indirect. 
 
 Hitherto we have considered only the Intichiuma 
 ceremonies which deal with animal and vegetable totems. 
 But, as we have seen, the totems of the Central Australian 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 203. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 113 
 
 tribes comprise almost every natural object known to Ceremonies 
 the native, and each totem clan or group has its own prf°"ned 
 
 J .. , . _,, or by Water 
 
 Inttcntuma ceremony. The ceremony performed by the men for the 
 men of the Water totem has for its end the making of P^^'f^'^ °'' 
 rain ; it is held especially at the season when rain may be rain. 
 expected to fall, but may also be held whenever there has 
 been a long drought and water is scarce. Like the other 
 Intichiuma rites, those of the Water totem are purely magical 
 in their nature. A man decorated with white down struts 
 slowly up and down a trench, causing his body and legs to 
 quiver in an extraordinary way, and when he is done some 
 young fellows, who have been lying down in a shelter of 
 branches, jump up and rush out screaming in imitation of 
 the spur-winged plover. As to the Intichiuma ceremonies Thus in 
 of the other inanimate totems, such as wind, iire, sun, cloud, ^^",'^^,'1 
 and so on, we have unfortunately no information ; but, Totemism 
 arguing by analogy, we may surmise that just as it is the ^n™ ga°n^ 
 business of Kangaroo men to make kangaroos, of Hakea ised system 
 Flower men to make Hakea flowers, and of Water men to "nt^afd to 
 make rain, so it is the business of Wind men to make wind, procure a 
 of Fire men to make fire, of Sun men to make sunshine, necessaries, 
 and similarly with the rest. In short, Totemism among 
 the Central Australian tribes appears, if we may judge 
 from the Intichiuma ceremonies, to be an organised system s. 
 of magic intended to procure for savage man a plentiful | 
 supply of all the natural objects whereof he stands in need. \ 
 
 The thought naturally presents itself to us : Have we^erhaps the 
 not in these Intichiuma ceremonies the key to the original '"'"^'""""' 
 
 ceremonies 
 
 meaning and purpose of Totemism among the Central give the 
 Australian tribes, perhaps even of Totemism in general ? or4in°ai "^ 
 The suggestion is not made by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen meaning of 
 in The Native Tribes of Central Australia, but it occurred a^ong the 
 to me in reading the proofs of their book last September, Central 
 and in a letter written in that month I communicated it to possibly 
 Professor Spencer. From his reply I learned, without ^^°°f^^ 
 surprise, that he had been coming independently to a similar in general. 
 conclusion. To quote from his letter, which is dated 
 Melbourne, October 20, 1898 : — 
 
 " In thinking over the totem question I have been coming 
 more and more to the conclusion that the religious aspect 
 
 VOL. I I 
 
114 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 View of 
 Professor 
 Baldwin 
 Spencer. 
 
 of the totem is the more ancient, and that the now existing 
 social aspect has been tacked on at a later period, and, so 
 far as our central tribes are concerned, your theory that each 
 group of people was originally charged with the duty of 
 securing the multiplication of the particular object the name 
 of which it bears appears to me to fit in admirably with the 
 facts. In many of the central tribes (Arunta, Ilpirra, 
 Warramunga, etc.) the religious aspect is developed almost 
 to the exclusion of the social, while in others (Dieri, 
 Urabunna, etc.) the social is more strongly developed, but 
 
 at the same time the presence of Intichiuma ceremonies 
 indicates the existence of a religious aspect which is, more- 
 over, identical in nature with that of the Arunta, etc., 
 system. A rough map of Australia is, perhaps, rather 
 instructive in connection with this. The dotted outline 
 with R indicates the area occupied by tribes amongst whom 
 the religious aspect is predominant. R + S indicates that 
 the tribes have the same religious aspect associated with the 
 totem, but that the social (as indicated by the totems 
 regulating marriage) is also well developed ; while S 
 indicates that the social aspect is the predominant one. It 
 is also worth noting that over the large area in the centre. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 115 
 
 where conditions of life are more precarious in the matter 
 of food and water supply, the religious aspect predominates, 
 whilst it is least marked in the area which is well wooded 
 and watered and where the food supply is more constant. 
 This serves to indicate, so far as Australia is concerned, a 
 relationship between food supply and the development of 
 the religious aspect of the totemic system at the present 
 day." 
 
 On this I will only remark that if the Intichiuma On this 
 ceremonies do really give the clue to Totemism, the aspect ^^^{ of* 
 of the totemic system, which we have hitherto been Totemism 
 accustomed to describe as religious, deserves rather to be bee„ 
 called magical, and in this change of designation I believe described 
 
 i-r>,- T.11.^ . 1. 1 • ^ religious 
 
 that Professor Baldwm Spencer is now disposed to acquiesce, should 
 His own views as to the probable origin of Totemism will "■"'j'^ '"' 
 be found stated in a forthcoming number of the Journal ^magical. 
 the Anthropological Institute. In the main they accord with 
 those which I was led to adopt from a consideration of the 
 same facts. The merit of the discovery, if it should prove 
 to be such, clearly belongs to the writers who have 
 laboriously collected the facts, and presented them in such 
 a masterly form that any one may see for himself the 
 conclusion to which they point. 
 
II 
 
 Thus 
 Totemisni 
 seems to 
 be an 
 organised, 
 and co- 
 operative 
 system of, 
 magic fo] 
 the beneft 
 of the 
 whole coi 
 munity. 
 
 V 
 
 The general explanation of Totemism to which the 
 Intichiuma ceremonies seem to point is that it is primarily 
 an organised and co-operative system of magic designed to 
 secure for the members of the community, on the one hand, 
 a plentiful supply of all the commodities of which, they 
 stand in need, and, on the other hand, immunity from all 
 the perils and dangers to which man is exposed in his 
 struggle with nature. Each totem group, on this theory, 
 was charged with the superintendence and control of some 
 department of nature from which it took its name, and with 
 which it sought, as far as possible, to identify itself. If the 
 things which composed the department assigned to a 
 particular group were beneficial to man, as in the case of 
 edible animals and plants, it was the duty of the group to 
 foster and multiply them ; if, on the other hand, they were 
 either noxious by nature, or might, under certain circum- 
 stances, become so, as in the case of ravenous beasts, 
 poisonous serpents, rain, wind, snow, and so on, then it was 
 the duty of the group to repress and counteract these harm- 
 ful tendencies, to remedy any mischief they might have 
 wrought, and perhaps to turn them as efficient engines of 
 destruction against foes. This latter side of totemic magic, 
 which may perhaps be described as the negative or remedial 
 side, hardly appears in our accounts of Central Australian 
 Totemism ; but we shall meet with examples of it elsewhere. 
 In favour of this hypothetical explanation of Totemism 
 I would urge that it is simple and natural, and in entire ccxn- 
 formity with both the practical needs and the modes of 
 thought of savage man. Nothing can be more natural than 
 that man should wish to eat when he is hungry, to drink 
 
 ii6 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 117 
 
 when he is thirsty, to have fire to warm him when he is cold, This ex- 
 and fresh breezes to cool him when he is hot ; and to the xo"em^m°'^ 
 savage nothing seems simpler than to procure for himself is simple, 
 these and all other necessaries and comforts by magic art. "nd^on- 
 We need not, therefore, wonder that in very ancient times fo™abie to 
 communities of men should have organised themselves more onhSugM 
 err less deliberately for the purpose of attaining objects so of savages. 
 natural by means that seemed to them so simple and easy. 
 The first necessity of savage, as of civilised, man is food, 
 and with this it accords that wherever Totemism exists the 
 maj ority of the totems are invariably animals or p lants — in 
 other words, things whith men can eat. The great signifi- 
 cance of this fact has hitherto been concealed from us by 
 the prohibition so commonly laid on members of a totem 
 clan to eat their totem animal or plant. But the discovery 
 of the Intichiuma ceremonies among the Central Australian 
 tribes proves that in keeping our eye on the prohibition to 
 eat the totem we have hitherto been looking at only one 
 side of the medal, and that the less important of the two. 
 For these ceremonies show — what no one had previously 
 dreamed of — that the very man who himself abstains in 
 general from eating his totem will, nevertheless, do all in his 
 power to enable other people to eat it ; nay, that his very 
 business and function in life is to procure for his fellow- 
 tribesmen a supply of the animal or plant from which he 
 takes his name, and to which he stands in so intimate a 
 relation. With the new facts before us, we may safely con- 
 jecture that whatever the origin of the prohibition observed 
 by each clan to eat its totem, that prohibition is essentially 
 subordinate, and probably ancillary to the great end of 
 enabling the community as a whole to eat of it — in other 
 words, of contributing to the common food supply. . 
 
 Viewed in this light, Totemism is a thoroughly practical hypothesis 
 system designed to meet the everyday wants of the ordinary Jp^'^t'^i"* 
 man in a clear and straightforward way. There is nothing system 
 vague or mystical about it, nothing of that metaphysical (.oti^oI '° 
 haze which some writers love to conjure up over the humble nature for 
 beginnings of human speculation, but which is utterly of^ma"! 
 foreign to the simple, sensuous, and concrete modes of «i'g'°° i^as 
 
 ^^ no d1^C6 
 
 thought of the savage. Yet for all its simplicity and direct- ;„ it. 
 
ii8 THE ORIGIN OF TOTE MIS M 
 
 ness we cannot but feel that there is something impressive, 
 and almost grandiose, in the comprehensiveness, the com- 
 pleteness, the vaulting ambition of this scheme, the creation 
 of a crude and barbarous philosophy. All nature has been 
 mapped out into departments ; all men have been distri- 
 buted into corresponding groups ; and to each group of r|nen 
 has been assigned, with astounding audacity, the duty \ of 
 controlling some one department of nature for the comr. ,'on 
 good. Religion, it will be observed, has no place in the 
 scheme. Man is still alone with nature, and fancies he can 
 sway it at his will. Later on, when he discovers his mistake, 
 he will bethink himself of gods, and beg them to pull for 
 him the strings that hang beyond his reach. 
 This way of A further recommendation of this way of regarding 
 regarding Xotemism is that it falls in with the traditions as well as 
 
 Totemism 
 
 agrees with with the practice of the Central Australian tribes. We 
 tionfas' ^ave Seen that, according to these traditions, people began 
 well as the by regularly eating their totems, and marrying women of 
 the Central the Same totem group as themselves. To the ordinary view 
 Australians, of Totemism, which treats as fundamental the prohibitions 
 to eat the totem animal or plant, and to marry a woman 
 of the same totem group, these traditions present almost 
 insuperable difficulties ; the adherents of that view have, 
 indeed, little choice but to reject the traditions as baseless, 
 although strong grounds exist, as I have pointed out, for 
 holding them to be authentic. But if we accept the theory 
 that Totemism is merely an organised system of magic 
 intended to secure a supply, primarily of food, and second- 
 arily of everything else that a savage wants, the difficulties 
 vanish. For, on this hypothesis, why should not a man 
 partake of the food which he is at so much pains to provide ? 
 And why should he not marry a woman whose function . in 
 Principle of life is the Same as his own ? Nay, we may go a step 
 ficatkin°of ^^''ther, and say that, according to a fundamental principle 
 a man with of Totemism, there are good reasons why he should do both 
 IS totem. ^£- ^jjggg things. That principle, to which I would now 
 direct the reader's attention, is the identification of a man 
 with his totem. 
 
 Among the Central Australians, we are told, " the totem 
 of any man is regarded, just as it is elsewhere, as the same 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 119 
 
 thing as himself." ^ Thus a Kangaroo man, discussing the 
 matter with Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, pointed to a 
 photograph of himself which had just been taken, and 
 remarked : " That one is just the same as me ; so is a 
 kangaroo." This incapacity to distinguish between a man 
 and a beast, difficult as it is for us to realise, is common 
 enough, even among savages who have not the totemic 
 system. A Bushman, questioned by a missionary, " could 
 not state any difference between a man and a brute — he did 
 not know but a buffalo might shoot with bows and arrows 
 as well as a man, if it had them." ^ When the Russians 
 first landed on one of the Alaskan Islands the natives took 
 them for cuttle-fish, " on account of the buttons on their 
 clothes." ' The Bororos, a tribe of Brazilian Indians, calmly 
 maintain that they are birds of a gorgeous red plumage, 
 which live in their native forests. It is not merely that 
 they will be changed into these birds at their death, but 
 they actually are identical with them in their life, and they 
 treat the birds accordingly, as they would their fellow-tribes- 
 men, keeping them in captivity, refusing to eat their flesh, 
 and mourning for them when they die. However, they kill 
 the wild birds for their feathers, and, though they will not 
 kill, they pluck the tame ones to adorn their own naked 
 brown bodies with the brilliant plumage of their feathered 
 brethren.* Now, it is by identifying himself with his totem 
 that the Central Australian native produces the effects he 
 aims at. If he desires to multiply grubs, he pretends to be 
 a grub himself, emerging from the chrysalis state ; if his 
 wish is to ensure a plentiful supply of emus, he dresses 
 himself up as an emu, and mimicks the bird ; for by thus 
 converting himself into a grub, or an emu, he thinks he can 
 move the other grubs and emus to comply with his wishes. 
 
 But it is not merely by disguising himself as an animal 
 and copying its habits that the Central Australian savage 
 seeks to identify himself with his totem. All over the 
 
 ■ The Native Tribes of Central Hon, Industries, and Resources of 
 
 Australia, p. 202, cf. p. 168. Alaska, p. 145. 
 
 ' J. Campbell, Travels in South * K. von den Steinen, Unter den 
 
 Africa, being a Narrative of a Second Naturvolkem Zentral ■ Brasiliens, pp. 
 
 Journey in that Country, ii. p. 34. 352, 512. 
 
 ' I. Pettoff, Report on the Popula- 
 
I20 THE ORIGIN OF TOTE MIS M 
 
 In order to world primitive man believes that by absorbing the flesh 
 i?^""if ^"'^ blood of an animal he acquires the qualities of the 
 with his creature, and so far identifies himself with it. Examples of 
 InfilTai the ^he belief are too well known to be cited. The same idea 
 Central forms the basis of the familiar blood-covenant practised by 
 ea"s of it" SO many races : two men make themselves akin by each 
 transfusing into the veins of the other a little of his own 
 blood. From this point of view it is quite natural that the 
 savage, desirous of uniting himself as closely as possible 
 with his totem, should partake of its ilesh and blood. And 
 we have seen that according to the Central Australian 
 traditions men did commonly eat their totems in days of 
 old. In those early times the Kangaroo people may have 
 lived chiefly on kangaroos, strengthening their kangaroo 
 nature by constantly absorbing the flesh of the animal 
 whose name they took and whose habits they copied. The 
 Opossum men may have justified their name by consuming 
 more opossum meat than anybody else ; and so with the 
 members of the other totem clans. With this it would 
 agree that two clans of Western Australia, who are named 
 after a small species of opossum and a little fish, believe 
 themselves to be so called because they used to live chiefly 
 This on these creatures.^ Even at the present day in Central 
 
 eatfng°or^ Australia, though men are in general nearly forbidden to 
 the totem partake of their totem animal or plant, they are still bound 
 fg"™ort of occasionally to eat a little of it as a solemn ceremony, 
 totem because it is believed that otherwise they could not success- 
 fully perform the Intichiuma ceremonies, and that the 
 supply of the plant or animal would consequently fail. 
 Clearly they think that, in order to multiply the members 
 of their totem, they must identify themselves with it by 
 taking into their bodies the flesh and blood of the animal or 
 the fibre of the plant. Here, then, in the heart of Australia, 
 among the most primitive savages known to us, we find the 
 actual observance of that totem sacrament which Robertson 
 Smith, with the intuition of genius, divined years ago,^ but 
 of which positive examples have hitherto been wanting. 
 
 ' Sir George Grey, Vocabulary of 2 Religwn of the Semites, p. 276 
 
 the Dialects 0/ South- Western Australia, sq. Edinburgh, 1889. 
 PP- 4, 95- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 121 
 
 The reason why men should in course of time deny The pro- 
 themselves the food on which they had formerly subsisted, ^j'[j,°" '° 
 and which they continued to provide for the use of others, is totem may 
 not obvious. We may conjecture that the change came pa^y^om 
 about through an attempt to carry out more consistently an observa- 
 than before that identification of a man with his totem, plants and 
 which seems to be of the essence of the system. Men may animals do 
 have remarked that animals as a rule, and plants universally, rule feed 
 do not feed upon their own kind ; and hence a certain in- "pon their 
 
 * ' own Kind, 
 
 consistency may have been perceived in the conduct of and partly 
 Grub men who lived on grubs, of Grass-seed men who ate [™™^*I^'^ 
 grass-seed, and so with the other animal and vegetable ate and 
 totems. It might be argued that men who behaved so ^^'Jurra* 
 unlike the real animals and plants could not be true Grubs, which were 
 Emus, Grass-seeds, and so on, and therefore could not caught for 
 effectively perform the all-important ceremonies for multiply- food. 
 ing the beasts, birds, and vegetables on which the tribe 
 depended for its subsistence. Further, a wish to conciliate 
 and entice the creatures which it was desired to catch for 
 food may have helped to establish the taboo on killing and 
 eating the totem. This wish is widely prevalent among 
 savages, and manifests itself in many quaint observances, 
 which the hunter and his friends are bound to comply with 
 for the sake of alluring the game, and making death appear 
 to them as painless and even attractive as may be. Among 
 tribes which have the totemic system this need of adopting 
 a conciliatory attitude towards any particular sort of animal 
 would naturally be felt chiefly by that part of the com- 
 munity whose special business it was to breed and kill the 
 animal in question ; in other words, it would be felt chiefly 
 by the group or clan which had the particular species of 
 animal for its totem. For it is to be remembered that in 
 early times the members of a clan appear to have been by 
 profession the hunters or butchers as well as the breeders of 
 their totem animal ; this comes out in the legend of the 
 Euro man who turned himself into a Kangaroo man in 
 order to kill a kangaroo, and a trace of the same custom 
 appears in the case of the other Euro man, at the present 
 day, who made and charmed a magical instrument for the 
 very purpose of enabling a Plum-tree man to catch euro 
 
122 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 Now, if it came to be generally thought that a Kangaroo 
 man, for example, would be more likely to entice kangaroos 
 to their fate if he were, so to say, personally known to them 
 as one who had no selfish ends to gain by cultivating their 
 acquaintance, public opinion would gradually impress on the 
 Kangaroo men the duty of abstaining in the interest of the 
 majority from the slaughter and consumption of kangaroos, 
 and they would be urged to confine themselves to their 
 more important function of securing by magical means a 
 plentiful supply of the animal for their fellows. If this 
 explanation is right, the common practice of sparing the 
 totem animal originated in anything but a superstitious 
 reverence for the creature as a superior being endowed 
 with marvellous attributes ; it was more analogous to the 
 blandishments which a shepherd or herdsman will lavish on 
 a sheep or a bullock for the purpose of catching the animal 
 and handing it over to the butcher. Nor need we suppose 
 that in abdicating their ancient right of eating kangaroo-flesh 
 the men of the Kangaroo totem were either coerced by their 
 fellows or animated by a noble impulse of disinterested 
 devotion to the common weal. A similar self-denying 
 ordinance would be simultaneously imposed by common 
 consent on all the other clans which had animals or plants 
 for their totem ; and thus each clan, in renouncing a single 
 kind of food for the benefit of the community, would 
 calculate on receiving in return a more abundant supply of 
 all the rest, not so much because there would be fewer 
 mouths to feed with each kind of viand, as because the 
 abstinence practised by the several clans was expected to 
 add to the efficacy of their charms for multiplying and 
 attracting the game. For we must bear in mind that under 
 the totemic system the various clans or stocks do not live 
 isolated from each other, but are shuffled up together within 
 a narrow area, and exert their magic powers for the common 
 good. 
 
 This answer to the question why men gave up the right 
 of eating their totems is put forward with diffidence. The 
 problem is difficult, and I am far from feeling confident 
 that the solution here suggested is the true one. So far as 
 the explanation rests on a supposed desire to conciliate the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 123 
 
 totem it is open to the objection, raised by my friend However, 
 Professor Baldwin Spencer, in the letter to which I have A,^J;aiians 
 referred, that the Central Australian natives at the present do not as a 
 day seem to show no other trace of an attempt to conciliate ™tempt to 
 or appease the game which they kill and eat. I have no conciliate 
 wish to disguise or extenuate the force of the objection, wu^huiey 
 Indeed, I had myself, nearly ten years ago, remarked on '''"*"d«''- 
 this absence of the conciliation of game among the 
 Australian aborigines, whom in that respect I contrasted 
 with the North American Indians.' Yet it is not easy to 
 see how, without introducing the idea of conciliation in some 
 form, we are to explain the attitude of the savage towards 
 his totem animal. 
 
 On the new theory of Totemism it is thus quite easy to On the new 
 understand why men should have begun by regularly eating To°emism 
 their totem animal or plant, as in fact they seem to have it is easy to 
 done, if the Central Australian traditions can be trusted, bofhwhy'' 
 The real difficulty, indeed, is to explain how they ever came men origin- 
 to give up the habit. Similarly the theory suggests a very ^hJir^Jotem 
 simple reason why men should have begun by marrying animal or 
 women of their own totem group m preference to any others, „hy they 
 as they are represented doing in the Central Australian married 
 legends. On the principle of the identification of the the same 
 members of a clan with their totem, what can be more 'otem smce 
 
 animals 
 
 natural than that an Emu man should wed an Emu woman mate with 
 and an Opossum man should marry an Opossum woman, {^'J^'[ °"'" 
 just as an emu cock mates with an emu hen and a male 
 opossum pairs with a female opossum ? Now this, which 
 may be described as the natural system of Totemism, is just 
 the one which appears from their traditions to have prevailed 
 among the Central Australian tribes before the introduction 
 of Exogamy.^ Whatever the origin of Exogamy, there is 
 the clearest traditional testimony that among the Central 
 Australians it was an innovation imposed on an existing 
 system of totem clans who previously knew nothing of such 
 
 ' " The aborigines of Australia have and eat. The means which the 
 
 Totemism in the most primitive form Australians adopt to secure a plentiful 
 
 known to us, but, so far as I am aware, supply of game appear to be bafed, not 
 
 there is no evidence that they attempt, on conciliation, but on sj-mpathetic 
 
 like the North American Indians, to magic." — The GolcUn Bough, \\.-^. i^^ 
 
 conciliate the animals which they kill sq. ' See above, p. 103. 
 
124 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 The 
 Central 
 Australians 
 seem to 
 have identi- 
 fied them- 
 selves with 
 their 
 totems, 
 first, by 
 eating 
 them, and, 
 second, by 
 certain 
 magical in- 
 struments 
 called 
 ckuringa 
 and 
 nurtunjas. 
 
 a rule.^ This accords perfectly with the present hypothesis 
 that the natural and original system of Totemism was 
 one in which men and women of the same totem regu- 
 larly cohabited with each other. Further, it is supported 
 by the striking fact that among a large group of the 
 Central Australian tribes the law of Exogamy is not 
 now, and apparently never has been, applied to the totem. 
 clans.^ 
 
 The principle of the identification of a man with his 
 totem may be looked at from the two points of view accord- 
 ing, as we think mainly of identifying the man, let us say, 
 with an animal, or of identifying the animal with the man. 
 In the former case we have, so to say, a man who is trans- 
 formed into an animal, in the latter case we have an animal 
 which is changed into a man. Now the Central Australian 
 natives appear to have taken measures to ensure this double 
 transformation. By transfusing the life of their totem 
 animals into their own bodies, the men and women of each 
 clan converted themselves, as far as they could, into animals; 
 and by transfusing their own human life into the bodies of 
 animals they converted the animals, as far as it lay in their 
 power, into men and women. The first of these transferences 
 of life was effected by eating the flesh and blood of the 
 animals ; the second appears to have been effected by means 
 of certain magical instruments called ckuringa and nurtunjas. 
 
 The ckuringa are slabs of stone or wood carved, for the 
 most part, with devices relating to the totem ; in shape they 
 generally resemble the well-known instrument called a bull- 
 roarer, which is employed by savages in many parts of the 
 world in the performance of their most solemn rites and 
 deepest mysteries. Among the Central Australian tribes 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central 
 Australia, p. 420. 
 
 2 This remarkable exception to the 
 rule that totem clans, when they fall 
 within the sphere of our observation, 
 are generally exogamous, appears to 
 be susceptible of a very simple explana- 
 tion in accordance with the hypothesis 
 here put forward. Briefly stated, the 
 explanation is this : that the object of 
 Exogamy was to prevent the marriage, 
 primarily of brothers with sisters, and 
 
 secondarily, of parents with children ; 
 and that in consequence of the peculiar 
 rules regulating the descent of the 
 totems in these tribes an application of 
 the principle of Exogamy to their totem 
 clans could not have prevented such 
 marriages, and was, therefore, never 
 attempted. This I hope to explain 
 fully at some future time in dealing 
 with the origin of Exogamy. (See 
 below, pp. 165 sq.) 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 125 
 
 every man, woman, and child has one of these mysterious The 
 implements specially associated with him or her from birth a^e s^fed 
 to death ; those of each group are kept together hidden sticks and 
 away in a small cave or crevice in some secluded spot ^'hi!± ,he ^ 
 among the hills, and the entrance to the cave is carefully s°"is °^ a" 
 blocked up with stones arranged so naturally as not to Ihe"trib? ° 
 arouse the suspicion of a chance wayfarer that here lie ^""^ closely 
 concealed the most sacred possessions of the tribe. The 
 loss of these deeply-prized sticks and stones is the most 
 terrible evil that can befall a group of people ; natives who 
 found their cave robbed of its precious contents have been 
 known to remain in camp for a fortnight, weeping and 
 lamenting over the loss, and plastering themselves with 
 pipeclay, the emblem of mourning for the dead. Further, 
 it is believed that in the far-off times of the Alcheringa their 
 ancestors also had each his own churiiiga,^\{\c\\ he carried with 
 him in his wanderings about the country, and dropped on 
 the ground where he died. On this belief Messrs. Spencer 
 and Gillen remark : — " We meet in tradition with unmistak- 
 able traces of the idea that the churinga is the dwelling- 
 place of the spirit of the Alcheringa ancestors. In one 
 special group of Achilpa men, for example, the latter are 
 reported to have carried about a sacred pole or nurtunja 
 with them during their wanderings. When they came to a 
 camping- place and went out hunting the nurtunja was 
 erected, and upon this the men used to hang their churinga 
 when they went out from camp, and upon their return they 
 took them down again and carried them about. In these 
 churinga they kept, so says the tradition, their spirit part." ' 
 Further, the same writers observe : " We have evidently 
 in the churinga belief a modification of the idea which finds 
 expression in the folk-lore of so many peoples, and according 
 to which primitive man, regarding his soul as a concrete 
 object, imagines that he can place it in some secure spot 
 apart, if needs be, from his body, and thus, if the latter be 
 in any way destroyed, the spirit part of him still persists 
 unharmed." ^ At the present day, as the authors point out, 
 this ancient belief has been modified among the tribes of 
 Central Australia. The loss or injury of the churinga is 
 
 ' The Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 138. » Op. cit., p. 137. 
 
126 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 indeed a thing to be deeply deplored, and the man who 
 
 suiifers such a mishap fears vaguely that some evil thing 
 
 will befall him in consequence of it ; but he does not 
 
 apprehend that the loss, or even the destruction of the 
 
 sacred stick or stone, must necessarily entail his death. In 
 
 short, the natives no longer regard the churinga as the abode 
 
 of their spirits laid up for safety in the secret cave, like the 
 
 soul of the ogre or warlock in the children's story, hidden 
 
 far, far away in some fairy bird or beast at the world's end. 
 
 Even to the naked savage of the Australian wilderness the 
 
 time for such beliefs has gone by. Yet they are nearer far 
 
 to him than to us, for he ascribes them, not as we do to 
 
 imaginary beings, to the giants and monsters of nursery 
 
 tales, but to his own real forefathers, whose figures can yet 
 
 be discerned, faint and dim, in the distance as they recede 
 
 down the long road that leads to fairyland. 
 
 The The second of the implements by means of which the 
 
 arTsacred Central Australian appears, like the giant or ogre in the 
 
 poles which story, to have formerly transferred his spirit to some beast 
 
 the totems, or bird or thing is the magic pole or nurtunja} This is an 
 
 instrument which still plays a great part in the sacred 
 
 ceremonies of the natives. It takes many forms, but in 
 
 every case it stands for the totem with which the particular 
 
 ceremony is concerned. Thus, if the ceremony relates to 
 
 the Wild Cat totem, the nurtunja will represent a wild cat ; 
 
 if it relates to the Sun totem, the nurtunja will represent 
 
 the sun ; and so on. Hence, when we hear that in the 
 
 By means remote days of the Alcheringa the men of the Achilpa, or 
 
 °churinga ^'^^^ Cat totem, before they went out hunting, hung up their 
 
 and churinga, in which they kept their spirits, on a nurtunja, 
 
 thTcTmrai which necessarily represented a wild cat, we can hardly 
 
 Australians avoid the inference that in doing so they believed themselves 
 
 seem to j. i. i • ^ , • ..... 
 
 have tried to be placmg their spirits in their totem animals, the wild cats. 
 theirTfrits '^^^'' ^^^ permanently kept their spirits in the animals is not 
 temporarily Suggested by the legend ; on the contrary, as they are said to 
 have hung up the churinga on the nurtunja when they went out 
 hunting, and to have taken them down again when they came 
 
 1 An equivalent, though differently The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 
 shaped, instrument is known among the pp. 306-309. 
 Southern Arunta as a vianinga. See 
 
 to their 
 totems. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 127 
 
 back, the natural inference seems to be that they only deposited 
 their spirits temporarily in the animals for a definite purpose 
 and withdrew them again when the occasion was over. 
 Now, the occasion mentioned in the legend is the chase, and 
 as in the days of the Alcheringa, to which the legend refers, 
 people seem to have subsisted mainly on their totem animal 
 or plant, we may conjecture that when the Wild Cat men 
 went out hunting the game they sought above all were wild 
 cats. If this was so, the previous transference of their 
 spirits to the animals, effected by hanging up the sticks or 
 stones, in which they kept their spirits, on a pole which 
 represented a wild cat, can hardly have had any other 
 intention than that of compelling the creatures to come to 
 the hunters and be quietly knocked on the head. "If we 
 can only put ourselves or a good part of ourselves," so these 
 primitive huntsmen may have argued, " into yon wild cats 
 which are now scurrying from us, we shall very soon make 
 them, whether they like it or not, walk straight up to us, 
 and so we shall kill them quite comfortably and make a 
 meal of them. And, of course, in doing so we shall get 
 back the vital part of ourselves which we temporarily trans- 
 ferred to the animals." On the other hand, if the game 
 which the Wild Cat men went out to hunt were not wild 
 cats, the motive of the hunters in depositing their spirits in 
 the nurtunja, and hence in their totem, the wild cats, must 
 have been different. It may have been done simply for 
 safety, lest during the hunt any accident should befall them ; 
 for clearly, in the absence of their spirits, which they had 
 taken the precaution of leaving elsewhere before they started, 
 nothing that might happen to their mere empty carcases 
 could have any serious consequences. Whichever of these 
 explanations be adopted, the tradition points clearly to a 
 custom of depositing a man's spirit, for longer or shorter 
 periods, in the body of his totem animal. Vestiges of the 
 same custom are also preserved in the practice, which the 
 natives still keep up, of hanging their churinga upon nurtunjas 
 in certain solemn ceremonies concerned with the totems.' 
 The practice is identical with that ascribed to the Wild Cat 
 men in the legend, and its original meaning is probably the 
 > Th4 Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 253, 284, 312 jy. 
 
128 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 same. P'or example, before the novices undergo the painful 
 
 operation of subincision they are made to embrace a sacred 
 
 pole (nurtunjd) to which some churinga are often, though 
 
 not invariably, attached. The effect of thus embracing the 
 
 pole is thought to be that the lads will not feel the griding 
 
 knife. Perhaps their ancestors, who invented this primitive 
 
 pain-killer, held that by extracting the spirits of the novices 
 
 from their bodies and transferring them for a time to the 
 
 pole, or to the totem which it represented, they rendered 
 
 the bodies of the youth inert and numb. To effect this 
 
 salutary purpose it may originally have been deemed needful 
 
 in every case to attach to the pole the churinga or receptacles 
 
 in which the lads kept their spirits ; but with the decay of 
 
 old ideas about the churinga it is no longer considered 
 
 indispensable to fasten any churinga at all to the pole, and a 
 
 simple embrace bestowed on the latter by the novice now 
 
 passes occasionally for a sufficient anaesthetic. 
 
 This tern- Some time ago I suggested that the transference of a 
 
 fransftr- man's spirit or soul for safety to some external object 
 
 ence of the constituted the essence of .Totemism, that in fact a totem is 
 
 totem iio more than a sort of strong box, in which a savage keeps 
 
 seems to hig soul. The evidence for the former practice of such a 
 
 intended soul-transference among the Central Australians has now 
 
 primarily been put before the reader. That it is slight and scanty I 
 
 to enable <=> ^ 
 
 the man to fully admit. Such as it is, when considered along with the 
 control the jnfichiuma Ceremonies and other indications, it seems to 
 
 totem for ' 
 
 thecommon show that the purpose of the transference was not so much 
 
 fhoiih *° deposit the man's life in a secure place as to enable him 
 
 secondarily to Control the totem for his own and the common good. 
 
 beTnln-^^^ When the totem was an animal this control was directed to 
 
 tended to multiplying the species and compelling the members of it 
 
 souUn a '^ to come and be killed for food. When the totem was the 
 
 safe place, sun the savage would hope, by placing a vital part of 
 
 himself in the luminary, to direct its course and secure a 
 
 due supply of light and heat for himself and his fellows. 
 
 And so, mutatis mutandis, with the other totems. But it is 
 
 quite possible that the other motive — the natural desire of 
 
 frail man to put all that is mortal of him beyond the reach 
 
 of chance and change — may also have operated. That it 
 
 really did so is strongly suggested both by the rigorous 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 129 
 
 precautions taken to conceal the precious objects with which 
 the spirits of the tribesmen are so closely associated, and by 
 the bitter grief and vague alarm excited by their loss. 
 
 If the intention of transfusing a portion of a man's life When a 
 into an animal was in part at least to exercise a sort of^J^jjtj 
 mesmeric attraction over the creature, and thereby to catch his soul in 
 and kill it, the apparent inconsistency in the conduct of the an/ a'™^ ' 
 hunter, who first endows a beast with his own spirit, and f"end kills 
 then kills and devours it, need cause no difficulty, for, in the friend ' 
 consuming the flesh and blood, he recovers all of himself '""^' ^'^^^ 
 that he put into the animal. The case, however, is some- restore the 
 what different when the animal which contains his life is '°"' '° "* 
 
 proper 
 
 killed and eaten by somebody else. If I deposit my soul owner, 
 in a hare, and my brother John shoots that hare, roasts, and 
 swallows it, what becomes of my soul ? Am I not thereby 
 put in the parlous state of being left without a soul ? To 
 meet this obvious danger it is necessary that John should 
 know the state of my soul, and that, knowing it, he should, 
 whenever he shoots a hare, take steps to extract and restore 
 to me my soul before he cooks and dines upon the animal. 
 This, we may conjecture, is in part the intention of a Central 
 Australian rite which has been already described. We have 
 seen that after the Intichiuma ceremony the first supply of 
 the totem animal which is brought into the camp is solemnly 
 laid before the men of the totem, who eat a little of it and 
 then pass on the remainder to the others to be consumed by 
 them. By thus partaking first of their totem animal the 
 men of the totem may be supposed not merely to absorb its 
 qualities sacramentally but also to recover that portion of 
 their own spirit which they had temporarily deposited in 
 the animal. In this connection the ceremonies observed by 
 a Brazilian tribe in killing some sorts of game and fish are 
 instructive. The Bororos believe that the souls of their 
 medicine -men transmigrate at death into the bodies of 
 certain kinds of large and succulent animals and fish, which 
 are reckoned the greatest dainties, such, for instance, as the 
 tapir, the cayman, the large jahu fish, and a sort of shad. 
 Whenever one of these creatures is killed a ceremony has to 
 be performed over it by a medicine-man before its flesh can 
 be eaten, the purpose of the ceremony being to make sure 
 
 VOL. I K 
 
i_3o THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 that the animal cannot be. restored to life. Cowering down 
 
 on the ground, the wizard blows and spits upon the carcase, 
 
 claps it, and shrieks and spits into its open mouth. Nay 
 
 more, he is bound to be present at the actual killing of the 
 
 animal. If, for example, s. jahu fish or a shad were caught 
 
 in a net when no medicine-man was by, the fish would be 
 
 set free again. The Indians think that any one who ate fish, 
 
 flesh, or fowl over which the needful ceremony had not been 
 
 performed would soon die.^ The analogy between the 
 
 Brazilian and the Australian practice is, if I am right, very 
 
 close. Both peoples believe that the bodies of certain 
 
 animals are tenanted by the souls of men belonging to their 
 
 tribe ; both use these animals as food ; and both perform 
 
 certain ceremonies over the dead animals for the purpose of 
 
 disengaging the souls of their friends from the carcases of the 
 
 beasts before they proceed to convey the latter into their 
 
 own bellies. The only essential difference between them is 
 
 that in the Brazilian case the souls so disengaged are the 
 
 souls of the dead, while in the Australian case they are the 
 
 souls of the living.^ 
 
 We^have We have still to inquire how far the explanation of 
 
 whether*^ Totemism suggested by the new Australian facts is confirmed 
 
 magical by similar facts observed among totemic peoples in other parts 
 
 like the of the world. I may remind the reader that the explanation, 
 
 intichiuma based on the Intichiuma ceremonies, is that the totem clans 
 
 formed by are essentially bands of magicians charged with the duty of 
 
 totem controlling and directing the various departments of nature 
 
 other parts for the good of man. A crucial question, therefore, is, Are 
 
 ^^ analogous ceremonies performed by totem groups in other 
 
 parts of the world ? and in general are totem clans elsewhere 
 
 than in Australia credited with the power of exercising 
 
 control over the totem ? Before adducing some evidence of 
 
 the existence of such beliefs and practices in various parts 
 
 of the world, I would ask the reader to remember that, 
 
 ' K. von den Steinen, Unter den perhaps, be explained in the same way. 
 
 Naturvolkern Zentral-Brasiliens, pp. Among some of the islanders the turtle 
 
 492 sq., 512. is a totem. See A. C. Haddon, "The 
 
 2 The remarkable ceremonies ob- Secular and Ceremonial Dances ot 
 
 served by some of the Torres Straits Torres Straits," Internationales Archiv 
 
 Islanders before they will eat of the fur Ethnographie, vi. (1893) p. 150 
 
 turtles which they have caught may, sq. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 131 
 
 although the Intichiuma ceremonies have probably been 
 practised from time immemorial in the centre of Australia, 
 they were never observed by Europeans until quite lately ; 
 nay, that one of the authors, to whom we are indebted for 
 their discovery, lived (as I understand) on intimate terms 
 with the natives for many years without getting the least 
 inkling that any such solemn ceremonies were going on 
 around him. With his experience before us we may surmise 
 that similar rites practised by other totem tribes have 
 escaped the notice of Europeans elsewhere, and that the 
 scantiness of the evidence for their existence is due not so 
 much to the rarity of the ceremonies themselves as to the 
 ignorance or carelessness of observers. With this caution I 
 proceed to give the few notices I have thus far collected of 
 customs and beliefs analogous to those revealed in the 
 Intichiuma ceremonies of the Central Australians. 
 
 In one of the Torres Straits Islands members of the in point 
 Dog clan were believed to understand the habits of dogs, ^^^^aj 
 and to be able to exercise special control over them.^ In ceremonies 
 one of the New Hebrides, when a man wished to catch j°^| ^f J^^" ' 
 octopus he used to take one of the members of the Octopus totem have 
 family with him ; the latter stood on the beach and called foTmed^by 
 out, " So-and-so wants octopus," and then plenty of octopuses f°tem clans 
 would come and be caught.^ On a cloudy morning the straits, 
 Sun clan of the Bechuanas were wont to make the sun Africa, and 
 
 AmeriCE. 
 
 shine out through the clouds ; the chief kindled a new fire 
 in his dwelling, and every one of his subjects carried a light 
 from it to his o\Vn hut.' The intention of the ceremony 
 clearly was, by means of sympathetic magic, to blow up 
 into a brighter blaze the smouldering fire of the sun. In 
 the Murray Islands, Torres Straits, it is the duty of the Sun 
 clan to imitate the rising and setting of the sun,* probably 
 to ensure the punctual performance of his daily duties by 
 the orb of day. Among the Omahas of North America the 
 Small Bird clan performs a magic ceremony to keep small 
 
 ' A. C. Iladdon, in Journal of the ploratioti au Nord-est de la Colonic 
 
 Anthropological Institute, xix. pp. du Cap de Sonne Espirance, p. 350 
 
 325. 393- '890. sq. Paris, 1842. 
 
 ' R. C. Codrington, The Mela- * A. E. Hunt, in Journal of the 
 
 /itiians, p. 26. Anthropological Institute, xxviii. p. 6. 
 
 ' Arbouset et Daumas, Voyage d'Ex- 
 
132 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 birds from the corn ; the Reptile clan performs a similar 
 ceremony to protect the crops from worms ; and the Wind 
 clan think they can start a breeze by flapping their blankets.-' 
 The same Wind clan practises a magic rite to stop a 
 blizzard. They paint one of their boys red, and he rolls 
 over and over in the snow, reddening it for some distance 
 all around hini. This stops the blizzard,^ the notion 
 apparently being that the white snow will not fall 
 when it knows that it will be thus reddened and defiled. 
 In another North American tribe the Hare clan seems to 
 have been credited with the power of stopping a heavy and 
 long-continued fall of snow ; at least, this seems a natural 
 inference from a passage in one of the letters of the early 
 Jesuit missionaries. The writer tells a story to explain why 
 the body of a certain old man, who had just died, was 
 burned instead of being buried, though interment was the 
 regular mode of disposing of the dead in the tribe. " They 
 regard it as certain," says he, " that the father of this old 
 man was a hare, which walks on the snow in winter, and 
 that thus the snow, the hare, and the old man are of the 
 same village, that is to say, are kinsmen. They add that 
 the hare said to his wife that he would not suffer his 
 children to remain under ground — it was not suitable to 
 their rank, seeing they were kinsmen of the snow, whose 
 country is high up in the sky ; and that if ever his children 
 were put in the ground after their death he would pray to 
 the snow, his kinsman, to punish mankind for their fault by 
 falling so thick and so long that there would be spring no 
 more." In confirmation of this story the Indians told the 
 missionary that three years ago the brother of this same old 
 man died at the beginning of winter, and that as he was 
 buried instead of burned the snow fell so heavily and the 
 winter was so long that they began to fear they would 
 never see spring again. However, they bethought themselves 
 of digging up the body of the kinsman of the snow and 
 burning it ; and no sooner had they done so than, sure 
 
 1 J. Owen Dorsey, in Third Annual 2 j_ Qwen Dorsey, in Eleventh 
 
 Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Annual Report of the Bureau of 
 
 pp. 238 sq., 241, 248. Washington, Ethnology, p. 410 sg. Washington. 
 
 1884. 1804. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 133 
 
 enough, the snow ceased to fall, and spring came with a 
 burst.^ Apparently, the men whose bodies had thus to be 
 burnt belonged to the Hare clan, and yet were deemed so 
 closely akin to the snow that to burn their bodies was 
 equivalent to melting the snow itself. , We may conjecture 
 that the same men were believed in their lifetime to be able 
 to stop a snowfall by their charms and spells. 
 
 Some of these examples explain the attitude of a totem When the 
 clan towards its totem when the totem is or may, under n°'x"us^ 
 certain circumstances, become of a noxious and maleficent the magical 
 nature. In such cases it is the function of the clan, not, of ^^g^j"^™'" 
 course, to multiply the numbers of the totem or increase its tended not 
 virulence, but, on the contrary, to disarm, counteract, and i°but"to'''' 
 keep within due bounds its dangerous influence. Hence, counteract 
 members of the Snake clan in Senegambia profess to heal ous influ- 
 by their touch persons who have been bitten by serpents ; * *"'^^- 
 and the same profession was made by Serpent clans in 
 antiquity.' Similarly, in Central Australia, members of the 
 Fly totem claim to cure, by the touch of a magic implement 
 {churingd), eyes which are swollen and inflamed with fly- 
 bites.* And, on analogy, we may conjecture that certain 
 Arab families, who believed their blood to be a remedy for 
 hydrophobia,* were descended from men of a Dog totem. 
 
 Further, when the case of the Indian, who was a kins- Besides 
 man of the snow as well as of hares, is considered in the totems, 
 light of the preceding discussion, we arrive at a simple ""any 
 explanation of a peculiar feature of Australian Totemism dans have 
 which has hitherto baffled inquirers. In many Australian sub-totems, 
 tribes the members of a totem clan believe themselves to other ' 
 stand in a very intimate relation, not merely to their own "ff"'^!'' 
 totem, but to a number of other natural objects or which they 
 phenomena ; and this relation seems to amount to a claim ^'^™ '° 
 of ownership, the natives affirming that the things belong to 
 them.' It has been proposed by Mr. Howitt to designate 
 
 ' Relations des Jisuites (1667), p. * The Native Tribes of Central 
 
 19 (ofthe Canadian reprint). Compare Australia, 11. $^6. 
 Ltttrts idifiantes et curieuses, vi. pp. ^ W. Robertson Smith, Religion oj 
 
 169-171. the Semites, p. 369. New edition, 
 
 ^ Revue d' Ethnographie, iiL p. 396. 1894. 
 
 ' Stmbo, xiii. p. S88(ed. Casaubon); » A. W. Howitt, m Journal of the 
 
 Pliny, Nat. Hist., xxviii. 30. Anthropological Institute, xviii. p. 61. 
 
134 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 
 
 these things as sub-totems or pseudo-totems ; they might 
 also be called multiplex totems. To take instances of them, 
 we are told that in some tribes of New South Wales "every- 
 thing in the universe is divided among the different members 
 of the tribe ; some claim the trees, others the plains, others 
 the sky, stars, wind, rain, and so forth." ^ Another . writer, 
 speaking of a tribe in Queensland, says : " Everything- iti 
 nature, according to them, is divided between the classes. 
 The wind belongs' to one, and the rain to the other. The 
 sun is Wutaroo, and the moon is Yungaroo. The stars are 
 divided between them ; and if a star is pointed out they will 
 tell you to which division it belongs."^ Among the Wakel- 
 bura and kindred tribes of Northern Queensland we are told- 
 that everything, animate and inanimate, belongs to one or 
 other of the two exogamous classes into which the tribes are 
 divided. A wizard in performing his incantations may use 
 only things which belong to his own class. The stage on^ 
 which a corpse is set must be made of the wood of a tree 
 which is of the same class as the deceased, and similar rules 
 hold in other matters.^ In the Mount Gambler tribe of 
 South Australia, which includes ten totem clans, the men of 
 the Black Cockatoo totem claim to stand in this peculiar 
 relation towards the moon, the stars, etc. ; men of the Fish- 
 Hawk totem claim honeysuckle, smoke, etc. ; men of the 
 Pelican totem claim dogs, blackwood trees, fire, frost, etc.7 
 men of the Crow totem claim thunder, lightning, rain, hail,' 
 winter, clouds, etc. ; men of a Shake totem claim fish, seals, 
 eels, stringy-bark trees, etc. ; men of the Tea-tree totem 
 claim ducks, wallabies, owls, crayfish, opossum, etc. ; men of 
 the black, crestless Cockatoo claim kangaroos, sheoak' frees, 
 sun, wind, summer and autumn. A man will not, if he can 
 help it, either kill or eat any of the animals which he thus 
 regards as peculiarly his own ; if he is compelled by hunger 
 to do so, he expresses his sorrow at having to eat his 
 " friends," or his " flesh," by touching his breast as a sign of 
 
 1 A. L. P. Cameron, in Journal of ^ ^ J. C. Muirhead, cijed by Mr. 
 theAnthropo!ogicalI}isHtute,x\v.-p.^e,o. Howitt, \xi Journal ef the Anthropo- 
 
 2 G. F. Bridgman, in Fison and logical Institute, xviii. p. 6 1, note.: 
 Howitt's Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. Compare id., in E. M. Curr's Atis- 
 1 68. Compare id., in Bvough Smyth's tralian Race, iii. p. 27 sq. 
 Aborigines of Victoria, i. p. 91. 
 
THE OniGIN OF TO TEMISM. 13S 
 
 relationship.^ In the Wotjoballuk tribe of North-western 
 Victoria men of the Hot Wind totem looked upon as their 
 own three different kinds of snakes and two kinds of birds ; 
 the men of the White Cockatoo totem asserted a right to no 
 less than seventeen different species of plants and animals ; 
 and claims of the same sort were advanced by the members 
 of the other totem clans, namely, the Black Cockatoo clan, 
 the Sun clan, the Deaf Adder clan, and the Pelican clan.^ 
 
 Now, on the hypothesis that each totem clan is a band On the 
 of magicians, whose function it is to control certain natural hyp^othesis 
 phenomena for the common good, we can easily see that, sub-totems 
 where ' the 'totein clans were liot numerous, it might be found mentsoT 
 necessary to entrust several departments of nature to each "^'."1,^ 
 clan. Thus, to take the case of the Wotjoballuk tribe,- totem cian 
 which we have just been considering, it seems to have undertakes 
 included no more than six totem clans, four of which were for the 
 concerned with species of birds or beasts (pelican, adder, "^"^^^ 
 black and white cockatoo), one with the sun, and one with 
 the wind. Clearly, if each of these six clans were to give 
 its attention exclusively to its particular totem, whole 
 departrtients of nature, including niultitudinous species of 
 animals and plants, would be uncared for, and the con- 
 sequences to the tribe might be disastrous. What would 
 become bf kangaroos, opossums, and wallabies if it was 
 nobody's business to multiply them ? How could gum- 
 trees be reasonably expected to flourish, and plum-trees to 
 bear fruit, if they were suffered to droop and dwine in the 
 cold shade of indifference and neglect ? The thing was not 
 to be thought of. There was nothing for it but that the 
 members of each clan should buckle to and, after discharging 
 their primary duty to their totem, should devote their super- 
 fluous energies to the laudable task of keeping a few more 
 of the great processes of nature a-going. Again, take the 
 ten clans of the Mount Gambler tribe, with their totems — 
 fish-hawk, pelican, crow, two sorts of black cockatoo, a 
 harmless snake, the tea-tree, and an edible root (the totems 
 of two clans are unknown). Consider how far even fish- 
 
 ' D. S. Stewart, in Fison and * A. W. Howitt, in Report of the 
 
 Howitt's Kamilaroi and JCumai, p. Smithsonian Institute for iSSS, p. 
 
 168 sq. ; id., in E. M. Curr's Aus- 818. 
 /ralian Raa, iii. p. 461 sg. 
 
136 THE ORIGIN OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 hawks, pelicans, crows, black cockatoos, etc., are from 
 exhausting the sum total of the universe, and you will 
 readily perceive why Crow men, in addition to looking after 
 crows, had to take charge of thunder, lightning, rain, hail, 
 etc. ; why Black Cockatoo men, not content with exercising 
 a due supervision over black cockatoos, had to extend the 
 sphere of their operations to the sun, the wind, the summer, 
 the autumn, and so on. In short, the fewer the clans the 
 more numerous necessarily were the magical functions to be 
 discharged by each, if the great cosmic movement was still 
 to go on. 
 The many We Can now hazard a conjecture as to the meaning of 
 
 whiX'^ the numerous prohibitions imposed on each of the clans in 
 Queens- the Queensland tribes, whose social system has been so 
 Lre'for-''"' patiently observed and recorded by Mr. W. E. Roth.^ 
 bidden to Among thesc tribes the members of each exogamous class 
 iiothiif^but are forbidden to eat, not merely one, but several, and some- 
 sub-totems, times many different kinds of animals. The exogamous 
 classes are four in number, and the lists of foods prohibited 
 to each class, though constant throughout each tribe, are 
 found to vary from tribe to tribe. In one district, for 
 example, the class called Koopooroo are not allowed to eat 
 iguana, whistler duck, black duck, " blue-fellow " crane, 
 yellow dingo, and small yellow fish " with-one-bone-in-him " ; 
 another class, called Woongko, have to avoid scrub-turkey, 
 eagle-hawk, bandicoot, brown snake, black dingo, and white 
 duck ; a third class have to do without kangaroo, carpet- 
 snake, teal, white-bellied brown-headed duck, various kinds 
 of diver birds, " trumpeter " fish, and a kind of black bream ; 
 while members of the fourth class, called Bunburi, dare not 
 eat emu, yellow snake, galah parrot, and a certain species of 
 hawk. They firmly believe that if any one were to eat a 
 forbidden food he would fall sick and probably die, and that 
 the food could never satisfy his hunger. Should the delin- 
 quent be caught in the act by his fellow tribesmen, he would 
 in all probability be put to death.^ With the evidence as to 
 
 1 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies North Queensland Aborigines, read 
 
 among the North-west-central Queens- before the Royal Society of Queens- 
 
 /awrf^forj^BW (Brisbane and London, land, Nov. 13, 1897. 
 1897) ; id.. Notes on Social and 2 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, 
 
 Individual Nomenclature among certain etc., p. 57 sg. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 137 
 
 the Intichiuma ceremonies of the Central Australians before 
 us, we may surmise that the animals which are thus tabooed 
 to the various intermarrying classes of these Queensland 
 tribes are neither more nor less than what I have proposed 
 to call multiplex totems, and that the members of each of 
 these classes are, or have at some time been, bound to per- 
 form ceremonies of the same sort as the Intichiuma for the 
 multiplication of all the kinds of animals which they are 
 forbidden to eat. The surmise is confirmed by the circum- 
 stance that, though the members of each class are forbidden 
 to eat the animals in question, they are not forbidden to kill 
 them. In other words, they are at liberty to provide their 
 fellows with the food of which they may not themselves 
 partake. This entirely agrees with the view of Totemism 
 here suggested, that it is a co-operative system designed to 
 procure for the community a supply, primarily of food, and 
 secondarily of all the other necessaries of life. It is Mr. Roth's 
 interesting to observe that Mr. Roth, to whom we are *^°^ °\^ 
 indebted for our knowledge of the social system of these of these 
 Queensland tribes, has been led by a different chain ofP;™*^'*"' 
 reasoning to the conclusion that "the whole class system 
 has been devised by a process of natural selection, to 
 regulate the proper distribution of the total quantity of food 
 available." * But under a superficial appearance of agree- 
 ment his conclusion differs fundamentally from the one 
 which we have reached. For while he supposes that the ■ — 
 
 rules of abstinence imposed on each class had no other 
 object than that of leaving more food for the remaining 
 mouths of the tribe, the conclusion to which we have been 
 led by a consideration mainly of the Intichiuma ceremonies 
 is, that such rules of abstinence originated rather in a belief 
 that by observing them the members of each group or class 
 would possess, in a higher degree than before, those magical 
 powers for the multiplication and enticing of the game to 
 which the tribe, as a whole, trusted for its supply of food.^ 
 
 ' Notes on Social and htdividual to have multiplex totems. They are 
 
 Nottienclature among certain North divided into exogamous clans called 
 
 Qiuensland Aborigints (read before the margai, one of which has for its totems 
 
 Royal Society of Queensland, Dec. II, the ape and the goat ; another has the 
 
 1897), p. 10. tiger, the panther, and beasts of that 
 
 ' The Battas of Sumatra seem also sort ; while a third has the wild turtle, 
 
138- THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM, 
 
 Theintro- .It may be asked how an elaborate social organisation,- 
 such an °'^ based on the mutual co-operation of many separate groups, 
 elaborate and aiming at nothing less than a systematic control of the 
 system, whole of nature, can possibly have sprung up among savages 
 based on so rudc as the Australians. The answer seems to be that 
 tion.^may the System may have begun in a humble way by the union 
 have been of a fcw neighbouring groups under the influence of some 
 
 effected by , ' ° , , ,, , 
 
 the influ- able men, and may have gradually spread to more distant 
 ence of a groups, extending its scope and perfecting its organisation 
 men. as more and more groups fell in with the scheme. That 
 
 such a thing may have happened appears to result from the 
 observations of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. They remark 
 that, " after carefully watching the natives during the per- 
 formance of their ceremonies, and endeavouring as best we 
 could to enter into their feelings, to think as they did, and. 
 to become, for the time being, one of themselves, we came 
 to the conclusion that if one or two of the most powerful 
 men settled upon the advisability of introducing some 
 change, even an important one, it would be quite possible 
 for this to be agreed upon and carried out." ^ 
 
 It might be premature to say that the admirable re- 
 searches and discoveries of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have 
 finally solved the problem of Totemism ; but at least they 
 seem to point to a solution more complete and satisfactory 
 than any that has hitherto been offered. 
 
 and other kinds of pigeons. See J. B. Serie, Deel Iv. , Afdeeling : Meer uit- 
 
 Neumann, " Het Pane en Bila- gebreide artikelen, No. i, p. 8 sq. 
 
 stroomgebied op het eiland Sumatra," Amsterdam, 1887. 
 Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aar- 1 The Native Tribes of Centra, 
 
 driykskundig Genootschap, Tweede Australia, p. 12. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 AND TOTEMISM AMONG THE 
 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 
 
 Reprinted Jrom the Fortnightly Review, July and September iqoj 
 
 '39 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 AND TOTEMISM AMONG THE 
 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 
 
 I 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION • 
 
 The theory that in the history of mankind religion has Among the 
 been preceded by magic is confirmed inductively by the Australian 
 
 ^ - , - aborignies 
 
 observation that among the aborigines of Australia, the magic is 
 rudest savages as to whom we possess accurate information, ""^^fsTd '^ 
 magic is universally practised, whereas religion in the sense but re- 
 of a propitiation or conciliation of the higher powers seems ,ife°s"'ns" 
 to be nearly unknown. Roughly speaking, all men in of a pro- 
 Australia are magicians, but not one is a priest ; everybody [he^hJgher 
 fancies he can influence his fellows or the course of nature power, 
 by sympathetic magic, but nobody dreams of propitiating be nearfy 
 gods by prayer and sacrifice. " It may be truly affirmed," unknown 
 says a recent writer on the Australians, " that there was /fiot 
 a solitary native who did not believe as firmly in the power 
 of sorcery as in his own existence ; and while anybody 
 could practise it to a limited extent, there were in every 
 community a few men who excelled in pretension to skill in 
 the art. The titles of these magicians varied with the 
 community, but by unanimous consent the whites have 
 called them 'doctors,' and they correspond to the medicine- 
 men and rain-makers of other barbarous nations. The 
 power of the doctor is only circumscribed by the range of 
 his fancy. He communes with spirits, takes aerial flights at 
 
 141 
 
142 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 
 pleasure, kills or cures, is invulnerable and invisible at will, 
 and controls the elements."-^ Speaking of the Australian 
 aborigines, Dr. A. W. Howitt observes : " The belief in 
 magic in its various forms, in dreams, omens, and warnings, 
 is so universal, and mingles so intimately with the daily life 
 of the aborigines, that no one, not even those who practise 
 deceit themselves, doubts the power of other medicine-men, 
 or that if men fail to effect their magical purposes the 
 failure is due to error in the practice, or to the superior skill 
 or power of some adverse practitioner."^ On the same 
 subject Mr. E. M. Curr wrote : " In connection with the 
 manners and customs of our aboriginal race a great motor 
 power is the belief in sorcery or witchcraft. In the every- 
 day life of the Black, a pressure originating in this source 
 may be said to be always at work. As it seems to me, no 
 writer has given this fact quite its due weight, and yet it is 
 impossible to appreciate correctly the manners and customs 
 of our tribes until the more salient features in connection 
 with their ideas about sorcery have been mastered. The 
 , groundwork of sorcery amongst the Blacks is the belief that ' 
 several things of importance can be effected by means of 
 charms and incantations. The tribes differ somewhat in 
 details and ceremonies, but there is no doubt that the system 
 is the same throughout." ^ 
 Yet among Yet though religion, in the sense in which I use that 
 savages word, seems to be nearly unknown among the Australian 
 there are aborigines, , some of them nevertheless hold beliefs and 
 practices observe practices which might have grown into a regular 
 which religion, if their development had not been cut short by 
 
 might have „ ^ . . ^_, ... . 
 
 developed Kuropean mtervention. ihus m the south-eastern parts oi 
 into a ^jjg continent, where the conditions of life in respect of 
 
 regular _ '^ 
 
 religion, climate, water, and food are more favourable than elsewhere, 
 
 1 J. Mathew, Eaglehawk and Crow, among these savages. See Mission 
 
 p. 142. Similarly among the Fuegians, Scientijiguedu Cap Horn, m."An\}axo- 
 
 another of the lowest races of man- pologie, Ethnographie," par P. Hyades 
 
 kind, almost every old man is a et J. Deniker (Paris, 1891), pp. 253- 
 
 magician, who is supposed to have the 257. 
 
 power of life and death, and to be able ^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes oj 
 
 to control the weather. But the South-East Australia, p. 356. 
 
 members of the French sclentiiic ex- ^ E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, 
 
 pedition to Cape Horn could detect i. 45. 
 nothing worthy the name of religion 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 143 
 
 some rudiments of religion appear in a regard for the com- 
 fort of departed friends. For example, certain Victorian Thus some 
 tribes are said to have kindled fires near the bodies of their '"'^. ^.''°" 
 
 a certain 
 
 dead in order to warm the ghost, but " the recent custom regard for 
 of providing food for it is derided by the intelligent |,f^^he™*^°" 
 old aborigines as ' white fellow's gammon.' " ^ Among the departed, 
 Dieri, if the deceased was a person of importance, food is might 
 placed for many days at the grave, and in winter a fire is pa^iiy grow 
 lighted in order that the ghost may warm himself at it,^ worship of 
 Some of. the natives of Western Australia keep up a fire for "^^ '*'^'*- 
 this purpose on the grave for more than a month. But 
 they expect the dead to return to life, for they, detach the 
 nails from the thumb and forefinger of the deceased and 
 deposit them in a small hole beside the grave, in order that 
 they may know him again when he comes back to the 
 world.* 
 
 Again, the natives of the Herbert river, in North-east 
 Queensland, often put food and water in the grave, and 
 they deposit with the dead his weapons, ornaments, and 
 indeed everything he used in life. On the other hand, they 
 generally break his legs to prevent him from wandering at 
 night, and for the same purpose they cut gashes in his 
 stomach, shoulders, and lungs, and fill the gashes with 
 stones.* The Turribul tribe placed their dead in trees. If 
 the deceased was a man, they left a spear and a club near 
 him that his spirit might kill game for its sustenance in the 
 future state ; but if the deceased was a woman, they laid a 
 yam stick near her body in order that she might dig for 
 roots." Among the Jupagalk, a person in great pain would 
 call on some dead friend to come and help him — that is, to 
 visit him in a dream, and teach him some song whereby he 
 might avert the evil magic that was hurting him." Customs 
 like these, it is plain, might easily develop into a worship of 
 the dead. 
 
 ' l-Vixvi^an, Australian Aborigines, 247. For more instances of lighting 
 
 p. 50 sq. fires for this purpose, see Dr. A, W. 
 
 2 Mr. O. Siebert, in A. W. Howitt's Howitt, Native Tribes of South- East 
 
 Native Tribes of Soutli-EasI Australia, Australia, pp. 452, 455, 470. 
 
 p. 448. ■* A. W. Howitt, op. cit., p. 474. 
 
 ^ R. Salvado, Mimoires historiques ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit., p. 470. 
 
 sur FAustralie (Paris, 1854), p. 261 ; " A. W. Howitt, op. cit., p. 435. 
 Missions Catholigues, *. (1878) p. 
 
144 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 
 Again, Further, the Queensland aborigines on the Tully river 
 
 Australians ^"^ Proscrpinc river are wont to call on their totems by 
 invoketheir name before they fall asleep, and they believe that they 
 whfch^' derive certain benefits from so doing. For example, if their 
 might totem is an animal, it will warn the man who thus invokes 
 into a it of the approach of other animals, and so forth, during his 
 worsiiip of sleep ; or, if it is itself a daneerous creature, such as a 
 
 the totems. ,., , - -.i i- ■ i 
 
 crocodile or a snake, it will not bite or sting the man with- 
 out serving him with due notice of its intention to injure 
 him. Again, if his totem is thunder or rain, the man who 
 fails to invoke it will lose his power of making thunder or 
 rain at will.^ Such beliefs and practices, it is clear, might 
 grow into a regular propitiation or worship of the totems. 
 Among the Again, the Warramunga of Central Australia believe in the 
 mungaa existence of a gigantic but wholly fabulous water -snake 
 fabiJous called Wollunqua, the totem and ancestor of one of their 
 snake, clans. His home is in a rocky gorge which runs into the 
 which is heart of the Murchison Ranges. In this secluded spot there 
 
 one of their . . , ^ , . , , . 
 
 totems, IS a picturesque pool of deep water with a sandy margin on 
 seems to be ^-jje south and a little precipice of red rock curving round the 
 
 m process y^ , 
 
 of develop- northern edge. Over these red rocks after rain the water 
 mg mto a tumbles in a cascade into the pool below, and the rocks are 
 hollowed out below so that they beetle over the water, form- 
 ing a long shallow cave, from the roof of which roots of 
 trees, that have forced their way down through clefts, hang 
 pendulous. According to the natives, the Wollunqua lives 
 in the water of the pool, and the pendulous roots are his 
 whiskers. They have a tradition that he once came out of 
 the pool and destroyed some men and women, but was at 
 last obliged to retreat under a shower of stones. To pre- 
 vent him from repeating his ravages they perform ceremonies 
 by which they seem to think that they can at once pro- 
 pitiate and coerce him. Thus they make a long mound of 
 wet sand and draw wavy bands on it to represent the water- 
 snake. Round this at night they sing and dance by the 
 light of fires until the earliest streak of dawn glimmers in 
 the east. Then they attack the mound fiercely with their 
 weapons and soon demolish it. If shortly afterwards they 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5 (Brisbane, 
 1903). § 74> p. 20 ■?!?• 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 145 
 
 hear thunder rumbling in the distance, they declare that it 
 is the voice of the water-snake saying that he is pleased 
 with what they have done and that he will send rain. But 
 if the remains of the ruined mound are left uncovered, he 
 growls, and his growl is a peal of thunder. When they 
 hear it they hasten to cover the ruins with branches, lest the 
 snake should come and eat them up. On the other hand, 
 the savage destruction of the mound seems to imply that 
 they can to some extent control the beast by force. The 
 Wollunqua differs from all other known Australian totems 
 in that he is a purely mythical being. He is not the only 
 snake totem of the Warramunga, but he is the most im- 
 portant, and, more than that, he apparently occupies in the 
 native mind the position of a dominant totem.^ In short, 
 he seems to be a totem on the high road to become a god. 
 
 Again, in the south-eastern parts of Australia " a belief in South- 
 exists in an anthropomorphic supernatural being, who lives ^^jt^jj^ 
 in the sky, and who is supposed to have some kind of there is 
 influence on the morals of the natives. . . . This super- a^{fei|°f'Jn 
 natural being, by whatever name he is known, is represented a super- 
 as having at one time dwelt on the earth, but afterwards to "nthropo"' 
 have ascended to a land beyond the sky, where he still morphic 
 remains, observing mankind. As Daramulun, he is said to sort'of ideal 
 be able ' to go anywhere and do anything.' He can be headinan, 
 invisible ; but when he makes himself visible, it is in the in the sky. 
 form of an old man of the Australian race. He is evidently 
 everlasting, for he has existed from the beginning of things, 
 and he still lives. But in being so he is merely in that 
 state in which, these aborigines believe, every one would be, 
 if not prematurely killed by evil magic. ... In this being, 
 though supernatural, there is no trace of a divine nature. 
 All that can be said of him is that he is imagined as the 
 ideal of those qualities which are, according to their standard, 
 virtues worthy of being imitated. Such would be a man 
 who is skilful in the use of weapons of offence and defence, 
 all-powerful in magic, but generous and liberal to his people, 
 who does no injury or violence to any one, yet treats with 
 severity any breaches of custom or morality. Such is, 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, chap, vii., and 
 p. 495 ^?- 
 
 VOL. I L 
 
146 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 
 according to my knowledge of the Australian tribes, their 
 
 ideal of a headman, and naturally it is that of Biamban,^ the 
 
 master, in the sky-country. Such a being, from Bunjil to 
 
 Baiame, is Mami-ngata, that is, ' our father ' ; in other words, 
 
 the All-father of the tribes. . . . Although it cannot be 
 
 alleged that these aborigines have consciously any form of 
 
 religion, it may be said that their beliefs are such that, 
 
 under favourable conditions, they might have developed into 
 
 an actual religion, based on the worship of Mungan-ngaua, 
 
 or Baiame. There is not any worship of Daramulun ; but 
 
 the dances round the figure of clay and the invocating of 
 
 his name by the medicine-men certainly might have led up 
 
 to it. If such a change as a recognised religion had ever 
 
 become possible, I feel that it would have been brought 
 
 about by those men who are the depositaries of the tribal 
 
 beliefs, and by whom in the past, as I think, all the advances 
 
 in the organisation of their society have been effected. If 
 
 such a momentous change to the practice of a religion had 
 
 ever occurred, those men would have readily passed from 
 
 being medicine-men to the office of priests." ^ 
 
 But no On the other hand, " the Central Australian natives, and 
 
 iTfound"^^ this is true of the tribes extending from Lake Eyre in the 
 
 among the south to the far north, and eastwards across to the Gulf of 
 
 Australians, Carpentaria, have no idea whatever of the existence of any 
 
 though supreme being who is pleased if they follow a certain line 
 
 invented of what we Call moral conduct, and displeased if they do 
 
 moral j^q^. (Jq sq_ They have not the vaguest idea of a personal 
 
 bogies to ■' ° -"^ 
 
 frighten individual other than an actual living member of the tribe 
 ^h°idren^"'^ who approves or disapproves of their conduct, so far as 
 anything like what we call morality is concerned. ... It 
 must not, however, be imagined that the Central Australian 
 native has nothing in the nature of a moral code. As a 
 matter of fact he has a very strict one, and during the 
 initiation ceremonies the youth is told that there are certain 
 things which he must do and certain others which he must 
 not do, but he quite understands that any punishment for 
 the infringement of these rules of conduct, which are.[thus 
 laid down for him, will come from the older men, and not 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 500, 
 506 sqq. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION \in 
 
 at all from any supreme being, of whom he hears nothing 
 whatever. In fact, he then learns that the spirit creature, 
 whom up to that time, as a boy, he has regarded as all- 
 powerful, is merely a myth, and that such a being does not 
 really exist, and is only an invention of the men to frighten 
 the women and children." ^ The aborigines of Central 
 Australia are not the only people who have invented bug- 
 bears for the moral edification of youth. The Ona Indians Such moral 
 of Tierra del Fuego pretend that the natural features of fl°^i."h^'^° 
 their country, such as the woods and rocks, the white mists among the 
 and running waters, are haunted by spirits of various sorts, Indians of 
 " bogies in which they themselves do not believe, but which Tierra del 
 are a strong moral aid in dealing with refractory wives and 
 wilful children." To impress this salutary belief on the 
 feminine and youthful mind the men act the part of the 
 spirits, disguised in appropriate costumes. Thus the spirit 
 of the beech forests is represented by a man clad in moss 
 and the bark of trees ; the spirit of the lichen-grown rocks 
 is played by an actor who is painted slate-colour, with daubs 
 of red and yellow clay ; the spirit of clouds and mist is 
 dressed all in white, with a very long head partly made up 
 of twigs, which are covered with skin and painted. Till 
 they are initiated into these mysteries at the age of fourteen 
 or so, the boys firmly believe in the bogies, and no wonder, 
 inasmuch as they have been chased and scared by them. 
 When the time of their initiation draws near, the lads are 
 seriously exhorted by their elders. They must be keen 
 hunters, and quick to avenge the spilt blood of their family. 
 They must be careful of their own bodies, despising greed, 
 and, above all, letting no woman share their inmost thoughts. 
 At a series of nocturnal meetings they then learn the true 
 nature of the " moral aid " by which their green unknowing 
 youth has been trained in the way it should go. They are in 
 fact introduced to the bogies, who turn out to be members of 
 their own family. Any boy or man who betrays the secret is 
 quietly put to death ; and the same fate overtakes any woman 
 who is suspected of knowing more than is good for her.^ 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern Magellanes, with some Account of the 
 Tribes of Central Australia, p. 49 1 Jy . Ona and other Indians, " The Geographi- 
 ' W. S. Barclay, "The Land of cat Journal, xxiii. (1904) p. Ta,sq. 
 
148 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 
 According In regard to the precepts inculcated on Central Australian 
 
 and GUkn ^°V^ ^t initiation, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen think it " most 
 there is no probable that they have originated in the first instance in 
 refigio'n"^^' association with the purely selfish desire of the older men to 
 among the keep all the best things for themselves, and in no case 
 savages'.*" whatever are they supposed to have the sanction of a superior 
 being." ^ " As to the ' discovery ' of a high ethical religion 
 amongst the lowest savages there is not, I am convinced, 
 any such thing in Australia. The great difficulty is that 
 we have had statements made on the authority of men like 
 Gason. The latter was a police-trooper, I believe, who was 
 perfectly honest, but at the same time perfectly incapable of 
 dealing with matters such as these. In the days when the 
 evidence of Baiame and Daramulun was collected the im- 
 portance of securing minute and detailed information was 
 really not realised, nor was it imagined that there were men 
 without any so-called religious ideas ; and as I have en- 
 deavoured to point out in one of our chapters, it is the 
 easiest thing possible to be misled by what a native tells 
 you in regard to such a point as this." ^ 
 Gasons As an example of the mistakes into which it is possible 
 
 thinki^'' '" *° ^^'^ °" *'^^^ subject, we may take Mr. S. Gason's statement 
 that the that the Mura-mura of the Dieri is a Good Spirit or Deity,' 
 ^X^eri^vhereas further inquiries have ascertained that the Mura- 
 wasaGood muras, male and female, young and old, are nothing more 
 Deity. "'^ than the legendary predecessors or prototypes of the Dieri, 
 who roamed over the country, resembling the present natives 
 in their customs and mode of life, though they excelled them 
 in their magical powers and the wonderful feats they per- 
 formed.* Yet Mr. Gason was an honest man, and he 
 enjoyed the best opportunities for making himself acquainted 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern « A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 Tribes, p. 504. South-East Australia, pp. 475-482, 
 
 2 Prof. Baldwin Spencer, in a letter 644 sqq., 779 sqq. ; id., "Legends of 
 to me dated 19th August 1902. In the Dieri and Kindred Tribes of Central 
 quoting from my friend's letter I have Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- 
 struck out four words in accordance logical Institute, xxxiv. (1904) pp. 
 with a wish expressed by him in another 100-129; Miss E. B. HowiU in 
 letter of i8th March 1904. The Folklore, xiii. (1902) pp. 403-417. 
 omission does not affect the sense of Dr. Hewitt's informant is the Rev. 
 the passage. Otto Siebert, a German missionary to 
 
 3 Native Tribes of South Australia the aborigines at Killalpanina, on the 
 (Adelaide, 1879), p. 260. Cooper river, in Central Australia. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 149 
 
 with the beliefs of the Dieri, for he lived among them on 
 terms of intimacy for years, and he took a special interest in 
 their customs and ideas, bequeathing to us accounts of them 
 which, in spite of some grave mistakes, contain much that is 
 valuable.' His error as to the supposed " Good Spirit " of 
 the Dieri only shows how easy it is even for an honest 
 inquirer, with the best intentions and the amplest means of 
 ascertaining the facts, to misinterpret savage ideas in accord- 
 ance with his own religious creed. Precisely the same a similar 
 mistake which Mr. Gason made as to the Mura-muras of™^'^g„ 
 the Dieri, other people have made as to the Balimo of the made as to 
 Basutos in South Africa. On this subject an experienced of^thJ' 
 missionary writes : " The Basutos, like the Caffres in general, Basutos. 
 had no religious ideas before they came into contact with 
 the whites. It has been asked whether they knew at least 
 the name of God. Their idea of the divinity must have 
 been very confused, if I may judge by the heathen whom I 
 have associated with for thirteen years. It is the missionaries, 
 I believe, who have employed in the singular the name of 
 God, Molimo, ' He who is on high,' for in the language 
 inolimo would mean ' ancestor,' and was not used except in 
 the plural Balimo (' the ancestors '). However it may be 
 with their vague knowledge of the name of God, it is certain 
 that they had no worship, no prayer for the Supreme Being. 
 No ruins of a temple have been found, no vestige of a 
 sacrifice to God, no word designating a priest dedicated to 
 His service. All that was found sixty or seventy years ago, 
 when the first whites arrived in Basutoland, is to be found 
 there to-day among the heathen ; that is, the sacrifices to 
 
 ' " The Manners and Customs of [mwdus), was corrected by Dr. A. 
 
 the Dieyerie Tribe of Australian Ab- W. Howitt many years ago. See 
 
 origines," in Native Tribes of South Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 
 Australia, pp. 253-307; "Of the stitute, xvii. {1888) pp. 185 sq. ; 
 
 tribes Dieyerie, Auminie, Yandra- id., xix. (1890) p. 90. Further, 
 
 wontha, Yarawuarka, Pilladapa," " Gason supplied the information 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological In- that only certain of the men were 
 
 stitute, xxiv. (1895) pp. 167-176. subincised, and that only those who 
 
 Compare A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri were purposely left alone could beget 
 
 and other Kindred Tribes of Central children. ... It is absolute nonsense, 
 
 Australia,'' Journal of the Anthropo- and makes me regard Gason as very 
 
 logical Institute, xx. (1 89 1) pp. 30- unreliable, especially when taken in 
 
 104. Another grave blunder of Mr. connection with his Mura-mura " (Prof. 
 
 Gason's, concerning the fundamental Baldwin Spencer, in a letter to me 
 
 question of the descent of the totems dated iSth March 1904). 
 
ISO 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 
 The 
 
 accounts 
 which 
 savages 
 give of 
 their 
 religious 
 beliefs are 
 often de- 
 liberately 
 fabricated 
 by them to 
 deceive or 
 please the 
 white man. 
 
 the ancestors." ^ Similarly, Dr. G. M'Call Theal, the learned 
 historian of South Africa, writes of the Bantus in general, of 
 whom the Basutos are a branch : " No man of this race, 
 upon being told of the existence of a single supreme God, 
 ever denies the assertion, and among many of the tribes 
 there is even a name for such a being, as, for instance, the 
 word Umkulunkulu, the Great Great One, used by the 
 Hlubis and others. From this it has been assumed by 
 some investigators that the Bantu are really monotheists, 
 and that the spirits of their ancestors are regarded merely 
 as mediators or intercessors. But such a conclusion is 
 incorrect. The Great Great One was once a man, they all 
 assert, and before our conception of a deity became known 
 to them, he was the most powerful of the ancient chiefs, to 
 whom tradition assigned supernatural knowledge and skill." ^ 
 Again, there is reason to believe that the accounts which 
 savages give of their religious beliefs are often deliberately 
 fabricated by them in order to deceive the white man. 
 This source of error, though it is not limited to the religious 
 sphere, applies especially to it, since the uncivilised, like the 
 civilised, man is, in general, loth to reveal his most sacred 
 beliefs to any chance inquirer. To win his confidence and 
 elicit his inmost thoughts, it is necessary for the investigator 
 either to have known him intimately for a long time, or to 
 give evidence that he himself has already been initiated into 
 mysteries of the same sort. But the deception practised by 
 the savage sometimes springs from a different motive. In 
 his amiable anxiety to oblige a stranger, he will often tell 
 him whatever he imagines that the inquirer would like to 
 hear, without the least regard to the truth. Thus it is a 
 custom with the Bantu "not to dispute with honoured guests, 
 but to profess agreement with whatever is stated. This is 
 regarded by those people as politeness, and it is carried to 
 such an absurd extent that it is often dififiicult to obtain 
 correct information from them. Thus if one asks a man, is 
 it far to such a place ? politeness requires him to reply it is 
 
 ' Father Porte, " Les reminiscences 
 d'un missionaire du Basutoland," 
 Missions Catholiques, xxviii. (1896) 
 p. 370. Compare E. S. Hartland, 
 
 in Folklore, xii. (1901) p. 24 
 sqq. 
 
 2 G. M'Call Theal, Records of South- 
 Eastern Africa, vii. (1 90 1) p. 401. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 151 
 
 far, though it may be close by. The questioner, by using 
 the word far, is supposed to be under the impression that it 
 is at a distance, and it would be rudeness to correct him. 
 They express their thanks for whatever is told them, 
 whether the intelligence is pleasing or not, and whether they 
 believe it or not. Then, too, no one of them ever denies 
 the existence of a Supreme Being, but admits it without 
 hesitation as soon as he is told of it, though he may not 
 once have thought of the subject before." ^ 
 
 In regard to the Australian aborigines, it appears that This source 
 this source of error has also vitiated some of the accounts °ee^°[o 
 which have been given of their religious notions. " Many have 
 persons try to persuade themselves that they can detect the some^of the 
 existence amongst these natives of a true religion and a accounts 
 knowledge of a Supreme Being, but they forget that these been given 
 Blacks are extremely shrewd, so that when they perceive °f '^e 
 
 . . ■ r t • I ..1 1 ti 1 rehgious 
 
 the object of the conversation, they readily adapt all that notions of 
 they have been taught on this subject to their replies. I ^^ , -i 
 have always found that the rigmarole stories which many of savages, 
 them have told me, and which are supposed to represent 
 their religious belief, were founded upon the teachings of 
 missionaries and others." * "I am strongly of opinion that 
 those who have written to show that the Blacks had some 
 knowledge of God, practised prayer, and believed in places 
 of reward and punishment beyond the grave, have been 
 imposed upon, and that until they had learnt something of 
 Christianity from missionaries and others the Blacks had 
 no beliefs and practices of the sort. Having heard the 
 missionaries, however, they were not slow to invent what I 
 may call kindred statements with aboriginal accessories, with 
 a view to please and surprise the Whites." * In pursuing 
 his researches in this subject. Dr. A. W. Howitt was on at 
 least one occasion surprised, though not pleased, with 
 " kindred statements " of this sort. Wishing to learn the 
 native belief as to Brewin, a spirit whom the Kurnai dread, 
 he questioned two of the most intelligent men, one of whom 
 
 ' G. M'Call Theal, op. cil. vii. the Geographical Society of Australasia, 
 
 497. i. (1885) p. 40. 
 
 » J. F. Mann, " Notes on the ' e. M. Curr, The Australian Race, 
 
 Aborigines of Australia," /'rfl««(/»'>^fr ff/" i. 45. 
 
152 THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 
 
 was a member of the Church of England. After consulting 
 together for a few minutes, one of them said, " We think 
 that he is Jesus Christ." When this answer proved unsatis- 
 factory, they laid their heads together again, and after 
 mature deliberation declared that he must be the devil.-^ 
 The anecdote is instructive, because it illustrates the readi- 
 ness with which the natives adapt their answers to the 
 supposed taste of the inquirer, and the little dependence 
 that can consequently be placed on their statements as to 
 this subject. 
 Incredulity Now it is to be observed that the reports of moral 
 of Baldwin Supreme Beings among the Australian aborigines come 
 
 Spencer as ^ °, . i t^t (-• i ttt i i ■ i 
 
 to alleged chiefly from Victoria and New South Wales, that is, the 
 Australian p^rts of the Continent where the natives have been longest 
 
 beliefs inaJ^ iiiT 
 
 Supreme Under the influence of the white man. If we could deduct 
 
 ^^'"^' from these reports the elements of error and fraud, we should 
 
 probably find that the residue would be small indeed ; and 
 
 we might acquiesce in the opinion of Professor Baldwin 
 
 Spencer : " I do not think that there is really any direct 
 
 evidence of any Australian native belief in a ' supreme being ' 
 
 in our sense of the term." ^ 
 
 However, But tliough the natives of Central Australia appear to 
 
 some tribes ^^ equally destitute of ancestor worship,^ and of a belief in a 
 
 believe in ^ -^ ^^ 
 
 spiritual Supreme Being, the guardian of morality, some of the tribes 
 
 can"make° °" ^'^^ QvM of Carpentaria have a notion of spiritual beings 
 
 or mar who Can help or injure them. The Binbinga, Mara, and 
 
 ^™' Anula tribes believe that the sky is inhabited by two 
 
 unfriendly beings who are always anxious to come down 
 
 and kill people, but are prevented from doing so by a 
 
 friendly spirit who lives in the woods. When an Anula man 
 
 falls ill, his friends sing to the friendly spirit in the woods to 
 
 come and make him well.* Such beliefs and such a practice 
 
 might in time develop into a regular propitiation of these 
 
 spirits, that is, they might grow into a religion. 
 
 Thus, if the Australian aborigines had been .left to them- 
 selves, they might have evolved a native religion along 
 
 1 Fison and Hewitt, Kamilaroi and ^ Spencer and Gillen, Northern 
 Kurtiai, p. 255. Tribes, p. 494. 
 
 2 Letter to me dated 15th April « Spencer and Gillen, op. cit., p. 
 I903' SOI sq. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF RELIGION 153 
 
 several more or less independent lines. Their regard for Thus if the 
 the comfort of departed friends might have given rise to a ato^gin^ 
 worship of the dead, provided always that the theory of had been 
 reincarnation, which prevails among the central tribes and themselves 
 is obviously incompatible with a deification of the ancestral ^ey might 
 
 .1 have 
 
 spirits, had been exchanged for a belief that these spirits, developed 
 instead of returning to earth and being born again in the ^ I'lf'^^ 
 flesh, dwell for ever in some happy land, whence, though along 
 unseen by mortal or at least vulgar eyes, they watch over ^^^^"^^i '"' 
 their children and aid them in their time of need. Again, lines. 
 totemism might have led to a cult of the totem animal or 
 plant, as indeed seems to be happening to the Wollunqua or 
 mythical water -snake of the Warramunga. Further, a 
 belief in friendly or hostile spirits, neither ancestral nor 
 totemic, who live on earth or in the sky, and can help or 
 harm mankind, is not far from a religion of nature. Finally, 
 if the abstract idea of a powerful headman, kind to his own 
 people and terrible to their foes, had blended with a belief 
 in the immortality of the dead, it might easily have culmin- 
 ated in the worship of a tribal or national god. And these 
 various lines of development might have co-existed in the 
 same tribe, leading up to a complex religion in which a cult 
 of the totems should have been combined with a worship of 
 other natural powers, and a general propitiation of the dead 
 should have gone hand-in-hand with the special worship of 
 a tribal or national god, who had grown out of an ideal or 
 legendary headman. Such a complex religion would con- 
 form to the general rule that fully developed religions are 
 compounded of many different elements, which spring from 
 diverse roots. 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, ot. tit,, p. 494. 
 
II 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEMISM 
 
 The same It IS Significant that the rudiments of a native religion in 
 regions of Australia, so far as they are known to us, make their 
 
 Australia . , .... , . 
 
 which ex- appearance for the most part either in the south-eastern 
 hibit the districts Or on the northern coast, but are, on the whole, 
 
 rudiments ' 
 
 of religion conspicuously absent from the centre, while on the contrary 
 an'^advatce n^^gical ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems 
 towards a attain their highest vogue among the central tribes, and 
 of^soda""^ gradually diminish in number and importance as we approach 
 life. That the sea, till on the Gulf of Carpentaria they have almost 
 marked by disappeared.^ Now it can hardly be an accidental coinci- 
 thesub- dence that, as Dr. Howitt has well pointed out,^ the same 
 
 stitution of . . , . , , ^ , . . , . , 
 
 individual regions in which the germs of religion begin to appear have 
 for group ajsQ made some progress towards a higher form of social 
 and of and family life. That progress in Australia is marked by 
 mltlml.\°'^ two great steps : individual marriage has been substituted 
 descent of for group marriage,* and paternal descent of the totem has 
 t e totem, pj-gyailed over maternal descent, as well as over an even 
 
 older mode of transmitting the totem which still survives 
 
 among the Arunta and Kaitish. 
 
 1 The Warramunga respect for the Dieri and other Kindred Tribes of 
 WoUunqua water-snake and the Dieri Central Australia," xx. (189 1) p. 
 custom of leaving food for the dead 98 sgi^. ; id., Native Tribes of South- 
 are exceptions. East Australia, chap. v. ; Spencer and 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, Noiihem Gillen, Native Tribes of Central 
 7;-;iej-, pp. I4J-^., 23,311^17., 315-319. Australia, p. 92 sqq. The evidence 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of marshalled by these writers appears to 
 South-East Australia, p. 500. me to render it practically certain that 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, "Further Notes in Australia individual marriage has 
 
 on the Australian Class System," everywhere been preceded by group 
 
 Jour)ial of the Anthropological Institute, marriage, and that eigain by a still 
 
 xviii. (1889) p. 66 sqq.; id., "The wider sexual communism. 
 
 IS4 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 155 
 
 In regard to the first of these changes, whereas group Group 
 marriage exists to this day as an institution among several ^^^^^^ 
 of the central tribes, such as the Dieri and Urabunna,^ peculiar 
 it has disappeared from all the other tribes known to us, determin- 
 only leaving traces of itself in the classificatory system '°e '^e 
 
 - , . 7. , . , ,. , , , totem still 
 
 of relationship, and in the licence accorded to the sexes exist 
 on certain occasions, especially at marriage. In regard among 
 to the second change, the inheritance of the totem in central 
 the paternal line is fixed and invariable among the '"''^S' .''"' 
 
 *^ ^ o have dis- 
 
 tribes on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, but appeared 
 as we pass inland from them we find that it gradually [h°"J,thers 
 grows rarer and rarer, until among the Arunta and Kaitish 
 tribes, in the very heart of the continent, it totally dis- 
 appears, and is replaced by an entirely different mode of 
 determining the totem.^ For in these tribes a person derives Among the 
 his totem neither from his father nor from his mother, but ^^^^ 
 from the place where his mother first became aware that person 
 she was with child. Scattered all over the country are what J^j^^ '^ 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen call local totem centres, that is, neither 
 spots where the souls of the dead are supposed to live 1°^^^ ^^^ 
 awaiting reincarnation, each of these spots being haunted •''s mother, 
 by the spirits of people of one totem only ; and wherever a the place 
 pregnant woman first feels the child in her womb, she thinks ^'^"^ ^'^ 
 
 ... mother first 
 
 that a spirit of the nearest totem centre has entered into feit she was 
 her, and accordingly the child will be of that local totem, ^'"^ '='''''^- 
 whatever it may be, without any regard to the totem either 
 of the father or of the mother.' 
 
 This mode of determining the totem has all the 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and For the detailed evidence see Dr. 
 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central Yi.<yn\\.'Cs'boo\i, Native Tribes of Sonth- 
 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- East Australia, p. 175 sqq. 
 
 logical Institute, xx. (1891) p. 53 2 Spencer and Gillen, Northern 
 
 sgq. ; Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 144, 
 
 Tribes of Central Australia, p. 55 163 sqq., 169 sqq., 174-176. The 
 
 sqq. On this subject Dr. A. W. descent of the totem must be carefully 
 
 Howitt writes to me: "When I wrote distinguished from the descent of the 
 
 the paper quoted from I did not know exogamous class, which is invariably in 
 
 of the pirrauru [group marriage] the paternal line among all these 
 
 practice in other tribes. It exists in central and north-central tribes, except 
 
 all the Lake Eyre tribes, and I am the Dieri and Urabunna, among whom 
 
 satisfied that it also extended to the the descent both of the totem and of 
 
 Pamkalla at Port Lincoln, to the the class is in the maternal line. 
 
 Kumandaburi at Mount Howitt, and ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 
 
 the Wakelbura in East Queensland." of Central Australia, p. 12-^ sqq. 
 
156 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEMISM 
 
 This mode appearance of extreme antiquity. For it ignores alto- 
 of deter- ggther the intercourse of the sexes as the cause of offspring, 
 
 mining the ° . 
 
 totem and further, it ignores the tie of blood on the maternal 
 
 appears to ^^ ^^jj ^^ ^^ paternal side, substituting for it a purely 
 
 ancient, local bond, since the members of a totem stock are merely 
 
 ignOTes those who gave the first sign of life in the womb at 
 
 paternity one or Other of certain definite spots. This form of 
 
 Umlybe^ totemism, which may be called conceptional or local to 
 
 called con- distinguish it from hereditary totemism,^ may with great 
 
 or'^iocai! probability be regarded as the most primitive known to 
 
 as dis- exist at the present day, since it seems to date from a time 
 
 tinguished ,,,,.,. . , , , 
 
 from when blood relationship was not yet recognised, and when 
 
 hereditary, g^gj^ j-j^g j^jg^ ^f paternity had not yet presented itself to 
 
 totemism. '^ ■' ■' '^ 
 
 the savage mind. Moreover, it is hardly possible that this 
 peculiar form of local totemism, with its implied ignorance 
 of such a thing as paternity at all, could be derived from 
 But con- hereditary totemism, whereas it is easy to understand how 
 couid™rs\iy hereditary totemism, either in the paternal or in the 
 pass into maternal line, could be derived from it. Indeed, among the 
 toteVism!^ Umbaia and Gnanji tribes we can see at the present day 
 either in the how the change from local to hereditary totemism has been 
 or the ^ effected. These tribes, like the Arunta and Kaitish, believe 
 maternal that conception is caused by the entrance into a woman of 
 
 line 
 
 a spirit who has lived in its disembodied state, along with 
 other spirits of the same totem, at any one of a number of 
 totem centres scattered over the country ; but, unlike the 
 Arunta and Kaitish, they almost always assign the father's 
 totem to the child, even though the infant may have given 
 the first sign of life at a place haunted by spirits of a 
 different totem. For example, the wife of a snake man 
 may first feel her womb quickened at a tree haunted by 
 spirits of goshawk people ; yet the child will not be a gos- 
 hawk but a snake, like its father. The theory by which 
 the Umbaia and Gnanji reconcile these apparently incon- 
 
 1 But this peculiar form of local the local with the hereditary principle, 
 totemism must not be confused with seems to be a very late development, 
 anotlier form of totemism, in which See above, p. 83 ; A. C. Haddon, 
 hereditary totem clans inhabit each its Head-hunters, pp. 132, 171 ; Reports 
 own separate district of country or of the Cambridge Anthropological Ex- 
 quarter of a village ; for this, latter fedilion to Torres Straits, v. (Cam- 
 species of totemism, which combines bridge, I904)pp. 159, 172,?^^., 188 jyy. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTE MI SM 157 
 
 sistent beliefs is that a spirit of the husband's totem follows 
 the wife and enters into her wherever an opportunity offers, 
 whereas spirits of other totems would not think of doing so. 
 In the example supposed, a snake spirit is thought to have 
 followed up the wife of the snake man and entered into her 
 at the tree haunted by goshawk spirits, while the goshawk 
 spirits would refuse to trespass, so to say, on a snake pre- 
 serve by quartering themselves in the wife of a snake man.^ 
 This theory clearly marks a transition from local to heredi- 
 tary totemism in the paternal line. And precisely the same 
 theory could, mutatis mutandis, be employed to effect a 
 change from local to hereditary totemism in the maternal 
 line ; it would only be necessary to suppose that a pregnant 
 woman is always followed by a spirit of her own totem, 
 which sooner or later effects a lodgment in her body. For 
 example, a pregnant woman of the bee totem would always 
 be followed by a bee spirit, which would enter into her 
 wherever and whenever she felt her womb quickened, and 
 so the child would be born of her own bee totem. Thus 
 the local form of totemism which obtains among the 
 Arunta and Kaitish tribes is older than the hereditary form, 
 which is the ordinary type of totemism in Australia and 
 elsewhere, first, because it rests on far more archaic concep- 
 tions of society and of life, and, secondly, because both the 
 hereditary kinds of totemism, the paternal and the maternal, 
 can be derived from it, whereas it can hardly be derived 
 from ejther of them.^ 
 
 I have said that the form of totemism which prevails in Concep- 
 the most central tribes of Australia, particularly the Arunta tmemism 
 and Kaitish, is probably the most primitive known to exist among the 
 at the present day. Perhaps we may go a step further, and Australians 
 
 say that it is but one remove from the original pattern, the ^^^^^ '° ^ 
 
 111 ... r ■ ^, , , ■ , °"'y °"^ 
 
 absolutely primitive type of totemism. The theory on which remove 
 
 it is based denies implicitly, and the natives themselves deny ^'""^ ^^' 
 
 explicitly,' that children are the fruit of the commerce of primitive 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern exogamous classes is one proof amongst 
 
 Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 169 others that these classes are of more 
 
 sq., 176. recent origin than totemism; in other 
 
 * I may remark in passing that the words, that totemism is older than 
 
 irregularity or total absence of paternal exogamy. 
 
 descent of the totems among tribes ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 
 
 who have strict paternal descent of the of Central Australia, pp. 124 sq., 265. 
 
158 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 which was the scxes. So astounding an ignorance of natural causation 
 a'theory'to Cannot but date from a past immeasurably remote. Yet 
 account for that ignorance, strange as it seems to us, may be explained 
 and^chuZ easily enough from the habits and modes of thought of 
 birth at a savage man. In the first place, the interval which elapses 
 their true between the act of impregnation and the first symptoms of 
 cause was pregnancy is sufficient to prevent him from perceiving the 
 connection between the two. In the second place, the 
 custom, common among savage tribes, of allowing un- 
 restricted licence of intercourse between the sexes under 
 puberty has familiarised him with sexual unions that are 
 necessarily sterile ; from which he may not unnaturally 
 conclude that the intercourse of the sexes has nothing to 
 do with the birth of offspring.^ Hence he is driven to 
 account for pregnancy and child-birth in some other way. 
 The theory which the Central Australians have adopted on 
 the subject is one which commends itself to the primitive 
 mind as simple and obvious. Nothing is commoner among 
 savages all the world over than a belief that a person may 
 be possessed by a spirit, which has entered into him, thereby 
 disturbing his organism and creating an abnormal state of 
 body or mind, such as sickness or lunacy. Now, when a 
 woman is observed to be pregnant, the savage infers, with 
 perfect truth, that something has entered into her. What 
 is it ? and how did it make its way into her womb ? These 
 are questions which he cannot but put to himself as soon as 
 he thinks about the matter. For the reasons given above, 
 it does not occur to him to connect the first symptoms of 
 pregnancy with a sexual act, which preceded them by a 
 considerable interval. He thinks that the child enters into 
 the woman at the time when she first feels it stirring in her 
 womb, which, of course, does not happen until long after 
 the real moment of conception. Naturally enough, when 
 she is first aware of the mysterious movement within her, 
 the mother fancies that something has that very moment 
 passed into her body, and it is equally natural that in her 
 attempt to ascertain what the thing is she should fix upon 
 
 1 This latter consideration has graphy. Bulletin No. 5, Brisbane, 
 already been indicated by Mr. W. 1903, § 83, p. 23). 
 E. Roth (North Queensland Ethno- 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 159 
 
 some object that happened to be near her and to engage 
 her attention at the critical moment. Thus if she chanced 
 at the time to be watching a kangaroo, or collecting grass-seed 
 for food, or bathing in water, or sitting under a gum-tree, 
 she might imagine that the spirit of a kangaroo, of grass- 
 seed, of water, or of a gum-tree had passed into her, and 
 accordingly, that when her child was born, it was really a 
 kangaroo, a grass-seed, water, or a gum-tree, though to the 
 bodily eye it presented the outward form of a human being. 
 Amongst the objects on which her fancy might pitch as the 
 cause of her pregnancy we may suppose that the last food 
 she had eaten would often be one. If she had recently 
 partaken of emu flesh or yams she might suppose that the 
 emu or yam, which she had unquestionably taken into her 
 body, had, so to say, struck root and grown up in her. 
 This last, as perhaps the most natural, might be the 
 commonest explanation of pregnancy ; and if that was so, 
 we can understand why, among the Central Australian tribes, 
 if not among totemic tribes all over the world, the great 
 majority of totems are edible objects, whether animals or 
 plants.' 
 
 Now, too, we can fully comprehend why people should On this 
 identify themselves, as totemic tribes commonly do with to™jn'?Im 
 their totems, to such an extent as to regard the man and »e can 
 his totem as practically indistinguishable. A man of the I^^y „,£„ 
 emu totem, for example, might say, " An emu entered should 
 into my mother at such and such a place and time ; it grew themselves 
 up in her, and came forth from her. I am that emu, "''•' ^''^''' , 
 
 1 /• T T • 11 1 totem, and 
 
 therefore I am an emu man. I am practically the same as should 
 the bird, though to you, perhaps, I may not look like it." '",lfm'"wes 
 And so with all the other totems. On such a view it is possessed 
 perfectly natural that a man, deeming himself one of his °'^ ^p^*^'"' 
 
 ^ J ' o power over 
 
 totem species, ' should regard it with respect and affection, it. 
 and that he should imagine himself possessed of a power, 
 such as men of other totems do not possess, to increase or 
 diminish it, according to circumstances, for the good of 
 
 ' As to the Central Australian the two hundred and one sorts of 
 
 totems, see Spencer and Gillen, totems here enumerated, no less than 
 
 Northern Tribes of Central Australia, a hundred and sixty-nine or a hundred 
 
 Appendix B, pp. 767-773. Amongst and seventy are eaten. 
 
i6o THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 himself and his fellows. Thus the practice of Intichiuma, 
 that is, magical ceremonies performed by men of a totem 
 for its increase or diminution, would be a natural develop- 
 ment of the original germ or stock of totemism.^ 
 If the germ That germ or stock, if my conjecture is right, is, in its 
 
 oftotemism egggnce, nothing more or less than an early theory of con- 
 was a ' ° -^ ". 
 primitive ception, which presented itself to savage man at a time when 
 
 concept'lon '^^ ^^^ ^'•'^^ ignorant of the true cause of the propagation of 
 
 which may the spccies. This theory of conception is, on the principles 
 
 occurred ^^ savage thought, so simple and obvious that it may well 
 
 independ- have occurred to men independently in many parts of the 
 
 metfin° world. Thus we could understand the wide prevalence of 
 
 many parts totemism among distant races without being forced to 
 
 world, we suppose that they had borrowed it from each other. Further, 
 
 can under- {-j^g hypothesis accounts for one of the most characteristic 
 
 stand the . 
 
 wide features of totemism, namely, the intermingling in the same 
 
 diffusion community of men and women of many different totem 
 
 and other -' -' 
 
 character- stocks. For each person's totem would be determined by 
 features of ^hat may be called an accident, that is, by the place where 
 totemism. his mother happened to be, the occupation in which she was 
 engaged, or the last food she had eaten at the time when 
 she first felt the child in her womb ; and such accidents 
 (and with them the totems) would vary considerably in 
 individual cases, though the range of variation would 
 necessarily be limited by the number of objects open to the 
 observation, or conceivable by the imagination, of the tribe. 
 These objects would be chiefly the natural features of the" 
 district, and the kinds of food on which the community 
 subsisted ; but they might quite well include artificial and 
 even purely imaginary objects, such as boomerangs and 
 mythical beasts. Even a totem like Laughing Boys, which 
 
 1 When some years ago these /(ifjVa//)zj^zVa/«, xxviii. (1899) pp. 275- 
 
 Intichiuma ceremonies were first dis- 286; and above, pp. 1 1 3 ^-,717. Further 
 
 covered on a great scale among the reflection has led me to the conclusion 
 
 Central Australians, I was so struck by that magical ceremonies for the increase 
 
 the importance of the discovery that I or diminution of the totems are likely 
 
 was inclined to see in these ceremonies to be a later, though still very early, 
 
 the ultimate origin of totemism ; and outgrowth of totemism rather than its 
 
 the discoverers themselves, Messrs. original root. At the present time these 
 
 Spencer and Gillen, were disposed to magical ceremonies seem to constitute 
 
 take the same view. See Baldwin the main function of totemism in Central 
 
 Spencer, F. J. Gillen, and J. G. Australia. But this does not prove that 
 
 Frazer, in Journal of the Anthropo- they have done so from the beginning. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM i6i 
 
 we find among the Arunta, is perfectly intelligible on the 
 present theory. In fact, of all the things which the savage 
 perceives or imagines, there is none which he might not 
 thus convert into a totem, since there is none which might 
 not chance to impress itself on the mind of the mother, 
 waking or dreaming, at the critical season. 
 
 If we may hypothetically assume, as the first stage in On this 
 the evolution of totemism, a system like the foregoing, based jhJ'whof^ 
 on a primitive theory of conception the whole history of history of 
 totemism becomes intelligible. For in the first place, the becomes 
 existing system of totemism among the Arunta and Kaitish, intelligible. 
 which combines the principle of conception with that 
 of locality, could be derived from this hypothetical system 
 in the simplest and easiest manner, as I shall point out 
 immediately. And in the second place, the existing system 
 of the Arunta and Kaitish could, in its turn, readily pass 
 into hereditary totemism of the ordinary type, as, in fact, it 
 appears to be doing in the Umbaia and Gnanji tribes of 
 Central Australia at present.^ Thus what may be called 
 conceptional totemism pure and simple furnishes an intelli- 
 gible starting-point for the evolution of totemism in general. 
 In it, after years of sounding, our plummets seem to touch 
 bottom at last. 
 
 I have said that a primitive system of purely conceptional Hypotheti- 
 totemism could easily give rise to the existing system of the of/~f^f-^ 
 Arunta and Kaitish, which appears to be but one remove tive system 
 distant from it. Among the Arunta and Kaitish the choice coif™!^ 
 of the totem is not left absolutely to chance or to the tionai 
 imagination of the mother. The whole country is parcelled into™he" 
 out into totem districts, each with its centre, where the dis- '°'=?' 
 embodied spirits of the totems are supposed to linger, await- it which is 
 ing reincarnation : and the child's totem is determined by ^<='"aiiy 
 
 . , . , .... , , , found in 
 
 the particular totem centre to which its mother happened to Central 
 be nearest when she felt her womb quickened ; one of the Australia. 
 local spirits is supposed to have entered into her. Thus the 
 wide range of accidents which, under a system of conceptional 
 totemism pure and simple, might settle the totem of the 
 individual, is, under the existing system, restricted to the 
 accident of place ; and in virtue of this restriction an original 
 
 ' See above, pp. 1 56 sq, 
 VOL. I M 
 
1 62 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTE MIS M 
 
 system of purely conceptional totemism has, while it retains 
 the conceptional principle, developed into a species of local 
 totemism. How the restriction in question has been brought 
 about can only be a matter of conjecture. But it is not 
 difficult to imagine that when several women had, one afterv 
 the other, felt the first premonitions of maternity at the same 
 spot and under the same circumstances, the place would 
 come to be regarded as haunted by spirits of a particular 
 sort ; and so the whole country might in time be dotted over 
 with totem centres and distributed into totem districts. Any 
 striking natural feature of the landscape, such as a conspicu- 
 ous tree, a curiously-shaped rock, or a pool of clear water, 
 would be likely to impress itself on the mind of women at 
 such times, and so to lend a certain uniformity to their 
 fancies. 
 The hypo- Thus the hypothesis that totemism is, in its origin, a 
 
 noTaccount savage theory of conception seems to furnish a simple and 
 for the exo- adequate explanation of the facts. But there is one feature 
 fotem° '^ of totemism, as that system commonly meets us, which the 
 stocks, hypothesis does not account for, namely, the exogamy of 
 exogamy the totem stocks ; in other words, the rule that a man may 
 forms no ^q(- marry nor have connection with a woman of the same 
 
 part of true 
 
 totemism; totcm as himself That rule is, indeed, quite inexplicable 
 n was a Qjj ^YiQ view that men and women regfard themselves as 
 
 social re- ^ ^ ^ o 
 
 form intro- identical with their totem animals ; for as these animals 
 fater'time^ mate with their kind, why should not men and women of 
 when the the Same totem do so too, seeing that they are only slightly- 
 compo™d^ disguised forms of their totem animals ? But the truth is, 
 of totem exogamy forms no part of true totemism. It is a great 
 bisected social reform of a much later date, which, in many com- 
 into two or munitics, has accidentally modified the totemic system, while 
 
 afterwards .,.,,-, ^ 
 
 four exo- 11 Others it has left that system entirely unaffected. Native 
 gamous Australian traditions represent, doubtless with truth, exogamy 
 
 divisions, ... » t> ./ 
 
 in order to as an innovation imported into a community already corn- 
 prevent posed of totem stocks ; ^ and these traditions are amply 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes Howitt here points out, the tradition 
 
 of Cenlral Australia, ^p. 11)2 sq., ^l?,- which represents the totemic system 
 
 422; id.. Northern Tribes of Central of the Dieri as introduced for the 
 
 Australia, pp. 429, 438 sq. ; A. W. purpose of regulating marriage appears 
 
 Ilowitt, Native Tribes of South- East to be merely one of Mr. Gason's 
 
 Australia, pp. 480-482. As Dr. blunders. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 163 
 
 confirmed by a study of the social organisation of the the 1. 
 Australian tribes, which proves, as Messrs. Howitt, Spencer, grst, oj 
 and Gillen have rightly perceived, that the primary exogam- brothers 
 
 , , , , . ? , withsisters, 
 
 ous unit was not the totem stock, but the moiety ot the and next of 
 whole tribe. Each tribe was, in fact, divided into two halves, parents 
 
 With 
 
 all the children of the same mother being assigned to the children. 
 same half, and the men of each half were obliged to take 
 their wives from the other half. At a later time each of 
 these halves was, in some tribes, again subdivided into two, 
 and the men and women in each of the four quarters thus 
 constituted were forced to take their wives or husbands 
 from a particular one, and only one, of the remaining three 
 quarters ; while it was arranged that the children should 
 belong neither to their mother's nor to their father's quarter, 
 but to one of the remaining two quarters. The effect of the 
 division of the tribe into two exogamous halves, with all 
 the children of the same mother ranged on the same side, is 
 obviously to prevent the marriage of brothers with sisters. 
 The effect of the division of the tribe into four exogamous 
 quarters, coupled with the rules that every person may marry 
 only into one quarter, and that the children must belong to 
 a quarter which is neither that of their father nor that of 
 their mother, is to prevent the marriage of parents with 
 children.' Now, since these successive bisections of the tribe 
 into two, four, or even eight exogamous divisions, with an 
 increasingly complicated rule of descent, have every appear- 
 ance of being artificial, we may fairly infer that the effect 
 they actually produce is the effect they were intended to 
 produce ; in other words, that they were deliberately devised 
 and adopted as a means of preventing the marriage, at first, 
 of brothers with sisters, and, at a later time, of parents with 
 children. 
 
 That this was so I regard as practically certain. But 
 the question why early man in Australia, and, apparently, 
 
 ' This observation, the truth of stated was briefly indicated in my 
 
 which can easily be demonstrated in paper, "The Origin of Totemism," 
 
 a tabular form, was communicated by Fortnightly Review, May 1899, p. 841, 
 
 me to my friend Dr. A. W. Howitt, note 2 [above, p. 1 24, note ^\. Nearly 
 
 who did me the honour to mention it the same observation was afterwards 
 
 with approval in his book. See his made independently by Mr. E. Crawley 
 
 Native Tribes of South- East Australia, in his book, The Mystic Rose (London, 
 
 pp. 284-286. The conclusion here 1902), pp. 469-472. 
 
1 64 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEMISM 
 
 jf 
 
 man 
 incest 
 can hardly 
 have been 
 based on 
 grounds 
 which we 
 should 
 regard as 
 moral ; 
 
 nor can it 
 have origin- 
 ated in a 
 belief that 
 incest is 
 injurious 
 to the off- 
 spring. 
 
 in many other parts of the world, objected to these unions, 
 and took elaborate precautions to prevent them, is difficult 
 to answer, except in a vague and general way. We should 
 probably err if we imagined that this far-reaching innovation 
 or reform was introduced from any such moral antipathy to 
 incest, as most, though by no means all, races have mani- 
 fested within historical times. That antipathy is rather the 
 fruit than the seed of the prohibition of incest. It is the 
 slowly accumulated effect of a prohibition which has been 
 transmitted through successive generations from time imme- 
 morial. To suppose that the law of incest originated in any 
 instinctive horror of the act would be to invert the rela- 
 tion of cause and effect, and to commit the commonest 
 of all blunders in investigating early society, that of inter- 
 preting it in the light of our modern feelings and habits, 
 and so using the late products of evolution to account 
 for its primordial germs ; in short, it would be to explain 
 the beginning by the end, instead of the end by the 
 beginning. 
 
 Further, the original ground of objection to incestuous 
 unions certainly cannot have been any notion that they were 
 injurious to the offspring, and that for two reasons. In the 
 first place, it is a moot question among men of science at 
 the present day whether the closest interbreeding has, in 
 itself, when the parents are perfectly healthy, any such 
 harmful effect.^ However that question, may be finally 
 decided, we cannot suppose that the rudest savages perceived 
 ages ago what, with all the resources of accurate observation 
 and long-continued experiments in breeding animals, modern 
 science has not yet conclusively established. But in the 
 second place, not only is it impossible that the savage can 
 have detected so very dubious an effect, but it is impossible 
 that he can even have imagined it. For if, down to the 
 present day, the Central Australians, who practise strict 
 exogamy, do not believe that children are the result of the 
 intercourse of the sexes, their still ruder forefathers certainly 
 
 1 See Ch. Darwin, Variation of riage of Near Kin'^ (London, 1887); 
 
 Animals and Plants under Domestita- G. A. Wilken, " Die Ehe zwischen 
 
 tion'i (London, 1875), ii. chap. xvii. Blutsverwandten," Globus, lix. (1891) 
 
 pp. 92-126; A. H. Huth, The Mar- pp. 8-12, 20-24, 3S~38. 
 
 J 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 165 
 
 cannot have introduced exogamy at a more or less remote 
 period for the purpose of remedying the action of a cause, 
 the existence of which they denied. 
 
 But if the prohibition of incestuous unions was based Apparently 
 neither on what we might call a moral instinct, nor on a f'l^P™' , 
 
 ° ' hibition of 
 
 fear of any evil, real or imaginary, which they were supposed incest must 
 to entail on the offspring, the only alternative open to us \l'^^l^ 
 seems to be to infer that these unions were forbidden because on a super- 
 they were believed to be injurious to the persons who [n'cesuious 
 engaged in them, even when they were both in perfect health, unions are 
 Such a belief, I apprehend, is entirely groundless, and can lho"e who 
 only have arisen in some mistaken notion of cause and ™g<ig« '" 
 effect ; in short, in a superstition. What that superstition 
 precisely was, in other words, what exact harm was supposed 
 to be done by incest to the persons immediately concerned, 
 I am unable to guess. Thus the ultimate origin of exogamy, 
 and with it of the law of incest — since exogamy was devised 
 to prevent incest — remains a problem nearly as dark as ever. 
 All that seems fairly probable is that both of them originated 
 in a savage superstition, to which we have lost the clue. 
 To say this is not to prejudice the question of the effect for 
 good or ill which these institutions have had on the race ; 
 for the question of the working of any institution is wholly 
 distinct from that of its historical origin. Just as a bad 
 practice may be adopted from a good motive, so, on the 
 other hand, an excellent custom may be instituted for a 
 reason utterly false and absurd. 
 
 I have said that the introduction of exogamy affected The intro- 
 the totemic system of some tribes, but not that of others. ^"'^''°" °^ 
 
 . exogamy 
 
 This I will now explain. Where totemism had become affected the 
 hereditary, that is, where , every person received his totem jyst^'^oniy 
 either from his father or from his mother, the introduction of of those 
 exogamy naturally resulted in making the totem stocks exo- among 
 gamous. For when the tribe was split up into two intermarry- whom 
 ing moieties the hereditary totem stocks would be distributed hadbecome 
 between the moieties, the whole of each stock being placed hereditary; 
 
 , , , . . , ,..,,, 1 " could not 
 
 m one or other of the moieties, and not divided between the affect the 
 two. From this it would follow that as each moiety was system 
 
 "^ among 
 
 exogamous, so necessarily were all the totem stocks of tribes who 
 which it was composed. The exogamy of the hereditary ""etamed 
 
1 66 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 concep- totem stocks was thus a direct, though accidental, consequence 
 tSemism °f "^^ exogamy of the two moieties. On the other hand, 
 because where the old conceptional, as opposed to the newer hereditary, 
 "alfeT "^"^ type of totemism survived, as we see it, in a slightly 
 system modified form, among the Arunta and Kaitish tribes, the 
 and sisters, introduction of exogamy would have no effect on the totem 
 parentsand gtocks as such ; that is, it would not make them exogamous. 
 may all be The reason is simple. Exogamy was introduced, as I have 
 of different pointed out, at first to prevent the marriage of brothers with 
 
 totems, m ^ -^ ° 
 
 which case sisters, and afterwards to prevent the marriage of parents 
 the pro- ^jj.jj children. But under a system like that of the Arunta, 
 
 hibition to ^ -^ ^ ' 
 
 marry a where, in virtue of the accidents which determine the totem 
 
 uSTame °f each individual, brother and sister may be of different 
 
 totem totems, and the totem of the child may differ from that both 
 
 noter to of the father and of the mother, it is obvious that to make 
 
 the union the totem stocks exogamous would not necessarily effect the 
 
 with sisters, purpose for which the rule of exogamy was devised ; for 
 
 or of even with strict exogamy of the totem stocks it would still 
 
 parents , i 
 
 with be open to a brother to marry a sister, and to a parent to 
 
 children, marry a child, in all the cases — and they would probably 
 be the majority of cases — in which the totem of the brother 
 differed from that of the sister, and the totem of the parent 
 differed from that of the child. When we find, therefore, 
 that the rule of exogamy is not applied to the totem stocks 
 in the very cases where, if it were applied, it would be powerless 
 to prevent the marriage of brothers with sisters, and of parents 
 with children, we can hardly help regarding this omission to 
 apply the rule in these circumstances as a strong additional 
 proof that exogamy was devised expressly for the purpose 
 of preventing such marriages. Further, it appears to 
 demonstrate that the machinery by which exogamy was 
 introduced and worked was not the organisation of the 
 community in totem stocks, but its bisection, single or 
 repeated, into two, four, or eight exogamous divisions, or 
 classes and sub-classes, as they may, with Dr. A. W. Howitt, 
 be conveniently designated. For we have to remember 
 that though, for the reason I have given, the Arunta and the 
 Kaitish do not apply the principle of exogamy to their 
 totem stocks, they fully recognise and act on the principle, 
 the whole community being divided into eight exogamous 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 167 
 
 classes, a division which is quite distinct from, and probably 
 far later than, the distribution of the community into totem 
 stocks. 
 
 Finally, I have to point out that, if the present theory since con- 
 of the development of totemism is correct, the common ^oj^'^"^ 
 assumption that inheritance of the totem through the mother can pass as 
 always preceded inheritance of it through the father need hereditary" 
 not hold good. If the transition from the conceptional to totemism 
 the hereditary form of totemism was effected in the manner ^s in the 
 in which it seems to be actually taking place at present f^'"^'^''"'^' 
 
 , _, , . ,. ., ... , , it follows 
 
 among the Central Australian tribes, it is clear that the that pater- 
 change could be made just as readily to paternal as to "^', ''^^™"' 
 
 =" ■' } r of the totem 
 
 maternal descent. For it would be quite as easy to suppose need not 
 that a spirit of the husband's totem had entered into his ^^''^ ^^j" 
 
 ^ preceded 
 
 wife as that a spirit of her own totem had done so : the bymaternai 
 former supposition would give paternal descent of the totem, ft^.^'^^oth° 
 the latter would give maternal descent. Only we have to lines of 
 bear in mind that the notion of paternity among these n^arhave 
 tribes is a totally different thing from what it is with sprung in- 
 us. Denying, as they do explicitly, that the child is ^^^ *" ^ 
 begotten by the father, they can only regard him as the 'he con- 
 consort, and, in a sense, the owner of the mother, and system. 
 therefore, as the owner of her progeny, just as a man i^e primi- 
 
 1 1 , 1 r , , • r , T t've notion 
 
 who owns a cow owns also the calf she brings forth. In ofpaternity 
 short, it seems probable that a man's children were viewed ^™,^ P™''" , 
 
 . . . ably that of 
 
 as his property long before they were recognised as his ownership. 
 offspring. 
 
 From the foregoing discussion it follows that, judged Thus, the 
 either by the type of social organisation or by the relation ^riblTof 
 of magic to religion, the central tribes of Australia are the Australia 
 more backward, and the coastal tribes the more progressive, ba^k^ard 
 To put it otherwise, in aboriginal Australia social and religious 'han the 
 progress has spread or is spreading from the sea inland, and tribes. 
 not in the reverse direction. 
 
 This conclusion is no more than might have been This con- 
 anticipated on general grounds without any knowledge of |^"fj°"have 
 the particular facts. For the interior of a country is been anti- 
 naturally less open to foreign influence than its coasts, and ""^^^^^ °" 
 is therefore more tenacious of old ways. But quite apart grounds 
 
1 68 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 from the from any foreign influence, which before the coming of 
 ^f'"='™ f Europeans seems hardly to have affected the Australian 
 
 the central ^ •' ^ -t c 
 
 tribes and racc, there is a special cause why the coastal tribes of 
 
 n^uireTf' Australia should take the first steps towards civilisation, and 
 
 their that is the greater abundance of water and food in their 
 
 for"obs^r- Country as compared with the parched and barren table-lands 
 
 vation of the interior.' Central Australia lies in the desert zone of 
 
 that civil- the Southern hemisphere, and has no high mountains to 
 
 isation condense the vapours from the surrounding ocean. The 
 
 arises in ..-.,,,, 
 
 fertile most extensive tract of fertile and well-watered country is on 
 countries, ,^^ g^^g). ^^^ south-east, where a fine range of mountains 
 
 not in ° 
 
 deserts, approaches, in the colony of Victoria, the limits of perpetual 
 offood"'''' snow.^ And in the north, on the shores of the Gulf of 
 being Carpentaria, a heavier rainfall produces a more abundant 
 
 anadvance vegetation and a more plentiful supply of food than can be 
 in culture, found in the arid wilderness of the interior. Thus, even 
 among the rude savages of Australia, we can detect the 
 operation of those natural laws which have ordained that 
 elsewhere all the great civilisations of the world should arise 
 in well-watered and fertile lands within the atmospheric 
 influence of the sea. An abundant supply of good food 
 stimulates progress in more ways than one. By leaving 
 men with leisure on their hands it affords them greater 
 opportunities for observation and thought than are enjoyed 
 by people whose whole energies are absorbed in an arduous 
 struggle for a bare subsistence ; and by improving the 
 physical stamina of the race it strengthens and sharpens the 
 intellectual faculties which, in the long run, are always 
 depressed and impaired by a poor and meagre diet. 
 Thus, if in Australia the tide of progress, slow but per- 
 ceptible, has set from the sea towards the interior, it 
 has probably been in large measure under the impulse 
 of a more plentiful supply of food, which in its turn is due 
 
 1 This cause has been . assigned by J-?.; Spencer and Gillen,JVo?-Z'/(«ra7Wfej 
 
 Dr. Howitt for the social advance, and of Central Australia, pp. 173, 311, 318. 
 by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen for the 2 ^ j^_ Wallace, The Geographical 
 
 decrease of Intichiuma magic, on the Distribution of Animals (London, 
 
 coast. See A. W. Howitt, "Further 1876), i. 387 sq. Mr. Wallace here 
 
 Noteson the Australian Class Systems," states that the Victorian mountains 
 
 Jotmial of the Anthropological Institute, actually reach the limit of perpetual 
 
 xviii. (1889) p. 33 sq. ; id.. Native snow. But this, as' Prof. Baldwin 
 
 Tribes of South- East Australia, p. 154 Spencer tells me, is a mistake. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEMISM 169 
 
 to the heavier rainfall on the coast and the neighbouring 
 regions. 
 
 But it is not merely by starving the vital energies and The 
 hence cramping the intelligence of the race that the physical cWacter 
 character and climate of Central Australia have retarded and climate 
 progress and favoured the survival of a faith in magic after Australia 
 that faith had begun to waver in more fertile districts. A have 
 little reflection will probably convince us that the more the survival 
 variable the course of nature throughout the year, the more °f ™*S'<= '" 
 
 3.nothcr 
 
 persistent probably will be man's efforts to regulate it for way -, for 
 his benefit, and the firmer will be his faith in his power to ™^|"^jq 
 do so. In other words, the more marked the changes of prevail in 
 the seasons, the greater will tend to be the prevalence of p°[^°^^'°" 
 magic and the belief in its efficacy, though naturally that of varia- 
 tendency may be counteracted by other causes. On the Jheseasons 
 other hand, where nature is bounteous and her course is these 
 uniform or varies but little from year's end to year's end, changes 
 man will neither need nor desire to alter it by magic or serving to 
 otherwise to suit his convenience. For he makes magic, man's 
 just as he prays and sacrifices, in order to obtain what heh^hefthat 
 
 he C3.n 
 
 has not got ; if he already possesses all he wants, why bring them 
 should he exert himself? It is in times of need and distress ^''™' '^y 
 rather than of abundance and prosperity that man betakes arts. 
 himself to the practice both of magic and of religion. 
 Hence in some tropical regions of eternal summer, where 
 moisture, warmth, and sunshine never fail, where the trees 
 are always green and fruits always hang from the boughs, 
 where the waters perpetually swarm with fish and the forests 
 teem with an exuberance of animal life, ceremonies for the 
 making of rain and sunshine and for the multiplication of 
 edible beasts and plants are for the most part absent or 
 inconspicuous. For example, we hear little or nothing of 
 them, so far as I remember, among the Indians of the 
 luxuriant forests of Brazil. Far otherwise is it with 
 countries where a brief summer alternates with a chilly 
 spring, a fickle autumn, and a long and 1 rigorous winter. 
 Here of necessity man is put to all his shifts to snatch from 
 a churlish nature boons that are at once evanescent and 
 precarious. Here, accordingly, that branch of magic which 
 aims at procuring the necessaries of life may be expected to 
 
I70 2^HE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 flourish most To put it generally, the practice of magic 
 for the control of nature will be found on the whole to 
 increase with the variability and to decrease with the 
 uniformity of the course of nature throughout the year. 
 Hence the increase will tend to become more and more 
 conspicuous as we recede from the equator, where the 
 annual changes of natural conditions are much less marked 
 than elsewhere.^ This general rule is no doubt subject to 
 many exceptions which depend on local varieties of climate. 
 Where the contrast between a wet and a dry season is 
 sharply marked, as in the track of the monsoons, magic may 
 well be invoked to secure the advantages or remedy the 
 inconveniences of heavy rain or drought. But, on the 
 whole, this department of magic, if not checked by civilisa- 
 tion or other causes, would naturally attain its highest 
 vogue in the temperate and polar zones rather than in the 
 equatorial regions ; while, on the other hand, the branch of 
 magical art which deals directly with mankind, aiming for 
 example at the cure or infliction of disease, tends for obvious 
 reasons to be diffused equally over the globe without dis- 
 tinction of latitude or climate. And the same causes 
 which impel men to practise magic for the control of nature 
 confirm their belief in its efficacy ; for the very changes 
 which the magician seeks to bring about by his spells are 
 silently wrought by the operation of natural law, and thus 
 the apparent success of his efforts greatly strengthens the 
 wizard's confidence in his imaginary powers. 
 In Central Nowhere, apparently, in the world are the alternations 
 
 the^changes °f '^^ seasons SO sudden and the contrasts between them so 
 of the violent, nowhere, accordingly, is the seeming success of 
 
 seasons are . . ,.,,,. ^ i 
 
 so sudden magic more conspicuous than m the deserts of Central 
 and violent Australia. The wonderful change which passes over the 
 
 thtit even 
 
 Europeans face of nature after the first rains of the season has been 
 ^aredTtem compared even by European observers to the effect of magic ; 
 to the effect what marvel, then, that the savage should mistake it for 
 
 t^r^o" ' ^^^"^ '" ^^""y *^''"* '' ^^ '^ difficult, we are told, to realise 
 wonder the Contrast between the steppes of Australia in the dry and 
 therefore j^^ ^j^^ rainy season. In the dry season the landscape 
 
 1 On the uniformity, nay, monotony A. R. Wallace, Tropical Nature 
 of nature in the equatorial regions, see (London, 1878), p. i sqq. 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 171 
 
 presents a scene of desolation. The sun shines down hotly that the 
 on stony plains or yellow sandy ground, on which grow wiry ALtraUan 
 shrubs and small tussocks of grass, not set closely together, savage 
 
 , , , 7. , , . should 
 
 as in moister lands, but straggling separately, so that in any believe 
 patch the number of plants can be counted. The sharp, 'he'll to be 
 thin shadows of the wiry scrub fall on the yellow ground, earnest. 
 which betrays no sign of animal life save for the little ant- 
 hills, thousands of whose inmates are seen rushing about in 
 apparently hopeless confusion, or piling leaves and seeds 
 in regular order around the entrance to their burrows. A 
 desert oak, as it is called, or an acacia tree, may here and 
 there afford a scanty shade, but for weeks together there are 
 no clouds to hide the brightness of the sun by day or of the 
 stars by night. All this is changed when heavy rains have 
 fallen and torrents rush down the lately dry beds of the 
 rivers, sweeping along uprooted trees and great masses of 
 tangled wrack on their impetuous current, and flooding far 
 and wide the flat lands on either bank. Then what has 
 been for months an arid wilderness is suddenly changed into 
 a vast sheet of water. Soon, however, the rain ceases to 
 fall and the flood subsides rapidly. For a few days the 
 streams run, then dry up, and only the deeper holes here 
 and there retain the water. The sun once more shines 
 down hotly, and in the damp ground seeds which have lain 
 dormant for months sprout and, as if by magic, the desert 
 becomes covered with luxuriant herbage, and gay with the 
 blossoms of endless flowering plants. Birds, frogs, lizards, 
 and insects of all sorts may be seen and heard where lately 
 everything was parched and silent. Plants and animals 
 alike make the most of the brief time in which they can 
 grow and multiply ; the struggle for existence is ail the 
 keener because it is so short. If a young plant can strike 
 its roots deep enough to reach the cool soil below the heated 
 surface, it may live ; if not, it must perish. If a young 
 animal grows fast enough to be able to burrow while the 
 banks of the water-hole in which it lives are still damp, it, 
 too, stands a chance of surviving. Now it is just when 
 there is promise of a good season that the natives of these 
 regions are wont especially to perform their magical cere- 
 monies for the multiplication of the plants and animals 
 
172 THE BEGINNINGS OF TOTEM ISM 
 
 which they use as food.^ Can we wonder that the accom- 
 plishment of their wishes, which so soon follows, should 
 appear to them a conclusive proof of the efficacy of their 
 incantations ? Nature herself seems to conspire to foster 
 the delusion. 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes have reproduced the graphic descrip- 
 of Central Atist>-alia, pp. 4, 1 70. I tion of these writers almost verbally. 
 
AN ETHNOGRAPHICAL SURVEY 
 OF TOTEMISM 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 8 I. The Social Line of Demarcation in Central Australia 
 
 Since the first edition of Totemism was published in 1887 The 
 a new era in the study of the subject has been opened by ^f^spetlS- 
 the researches of Messrs. Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen and Giiien 
 among the tribes of Central and North-Central Australia. '"^j™*^* 
 Through their labours we possess for the first time a detailed Northern 
 and accurate account of Totemism as it exists in full bloom 
 among tribes which have hardly been affected by European 
 influence. There is no other such record in the literature of 
 the subject, and its importance for an insight into the true 
 nature of Totemism can scarcely be over-estimated. Accord- 
 ingly I shall begin this ethnographical survey of Totemism 
 with the tribes of Central and Northern Australia, basing 
 my account of their totemic system on the two great works 
 of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.^ Some of the results of their 
 enquiries have already been noticed in this book,^ but here 
 it may be convenient to give, even at the cost of certain 
 repetitions, a general view of the facts which these two careful 
 and trustworthy observers have brought to light. 
 
 In regard to the totemic and social system of Central Division 
 Australia there is a very sharp line of demarcation between ^^eTrue 
 the true central and the southern-central tribes which come central and 
 into contact with each other a little to the north-west of Lake cemrai™ 
 
 tribes. 
 ' Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, 1904). For the sake of brevity these 
 The Native Tribes of Central Australia two works will be cited as Native Tribes 
 (London, 1899) ; «i/., The Northern and Northern Tribes respectively. 
 Tribes of Central Australia (London, - .Vbove, pp. 91 sqq., 154 sqq. 
 
 '75 
 
176 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Eyre, and it looks as if this were the meeting-place of two sets 
 of tribes which had migrated southwards, following roughly 
 parallel lines, one stream of tribes having traversed the centre 
 of the continent and the other having pursued a more easterly 
 course till it turned westward and joined the other stream at 
 Lake Eyre. In the southern-central tribes, of which the 
 Urabunna may be taken as a type, descent both of the totem 
 and of the exogamous class is reckoned in the maternal line. 
 In the true central tribes, of which the Arunta may be taken 
 as a type, descent of the exogamous class is reckoned in the 
 paternal line, and the totem is derived neither from the father 
 nor from the mother, though as we pass from the centre 
 northwards we find the totem tending more and more to be 
 taken from the father, until among the tribes on the Gulf of 
 Carpentaria the descent of the totem is as strictly paternal 
 as is the descent of the exogamous class.^ We begin our 
 survey with the southern-central tribes, of which the Urabunna 
 are typical. 
 
 8 2. Totemism in the Urabunna Tribe 
 
 The Ura- The whole tribe of the Urabunna is divided up into two 
 
 dh'Ided" "^ exogamous intermarrying moieties (classes or phratries), 
 into two which are respectively called Matthurie and Kirarawa, and 
 ciasserand the members of these two moieties (classes or phratries) are 
 a number again Subdivided into a series of totemic groups or clans, 
 
 of totem ° , . , , . . , , . A ,;r , . 
 
 clans. for which the native name is thunthume. A Matthurie 
 man must marry a Kirarawa woman ; and more than that, a 
 man of one totem must marry a woman of another totem, 
 certain totems being confined to one or other of the two 
 exogamous moieties or classes. Thus a dingo man or woman 
 marries a water-hen woman or man ; a cicada marries a crow; 
 an emu marries a rat ; a wild turkey marries a cloud ; a 
 swan marries a pelican ; and a wild duck marries a carpet- 
 snake. The tribal organisation may be shown in the follow- 
 ing table, in which only a limited number of totems are 
 indicated. 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 113-115 ; Northern Tribes, pp. 143 sq. 
 
TOTEMJSM IN THE URABUNNA TRIBE 
 
 i77 
 
 Matthurie. 
 
 Kirarawa. 
 
 Class (phratry). Totem. 
 
 Wild duck (Jnyarrie). 
 Cicada ( Wutnimmera). 
 Dingo {Matla). 
 Emu ( Warraguti). 
 Wild turkey i^Kalathurra). 
 Black swan {Cuti), etc. 
 Cloud (Kurara). 
 Carpet snake (Wabrnd). 
 Lace lizard (Capirie). 
 Pelican (Urantha). 
 Water-hen (Kuinichilli). 
 Crow (Wakala), etc.^ 
 
 Descent is reckoned through the mother both as regards 
 class (phratry) and totem, so that if the mother, for example, 
 is of the Kirarawa class and of the water-hen totem, then all 
 her children will be Kirarawa Water-hens. Hence marriage 
 and descent in the Urabunna tribe can be represented by the 
 following diagram, in which the letter / signifies the female 
 and the letter m the male. 
 
 m. Dingo Matthurie 
 
 marries 
 
 f. Water-hen Kirarawa 
 
 In the Ura- 
 bunna tribe 
 descent 
 both of the 
 class and of 
 the totem 
 is in the 
 female line, 
 children 
 taking both 
 class and 
 totem from 
 their 
 
 mother, not 
 from their 
 father. 
 
 m. Water-hen Kirarawa 
 
 marries 
 
 f. Dingo Matthurie 
 
 I 
 ;«. or/ Dingo Matthurie 
 
 f. Water-hen Kirarawa 
 
 marries 
 m. Dingo Matthurie 
 
 I 
 m. ox f. Water-hen Kirarawa.^ 
 
 These are not the only restrictions to marriage. A man 
 may not marry a woman of the proper totem unless she is 
 a daughter of his mother's elder brother or (what comes to 
 the same thing) of his father's elder sister, where the terms 
 " father " and " mother," " brother " and " sister " are used in 
 the clcissificatory sense to denote group relationships, a man 
 giving the name of " father " to all the men whom his 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 59 J?., 114; 
 Northern Tribes, pp. 70 sq., 144. On 
 this organisation of the Urabunna it 
 is observed by Messrs. Spencer and 
 GlUen that " the most difficult point 
 to determine is exactly what totems 
 intermarry. Wliilst the intermarriage 
 of the totems now described is correct 
 
 VOL. I 
 
 so far as it goes, further investigation 
 may reveal the fact that, for example, 
 a man of the crow totem may marry 
 women of other totems besides the 
 cicada " {Native Tribes, p. 60 note). 
 
 * Native Tribes, pp. 60 sq. ; North- 
 ern Tribes, p. 71. 
 
 N 
 
 Further, 
 a man 
 may only 
 marry the 
 daughters 
 of his 
 mother's 
 elder 
 brothers 
 or of his 
 father's 
 elder 
 sisters, 
 these terms 
 of relation- 
 sWp being 
 used in the 
 classifica- 
 tory sense. 
 
178 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 mother might have lawfully married, the name of " mother " 
 to all the women whom his father might have lawfully- 
 married, and the names of " brothers " and " sisters " to the 
 offspring of all such men and women, whether they are 
 related to him by blood in our sense of the term or not.^ It 
 follows that ill the Urabunna tribe a man may not marry a 
 woman of the right totem if she is a daughter of his mother's 
 younger brother or (what comes to the same thing) of his 
 father's younger sister. Thus a man's wife must always 
 belong to the senior side of the clan, so far as he is con- 
 cerned ; and a woman's husband must always belong to the 
 junior side of the clan, so far as she is concerned. All the 
 women of a totemic clan into which a man may marry 
 stand to him in one of the four following relationships: (i) 
 noivillie, or father's sisters ; (2) biaka, children or brother's 
 children ; (3) apillia, daughters of his mother's younger 
 brothers or (what comes to the same thing) of his father's 
 younger sisters ; (4) nupa, the daughters of his mother's 
 elder brothers or (what comes to the same thing) of his father's 
 elder sisters, where again the terms " father," " mother," 
 " brother," " sister " are used in the classificatory sense. 
 Women in the first of these relationships {nowillie) belong 
 to an older generation ; women in the second of these 
 relationships {biaka) belong to a younger generation ; 
 women in the third and fourth relationship {apillia and 
 nupa) belong to a man's own generation, but even among 
 them he may marry only women who stand to him in the 
 fourth relationship {nupa). The term nupa is reciprocal, 
 being mutually applied to each other by marriageable men 
 and women ; in other words, a man calls a woman whom 
 he may marry nupa, and she calls him nupa also. But 
 whereas a man's nupa is always on the senior side of the 
 clan ill reference to him, a woman's nupa is always on the 
 junior side of the clan in reference to her. Thus if we were 
 to draw up a genealogical tree in the Urabunna tribe, placing 
 the elder members on the left side and the younger members 
 on the right side, then every woman's nupa would lie to the 
 right, and every man's nupa would lie to the left side of her 
 or his position in the genealogical tree. 
 
 1 As to the Classificatory System of Relationship, see below, pp. 286 sqq. 
 
TOTEMISM IN THE URABUNNA TRIBE i79 
 
 A simple genealogical tree will illustrate this marriage Geneaiogi- 
 rule. In the following table the Kirarawa man numbered niustrate 
 8 may only marry a woman who stands to him in the the 
 relationship of the one numbered 7. She is his nupa and niarriage. 
 he is hers ; whereas the woman numbered 9 is his apillia, 
 and he may not have any marital relations with her. 
 
 I. Matthurie,/ 2. Matthurie, m. 3. Matthurie,/ 
 
 4. Kirarawa, m. 5. Kirarawa,/. 6. Kirarawa, m. 
 
 I I I 
 
 7. Matthurie,/ 8. Kirarawa, m. 9. Matthurie,/ 
 
 7. Matthurie,/ 
 
 In this table it will be observed that the wife (Matthurie 7) 
 of the man Kirarawa 8 is the daughter both of his mother's 
 elder brother (Kirarawa 4) and of his father's elder sister 
 (Matthurie i ). This is not an accident ; in the Urabunna 
 system a man's wife is always the daughter both of his 
 mother's elder brother and of his father's elder sister, since 
 under that system his mother's elder brother is the proper 
 husband of his father's elder sister.' 
 
 This sharp distinction in respect of marriageability Dr. Rivers' 
 between the children of elder and younger brothers and l^a-toiWis 
 sisters occurs not only in tribes like the Urabunna which distinction 
 count descent in the female line, but also in tribes like the n"a^iage'-° 
 Arunta, which reckon descent of the classes and subclasses in ability 
 the male line.* The origin of the rule which obliged a man children of 
 to marry a woman on the senior side of the appropriate family ^^^^'' ^""^ 
 
 , . younger 
 
 and forbade him to marry a woman on the junior side, is no brothers 
 doubt to be sought in the nature of the classificatory system ^""^ sisters. 
 of relationship, though the precise reason for it is still obscure. 
 A pregnant hint as to the way in which the distinction may 
 have originated in a social system based on group marriage 
 and the classificatory system of relationship has been given 
 by Dr. Rivers. " In such a state of society," he says, " I 
 suppose that the status of a child would change when he 
 becomes an adult, and that with this change of status there 
 would be associated a change in the relationship in which he 
 would stand to the members of the different groups. The 
 
 ' Native Tribts, pp. b\-(i<i\ Northern ' Native Tribes, p. 65. 
 
 Trites, pp. 71 Sf. 
 
i8o 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 great difficulty in the acceptance of my scheme is to see 
 how the relationships set up by these age-groups developed 
 into those regulated by generations such as we find among 
 most people of low culture at the present time. I cannot 
 here attempt to follow out such a development in any detail, 
 but I think it is possible to see the general lines on which 
 one almost universal feature of the classificatory system may 
 have evolved, viz. the distinction between elder and younger, 
 especially frequent in the case of brothers and sisters. A 
 man would probably tend to distinguish with some definite- 
 ness those who became adults earlier than himself from 
 those who came later to this rank ; he would tend to dis- 
 tinguish sharply between those who helped in his initiatory 
 ceremonies and those to whom he was himself one of the 
 initiators, and this distinction between seniors and juniors 
 would probably be carried over into the system of relation- 
 ships which gradually developed as the group - relations 
 developed into more individual relations between men and 
 women, and as the society became organized into generations 
 in the place of status- or age-groups." ^ 
 
 To make this hint of Dr. Rivers explicit I would point 
 out that if after a lad had passed through the initiatory 
 ceremonies at puberty and thereby became a full-grown 
 man, it was deemed essential at once to provide him with 
 a wife, this could only be done by taking her from among 
 those women who had attained to puberty and had been 
 initiated either simultaneously with him or before him ; his 
 wife obviously could not be drawn from those girls who 
 were not marriageable because they had not yet reached 
 puberty and had not yet been initiated. Hence might easily 
 arise a rule that no man should marry a woman who had 
 been initiated after him ; and this, when society became 
 organised in generations instead of in age-groups, might 
 easily in time be replaced by the rule that a man might 
 only choose a wife from the senior branch of the group or 
 clan into which he was entitled to marry. 
 
 It will be observed that under the Urabunna system a 
 
 1 W. H. R. Rivers, " On the Origin sented u Edward Burtielt Tyler 
 of the Classificatory System of Relation- (Oxford, 1907), pp. 320 m. 
 .ships," in Anthropological Essays pre- 
 
I TOTEMISM IN THE URABUNNA TRIBE i8i 
 
 man's proper wife is always one of those whom we should call Marriage- 
 his first cousins, being the daughter of his mother's brother or ol\^l^'^ 
 his father's sister. On the other hand he is strictly forbidden marriage- 
 to marry certain other first cousins, namely the daughter of cousjng. 
 his mother's sister and the daughter of his father's brother ; 
 and the reason why both these first cousins are prohibited 
 to him is that they belong to the same exogamous class as 
 himself and are therefore barred from him by the funda- 
 mental law which forbids a man to marry a woman of his 
 own exogamous class. For example, if he is a Kirarawa, 
 then, descent being in the maternal line, his mother, his 
 mother's sister, and his mother's sister's daughter, his first 
 cousin, must all be Kirarawa ; hence he may not marry that 
 particular first cousin, his mother's sister's daughter. Again, 
 if he is a Kirarawa, his father and his father's brother will 
 be Matthurie, but his father's brother's daughter, his first 
 cousin, descent being in the female line, will be Kirarawa ; 
 hence again he may not marry that particular first cousin, 
 his father's brother's daughter. This distinction between 
 marriageable and non - marriageable cousins is observed, 
 as we shall see, by many totemic peoples. The general 
 rule is that cousins who are the children of a brother 
 and a sister respectively may marry each other or are even 
 expected as a matter of custom to do so ; while cousins 
 who are the children either of two sisters or of two brothers 
 are strictly forbidden to marry each other, their union being 
 barred by the fact that such cousins always belong to the 
 same exogamous group, whether descent is reckoned in the 
 maternal or in the paternal line. 
 
 The account which the Urabunna give of the origin of Urabunna 
 their totems is as follows. In those remote and mythical ^he°origin' 
 times which they call ularaka and which the Arunta call of their 
 akheringa, there existed at first a comparatively small '°'^"'^- 
 number of individuals who were half-human and half-animal 
 or half-plant. How they arose is more than the Urabunna 
 can say. Anyhow they are the exact equivalents of the 
 akheringa ancestors of the Arunta, about whom we shall 
 hear presently. These semi-human creatures were endowed 
 with far greater powers than any living men or women now 
 possess. They could walk about either on the earth or 
 
1 82 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 beneath it and could fly through the air. They were the 
 ancestors of the various totemic clans. Thus a large carpet- 
 snake gave rise to the carpet-snake clan ; two jew-lizards 
 gave rise to the jew-lizard clan ; one or two rain creatures 
 did the same for the rain clan ; and so on.^ 
 The These old semi -human ancestors wandered about all 
 
 and rdn"^'* Over the Country now occupied by the Urabunna, performing 
 carnations sacred ceremonies, and when they did so they deposited in 
 totemic the ground or in some natural feature such as a rock or a 
 ancestors, water-pool, which arose to mark the spot, a number of spirit 
 individuals called mai-aurli. After a time some of these 
 became changed into men and women, who formed the 
 first series of totem clans. For example, some of the 
 inai-aurli left behind by the carpet-snake ancestor changed 
 into carpet-snake men and women ; some of those left 
 behind by the lizards changed into lizard men and women ; 
 and so on through the other totemic clans. Since the 
 time long ago when the totemic clans were thus instituted, 
 these spirit individuals or mai-aurli have been continually 
 undergoing reincarnation, and their embodiments in the 
 flesh are Urabunna men and women.^ 
 '^^^. The places where the spirit-children or mai-aurli were 
 
 paltinta, ,ri_i-ji^ • i -i 
 
 or places leit behmd by the animal or semi-human ancestors are 
 
 b'^totemic '^'^^^^ paltinta by the Urabunna, and the corresponding 
 
 spirits places are called oknanikilla by the Arunta. Some of these 
 
 rdncama- P^^^^^^ i" the Urabunna territory are inhabited by spirits 
 
 tion. of one particular totem only, others are inhabited by 
 
 the spirits of two or more different totems. Thus close 
 
 to a spot where Messrs. Spencer and Gillen encamped 
 
 there is a large group of granite boulders, which arose to 
 
 mark the place where in the far-off times the ancestors 
 
 of the pigeon clan danced and played about. Of these 
 
 boulders one represents an old male and another a female 
 
 ancestor. The rocks are supposed to be inhabited only by 
 
 pigeon spirits which emanated from the bodies of the two 
 
 ancestors. On the other hand, a quarter of a mile away 
 
 from these granite rocks there is a pool inhabited by spirits 
 
 which were left there by emu, rain, and a grub ancestor. 
 
 Sometimes there seems to be a special bond of relationship 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 145 sq. 2 lUd. p. 146. 
 
I TOTEMISM IN THE URABUNNA TRIBE 183 
 
 between the totemic clans whose spirits congregate at the 
 same place. For example, there is a pool of water haunted 
 by spirits of people who all belong to the mosquito, the 
 blow-fly, the march-fly, or the sand-fly totem. Whenever 
 a person dies, his or her spirit goes back to the place where 
 it was left long ago by the totemic ancestor in the days of 
 old (the ularaka or alcheringd). The spirits of pigeon people, 
 for example, go back into the rocks where the pigeon 
 ancestors performed ceremonies and deposited the spirit 
 children of the pigeon clan. The spirits of mosquito people 
 go back into the pool where the mosquito ancestors per- 
 formed ceremonies and left behind them the spirit children 
 of the mosquito clan, and so forth.* 
 
 A curious feature of the reincarnation theory of the a child 
 Urabunna is this : they think that at each successive sex°ci^s'* 
 reincarnation the new-born child changes its sex, its class or and totem 
 
 of each 
 
 phratry (moiety, as Messrs. Spencer and Gillen call it), and reincarna- 
 
 its totem. Thus, for instance, if a Kirarawa man of the emu ti°"- 
 
 totem dies, his spirit goes back to the place where it was left 
 
 by the emu ancestor in the olden [alcheringd) days. There 
 
 it remains for some time, but sooner or later it is born again 
 
 as a girl from the body of a Matthurie woman, who, of 
 
 necessity, belongs to another totem ; and thus at each 
 
 reincarnation the individual changes his or her class 
 
 (phratry), sex, and totem. They think that if the spirit of a 
 
 Kirarawa man were reincarnated in a Kirarawa woman, 
 
 it would either be born prematurely and die or would cause 
 
 the death of the mother. Premature births and accidents 
 
 at child-birth are always attributed by the Urabunna to 
 
 the entrance of a child-spirit into the body of a wrong 
 
 woman. In the course of ages any single individual can 
 
 thus, by a series of rebirths, run through the whole gamut of 
 
 the totems, alternating from side to side (from Kirarawa 
 
 to Matthurie) of the tribe, but alway returning at death to 
 
 its original home.^ 
 
 Just as in the Arunta and other central tribes so in the Magical 
 
 Urabunna, the members of the totem clans are supposed to ^rfOT^e? 
 
 be responsible for the production of the totem animal by the 
 
 or plant from which the clan takes its name, and for this for the "* 
 
 ' Norlhtm Tribes, pp. 146 sq. » Ibid. pp. 148 sq. multiplica- 
 
 '^'^ ' i-t- t » tion of their 
 
 totems. 
 
1 84 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 purpose they perform magical ceremonies which they call 
 pitjinta. These ceremonies correspond exactly in nature 
 and intention to the intichiuma ceremonies of the Arunta^ 
 Ceremony For example, there is a local centre of the rain totem at a 
 rai"^''^ water-hole called Tjantjiwanperta, close to Mount Kingston, 
 and here the headman of the rain clan performs ceremonies 
 for the production of rain. While he is engaged in this 
 solemn function he wears a head-dress of hair -string com- 
 pletely coated over with white down, which covers his 
 shoulders and chest. A tuft of cockatoo feathers forms a 
 crest to the head-dress, and bunches of eagle-hawk feathers 
 hang down from his girdle. The costume is perhaps 
 intended to mimick the clouds. Holding a spear-thrower 
 in his hand the rain-maker squats on the ground, while two 
 men strike the earth with stones and chant a charm. Then 
 the performer rises to a stooping position, striking out and 
 moving the spear-thrower backwards and forwards, quivering 
 his body and turning his head from side to side. At 
 intervals he lifts his body and gazes into the sky in 
 imitation of certain cloud men, who according to tradition 
 used to ascend into the sky and make the clouds from which 
 Ceremony the rain came down.^ Again, the headman of a snake clan 
 sn^es. '^ ^ performs a ceremony for the multiplication of snakes by 
 piercing the skin of his arms with sharp bones, his body 
 being streaked with lines of red and yellow ochre, and his 
 head adorned with a sort of banner. When the bones 
 employed in this rite are not in use, they are wrapped in 
 hair cut from the head of a snake man. After the ceremony, 
 when the snakes have become plentiful, men who do not belong 
 to the snake clan go out and catch some of the reptiles and 
 bring them to the headman of the snake clan. A younger 
 tribal brother who does not belong to the clan presents him 
 with some fat taken from one of the snakes. He rubs his arms 
 with the fat and says, " You eat — all of you." They think that 
 if men of other clans were to eat snakes without thus obtain- 
 ing permission from the headman of the snake clan, he would 
 warn them that by and by they would see no more snakes.' 
 
 ■ Northern Tribes, pp. 149, 283 sq. 214 sqq. 
 As to tlie intichiuma ceremonies, see 2 Northern Tribes, pp. 284-286. 
 
 above, pp. 104 sqq., and below, pp. 3 Ibid. pp. 286 sq. 
 
I TOTEMISM IN THE URABUNNA TRIBE 185 
 
 Similarly in the Wonkgongaru tribe, which has the same Ceremonies 
 social organisation as the Urabunna, the headman of the j^j, u^g 
 fish clan makes fish by going into a pool and piercing his and lizards. 
 scrotum and the skin round the navel with little pointed 
 bones, till his blood reddens the water, which is supposed to 
 produce fish. Again, in order to produce a crop of lice a 
 man of the louse clan takes mud from a sandbank and rubs 
 it on two trees, one of them an ordinary louse tree and the 
 other a crab louse tree. After that he throws the mud 
 about in all directions and the vermin swarm out in con- 
 sequence. Similarly a man of the jew lizard clan can make 
 lizards plentiful very simply by knocking chips off the face 
 of a certain rock and throwing them about. The rock, 
 which may be seen on a hill called Coppertop, is supposed 
 to represent an old jew lizard standing up and throwing 
 boomerangs. On the hill there grows a tree, the rough bark 
 of which is thought to be or to resemble the skin of the 
 lizard. The Wonkgongaru natives have no jew lizard man 
 among them, so when they wish to increase the supply of 
 these reptiles they invoke the aid of the jew lizard man of 
 the Urabunna tribe, who obligingly goes to the lizard tree, 
 strips off some of the bark, and sends it to the Wonkgongaru 
 men. They burn the bark in their own country, and by 
 that means ensure a supply of the animal.' 
 
 In the Urabunna tribe, as in most Australian tribes, Among the 
 every person is strictly forbidden to eat his or her totem ^^*an^ay 
 animal or plant, but there is no objection to his killing the not eat his 
 animal and handing it over to be eaten by men of other i,e™ayi£iii 
 totems.' Indeed, as we have just seen, the headman of ahis'otem 
 
 . , , /. . , * r . 1 animal and 
 
 totem clan performs magical ceremonies for the very purpose hand it 
 of multiplying his totem animal or plant in order that it °'^^^ '° ^ 
 
 ^ ■' " ^ eaten by 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 287 sq. In The rule not to injure the totem "'^" °^ 
 
 regard to the magical production of animal would naturally include the °'"*'' 
 
 lice it is to be remembered that these prohibition to kill it. Yet in their ™ ' 
 
 vermin are regularly eaten by many later work (Northern Tribes, I.e.) the 
 
 savages. writers tell us that among the Urabunna 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 467 ; Northern there is no objection to a man's killing 
 
 Tribes, p. 149, In the former passage his totem. We may accept the latter 
 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen add : statement as the more correct of the 
 
 " For example, an emu man or woman two, since it was written after the 
 
 must not in any way injure an emu, authors had paid u special visit to 
 
 nor must he partake of its flesh even the Urabunna tribe, 
 when he has not killed it himself." 
 
i86 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 may be eaten by men of other clans. In this respect the 
 Urabunna are in agreement with the rest of the central 
 tribes, whatever differences in social organisation there may 
 be between them. " The fundamental idea, common to all 
 of the tribes, is that men of any totemic group are responsible 
 for the maintenance of the supply of the animal or plant 
 which gives its name to the group, and that the one object 
 of increasing the number of the totemic animal or plant is 
 simply that of increasing the general food-supply. If I am a 
 kangaroo man, then I provide kangaroo flesh for emu men, 
 and in return I expect them to provide me with a supply of 
 emu flesh and eggs, and so on right through all of the 
 totems. At the present day this is actually the belief of 
 the Central Australian savage. Further still, no man must 
 do anything which will impair his power to cause the increase 
 of his totem." ^ 
 
 § 3. Totemism in the Arunta and North-Central Tribes^ 
 
 Differences The totemic and social organisation of the Arunta and 
 
 of totemic kindred tribes is sharply distinguished from that of the 
 
 and social . _. , . , ^ 1 , • 
 
 organisa- Urabunna m the foUowmg respects: — 
 
 tion be- 
 tween the 1 jfortkern Tribes, p. 327. side of the Gulf of Carpentaria) ; (5) 
 the"ura^" ^ Messrs. Spencer and Gillen The Mara nation (including the Mara, 
 bunna " (Northern Tribes, pp. 75 sq.) divide Anula, and probably other tribes on 
 the central and north-central tribes of the western coast of the Gulf of Car- 
 Australia into five groups or nations, pentaria). 
 
 the tribes in each group or nation Since the following account of Arunta 
 
 being more or less akin to each other totemism was written I have received 
 
 and distinct from the rest in social n volume of Arunta myths, traditions, 
 
 organisation and customs. Each and folk-tales collected by the Rev. C. 
 
 nation may be named after the prin- Strehlow of the German Lutheran 
 
 cipal or most typical tribe which it Mission at Hermannsburg in South 
 
 includes. The five nations distin- AnsiraXidi {Mythen, Sagen und Mdrchen 
 
 guished by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen des Aranda Stammes in Zentral Am- 
 
 are as follows : (i) The Dieri nation tralien, gesammelt von Carl Strehlow, 
 
 (including the Dieri and Urabunna bearbeitet von Moritz Freiherm von 
 
 tribes, etc., in the basin of Lake Eyre) ; Leonhardi, Frankfurt am Main, 1907). 
 
 (2) The Arunta nation (including the As to the work of the Mission to which 
 
 Arunta, Ilpirra, Iliaura, Unmatjera, Mr. Strehlow belongs, Professor Bald- 
 
 and Kaitish tribes) ; (3) The War- win Spencer writes to me as follows 
 
 RAMUNGA nation (including the War- (letter dated Melbourne, loth March 
 
 ramunga, Worgaia, Tjingilli, Umbaia, 1908): " For at least twenty years the 
 
 Bingongina, Walpari, Wulmala, and Lutheran Missions have been teaching 
 
 Gnanji tribes); (4) The Binbinga the natives that altjira means 'god,' 
 
 nation (including the Binbinga, Allaua, and that all their sacred ceremonies, 
 
 and probably other tribes on the west in fact even their ordinary corroborees, 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 187 
 
 (i) Whereas among the Urabunnathe totems are heredi- Arunta 
 tary, children always inheriting the totem of their mother, nof"^^. 
 among the Arunta and kindred tribes the totems are not tary, 
 hereditary, but are determined for each individual by the 
 particular place at which his or her mother first felt her 
 womb quickened. 
 
 (2) Whereas in the Urabunna the totems regulate mar- and do not 
 riage,a man being always forbidden to marry women of his own J^fJiJ^™ 
 totem and of certain other totems, in the Arunta and kindred 
 
 tribes the totems have no influence whatever on marriage, a 
 man being free to marry a woman of his own or any other 
 totem, provided that she belongs to the class and subclass 
 (phratry and subphratry) into which he is bound to marry. 
 
 (3) Whereas the Urabunna are divided into two TheAruma 
 exogamous sections (classes or phratries), the Arunta and ^*J^g]lh^'* 
 kindred tribes are divided into eight exogamous sections exogamous 
 fclasses and subclasses, or phratries and subphratries), though "^ ^^'^ 
 
 in some places only four of these sections bear special names. 
 
 (4) Whereas in the Urabunna tribe the descent of the with 
 classes or phratries is in the maternal line, the children j^g"' 
 taking their class or phratry from their mother, in the paternal 
 Arunta and kindred tribes the descent of the classes or 
 phratries is in the paternal line, the children taking their 
 class or phratry from their father.' 
 
 nre wicked things. They have pro- towards the heathen and devilish 
 
 hibited any being performed on the beliefs and practices of their parents, 
 
 Mission station, and have endeavoured but they have actually attempted to 
 
 in every way to put a stop to them and break these down to the extent of 
 
 to prevent the natives from attending manying individuals 0/ wron^ groups. 
 
 them, and certainly they have never It is rather late for any one of them, 
 
 seen one performed. Under these con- however well he may know the lan- 
 
 ditions it is not altogether surprising guage, to attempt an investigation into 
 
 that when S. questions the natives he sacred beliefs and customs." In these 
 
 discovers that altjira means god, and circumstances it seems to me that the 
 
 gets very doubtful information in regard sources from which Mr. Strehlow has 
 
 to all sacred or secret matters. It drawn his accounts are deeply tainted ; 
 
 would be a strange thing if the natives and as it would be impossible for me, 
 
 were to talk to him freely and truthfully who have no first-hand knowledge of 
 
 on these matters. . . . Not only have these tribes, to filter the native liquid 
 
 the missionaries for years past sternly clear of its alien sediment, I shall 
 
 rebuked the members of their flock abstain from making use of Mr. Streh- 
 
 ( whose presence in church and school low's information, 
 is an indispensable condition to a par- ' Native Tribes, pp. %<) sq., yosqq., 
 
 ticipation in the distribution of flour, ll'^ sgq.; Northern Triies, pp. "josq., 
 
 tobacco, etc.) for any inclination 74^?., 143 f?., \^o sq. 
 
i88 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Apparent The effect of the first two of these rules is at first sight 
 
 confusion ^ nroduce great confusion in the totemic system of the 
 
 of totems r & • c j 
 
 among the Arunta. For in the first place " no one totem is conhned 
 Arunta. ^^ ^^ members of a particular class or subclass ; in the 
 second place the child's totem will sometimes be found to 
 be the same as that of the father, sometimes the same as 
 that of the mother, and not infrequently it will be different 
 from that of either parent ; and in the third place there is no 
 definite relationship between the totem of the father and 
 mother, such as exists in the Urabunna and many other 
 Australian tribes — in fact perhaps in the majority of the 
 latter. You may, for example, examine at first a family in 
 which the father is a witchetty grub and the mother a wild 
 cat, and you may find, supposing there be two children, 
 that they are both witchetty grubs. In the next family 
 examined perhaps both parents will be witchetty grubs, and 
 of two children one may belong to the same totem, and the 
 other may be an emu ; another family will show the father 
 to be, say, an emu, the mother a plum-tree, and of their 
 children one may be a witchetty grub, another a lizard, and 
 so on, the totem names being apparently mixed up in the 
 greatest confusion possible." ^ 
 This The Arunta theory, which reduces this seeming confusion 
 
 apparent j.^ order, is as follows. In the remote alcherinica times there 
 
 confusion ' " 
 
 is reduced lived ancestors " who, in the native mind, are so intimately 
 the°Arunt'a associated With the animals or plants the name of which 
 theory, that they bear that an alcheringa man of, say, the kangaroo totem 
 of^the'dead "^^7 sometimes be spoken of either as a man-kangaroo or 
 congregate as a kangaroo^man. The identity of the human individual 
 spots, is often sunk in that of the animal or plant from which he 
 which may jg supposed to have originated." ^ These semi - human 
 scribed as ancestors, endowed with powers which are not possessed by 
 cenfre's°'^™ their living descendants, roamed about the same country 
 the spirits which is Still inhabited by the tribe, and in their wanderings 
 totem'lc ^^^y S^^^ "^^ '^° many of the most marked features of the 
 clan lieep- landscape, such as the gaps and gorges which cleave the 
 gefhe° and Macdonnell Ranges. Each troop or band of these semi- 
 not mixing mythical folk consisted of members of one particular totem 
 
 with the ■ 1,1.1 1 .... 
 
 spirits of clan, whether the totem was the wild cat, the witchetty 
 
 otlier clans. i ^^^^^ bribes, p. 115. s Ibid. p. ng. 
 
I TOTEM ISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 189 
 
 grub, the kangaroo, the frog, the Hakea flower, or what not. 
 And every man and woman of the band carried about with 
 him or her one or more of the sacred stones which the 
 Arunta call churinga, each of which is intimately associated 
 with the spirit part of some individual man or woman. 
 Either where they originated and stayed or else where, 
 during their wanderings, they camped for a time, there were 
 formed what the natives call oknanikilla, which we may 
 describe as local totem centres. At each of these spots, 
 which are all well known to the old men, who hand the know- 
 ledge down from generation to generation, a certain number 
 of the alcheringa ancestors went into the ground, each of 
 them carrying his sacred stone {churinga) with him. His 
 body died, but some natural feature, such as a rock or tree, 
 arose to mark the spot, while his spirit part remained in the 
 churinga. At the same time many of the churinga which 
 they carried with them, and each one of which was associ- 
 ated with a spirit individual, were placed in the ground, and 
 in every such case a natural feature of the landscape was 
 formed to mark the spot. Thus the whole country is now 
 dotted over with oknanikilla or local totem centres, at each 
 of which are deposited a number of sacred stones or churinga, 
 with spirit individuals associated with them. Each local 
 totem centre {oknanikilla') is tenanted by the spirits of one 
 totem only. One spot, for example, is haunted by spirits of 
 the wild cat totem ; another by spirits of the emu totem ; 
 another by spirits of the frog totem ; and so on through all 
 the totems. The totemic districts, as we may call them, 
 which surround these totemic centres vary from a few 
 square yards to many square miles. The whole country of 
 the Arunta, Kaitish, and Ilpirra tribes can be mapped out 
 into a large number of such areas of various sizes.' 
 
 This idea of spirit individuals associated with churinga From these- 
 and resident at certain definite spots lies at the root of the ^^J^,.^" 
 present totemic system of the Arunta and kindred tribes, bodied 
 For the natives believe that every living member of the Jhe^drad 
 tribe is the reincarnation of one of these spirits. Each of p^ss imo 
 these disembodied spirits takes up its abode in some natural are bom ' 
 object, such as a tree or rock, at its own local totem centre ; ^^S"'" »» 
 
 ' ' ' children, 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 119-123, 126. 
 
igo TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 who take and this abode of the spirit is called its nanja. From time 
 from thr" *° *''"^' when a woman approaches one of these haunted 
 local totem spots, a Spirit passes from it into her body, and in due time 
 whTch the" is born as a child. The totem of the child thus born is 
 mother first necessarily that of the local totem centre at which the 
 ^"^^"^ mother first felt her womb quickened ; for according to the 
 quickened, native belief the child is nothing but a reincarnation of one 
 of the spirits which haunted the spot. Thus, if a woman 
 first becomes aware that she is with child near a place 
 haunted by spirits of the emu totem, then her child will be 
 of the emu totem ; if she felt the first premonitions of 
 maternity at a spot haunted by spirits of the kangaroo 
 totem, then her child will be of the kangaroo totem ; and 
 so forth.^ 
 Examples "We may take the following as a typical example of 
 
 theory of ^^^^ each man and woman gains a totem name. Close 
 conception, to Alice Springs is a large and important witchetty grub 
 totem centre or oknanikilla. Here there were deposited 
 in the alcheringa a large number of churinga carried by 
 witchetty grub men and women. A large number of 
 prominent rocks and boulders and certain ancient gum- 
 trees along the sides of a picturesque gap in the ranges, 
 are the nanja trees and rocks of these spirits, which, so 
 long as they remain in spirit form, they usually frequent. 
 If a woman conceives a child after having been near to 
 this gap, it is one of these spirit individuals which has 
 entered her body, and therefore, quite irrespective of what 
 the mother's or father's totem may chance to be, that child, 
 when born, must of necessity be of the witchetty grub 
 totem ; it is, in fact, nothing else but the reincarnation of 
 one of these witchetty grub people of the alcheringa. 
 Suppose, for example, to take a particular and actual 
 instance, an emu woman from another locality comes to 
 Alice Springs, and whilst there becomes aware that she 
 has conceived a child, and then returns to her own locality 
 before the child is born, that child, though it may be born 
 in an emu locality, is an Udnirringita or witchetty grub. 
 It must be, the natives say, because it entered the mother 
 at Alice Springs, where there are only witchetty grub spirit 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 123 sq. ; Northern Tribes, p 150. 
 
I TOTEMISM OP THE ARUNTA, ETC. 191 
 
 individuals. Had it entered her body within the limits of 
 her own emu locality, it would as inevitably have been an 
 emu. To take another example, quite recently the lubra 
 or wife of a witchetty grub man, she belonging to the same 
 totem, conceived a child while on a visit to a neighbouring 
 Quatcha or water locality, which lies away to the east of 
 Alice Springs, that child's totem is water ; or, again, an Alice 
 Springs woman, when asked by us as to why her child was 
 a witchetty grub (in this instance belonging to the same 
 totem as both of its parents), told us that one day she was 
 taking a drink of water near to the gap in the Ranges where 
 the [witchetty grub] spirits dwell when suddenly she heard a 
 child's voice crying out, ' Mia, mia ! ' — the native term for 
 relationship which includes that of mother. Not being 
 anxious to have a child, she ran away as fast as she could, 
 but to no purpose ; she was fat and well fa%'oured, and such 
 women the spirit children prefer ; one of them had gone 
 inside her, and of course it was born a witchetty grub." ' 
 
 This theory of conception as a reincarnation of the dead The theory 
 is universally held by all the Central Australian tribes °ion°iT 
 which have been investigated by Messrs. Spencer and rcincarna- 
 Gillen ; every man, woman, and child is supposed by them ^tad is 
 to be a reimbodiment of an ancestral spirit. " In the whole universally 
 of this wide area, the belief that every living member of central 
 the tribe is the reincarnation of a spirit ancestor is universal. Australian 
 
 tribes. 
 
 This belief is just as firmly held by the Urabunna people, 
 who count descent in the female line, as it is by the Arunta 
 and Warramunga, who count descent in the male line." ^ 
 " The natives, one and all in these tribes, believe that the 
 child is the direct result of the entrance into the mother 
 of an ancestral spirit individual. They have no idea of 
 procreation as being directly associated with sexual inter- 
 course, and firmly believe that children can be born 
 without this taking place. There are, for example, in the 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 124 sq. The ^ Northern Tribes, p. xi. ; compare 
 
 writers add that "spirit children are id. pp. 145, 606. Among the tribes 
 
 also supposed to be especially fond of which hold this belief are mentioned 
 
 travelling in whirlwinds, and, on seeing the Binbinga and Anula, two northern 
 
 one of these, which are very frequent tribes on or near the coast of the Gulf 
 
 at cerbiin times of the year, approaching of Carpentaria (pp. cit. p. 145). 
 her, a woman will at once run away." 
 
192 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 Arunta country certain stones which are supposed to be 
 charged with spirit children who can, by magic, be made 
 to enter the bodies of women, or will do so of their own 
 accord." ^ 
 Stone Such stones go by the name of erathipa, which means 
 
 sp'irits rf^ " child." There is one of them, for example, about fifteen 
 dead plum- miles to the south-south-east of Alice Springs. It is a 
 conVegTte'^ rounded stone projecting from the ground to a height of 
 waiting to about three feet among mulga scrub. The spirits which 
 again. haunt it are of the plum-tree totem. On one side of the 
 stone there is a round hole through which the spirits of 
 dead plum-tree people look out for women who may chance 
 to pass near ; and it is firmly believed that if a woman 
 visits the stone she will conceive a plum-tree child. Should 
 a young woman who does not wish to become a mother 
 be obliged to pass near the stone, she will carefully disguise 
 her youth, distorting her face and hobbling along on a 
 crutch. She will bend double like an old hag, and mimick- 
 ing the cracked voice of age she will say, " Don't come to 
 me, I am an old woman." Not only may women become 
 pregnant by visiting the stone, but it is believed that, by per- 
 forming a very simple ceremony, a malicious man may cause 
 women and even children to conceive. All that he has to do 
 is to go to the stone by himself and, having cleared a space 
 of ground about it, to rub the stone with his hands and 
 mutter these words, " Plenty of young women, you look 
 Trees and go quickly." ^ Again, to take another example, the 
 where tiie ^ncestor of the black snake totem in the Warramunga tribe 
 
 spirits of o 
 
 dead black is said to have wandered over the country performing 
 people ceremonies, making creeks and hills, and leaving all along 
 gather. his tracks many spirits of black snake children, which now 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 330 sq. In that it may come without this, which 
 
 their earlier work, before they had merely, as it were, prepares the mother 
 
 extended their researches from the for the reception and birth also of an 
 
 centre of Australia to the Gulf of already-formed spirit child who inhabits 
 
 Carpentaria, Messrs. Spencer and one of the local totem centres. Time 
 
 GiUen expressed themselves as follows after time we have questioned them on 
 
 on this subject: "We have amongst this point, and always received the 
 
 the Arunta, Luritcha, and Ilpirra reply that the child was not the direct 
 
 tribes, and probably also amongst result of intercourse " {Native Tribes, 
 
 others such as the Warramunga, the p. 265). 
 
 idea firmly held that the child is 2 Native Tribes, pp. 335-338. 
 
 not the direct result of intercourse. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 193 
 
 dwell in the rocks around the pools and in the gum-trees 
 which border a creek. No Warramunga woman at the 
 present day would dare to strike one of these trees with 
 an axe, because she is firmly convinced that to do so 
 would release one of the black snake spirits who would 
 immediately dart into her body. They imagine that the 
 spirit is very minute — about the size of a small grain of 
 sand — and that it enters the woman through the navel and 
 grows within her into a child.' 
 
 Each spirit individual, as we saw, is supposed to be Everyspirit 
 closely bound up with his sacred stone or cituringa, which ^^,1,"„ 
 he carried with him when he wandered about his ancestral (birth-stick 
 home (the oknanikilla) or rested on the nanja tree or stone X\ot\s) and 
 which he is believed especially to frequent. The natives think "s "anja 
 that when a spirit child enters a woman to be born, he stone, 
 drops his sacred stone {clmringd). When the child is born, *'>'='■« '' 
 
 ii_ 1 11 , <• 1 ... ^ , lives in its 
 
 the mother tells the father the position of the tree or rock disem- 
 near which she supposes the child to have entered her, and '"'^''-'i 
 he with one or two of the older men goes to the spot and 
 searches for the dropped churinga. This precious object is 
 usually, but not always, thought to be a stone marked with 
 a device peculiar to the totem of the spirit child, and there- 
 fore of the newly born infant. If it cannot be found, the 
 men cut a wooden one out of the hard wood tree which is 
 nearest to the nanja tree or stone, that is, to the tree or 
 stone where the spirit of the new-born child dwelt before its 
 reincarnation. Having cut the wooden churinga they carve 
 on it some device peculiar to the totem. Ever afterwards 
 the nanja tree or stone of the spirit is the nanja of the child, 
 and the churinga thus found or made is its churinga nanja. 
 A definite relation is supposed to exist between ever)- person 
 and his nanja tree or stone. Every animal on the tree is 
 tabooed {ekerinja) to him ; for instance, if an opossum 
 climbs up it or a bird alights on it, the animal or the bird is 
 sacred and must on no account be molested. A native 
 has been known earnestly to beg a white man not to cut 
 down a particular tree because it was his nanja tree, and 
 he feared that if it were felled some evil would befall him.- 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 162, 330 sq. to the churinga, see above, pp. 124- 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 132 jy. As 126. 
 
 VOL. I 
 
194 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The ertna- In each local totem centre [pknanikilld) there is a spot 
 
 tuiunga, or ^hj^h the nativcs call the ertnatulunga. This is a sacred 
 
 secret store- *^ . . 
 
 house in Storehouse, usually a small cave or crevice in some lonely 
 
 "auHn'a ^P°* among the rugged hills. The entrance is carefully 
 
 (the sacred blocked up with stones arranged so naturally as to let no 
 
 orbirti°"^^ chance passer-by suspect that here lie concealed the most 
 
 sticks) are sacred possessious of the tribe. These treasures consist of 
 
 ^^ ' the sacred stones or sticks {chiiringa), one of which was always 
 
 found here whenever one of the local totem spirits entered 
 
 into a woman to be born. Often the precious sticks or 
 
 stones are carefully tied up in bundles. Every member of 
 
 the tribe, man, woman, and child, has his or her birth-stone 
 
 or birth-stick {churinga nanjd) in one or other of these secret 
 
 storehouses. The spot at which a child was born and 
 
 brought up, and at which it will probably spend the greater 
 
 part of its life, has nothing whatever to do with determining 
 
 the resting-place of his birth-stone {churinga nanjd). That 
 
 necessarily goes to the storehouse of the local totem centre 
 
 from which his spirit came, that is to the spot where the 
 
 churinga and their accompanying spirits were deposited by 
 
 the mythical ancestors in the far-off times of the alcheringa. 
 
 For example, a witchetty grub woman, who lives at Alice 
 
 Springs, conceived a child at an emu locality twelve miles 
 
 away to the north. She gave birth to the child at her own 
 
 home, and the child lives there, but its churinga nanja was 
 
 found as usual at the place of conception, and it is now 
 
 deposited there in the sacred storehouse of the emu clan.^ 
 
 Each sacred storehouse is under the charge of the local 
 
 headman {alatunjd) ; indeed, his most important function is 
 
 to take care of the hallowed spot.^ 
 
 Sanctity of Though women as well as men have their birth-stones 
 
 houses in o"" birth-sticks in these sacred storehouses {ertnatulunga), the 
 
 which the women are never allowed to see them ; indeed only the 
 
 birth-stones , , - , . \. , 
 
 and birth- Very Old women know of the existence of these mysterious 
 sticiis objects. Into the mysteries of the sacred storehouse and 
 
 \chunnga) , "^ •' 
 
 are pre- its Contents no woman dare pry at risk of death.* The 
 
 served. 
 
 1 Native Tribes, pp. ill sq. 's called an ertnatulunga, no woman, 
 
 2 /^^-^ p_ J I child, or uninitiated man dares venture 
 
 on pain of death" (Native Tribes, 
 ^ "Near to this storehouse, which p. ii). 
 
1 TOTEMISM OF THE AKUATA, ETC. 195 
 
 general position, though not the exact spot, of this primitive 
 sanctuary is known to the women, who must go long 
 distances in order to avoid approaching it. For example, 
 a deep ravine some miles long is the only pass through the 
 mountains which lie to the south of Alice Springs, and in 
 the side of the ravine is one of the storehouses. Till the 
 white men came, no woman was ever allowed to traverse 
 the pass ; if she wished to cross the mountains, she had 
 laboriously to climb the steep slopes at some distance from 
 the ravine and then to pick her way down on the other side. 
 The immediate neighbourhood of any one of the sacred 
 storehouses is a kind of haven of refuge for wild animals ; 
 for once they come near it, they are safe ; no pursuer would 
 dare to spear a hunted kangaroo, emu, wallaby, or any other 
 creature which had run, by instinct or by chance, to the 
 holy ground. Even the plants which grow there are never 
 touched or interfered with in any way. The sanctity of 
 such spots will be better understood when it is remembered 
 that they house the birth-stones not only of all the living 
 but also of all the deceased members of the tribe, and that 
 with these birth-stones the spirits of all the people, whether 
 alive or dead, are believed to be closely bound up. Thus 
 the sacred storehouses in the recesses of the solitary hills are 
 in a sense temples or synagogues in which from time to time 
 the living meet to hold solemn communion with the dead. 
 The loss of the birth-stones or birth-sticks, which are thus 
 associated with the spirits of the whole community, is the 
 most serious calamity that can befall a tribe. Robbed of 
 these spiritual treasures the men have been known to weep 
 and wail for a fortnight, plastering themselves with white 
 clay as if they were mourning for the dead.' 
 
 Before a man is allowed to see one of these sanctuaries he imroduc- 
 must not only have passed through the ceremonies of circum- """ °' 
 
 ^ ^ *=* young men 
 
 cision and subincision, but must also have shown himself io these 
 capable of self-restraint and worthy of being admitted to the a^'^'l^.eia- 
 tribal mysteries. If he be light and frivolous, a babbler like t'on 'o 
 a woman, many years may elapse before the great secret is Jherr'sacred 
 revealed to him. When he is at last deemed ripe for the "ames. 
 honour, a time is appointed for his initiation by the headman 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 134-136. 
 
196 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 of the local group to which he belongs, and he is escorted by 
 the older men to the hallowed spot. There he is shown the 
 sacred sticks and stones ; one by one they are examined 
 carefully and reverently, while the old men tell him to 
 whom among the dead or the living they belong. While 
 the revelation is proceeding the men sing in a low voice of 
 the olden times (the alcheriiigd), and at its close the man is told 
 his secret name {aritna churingd) and warned that he must 
 never allow any one, except the men of his own group, to 
 hear it uttered. Such secret names are given soon after 
 birth to every member of the tribe. The headman of the 
 particular group in whose sacred storehouse an infant's 
 birth-stone {churinga nanjd) is deposited, consults with the 
 older men of the group and bestows the name on the child. 
 It may be either a new name or the name of some famous 
 man or woman of the olden time {alcheringd), of whom the 
 child is thought to be a reincarnation. This secret name 
 is never uttered except on the most solemn occasions, 
 when the birth-stones or birth-sticks {churingd) are being 
 examined, and it is known only to the fully initiated men 
 of the local totem group. To mention it in the hearing of 
 women or of men of another group would be a sort of 
 sacrilege. The native believes that a stranger who knew 
 his secret name would be able to work him ill by magic. 
 After his mystic name has been revealed to him for the first 
 time at the sacred storehouse [ertnatulungd), the man is 
 painted on the face and body with the particular device of 
 his totem. This is done by the headman and the older men, 
 who stand to the novice in relationship of tribal or actual 
 father. In one of the local groups of the witchetty grub 
 clan the totemic pattern so painted consists of parallel stripes 
 of pink and red copied from a sacred painting which has 
 existed time out of mind on the smooth face of a rock in 
 the Emily Gap, the totem centre of the Witchetty Grubs. 
 On his return from the holy ground the novice wears 
 the painted device on his body till it wears off with time 
 and weather.^ 
 
 1 Native Tribes, pp. 138-140. On tion Professor Baldwin Spencer writes to 
 the subject of sacred names and their me as follows (lothMarch 1908): "This 
 connection with the theory of reincarna- is one of their most sacred beliefs, and 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 197 
 
 The beliefs and practices of the Unmatjera and Kaitish The beliefs 
 tribes in regard to the sacred birth- stones are similar to f°g/„7ihe 
 those of the Arunta. In the Unmatjera tribe the names Unmatjera 
 both for the things themselves {churingd) and for the sacred fnbM tn'^'' 
 storehouses {ertnatulungd) in which they are kept are the r-gard to 
 same ; but in the Kaitish tribe both names are different, birih^stones 
 In both tribes the sacred storehouse is under the charge of ^""^ *'°'^=- 
 the headman of the local totem group, and in the Kaitish iike those 
 tribe, as in the Arunta, the immediate neighbourhood of the °l^ ""^ 
 storehouses is sacred ground, and nothing may be destroyed 
 there, because it is haunted by the spirits associated with 
 the churinga. When a Kaitish man wishes a woman to 
 conceive, he will take a churinga and carry it to a spot 
 where there is a special stone called kwerka-punga or " child- 
 stone." This stone he rubs with the churinga, at the same 
 time asking a child spirit {kurinah) to go straight into the 
 woman.' In the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes, just as in the 
 Arunta, every person has his or her secret or churinga name ; 
 sometimes the name is that of the alcheringa ancestor of 
 whom he or she is supposed to be the reincarnation." 
 
 The churinga, which play so important a part in the Duscrip- 
 customs and beliefs of the Arunta and kindred tribes, are 'a°„"„°1,^^.* 
 always under the charge of the headman of the local totem 
 group and cannot be touched without his consent.' They 
 are rounded, oval, or elongate flattened stones and slabs of 
 wood, varying in length from three or four inches to over 
 five feet. In shape, at least among the Arunta, they are 
 usually oval or tapering at either end into a more or less 
 
 the one about which they are most just shut up like an oyster. I saw that 
 
 secretive. Every individual is a rein- there was something the matter, and 
 
 carnation of a previously existing in- casually moved away, when he told 
 
 dividual, or his spirit is one of those Uillen what the latter wanted to know, 
 
 carried about in the alcheringa by the only in a whisper. As a matter of 
 
 old ancestors (associated with their fact the men have as their secret 
 
 stores of churinga). The most difficult names those of ancestors mentioned 
 
 thing to learn is the ' sacred ' name of in their myths simply Kcause they are 
 
 any individual : this they never mention supposed to be their reincarnations, 
 
 except in a very subdued tone, and only and, further still, the c/nirim;.! of those 
 
 in the presence of really elder men. I ancestors are their churiinii." 
 
 remember thatwhen I had been amongst ' Northern Triies, pp. 269-27 1. As 
 
 them only a short time — though I had to the "child-stones" of the Arunta, 
 
 been watching their sacred ceremonies see above, pp. 1 9 1 jy. 
 
 — Gillen asked an old man something ' Northern Tribes, p. 273. 
 
 about one of these 'sacred names' — he ' Xativc Tribes, p. 154. 
 
igS TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 rounded point. But a few old wooden churinga, belonging 
 to two lizard totems, have been found in the shape of a 
 curved boomerang. The stone churinga are always flat on 
 both sides : the wooden ones have usually one side flat and 
 the other slightly concave. A certain number of the smaller 
 wooden churinga have a hole pierced through them at one 
 end, to which is attached a string made of hair. Such 
 churinga are used as bull- roarers at certain ceremonies, 
 being whirled rapidly round at the end of the string so as 
 to make a humming or booming noise. A certain number 
 of the stone churinga are similarly bored, but they are never 
 used as bull-roarers nor indeed, at the present day, for any 
 purpose which would require them to be thus bored.^ 
 
 By far the most of the Arunta churinga, whether made 
 of wood or stone, have patterns incised upon them with the 
 teeth of an opossum. These patterns represent, or at all 
 events have reference to, the totems ; but in all cases the 
 design is purely conventional and never attempts to reproduce 
 the true form of the particular object it stands for. The 
 most important feature is almost always indicated by a 
 series of concentric circles or by spiral lines, while tracks of 
 men and animals seem to be represented by dots arranged 
 in circular or straight lines. Individual men and women 
 appear to be uniformly symbolised by semi-circular lines and 
 may be said generally to be regarded as subordinate to the 
 animal or plant in the design, which is represented by com- 
 plete circles or spirals. But the same pattern will stand for, 
 say, a tree on one churinga, a frog on another, a kangaroo 
 on another, and so on. Hence it is difficult or impossible 
 to obtain a true interpretation of the design on any par- 
 ticular churinga except from one of the old men of the 
 totemic group to whom it belongs, for it is only the old 
 men who continually see and examine the churinga of their 
 group. Time after time these elders visit the sacred store- 
 house, take out the churinga, rub them with powdered red 
 ochre, and explain to the younger men the meaning of the 
 patterns on them. Thus the knowledge of the ancestors to 
 whom the churinga belonged, and of the designs incised on 
 them, is handed down from generation to generation.^ Hence 
 
 ^ Native Tnbes, pp. 128, 143. ^ j^^^^ ^^_ 143-145, 151. 
 
I TOTEM ISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 199 
 
 these carved sticks and stones deposited in secret places 
 of the desolate Australian mountains are a rude kind of 
 historical records : they represent in germ the inscribed 
 monuments of classical antiquity and the national archives 
 of modern Europe. 
 
 The exact contents of a sacred storehouse iertnatnluiigd) Various 
 naturally vary from group to group ; in most of them ^ckurinlr. 
 perhaps the wooden churinga are more numerous than the 
 stone ones.^ Amongst the churinga in each storehouse are 
 usually a certain number of larger ones made by alcheruiga 
 men, or by famous men of old who lived since the 
 alcheringa, for the special purpose of being used at 
 totemic ceremonies. These are spoken of as churinga, 
 but they differ from the majority in not having a spirit 
 associated with them. Besides these the storehouse will 
 sometimes contain other kinds of churinga which represent 
 various objects such as, for example, implements carried by 
 alcheringa ancestors or the eggs of the witchetty grub. This 
 last kind of churinga consists of small rounded stones and 
 stands for the eggs with which the bodies of the Witchetty 
 Grub people, both men and women, were supposed to be 
 filled in the days of the alcheringa. These people laid the 
 eggs at places where they camped, especially at the Emily 
 Gap, a short but narrow gorge hemmed in by precipitous 
 rocks of red quartzite. To this day the disembodied spirits 
 of Witchetty Grub people carry some of these stone eggs 
 about with them, and when one of them enters into a woman 
 and is born again as a child he lays a few of the eggs at the 
 foot of the tree which he haunted before his reincarnation, 
 and they may be found there after his rebirth. The older 
 Witchetty Grub men usually carry some of these eggs about 
 with them ; and when a Witchetty Grub man lies dying, if 
 he has no eggs of his own a few are always brought from 
 the sacred storehouse and placed under his head, that he 
 may depart in peace. It is the last sacrament, the Nunc 
 dimittis. After his death the eggs are buried with him. 
 Of the origin and meaning of this custom the natives can or 
 will give no explanation.- It may perhaps be intended to 
 
 • Native Tribes, p. 140. 
 ' Ibid. pp. 142 sq., 156 sq., '424 sq., 427 Stj. 
 
200 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 secure the spiritual resurrection of the dead man in his 
 
 ancestral form of a witchetty grub. 
 
 Sacredness So sacred are the churinga that they may not be seen 
 
 °\ '^^ by women or uninitiated men under pain of death or very 
 
 and their severe punishmcnt, such as blinding with a firestick. Indeed 
 
 w™h the°" the word churinga means something sacred or secret, and is 
 
 totems. used not only as a substantive to denote a concrete object 
 
 but also as an adjective to connote its quality of sacredness, 
 
 as when the natives speak of a man's churinga name, that is, 
 
 his sacred or secret name.^ One and all of the churinga are 
 
 connected with the totems,^ and among the Arunta and 
 
 other tribes in the very centre of the Australian continent 
 
 they figure prominently in the sacred totemic ceremonies 
 
 which none but initiated men may witness. Indeed in the 
 
 Arunta tribe, when a series of sacred ceremonies is about to 
 
 be performed, the first thing to be done is for one or two of 
 
 the old men to go to the sacred storehouse and bring thence 
 
 a large number of churinga. These they place on a special 
 
 platform built on the ceremonial ground, and the spot is 
 
 regarded as sacred so long as the churinga remain there.^ 
 
 The It is a significant fact that the sanctity of the churinga is 
 
 thrS-^ greatest and their use most frequent among the tribes in the 
 
 inga is very heart of Australia, and that the reverence for the 
 
 amorfgthe implement and the frequency of its employment both 
 
 central diminish as we pass northwards from the centre to the sea. 
 
 diminishes As Messrs. Spencer and Gillen put it : " The very central 
 
 as we go part of the continent occupied by the Arunta, Ilpirra, Iliaura, 
 
 northwards^ . . ^ , ., , , , r i 
 
 to the sea. and Unmatjera tribes may be described as the home of the 
 churinga and of the beliefs which cluster round this sacred 
 object. In all of the tribes with which we are acquainted 
 we meet with churinga or their equivalents, but it is in the 
 central area only that we find them intimately associated 
 with the spirit parts of the different individual members, 
 and carefully treasured up and hidden away from view in 
 the ertnatulunga or sacred storehouses of the various local 
 totemic groups." * On the other hand in the more northerly 
 
 • Native Tribes, pp. 128-132, 648; indistinctly {Native Tribes, pp. 130, 
 
 Northern Tribes, pp. 258 S(]. On 132). 
 
 very rare occasions the churinga may 2 Native Tribes, p. 130. 
 
 be seen by women and uninitiated ^ Northern Tribes, p. 178. 
 
 men, but then only at a distance and * Ibid. p. 257. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 201 
 
 tribes of the Warramunga, Wulmalla, Walpari, Tjingilli, 
 Umbaia, and Gnanji the churinga are indeed intimately 
 associated with the totems, but they are practically not used 
 in the sacred totemic ceremonies, nor is there any idea of 
 the association of spirit individuals with them. Still further 
 to the north, on or near the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, 
 in the Binbinga, Anula, and Mara tribes the churinga are 
 very few in number ; there is not the intimate connection 
 between them and the totems which exists in the other 
 tribes, nor are spirit individuals supposed to be associated 
 with them. " The only conclusion which it seems possible 
 to arrive at is that in the more northern tribes the churinga 
 represent the surviving relics of a time when the beliefs 
 amongst these tribes were similar to those which now exist 
 in the Arunta." ' 
 
 Some of the ceremonies observed by these tribes on the Burial 
 occasion of a death seem to be designed to facilitate the dSgnai 
 return of the liberated spirit to its old home, the nanja spot, apparently 
 where it will tarry with its spiritual comrades of the same ^^ soul of 
 totem till its time shall come to be again born of a woman. ">« ^^^ '° 
 With this intention the Arunta, who bury their dead doubled us old 
 up in the ground and raise a low mound over the grave, ''°'"^ ("'^ 
 regularly leave a depression on one side of the mound to spot), 
 allow the spirit easy egress from the narrow house. The j"'^^^''^^ 
 depression is always made on that side of the mound which the inter- 
 looks towards the place where the dead man or woman ,'^J^^tsin- 
 camped in the olden time. But until the ceremonies of carnations, 
 mourning have been accomplished, the soul of the departed 
 is thought to spend part of its time in the grave watching 
 over its near relatives, and part of its time away with its 
 spiritual double at its old home. So the depression in the 
 mound allows the spirit to flit freely to and fro between the 
 grave and its home all the days of mourning.^ 
 
 In the Unmatjera, Kaitish, Warramunga, Tjingilli, and Tree-burial 
 other tribes to the north of the Macdonnell Ranges the bodies 1"^""* 
 of the dead are usually left for some time on a platform in 
 the branches of trees ; afterwards the bones, now stript of 
 flesh, are taken down and buried in the earth.^ When this final 
 
 ' Norllum Tribes, p. 281. Tribes, p. 506. 
 
 * Native Tribes, p. 497 ; Xorllurti ' Xorthern Tribes, pp. 506 sqq. 
 
TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 Ceremony 
 performed 
 by the 
 Warra- 
 munga 
 over an 
 arm-bone 
 of the 
 dead. 
 
 Burial 
 ceremony 
 among the 
 Binbinga. 
 
 burial takes place, the Warramunga perform a curious cere- 
 mony with one of the arm-bones, which is not buried with 
 the rest. It is very carefully wrapt up in bark, wound about 
 with fur- strings, and a tuft of feathers is added ; if the 
 deceased was a man, the feathers are those of an owl, but 
 if the deceased was a woman, the feathers are those of an 
 emu. The final rite performed over the arm-bone always 
 takes place towards the close of a long series of totemic 
 ceremonies, in connection with which certain designs, 
 emblematic of some totem, are drawn upon the ground. 
 In the two rites of this sort witnessed by Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen these drawings referred to snake totems of the tribal 
 moiety to which the dead person belonged ; in one of the 
 two rites the totem was that of the deceased, but it need 
 not be so. A small pit was dug beside the totemic design 
 on the ground, and a few yards off a shallow trench, some 
 fifteen feet long, was cut in the soil. Over this trench ten 
 men, their bodies elaborately decorated with totemic designs 
 in red, white, and yellow, stood straddle -legged, and the 
 women crept in single file through the trench on hands and 
 feet under the legs of the men. The last of the women 
 carried the arm-bone, and as she emerged from the trench 
 it was snatched from her and at once carried across to a 
 man who stood ready with a stone axe uplifted beside the 
 little pit. With one blow of the axe he smashed the bone 
 and thrust it hastily out of sight into the pit beside the 
 totemic emblem of the deceased. Then he closed the 
 opening with a large flat stone to indicate that the days of 
 mourning were over, and that their departed sister (for in 
 this case she was a woman) had been gathered to her totem. 
 When once this ceremony of breaking the bone and burying 
 it beside the totemic design has been performed, the spirit 
 of the dead, which is no larger than a grain of sand, returns 
 to the place where it camped in ancient days, there to dwell 
 with the spirits of other men and women of its totem until 
 such time as it undergoes reincarnation.^ 
 
 The close association between a man and his totem 
 comes out very clearly also in the burial rites observed by 
 the Binbinga tribe. On such occasions the natives assemble 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 1 68 sq., S 37-542. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 203 
 
 from various districts, and ceremonies relating to the ancestor 
 of the totemic clan of which the deceased was a member are 
 performed under the superintendence of the dead person's 
 father. Finally, a hollow log is brought on to the ceremonial 
 ground, decorated with some design characteristic of the 
 totem, and in this the bones are deposited. Then the 
 totemic coffin with the bones is placed in the boughs of a 
 tree beside a pool, where the beautiful blue water-lilies grow, 
 the coffin being so fixed that, if possible, it overhangs the water. 
 There it is left untouched, and there it may remain for years, 
 till the log with its totemic design rots and falls with a splash 
 among the blue lilies, or is swept far away by some rising 
 flood and buried deep in the ooze and sludge of the river. 
 So the dead man in the coffin is gathered to his totem.' 
 
 The great majority of the sacred ceremonies which may importance 
 not be witnessed by women and children are connected with °otemic 
 the totems and refer to episodes in the lives of totemic ceremonies 
 ancestors. Ceremonies of this sort are celebrated by all the J," the ^^^ 
 central and north-central tribes of Australia studied by "a''^'=s- 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, and probably at one time or 
 another fhey have been celebrated by all other Australian 
 tribes,'' though in these, unhappily, they have seldom been 
 observed and described. It is astonishing, we are told, 
 how large a part of a native's life is occupied with these 
 ceremonies. The older he grows, the greater is the share 
 he takes in them, until finally they absorb most of his 
 thoughts. The rites which seem so trivial to us are most 
 serious matters to him. For they have all to do with the 
 great forefathers of the tribe, and he is firmly convinced 
 that at death his spirit will join theirs in the old home and 
 remain there in communion with them till the time comes 
 for him to be born again into the world.' 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 1 73 j^., 552- rough tubers of the blue water-HIy. 
 
 554. As to the blue water-lilies, which See E. Palmer, " On Pl.ants used by 
 
 deck the surface of the pools in countless the N.itivcs of North <Jueensland, 
 
 thousands, see /*. p. 9. The flowers are Flinders and Mitchell Rivers,"/"""''"' 
 
 eaten by the natives, who think that and Proicedini^s 0/ the Royal Society of 
 
 the bones of the dead promote the AVrc 5()kM '/'.!.'( j, xvii. (Sydney, 1884) 
 
 growth of the lilies (ib. p. 546). The p. loi; id.,'m Journal of the Anthropo- 
 
 natives of North l^)ueensland eat the logical Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 315. 
 
 ieeds of the splendid pink water-lily ^ Northern Tribes, pp. 1 77, 224. 
 
 and the seeds, seed-st.alks, and large ' Ibid. pp. 33 sq., 177. 
 
204 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Often the Often thcse ceremonies last for two or three months 
 
 totemic tosrether, during the whole of which time one or more cere- 
 
 ceremonies t> ; o 
 
 last for monies will be performed daily. They are often, though by 
 
 and"are' "° means always, associated with the rites of initiation 
 
 connected through which lads have to pass at puberty, and in regard to 
 
 rites of^ their general features there is a remarkable similarity between 
 
 initiation, thosc of all the Central and northern tribes. In the Arunta 
 
 tribe, when a lad is circumcised or subincised, he is always 
 
 shown a {&^ of these ceremonies for the first time. At a 
 
 later time he goes through the elaborate rites of the 
 
 Engwura, when natives congregate from various places and 
 
 a very large number of ceremonies are performed. The 
 
 Engwura rites which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen witnessed 
 
 began in the middle of September and lasted with hardly a 
 
 break till the middle of January. During that time there 
 
 was a constant succession of ceremonies, from one to five or 
 
 six ceremonies being usually performed daily.^ 
 
 In the In these solemn ceremonies the novice sees with awe 
 
 ceremonies ^^^ wonder the ancestors of the tribe personated as they are 
 
 the an- supposed to have been and to have acted in life. The 
 
 the °ribes ^ctors are disguised in quaint costumes which for "the most 
 
 are person- part represent those totemic animals or plants, of which the 
 
 they are ancestors are believed to have been the direct transforma- 
 
 supposed tions or descendants. A stranger who witnessed these little 
 
 to have . ^ , _ . . , ... 
 
 been and plays Or pantomimes for the first time might easily imagine 
 
 '°t^d^n ^^^^ ^■^^^ mimicked nothing but the uncouth gambols of 
 
 life; thus animals, the growth of plants, and so forth. But to the 
 
 historTcir'^ native these dramas are fraught with a far deeper significance, 
 
 dramas, since they set forth the doings of his semi-animal or semi-plant 
 
 forefathers, whose immortal spirits still haunt the rocks, the 
 
 trees, the gay flowers, the solitary pools, the wild gorges of 
 
 his native land, or are incarnate in himself and in all the living 
 
 members of the tribe. It is thus that the past history, or what 
 
 amongst ^^ bcHeves to be the past history, of his people is stamped 
 
 the Warra- upon every young man's imagination and memory for life. 
 
 ^e"a1so ^^ He does not read it in books : he sees it acted before his 
 
 magical, eyes.^ Nor are these dramas purely historical, that is, 
 
 bemg ■ J J 1 
 
 thought to intended to preserve and hand down from generation to 
 
 increase 
 the supply 
 
 generation the traditions of the past. They are also magical, 
 
 of food. ' Northern Tribes, pp. 177 sg. 2 J^ative Tribes, pp. 227-230. 
 
I TOTEM ISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 205 
 
 being believed, at least by the Warramunga, to contribute 
 directly to the maintenance of the food supply ; for among 
 the central tribes every totemic clan is held responsible for 
 the maintenance of the material object which is its totem,^ 
 and every clan has to perform magical ceremonies to multiply 
 that object, generally an edible animal or plant, for the 
 good of the community. Thus not merely the memory of 
 the past but the present and future existence of the people 
 is thought to turn on the proper performance of the totemic 
 rites. No wonder that the natives take them seriously. 
 
 The magical ceremonies which aim directly and simply 
 at the multiplication of the totems have already been 
 touched upon and we shall recur to them presently.^ Here 
 we are concerned with those ceremonies which on the surface 
 appear to be purely historical and dramatic, although 
 amongst the Warramunga, and perhaps other tribes, they 
 have also a practical significance. For the most part these 
 historical or perhaps rather miracle plays are short and 
 simple, lasting only a few minutes, though the preparation 
 for them may have occupied hours ; for the decoration of 
 the actors is often elaborate. A few examples will illustrate 
 their nature. 
 
 The bulbs of the Cyperus rotundus are a favourite food Arunta 
 of the Arunta and form the totem of a clan who call them- ofaUb 
 selves Irriakura after the native name of the bulb (irriakura). {imakura) 
 A ceremony of this totem was witnessed by Messrs. Spencer '°""^' 
 and Gillen at a place called Soda Creek. One man only 
 was decorated for the performance, but the design was very 
 quaint and striking. A ring of grass-stalks measuring about 
 two feet across was made and covered with white down. 
 The shoulders, stomach and arms of the performer were 
 striped with broad bands of a light pearl colour, made by 
 rubbing on some blue grey wad, and each band was edged 
 with white down. His hair was done up into a head-dress, 
 and all the front of it as well as the whole of his face was 
 covered with down. Then the ring was put over his head 
 and slanting forwards rested on his shoulders. A great 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 197. the totems, see above, pp. 104-115, 
 
 ^ As to the inlkhinma or magical and below, pp. 2l\ sqq. 
 ceremonies for the multiplication of 
 
2o6 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 many little bunches, not less than a hundred, of the red- 
 barred tail feathers of the black cockatoo had been pre- 
 pared, half of them tipped with white and half with red 
 down, and these were stuck into the ring so as to radiate 
 outwards all round it, while many more were inserted in his 
 head-dress and beard. The dark chocolate hue of the man's 
 skin, the black and red feathers, the pearly-grey bands on 
 his body, the pink and white down, together with the light 
 yellow sand on which he sat, made up a gay and not 
 inharmonious blend of colours. Thus arrayed the actor sat 
 down in front of a dozen bunches of cockatoo tail feathers, 
 decorated with down, which were arranged in a row on the 
 sand. Then swaying slightly from side to side he scooped 
 the bunches up, one after the other, with his hands, pausing 
 now and then to look about him as if he heard a sound 
 that startled him but could not tell what it was. The tufts 
 of feathers represented the growing irriakura bulbs, which 
 the performer was supposed to be gathering. Meantime 
 the other men sat to one side watching the performance and 
 singing about the dead man whom the actor was personating. 
 When the last tuft of feathers had been grubbed up, the 
 ceremony came to an end. Then the ring of grass-stalks 
 was taken off the performer's head and put in turn on the 
 heads of all the other men of the bulb totem who were 
 present. The tradition which the little drama set forth ran 
 thus. In the far off days of the alcheringa a man of the 
 bulb totem was eating these bulbs, when he heard the ring- 
 necked parrots, which are the mates of the bulb men, scream 
 out to warn him that a mob of strange men was coming 
 that way. So he dropped the bulbs and hurried off. 
 However, the strangers were also of the bulb totem and 
 they left two of their number on the spot, whose reincarna- 
 tions are still living, at least they were living a few years 
 ago. Then the Bulb men went on to the other side of 
 the Jay River, and there they founded a local centre 
 ioknanikilld) of the bulb totem, from which a number of Bulb 
 people have sprung.^ 
 
 In this ceremony it is interesting to note that a man of 
 the bulb totem is represented gathering the bulbs, and that 
 
 1 Native Tribes, pp. 318-320. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 207 
 
 in the corresponding tradition the man whom the actor in the 
 personated is said to have eaten the bulbs, his totem, ceremonies 
 Similarly in an Arunta ceremony of the plum-tree totem men are 
 Plum-tree men are represented knocking down plums from a °enc^ra!t- 
 tree and eating them ; ^ in another Arunta ceremony of the '"g 'heir 
 
 - , x^. 1 . ...... totems. 
 
 fish totem a rish man is seen not only mimickmg the move- which is 
 ments of a fish but also pretending to catch it ; ^ in a contr^ to 
 
 ,- , » , 1 ,- , 'he pr&ent 
 
 ceremony of the chankuna-o&ny totem a man of the totem practice of 
 is represented eating his totem berries which he plucks from "'^ '"'^' 
 his beard ;° and in Warramunga ceremonies of the ant 
 totem men make believe to search for and gather ants 
 because two ancestresses of the ant clan are said to have fed 
 on ants all day long when they were not performing 
 ceremonies. In these ceremonies of the ant totem the upper 
 part of the performer's body, together with his face and a sort 
 of helmet which he wears, is often covered with a dense mass 
 of little specks of red down, which stand for the living ants.^ 
 All such ceremonies point clearly to a time in the past 
 history of the tribe when, contrary to the present practice, 
 people were allowed to partake freely of their totem animals 
 and plants.'' 
 
 As another example of these totemic dramas we may Anmta 
 take an Arunta ceremony of the white bat totem, which was of7,J^°°'' 
 performed at midnight by the flickering light of a camp fire, white bat 
 Eleven men took part in it. Ten of them, decorated with ° ^'"' 
 pipe-clay and red and white down, stood in a row, being 
 joined together by a rope made of human hair and orna- 
 mented with pink and white down which passed through the 
 girdle of each man. Four of them had churinga on their 
 heads and were supposed to represent certain gum-trees, 
 the roots of which were indicated by the rope. The other 
 six men in the row stood for bats perched on the trees. 
 The eleventh man was free of the rope and his decoration 
 differed from that of the rest ; for he had a long band of 
 charcoal, edged with red down, on each side of his body. 
 He danced up and down in front of the others, stooping and 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 320, with fig. • Northern 7>ii5<r/, pp. 199-202, with 
 
 51, p. 293. fig. 65, p. 209. 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 316 s<:. ' Native Tribes, p. 320, compare 
 
 » Ibid. p. 208. pp. 207-210. 
 
208 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 making a shrill whistling sound like that emitted by a small 
 bat as it flits to and fro. At the same time the roped 
 men moved in unison first to the right and then to the left, 
 presenting with the dancer in front of them a curious 
 spectacle in the fitful light of the fire.^ 
 
 Another illustration of these totemic ceremonies may be 
 drawn from the ritual of the Frog clan among the Arunta. 
 At Imanda, which is known to white men as the Bad Cross- 
 ing on the Hugh River, there is an important centre of the 
 frog totem. The following ceremony of that totem was 
 witnessed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. The performer 
 came from the neighbourhood of Imanda and, though he 
 did not himself belong to the frog totem, had inherited 
 many frog ceremonies from his father. During the perform- 
 ance he wore on his head a sort of flat helmet completely 
 covered with concentric circles of alternate pink and white 
 down. These represented the roots of a particular gum-tree 
 at Imanda. The whole of his back and chest down to his 
 waist was one mass of white spots, each of them encircled 
 by white down. These spots were of various sizes and 
 stood for frogs of various ages. On the inner sides of 
 the performer's thighs were white lines representing the legs 
 of fully-grown frogs. On his head he wore a large frog 
 churinga, five feet long, decorated with bands of down and 
 tipped with a bunch of owl feathers. All around the base 
 of this were arranged tufts of black eagle -hawk feathers, 
 each fastened to a stick, so that they radiated from the 
 head-dress. Many strings of opossum fur, covered with 
 pink and white down and decked at one end with tufts of 
 the black and white tail tips of the rabbit-kangaroo, hung 
 down from the head as a sort of veil hiding the face, which 
 was itself enveloped in a mass of down. The churinga 
 represented a celebrated tree at Imanda and the pendant 
 strings were its roots. When all was ready a shallow pit 
 about three feet across was scooped out in the sand, and in 
 this the performer squatted with a short stick in his hands. 
 Except for the hands holding the stick, there was little to 
 show that the elaborate and towering structure, with its gay 
 decorations, concealed from view a man. Slightly swaying 
 
 ■ Native Tribes, pp. 352, 354. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 209 
 
 his body from side to side, the performer dug up the sand 
 with his stick, while two old men, swinging bull -roarers, 
 drove the novices who were being initiated towards him. 
 Round and round him they raced with loud shouts, the old 
 men with the bull-roarers driving them in upon him as close 
 as possible. This lasted for about three minutes and the 
 ceremony then came to an end.* 
 
 Another little drama exhibited to an Arunta novice at Arunta 
 initiation illustrated a tradition that a wild Dog man had ^ffhT"*^ 
 attacked and been killed by a Kangaroo man. One man, dog am\ 
 decorated with a sacred object emblematic of a kangaroo, foienw"" 
 stood with his legs wide apart moving his head from side to 
 side and mimicking the cry of the kangaroo. Another man, 
 who acted a dog, barked at the pretended kangaroo and ran 
 between his legs. But when he repeated this manoeuvre, 
 the Kangaroo man caught him, shook him, and made believe 
 to bump his head against the ground, at which the pretended 
 dog howled with pain. When at last the dog was supposed 
 to be killed by the kangaroo, the man who played the dog 
 ran along on all fours to where the novice sat and laid 
 himself down on the top of him ; after which the old 
 kangaroo man came hopping along and got on the top of 
 both of them, so that the lad had to bear the weight of the 
 two men for about two minutes. When the performers got 
 up, the novice, still lying down, was instructed by the old 
 men in the meaning of the ceremony which he had just seen 
 and felt.'- 
 
 Again, another Arunta ceremony of the unchalka grub Arunui 
 totepi was performed by a man whose body was decorated of^^"'^^ 
 with lines of white and red down in imitation of the unchalka and emu 
 bush on which the grub lives first of all ; and a shield was 
 ornamented with concentric circles of down representative of 
 the udniringa bush on which the adult insect lays its eggs. 
 This emblematic shield was laid on the ground, and the 
 performer, kneeling before it, alternately bent his body 
 double and lifted it up, quivering his extended arms, which 
 represented the wings of the insect. Every now and then 
 he stooped forward, swaying up and down and from side to 
 side over the shield, in imitation of the insect hovering over 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 341-344. * Ibid. pp. 224-226. 
 
 VOL. I P 
 
2IO TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 the bushes where it lays its eggs.-" Similarly, in an Arunta 
 ceremony of the witchetty grub totem, a performer who 
 personated a celebrated Witchetty Grub ancestor wriggled 
 his body to represent the fluttering of the insect when it 
 first sloughs off its chrysalis case and attempts to fly.^ 
 Again, in an Arunta ceremony of the emu totem the actor 
 wears a tall head-dress tipped with emu feathers to look like 
 the long neck and head of an emu, while he stalks backwards 
 and forwards in the aimless fashion of the bird.^ 
 Arunta Again, wc may describe an Arunta ceremony of the 
 
 "^fTh"""^ eagle-hawk totem which was witnessed by Messrs. Spencer 
 eagle-hawk and Gillcn. The drama, which represented two eagle-hawks 
 totem. quarrelling for a piece of meat, was cleverly acted by two men. 
 Their hair was bunched up and they wore conical crowns of 
 cassia twigs. Human blood, which is very commonly used 
 in these ceremonies to make the down adhere to the skin of 
 the performer or to the decorated object, was smeared over 
 the front part of the head-dress and across the body in the 
 form of a broad band round the waist and a band over each 
 shoulder, the two bands uniting back and front. Each band 
 was about six inches wide, and each, when the decoration 
 was complete, was a solid mass of pink down edged with a 
 line of white. Into the hair girdle behind was fixed a large 
 bunch of the black feathers of the eagle-hawk, and into the 
 top of each man's head-dress were fastened three churinga. 
 Each of these churinga was about three feet long, tipped 
 with a tuft of eagle-hawk feathers and adorned with close 
 rows of down coloured alternately red and white. They 
 made a very heavy head-dress. In his mouth one of the 
 actors carried a small cylindrical mass of grass tied up with 
 hair-string and covered with lines of down. Thus equipped, 
 the two performers squatted opposite to each other on the 
 ground. They acted two eagle -hawks quarrelling for a 
 piece of flesh, which was represented by the downy mass in 
 one man's mouth. First they waved their arms up and 
 down to mimic the flapping of the eagle-hawks' wings ; then 
 they jumped up and with bodies bent and arms flapping 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 179 sq., with '^ Native Tribes, pp. 358 sq., with 
 fig. 45, p. 181. fig. 73, p. 343. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 180. 
 
J TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 211 
 
 they circled round and round each other, as if each were 
 afraid of coming to grips. At last they grappled and fought, 
 butting at each other with their heads for the possession of 
 the meat. This went on for some time till two men stepped 
 out from among the audience and relieved the performers of 
 the weight of the churinga, which must have placed a con- 
 siderable strain on their heads and necks in the great heat 
 of the summer afternoon. Thus lightened, the two actors 
 began once more prowling round and round each other, 
 flapping their arms, jumping up and falling back, just like 
 eagle-hawks fighting, until finally they again closed, and the 
 assailant, seizing the piece of meat with his teeth, wrenched 
 it from the other's mouth. The acting in this ceremony 
 was particularly good, the movements of the birds being 
 admirably represented.* 
 
 As the great majority of Central Australian totems in the 
 consist of animals and plants," it is natural that in the ceremonies 
 totemic ceremonies the actors should generally personate the actors 
 animals or plants or the semi-human ancestors who are ?^°^^^g 
 supposed to have been in one way or other developed out animals or 
 of them. But there are some totems which are neither sometimes 
 plants nor animals, and these also have their appropriate inanimate 
 
 • T- , • A r , objects 
 
 ceremonies. ?or example, m an Arunta ceremony of the are repre- 
 sun totem a performer carried a small disc made of grass- s«"te<i- 
 stalks and covered with down, of which the alternate red 
 and white lines represented the sun's rays ; * and in a 
 ceremony of the water totem of the same tribe there 
 figured an elaborate structure like a screen or banner, on 
 which clouds, rain, thunder and lightning were represented 
 by strings, plain or coloured, and by patches and bands of 
 white down ; while red feathers and blood-smeared chips of 
 wood on the performers' heads stood for the masses of dirty 
 brown froth which often float on the top of waters in flood.* 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 294-297. with each other by strings made of 
 ' See below, p. 253. human hair or fur. Sometimes the 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 182. vertical support is only a stick little 
 • Native Tribes, pp. 306-308. The more than a foot long. The implement 
 totemic emblem described in the text may stand for any totem. For example, 
 is called a waninga. Its structure in a ceremony of the rat totem, wit- 
 varies, but commonly it consists of a nessed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, 
 long spear with one, two, or three the waninga represented the body of a 
 cross-bars lashed to it and connected rat, the main part was supposed to be 
 
212 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Among the Each totcm has its own special ceremonies, and in the 
 Arunta Arunta tribe each ceremony may be regarded as the 
 totemic property of an individual man, who has either inherited it 
 beionTto fi'orn its previous owner, such as a father or elder brother, 
 an indi- or received it as a gift directly from the iruntarinia or 
 h'as"eiti^r° disembodied spirits of his forefathers.^ For some men are 
 inherited it credited with the faculty of seeing and conversing with 
 it from the these Spirits, and such a man will sometimes tell his fellows 
 ancestral that the Spirits have revealed to him a ceremony and made 
 him a present of it. These announcements perhaps some- 
 times originate in dreams, for what a savage sees in a dream 
 is just as real to him as what he sees in his waking hours. 
 The thoughts of the natives are at times so much taken up 
 with the performance of sacred ceremonies that it is quite 
 natural they should dream of them and take the visionary 
 images of sleep for revelations of those spirits with whom 
 their own spirit has been communing during the lethargy of 
 the body. Or men of a more original and ingenious turn 
 of mind than the rest, and such the Australian magicians 
 generally are, may have simply invented some of the 
 ceremonies and then palmed them off as inspirations of the 
 higher powers upon their credulous fellows.^ Whether 
 inherited or invented, a totemic ceremony need not 
 necessarily be either owned or performed by a man of the 
 particular totem to which it refers. And the owner of a 
 ceremony may, and frequently does, invite some one else to 
 perform it, the invitation being looked upon as a com- 
 pliment.^ For example, a man of the snake totem may 
 own a ceremony of the fish totem and may perform it him- 
 self ; * or a Grass - seed man may possess a grass - seed 
 ceremony and invite an Emu man and a Witchetty Grub 
 man to perform it.* But if a man has received a ceremony 
 
 the trunk of the animal, the point was cerned. 'Ae.e Native Tribes, ■^^. z%\ sq., 
 
 the tail, the handle the head, and the 306-309, 627-629, 653. 
 
 cross-bars the limbs. The use of the 1 Native Tribes, p. 278. As to the 
 
 waninga extends south from the Arunta iruntarinia, see ib. pp. 512 sqq. 
 
 to the sea at Port Lincoln. In the 9 ti-j «»o at- h t^i,.,- 
 
 , • 1 r 11 A . i ■. Iota. p. 278 ; Northern Irwes, 
 
 northern part or the Arunta territory /en 
 
 the place of the waninga is taken by a , ^' 
 
 sacred pole called a nurtunja, which ^"^^'"^ Tnbes, p. 279. 
 
 also represents the particular totem * Ibid. pp. 316 sq. 
 
 with which any given ceremony is con- ■' Ibid. p. 311. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 213 
 
 as a revelation from a spirit and hands it over as a gift to 
 another man, that man must be of the totem with which 
 the ceremony is concerned. For instance, a celebrated 
 medicine-man, who was a Witchetty Grub, received from a 
 spirit the revelation of an eagle-hawk ceremony, and instead 
 of keeping it for himself he generously passed it on to his 
 own father, who was an Eagle-hawk.' Again, the totem of 
 the novice has no influence on the nature of the ceremonies 
 which are performed for him at initiation : these ceremonies 
 may be of any totem.^ 
 
 In regard to these totemic ceremonies, or sacred dramas The 
 as we may call them, the practice of the Warramunga ceremonies 
 differs in some respects from that of the Arunta. Thus of the 
 whereas among the Arunta each separate ceremony is the ^^X 
 property of a particular individual, who alone has the right diefer in 
 of performing it or of requesting some one else to do so, sp^tsTmm 
 among the Warramunga the ceremonies are each and all of'^oseofihe 
 them the property, not of an individual, but of the whole for they 
 totemic group, and they are under the charge of the headman belong to 
 
 ,. , rr,, . , , . , , "le whole 
 
 of the group. They are not strictly his property, but he totemic 
 acts in a vague sort of way as the representative of the ^'^P' °°' 
 totemic group or clan. Even he, however, cannot enact dividuais, 
 them of his own initiative ; he can only perform them or '''g^or^ed 
 have them performed at the request of members of that half in definite 
 of the tribe to which he himself does not belong. Further, they are" 
 whereas among the Arunta the totemic ceremonies are per- supposed 
 formed in no definite order, and without any reference to [^ increase 
 those which have preceded or will follow, among the Warra- ""^ supply 
 
 , • 1 °f 'he 
 
 munga on the other hand all of the ceremonies connected totems. 
 with a given totem are performed in a regular sequence. 
 The history of every ancestor is well known, and if, say, he 
 arose at a spot A and walked on successively to spots B, 
 C, D, E, F, and so forth, halting at them and performing 
 ceremonies, as these first ancestors always did, then when- 
 ever his descendants perform these ceremonies at the 
 present day, it is incumbent on them to begin at the 
 beginning and go steadily through the series. To a Warra- 
 munga the performance of ceremony F without the previous 
 performance in regular order of A, B, C, D, and E would 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 294. ' Ibid. p. 226. 
 
214 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 seem a very strange proceeding, whilst in the Arunta tribe 
 
 one or all of them would be performed in any order. Lastly, 
 
 whereas the Arunta distinguish these commemorative or 
 
 dramatic ceremonies from those magical ceremonies {intichi- 
 
 umd) which are intended to multiply the totems, in the 
 
 Warramunga tribe the commemorative or dramatic ceremonies 
 
 are intimately associated with, and are performed at certain 
 
 times as, intichiuma ceremonies, in other words as magical 
 
 rites for the multiplication of the totems.^ 
 
 Essential The magical rites for the multiplication of the totems 
 
 oTthr^ which are performed by the Arunta and Urabunna have 
 
 intichiuma already been described.^ In the Arunta tribe the essential 
 
 among the features of these rites {jntichiuma) are as follows : — 
 
 Arunta. ^ (i) xhe men of each totem perform a definite ceremony, 
 
 the sole object of which is to ensure the continuance and 
 
 increase of the totemic animal, plant, or whatever it may be. 
 
 (2) Except on these special occasions, the members of a 
 totem clan eat only very sparingly of their totemic animal 
 or plant. A very strict man will not eat of it even 
 sparingly. 
 
 (3) But the headman (alatunja), who presides over and 
 conducts the intichiuma ceremony, is obliged by custom 
 to eat a little of his totemic animal or plant, otherwise it 
 is thought that he could not perform the ceremony with 
 success. 
 
 (4) After the men of the totem have eaten a little of their 
 totemic animal or plant at the intichiuma ceremony, they 
 hand on the rest to the men of other totems and give them 
 leave to eat it freely. 
 
 (5) Only men of the totem and of the right moiety (class 
 or phratry) of the tribe are allowed, except in very rare 
 cases, to share in the ceremony of intichiuma? 
 
 Kaitish In the Kaitish tribe, to the north of the Arunta, the 
 
 trpromole ^lagical ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems are 
 the growth called Hkitnainga, not intichiuma ; but just as among the 
 seel™^^' Arunta they are conducted by the headman {ulqua) of the 
 
 1 Northeiii Tribes, pp. 192, 193. 211. See above, pp. 104-120. As to 
 
 2 The intichiuma of the Arunta tribe the intichiuma of the Urabunna, see 
 are described and discussed by Messrs. above, pp. 183-185. 
 
 Spencer and Gillen in their Native 
 
 Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 167- ^ Northern Tribes, p. 291. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 215 
 
 totem. The ceremony for the propagation of grass-seed 
 is as follows. When the headman of the grass-seed totem 
 decides that it is time to perform the rite, he goes to the 
 sacred storehouse, clears the ground all about it, and taking 
 out the churinga greases them well, chanting certain 
 traditionary words of which the meaning is forgotten. 
 Then he takes two of the churinga, smears them with red 
 ochre, and decorates them with lines and dots of down, 
 of which the dots represent the grass-seed. After that he 
 rubs the churinga together so that the dust flies off in all 
 directions. Then he replaces them in the sacred storehouse 
 [ertnatulungd) and returns quietly to his camp. Next day 
 he goes to the ground where sacred ceremonies are per- 
 formed, and there he is decorated by the men who belong 
 to the other moiety of the tribe. Then in the presence 
 of all the men he performs a ceremony which refers to an 
 incident in the ancient history of the grass-seed clan.^ In 
 the Arunta tribe no such historical drama forms any part 
 of the magical ceremonies for the multiplication of the 
 totems, nor among the Arunta is the headman decorated 
 by members of the other moiety of the tribe ; indeed with 
 the Arunta it is a general rule' that men of the other moiety 
 may not come near the place where the ceremony is being 
 prepared. This Kaitish ceremony is therefore an inter- 
 mediate stage between the practice of the Arunta and that 
 of the Warramunga. For among the Warramunga the 
 ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems consist for 
 the most part simply of dramatic representations of scenes 
 in the life of the totemic ancestors, and among them these 
 ceremonies may only be performed at the invitation of 
 men of the other moiety of the tribe.^ After the head- 
 man of the grass-seed totem has acted his little historical 
 drama about his Grass-seed ancestors, he walks about 
 for days in the scrub '' singing " the grass-seed, that is, 
 enchanting it in the literal sense of the word, and carrying 
 one of the churinga with him. At night he hides the 
 churinga in the bush and, returning to the camp, sleeps 
 on one side of the fire, while his wife sleeps on the 
 other ; for so long as he is performing these sacred 
 > Northern Tribes, pp. 291 sg. ^ Ibid. pp. 292, 297, 298. 
 
2l6 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Furthei' 
 
 Kaitish 
 
 ceremonies 
 
 to make 
 
 grass-seed 
 
 grow. 
 
 ceremonies to make the grass-seed grow, he may not come 
 at his wife. During the whole of that time he is supposed 
 to be so full of magical power derived from the churinga, 
 that were he to have intercourse with his wife, the grass- 
 seed would be spoiled and his own body would swell up 
 when he tasted of it.'' 
 
 When the seed begins to sprout, the headman still goes 
 on chanting and enchanting it to make it grow more till 
 at length, when it is fully grown, he brings his churinga 
 hidden in bark to his camp. Then he and his wife go 
 out and gather a store of the grass-seed and bring it to 
 the camp, where his wife grinds it up with stones. The 
 man himself takes some to the men's private camp (ungunja) 
 and grinds it there, and while he does so, the men of one of 
 the four subclasses (subphratries) in the other moiety of the 
 tribe catch the grass-seed in their hands as it falls from the 
 edge of the grinding-stone. One of these men puts a little 
 of the seed in the Grass-seed man's mouth and he blows 
 it away in all directions, which is supposed to make the 
 grass grow plentifully everywhere. After this he leaves 
 the seed with the men of the other moiety of the tribe, 
 saying : " You eat the grass-seed in plenty ; it is very good 
 and grows in my country." The only men who are allowed 
 to be present are the men of three out of the four subclasses 
 in the other moiety of the tribe ; the men of the fourth of 
 these subclasses are excluded. Any old men of the Grass- 
 seed man's own subclass who happen to be in camp will 
 accompany the headman, but they may not receive any of 
 the seed. When he returns to his ordinary camp, he gives 
 some of the seed to his wife, bidding her to eat of it and 
 to tell the other women to eat of it also, unless they belong 
 to the grass-seed totem. Thereupon the woman makes four 
 cakes out of the grass-seed, and at sundown her husband 
 returns to the men's private camp with three cakes, and 
 gives three of them to the men of three out of the four 
 subclasses in the other moiety of the tribe, but the fourth 
 cake he tells his wife to give to the men of the fourth 
 subclass. A woman of his own moiety, but not of his own 
 subclass, then gives him some seed which he takes to his 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 293. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 217 
 
 own camp and hands over to his wife to make into another 
 cake. Of this he eats a little and gives the rest to the men 
 who are his tribal fathers, saying, " I am glad to give you 
 this." These men belong to his own moiety of the tribe, 
 but the grass-seed is not tabooed to them unless they are 
 of the grass-seed totem. Then he tells his wife to instruct 
 the women of all classes to go out and gather the seed in 
 plenty. He himself sits down quietly at his own camp and 
 watches the women as they return with the seed, all of 
 which they carry to the men of the other moiety of the 
 tribe except a little which his own wife and other women 
 of her subclass bring in to him. After a time the men of 
 the other moiety of the tribe again come to the headman 
 of the grass-seed totem bringing a little seed with them, 
 but leaving the greater part of it in their own camp. He 
 eats what they bring, and gives them in exchange the 
 supply which the women brought him, and then he tells 
 the men that all is now over, and that they may eat 
 grass-seed freely. He himself and the other Grass-seed 
 men eat of it only sparingly. If a man of any totemic 
 clan eats too much of his own totem, he will be, as the 
 natives say, " boned," that is, killed by means of a charmed 
 bone by men who belong to the other moiety of the tribe, 
 because by partaking too freely of his totem he loses the 
 power of magically multiplying it for the public benefit.^ 
 
 In these magical ceremonies for the growth of grass-seed outofthese 
 a particularly interesting feature is the scattering of the seed ""agicai 
 
 , , , ^ , , o ceremonies 
 
 in all directions by the headman of the grass-seed totem, for the 
 because such a procedure might really have the intended g™""' °^ 
 
 r a J grass-seed 
 
 effect of propagating the seed, and if the natives observed, a rational 
 as they might very well, the success of the ceremony, they ^j"^" '^^ 
 might in time come to sow the seed without the accompani- time be 
 ment of those chants or spells to which at first they ascribed "^^ °^ ' 
 a great part of the efficacy of the rite. In other words, a 
 purely rational agriculture might spring by a natural course 
 of development directly out of what was in origin a purely 
 magical ceremony. May not this, or something like it, have 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 293 sq. The belongs to the other moiety of the tribe, 
 wife of the Grass-seed man is not of the ^ Compare the Arunta mode of 
 
 grass-seed totem, and she necessarily multiplying manna (above, p. 107). 
 
2i8 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 been in more advanced communities the real origin of 
 agriculture ? 
 Kaitish When rain is wanted, the headman of the water totem in 
 
 forthe"^ the Kaitish tribe makes it as follows. Accompanied by the 
 making of old men of the totem he repairs to a sacred totemic storehouse 
 '^^'"' {ertnatulunga) of the Water clan, where in the olden time two 
 
 aged men sat down and drew water from their whiskers, 
 These whiskers are now represented by stones, out of which 
 the rainbow arose. First of all the headman of the water 
 totem paints these stones with red ochre, and then close to 
 them he paints on the ground a curved band to represent a 
 rainbow. Also he paints one or more rainbows on his own 
 body and another on a shield, which he also decorates with 
 zigzag lines of white pipe-clay in imitation of lightning. 
 While he sings incantations over the stones he pours water 
 from a vessel on them and on himself Then he returns to 
 camp, carrying with him the shield, which may not be seen 
 by men of the other moiety of the tribe ; for were they 
 to see it the rain would not fall. They think that the 
 rainbow is a son of the rain, and that with filial solicitude 
 he is always trying to prevent his father from falling down. 
 Hence when the shield with its scutcheon of lightning and 
 rainbow has been brought back to the camp, it is carefully 
 hidden away until rain enough has fallen, after which the 
 shield is brought forth and the device of the rainbow is 
 rubbed out. Meanwhile the headman of the water totem 
 keeps a vessel full of water beside him in the camp, and 
 from time to time he scatters bits of white down, which 
 stand for clouds, in various directions to make the rain 
 descend. At the same time the Water men who went with 
 him to the sacred storehouse go away and camp by them- 
 selves ; for neither they nor the headman of the water totem 
 may have any intercourse with women while the rain is 
 brewing. So when the leader returns to his camp from the 
 hallowed spot, his wife arranges to be absent, and when she 
 comes back at a later time he mimics the call of the plover, 
 a cry which in these parts is always associated with the 
 rainy season. As yet, however, the head Water man may 
 not even speak to his wife, and early next morning he returns 
 to the sacred storehouse of the water totem and covers up 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 219 
 
 the stones with bushes. After another silent night in his 
 own camp he and the other men and women go out in 
 different directions, the women in search of vegetable food 
 and honey ants, and the men in quest of game. When the 
 two parties meet on their return to camp they all raise the 
 cry of the plover. Then the leader's mouth is touched with 
 some of the food which has been brought in, and so the ban 
 of silence is removed. If rain soon follows, it is attributed 
 to the efficacy of the ceremony ; if it does not, it only means 
 that some more powerful magician has held it up.' 
 
 These ceremonies for the making of rain are clearly The rain- 
 based on the principle of imitative or homoeopathic magic, '"^'"e . 
 
 ^ ^ r o ceremonies 
 
 The pouring of water on the rainbow stones, the painting of are based 
 rainbows and lightning, the scattering of white down to ""; *^ie of 
 represent clouds, the imitation of the cry of the plover, are imitative 
 all so many transparent examples of this logical fallacy, "^s^'^- 
 and unlike the parallel ceremonies for the multiplication of 
 grass-seed they offer no hope of ever developing into really 
 efficacious means of producing the desired end. Magical 
 rites may be compared to shots discharged at random in 
 the dark, some of which by accident hit the mark. If the 
 gunner learns to distinguish between his hits and his misses, 
 he will concentrate his hitherto scattered fire in the right 
 direction and accomplish his purpose. If he fails to make 
 the distinction, he will continue his random discharges with 
 as little result as before. A scientific farmer is an artillery- 
 man of the former sort ; an Australian headman of the 
 grass-seed totem is an artilleryman of the latter sort. It is 
 the distinction between magic and science, between savagery 
 and civilisation. 
 
 Another example of unscientific farming is furnished by worgaia 
 the magical ceremonies which the headman of the yam ceremony 
 
 'to make 
 
 totem in the Worgaia tribe performs for the purpose of yams grow. 
 
 making yams grow. He first of all takes a churinga wrapt 
 
 in bark and leaves it on the ground at a spot where yams 
 
 grow. Then he is decorated by men of the other moiety of 
 
 the tribe and performs ceremonies of the yam totem. After 
 
 that the men ask him to go about in the bush and " sing " 
 
 or enchant the yams, as they wish them to grow. He does 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 294-296. 
 
220 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 this every day for about two weeks, going about and chanting 
 with his churinga under his arm. At last, when he sees the 
 plants growing well, he tells the men of the other moiety to 
 go out and gather some. They do so, and leaving the main 
 supply in their own camps bring a few of the yams to the 
 headman of the yam totem with a request that he will make 
 the yams grow big and sweet. He bites a small one and 
 throws the bits in all directions, which, like the scattering of 
 the grass-seed, is supposed to produce the desired effect. 
 After that he eats no more of his totem the yam, nor may 
 his children touch it, whatever their totems may be. Finally, 
 he says to the men of the other moiety of the tribe, " I have 
 made plenty of yams for you to eat. Go and get them 
 and eat them, and you make plenty of sugar -bags for 
 me to eat." When he is a very old man he will be allowed 
 to eat yams if they are given to him by a man of the other 
 moiety.^ In this ceremony the request of the Yam man 
 that the other men should make honeycomb for him to eat, 
 in return for the yams which he makes for them, clearly 
 illustrates the co-operative aspect of these magical ceremonies : 
 men of any totem multiply it for the good of their fellows 
 who belong to other totems, but at the same time they expect 
 the men thus benefited to return the benefit in kind. The 
 whole system is based, not on a philanthropic impulse, 
 but on a cool though erroneous calculation of economic 
 interest.^ 
 Warra- In the Warramunga tribe, whose territory lies im- 
 
 ^eremonies mediately to the north of that of the Kaitish and to the 
 for the west of that of the Worgaia, the magical ceremonies for the 
 tion of the multiplication of the totems consist for the most part, as we 
 totems have seen, simply in the performance of a series of scenes 
 
 consist for , , ... 
 
 the most rcpresentmg dramatically the ancient history of the totemic 
 partm ancestor. For in this tribe each totemic clan usually traces 
 
 dramatic . , - ^ 
 
 scenes re- itsclf Up to one great ancestor, who arose in some particular 
 the hrstory ^P"*" ^""^ walked across the country, making on his journey 
 of the various natural features, such as creeks, plains, mountains, 
 
 totemic 
 
 ancestor. 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 296 sq. (kulpu) is eaten by the natives and 
 
 "Sugar -bags" is a name for the is a totem in several tribes. See 
 
 honeycomb of a species of bee which Northern Tribes, p. 772. 
 builds in trees. This honeycomb 2 gee above, pp. 108 sq. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 221 
 
 and pools, and leaving behind him spirit individuals who 
 have since been reincarnated. The intichiuma or, as the 
 Warramunga call it, the thalamminta, that is, the magical 
 ceremony for the multiplication of the totem, consists in 
 tracking the journeys of the totemic ancestor and repeating, 
 one after the other, ceremonies commemorative of the spots 
 where he left the spirit children behind him.^ Hence cere- 
 monies of this sort in the Warramunga tribe occupy a 
 considerable amount of time. For example, some sets of 
 totemic ceremonies which were witnessed by Messrs. Spencer 
 and Gillen began on July 26 and were not yet finished on 
 September 18: in the interval more than eighty of them 
 had been performed.^ 
 
 The Warramunga tribe is divided into two exogamous Among the 
 moieties (classes or phratries), which are called Uluuru and munga the 
 Kingilli respectively. All the totems are divided up between members of 
 these moieties, and though the members of a totem clan dan may 
 perform their own ceremonies, or ask some one else of the °"i)' P^"^- 
 
 _ , . . - _ form their 
 
 same moiety to perform them or to assist m the perform- ceremonies 
 ance, they may not do so of their own initiative : they must ^' ""^ "?" 
 be requested to perform the ceremony by a member of the men of the 
 other moiety of the tribe. Thus the Uluuru men only ""'P"". , 
 
 ^ ^ moiety of 
 
 perform their ceremonies when they are invited to do so by the trii^e, 
 the Kingilli ; nay, more than that, no Uluuru men, except ^^1^° ^^^j^^ 
 the actual performers, may be present on the ground during decorations 
 the preparations for the ceremony. Everything used in the ceremonies 
 ceremony, such as the down, the blood, and all the materials and receive 
 used in the decorations, must be provided and made up for from the 
 the Uluuru performers by the Kingilli men, to whom the performers. 
 Uluuru afterwards make presents. In exactly the same way 
 the Uluuru men take charge of the Kingilli ceremonies and 
 receive presents from the Kingilli performers.* This respon- 
 sibility of the one moiety of the tribe for the totemic cere- 
 monies performed by the other moiety may be based on the 
 idea that, as the members of a totem clan multiply their 
 totem not for their own good 'but for the good of the rest of 
 the community, the expenses of the ceremonies ought, in 
 
 ' These spots are called mungai by ^ Northern Tribes, pp. 297, 298 
 
 the Warramunga and oknanikilta by sq. 
 the Arunta. See above, pp.189 sqq. ' Ibid. p. 298. 
 
222 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 fairness, to be borne by the perSons whom they are intended 
 to benefit, and not by the performers who reap no personal 
 profit from them. 
 Warra- As an illustration of the historical dramas which the 
 
 """"monies Warramunga act for the purpose of multiplying their totemic 
 for the animals and plants we may take the ceremonies of the black 
 doTof "''" snake totem. The black snake, Thalaualla, arose first at a 
 black rocky water-hole called Tjinqurokora in the bed of Tennant 
 Creek. This water-hole is now a sacred spot, at which no 
 men of the black snake totem and no women at all may 
 drink.^ As the black snake belongs to the Uluuru moiety 
 of the tribe, whenever it is desired to increase the number of 
 these snakes, which are used as food, the Kingilli men must 
 ask the Uluuru men to perform their ceremonies. These 
 ceremonies were witnessed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.^ 
 The first ceremony represented the snake at the water- 
 hole. It was acted by two men, each of whom had a curved 
 black band, edged with masses of white down, to represent 
 the black snake. When the little scene was over, the other 
 men stroked the drawing of the snake on the backs of the 
 performers, an action which is supposed to please the snake. 
 Tradition says that, after coming up out of the earth, the 
 snake made Tennant Creek and then travelled on to the 
 Macdouall Range, which he also created. As he went 
 along he performed sacred ceremonies {thuthu) just like 
 those which the natives still perform, and wherever he did 
 so he left spirit children behind him. At such times and 
 places he always shook himself, so that the spirit children 
 emanated from his body. Hence at these spots the natives 
 who perform the ceremonies shake themselves in like manner, 
 so that the white down with which their bodies are decorated 
 flies off in all directions. This, for example, they do at a 
 place called Lantalantalki, at the foot of the Macdouall 
 Range. From this place, where there are some small rock- 
 holes, the black snake travelled on to another water-hole 
 called Orpa. In the ceremony here performed the two 
 actors had each a small red disc of down on the stomach 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, p. 299. For a pool, see below, p. 235. 
 more exact account of the rules ob- 
 served as to drinking at this sacred ^ /3^_ pp_ jqq^ jyo. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 223 
 
 and back to indicate the water-hole, and a curved red band 
 to represent the snake. From Orpa the snake travelled up 
 towards the source of the creek, performing sacred cere- 
 monies and leaving spirit children behind him at Pittimulla. 
 In the second of two ceremonies connected with this spot a 
 special drawing was made upon the ground. A small space 
 a few feet square was smoothed down, its surface damped, 
 and coated with red ochre. A curved branching line, about 
 three inches wide, was first of all outlined in white dots on 
 the red ochre, and then all the rest of the space was filled in 
 with similar dots. The red line thus left curving about on 
 the white background represented the creek and its branches.' 
 
 Finally, when the old snake had finished making the More 
 Macdouall Ranges and the creeks running out from them as ^^^^ 
 far as Mount Cleland on the east, he returned to his original ceremonies 
 home, the water-hole at Tjinqurokora, and the remaining muitipiica- 
 ceremonies had to do with incidents which happened there, 'ion °f 
 
 black 
 
 In the olden time some women of the yam totem arose not snakes. 
 far from the black snake's water-hole at Tjinqurokora. He 
 thought that they wished to watch him at his mystic rites, 
 so he bade them begone. They went away, dropping yams 
 as they went, mainly in Worgaia country. The yams which 
 the women thus left behind them turned into stones ; and it 
 is over one of these stones that the Worgaia man sings his 
 magic song when he goes out into the bush to make the 
 yams grow. On that occasion the stone is decorated with 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 300 - 302. totemic ancestor. The patterns were 
 For the ground-drawings made at the a curious mixture of purely conven- 
 black snake ceremonies, see ib. pp. tional and, to a certain extent, imita- 
 741-743, figures 313, 314, 315. live designs. See Northern Tribes, 
 These ground-drawings of the Warra- pp. 737 sqq. As to a similar ground- 
 munga are a very interesting feature of drawing of the emu totem in the 
 the ceremonies designed to multiply Arunta tribe, see above, p. 106. M. 
 the totems. The drawings seen by Salomon Reinach has made the inter- 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen were esting suggestion that the prehistoric 
 painted in red or black on a hard crust paintings of animals found in caves of 
 of yellow or red ochre, and covered a South-Western France may in like 
 space of from seven to eighteen feet in manner have been intended to mul- 
 length. The bands and circles which tiply by magic the game on which 
 formed the main feature of the design the cave-men subsisted. He ob- 
 were traced by the leading man with serves that all the animals so depicted 
 his finger, and the background was are edible, not beasts of prey. See 
 patiently filled in by younger men with his Cultes, Mythes et Religions, i. 
 close-set dots of pipe-clay, while they (Paris, 1905) pp. 125-136. 
 continually sang of the journeys of the 
 
224 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 red ochre, and a long dark line down the middle represents 
 the roots of the yam. The last three ceremonies of the 
 black snake totem all referred to these Yam women, and the 
 decorations of the men consisted merely of red lines and 
 ovals or circles, the ovals representing the yams and the 
 lines the strings with which the women used to tie them up. 
 In the last ceremony eight men took part, all of them 
 representing the Yam women. On the ground a design was 
 painted which, by means of concentric circles and connecting 
 lines, was supposed to portray the women sitting down, tired 
 out, with their legs drawn up, after they had been sent away 
 by the black snake. Four of the men wore head-dresses 
 with pendants, the head-dresses representing yams and the 
 pendants representing the witchetty grubs on which the 
 women fed. During the same night the men all assembled 
 at the ceremonial ground, painted with black, and sang 
 about the walking of the black snake and the Yam women. 
 This ended the series of dramatic ceremonies for the multi- 
 plication of black snakes. The old original black snake is 
 said to have perished in single combat with a white snake. 
 He went down into the ground at the water-hole of 
 Tjinqurokora, from which he had first emerged ; and his 
 adversary the white snake went down into another water- 
 hole close by.^ 
 Warra- When the black snake ceremonies have been performed, 
 
 ruteTas to ^^^ "^^ marching of the black snake ancestor has been 
 the eating sung, it IS Supposed that black snakes will multiply in 
 
 of black L T> J^fi ■ , r 
 
 snakes. numbers. But there is no ceremony, as among the Arunta 
 and Kaitish in similar cases, of bringing in the snakes to 
 men of the snake totem. It is the men of the snake totem 
 who are supposed to cause the increase of the reptile, but 
 they can only do so at the request of men of the other moiety 
 (class or phratry) of the tribe. It is these men of the 
 other moiety of the tribe who make all the preparations for 
 the ceremony, and who alone benefit by it. The men of the 
 snake totem are absolutely forbidden to eat snakes under 
 any circumstances, except when they are grown very old, 
 and then in the Warramunga tribe restrictions as to food are 
 practically removed, save that any special food must be given 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 302-308. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 225 
 
 by some one who has not got that food for his totem. 
 Apart from this exceptional case it is believed that were the 
 men of a totemic clan to eat of their totem animal it would 
 cause their death, and at the same time prevent the animal 
 from multiplying. Nor is the prohibition to eat snakes 
 confined to men of the snake totem ; it applies also to every 
 member of the particular subclass or subphratry (to wit Thapa- 
 nunga) to which the snake totem belongs ; and it extends 
 further to every member of another subclass or subphratry (the 
 Thapungarti) in the same moiety (the Uluuru) of the tribe. 
 Men of the other two subclasses or subphratries (namely 
 the Tjunguri and the Tjapeltjeri) of the same moiety (the 
 Uluuru) may eat the snake if it be given them by men of 
 the other moiety (the Kingilli) ; and the men of the latter 
 moiety (Kingilli) may eat snakes freely at any time. There 
 is, however, no restriction as to killing snakes. The reptiles 
 may be killed by all Uluuru men, even by men of the snake 
 totem ; but whenever any of these men do kill a snake they 
 must hand it over to the men of the Kingilli moiety.^ 
 
 The principle that men multiply their totemic animals Seif-deny- 
 and plants for the benefit of other people, but not for their Jj^anceof 
 own, may be called the self-denying ordinance of Central Central 
 Australian totemism. It is illustrated by the words spoken ^temtsm" 
 by Warramunga headmen after they have performed their men muiti- 
 ceremonies for the increase of their totems. Thus when the fofems^'for 
 headman of the ant totem has performed his ceremonies "^^ benefit 
 for the multiplication of ants, and these insects, which are not for their 
 eaten as food, have begun to increase, he tells the others to °^" 
 go and gather the ants which he has made for them, but 
 they do not bring any to him. Again, when the headman 
 of the carpet-snake totem has performed his ceremonies 
 for the increase of carpet -snakes, and the reptiles appear, 
 men of the other moiety of the tribe bring him one of the 
 carpet-snakes and say to him, " Do you want to eat this ? " 
 But he replies, " No, I have made it for you. If I were to 
 eat it, then it might go away. All of you go and eat it." 
 Again, when a man of the honey totem hcis performed 
 ceremonies for the increase of honey, some of the honey is 
 brought to him, but he refuses to eat it, and tells the others 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 308. 
 VOL. I Q 
 
226 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 Warra- 
 raunga 
 ceremony 
 for the 
 multiplica- 
 tion of 
 white 
 cockatoos. 
 
 Warra- 
 munga 
 ceremony 
 for the 
 multiplica- 
 tion of 
 
 that he has made it for them, and that they may go out and 
 gather and eat it. They beheve that to eat of their own 
 totem would cause their death and prevent the animal from 
 multiplying.^ 
 
 Though the ceremonies performed by the Warramunga 
 for the increase of their totems are for the most part 
 historical dramas rather than magical rites in the strict 
 sense of the word, yet the purely magical element crops up 
 occasionally in them. Thus men of the white cockatoo 
 totem perform ceremonies of the usual dramatic sort for the 
 multiplication of white cockatoos, which are eaten. But in 
 addition they perform another, which is believed to increase 
 the birds to a wonderful extent. Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen were privileged to see but especially to hear the 
 miracle. It consisted simply in an imitation of the harsh 
 cry of the cockatoo, which the old headman of the white 
 cockatoo totem, aided and abetted by his son, kept up with 
 exasperating monotony the whole night long. The per- 
 formance began at ten o'clock one evening, and lasted till 
 after sunrise next morning. Holding in his hands a con- 
 ventional representation of the bird, the old man screeched 
 like a cockatoo till he could screech no more, whereupon 
 his son took up his parable and continued the screech till 
 his aged parent, like a giant refreshed, was able to resume 
 his excruciating labours. This went on without a break for 
 between eight and nine hours, and it is not surprising to 
 learn that when the sun had risen on the two performers 
 after a night made truly hideous by their exertions, there 
 was hardly a squeak left in them.^ 
 
 Another magical ceremony observed by the Warramunga 
 for the multiplication of game is as follows. There is a 
 species of kangaroo called a euro {Macropus robustus) which 
 is eaten by the natives, and is a totem in several tribes. 
 Near the water-hole in which the great mythical water-snake 
 Wollunqua is supposed to live ^ may be seen a number of 
 round water-worn stones of various sizes from which euros 
 are thought to emanate, because a wild dog caught and 
 killed a euro here in days of old. The larger stones 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 308 sq. 2 ii,^^ ^^ ^09 sq. 
 
 ^ See above, pp. 144 sq. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 227 
 
 represent male euros, the smaller represent female euros, 
 and the smallest stand for the young of the animal. They 
 are carefully hidden under little heaps of rocky debris, but 
 old men who pass by, whatever their totem may be, will 
 take the stones out, renew the red ochre with which they 
 are covered, and rub them well. This proceeding is believed 
 to increase the number of euros which emanate from the 
 stones.^ In this case the power of magically increasing 
 euros is not limited to Euro men but is exercised by old 
 men of any totem. The extension seems to show that 
 totemism, regarded as a system of magical functions dis- 
 tributed between strictly limited departments, is breaking 
 down among the Warramunga and merging into a more 
 centralised or tribal system, which ignores the old depart- 
 mental limits of the totem clans. So too in the matter of 
 the prohibition to eat the totemic animal, the extension 
 of that taboo beyond the limits of the totem clan ^ points in 
 like manner to a decay of totemism proper ; and as the new 
 and extended limits assigned to these food prohibitions 
 coincide with the exogamous subdivisions of the tribe, it 
 looks as if the old organisation in totem clans, whose main 
 function among the central tribes at the present day is to 
 regulate the food supply, were being gradually superseded 
 even for economic purposes by the newer organisation in 
 classes and subclasses, which was originally instituted purely 
 for the purpose of regulating marriage.' 
 
 This decay of totemism as an organised system of magic Totemism 
 is more and more marked the further we proceed from the ^ga^jjej 
 centre of Australia northwards in the direction of the sea. system of 
 The Tjingilli and Umbaia tribes, immediately to the north ^g^'5,0 
 of the Warramunga, perform ceremonies like those of their decay as 
 
 WC DrOCCCQ 
 
 southern neighbours for the multiplication of their totemic £„„, the 
 animals and plants ; that is to say, the ceremonies consist """'^ °f 
 
 - _ , . Australia 
 
 m the performance of a long series of dramatic scenes towards 
 representing incidents in the life of their totemic ancestors. "^^ ^^• 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen do not describe these scenes, but 
 in regard to a ceremony of rain-making among the Tjingilli 
 they mention the significant fact that it may be performed 
 
 > Northerti Tribes, p. 310. ' See above, pp. 162 sq., and below, 
 
 ' See above, p. 225. pp. 256 sqq. 
 
228 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 only by men of one moiety (class or phratry of the tribe). 
 In other words, the ceremony for the making of rain, which 
 among the strictly central tribes is only performed by men 
 of the rain or water totem,^ may be performed among the 
 Tjingilli by all the men of one half of the tribe, and there- 
 fore by men of many totems. Here also, accordingly, it 
 appears that the totemic organisation is breaking down under 
 the weight of the social or exogamous organisation. 
 Among the When we leave the interior of Australia and pass to the 
 the coas" tribes who inhabit the comparatively well-watered and wooded 
 of the Gulf shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, we find that magical 
 mrk^cere- ccremouics for the multiplication of the totems have nearly, 
 monies for though not quite, disappeared. These tribes do indeed, 
 pUcation like their inland brethren, perform dramatic ceremonies 
 °f*e commemorative of the traditional history of their remote 
 
 totemshave , . , . • , . t 
 
 almost dis- ancestors, but none of these ceremonies are intended, as 
 appeared, ^mong the Kaitish, Warramunga, and Tjingilli, to increase 
 the food supply by multiplying the totemic animals and 
 plants. Further, there is not, as among the central tribes 
 any obligation on the headman of a totem to perform cere- 
 monies for the increase of his totemic animal or plant ; for 
 the natives here are sufficiently enlightened to recognise that 
 the increase will take place without the intervention of their 
 magic.^ Still they may, if they choose, resort to magic for 
 the purpose of assisting nature in the great process of 
 Mara cere- reproduction. For example, the men of the Mara tribe can 
 the^ncreLe '"'^•'^^se the Supply of houey, which is one of their totems, 
 of honey, by the following simple means. On the banks of the 
 Barramunda Creek, near the Limmen River, there is a big 
 heavy stone, which is believed to represent a large honey- 
 comb carried about by the old ancestor of the honey totem, 
 and left by him on the spot where he finally went down into 
 the ground. The men who form that half of the tribe to 
 which the honey totem belongs can increase the supply of 
 bees, and therefore of honey, by scraping the big stone and 
 blowing the powder about in all directions ; for this powder 
 is supposed to turn into bees.* Here again it is to be observed 
 that the ceremony for the increase of the totem need not be 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 311. ' Northern Tribes, pp. 311 sq. 
 
 ' See above, pp. 113, 184, 218 j?. * Ibid. p. 312. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARVNTA, ETC. 229 
 
 performed by men of the totem ; it may be performed by 
 any men of that half of the tribe to which the totem belongs. 
 Here also, therefore, the totemic organisation is being 
 superseded by the social or exogamous organisation. 
 
 In the Anula tribe the sea-fish called dugong is a Anuia cere- 
 favourite article of food. Near the mouth of the Limmen ™°"'^^ ^°\, 
 
 the increase 
 
 River some white stones, which can be seen at low tide, ofdugongs 
 represent dugongs of the olden time. Numbers of dugongs ^"1^'^'^°'^°' 
 are believed to emanate from these stones without any 
 help of the natives ; but Dugong men can, if they please, 
 facilitate the process by singing magical songs and throwing 
 sticks at the rocks.^ Again, in days of old a crocodile is 
 said to have roamed about the country, making what is now 
 called Batten Creek, and also various water-holes, in which 
 he deposited crocodile spirits. Finally, he went down into 
 the ground, at a place called WankilH, where there is a 
 large pool with a stone in the middle of it. Crocodiles still 
 issue from that stone ; and if Crocodile men wish to make 
 them come out in larger numbers, they can do so by 
 singing or enchanting the rock and throwing sticks of man- 
 grove at it.*^ Two species of crocodiles are found in the 
 northern parts of Central Australia. Both species are eaten 
 by the natives, who accordingly have a sufficient motive for 
 multiplying these dangerous reptiles.' While these Anula 
 ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems are performed 
 by men of the totem (Dugong men and Crocodile men 
 respectively), we meet in this coastal tribe with clear evidence 
 that the supersession of the totem clans by the exogamous 
 classes or phratries is here also in progress. For the Anula 
 have a tradition that a snake named Bobbi-bobbi founded 
 local centres occupied by spirit individuals of exogamous 
 classes, whose totems are not mentioned. This is the only 
 case known to Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in which a local 
 centre is haunted by spirits of exogamous classes, instead 
 of by spirits of totem clans.* 
 
 Thus whereas among the central tribes members of a The decay 
 totem clan are obliged to multiply their totems for the ^f^'°|'^^™'= 
 benefit of the rest of the community, there is no such the coast as 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 313. ' /*'</. p. 770. 
 
 « Ibid. p. 313. * /*»'/• P- 437- 
 
230 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 compared obligation laid on the totemic clans of the coastal tribes. 
 to the Amongf the latter tribes there are only traces of those 
 
 centre or o ^ ^ 
 
 Australia magical ccremonies which are universally prevalent among 
 ofthe^more the former. In other words, totemic magic for the multi- 
 regular plication of totems flourishes in the centre of Australia and 
 more^ ^" is decadent on the sea coast. The difference, as Messrs. 
 assured Spenccr and Gillen justly observe, is no doubt to be attri- 
 food. buted to the difference in climate between the two regions, 
 
 the more regular rainfall of the coast ensuring a more regular 
 supply of food, and thereby superseding the supposed neces- 
 sity of increasing it by magic.^ 
 The custom The custom with regard to eating or not eating the 
 to eaUifg'^'^ totemic animal and plant similarly changes as we pass from 
 the totemic Central Australia northward to the sea. In the Arunta 
 ai"™^ tribe, at the heart of the continent, a man will only eat very 
 changes as sparingly of his totem, and even if he does eat a little of it, 
 from which he may do, he is careful not to eat the best part of it. 
 
 Central jtqj. example, men of the emu totem very seldom eat the 
 to the sea. eggs of the bird. But if an Emu man is very hungry and 
 Among the fl^ds a nest of emu eggs, he may cook one, but he will take 
 people may the rest iuto camp and distribute them. If he were not 
 of'their"'^ very hungry, he would give all the eggs away. He may 
 totems ; eat Sparingly of the flesh of the emu, but only a very little 
 are'^obiiged °f ^^^ ^^t ! f°^ ^^e fat and the eggs are more tabooed than 
 to do so, as the flesh to him. The same holds good for all the totems ; 
 is thought for instance, a Carpet -snake man will eat sparingly of a 
 that they thin snake, but will scarcely touch a fat one.^ Similarly 
 
 would lose T_ /-■ 1 1 
 
 their power Witchetty brub men and women may eat only a very little 
 au^muui- °^ witchetty grubs ; for it is believed that if they ate too 
 plying their much the power of performing magical ceremonies for the 
 totems. multiplication of the grubs would depart from them, and 
 there would be very few grubs.^ But, on the other hand, it 
 is positively incumbent on the men, especially on the head- 
 man of the clan, to eat a little of the totemic animal, for to 
 eat none would have the same effect as to eat too much ; 
 that is to say, if the men of a totem did not eat a little 
 of it, they would lose the power of multiplying their 
 totem, and the animal or plant would consequently be 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 173, 318. 2 Native Tribes, p. 202. 
 
 See above, pp. 167 sqq. 3 ji,jj_ p 204. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 231 
 
 scarce.^ We have seen how in the Arunta tribe, after the 
 men of a totem have performed the intichiuma ceremonies for 
 multiplying the totemic animal or plant, they have solemnly 
 to partake of a little of it, which is ceremonially brought to 
 them by men of other totems.^ The custom seems to be a 
 formal acknowledgment by the rest of the tribe that the 
 totemic animal or plant properly belongs to the men of the 
 totem, though these men have almost abnegated in favour of 
 their fellows the right to eat the particular animal or plant. 
 
 In the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes, to the north of in the Un- 
 the Arunta, this public acknowledgment of the proprietary ^dK^itish 
 rights possessed by a totem clan in its totemic animal, t^'bes 
 plant, or thing is still more conspicuous and more frequent ; not eat 'or'' 
 for it is not made only after the performance of intichiuma <''■'"'' o'^er 
 
 /. , , . , . . \- 1 < people s 
 
 ceremonies for the multiplication of the totems, but on every totems 
 occasion of daily life when a man wishes to eat or drink without 
 
 their Ic&VC 
 
 the totem of somebody else. In all such cases he is bound, 
 wherever it is practicable, to obtain the permission of the 
 men of the totem before he consumes the animal or plant 
 or whatever the object may be to which they have in 
 strictness an exclusive right. For example, if an Emu man 
 comes into the district of a Grass-seed clan, he will gather 
 some of the seed and take it to the headman of the Grass- 
 seed clan, saying, " I have been getting grass-seed in 
 your country." The Grass-seed man will reply, " That is 
 right ; you eat it." They think that if an Emu man were 
 to eat grass-seed without the leave of the Grass-seed men, 
 he would be very ill and probably die." When any animal 
 is killed by a man whose totem it is not, it is first brought 
 into the camp and cooked, and then, if any man of that 
 totem happens to be in camp, it is taken to him by the men 
 of the other moiety of the tribe, and he eats a little of it. 
 After that, but not before, the animal may be eaten by the 
 men of other totems.* The same restriction applies to the 
 use even of water. If a stranger who is not of the water 
 totem comes to Anira, the central spot of the water totem 
 in the Kaitish tribe, he must ask leave of the headman of 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 204. Tribes, pp. 203-206. 
 
 ' See above, pp. 109- in, where ' Northern Tribes, pp. 159, 323. 
 
 the descriptions are based on Native • Ibid. pp. 159 sq., 324. 
 
232 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 But Kaitish 
 people 
 rarely 
 partake of 
 their own 
 totems, ex- 
 cept cere- 
 monially at 
 the inti- 
 chiutna 
 rites ; for it 
 is thought 
 that other- 
 wise they 
 would lose 
 the power 
 of magic- 
 ally multi- 
 plying 
 them. 
 
 the Water clan before he may drink. The headman tells 
 the men of the other moiety to give the stranger water. 
 Were permission not thus obtained, the natives say that 
 the headman of the water totem would kill the transgressor 
 by means of a magic bone.^ 
 
 But while Kaitish men of any totem are thus publicly 
 acknowledged by the rest of the tribe to possess the exclu- 
 sive right to that particular totem, they rarely avail them- 
 selves of that privilege of eating or drinking it which they 
 freely grant to others. Under normal conditions a Kaitish 
 man does not eat his totem except ceremonially at the time 
 of the intichiuma rites, when the headman of the totem is 
 bound to eat a little of it. Were he to partake too freely 
 of his totem, the men of the other moiety of the tribe would 
 kill him by means of a magic bone, because such conduct 
 would, they believe, incapacitate him for performing the 
 intichiuma ceremonies successfully, and so the rest of the 
 community would consequently suffer through the diminu- 
 tion of the totemic animal or plant, and hence of the food 
 supply.^ Even in regard to such an absolute necessity of 
 life as water, though the men of the water totem cannot, 
 of course, deny themselves it altogether, they are subject 
 to certain irksome restrictions in the use of it. If a man 
 of the water totem be quite alone, he may draw it and 
 drink it without offence ; but if he be in the company of 
 men belonging to other totems, he may not obtain it for 
 himself, but must receive it from a member of the other 
 moiety of the tribe. As a general rule, when a man of the 
 water totem is in camp, he receives water from a man of 
 the same subclass from which he, the Water man, takes 
 his wife, in other words he receives water from one who 
 is his tribal brother-in-law (umbirna). But if no man of that 
 subclass happens to be in camp, the Water man may be pro- 
 vided with water by any member of the other moiety of the 
 tribe.' To take another illustration of these self-denying 
 ordinances of totemism among the Kaitish, if an Emu 
 man be out hunting by himself in the scrub and sees an 
 
 ' Northetn Tribes, p. 326. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 323. 
 
 3 Ibid. pp. 160, 325 sq. According 
 
 to the latter passage he receives water 
 from his tribal father-in-law [ikuntera). 
 
 [^ 
 
1 TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 233 
 
 emu, he will not touch it. But if he be in the company 
 of men of other totems, he is free to kill the bird, but he 
 must hand over its dead body to the other men.^ 
 
 In the Unmatjera tribe, whose territory lies immediately in the un- 
 to the north of the Arunta and immediately to the south J^^^fjo 
 of the Kaitish, the restrictions as to eating the totem people as a 
 are fundamentally similar to those of the Arunta. At the eatVf°heir 
 intichiuma ceremonies for the multiplication of the totem, totems at 
 a little of the totemic animal or plant is eaten by the cMuma 
 members of the clan ; and the remainder, which has been ceremonies 
 brought to the headman, is handed over by him to men who piying 
 belong to the other half of the tribe. The Unmatjera believe *^"'- 
 that if a man were to eat his own totemic animal or plant, 
 except during the performance of the intichiuma ceremonies, 
 he would swell up and die. In this tribe, as in the Kaitish, 
 whenever a man of the water totem is in the company of 
 other men, he may not help himself to water, but must receive 
 it from some one who has not got water for his totem.^ 
 
 While thus among the really central tribes, the Arunta, But in the 
 Unmatjera, and Kaitish, men are not absolutely forbidden, °rib*^the 
 nay, are on certain solemn occasions obliged, to eat of their prohibition 
 totemic animal or plant, the prohibition to partake of it 0° f^^e ^ * 
 is absolute among all the more northern tribes from the 'o'em is 
 Kaitish to the sea. In other words, among these northern and in some 
 tribes the totemic animal or plant is strictly tabooed to °f*«":'''^= 
 members of the totem clan ; they may not even eat it further 
 ceremonially at rites observed for the purpose of multiply- f^o'jjJ'^*fin„ 
 ing the totem.' Nay further, in some of these tribes a the totems 
 man is debarred, either absolutely or in certain circum- hl^n/otheT' 
 stances, from eating the totems of his father, his mother, and his 
 and his father's father, whenever these totems differ from father,^ 
 his own. In these tribes, say Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, whenever 
 the relationship between a man and his totem in regard totems 
 to eating it is very simple, but at the same time very strict, differ from 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 160. to food which are imposed on younger 
 
 2 „ . . men. But it does not appear that this 
 
 lota. p. 324. exemption extends to their totems. 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 326. To this rule water ?,ee Native Tribes, pp. 168, 468, 471 ; 
 
 is doubtless an exception. In many Northern Tribes, pp. 609-613; G. 
 
 Australian tribes old men enjoy an ex- Taplin, " The Narrinyeri," Native 
 
 emption from many restrictions in regard Tribes of South Australia, p. 16. 
 
234 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 He may neither kill nor eat it, and the same prohibition 
 applies to the totem of his father and the totem of his 
 father's father, whenever these totems, one or both of them, 
 differ from his own. As a rule a man's totem is identical 
 with that of his father and his father's father in these 
 northern tribes, because with them the totem is generally 
 hereditary in the male line. But if the totems should all 
 differ, then a man is forbidden to kill and eat three different 
 totems, to wit his own, his father's, and his father's father's. 
 With regard to the relationship between a man and his 
 mother's totem there is some difference of usage between 
 the tribes. In the Worgaia tribe, at all events in the 
 western section of it, the mother's totem is strictly tabooed 
 and may not be eaten ; but in the Walpari and Warra- 
 munga tribes a man may eat of his mother's totem, provided 
 it be given him by a member of that half of the tribe to 
 which the particular totem belongs. For instance, in the 
 Walpari tribe if a Curlew man is the son of a Honey 
 woman, he may eat honeycomb on condition that it is 
 given him by a member of that moiety (the Kingilli) with 
 which the honey totem is associated. Similar restrictions 
 apply to the maternal totem when it happens not to be 
 an edible object. Thus when the mother of a Walpari 
 man has fire for her totem, then her son must obtain a 
 fire-stick, when he wants one, from a member of that half 
 of the tribe to which the fire totem belongs. Again, in 
 the Warramunga tribe, if a Wild Cat man has an Emu 
 mother, he will not kill the bird and will only eat it if it 
 be given him by a member of the other moiety of the 
 tribe to which the emu totem is reckoned. Similarly if a 
 Warramunga man has a mother of the water totem, he ought 
 in strictness to have water given him by a man of the other 
 half of the tribe to which the water totem belongs ; but if 
 he happens to be alone and thirsty, the rigidity of the rule is 
 relaxed so far as to allow him to get the water for himself.^ 
 The black snake totem of the Warramunga may serve 
 
 ^ Northern Tribes, pp. 1 66 sq. In ditions, to kill his totem animal, but 
 
 regard to a man's own totem Messrs. he hands it over to men who do not 
 
 Spencer and Gillen elsewhere observe belong to the same totemic group, 
 
 that ' ' a Warramunga man, for example, and will not think of eating it himself " 
 
 will not hesitate, under certain con- (^Northern Tribes, p. 327). 
 
TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 
 
 235 
 
 as an illustration of these rules. That totem belongs to the 
 Uluuru moiety of the tribe and to the subclasses Tha- 
 panunga and Thapungarti of that moiety. As we have 
 seen,' it has its centre at the water-hole called Tjinqurokora 
 on the Tennant Creek. Black Snake men and women, and 
 those whose fathers or fathers' fathers were Black Snakes, 
 may not eat the reptile at all. Any person whose mother 
 was a Black Snake may only eat it if it be given to him or 
 her by Uluuru men, that is, by men of the moiety who 
 claim the black snake among their totems. The men of the 
 other two subclasses of the Uluuru moiety, namely, the 
 Tjunguri and Tjapeltjeri men, and those men of the Tha- 
 panunga and Thapungarti subclasses who do not belong to 
 the black snake totem, may eat a black snake only if it be 
 given to them by Kingilli men, that is, by the men of the 
 other moiety of the tribe, who may eat it freely at all times.^ 
 No woman may go anywhere near the sacred pool to draw 
 water : all initiated men may go there, but Black Snake men 
 may not drink at the spot : all Uluuru men who are not 
 Black Snakes may drink of the water only if it be given 
 them by Kingilli men : finally, the Kingilli men, that is, the 
 men of the tribal moiety to which the black snake totem 
 does not belong, may drink freely of the water of the holy 
 pool where the old original black snake was born and died.' 
 Thus it appears that in the Warramunga tribe the 
 totemic prohibitions with regard to eating are much more 
 extensive and numerous than among the more central tribes. 
 For, in the first place, the prohibition to eat the totem is 
 
 Warra- 
 munga 
 rules as to 
 eating 
 black 
 snakes. 
 
 ' See above, p. 222. 
 
 2 Northern Tribes, p. 167. The two 
 
 moieties or classes (phratries) and the 
 eight subclasses (subphratries) of the 
 Warramunga tribe are as follows : — 
 
 Class. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Cla-ss. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Uluuru 
 
 Thapanunga 
 Tjunguri 
 Tjapeltjeri 
 Thapungarti 
 
 Kingilli • 
 
 Tjupila 
 Thungalla 
 Thakomara 
 Tjambin 
 
 In the 
 Warra- 
 munga 
 tribe the 
 prohibi- 
 tions with 
 regard to 
 eating the 
 totems are 
 much more 
 extensive 
 and numer- 
 ous than in 
 the more 
 central 
 tribes. 
 
 See below, pp. 265 sg, the mythictil history of the Black 
 
 ^Northern Tribes, p. 167. As to Snake ancestor, see above, pp. 222 Xj^^. 
 
236 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 not confined to members of the totem clan, but is condition- 
 ally extended to all members of that moiety of the tribe 
 in which the particular totem clan is included, for no 
 member of that moiety may eat of the totem, even though 
 it is not his own, unless it is given him by a man of the 
 other moiety. As the same rule applies to every totem, it 
 follows that all the totems of his own half of the tribe are 
 tabooed to every man unless he receives them as a gift from 
 men of the other half In the second place, a man is 
 prohibited from eating not only his own totem, but also the 
 totems of his father and his father's ^father whenever these 
 differ from his own, and, further, he is forbidden to eat his 
 mother's totem unless it be given him by a member of his 
 mother's tribal moiety. In the third place, not only are all 
 these totems tabooed either absolutely or conditionally to 
 every man and woman, but, further, the sacred birth-place 
 or death-place of any one of these totems may also be 
 tabooed to him or her. In short, in the Warramunga and 
 kindred tribes, men and women live immeshed in a network 
 of totemic taboos which must considerably restrict their 
 eating, and from most of which the Arunta and other central 
 tribes are entirely free. Totemism has apparently either 
 tightened its hold on the northern tribes or relaxed it on the 
 central tribes. Which of these two things has happened, 
 we shall inquire presently. Meantime I will only again ask 
 the reader to observe the significant fact, to which I have 
 already called his attention,^ that in these tribes the totemic 
 prohibitions have been in a large measure extended beyond 
 the limits of the totemic clans and now embrace those much 
 wider kinship groups which we call classes or phratries, sub- 
 classes or subphratries. Here, therefore, the newer organisa- 
 tion of the tribe in exogamous divisions (classes or phratries) 
 seems to be superseding the older organisation in totem 
 clans.^ 
 
 Among the Mara and Anula, two tribes situated on the 
 coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, a man may not eat his 
 totem, and he only eats very sparingly the totem of his 
 
 ' See above, pp. 225, 227. clans, see above, pp. 162 j^., and below, 
 
 2 For evidence that the classes or pp. 251 sq., 351 sq. 
 phratries are newer than the totem 
 
TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 
 
 237 
 
 mother. For example, a Fish-hawk man whose mother is a 
 Shark will not eat fish-hawks at all and only very small 
 sharks. This last exception to the general taboo is very 
 common among these tribes. A man will usually not 
 eat of the full-grown animals which are the totems of his 
 mother's clan, but he has no objection to eat the half-grown 
 animals, and sometimes he will eat just a little of an adult 
 one.^ 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 173. In 
 these two tribes, the Mara and the 
 Anula, the totems are distributed as 
 
 In the Mara 
 and Anula 
 tribes a man 
 will not eat 
 his own 
 totem, and 
 will eat his 
 mother's 
 totem only 
 very spar- 
 ingly. 
 
 follows among the exogamous sub- 
 classes or subphratries (see Northern 
 Tribes, p. 172) : — 
 
 The Mara Tribe 
 
 Subclaares (Sub- 
 phratries). 
 
 Totems. 
 
 ■ Murungun 
 • Mumbali 
 
 Eagle-hawk, yellow snake, hill kangaroo, large crocodile, 
 parrot, galah, stone, salt water. 
 
 Whirlwind, a poisonous snake, white hawk, crow, opos- 
 sum, salt-water mullet, stingaree. 
 
 ■ Purdal 
 . Kuial 
 
 Blue-headed snake, big kangaroo, crane, wallaby, little 
 fish-hawk, dingo, barramunda (a fresh-water fish), rain, 
 sand-hill snake, little crocodile. 
 
 Emu, turkey, goanna, white cockatoo, grasshopper, water 
 snake, kite, jabiru, groper, turtle. 
 
 The Anula Tribe 
 
 Subclaitses (Sub- 
 phratries). 
 
 Totems. 
 
 ■ Awukaria 
 Roumburia 
 
 Dugong, two salt-water turtles, called respectively niuru- 
 lanka and thuriutu, a snake called gnurwa, native 
 companion, euro, ground sugar-bag [honeycomb], large 
 eagle-hawk, pearl oyster, small crocodile, small shark. 
 
 Large shark, snake called napintipinti, large crane, small 
 crane, dollar bird, curlew, stingaree, mullet, whirlwind, 
 opossum. 
 
 ■ Wialia 
 , Urtalia 
 
 Fish called runutji, sugar-bag [honeycomb], cold weather, 
 wild fowl called talulthalpuna, emu, and a hawk called 
 mularakaka. 
 
 A fish-hawk called tjutjutju, a snake called rapupuna, 
 lightning, water-snake called arrikarika, barramunda, a 
 fresh-water fish called wurr-wurr, and three salt-water 
 fishes, called respectively amukarra, warranunga, oaria, 
 and two turtles called undiniuka and gncalia. 
 
238 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Thecustom We have seen that the prohibitions to eat the totemic 
 t'ai'tribes ^"^"^^1^ and plants are both more stringent and more 
 which extensive among the northern and coastal tribes than among 
 requires a'^ the tribes of the centre, in which men are allowed to eat 
 man to eat a little of their totem, nay, are even at certain times com- 
 his'totem, pellcd as a public duty to do so. Which of these two usages 
 seems to be is the older ? in other words, which of them is more in 
 thecustom harmony with ancient custom? the usage which absolutely 
 of the forbids a man to eat his totem, or that which allows and 
 
 northern 
 
 tribes, even compels him to do so ? If we can trust the traditions 
 rbsoiutei °^ *^^ natives, the answer is not doubtful. The custom 
 forbids him which allows and compels a man to partake of his totem is 
 forlnthe' Certainly older than that which taboos it to him entirely. 
 native tra- For the native traditions relating to the remote alcheringa 
 aniestors^ times constantly speak of men and women eating their 
 are repre- totems freely and habitually as if it were the most natural 
 fng'thei?' thing in the world for them to do so. Such traditions 
 totems cannot have been invented to explain the modern practice. 
 
 freely, as if '^ ft 
 
 that were lor they flatly contradict it. We seem, therefore, driven to 
 
 thrn^for''^ conclude that these traditions, carefully handed down from 
 
 them to do. generation to generation, and stamped on the memory by 
 
 being represented dramatically to the eyes of all initiated 
 
 men, do faithfully preserve a recollection of a time when 
 
 the ancestors of the present natives freely and habitually 
 
 partook of their totems, whenever the animal or the plant was 
 
 in season and accessible to them.^ A few examples will 
 
 illustrate these traditions. 
 
 Arunta The Arunta tell how a party of Wild Cat met some 
 
 traditions r ii 1 , , , . 
 
 of people "len of the plum-tree totem, and how the Wild Cat men were 
 eating their changed into Plum-tree men, and thereafter went on eatine 
 
 totems. 1 A • 1 
 
 plums. Again, they say that a Bandicoot woman started 
 out with a Hakea Flower woman and turned her companion 
 into a Bandicoot woman like herself by performing a sacred 
 ceremony and painting the Hakea Flower woman with 
 down used in the bandicoot ceremony. After her trans- 
 formation the new Bandicoot woman went on feeding on 
 
 1 On this subject see the judicious elusion which these eminent authorities 
 
 remarks of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, draw from their observations I am 
 
 Native Tribes, pp. 207-210; Northern entirely at one. 
 Tribes, pp. 320 sq. With the con- 
 
J TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 239 
 
 bandicoots. Again, an Arunta man of the euro totem is 
 said to have pursued a euro which carried fire in its body. 
 He came up with it, killed it, and cooking the carcase with 
 fire taken from its inside he ate it. Another Euro man 
 started out in pursuit of a kangaroo which he was anxious 
 to kill and eat, but in order to do so he first of all changed 
 himself into a Kangaroo man. Arunta traditions also tell 
 of a Fish man who was seen fishing in a pool for the fish 
 on which he subsisted ; of a Beetle Grub {idnimitd) man 
 who fed on beetle grubs ; of a Plum-tree woman who was 
 out gathering plums when a man came and stole a valuable 
 implement which she had left in camp ; and, lastly, of an 
 Opossum man who on his nocturnal wanderings carried the 
 moon about with him as a lantern to help him to catch 
 opossums.^ 
 
 In the Kaitish tribe similar traditions are current. For Kaitish 
 example, it is said that an Emu man found some Emu men o/'peopie 
 eating emu and said, " Why do you not give me some emu ? " eating their 
 They were angry, and killed him, and broke his back, and °'*"'^' 
 Central Mount Stuart arose to mark the spot where he 
 perished. Again, we are told that some women of an 
 edible bulb totem walked about digging up and eating their 
 totemic bulbs, which indeed formed their staple food. The 
 husks which they threw away made a heap, and the heap 
 is now represented by a hill called Pulina.'' Again, it is 
 said that a young Rabbit Kangaroo {atnungd) man met an 
 old Rabbit Kangaroo man, who being too infirm to hunt 
 for himself gave the young Rabbit Kangaroo man a rabbit 
 kangaroo churinga and told him to go and hunt for rabbit 
 kangaroos all day, and dig them out of their burrows with the 
 churinga. The young man did so, and brought the dead rabbit 
 kangaroos to the old Rabbit Kangaroo man, who cooked 
 and ate them. Lastly, we hear of a Grass-seed man who, 
 after wandering about the country, sat down and spent all 
 his time gathering and eating grass-seed.' 
 
 Again, the Unmatjera tell of a Wild Dog man who used Unmatjera 
 to feed on wild dogs,* and of a celebrated Beetle Grub oTpUpfe 
 
 eating their 
 
 * Native Tribes, ^^f. 20% sq.\ Northern ' Ibid. pp. 321 sq. totems. 
 Tribes, p. 321. 
 
 • Northern Tribes, pp. 321, 394 sq. * Ibid. p. 405. 
 
240 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 {idnimitd) man, who habitually dug up beetle grubs with a 
 nose-bone and ate them. Indeed there was little else for 
 him to eat, for in those days we are told that there was 
 nothing at all in the country but beetle grubs and a little 
 bird called thippathippa. So the Beetle Grub man used to 
 think within himself, " What shall I eat to-day ? I have 
 got no brother or son to collect beetle grubs for me : I will 
 gather them for myself. If I do not eat beetle grubs I shall 
 die." Spurred by this painful reflection he would rush 
 out and collect the grubs and devour them. One day he 
 observed to another Beetle Grub man, " I have been eating 
 beetle grubs." At that up jumped another old Beetle Grub 
 man and said, " I have been eating beetle grubs also ; if I 
 eat them always they might all die." Nevertheless the 
 other old Beetle Grub man continued to perform cere- 
 monies for the multiplication of the grubs, and then when 
 the grubs swarmed out he would go and gather them himself 
 or send a man to gather them for him. But one day when 
 he had been out in pursuit of his daily bread, or, to be more 
 precise, of his daily beetle grubs, boils appeared on his legs. 
 Undeterred by this ominous symptom he went and gathered 
 more grubs, and then he grew so ill that he could not walk, 
 and had to lie down in his camp all that day. The hand 
 of death was on him. He wasted visibly away, his throat 
 closed up, and before the morning broke next day he burst 
 open and died.^ 
 The last of In this last narrative, though a Beetle Grub man is 
 these tradi- represented as subsisting on beetle grubs, it seems clear that 
 at doubts the narrator had serious misgivings as to the propriety of 
 OTo'prSy ^"^'^ conduct. The statement that in those days there was 
 of a man's nothing at all in the country except beetle grubs and thippa- 
 own"fotem. thippa birds, is a manifest attempt to excuse a Beetle Grub 
 man for eating beetle grubs by making out that he had 
 really no choice in the matter. Beetle grubs or nothing, that 
 was the alternative he had to face, and naturally he decided 
 for beetle grubs. Further, the observation of the other old 
 Beetle Grub man, " If I eat beetle grubs always, they might 
 all die," shows that he also felt twinges of conscience in the 
 matter ; and the miserable end of the Beetle Grub man who 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 324 sq. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 241 
 
 ate beetle grubs might serve as an awful warning of what 
 will happen to people who persist in devouring their totems 
 even after boils have burst out on their legs.^ 
 
 A very similar tale is told by the Kaitish of a Beetle There are 
 Grub {idnimitd) man who used to perform magical rites Jn'^,'r'^aditioa 
 and chant spells for the multiplication of the grubs, and that the 
 then, when he saw them rising out of the ground, he ^a'idon""^ 
 would gather, cook, and eat them. Yet he is said to have ing the old 
 reflected, " Suppose I eat more grubs, then perhaps they eadng'the 
 might all die," and again, " Suppose I go on eating too '°'s=™ ^^ 
 
 II . 1 1 /• . 1 . , 1 3. desire to 
 
 much, they might be frightened and go away to another conciliate 
 country." ^ Such reflections appear to be put in the mouth "'^ '°''='" 
 of the speaker by men of a later age, who had ceased to eat and so to 
 their totems freely, though they preserved a tradition of a «"="^^ * 
 contrary practice among their forefathers. The reason, too, 
 alleged for the ancestor's hesitation to eat much of his totem 
 is highly instructive. It is a fear that were he to eat too 
 many grubs the other grubs would be frightened and go 
 away to another country, so that all his charms and spells 
 for the multiplication of the insect would be fruitless. Such 
 a reason is perfectly in keeping with savage modes of 
 thought, and may very well, as I have already indicated,' 
 be the very reason which has led so many Australian tribes 
 to abandon what appears to have been the original practice 
 of freely eating their totems. If that is so, the motive at 
 the bottom of totem taboos observed by men of the totem 
 is nothing more or less than an attempt to conciliate the 
 game which are killed and eaten. That attempt, as I have 
 shown elsewhere,'' is very commonly made by savage hunters 
 and fishers who habitually kill and eat the animals and the 
 fish which they flatter and appease. The only difference 
 between the two cases is that whereas ordinary hunters and 
 fishers themselves partake of their bag, the totemic magician 
 
 ' Messrs. Spencer and Gillen ob- out of sores on the body and other 
 
 serve (Northern Tribes, p. 325) that, forms of skin disease are penalties often 
 
 "so far as we could ascertain, the old supposed to be incurred by those who 
 
 man's miserable ending had nothing to eat their totems or other sacred food. 
 
 do with the fact that he ate iiinimita See above, p. 17. 
 [beetle grubs]." But taken along with 2 j^orlhern Tribes, pp. 322 sq. 
 
 other features of the tale the moral 
 
 seems too pointed to be missed. It ' See above, pp. 121-123. 
 
 should be observed that the breaking ■* The Golaen Boii!;Ji;- ii. 387 sqq. 
 
 VOL. I R 
 
243 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 does not : he contents himself with providing the rest of the 
 
 community with his totemic animal or plant, and expects 
 
 his fellows in return to provide him with theirs. 
 
 Thus in Thus the traditions of the Arunta, the Kaitish, and the 
 
 regard to Unmatiera point clearly to a time when their ancestors 
 
 efl.tin£f their j ^ •' 
 
 totems the habitually ate of their totems whenever they had a chance 
 
 '^'^■b"^h V °f doing so ; and among the very same tribes these traditions 
 
 remained are reflected in those totemic ceremonies in which to this 
 
 than'^the ^ay men solemnly partake of their totems not only without 
 
 northern the least indication that such conduct is blameworthy, but 
 
 the primi- with the avowcd intention of thereby ensuring the supply of 
 
 ''^^ . food.^ We may fairly, therefore, conclude that the ancient 
 
 custom among all these tribes was for every rnan regularly 
 
 to eat his totem animal or plant whenever he could, and 
 
 that in so far as the central tribes have partially preserved 
 
 that custom and the northern tribes have abandoned it 
 
 entirely, to that extent the central tribes have remained 
 
 truer than the northern tribes to the primitive practice. 
 
 The rules Thus wc have Seen that in several respects the totemic 
 
 anddescent beliefs and customs of the tribes under consideration change 
 
 of the as we pass northward from the centre to the sea. The 
 
 change as use of churinga and their association with the totems,^ the 
 
 we pass practice of magical ceremonies for the multiplication of 
 
 from the . t>,.,.^T ^., 
 
 centre the totems, and the old freedom of eatmg the totemic 
 "°'^'J'" animals and plants, all these things dwindle away or dis- 
 whereas' appear entirely as we recede from the central to the coastal 
 c^tal *^ tribes. A great change also takes place in the customs with 
 tribes men regard to marriage and the descent of the totems. Among 
 of the°same ^^ Central tribes of the Arunta nation, as we saw, the totemic 
 totem are system has nothing to do with marriage, since a man is free to 
 
 frpe to 
 
 marry each marry a woman of his own or any other totem ; and further, 
 other, and the totem descends neither in the paternal nor in the 
 
 tlie totems i i . i • i • t 
 
 are not maternal line, but is determined purely by the accident of 
 hereditary, the place where the mother happened first to feel the child 
 
 among the '■ ^^ 
 
 northern m her womb. All this changes gradually as we pass from 
 andTvo"me"n ''^^ Arunta nation northward till among the coastal tribes 
 of the same we find that a man never marries a woman of his own 
 
 1 See above, pp. log-iii, 120, 217, 3 See above, pp. 228-230. 
 220, 230 sq. 
 
 - See above, pp. 200 sg. < See above, pp. 1 87 sgq. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 243 
 
 totem, and that a child invariably inherits the totem of its totem are 
 father.^ In this last respect it can hardly be disputed that °^^^ 
 the central tribes have preserved the more primitive beliefs each other, 
 and customs, and that the gradual transition from a purely totems are 
 fortuitous determination of the totem to a strict inheritance strictly 
 of it in the paternal line marks a social and intellectual in the 
 advance in culture. To imagine that the change had taken patemai 
 place in the opposite direction, in other words, that tribes 
 which had once derived their totems invariably from their 
 fathers afterwards abandoned the hereditary principle in 
 favour of one which left the determination of their totems 
 to the sick fancies of pregnant women — this would be a 
 theory too preposterous to be worthy of serious attention. 
 
 In this very interesting and' important transition from stages in 
 promiscuous marriages between the totem clans and fortuitous IjoVfrom 
 determination of the totems to strict exogamy of the totem promiscu- 
 clans and strict heredity of the totems in the paternal line riage"and 
 the principal stages are in brief as follows : — " In the fortuitous 
 Arunta, as a general rule, the great majority of the members tion of the 
 of any one totemic group belong to one moiety of the tribe, totems to 
 but this is by no means universal, and in different totemic gamyofthe 
 groups certain of the ancestors are supposed to have belonged wtem clans 
 to one moiety and others to the other, with the result that heredity of 
 of course their living descendants also follow their example. [n^,h°'^™^ 
 In this respect the Unmatjera, Ilpirra, and Iliaura are in paternal 
 accord with the Arunta, but amongst the Kaitish the totems ''*^' 
 are more strictly divided between the two moieties, though 
 the division is not so absolute as it is amongst the Urabunna 
 in the south and the tribes further north, such as the Warra- 
 munga. As the totems are thus distributed it follows that 
 in the Kaitish tribe a man does not usually marry a woman 
 of the same totem as himself, but, provided she be of the 
 right class, she is not actually forbidden to him as a wife 
 because of this identity of totem as she would be in the 
 Warramunga tribe. Two families will serve as an example 
 of what takes place in this matter in the Kaitish. In the 
 first the father was a Kangaroo man and his wife Emu ; 
 their children were a Grass-seed son and daughter and a 
 Wild Cat son. In the second the father was Rain, the 
 
 ' Nortlunt Tribes, pp. 151 sq., 163 sq., 165 sq., 169-173, 175 sq. 
 
244 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 mother Emu ; there were two Rain sons and one Yam 
 daughter. It will be seen from this that, as in the Arunta, 
 the descent of the totem follows neither in the paternal nor 
 in the maternal line." ^ Thus among the Kaitish, one of the 
 two most northerly tribes of the Arunta nation, we may 
 detect the first stage in the transition from promiscuous 
 marriage and fortuitous descent of the totems to strict 
 exogamy of the totem clans and strict heredity of the totems 
 in the paternal line. For among the Kaitish " we find the 
 totems divided to a large extent between the two moieties 
 of the tribe, so that it is a very rare thing for a man to 
 marry a woman of the same totem as himself; but there 
 is very little indication of paternal descent so far as the 
 totem is concerned. It may follow either that of the father 
 or that of the mother, but there is no necessity, any more 
 than there is in the Arunta, for it to follow either." ^ 
 
 Further to the north, " in the Warramunga, Wulmala, 
 WalparijTjingilli, and Umbaia tribes the division of the totems 
 between the two moieties is complete, and, with very few ex- 
 ceptions indeed, the children follow the father. They always 
 pass into a totemic group belonging to the father's moiety, 
 and a man may not marry a woman of his own totem." ^ 
 
 Still further to the north, in the Gnanji tribe, the 
 totemic beliefs are fundamentally the same.* Among the 
 Gnanji and the Umbaia " the totems are strictly divided up 
 between the two moieties of the tribe. It therefore follows 
 that a woman of the same totem as himself is forbidden 
 as wife to a man of that totem. With only the very 
 rarest exceptions the children follow the father." ' Lastly, 
 when we pass yet further to the north and reach the 
 Binbinga, Mara, and Anula tribes, of which the two latter 
 inhabit the coast, we find that " the totems are strictly 
 divided up between the moieties or classes, so that a man is 
 forbidden to marry a woman of his own totem. The totems 
 of the children very strictly follow that of the father." ^ 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 151 sq. By one (the Wulmala) lies to the west 
 
 " totemic group " the writers mean of the Kaitish ; all the others lie to 
 
 what I call a totemic clan. the north. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 175. 4 Northern Tribes, p. 176. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 175, compare pp. 163-166. ° Ibid, p. 169. 
 
 Of the tribes here mentioned a single " Ibid. p. 176, compare pp, 170-173. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 245 
 
 It may naturally be asked, How is this strict descent of The tribes 
 the totem in the paternal line among these northern tribes heredita^ 
 and in the maternal line among the Urabunna ^ consistent totemism 
 with the theory held by all these tribes that every individual ^^ their 
 is the reincarnation of an ancestral spirit which entered into theory of 
 the woman at the moment she first felt her womb quickened by suppos- 
 and not at all at the moment when she was really impreg- '"S 'hat 
 nated by her husband ? ^ On this theory of conception the spirit of 
 simplest and probably most primitive view seems to be *^ "^'''n 
 that of the Arunta and other strictly central tribes that enter into 
 the child takes its totem neither from its father nor from its fg^^orn 
 mother, but from the particular totemic spirit which darted 
 into her at the first inward premonition of maternity, and 
 that whatever the totem of that spirit was, such must 
 of necessity be the totem of the child, without any regard 
 to the totem either of the father or of the mother. How 
 then can this theory be maintained along with strict paternal 
 or maternal descent of the totem ? These savages have 
 found an ingenious and theoretically quite consistent and 
 logical explanation of this seeming discrepancy. They 
 say it is true that the child is not the offspring of its 
 father, but simply the reincarnation of an ancestral spirit, 
 but that at the same time only a spirit of the right 
 totem will enter into the mother, and as among the Ura- 
 bunna the right totem is the mother's, and among the 
 northern tribes it is the father's, it follows quite naturally 
 and necessarily that among the Urabunna the child is 
 always of the same totem as its mother, and that among 
 the northern tribes it is always of the same totem as 
 its father. The disembodied spirit is believed to choose 
 deliberately the woman into whom it will enter and to 
 refuse as a matter of principle to enter into a woman of 
 the wrong totem.' Thus "the Gnanji belief is that 
 certain of the spirit individuals belonging to a man's totem 
 follow him about if he travels into a part of the country not 
 associated with his own totem. For example, we were 
 speaking amongst others to a Snake man, close by the side 
 of two water-holes in Gnanji country, one of which was 
 
 ' See above, p. 177. ^ See above, pp. 188 sgq. 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 148, 1 74 J?. 
 
246 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 associated with, and had been made in, the alcheringa by a 
 
 goshawk and the other by a bee. Certain trees and stones 
 
 on their banks are supposed to be full of bee and goshawk 
 
 spirits. The snake belongs to one moiety of the tribe and 
 
 the bee and goshawk to the other, and the natives told us 
 
 that the Snake man's wife could not possibly conceive a bee 
 
 or goshawk child there, because no such spirit would think 
 
 of going inside the wife of a Snake man. If she were to 
 
 conceive a child at that spot it would simply mean that a 
 
 snake spirit had followed the father up from his own place 
 
 and had gone inside the woman. It is, they say, possible — 
 
 but the cases in which it occurs are very rare — for a child 
 
 not to belong to its father's totem, but in such instances 
 
 it always belongs to one which is associated with his own 
 
 moiety of the tribe." ^ 
 
 In the Thus the disembodied totemic spirit in choosing a 
 
 munga woman from whom to be born again, seldom makes a 
 
 tribe the mistake as to her totem clan, never as to her exogamous 
 
 the totem moiety (class or phratry) ; it is always born in the right 
 
 is made j^alf of the tribe, though occasionally in the wrong clan. 
 
 the local The moiety or half of the tribe is, so to say, a larger target 
 
 distribution f^j. ^^ spirit to hit than the totemic clan, which is always 
 
 of the two -"^ ' -' 
 
 exogamous merely a part, and often only a small part, of the moiety. 
 of'the'tribe ^^ need scarcely wonder, therefore, that the spirit in 
 each with projecting itself into a woman should sometimes miss the 
 cilnsl^tao smaller mark but never the larger. And its entrance into 
 two separ- the right moiety, if not into the right clan, is greatly 
 Tricts, a facilitated in the Warramunga nation or group of tribes 
 northern by g, convenient local arrangement of the moieties and 
 southern, clans. For in each of these tribes the two exogamous 
 the Kingiih moieties occupy separate territories, the Uluuru moiety 
 occupy- inhabitating the southern territory, and the Kingilli moiety 
 "'^th"rn inhabiting the northern territory, with a more or less sharply 
 district and marked boundary-line dividing them. And the totemic 
 moie/y""™ clans in like manner are locally divided between the two 
 southern districts, all the clans that belong to the Uluuru moiety 
 being found in the Uluuru district, and all the clans 
 that belong to the Kingilli moiety being found in the 
 Kingilli district. From this geographical distribution of 
 
 ' Northern Tribe!, pp. 169 sq. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 247 
 
 the moieties it follows that in any camp within the southern 
 area of the tribe, apart from visitors, all the males will be 
 Uluuru men, who have been born in this part of the 
 country, and their wives will be Kingilli women who were 
 born and lived till puberty in the northern area. The 
 daughters of these Uluuru men and Kingilli women will 
 be Uluuru, since in all these tribes the children belong to 
 the moiety of their father ; and when these Uluuru girls 
 are grown up they will quit the land of their birth and 
 take up their permanent home in the north country with 
 their Kingilli husbands. Conversely in any camp of the 
 northern territory all the men are Kingilli who have been 
 born in this part of the country, and their wives are Uluuru 
 women who were born and bred in the south ; and the 
 daughters will be Kingilli girls, who at marriage will quit 
 the land of their birth and go away to live with their 
 Uluuru husbands in the south. In this way all the men 
 of the tribe are stationary from birth to death in their 
 native land ; and all the women are migratory, spending 
 their early years in their native land and all their later 
 years from marriage onwards in the foreign land of their 
 husbands.^ If children belonged to the moiety of their 
 mother instead of to that of the father, in other words, if 
 the exogamous divisions descended in the maternal line 
 instead of in the paternal, the foregoing conditions would 
 just be reversed. The women would be stationary all their 
 lives in their native land, and the men would be migratory, 
 living up to the date of their marriage in the land of their 
 birth and ever afterwards in the land of their wives. 
 
 It is obvious that this local separation of the exogamous This local 
 groups, by simplifying the distinction between them, must^fP^™"™ 
 greatly help the natives to observe correctly their somewhat exogamous 
 complex marriage laws. For if we take as an illustration mu^/'heip 
 the simplest marriage organisation of an Australian tribe, 'he natives 
 to wit, the bisection into two exogamous moieties (classes their 
 or phratries), and suppose that these two moieties occupy complex 
 
 .... .1 1 I < .1- marriage 
 
 separate territories with a clearly marked boundary-line laws, and 
 between them, then every grown man on one side of that ™^ ""^^ 
 
 ' ^ ° suppose 
 
 line will know that every grown woman on the same side that the 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 28-30. 
 
248 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 separation of the line may be his wife. The possibility of confusion 
 wheiT""*^ and mistake is almost completely avoided, since every adult 
 exogamy female whom an adult male may not marry is separated 
 j^troduced. from him and lives in a different country. And this holds 
 good whether children belong to the moiety of their father 
 or to that of their mother, in other words, whether descent 
 is in the male or in the female line. With the arrival of 
 puberty the separation between the persons who may not 
 marry is carried out by sending away either the mature 
 girls or the mature boys, according as descent is paternal 
 or maternal, to the other district, there to find their proper 
 husbands or wives as the case may be. Thus the tempta- 
 tion to break the stringent rule of exogamy, which forbids 
 men and women of the same moiety to marry each other, 
 is to a great extent removed. We may conjecture that 
 when exogamy was first introduced in its simplest form 
 as a bisection of the whole community into two exogamous 
 moieties,^ the working of the new rule was made easy by 
 segregating the two moieties locally from each other, in 
 order to secure that the men and women who were for- 
 bidden to each other should not normally meet. We need 
 not suppose that from the outset the whole country of the 
 tribe was parcelled out into two great areas, of which one 
 was assigned to one half of the tribe, and the other to 
 the other half, as is now done in the Warramunga nation. 
 It would be enough that every local group should split 
 into two sections, each of which should have its own 
 camping and hunting grounds. A trace of this probably 
 older practice seems to survive in the Arunta custom, 
 according to which people of the same exogamous moiety 
 always camp together and apart from the people of the other 
 moiety, the two camps being regularly separated by some 
 natural feature, such as a creek.^ 
 With a It is clear that such a segregation of the two exogamous 
 
 ofThf'^"°" '■'^o'eties in separate districts would lend itself with equal 
 exogamous ease to paternal or to maternal descent of the moiety. If 
 freTmay Paternal descent were adopted, the men would only have 
 be traced to remain stationary and treat as members of their own 
 ea^iiy^in moicty all the children born on their side of the boundary- 
 
 1 See above, pp. 162 sq. 2 Native Tribes, pp. 31 sq., 70, 2^6 sf. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 249 
 
 line, of whom all the girls at puberty would cross the line thepatemai 
 and find husbands on the other side. On the contrary, if^atern^ 
 maternal descent were adopted, all the women would remain line; hence 
 stationary and treat as members of their own moiety all f^^^ g^oup 
 the children to whom they gave birth, of whom all the boys marriage 
 
 wc need 
 
 at puberty would cross the line and find wives on the other not sup- 
 side. In this way, even if group marriage prevailed, that p°^^ *^* 
 is, even if all the men of each moiety had free access to all descent is 
 the women of the other moiety, the group fatherhood of all moreprimi- 
 the children would be just as certain as the group mother- paternal. 
 hood. It would be quite as easy to trace group relationship 
 in the male as in the female line. Hence if, as is probable, 
 the present marital customs of the Australian tribes have 
 been everywhere preceded by group marriage, there is no 
 reason why the practice of transmitting the exogamous 
 prohibitions in the paternal line should not be quite as 
 ancient as the other practice of transmitting them in the 
 maternal line. When any tribe first divided itself into two 
 exogamous and locally separate groups, it could choose for 
 itself with perfect freedom whether the children should 
 belong to the group of the fathers or to the group of the 
 mothers, even although individual fatherhood might be 
 unknown and individual motherhood forgotten.^ The 
 ' kinship terms under such a social system would be expres- 
 sive of group relations, like the terms of the classificatory 
 system of relationship, which in all probability sprang from 
 just such a system of group marriage. But to that point 
 we shall return later on. 
 
 Now to revert to the totems. In the Warramunga Further.the 
 nation the totemic groups with their local totem centres are of°he™^ 
 sharply divided up between the two geographical areas into totem clans 
 which the territory of each tribe is parcelled out. One set a^a^rect 
 of totems is confined to the northern or Kingilli area, and ™"se- 
 the other set is confined to the southern or Uluuru area, their local 
 
 segregation 
 
 ' That with group marriage descent a system of group marriage, see Dr. areas 
 is reckoned just as easily in the paternal W. H. R. Rivers, "On the Origin of 
 as in the maternal line has already the Classificatory System of Relation- 
 been pointed out by Messrs. Spencer ships," in Anthropological Essays pre- 
 and Gillen. See their Native Tribes, sented to Edward Burnett Tylorl^QySo\&, 
 p. 36 note'. As to the possibility of 1907), pp. 316-318. 
 forgetting individual motherhood with 
 
2SO TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The traditional explanation of this territorial division is 
 that the ancestors of the one set of totems limited their 
 wanderings almost exclusively to the north country, while 
 the ancestors of the other set roamed the south country 
 alone.^ Whatever may be the origin of this local segregation 
 of the two sets of totems in the Warramunga nation, it is 
 clear that the separation must have materially co-operated 
 to ensure that a child's totem should always belong to its 
 father's tribal moiety, since the child's mother would, under 
 the system described above, always after marriage reside in the 
 territory of her husband's moiety, and could therefore, under 
 normal conditions, only be impregnated by the fotemic spirits 
 who had their abode in that territory. We can thus easily 
 understand why the irregular descent of the totems among 
 the tribes of the Arunta nation should be suddenly ex- 
 changed for an almost perfectly regular paternal descent of 
 the totems in the adjoining Warramunga nation. The local 
 segregation of the totems in two separate territories supplies 
 the key to the seeming mystery. And the same segregation 
 of the totems equally explains the change from the promis- 
 cuous totemic marriages of the Arunta to the exogamous 
 totemic marriages of the Warramunga. Among the Arunta, 
 as we have seen,^ the totems have no influence whatever on 
 marriage. A man may marry a woman of his own or of 
 another totem just as he pleases, whereas among the 
 Warramunga, as among all the other northern tribes down 
 to the sea, a man never marries a woman of his own totem.' 
 The reason for the latter practice appears to be simply that, 
 since in these tribes a man has always to take a wife from 
 another local district (namely, the territory of the other 
 tribal moiety) in which his own totem is not found at all, 
 it is impossible that his wife should be of the same totem as 
 himself The exogamy of the totemic clans is thus a direct 
 consequence of their local segregation in two separate areas. 
 Whereas among the Arunta, among whom the local segrega- 
 tion of the two moieties is far less fully carried out,* it is 
 always possible that a man's wife, though she must always 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 28 sq. ^ Northern Tribes, pp. 27 sq. ; 
 
 2 Above, p. 187. Native Tribes, p. 120. 
 •'' Above, pp. 243, 244. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 251 
 
 be of the other tribal moiety, may yet be of his own totem 
 clan. 
 
 In regard to these totemic marriage customs, as in Thecustom 
 regard to the descent of the totem and the practice of eating °^J^^^i 
 it or abstaining from it, we may ask which is the more tribes, 
 primitive ? the custom of the central tribes, which allows a ^1,0^3 ^ 
 man to marry a woman of his own totem ? or the custom of man to 
 the northern tribes, which strictly forbids him to do so ? w^Tn^ot 
 Again, as in regard to the practice of eating the totem, the '''^ °^™ 
 
 , .... , ... .7 . ,, totem, 
 
 voice of tradition is altogether in favour of the view that the seems to 
 custom of the central tribes is the more primitive. On this ^. ">,°.''® 
 
 , primitive 
 
 subject Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe with regard to than the 
 the Arunta traditions : " One thing appears to be quite ^"^j'^™ 
 clear, and that is, that we see in these early traditions no northern 
 trace whatever of a time when the totems regulated marriage ^j||^^' j.^^^ 
 in the way now characteristic of many of the Australian bids him to 
 tribes. There is not a solitary fact which indicates that a the^na'tive"^ 
 man of one totem must marry a woman of another ; on the traditions 
 contrary we meet constantly, and only, with groups of men fo°a time 
 and women of the same totem living together ; and, in these when men 
 early traditions, it appears to be the normal condition for a [f not 
 man to have as wife a woman of the same totem as himself, always. 
 At the same time there is nothing to show definitely that women of 
 marital relations were prohibited between individuals of "'^"' °^" 
 
 totems. 
 
 different totems, though, in regard to this, it must be 
 remembered that the instances recorded in the traditions, in 
 which intercourse took place between men and women of 
 different totems, are all concerned with the men of special 
 groups, such as the Achilpa [Wild Cat totem] ; further still, 
 it may be pointed out that these were powerful groups who 
 are represented as marching across country, imposing certain 
 rites and ceremonies upon other people with whom they 
 come in contact. The intercourse of the Achilpa [Wild 
 Cat] men with women of other totems may possibly have 
 been simply a right, forcibly exercised by what may be 
 regarded as a conquering group, and may have been subject 
 to no restrictions of any kind. As to the people with whom 
 the Achilpa [Wild Cat people] came into contact, and 
 whom they found settled upon the land, the one most 
 striking and at the same time most interesting fact is. 
 
252 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 as just stated, that a man was free to marry a woman 
 
 of his own totem (as he is at the present day), and 
 
 further still we may even say that the evidence seems 
 
 to point back to a time when a man always married 
 
 a woman of his own totem. The references to men and 
 
 women of one totem always living together in groups would 
 
 appear to be too frequent and explicit to admit of any other 
 
 satisfactory explanation. We never meet with an instance 
 
 of a man living with a woman who was not of his own 
 
 totem ^ as we surely might expect to do if the form of the 
 
 traditions were simply due to their having grown up amongst 
 
 a people with the present organisation of the Arunta tribe. 
 
 It is only, during these early times, when we come into 
 
 contact with a group of men marching across strange 
 
 country that we meet, as we might expect to do, with 
 
 evidence of men having intercourse with women other than 
 
 those of their own totem." ^ 
 
 Thus the Thus in respect of marriage with a woman of the same 
 
 customs of totem, as well as in respect of the determination of the totem, 
 
 the central and the practice of eating the totemic animal or plant, the 
 
 moreprimi- Central tribes appear to have retained more primitive usages 
 
 live than than the northern tribes. 
 
 those of the __-. , , , i i r i 
 
 northern With regard to the nature and number of the totems, 
 
 tabes. (-jjgy seem to be only limited by the knowledge or imagina- 
 
 regard to tion of the natives. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen give a long 
 
 the nature |jg(. gf those totems with which they personally came in 
 
 and num- J r j 
 
 ber of the Contact, but they expressly warn us that it is far from 
 
 Australian Complete, since to make out a full catalogue would necessitate 
 
 totems we a residence of years among the various tribes. As to the 
 
 possess a number and geographical distribution of the totems they 
 
 complete observe : " Speaking generally, it may be said that almost 
 
 listofthem, .,,.,.. 
 
 but they every material object gives its name to some totemic group. 
 seem to jf an animal, such as a kangaroo or emu, is widely dis- 
 
 mclude ., , , ^ , . \ 
 
 almost tributed, then we find totemic groups of the same name 
 '=™''y. , widely distributed. There is naturally no such thing as a 
 
 material ^ j a 
 
 object. pearl oyster or a dugong totemic group in Central Australia, 
 
 ^ " That is in connection with those appear to have had intercourse more 
 
 groups with whom the various wander- or less freely with women of other 
 
 ing parties came in contact. The totems." 
 members of all wandering parties ^ J^ative Tribes, pp. 419 sq. 
 
1 TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 253 
 
 nor is there a porcupine-grass resin group on the shores of 
 the Gulf of Carpentaria. At the same time there is nothing 
 which would really give colour to the theory that the natives 
 of any one district feed exclusively upon any one animal or 
 plant. No native tribe, or group of tribes, for example, 
 feeds exclusively, or even principally, upon kangaroos, emus, 
 grass-seed, acacia-seed, dugongs, crocodiles, lilies, witchetty 
 grubs, or pearl oysters. Every tribe, and every local group 
 of a tribe, utilises as food, and apparently always has done 
 so, every edible thing which grows in its district. The 
 Anula people on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria feed 
 upon the kangaroo just in the same way as the Arunta do, 
 but at the same time are not able to feed upon the munyeru 
 seed, for the simple reason that it does not grow in their 
 country, and the Arunta are not able to feed upon crocodiles 
 and dugongs, because they do not exist in the central area. 
 In accordance with this distribution of animals and plants, 
 we find a corresponding distribution of totemic groups." ^ 
 The list of totems which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen , 
 
 ^ In a list 
 
 themselves met with comprises thirty-one different kinds of of two 
 mammals, forty-six different kinds of birds, thirty different andlbm- 
 kinds of snakes (of which one, the Wollunqua, is mythical ^), totems 
 two different kinds of crocodiles, eighteen different kinds of 1'™^^^/ 
 lizards, three different kinds of turtles, one kind of frog, a"<i Giiien 
 eight different kinds of fish, twenty-four different kinds of "h°ana* 
 insects (including the honeycomb of two different kinds of •'""^red 
 bees), one kind of mollusc (the pearl oyster), twenty-two sk are'' 
 different kinds of plants, sixteen different kinds of inanimate ^'^i'''^ 
 objects, and two different kinds of human beings (Laughing and plants, 
 Boys and Full-grown Men). Altogether, Messrs. Spencer 
 and Gillen met with two hundred and four different sorts of 
 totems, of which all but sixteen were animals and plants ; 
 and of these one hundred and eighty-eight kinds of plants 
 and animals (among which I reckon the two kinds of human 
 beings) one hundred and fifty-six kinds are eaten.* This 
 large preponderance of edible objects in the totems is 
 remarkable. I have already suggested an explanation of it.* 
 
 ' Northerti Tribes, pp. 767 sq. * Above, p. 159, where in the note 
 
 ' Sec above, pp. 144 sq. I have inadvertently overstated the 
 
 ' Norl/utti Tribes, pp. 768-773. number of edible totems. 
 
254 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The inanimate totems are as follows : boomerang, cold 
 
 weather, darkness, fire, hailstone, lightning, the moon, red 
 
 ochre, resin, salt water, the Evening Star, stone, the sun, 
 
 water, whirlwind, and wind. Thus among the totems 
 
 noticed by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen there is only one 
 
 artificial object (boomerang). Of these inanimate totems 
 
 the most widely spread is water, for it gives a name to 
 
 totemic clans in all of the tribes. Next to water in popularity 
 
 among inanimate objects come fire and the Evening Star, 
 
 each of which was found in three tribes. The sun, the moon, 
 
 stone, and whirlwind were found as totems only in two tribes 
 
 each ; and all the other inanimate objects only in one.^ 
 
 In the In the Arunta tribe the members of some totem clans 
 
 tribe'the havc, in addition to their totems, sundry birds which they 
 
 members regard as their mates. Thus there are certain birds which 
 
 totem dans abound at the season when the witchetty grub is plentiful 
 
 have also and are very rarely seen at other times. The natives call 
 
 birds as them cJiafitunga and the Witchetty Grub people consider 
 
 theirmates. them as their mates. They think that the birds sing 
 
 joyously when the witchetty grub is in season, and that 
 
 they hop about the bushes all day long watching with 
 
 delight the insect laying its eggs. The Witchetty Grub 
 
 men will not eat the bird ; for they say it would make their 
 
 heart, or rather their stomach, ache to do so, and they explain 
 
 their relation to the creature by alleging that in days of old 
 
 some of the fully-grown witchetty grubs were transformed 
 
 into the birds.^ 
 
 Similarly men of the kangaroo totem have as mates 
 certain grass parrots (called atnalchulpird) which are always 
 hovering about kangaroos in the dry country. The natives 
 think that these parrots bring water to the animals, and 
 that in the olden time they stood in the relation of father's 
 sisters {icwinnd) to the Kangaroo men. Other little birds 
 which may often be seen playing about on the backs of 
 kangaroos are also mates of the Kangaroo men, who call 
 them kariwnngawunga and say that the birds are descended 
 from certain ancient Kangaroo men who used always to kill 
 and eat kangaroos, and were finally turned into these fowls.' 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, p. 773. 2 jSTative Tribes, pp. 447 sq. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 448. 
 
I TOTEMISM OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 255 
 
 The men of the euro totem have also two sets of bird 
 mates. One of them is the rock pigeon, which is supposed 
 to bring water to the euros in the dry and thirsty mountains 
 of this desert land. The natives say that in the days of old 
 these rock pigeons were the fathers' sisters of the Euro men, 
 and brought them water, just as their descendants still do to 
 the euro animals. The other mate of the Euro men is the 
 painted finch {Emblema pictd), a beautifully coloured little 
 bird, which in the far-off time was a Euro man. These 
 Euro men used to devour so much euro that their bodies 
 quite dripped with the blood of the beasts ; and that is the 
 reason why the painted finch is splashed with red.^ 
 
 The Honey-ant people have also two bird mates. One 
 of them is a little bird called alatipa, which like the honey- 
 ant itself {Camponotus inflatus) only haunts the scrub country, 
 where the mulga bushes grow. The other bird mate is a 
 small "magpie," which the natives call alpirtaka. It also 
 frequents the mulga scrub. Both birds were once Honey- 
 ant people.^ 
 
 The people of the water totem have water-fowl for their 
 mates : the Emu people have for their mate the little striated 
 wren (Amytzs striata), which they call lirra-lirra ; and two 
 Big Lizard clans (the Echunpa and the Urliwatchera) have 
 two smaller lizards ( Varanus punctatus and Varanus gouldit) 
 for their mates respectively.' 
 
 All these bird or lizard mates are held in affectionate 
 regard by their human companions of the corresponding 
 totems, though the Witchetty Grub people appear to be 
 alone in refusing to eat their feathered comrades, who hop 
 about and sing so merrily at sight of the witchetty grub 
 laying its eggs. Men of some totems, such as the Wild Cat, 
 the Hakea flower, and the Crow people, seem to have no 
 bird mates of this kind at all.'' 
 
 Besides those birds which are regarded as mates of some birds 
 various existing totem clans, others are thought to represent ^""^ 'hough' 
 men of extinct totems. Thus certain little scarlet-breasted senTmen 
 birds {Ephithanura tricolor) were men of old who painted °'^'"''"^' 
 themselves with red ochre till at last they changed into the 
 
 ' Xalive Tribes, p. 448. 3 /i,vf_ pp_ ^^g ^y_ 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 448. * Ibid. p. 449. 
 
256 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 red-fronted birds. Again, the Princess Alexandra parakeet 
 has an odd habit of completely disappearing out of a district 
 for years together and then suddenly reappearing in large 
 numbers. The natives say that a wandering group of Lizard 
 men once met with a group of men who had the Princess 
 Alexandra parakeet for their totem, and that somehow they 
 all changed into the birds. This happened at Simpson's 
 Gap in the Macdonnell Ranges, since when the parakeets 
 have lived far underground and only come up from time to 
 time near their old camping-ground to look for grass-seed.' 
 
 Associated with the Lizard people is a small bird called 
 thippathippa, which hovers about lizards so much that it 
 often guides the natives to the animals.^ These birds were 
 once men of that totem who came and danced round the 
 Lizard men when they were performing ceremonies. That 
 is why at the great Engwura ceremonies they are sometimes 
 still represented by two men who dance around a Lizard 
 man.* 
 
 S 4. Exogamous Classes in the Arunta Nation and 
 Northern Tribes 
 
 The pro- We have seen that among the Arunta and other central 
 
 marriage tribes the totems have no influence on marriage, a man 
 
 ofthetotem being free to marry a woman of his own or any other 
 
 which totem, but that as we pass northward from the Arunta to 
 
 prevails the Gulf of Carpentaria it becomes rarer and rarer for a 
 
 central ^lan to marry a woman of his own totem, until, finally, 
 
 tribes, IS among the coastal tribes such marriages appear never to 
 
 by Strict occur. In Other words, the totem clans are strictly exo- 
 
 exogamy gamous on the coast, but not at all exogamous in the centre, 
 
 among the o ' o ' 
 
 coastal while in the intermediate region between the coast and the 
 tribes. centre, the totem clans are in what seems to be a transitional 
 state between strict exogamy on the one side and unre- 
 stricted freedom of marriage on the other. Further, we 
 have seen reason to believe that unrestricted freedom of 
 marriage between the totem clans is the older phase of 
 social evolution, which has gradually been replaced by a 
 
 1 Native Tribes, p. 449. 2 /^,^^ p^ ^^^ 
 
 * Ibid. p. 449. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 257 
 
 more and more strict rule of exogamy the further we 
 advance from the central to the coastal tribes.^ 
 
 But though the Arunta and kindred tribes in the centre Originally 
 do not apply the rule of exogamy to their totem clans, they s^^j^o 
 do apply it strictly to other subdivisions of the tribe, namely have been 
 to the classes and subclasses. As these exogamous sub- fndepend- 
 divisions of the tribe are not totemic, a notice of them in em of 
 a work dealing with totemism might seem to be impertinent, 
 and so indeed it would be, if our survey of totemism were 
 limited to the system of the Arunta nation. But in point 
 of fact exogamous subdivisions (classes and subclasses) of the 
 same sort exist among the more northerly tribes, and have 
 there carried with them as a direct consequence the exogamy 
 of the totem clans. Hence among these northerly tribes 
 totemism and exogamy, which in origin were probably quite 
 distinct from each other, have become inseparably inter- 
 tangled, so that it is not possible to consider the one 
 adequately without the other. And since the same associa- 
 tion of totemism with exogamy meets us almost universally 
 everywhere else, in other words, since totem clans appear to 
 be exogamous almost everywhere except in Central Australia, 
 it follows that no view of totemism can be complete which 
 does not take account also of exogamy. In Central 
 Australia we are in a peculiarly favourable position for 
 studying these two ancient institutions both in themselves 
 and in their relations to each other, because there the two 
 exist entirely distinct from each other, whereas almost 
 everywhere else they have become fused together in a 
 mass which, until the fortunate discovery of the separate 
 existence of the two components in Central Australia, 
 had baffled all the tests of our anthropological analysis ; 
 in other words, it had commonly been supposed that 
 exogamy was an essential part of totemism. So people 
 who had never met with copper and tin might easily 
 mistake bronze for a single pure metal until they dis- 
 covered it to be an alloy by finding its two components 
 separately. 
 
 In the Australian tribes with which we are at present 
 concerned, wherever exogamy of the totem clans prevails, it 
 ' See above, pp. 242 sqq. 
 
 VOL. I S 
 
258 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 It would appears, as I have indicated, to be a direct consequence of 
 m Aus-"'^' the subdivision of the tribe into two or more exogamous 
 traiia, and classes ; and we may surmise, though we cannot prove, 
 elsewhere, that the Same cause has produced the same effect wherever 
 totemism totcm clans are exogamous. In other words, we may con- 
 befOTe exo- jecture that the totem clans existed before the introduction 
 gamy, and gf exogamy, as they apparently did in Central Australia,^ 
 exogamy of and that they only became exogamous through the sub- 
 the totem division of the whole tribe into two or more exogamous 
 
 clans, , - . 
 
 where it classes, between which the totem clans were distributed m 
 prevails, is g^-jj ^ ^^y (-jj^j. j-jjg whole of any one totem clan fell within 
 
 a direct ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 result of a single exogamous class. In this way, given the exist- 
 divisionof ^"'-^ ^^ ^^ exogamous classes and the inclusion of the 
 the tribe totem claus each in one but not more than one of them, the 
 more 6X0°"^ s^og^n^y of the totem clans would follow as a necessary 
 gamous consequence.^ Hence we may suspect that wherever we 
 
 classes J r 
 
 find exogamous totem clans we should find, if we could 
 trace their history far enough back, that they had once been 
 grouped in two or more exogamous classes, and that the 
 exogamy of the totem clans was only an effect of that group- 
 ing. In many totemic tribes we cannot do this : the clans 
 indeed remain exogamous, but the grouping of them into 
 classes has disappeared, or at least has not been reported 
 in our imperfect records. Still the bisection of a com- 
 munity into two exogamous classes is sufficiently common 
 to suggest not only that it may once have existed in 
 many places where it now no longer survives, but also 
 that it may have been a widespread, if not universal, 
 stage in the evolution of society, forming, indeed, the first 
 step in the advance from sexual promiscuity to individual 
 marriage.^ 
 The reason Thus in a treatise on totemism we seem to be justified 
 Arunta^do '" Paying attention to exogamy even among tribes like the 
 not apply Arunta, where the exogamous prohibitions do not affect the 
 
 ' See above, p. 162. 3 This is the view which, so far as 
 
 2 This has already been pointed out concerns the Australian aborigines, 
 
 by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. See has long been held by Dr. A. W. 
 
 their article "Some Remarks on Howitt. See his article "Notes on 
 
 Totemism as applied to Australian the Australian Class Systems, "/oaDifl/ 
 
 T\-\h&s," Journal of the Anthropological of the Anthropological Institute, xii. 
 
 Institute, xxviii. (1899) p. 279. (1S83) pp. 496-504. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 259 
 
 totem clans. The reason why the Arunta, though they have the rule of 
 adopted a system of exogamy, do not apply it to their j™|^™^ 
 totem clans has already been indicated.^ As their totem totem dans 
 clans are not hereditary either in the male or in the female Jheir^caTe 
 line, it would have been useless to make them exogamous, theappii- 
 since to do so would not have prevented those marriages of ,^.ouid not 
 brothers with sisters and of parents with children which it effect the 
 
 1 1 • • <• 1 purpose 
 
 was apparently the intention of exogamy to put an end to. „hich exo- 
 For instance, suppose that with the Arunta totemic system pmy w.-is 
 
 , _ instituted 
 
 it had been enacted that no Emu man should marry an to effect, 
 Emu woman, an Emu man would still have been at liberty ^'^- *'^. 
 
 ' ^ prevention 
 
 to marry his sister, his mother, or his daughter whenever of the 
 they were, as they often would be, of other totems than the ^^^^^thers 
 emu. Similarly, given the strict exogamy of the totem with sisters 
 clans, an Arunta man of the kangaroo totem might still parents 
 marry his mother if she were, say, of the gum-tree totem, with 
 his sister if she were of the fish totem, and his daughter if*^ ' 
 she were of the fire totem. And so on through all the 
 totems. Therefore the application of the exogamous rule to 
 the Arunta totem clans would have been powerless to effect 
 the object of exogamy ; hence, so far as we know, the 
 Arunta have never attempted to apply it to them. The 
 totems must be hereditary before the application of exo- 
 gamy to them can prevent the marriage of near relations 
 who are of the same totem. The Arunta and kindred 
 tribes have adopted exogamy, but with their mode of 
 determining the totem they have been obliged to keep 
 their exogamous organisation quite distinct from their 
 totemic. 
 
 In the Arunta and all the other tribes between them ah the 
 and the Gulf of Carpentaria the whole community is dis- 'L'''^/ ^''°^ 
 
 .,,.., ^ the Arunta 
 
 tributed m eight exogamous sections (subclasses or sub- northward 
 phratries), although in some of the tribes only four of the fnt'o'^ei'iht'' 
 exogamous sections have separate names. The tribes in exogamous 
 which the nomenclature is thus defective are the Southern ™'''''^"^'- 
 Arunta in the south and the Mara and Anula tribes in the 
 extreme north.^ In the southern part of the Arunta tribe 
 the four names of the exogamous sections (subclasses or 
 
 ' Alwve, pp. 165 sj. Northern Tribes, pp. 74, 96 - 98, 
 
 * Native Tribes, pp. 70-72; 1 16-120. 
 
Names of 
 the exo- 
 gamous 
 subclasses 
 in the 
 Southern 
 Arunta, 
 with the 
 rules of 
 marriage 
 and 
 descent. 
 
 The rule 
 of descent 
 is indirect 
 in the male 
 line, since 
 children 
 belong 
 to their 
 father's 
 class, but 
 not to his 
 subclass. 
 
 260 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 subphratries) are Panunga, Bukhara, Purula, and Kumara. 
 Of these four subclasses the first two (Panunga and Bulthara) 
 form one exogamous moiety (class or phratry) of the tribe ; 
 and the other two (Purula and Kumara) form the other 
 exogamous moiety (class or phratry). In camp, for example, 
 as we have seen, the Panunga and Bulthara always encamp 
 together, and are separated from the Purula and Kumara 
 by some natural feature, such as a creek.^ The marriage 
 system, in broad outline, is this. A Panunga man marries a 
 Purula woman and their children are Bulthara : a Bulthara 
 man marries a Kumara woman and their children are 
 Panunga : a Purula man marries a Panunga woman and 
 their children are Kumara : a Kumara man marries a 
 Bulthara woman and their children are Purula.^ To put 
 this in tabular form : — 
 
 Husband, Wife. Children. 
 
 f Panunga Purula 1 Bulthara | 
 
 l^ Bulthara Kumara J Panunga / 
 
 j Purula Panunga 1^ Kumara \ 
 
 (^ Kumara . . . . Bulthara J Purula / 
 
 Hence it appears that a man always marries a woman 
 of a different subclass (subphratry) from his own, and that 
 the children belong to the subclass neither of their father 
 nor of their mother, but to the other subclass of their father's 
 moiety. For example, children of a Panunga man are Bul- 
 thara, which is the complementary or twin subclass of their 
 father's subclass, since the two subclasses Panunga and Bul- 
 thara together make up one moiety of the tribe. Similarly 
 the children of Purula men are Kumara, which is the com- 
 plementary or twin subclass of their father's subclass, since 
 the two subclasses Purula and Kumara together make up 
 one moiety of the tribe. Thus we have here what I have 
 called indirect male descent,^ since the children belong to 
 their father's moiety (class) of the tribe, though not to his 
 subclass (subphratry). It seems evident that such a rule 
 of descent, at once so complex and so regular, cannot be a 
 result of accident, but must have been deliberately devised 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 70 ; Northern 2 J^ative Tribes, p. 70. 
 
 Tribes, p. 96. See above, p. 248. 3 Above, p. 68. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 261 
 
 in order to effect a definite purpose. What that purpose 
 was, I have already indicated.^ It was to prevent the 
 marriage of parents with children, and that object was 
 attained effectually by arranging that children should always 
 belong to a subclass into which neither their father nor 
 their mother might marry.^ If that simple rule was ob- 
 served, the marriage of parents with children was henceforth 
 impossible. 
 
 So far it would seem as if the marriage system of the Though 
 Southern Arunta conformed to that common type of social \^^ 
 organisation in Australia, whereby the whole tribe is divided of the 
 into two exogamous moieties (classes), and each of the Aruntr 
 two moieties is again subdivided into two exogamous sub- ^re nomin- 
 classes,' so that the total number of subclasses in the ^hJy are' 
 tribe is four. But a closer inspection of the system aptuaUy 
 
 • lit I- 1 eight in 
 
 shews that each of the four nommal subclasses of the number. 
 Southern Arunta really comprises two separate exoga- 
 mous subclasses, so that the total number of subclasses 
 in that part of the tribe is not four but eight. The 
 two separate subclasses thus comprised under each of 
 the four nominal subclasses Panunga, Bukhara, Purula, and 
 Kumara, have no native names, so that we must indicate 
 them merely by symbols, such as Panunga a and Panunga^, 
 Bultharaa and Bukhara (5, Purula « and Purula i5, Kumara a 
 and Kumara 5.* 
 
 Adopting these symbols for the eight actual, though not Table 
 nominal, subclasses of the Southern Arunta, we may tabulate the^IUfs of 
 as follows the rules of marriage and descent in this part of marriage 
 the tribe :— » Tn thf ' 
 
 1 AL ^ „ „, _. . ,. Southern 
 
 ' Above, p. 163. 284-286; my note, "The Australian Arunta. 
 
 ' That the effect and intention of Marriage Laws," j1/<j«, February 1908, 
 
 this rule of descent were such as I pp. 21 sq, ; and my article, ' ' Howitt 
 
 have said was pointed out long ago by and Fison," Folk-lore, xx. (1909) pp. 
 
 Dr. A. W. Howitt. See his article, 166 sq. 
 
 "Notes on the Australian Class Sys- 3 See above, pp. 61 sq. Following 
 
 tcms Journal of the Anthropological .^e example of Dr. Howitt, I now use 
 
 /«/./«/<■ xn. (1883) pp. 498 sq., 504. the terms class and subclass as equiva- 
 
 W „„• ^Tt ""^ • ""!."'?' ^^l lent and preferable to phratry and sub- 
 
 Ilegmnings of Totemism" (reprinted phratrv ^ ' 
 
 above, see p. 163), this passage in Dr. ^ ^' 
 
 Howitt's writings had escaped my * Native Tribes, p. 71 ; Northern 
 
 memory as well as the memory of its Tribes, p. 97. 
 
 writer. Ste k.yi.HoMi'M, The Native ^ Compare Nali-c'e Tribes, p. 71 j 
 
 Triies of South -East Australia, pp. Northern Tribes, pp. 97, 118. 
 
262 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 Southern Arunta Tribe 
 
 Class 
 
 or 
 Moiety 
 
 A 
 
 Class 
 
 or 
 
 Moiety 
 
 B 
 
 Husband. 
 
 f Panunga a 
 \ Panunga^ 
 
 f Bukhara a 
 I \ Bukhara^ 
 
 f{ 
 
 [ { Ki 
 
 Purula a 
 Purula 6 
 
 Kumara a 
 Kumara d 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Purula a 
 Purula b 
 
 Kumara a 
 Kumara b 
 
 Panunga a 
 Panunga b 
 
 Bukhara a 
 Bukhara b 
 
 Children. 
 
 Bukhara b 
 Bukhara a 
 
 Panunga b 
 Panunga a 
 
 Kumara a 
 Kumara b 
 
 Purula a 
 Purula b 
 
 Names of 
 
 the eight 
 
 exogamous 
 
 subclasses 
 
 in the 
 
 Northern 
 
 Arunta, 
 
 In the northern part of the Arunta tribe precisely the 
 same rules of marriage and descent prevail, but in practice 
 they are facilitated by the adoption of eight distinct names 
 for the eight subclasses. The following are the names of the 
 eight subclasses, arranged under the two classes or moieties 
 to which they respectively belong. It will be observed that 
 the four original names (Panunga, Bukhara, Purula, Kumara) 
 are retained and four new names (Uknaria, Appungerta, 
 Ungalla, and Umbitchana) have been adopted.^ 
 
 Class 
 
 or 
 
 Moiety 
 
 A 
 
 r Panunga 
 \ Uknaria 
 
 f Bukhara 
 l^ Appungerta 
 
 Class 
 
 or 
 
 Moiety 
 
 B 
 
 i{ 
 
 Purula 
 Ungalla 
 
 Kumara 
 Umbkchana 
 
 Rules of 
 marriage 
 and descent 
 in the 
 Northern 
 Arunta. 
 
 Thus it appears that Panunga b of the Southern Arunta 
 is replaced by Uknaria ; Bukhara b by Appungerta ; 
 Purula b bj^ Ungalla ; and Kumara b by Umbitchana. 
 Substituting these four new names in the table of marriage 
 and descent given above for the Southern Arunta, we get 
 the following as the scheme of marriage and descent in the 
 northern part of the tribe : — 
 
 Native Tribes, p. 72 ; Northern Tribes, pp. 77, 90. 
 
EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 263 
 
 Northern Arunta Tribe 
 
 Husband. 
 
 m/e. 
 
 Children. 
 
 ( Panunga 
 \ Uknaria 
 
 Purula 
 Ungalla 
 
 Appungerta 
 Bulthara 
 
 / Bulthara 
 \ Appungerta 
 
 Kumara 
 Umbitchana 
 
 Uknaria 
 Panunga 
 
 / Purula 
 \ Ungalla 
 
 Panunga 
 Uknaria 
 
 Kumara 
 Umbitchana 
 
 f Kumara 
 
 \ Umbitchana 
 
 Bulthara 
 Appungerta 
 
 Purula 
 Ungalla 
 
 The same relationships may be tabulated in a more 
 condensed form as follows : — 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Panunga 
 Uknaria 
 Bulthara 
 Appungerta 
 
 Purula 
 Ungalla 
 Kumara 
 Umbitchana 
 
 Appungerta 
 Bulthara 
 Uknaria 
 Panunga 
 
 Kumara 
 Umbitchana 
 Purula 
 Ungalla 
 
 Here in each vertical column the four subclasses constitut- Expiana- 
 ing a moiety (class) of the tribe are grouped together. In ^^°^^f "" 
 columns i and 2 the intermarrying subclasses are arranged on 
 the same horizontal line ; in columns 3 and 4 the subclasses 
 of the children are arranged on the same horizontal line as 
 their parents, column 3 containing the children born of 
 male i and female 2, and column 4 containing the children 
 born of male 2 and female i. Thus to take examples, a 
 Panunga man (column i) marries a Purula woman (column 2) 
 and the children are Appungerta (column 3). A Purula 
 man (column 2) marries a Panunga woman (column i) and 
 the children are Kumara (column 4). In the same way an 
 Uknaria man marries an Ungalla woman and the children 
 are Bulthara : an Ungalla man marries an Uknaria woman 
 
264 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 and the children are Umbitchana. And similarly with the 
 
 other subclasses.^ 
 Four With regard to the four new names (Uknaria, Appungerta, 
 
 the™sub-^ Ungalla, Umbitchana) of the subclasses in the Northern 
 classes Arunta, it is very important to observe that they have been 
 adoptedTn adopted in recent times by the Arunta from the Ilpirra 
 recent tribe which adjoins them on the north, and that the use of 
 the Arunta them is at the present time spreading southwards.^ This 
 from the agrees with the evidence of many other facts,^ all of which 
 
 Ilpirra, and i . i i • ■, 
 
 the use of tend to shew that, to use a meteorological metaphor, m the 
 themisnow \x\hz?, we are now considering the centre of social disturbance 
 
 spreading " 
 
 southward. Hes in the north, and that the waves of social change are 
 
 propagated from there southward and not in the reverse 
 
 direction. The ultimate source of the disturbance is the 
 
 sea, which by increasing the rainfall on the coast increases 
 
 the food supply of the tribes, and thereby facilitates their 
 
 advance in culture, since every check imposed on the food 
 
 supply of a community is an impediment to progress.* 
 
 Thus the It is very significant that the Southern Arunta should 
 
 wor™their° have four exogamous subclasses for which they have as yet 
 
 marriage no distinctive names, while their brethren in the north have 
 
 without only recently borrowed names for these subclasses from a 
 
 names for neighbouring tribe. This seems to shew that the natives 
 
 the exo- ^ . , , , i . 
 
 gamous are quite able to work their marriage system without names 
 w'^'™!,' for their exogamous divisions. Now throughout the whole 
 
 We need ° *=» 
 
 not there- of the Arunta tribe, both north and south, there are no 
 
 posVtlfat "^niss for the two exogamous moieties (classes) under which 
 
 where no the subclasses are grouped. It appears to be commonly 
 
 knmvnfor supposed that names for the two moieties (classes) must 
 
 the exo- formerly have existed and have afterwards been forgotten, 
 
 drvTs°ons, from which again it has been inferred that the marriage 
 
 the names system of the Arunta is late and decadent. The analoev of 
 
 Tnust once 
 
 have the subclasses points to the opposite conclusion, namely, that 
 
 been^fe ""^ the marriage system of the Arunta is developing, not decaying; 
 gotten. for if four of the eight subclasses among them are only receiv- 
 ing (not losing) names at the present time and in some places 
 are still nameless, we seem bound in consistency to suppose 
 
 1 Native Tribes,'p^.';2sq.; Northern 3 g^e above, pp. 227 sgq. 
 Tribes, p. 77. 
 
 2 Native Tribes, p. 72. 4 See above, pp. 167 sgq. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 265 
 
 that similarly the two classes or moieties have not lost their 
 names, but on the contrary have not yet received them. At least 
 this is more logical than, admitting that the subclasses are 
 gaining their names, to argue that the classes have lost them. 
 
 The inference that the two classes or moieties of the 
 Arunta have never yet received names but might one day do 
 so if the natives were left to themselves, is confirmed by the 
 observation that most of the tribes to the north of the Arunta 
 nation who possess complete names for the eight subclasses 
 possess also names for the two classes or moieties. But 
 if the names for the as yet nameless subclasses are at present 
 spreading southward among the Arunta, it is reasonable to 
 suppose that names for their as yet nameless classes or 
 moieties might in time reach them from the same direction. 
 
 Immediately to the north of the Arunta nation lies the Names of 
 Warramunga nation, which possesses a complete nomen- ^^^^^^ 
 clature for its two exogamous classes or moieties and its classes and 
 eight subclasses. In the Warramunga, Walpari, and ^"'^hr^*^ 
 Wulmala tribes of this nation the names for the two classes Warra- 
 or moieties are Uluuru and Kingilli ; in the Worgaia tribe "a'tioli^ 
 they are Uluuru and Biingaru ; in the Tjingilli they are 
 Willitji and Liaritji ; in the Umbaia and Gnanji they are 
 Illitji and Liaritji; in the Bingongina tribe they are Wiliuku 
 and Liaraku.^ With regard to the names of the subclasses 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe : " We have been quite 
 unable to discover the meaning of these names in any of 
 the central tribes, or to obtain the slightest clue as to their 
 origin, which must date very far back. They do not appear 
 to be associated in any way with the totemic system." ^ 
 
 The following tables exhibit the classes and subclasses Tables 
 in the various tribes of the Warramunga nation together j^g'^}g°^of 
 with the rules of marriage and descent. The arrangement marriage 
 is the same as in the table exhibiting concisely the similar f^ the 
 subdivisions, marriages, and descents in the Arunta tribe.* various 
 That is to say, in each vertical column the four subclasses the Warra- 
 constituting one of the two classes (moieties) of the tribe are """"s* 
 
 J ^ ' . nation. 
 
 grouped together. In columns i and 2 the mtermarrymg 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. 102. In Liaritji. 
 
 Northern Tribes, p. 101, the class j .... „ 
 
 names of the Bingongina are given, P" ^ 
 
 probably by misuke, as Uluuru and ' See above, p. 263. 
 
/ 
 
 266 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL A USTRALIA 
 
 subclasses are arranged on the same horizontal line ; in 
 columns 3 and 4 the subclasses of the children are arranged 
 on the same horizontal line as their parents, column 3 con- 
 taining the children born of male i and female 2, and column 4 
 containing the children born of male 2 and female 1. Thus 
 to take examples, in the first table a Thapanunga man 
 (column i) marries a Tjupila woman (column 2) and their 
 children are Thapungarti (column 3). A Tjupila man 
 (column 2) marries a Thapanunga woman (column i) and 
 their children are Thakomara (column 4). Similarly, a 
 Tjunguri man marries a Thungalla woman and their children 
 are Tjapeltjeri. A Thungalla man marries a Tjunguri 
 woman and their children are Tjambin. And so on with all 
 the other subclasses of all the tribes in the following tables.^ 
 
 Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala Tribes 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Uluitru 
 Thapanunga 
 Tjunguri 
 
 Tjapeltjeri 
 Thapungarti 
 
 Kingilli 
 Tjupila 
 Thungalla 
 
 Thakomara 
 Tjambin 
 
 Uluuru 
 Thapungarti 
 Tjapeltjeri 
 
 Tjunguri 
 Thapanunga 
 
 Kingilli 
 Thakomara 
 Tjambin 
 
 Tjupila 
 Thungalla 
 
 TjiNGiLLi Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Willitji 
 Thamininja 
 Tjimininja 
 
 Thalaringinja 
 Thungarininta 
 
 Liaritji 
 Tjurulinginja 
 Thungallininja 
 
 Thamaringinja 
 Tjapatjinginja 
 
 Willitji 
 Thungarininta 
 Thalaringinja 
 
 Tjimininja 
 Thamininja 
 
 Liaritji 
 Thamaringinja 
 Tjapatjinginja 
 
 Tjurulinginja 
 Thungallininja 
 
 ^ Northern Tribes, pp. 99-101. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 267 
 
 Umbaia Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 t 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Illitji 
 Tjinum 
 Tjulum 
 
 Paliarinji 
 Pungarinji 
 
 Liaritji 
 Tjurulum 
 Thungallum 
 
 Tjamerum 
 Yakomari 
 
 Illitji 
 Pungarinji 
 PaUarinji 
 
 Tjulum 
 Tjinum 
 
 Liaritji 
 Tjamerum 
 Yakomari 
 
 Tjurulum 
 Thungallum 
 
 Gnanji Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Illitji 
 Uanaku 
 Tjulantjuka 
 
 Paliarinja 
 Pungarinji 
 
 Liaritji 
 Uralaku 
 Thungallaku 
 
 Tjamuraku 
 Yakomari 
 
 Illitji 
 Pungarinji 
 Paliarinja 
 
 Tjulantjuka 
 Uanaku 
 
 Liaritji 
 Tjamuraku 
 Yakomari 
 
 Uralaku 
 Thungallaku 
 
 BiNGONGiNA Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Wiliuku 
 Thama 
 Tjimita 
 
 Thalirri 
 Thungari 
 
 Liaraku 
 Tjurla 
 Thungalla 
 
 Tjimara 
 Tjambitjina 
 
 ll'iliiiku 
 Thungari 
 Thalirri 
 
 Tjimita 
 Thama 
 
 Liaraku 
 Tjimara 
 Tjambitjina 
 
 Tjurla 
 Thungalla 
 
268 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 WoRGAiA Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Uluuru 
 Pungarinju 
 Biliarinthu 
 
 Blaingu 
 Wairgu 
 
 Biingaru 
 Ikamaru 
 Tjamerameru 
 
 Kingelu 
 Warrithu 
 
 Vluuru 
 Wairgu 
 Blaingu 
 
 Biliarinthu 
 Pungarinju 
 
 Biingaru 
 Kingelu 
 Warrithu 
 
 Ikamaru 
 Tjamerameru 
 
 Different 
 names for 
 the men 
 and women 
 of the 
 subclasses. 
 
 Names 
 of the 
 e.togamous' 
 subclasses 
 in the 
 Binbinga 
 nation, 
 together 
 with the 
 
 In all but the last of the tribes whose marriage system 
 is represented in the foregoing tables the women of a sub- 
 class bear a different name from the men. For example, 
 in the Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala tribes the men 
 of one subclass are called Thapanunga and the women of 
 that subclass are called Napanunga ; the men of another 
 subclass are called Thapungarti and the women Napungerta ; 
 the men of another subclass are called Thungalla and the 
 women Nungalla ; the men of another subclass are called 
 Thakomara and the women Nakomara ; the men of another 
 subclass are called Tjambin and the women Nambin. 
 Generally, as in these examples, the feminine names are 
 clearly derivatives from the masculine ; but in some cases 
 the two names appear to be distinct. For instance, in the 
 Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala tribes the men of one 
 subclass are called Tjupila and the women Naralu.^ The exist- 
 ence of distinct names for the women of the subclasses adds 
 considerably to the complexity of the nomenclature without 
 modifying the system ; hence for the sake of simplicity and 
 clearness I have omitted the feminine names from the tables. 
 
 To the north of the Warramunga nation lies the Bin- 
 binga nation, of which the Binbinga tribe may serve as a 
 type. Its social organisation resembles that of the Arunta 
 and Warramunga nations. Like the Arunta, but unlike the 
 Warramunga, it has no names for its two classes (moieties), 
 whether it has lost them or has never had them. Its sub- 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 100-102. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 269 
 
 classes, with the rules of marriage and descent within them, rules of 
 are exhibited in the following table,^ which is arranged on ™^'^^ 
 the same principles as the foregoing tables ; that is to say, descent, 
 parents and children are arranged in the same horizontal 
 line, the children of men of column i and women of column 
 2 being contained in column 3, while the children of men 
 of column 2 and women of column i are contained in 
 column 4. For example, a Tjuanaku man marries a 
 Tjurulum woman and their children are Pugarinji : a 
 Tjurulum man marries a Tjuanaku woman and their children 
 Tjamerum. And so with the rest. 
 
 The Binbinga Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Moiety A 
 Tjuanaku 
 Tjulantjuka 
 
 Paliarinji 
 Pungarinji 
 
 Moiety B 
 Tjurulum 
 Thungallum 
 
 Tjamerum 
 Yakomari 
 
 Moiety A 
 Pugarinji 
 Paliarinji 
 
 Tjulantjuka 
 Tjuanaku 
 
 Moiety B 
 Tjamerum 
 Yakomari 
 
 Tjurulum 
 Thungallum 
 
 In this tribe also the women of each subclass have a Different 
 name distinct from that of the men. Thus in one subclass "^""^ ^°'' 
 
 _ the men 
 
 the men are called Paliarinji and the women Paliarina ; in and women 
 another the men are Pungarinji and the women Pungarina ; °ubcitsses 
 in another the men are called Tjurulum and the women 
 Nurulum ; in another the men are called Thungallum and the 
 women Nungallum ; in another the men are called Tjamerum 
 and the women Niamerum ; and in another the men are called 
 Yakomari and the women Yakomarina. In all these six cases 
 the feminine names are clearly derived from, or at any rate 
 akin to, the masculine names. But in the remaining two 
 subclasses the masculine and feminine names appear to be 
 quite distinct. For in one of these two subclasses the men 
 are called Tjuanaku and the women Niriuma ; in the other 
 the men are called Tjulantjuka and the women Nurlum.^ 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, p. in. * Ibid. 
 
270 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 Names of 
 the classes 
 and sub- 
 classes in 
 the Mara 
 and Anula 
 tribes, 
 together 
 with the 
 rules of 
 marriage 
 and 
 descent, 
 
 To the north of the Binbinga nation lie the Mara and 
 Anula tribes on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. At 
 first sight these tribes, like the Southern Arunta, appear to 
 be divided, not like the rest, into eight, but only into four 
 exogamous subclasses, since they have only names for four, 
 not for eight, of these subclasses. But in practice, just as 
 among the Southern Arunta, these four nominal subclasses 
 are split each into two, so that the total number of sub- 
 classes is really eight, and the rules of marriage and descent 
 are just the same as in all the tribes from the Arunta 
 northward. In the Mara tribe the four names of the sub- 
 classes are Murungun, Mumbali, Purdal, and Kuial, of which 
 the two former compose one class or moiety of the tribe 
 and the two latter compose the other. The names of these 
 two classes or moieties are Urku and Ua, and the subclasses, 
 are arranged under them as follows : — ^ 
 
 Urku 
 
 Murungun. 
 Mumbali. 
 
 Ua 
 
 Purdal. 
 Kuial. 
 
 In the following table ^ the rules of marriage and descent 
 are exhibited on the principles adopted in the preceding 
 tables, and for the sake of clearness the two actual sub- 
 classes into which each nominal subclass falls are distin- 
 guished by the letters a and b. For example, a Murungun 
 a man marries a Purdal a woman and the children are 
 Murungun b ; a Purdal a man marries a Murungun a woman 
 and the children are Purdal b. 
 
 Mara Tribe 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Urku 
 Murungun a 
 Mumbali a 
 
 Mumbali b 
 Murungun b 
 
 Ua 
 Purdal a 
 Kuial a 
 
 Purdal b 
 Kuial b 
 
 Urku 
 Murungun b 
 Mumbali b 
 
 Mumbali a 
 Murungun a 
 
 Ua 
 Purdal b 
 Kuial b 
 
 Purdal a 
 Kuial a 
 
 1 Northern Tribes, pp. 116 sq., 118 sq. 2 Northern Tribes, pp. 120, 124. 
 
I EXOGAMOUS CLASSES OF THE ARUNTA, ETC. 271 
 
 Lastly, in the Anula tribe the four nominal subclasses 
 are Awukaria, Roumburia, Urtalia, and Wialia, of which the 
 two former compose one class or moiety of the tribe and the 
 two latter compose the other. In this tribe no names for 
 the two classes or moieties exist, whether it be that they 
 have not yet been adopted or have been lost. The rules of 
 marriage and descent are exhibited as before in the follow- 
 ing table,^ in which again for the sake of clearness the two 
 actual subclasses into which each nominal subclass is 
 divided are distinguished by the letters a and b. 
 
 The Anula Tribe 
 
 Parents, 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Moiety A 
 Awukaria a 
 Roumburia a 
 
 Roumburia b 
 Awukaria b 
 
 Moiety B 
 Urtalia a 
 Wialia a 
 
 Urtalia b 
 Wialia b 
 
 Moiety A 
 Awukaria b 
 Roumburia b 
 
 Roumburia a 
 Awukaria a 
 
 Moiety B 
 Urtalia b 
 Wialia b 
 
 Urtalia a 
 Wialia a 
 
 Neither in the Mara nor in the Anula tribe are there 
 distinct names for the men and women of a subclass. 
 
 From the preceding survey it appears that in all the ah the 
 tribes from the Arunta at the centre of Australia to the ^'J^^^'^^/™;^ 
 Mara and Anula on the Gulf of Carpentaria the system of northwards 
 marriage and descent is, under different names, one and the s^me social 
 same. Every tribe is divided into two exogamous classes organisa- 
 or moieties and into eight actual exogamous subclasses ; 
 and in every tribe descent, so far as the rules of marriage 
 are concerned, is in the male line, since a child always 
 belongs to its father's class or moiety, though never to his 
 subclass. 
 
 § 5- C'« the Exogamous Organisation of Australian Tribes 
 
 We have now briefly surveyed the marriage systems of 
 the Australian tribes which occupy a vast area of territory 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 1 1 8- 1 20. 
 
2/2 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 The 
 
 marriag-i 
 system of 
 the Aus- 
 tralian 
 tribes in 
 general. 
 
 The great 
 majority o 
 Australian 
 tribes are 
 organised 
 in two, 
 four, or 
 eight exo- 
 gamous 
 classes. 
 
 from the Urabunna near Lake Eyre in the south to the 
 Anula and Mara on the Gulf of Carpentaria .in the north. 
 We have seen that the systems conform to one or other of 
 two very different types, the Urabunna being divided into 
 two exogamous classes with female descent, while all the other 
 tribes are divided into eight exogamous classes (subclasses) 
 with male descent. Before we proceed further with our 
 survey of Australian totemism and exogamy, it may be well 
 to pause and consider generally these remarkable exogamous 
 divisions in order if possible to form some idea of their 
 origin and meaning. For such an idea, if we can attain to 
 it, will be very useful in clarifying our conceptions of the 
 whole complex system, and so enabling us to fit the many 
 details, which are still to follow, into their proper places. 
 Leaving out of sight, as we may conveniently do for 
 ^the present, exceptional or abnormal tribes, the great 
 majority of Australian tribes about whom we possess 
 accurate information are-OTganised for purposes of marriage 
 on one of three patterns, which may be called respectively 
 the two-class system, the four-class system, and the eight- 
 class system ; that is, they are divided into two, four, or 
 eight exogamous classes or subclasses, the members of each 
 of which are bound to seek their husbands or wives in a 
 class or subclass different from their own. Thus far in our 
 survey of the central tribes we have met with examples 
 only of the two extremes of this series, namely, with the 
 two - class system and the eight - class system. Some, 
 indeed, of the tribes, as we have seen, simulate the four- 
 class system by having names for only four out of their 
 eight subclasses. But for examples of a true four-class 
 system we must go to other parts of Australia. Thus in 
 Eastern Australia the large group of tribes known as the 
 Kamilaroi is organised in four exogamous subclasses, and so 
 is another group of tribes of which the Kaiabara may be 
 taken as typical ; but whereas descent in the Kamilaroi is 
 maternal, descent in the Kaiabara is paternal.^ Inter- 
 polating such four -class systems between the two -class 
 system and the eight -class system we obtain a regular 
 series into which every normally organised Australian tribe 
 
 • See below, pp. 396 sqq., 442 sqq. 
 
I EXOGAMY IN A USTRALIAN TRIBES 273 
 
 will be found to fall. The systems increase in com- 
 plexity as we pass from one end of the series to the other, 
 beginning with the two-class system, which is the simplest, 
 and ending with the eight-class system, which is the most 
 complex. 
 
 In contemplating the series the first thing that strikes Thereguiar 
 us is that the number of exogamous classes in a normal a'^Hbe^imo 
 Australian tribe is always either two or a multiple of two ; it twoormui- 
 is never an odd number. This raises a presumption that the suggests™ 
 organisation throughout is artificial and has been produced *a' the 
 by successive and deliberate dichotomies of a previously artificial 
 undivided community, which was first divided into two, then ^"'^ '"'^"- 
 
 1 , f 1 • r . 1 , tional. In 
 
 m some cases by a second dichotomy into four, and lastly order to 
 in other cases by a third dichotomy into eight. For had discover us 
 
 , , "^ '' ° intention, 
 
 the origin of these exogamous divisions within a tribe been we must 
 accidental, it is very unlikely that their number in all fg^ft's^m? 
 normal tribes should be either two or a multiple of two, 
 never an odd number nor an even number indivisible by 
 two. But if for the sake of argument we may assume for 
 a moment that the organisation of Australian tribes in 
 exogamous classes has been purposeful, not fortuitous, we 
 must ask, What was the purpose which these savages had 
 in view when they thus subdivided themselves and thereby 
 imposed, with each successive dichotomy, ever- increasing 
 restrictions on the freedom of marriage ? In order to 
 discover the intention of the dichotomies the first step is to 
 ascertain their effect ; for if they are artificial, as they appear 
 to be, they must have been devised to produce a certain 
 effect, and if we can find out the effect which they do 
 actually produce we may legitimately argue back from it 
 to the intention of the founders. The argument, though 
 legitimate, is not by itself conclusive, since in human affairs 
 it too often happens that the effects which an institution 
 really brings about are by no means those which it was 
 designed to accomplish. Still in such enquiries the dis- 
 covery of effects is essential to the ascertainment of motives, 
 and furnishes a valuable, though not infallible, clew to 
 guide us to the object of our search. With this caution let 
 us try to see what are the actual results of dividing a 
 community into two, four, and eight exogamous classes 
 
 VOL. I T 
 
274 
 
 TOTEM ISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 The effect 
 of the 
 successive 
 subdivision 
 into two, 
 four, and 
 eight, with 
 the char- 
 acteristic 
 rules of 
 descent, is 
 to bar the 
 marriage of 
 brothers 
 with sisters, 
 of parents 
 with 
 children, 
 and of a 
 man's 
 children 
 with his 
 sister's 
 children. 
 
 The divi- 
 sion into 
 two classes 
 bars the 
 marriage 
 of brothers 
 withsisters, 
 but not all 
 marriages 
 of parents 
 with 
 children. 
 
 of the Australian pattern with the concomitant rules of 
 descent. 
 
 If we may assume that in these successive subdivisions 
 all the children of the same parents are arranged in the 
 same exogamous class, then the effect of dividing a com- 
 munity into two exogamous classes is to prevent brothers 
 from marrying their sisters ; the effect of dividing a 
 community into four exogamous classes, with the charac- 
 teristic rule of descent, is to prevent parents from marrying 
 their children ; and the effect of dividing a community into 
 eight exogamous classes, with the characteristic rule of 
 descent, is to prevent a man's children from marrying his 
 sister's children, in other words, it is to prevent the marriage 
 of some, though not all, of those whom we call first 
 cousins. That these are the actual effects of the successive 
 dichotomies will appear from the following explanations and 
 examples. 
 
 Let us begin with the simplest system of the series, that 
 is, with the bisection of the community into two exogamous 
 classes, which we will call A and B. On this system every 
 member of the class A, whether male or female, is forbidden 
 to marry a member of that class and is bound, if he or she 
 marries at all, to marry only a member of the class B. 
 Conversely every member of the class B, whether male or 
 female, is forbidden to marry a member of that class and is 
 bound, if he or she marries at all, to marry only a member 
 of the class A. Further, so far as the organisation in 
 classes is concerned, any member of the class A is free to 
 marry any member of class B, and any member of class B 
 is free to marry any member of class A. Hence if all the 
 children of the same parents are arranged, as we have 
 assumed them to be, in the same exogamous class, it follows 
 that under the two-class system no brother may marry his 
 sister ; for if he is an A, his sisters are also As, and therefore 
 forbidden to him ; and if he is a B, they are also Bs, and 
 therefore forbidden to him ; since according to the funda- 
 mental law of the community a married couple must always 
 be composed of an A and a B, never of an A and an A, or 
 of a B and a B. But what happens with regard to the 
 children under this system ? If maternal descent is the 
 
, EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 275 
 
 rule, then the children of a male A and a female B are Bs, 
 and the children of a male B and a female A are As. 
 Conversely if paternal descent prevails, the children of a 
 male A and a female B are As, and the children of a male 
 B and a female A are Bs. Hence if any A may marry 
 any B, it will follow that with maternal descent the two- 
 class system permits a father to marry his daughter, and 
 that with male descent it permits a mother to marry her 
 son. For with maternal descent the daughter of a man A is 
 a B and therefore marriageable to him ; and with paternal 
 descent the son of a woman A is a B and therefore 
 marriageable to her. On the other hand it is to be observed 
 that the two-class system with paternal descent prevents a 
 man from marrying his daughter, since she is of his own 
 class; and that the two-class system with maternal descent 
 prevents a woman from marrying her son, since he is of her 
 own class. Thus the two-class system with paternal or 
 maternal descent prevents some, but not all, cases of marriage 
 between a parent and a child. 
 
 Let us next examine the four-class system with itsThedivi- 
 characteristic rule of descent. Under this system the two f^°" ^"'° 
 exogamous classes A and B are each subdivided into two gamous 
 exogamous subclasses, which we will call respectively c^, a^, wwflhe 
 and b^, If^. Under this system the rule of the two-class character- 
 system still prevails so far that an A must still marry a B, descent, 
 but instead of being free to marry any B, his or her choice bars the 
 
 1 iir/-iT-» ti.i marriage 
 
 is now restricted to one half of the Bs ; and conversely while both of 
 a B is still bound to marry an A, his or her choice is now bro'hers 
 
 with sisters 
 
 restricted to one half of the As. Thus A«^ is bound to and of 
 marry 'Rb\ but is forbidden to marry B<5^ ; and Aa^ is bound P^^"'" 
 to marry B^*, but is forbidden to marry 'Rb^. Hence under children. 
 the four-class system, just as under the two-class system, a 
 brother cannot marry his sister, since if he, for example, is 
 Aa', she will be Aa' also and therefore forbidden to him, 
 because his wife must be B^\ But what happens with 
 regard to the children ? Here we are brought face to face 
 with a most remarkable difference between the two-class 
 system and the four-class system. Whereas under the two- 
 class system, children always belong to the class either of 
 their father or of their mother, under the four-class system 
 
276 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 children never belong to the subclass of their father or of 
 
 their mother, but always to a subclass which differs both 
 
 from the subclass of their father and from the subclass of 
 
 their mother. From this it at once follows that under the 
 
 four-class system, contrary to what may happen under the 
 
 two-class system, a father may never marry his daughter 
 
 and a mother may never marry her son, whether descent be 
 
 reckoned in the maternal or in the paternal line. For 
 
 example, if maternal descent is the rule, then the children 
 
 of a man Aa' and a woman BiJ^ are Bi^^, that is, they belong 
 
 to their mother's class B but not to her subclass i^ ; hence 
 
 the man ha} may not marry his daughter B^^, since she is 
 
 not of the subclass b^, from which alone he may take a wife. 
 
 And the woman Bi^^ may not marry her son BiJ^ because he 
 
 is of her own class B. Conversely, if paternal descent is the 
 
 rule, then the children of a man A«^ and a woman B(5^ are 
 
 Kc^, that is, they belong to their father's class A but not 
 
 to his subclass a}- ; hence the woman BiJ^ may not marry her 
 
 son Aa^, since he is not of the subclass c^, in which alone 
 
 she may find a husband. And the man Kc^ may not 
 
 marry his daughter A«^, because she is of his own class A. 
 
 Thus, whether the rule of descent be maternal or paternal, 
 
 the four -class system absolutely prevents the marriage 
 
 of parents with children as well as of brothers with 
 
 sisters. 
 
 But the But let us carry the analysis a step lower down and ask, 
 
 fn™'four How does the four-class system affect the third generation ? 
 
 exogamous docs it prevent the marriage of the children of a brother 
 
 nm bar the With the children of his sister ? The answer is that it does 
 
 marriage not. Let US take a man Kc^ and his sister, who is 
 
 children necessarily also A«^, and let us suppose that the rule of 
 
 with his descent is maternal. Then the wife of the brother Aa^ will 
 
 sister s 
 
 children, be a woman B<^^ and the children will be Yib"^ : and the 
 husband of the sister A«' will be Bb^ and her children will 
 be Aal Hence the children Bb^ of the brother Aa^ will be 
 marriageable with the children Aa^ of his sister A«\ because 
 A«^ and Bb'^ are intermarrying classes. Conversely, if the 
 rule of descent is paternal, the children of the brother Aa^ 
 will be Aa^ and the children of his sister Aa^ will be B^^; 
 hence the children Aa^ of the brother Aa^ will be marriage- 
 
EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 
 
 277 
 
 able with the children B^^ of his sister Afl\ for the same reason 
 as before, because Aa" and B^ are intermarrying classes. 
 Thus whether the rule of descent be maternal or paternal, 
 the four-class system presents no obstacle to the marriage of 
 the children of a brother with the children of a sister. In 
 other words, under the four-class system first cousins are free 
 to marry each other in the particular case in which they are 
 children of a brother and a sister ; but they are not free to 
 marry in the case in which they are children either of two 
 brothers or of two sisters, since the children of two brothers 
 or of two sisters necessarily belong to the same exagamous 
 division and are therefore forbidden to each other. 
 
 Lastly, let us consider the eight-class system with its 
 characteristic rule of descent. An examination of it, as ex- 
 hibited in the preceding tables,^ will easily satisfy us that it, 
 like the four-class system, prevents the marriage first of 
 brothers with sisters, and, second, of parents with children ; 
 and if we trace its effect on the third generation we shall 
 see that it, unlike the four-class system, prevents the 
 marriage of a man's children with the children of his 
 sister, and that too whether descent be reckoned in the 
 maternal or the paternal line." Take, for example, the 
 V\'arramunga tribe, which has the eight-class system and 
 male descent, and look at the table of marriage and descent, 
 which for the convenience of the reader I will here 
 repeat : — 
 
 The divi- 
 sion into 
 eight exo- 
 gamous 
 classes 
 bars the 
 marriage 
 of brothers 
 withsisters, 
 of parents 
 with 
 children, 
 and of 
 a man's 
 children 
 with his 
 sister's 
 children. 
 
 Parents. 
 
 Children. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Uluuru Q 
 1 Thapanunga' 
 ^ Tjunguri -(^ '^ 
 
 Tjapeltjeri > 
 '''Thapungarti v 
 
 Kingilli 
 ^ Tjupila*^ ' 
 Thungalla "x^ 
 
 (. Thakomara ' 
 ^Tjambin •> 
 
 Uluuru (^ 
 Thapungarti 
 Tjapeltjeri (V 
 
 Tjunguri 
 Thapanunga 
 
 Kingilli ^ 
 Thakomara^ 
 Tjarabin ^ 
 
 Tjupila 
 Thungalla 
 
 ' See above, pp. 262 sgq. 
 
 • That the eight-cla.ss system pre- 
 vents the marriage of a man's children 
 with his sister's children has already 
 been pointed out by Messrs. Spencer 
 
 and Gillen. See their Northern Tribes, 
 p. 117. The same observation had 
 previously been made by Mr. E. Crawley 
 (The Mystic Rose, London, 1902, p. 
 473)- 
 
278 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The first two vertical columns represent the inter- 
 marrying subclasses, the second two represent the offspring 
 of these marriages, column 3 containing the children of 
 men i and women 2, and column- 4 containing the children 
 of men 2 and women i. For example, a Thapanunga man 
 marries a Tjupila woman and their children are Thapungarti: 
 a Tjupila man marries a Thapanunga woman and their 
 children are Thakomara. And similarly with the rest. 
 Now in the first place it is clear from an inspection of the 
 table that a man may not marry his sister ; for if he, for 
 example, is a Thapanunga, his sister must be a Thapanunga 
 too, and therefore forbidden to him, since his wife must be a 
 Tjupila. In the second place it is clear that a man may not 
 marry his daughter ; for if he, for example, is a Thapanunga, 
 his daughter will be a Thapungarti, not a Tjupila, whom 
 alone he may marry. Again, it is clear that a woman may 
 not marry her son ; for if she is, for example, a Tjupila, her 
 son will be a Thapungarti, and not a Thapanunga, whom 
 alone she may marry. In the third place if by the help of 
 the table we trace the descent to the third generation we shall 
 find that a man's children may not marry his sister's children. 
 Take, for example, a Thapanunga man and his sister, who 
 must of course be a Thapanunga also. Then the wife of 
 this Thapanunga man will be a Tjupila woman, and their 
 children will be Thapungarti. The husband of Thapanunga's 
 sister will be a Tjupila man and their children will be 
 Thakomara. Hence the Thapungarti children of the 
 brother may not marry the Thakomara children of his 
 sister, since the subclasses Thapungarti and Thakomara are 
 not marriageable with each other, Thapungarti marrying 
 only with Tjambin, and Thakomara marrying only with 
 Tjapeltjeri. 
 The bar is In the Warramunga tribe, as indeed in all the eight- 
 
 effective ^^^^^ tribes known to us, the rule of descent is paternal ; 
 when the but with a rule of maternal descent the bars to marriage, 
 maternal, whether of brothers with sisters, or of parents with children, 
 or of the children of a brother with the children of his sister, 
 would under the eight-class system be just the same. 
 With the foregoing explanations and the help of a table 
 the reader could easily trace this out for himself. If, 
 
I EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 279 
 
 for example, the Warramunga had maternal descent in- 
 stead of paternal, it would be necessary to transpose 
 columns 3 and 4 in the table ; for with maternal descent 
 the children of Uluuru men would be Kingilli instead of 
 Uluuru, and the children of Uluuru women would be 
 Uluuru instead of Kingilli. In that case the children of 
 a Thapanunga man would be Thakomara and the children 
 of his Thapanunga sister would be Thapungarti ; therefore 
 the children of this man and of his sister would still be 
 prevented from marrying each other, since they would 
 belong to subclasses (Thakomara and Thapungarti) which 
 do not intermarry. 
 
 To sum up. The effect of the two-class system is to bar The effect 
 the marriage of brothers with sisters, but not in all cases °^ ^^'^. 
 
 o I successive 
 
 the marriage of parents with children, nor the marriage subdivision 
 
 of a man's children with his sister's children. The effect of ano°i,er to 
 
 the four-class system is to bar the marriage of brothers with the list of 
 
 sisters and of parents with children in every case, but not degrees'.^ 
 
 the marriage of a man's children with his sister's children. 
 
 The effect of the eight-class system is to bar the marriage 
 
 of brothers with sisters, of parents with children, and of a 
 
 man's children with his sister's children. The result of each 
 
 successive dichotomy is thus to strike out another class of 
 
 relations from the list of persons with whom marriage may 
 
 be contracted : it is to add one more to the list of prohibited 
 
 degrees. 
 
 But is the effect which these successive segmentations The effect 
 
 actually produce the effect which they were intended to ^^'j.^*J['^^^'^ 
 
 produce ? I think we may safely conclude that it is. For subdivisions 
 
 the aborigines of Australia at the present day certainly p^^'^^J,^ i^ 
 
 entertain a deep horror of incest, that is, of just those probably 
 
 marriages which the exogamous segmentations of the ^hich" they 
 
 community are fitted to preclude ; and down to recent were in- 
 
 times they commonly punished all such incestuous inter- produce" 
 
 course with death.^ It would therefore be perfectly natural f""" *« 
 
 that their ancestors should have taken the most stringent whSTttee 
 
 measures to prevent the commission of what they, like their subdivisions 
 
 descendants, probably regarded as a crime of the deepest just those 
 
 dye and fraught with danger to society. Thus an adequate ^''^^^ !^^ 
 
 ' The evidence will be given below for the various tribes separately. aborigines 
 
 abhor. 
 
28o TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 motive for the institution of their present marriage laws 
 certainly exists among the Australian aborigines ; and as 
 these laws, in their combined complexity and regularity, 
 have all the appearance of being artificial, it is legitimate 
 to infer that they were devised by the natives for the 
 purpose of achieving the very results which they do 
 effectively achieve. Those who are best acquainted at 
 first hand with the Australian savages believe them to be 
 capable both of conceiving and of executing such social 
 reforms as are implied in the institution of their present 
 marriage system.^ We have no right to reject the deliberate 
 opinion of the most competent authorities on such a point, 
 especially when all the evidence at our disposal goes to 
 confirm it. To dismiss as baseless an opinion so strongly 
 supported is contrary to every sound principle of scientific 
 research. It is to substitute the deductive for the inductive 
 method ; for it sets aside the evidence of first-hand observa- 
 tion in favour of our own abstract notions of probability. 
 We civilised men who know savages only at second hand 
 through the reports of others are bound to accept the well- 
 weighed testimony of accurate and trustworthy observers as 
 to the facts of savage life, whether that testimony agrees 
 with our prepossessions or not. If we accept some of their 
 statements and reject others according to an arbitrary 
 standard of our own, there is an end of scientific anthro- 
 pology. We may then, if we please, erect a towering 
 structure of hypothesis, which will perhaps hang together 
 and look fair outwardly but is rotten inwardly, because 
 the premises on which it rests are false. In the present case 
 the only ground for denying that the elaborate marriage 
 system of the Australian aborigines has been devised by 
 them for the purpose which it actually serves appears to be 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, " Notes on the Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 
 
 Australian Class Sysi&ms," Jotirnal of 12-1^, 6^ ; id.. Northern Tribes of Cm- 
 
 the Anthropological Institute,r}i\. (!%%},) tral Australia, pp. 123x^.5 /rf.,"Some 
 
 pp. 499 sqq. ; id., "Further Notes on Remarks on Totemism as applied to 
 
 the Australian Class Systems," ibid. the Australian Tribes," yiwn/a/ ^ /^ 
 
 xviii. (1889) pp. 40 J?., 66 ; id., " Aus- Anthropological Institute, xxviii. (1899) 
 
 tralian Group - Relationships," ibid. p. 278 ; Baldwin Spencer, in Trans- 
 
 xxxvii. (1907) pp. 286 sq. ; id.. Native actions of the Australasian Associa- 
 
 Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 89 tion for the Advancement of Science, 
 
 sq., 140, 143 ; Spencer and Gillen, Dunedin, January 1904, pp. 419 sq. 
 
I EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 281 
 
 a preconceived idea that these savages are incapable of 
 thinking out and putting in practice a series of checks 
 and counter-checks on marriage so intricate that many 
 civilised persons lack either the patience or the ability to 
 understand them. Yet the institution which puzzles some 
 European minds seems to create little or no difficulty for 
 the intellect of the Australian savage. In his hands the 
 complex and cumbrous machine works regularly and 
 smoothly enough ; and this fact of itself should make us 
 hesitate to affirm that he could not have invented an 
 instrument which he uses so skilfully. 
 
 The truth is that all attempts to trace the origin and it is futile 
 growth of human institutions without the intervention of '° ff^^t^e 
 human intelligence and will are radically vicious and fore- growth of 
 doomed to failure. It may seem to some to be scientific to inJttmtiors 
 treat savage man as a mere automaton, a shuttlecock of without 
 nature, a helpless creature of circumstances, and so to explain lccoum"the 
 the evolution of primitive society, like the evolution of factors of 
 material bodies, by the play of physical forces alone. But and wmT* 
 a history of man so written is neither science nor history : ^^^ "° 
 it is a parody of both. For it ignores the prime factor customs 
 of the movement, the mainspring of the whole machine, ^'^'^ *® 
 
 J ., . . , . ,.- ... , ,•. . impress of 
 
 and that is man s conscious life, his thoughts, his aspira- thought 
 tions, his endeavours. In every age he has had these, ^"^ p"""' 
 
 , ' pose more 
 
 and they, far more than anything else, have moulded clearly 
 his institutions. External nature certainly acts on him, ^'^'"p«<^ 
 
 , •' 'on tnem 
 
 but he reacts on it, and his history is the resultant of that than the 
 action and reaction. To leave out of account either of these "s[em^of 
 mutually interdependent elements, the external and the the Aus- 
 internal, is to falsify history by presenting us with an atoHgines. 
 incomplete view of it ; but of the two the internal element 
 is, if not the more influential, certainly the more obvious, 
 the more open to our observation, and therefore the more 
 important for the historian, who in his effort to refer the 
 events of the human drama to their sources may more 
 safely ignore the influence of climate and weather, of soil 
 and water, of rivers and mountains, than the thoughts, the 
 passions, the ambitions of the actors. We shall as little 
 understand the growth of savage as of civilised institutions 
 if we persist in shutting our eyes to the deliberate choice 
 
TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 which man, whether savage or civilised, has exercised in 
 shaping them. It should always be borne in mind that the 
 savage differs from his civilised brother rather in degree 
 than in kind, rather in the point at which his development 
 has been arrested or retarded than in the direction of the 
 line which it has followed ; and if, as we know, the one has 
 used his judgment and discretion in making his laws, we may 
 be sure that the other has done so also. The kings and 
 presidents, the senates and parliaments of civilisation have 
 their parallels in the chiefs and headmen, the councils of 
 elders and the tribal assemblies of savagery ; and the laws 
 promulgated by the former have their counterpart in the 
 customs initiated and enforced by the latter. Among 
 savage customs there are few or none that bear the impress 
 of thought and purpose stamped upon them so clearly as 
 the complex yet regular marriage system of the Australian 
 aborigines. We shall do well therefore to acquiesce in the 
 opinion of the best observers, who ascribe the origin of that 
 system to the prolonged reflection and deliberate intention 
 of the natives themselves. 
 
 But while there are strong grounds for thinking that 
 the system of exogamy has been deliberately devised and 
 instituted by the Australian aborigines for the purpose of 
 effecting just what it does effect, it would doubtless be a 
 mistake to suppose that its most complex form, the eight- 
 classes was class System, was struck out at a single blow. All the 
 not struck evidence and probability are in favour of the view that the 
 
 out at a ..,..,,.. 
 
 blow ; it system originated in a simple bisection of the community 
 wasevoived jj^^ j. ^ exogamous classes only ; that, when this was 
 
 out of the _ ° / > ) 
 
 two-class found insufificient to bar marriages which the natives 
 ^ro'cess'of^ regarded as objectionable, each of the two classes was 
 
 bisection, 
 
 But the 
 system in 
 its more 
 complex 
 forms of 
 four or 
 eight exo- 
 
 single or 
 repeated. 
 
 again subdivided into two, making four exogamous classes 
 in all ; and finally that, when four exogamous classes still 
 proved inadequate for the purpose, each of them was again 
 subdivided into two, making eight exogamous classes in 
 all. Thus from a simple beginning the Australian aborigines 
 appear to have advanced step by step to the complex 
 system of eight exogamous classes, the process being one 
 of successive bisections or dichotomies. The first bisection 
 barred the marriage of brothers with sisters ; the second 
 
1 EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 283 
 
 bisection, combined with the characteristic rule of descent, 
 which places the children in a different class both from 
 the father and from the mother, barred the marriage of 
 parents with children ; and the third bisection, combined 
 with a rule of descent like the preceding, barred the 
 marriage of a man's children with his sister's children, in 
 other words, it prevented the marriage of some, but not 
 all, of those whom we call first cousins. 
 
 The reformers who devised and introduced these great The system 
 social changes were probably, as we shall see later on,' the ^^ de°- 
 council of old men, who in every Australian tribe exercise yised and 
 a preponderating influence over the community and appear by the 
 to be able to carry through any measure on which they council of 
 
 . ' , , -ITT, 1 elders in 
 
 have privately agreed among themselves. When the system some one 
 had once been adopted by a single local community, it'°caicom- 
 might easily be copied by their neighbours and so might from which 
 spread by peaceful transmission from tribe to tribe in ever ""\^y!'*™ 
 
 ^ ' ^ gradually 
 
 widening circles, until it was embraced by practically the spread by 
 whole aboriginal population of Australia. This supposition ^^^^"^ 
 is in accord with what we know to be actually taking place mission 
 at the present day among the Australian tribes. The names Xoie'of 
 for four out of their eight subclasses have been adopted in Australia, 
 recent times by the Arunta from their northern neighbours 
 the Ilpirra, and they are gradually spreading southward ; 
 in the year 1898 the names had not yet reached the 
 southern part of the Arunta tribe.^ Similarly dances or 
 ceremonies and their accompanying songs are passed on 
 from tribe to tribe ; and when, as often happens, the 
 language of the tribe which has borrowed the ceremony 
 differs from that of the tribe which invented it, the per- 
 formers may and frequently do chant words which are 
 totally unintelligible both to themselves and to their 
 hearers. Indeed we are told that the ceremonial songs 
 of these savages, like the religious litanies of some more 
 advanced peoples, are generally couched in an unknown 
 tongue.' This wide diffusion of customs is greatly facilitated 
 
 ' See below, pp. 352 sqq. land Aborigines (Brisbane and London, 
 
 * Native Tribes, p. 72; Northern 1897), pp. 117 sq.; Spencer and 
 Tribes, p. ao. Gillen, Native Tribes of Central 
 
 • W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies Australia, p. 281 note' ; id.. Northern 
 among the North-west-central Queens- Tribes of Central Australia, p. 20. 
 
284 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 by the peaceful and friendly relations which generally 
 prevail between neighbouring Australian tribes. The 
 common assumption that savages live in a state of 
 perpetual warfare with each other does not apply to the 
 aborigines of Australia.^ 
 The alter- Thus we may accept with some degree of confidence the 
 
 native hypothesis that the remarkable division of the Australian 
 
 theory that ^ ^ 
 
 the com- tribes into two, four, or eight exogamous classes, with corre- 
 iSon'^ff^n spondingly complicated rules of descent, has been brought 
 Austrahan about by a serics of dichotomies purposely instituted for 
 produ™d '^^ sake of achieving those very results which in practice 
 by amai- they achieve. The only alternative to this hypothesis would 
 father than Seem to be to suppose that these exogamous classes had 
 subdivision arisen by accretion rather than by subdivision, or, in other 
 
 is open to i i i i ■ r • y 1 
 
 serious words, by the amalgamation of mdependent exogamous 
 objections, communities which retained their rule of exogamy after 
 
 For, on that ° ■" 
 
 hypothesis, Coalescing with each other. On this alternative theory the 
 
 th'Vder'Y ^'^^^ observation that occurs is. Why were these federal 
 
 communi- Communities so regularly either two in number or multiples 
 
 bTtwiTor °f two? Why not as often three, five, or seven as two, 
 
 multiples four, or eight ? The regular division of the normal 
 
 ^° Australian tribe into two, four, or eight exogamous classes 
 
 is perfectly intelligible on the hypothesis that it was produced 
 
 by dichotomy, single or repeated ; on the other hypothesis 
 
 it remains obscure, if not inexplicable, for it is contrary to 
 
 all probability that the communities which federated with 
 
 each other should have regularly, if not invariably, been 
 
 either two in number or a multiple of two. 
 
 Again, on But evcn if we grant the possibility that the Australian 
 
 thesis^of savage, inspired by a passion for even numbers, or rather for 
 
 amaigama- the number two and its multiples, should have resolutely 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of one would imagine that the various 
 Central Australia, -p. T,2; id.. Northern tribes were in a state of constant 
 Tribes of Central Australia, p. 31, hostility. Nothing could be further 
 " The different local groups within the from the truth." The authors are 
 one tribe and the members of con- careful to remind us that this state- 
 tiguous tribes, where they are in ment refers only to those central and 
 contact, live for the most part in a northern tribes with whom they came 
 state of mutual friendship. ... Of personally into contact. But as these 
 course there are exceptions to this, but, tribes have been perhaps less con- 
 on the whole, it is strikingly true of taminated than any others by European 
 the Australian savage. To judge from iniluence, their relations to each other 
 ordinary accounts in popular works, may fairly be taken as typical. 
 
I • EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 285 
 
 spurned all overtures of union with bodies whose numbers, tion, how 
 added up together, did not produce the requisite total, the ^p,aiVthe 
 hypothesis of amalgamation as opposed to subdivision is still rule of 
 open to a very serious objection. For while we may without ^^ ^^^_ 
 much difficulty conceive that communities, which in their and eight- 
 independent state had been exogamous, should remain sy^ems? 
 exogamous after they had united to form a confederacy, 
 it is far more difficult to understand why in uniting they 
 should have adopted the complicated rules of descent 
 which characterise the four-class and eight-class organisa- 
 tions of the Australian tribes. We can imagine that each 
 community in the confederacy should continue as before to 
 take its wives from another community, but why should 
 the two intermarrying communities now cede their children 
 to a third ? Why should the confederacy lay down a new 
 rule that henceforth children should never belong as before 
 to the community either of their father or of their mother, 
 but always to a community different from them both ? • On 
 the theory of amalgamation what motive can be assigned 
 for this rigid exclusion of all children from the com- 
 munities of both their parents ? That exclusion is perfectly 
 intelligible on the hypothesis that it was devised to prevent 
 the marriage of parents with children, but it is difficult to 
 see how it can be explained on any other. 
 
 On the whole, then, we seem driven to the conclusion To the view 
 that the organisation of the normal Australian tribe in two, so^lai'or- 
 four, or eight exogamous classes has been produced by ganisation 
 deliberate and, where it has been repeated, successive Ausu-aiian 
 dichotomy of the tribe for the purpose of preventing those fibe was 
 marriages of near kin which the aborigines regard with so much pr^ent the 
 horror.' But to this view a European reader may naturally marriage of 
 
 ' This was the conclusion which the possibility of intermarriage between 
 
 that sober and cautious enquirer Dr. parents (own and tribal) and children. 
 A. W. Howitt reached many years " {3) The prohibition of the slightest 
 
 ago. In a paper which was read intercourse between a woman and her 
 
 before the Anthropological Institute of daughter's husband was a social enact- 
 
 Great Britain on I2th December 1882 ment intended to forbid connections 
 
 he thus summed up his views : which the class rules were unable to 
 
 "(I) The primary division into two prevent, 
 classes was intended to prevent brother "(4) All these changes have been 
 
 and sister maniage in the commune. due to an international reformatory 
 
 "(*) The secondary divisions into movement in the community itself." 
 subclasses were intended to prevent See A. W. Howitt, "Notes on the 
 
286 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 near kin 
 it may be 
 objected 
 that it in 
 fact pre- 
 vents the 
 marriage of 
 many other 
 persons. 
 This objec- 
 tion reveals 
 a lack of 
 acquaint- 
 ance with 
 the Aus- 
 trahan 
 system of 
 relation- 
 shipSjWhich 
 is based, 
 not on ties 
 of blood 
 between 
 individuals, 
 but on 
 social 
 relations 
 between 
 groups. 
 This system 
 is known as 
 the Classi- 
 ficatory 
 System of 
 Relation- 
 ship. 
 
 object that the institution of these exogamous classes was 
 a clumsy expedient, which, while it certainly fulfilled its 
 purpose of preventing the marriages in question, went far 
 beyond the intention of its authors by prohibiting marriage 
 between large numbers of people who were not related to 
 each other by blood at all. This objection reveals a lack of 
 acquaintance with savage ideas of kinship, which differ very 
 widely from our own. The researches of the American 
 ethnologist L. H. Morgan and others within the last fifty 
 years have proved that like savages in many, if not all, 
 parts of the world the Australian aborigines count kin 
 according to what is called the classificatory system of 
 relationship. The fundamental principle of that system is 
 that kinship is reckoned between groups rather than between 
 individuals ; for example, under it a man gives the name 
 of father not to one individual man only but to a group of 
 men, any one of whom might, in accordance with the tribal 
 custom, have been his father ; he gives the name of mother 
 not to one individual woman only but to a group of women, 
 any one of whom might, in accordance with the tribal 
 custom, have been his mother ; he gives the name of 
 brother and sister, not only to the children of his father and 
 mother, but to a group of men and women who are the 
 offspring of all those women and men whom his father and 
 mother might, in accordance with the tribal custom, have 
 married : he gives the name of wife not only to his actual 
 
 Australian Class Systems,"yi7«r«fl/ of 
 the Anthropological Institute, xii. 
 (1883) pp. 499-504. When Dr. 
 Howitt wrote thus, the existence of 
 tribes with an eight-class system was 
 unknown, so necessarily he could not 
 take account of it. The rule that a 
 man must avoid social, as well as 
 sexual, intercourse with his mother-in- 
 law is very widespread among the 
 aborigines of Australia. Examples of 
 it will be found in the sequel. In 
 the passage to which I have referred 
 in this note Dr. Howitt points out 
 that with a two - class system and 
 maternal descent a man's mother-in- 
 law always belongs to the class of 
 women who is marriageable to him, 
 since she belongs to the same class 
 
 as her daughter, his wife, and Dr. 
 Howitt suggests that the custom of 
 avoidance between a man and his 
 mother - in - law grew up in order 
 to prevent that sexual intercourse 
 between them which the system could 
 not bar. On the other hand, it is to 
 be observed that the marriage of a 
 man with his mother-in-law is barred 
 by the two-class system with paternal 
 descent and by the four-class system 
 both with paternal and maternal 
 descent. See further on this subject 
 the observations of Mr. A. L. P. 
 Cameron, " Notes on some Tribes of 
 New South Wales," Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xiv. (1885) 
 p. 353 note 2. 
 
, EXOGAMY IN AUSTRALIAN TRIBES 287 
 
 wife but to all the women whom the custom of the tribe 
 would have allowed him to marry ; and he gives the name 
 of sons and daughters not only to children whom he has 
 himself begotten but also to all the children of those women 
 whom he might have married but did not. Strange as this 
 system of group relationship seems to us, it is actually 
 prevalent at the present day over a great part, probably 
 the greater part of the world ; and it is only explicable, 
 as we shall see presently, on the hypothesis that it sprang 
 from, and accurately represents, a system of group marriage, 
 that is, a system in which a group of men enjoyed marital 
 rights over a group of women, so that any man of the one 
 group might call any woman of the other group his wife 
 and treat her as such ; while every child born of such group 
 marriages gave the name of father to every one of the 
 whole group of men to which his actual father belonged, 
 and the name of mother to every one of the whole group of 
 women to which his actual mother belonged. Such titles 
 would not by any means imply a belief that the speaker 
 had been begotten by all the men of his father's group or 
 borne by all the women of his mother's group. It would 
 mean no more than that he stood in a similar social, not 
 physical, relationship to all the men and women of these 
 groups. It would mean that the duties which he owed to 
 them and the rights which he claimed from them were the 
 same in respect of every member of the group, and were 
 neither greater nor less in respect of his physical father and 
 mother than in respect of all the other men and women on 
 whom he bestowed the names of father and mother. In 
 short, under this system paternity and maternity, brother- 
 hood and sisterhood, sonship and daughtership designated 
 social not consanguineous relationships, the tie of blood 
 being either ignored or at all events cast into the back- 
 ground by the greater importance of the tie which bound 
 all the members of the groups together. It was, to all 
 appearance, a period not of individualism but of social 
 communism ; and when we remember how feeble each 
 individual man is by comparison with the larger animals, 
 wc may be ready to admit that in his early struggles with 
 them for the mastery a system which knit large groups of 
 
288 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 men and women together by the closest ties was more 
 favourable to progress than one which would have limited 
 the family group to a single pair and their offspring. Then, 
 perhaps even more than now, union was strength : disunion 
 and dispersal would have exposed our ancestors to the risk 
 of being exterminated piecemeal by their ferocious and 
 individually far stronger adversaries, the large carnivorous 
 animals. 
 Thus the Now to revert to the exogamous classes of the Australian 
 
 social or- j-j-j^gs jf ^g assume, as we have every right to do, that 
 
 ganisation ' . 
 
 of an the founders of exogamy in Australia recognised the classi- 
 
 teibe'^^'"'" ficatory system of relationship, and the classificatory system 
 intended of relationship only, we shall at once perceive that what 
 the^i^mer"' they intended to prevent was not merely the marriage of a 
 marriage jjj^n with his sister, his mother, or his daughter in the 
 social physical sense in which we use these terms ; their aim was 
 groups, ^Q prevent his marriage with his sister, his mother, and his 
 intention it daughter in the classificatory sense of these terms ; that 
 adequately jg^ \}[i^y intended to place bars to marriage not between 
 individuals merely but between the whole groups of persons 
 who designated their group not their individual relationships, 
 their social not their consanguineous ties, by the names of 
 father and mother, brother and sister, son and daughter. 
 And in this intention the founders of exogamy succeeded 
 perfectly. In the completest form of the system, namely, 
 the division of the community into eight exogamous 
 classes, they barred the marriage of group brothers with 
 group sisters, of group fathers with group daughters, of 
 group mothers with group sons, and of the sons of group 
 brothers with the daughters of group sisters. Thus the 
 dichotomy of an Australian tribe in its completest form, 
 namely in the eight-class organisation, was not a clumsy 
 expedient which overshot its mark by separating from each 
 other many persons whom the authors of it had no intention 
 of separating : it was a device admirably adapted to effect 
 just what its inventors intended, neither more nor less. 
 But this will be better understood by the reader on a closer 
 acquaintance with the classificatory system of relationship, 
 with which the exogamy of the Australian tribes is insepar- 
 ably bound up. To that subject we now turn. 
 
THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 289 
 
 § 6, The Classificatory System of Relationship in the 
 Central and Northertt Tribes 
 
 In all the Australian tribes thus far passed in review The ciassi- 
 there prevails what is known as the Classificatory System g^Jem of 
 of Relationship ; in other words, the natives count kinship reiation- 
 not between individuals merely, as we do, but between classes Australia. 
 or groups, and the principle of classification, as we shall see 
 presently, is not blood but marriage. After enumerating the 
 classificatory terms of relationship in use among these tribes, 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe : " It will at once be 
 seen that the one striking feature, common to the whole 
 series, is that the terms used by the natives apply not to 
 the individual but to the group of which the individual is a 
 member. Whilst we are of course obliged to use our 
 ordinary terms of relationship, such as father, mother, 
 brother, wife, etc., it must always be remembered that this 
 is merely a matter of convenience, and that, for example, the 
 words oknia, which we translate by father, or mia by mother, 
 okilia by brother, and unawa by wife, by no means what- 
 ever connote the meaning of our English terms. Oknia — 
 and the same applies precisely to all the terms — is not 
 applied or regarded by an individual as in the least degree 
 applicable to one man only ; it is simply the name of a 
 group of individuals of which he is a member. Strictly 
 speaking, in our sense of the word they have no individual 
 terms of relationship, but every person has certain groups of 
 men and women who stand in a definite relationship to him 
 and he to them. ... It is absolutely essential in dealing with 
 these people to lay aside all ideas of relationship as counted 
 amongst ourselves. The savage Australian, it may indeed be 
 said with truth, has no idea of relationships as we understand 
 them. He does not, for example, discriminate between his 
 actual father and mother and the men and women who 
 belong to the group, each member of which might have 
 lawfully been either his father or his mother, as the case 
 may be. Any wrong done to his actual father or mother, 
 or to his actual father-in-law or mother-in-law, counts for 
 nothing whatever more than any wrong which he may have 
 
 VOL. I u 
 
290 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 done to any man or woman who is a member of a group 
 
 of individuals, any one of whom might have been his 
 
 father or mother, his father-in-law or mother-in-law." ^ 
 
 TheCiassi- The classificatory system of relationship is not limited to 
 
 ficatory ^^ central and northern tribes of Australia. It is shared 
 
 System 
 
 classifies all by all the aborigines of Australia and, as the great American 
 bCTs^f™ ethnologist, L. H. Morgan, was the first to prove, by many 
 community other races in many other parts of the world.^ As the 
 or groups system, with differences of detail, is recognised certainly by 
 on the many and probably by all totemic peoples the world over, 
 marriage- and as we shall accordingly meet with it again and again in 
 ability, not Qyj. survey of totemism, it is desirable to give at the outset 
 
 of blood ; ■' ' ° 
 
 the reia- some brief general explanations in regard to it, all the more 
 tions which g^ because the system differs fundamentally from ours, and 
 
 It recog- •' ■' ' 
 
 nises are serious confusion has been created through the failure of 
 physica""' ^ome enquirers to perceive the distinction. To put that 
 it is a distinction shortly : whereas our system of relationship is 
 marriage, based on Consanguinity, on the physical tie of a common 
 not of con- blood, the classificatory system of relationship is based on 
 sanguini y. j^g^j.j,j^gg . Y^fhereas with us the fundamental relation is that 
 between parent and child, and all other relationships are 
 deduced from it, under the classificatory system the funda- 
 mental relation is that between husband and wife, and all 
 other relationships are deduced from it. With us the 
 essential question is. Who is my father? or. Who is my 
 mother? but under the classificatory system the essential 
 question is, Whom may I marry ? Accordingly the classi- 
 ficatory system classifies the whole community in classes or 
 groups, the common bond between the members of each 
 class or group being not one of blood but simply the similar 
 relation of marriageability or non-marriageability in which 
 they stand to each other and to the members of every other 
 class or group in the community. Each class or group may, 
 and commonly does, include members who are related to 
 each other by ties of blood ; but under the classificatory 
 system such ties are accidental, not essential, they are not 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern Human Family, forming vol. xvii. of 
 
 Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 95 sq. the Smithsonian Contributions to Know- 
 
 2 Lewis H. Morgan, Systems of led^e {Washington, 1871) ; id. Ancient 
 
 Consanguinity and Affinity of the Society (London, 1877). 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 291 
 
 the ground on which the persons so related are classed 
 together in the same class or group. If the reader will 
 steadily bear this simple principle in mind, he will escape 
 some of the pitfalls which beset his path in treading the 
 maze of the classificatory system. 
 
 The able English anthropologist J. F. McLennan rightly McLennan 
 denied that the classificatory terms of relationship which, tJ,^'j'lhe^" 
 for want of exact equivalents, we are obliged to trans- ciassifica- 
 late as "father," "mother," "son," "daughter," " brother," ["'J^ff^™ 
 " sister," imply any blood relationship between the persons system of 
 so designated. With perfect justice he declared that the guinity! 
 classificatory term " father " does not mean " the begetting 
 father " ; that the classificatory term " mother " does not 
 mean " the bearing mother " ; that the classificatory terms 
 " son " and " daughter " do not mean " begotten by " or 
 " born to " ; and that the classificatory terms " brother " 
 and " sister " do not imply connexion by descent from the 
 same father and mother. In short McLennan denied that 
 the classificatory system was a system of blood-ties at all ; ^ 
 and if we restrict our view to the principles and origin of 
 the system and leave out of account the ideas which have 
 been afterwards imported into it, there can be little doubt 
 that he was perfectly right in his denial. Further, McLennan 
 correctly perceived that the corner-stone on which the whole 
 classificatory system rests is marriage, not consanguinity. 
 He says : " It cannot be doubted that the classificatory 
 system in the Malayan form illustrates a very early social 
 condition.of man. We must also believe, from its connecting 
 itself with the family, that it had its origin in some early 
 marriage - law. Indeed, an examination of the leading 
 points of difference presented by the various forms of the 
 classificatory system leaves no doubt that the phenomena 
 presented in all the forms are ultimately referable to the 
 marriage law ; and that accordingly its origin must be 
 so also." ^ 
 
 Nevertheless, after having gone so far in the right 
 direction as to see clearly what the classificatory system 
 
 ' J. F. McLennan, Studies in Ancient ^ J. F. McLennan, Studies in Ancient 
 
 History, New Edition (London, 1886), History, New Edition (London, 1886), 
 p. 270. p. 277. 
 
292 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 But he was not (namely a system of consanguinity), and to have 
 thinkiJi" ^^^ ^* \^^^t a glimpse of what it really is (namely a system 
 that the of marriage), McLennan abruptly turned aside and declared 
 to'iySys'tem 't to be nothing more than a system of mutual salutations 
 is a mere or modes of addressing persons in social intercourse.^ 
 mutuS° This proposed explanation of the classificatory terms 
 
 salutations jg unhesitatingly rejected by writers who, like L. H. Morgan, 
 of address, and Unlike J. F. McLennan, have had the great advantage 
 of living on a footing of intimacy with savages whose 
 whole social structure is built on the classificatory system. 
 Thus, for example, the Rev. Lorimer Fison, who had 
 experience of the classificatory system of relationship in 
 Fiji as well as in Australia, writes as follows : ^ "It has 
 been asserted that the Classificatory System of Relation- 
 ship is a mere ' system of addresses,' the ground for this 
 assertion being that the members of certain tribes use the 
 terms in addressing one another ; but this explanation of 
 the system appears to me to be directly contradicted by the 
 facts. In the first place there are many tribes who never so 
 employ the terms ; in the second place, if they are not terms 
 of relationship, the millions of people who use them have 
 no terms of relationship at all, for they have none other than 
 these ; and, finally, it is impossible to suppose that the 
 obligations and prohibitions conveyed by the terms could be 
 conveyed by a mere system of addresses. Take for instance 
 the tabu between the Fijian veinganeni? Any woman whom 
 a Fijian calls his ngane is as strictly forbidden to him as our 
 own sisters are to us ; her very touch brings pollution upon 
 him, and if he took her to wife he would be regarded with 
 abhorrence by all his tribe. Is it possible to believe that a 
 mere term of address could bring a prohibition such as this ? 
 No theories are needed to account for these classificatory 
 terms ; they account for themselves, for they are the neces- 
 sary outcome of the exogamous intermarrying divisions 
 found in Australia and elsewhere ; and the fair inference 
 
 1 J. F. McLennan, op. cit. pp. 273 « " Nga7ie is the term of relation 
 sq., 277 sqq. between brother and sister. It means 
 
 2 L. Fison, "The Classificatory 'one who shuns the other,' and the 
 System of Relationship," Journal of veinganeni are the non-marriageable 
 the Anthropological Institute, xxiv. persons " (L. Fison, op. cit. p. ?6o). 
 
 (1895) pp. 369^?- ^ J- V i I 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 293 
 
 is that, wherever we find the terms, these divisions are, 
 or have been in the past." Speaking of McLennan's 
 attempt to treat the classificatory terms as pure modes 
 of address, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen make the follow- 
 ing weighty observations : — "To those who have been 
 amongst and watched the natives day after day, this 
 explanation of the terms is utterly unsatisfactory. When, The ciassi- 
 in various tribes, we find series of terms of relationship termTL- 
 all dependent upon classificatory systems such as those press vari- 
 now to be described, and referring entirely to a mutual of relation- 
 relationship such as would be brought about by their ship based 
 
 . , , primarily 
 
 existence^ we cannot do otherwise than come to the upon the 
 conclusion that the terms do actually indicate various existence 
 
 ' of inter- 
 
 degrees of relationship based primarily upon the exist- marrying 
 ence of intermarrying groups. When we find, for example, eroups. 
 that amongst the Arunta natives a man calls a large 
 number of men belonging to one particular group by the 
 name oknia (a term which includes our relationship of 
 father), that he calls all the wives of these men by the 
 common name of mia (mother),^ and that he calls all 
 their sons by the name of okilia (elder brother) or itia 
 (younger brother), as the case may be, we can come to no 
 other conclusion than that this is expressive of his recogni- 
 tion of what may be termed a group relationship. All the 
 ' fathers ' are men who belong to the particular group to 
 which his own actual father belongs ; all the ' mothers ' 
 belong to the same group as that to which his actual mother 
 belongs, and all the ' brothers ' belong to his own group. 
 
 " Whatever else they may be, the relationship terms are 
 certainly not terms of address, the object of which is to pre- 
 vent the native having to employ a personal name. In the 
 Arunta tribe, for example, every man and woman has a 
 personal name by which he or she is freely addressed by 
 others — that is, by any, except a member of the opposite 
 sex who stands in the relationship of niura to them, for 
 such may only on very rare occasions speak to one another. 
 When, as has happened time after time to us, a native 
 
 ' " In using the English term we do the latter includes the relationship in- 
 not mean to imply that it is the equiva- dicated by the English term." 
 lent of the native term, but simply that 
 
294 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 says, for example, ' That man is Oriaka (a personal name), 
 he is my okilia' and you cannot possibly tell without further 
 inquiry whether he is the speaker's blood or tribal brother 
 — that is, the son of his own father or of some man belong- 
 ing to the same particular group as his father — then the 
 idea that the term okilia is applied as a polite term of 
 address, or in order to avoid the necessity of using a 
 personal name, is at once seen to be untenable. 
 
 " It is, at all events, a remarkable fact that (apart from 
 the organisation of other tribes, in respect of which we are 
 not competent to speak, but for which the same fact is 
 vouched for by other observers) in all the tribes with which 
 we are acquainted, all the terms coincide, without any 
 exception, in the recognition of relationships, all of which 
 are dependent upon the existence of a classificatory system, 
 the fundamental idea of which is that the women of certain 
 groups marry the men of others. Each tribe has one term 
 applied indiscriminately by the man to the woman or women 
 whom he actually marries and to all the women whom he 
 might lawfully marry — that is, who belong to the right 
 group — one term to his actual mother and to all the women 
 whom his father might lawfully have married ; one term 
 to his actual brother and to all the sons of his father's 
 brothers, and so on right through the whole system. To 
 this it may be added that, if these be not terms of relation^ 
 ship, then the language of these tribes is absolutely devoid 
 of any such." ^ 
 
 I will now illustrate the classificatory terms of relation- 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 
 of Central Australia, pp. 56-58. The 
 writers add in a note : " To this may 
 be added, still further, the fact that 
 there do exist certain terms applied 
 by men to certain particular indi- 
 viduals which are in the strict sense 
 ' terms of address.' A man, for 
 example, addresses particular men 
 who took part in his initiation cere- 
 monies by such terms as Tapunga, 
 Urinthantima, etc., which express no 
 relationship, and the significance of 
 which is entirely distinct from the true 
 terms of relationship now dealt with. " 
 The Todas of Southern India, who 
 
 have the classificatory system of re- 
 lationship, employ two well-marked 
 sets of terms expressing bonds of kin- 
 ship ; one set they use in speaking 
 of relatives, the other in speaking to 
 relatives. The terms of address some- 
 times differ totally from the others. 
 Thus a father is in, but he is addressed 
 as aia ; the son of a father's sister or 
 of a mother's brother is matchuni, but 
 he is addressed as anna, egala, or enda 
 according to his age relatively to that 
 of the speaker. See W. H. R. Rivers, 
 The Todas (London, 1906), pp. 483 
 sqq. 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 29S 
 
 ship by examples drawn from the languages of the central Examples 
 and northern tribes of Australia. In doing so, for the sake cardinal 
 of brevity and clearness, I shall confine myself to the terms of 
 cardinal terms without attempting to follow out the elaborate j^jp '^",'ije 
 system into all its ramifications. The cardinal terms, on ciassi- 
 
 fic3.torv 
 
 which the whole system hinges, are those which include, system. 
 without being equivalent to, our terms father, mother, 
 brother, sister, wife, husband, son, daughter. It will be 
 enough, therefore, for our purpose to give examples of these 
 classificatory terms in the vocabularies of the central and 
 northern tribes. 
 
 Thus in the Urabunna tribe ^ a man applies the same Urabunna 
 term nia to his father and to all his father's brothers, ^^1^^°^ 
 whether they are blood or tribal brothers — that is, whether 
 they are brothers of his father in our sense of the term or 
 merely men who belong to the same marriage group as his 
 father. Hence it follows that every man gives the name of 
 father not to one but to many men, any one of whom might, 
 in accordance with the marriage laws of the tribe, have been 
 his father. 
 
 Again, in the Urabunna tribe a man applies the same Urabunna 
 term luka to his mother and to his mother's elder sisters, 'j^o'J]jg°'^ 
 whether they are blood or tribal sisters — that is, whether they 
 are sisters of his mother in our sense of the term, or merely 
 women who belong to the same marriage group as his 
 mother. Hence it follows that every man gives the name 
 of mother not to one but to many women, any one of whom 
 might, in accordance with the marriage laws of the tribe, 
 have been his mother. But it is to be observed that while 
 the name for mother {luka) includes also the elder sisters, 
 whether blood or tribal, of the mother, it does not include 
 her younger sisters, for whom there is a quite different 
 name, viz. namuma? This difference of nomenclature 
 suffices to prove that to the Urabunna mind the elder sisters 
 of a mother stand to a man in a totally different relation 
 from his mother's younger sisters, since the names which 
 denote them are absolutely distinct. The distinction 
 suggests that while any of the elder sisters (whether blood 
 
 ' For the Urabunna terms of relationship, see Native Tribes, pp. 66 sqq. 
 2 Native Tribes, p. 66. 
 
296 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 or tribal) of his mother might have been his real mother, 
 , none of her younger sisters (whether blood or tribal) could 
 have been so ; in other words, that among the women of 
 the group into which a man may marry, only those on 
 the senior side are eligible to him, while those on the 
 junior side are forbidden. This agrees with the Urabunna 
 rule that a man may marry only the daughters of his 
 mother's elder brothers or (what comes to the same thing) 
 of his father's elder sisters, not the daughters of his mother's 
 younger brothers or of his father's younger sisters.^ In both 
 cases we see that preference for seniority in a wife which, as 
 has been suggested,^ may be based on an old rule that a 
 man might only marry those women who had been initiated 
 before him. 
 Urabunna Again, an Urabunna man applies the same term nuthie 
 
 eite ™ to his own elder brothers and to the sons of his father's 
 brother elder brothers, whether blood or tribal, and the same term 
 kakiia to his own elder sisters and to the daughters of his 
 father's elder brothers, whether blood or tribal.^ Thus he 
 applies the terms " elder brother " and " elder sister " to 
 many men and women whom we should regard either as 
 cousins or in many cases as no relations at all. The reason 
 for this extension of the terms " brother " and " sister " is 
 found in the Urabunna marriage rule which includes all 
 these persons in the group from which a man may not take 
 a wife ; to him, therefore, all these men and women are 
 brothers and sisters. But again, in relation to brothers and 
 sisters, just as in relation to paternal aunts, the distinction 
 of senior and junior is so important that totally different 
 names are assigned to the two ; for whereas elder brothers 
 and elder sisters, whether blood or tribal, are' called nuthie 
 Urabunna and kukua respectively, younger brothers and younger 
 younger sisters are called kupuka, and this name {kupukd) includes 
 brother not only what we should call younger brothers and sisters, 
 but also the sons and daughters of the father's younger 
 brothers, whether blood or tribal. Thus a man gives the 
 names of " younger brother " and " younger sister " to many 
 men and women whom we should regard either as cousins 
 
 ' See above, pp. 177 sq. 2 Above, pp. 179 sq. 
 
 3 Native Tribes, p. 66. 
 
I THE CLA SSIFICA TOR Y S YSTEM 297 
 
 or in many cases as no relations at all.^ The reason for 
 this sharp distinction between elder and younger brothers 
 and sisters may be, as Dr. Rivers has suggested,^ that the 
 relation in which a man stands to those who have been 
 initiated before him differs entirely from that in which he 
 stands to those who have been initiated after him. 
 
 Again, an Urabunna man applies the same term nupa Urabunna 
 to his wife and to all the daughters of his father's elder ^,™ 
 sisters and of his mother's elder brothers,^ where, as usual, 
 the terms brother and sister are employed in the classificatory 
 sense to include both blood and tribal brotherhood and 
 sisterhood. Thus a man gives the name of " wife " to many 
 women who are not his wives. The reason for this wide 
 extension of the term is to be found in the Urabunna 
 marriage rule which assigns all these women to the par- 
 ticular group from which alone a man may take a wife. 
 
 Lastly, an Urabunna man applies the same term biaka Urabunna 
 to his own children and to the children of his brothers, [.^'iyren. 
 whether blood or tribal.^ Thus he gives the name " my 
 children " to many children who are either his nephews and 
 nieces or in many cases no relations to him at all. The 
 reason for this wide extension of the term is supplied by the 
 Urabunna marriage rule which assigns all brothers to one 
 marriage group and all their wives to another, and treats all 
 the children born of such marriages as if they were one 
 family, the progeny of all the parents in common, without 
 discriminating between the offspring of individual pairs. In 
 short, this classificatory term, like all the preceding, is based 
 on a theory of group. marriage. 
 
 When we pass from the Urabunna to the Arunta tribe ciassifica- 
 we find that,' though the particular terms of relationship o°f7eia[bn- 
 differ, the classificatory principle on which they are based shipamong 
 is the same. Thus, in the generation above his own, an 
 Arunta man applies the same term oknia to his father 
 and to his father's brothers, whether blood or tribal ; and 
 he applies the same term inia to his mother and to his 
 mother's sisters, whether blood or tribal. In his own 
 generation he applies the same term okilia to his elder 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 66. ' Native Tribes, pp. 64, 66. 
 
 ' See above, pp. 179 sq. * Ibid. p. 66. 
 
298 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's elder brothers, 
 whether blood or tribal ; the same term itia or witia to 
 his younger brothers and to the sons of his father's younger 
 brothers, whether blood or tribal ; the same term ungaraitcha 
 to his elder sisters and to the daughters of his father's 
 elder brothers, whether blood or tribal ; the same term 
 itia or quitia to his younger sisters and to the daughters 
 of his father's younger brothers, whether blood or tribal ; 
 and the same term unawa to his wife and to the wives 
 of his brothers, whether blood or tribal. In the genera- 
 tion below his own he applies the same term allira to his 
 children and to the children of his brothers, whether blood or 
 tribal. But while he applies the same name {allira) to his 
 own children and to the children of his brothers, he applies 
 a quite different name {umbo) to the children of his sisters, 
 whether blood or tribal.^ The reason for this marked dis- 
 crimination which a man makes between the children of his 
 brothers and the children of his sisters, all of whom we con-- 
 found under the common name of nephews and nieces, is as 
 usual to be found in the marriage rules of the tribe ; for 
 whereas the children of a man's brothers are the offspring 
 of women whom he might have married, the children of his 
 sisters are the offspring of women whom he is absolutely for- 
 bidden to marry. Hence the two sets of children are placed 
 in entirely different categories and distinguished by entirely 
 different names. Lastly, an Arunta woman applies the 
 same term unawa to her own husband and to the husbands 
 of her sisters, whether blood or tribal,^ the reason being that 
 her sisters' husbands all belong to the group from which 
 alone she may receive a husband. 
 Ciassifica- With differences of vocabulary and slight variations of 
 
 ofTeia-"" detail the classificatory terms of relationship are in use 
 tionship among all the other central and northern tribes of Australia. 
 Luritdia." Thus in the Luritcha tribe, to the west of the Arunta, in 
 the generation above his own a man applies the same term 
 %artu to his father and to his father's brothers, blood and 
 tribal ; and he applies the same term yaku to his mother 
 and to his mother's sisters, blood and tribal. In his own 
 generation he applies the same term kurta to his elder 
 
 1 Native Tribes, p. 76. 2 j^i^l. p. 77. 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 299 
 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's elder brothers, blood 
 and tribal ; the same term mirlunguna to his younger 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's younger brothers, 
 blood and tribal ; the same term kangaru to his elder sisters 
 and to the daughters of his father's elder brothers ; and 
 the same term kuri to his wife and to his wife's sisters, 
 blood and tribal. In the generation below his own he 
 applies the same term katha to his sons and to his brothers' 
 sons, blood and tribal ; and he applies the same term urntali 
 to his daughters and to his brothers' daughters, blood and 
 tribal. But while a man applies the same term {katha) to 
 his own sons and to his brothers' sons, he applies quite a 
 different term (ukari) to his sisters' sons. The reason for 
 the difference has already been given : his brothers' children 
 are the offspring of women whom he himself might have 
 married, but his sisters' children are the offspring of women 
 whom he is absolutely forbidden to marry ; hence the two 
 sets of children are placed in entirely different categories 
 and distinguished by entirely different names. A wife applies 
 the same term kuri to her own husband and to her husband's 
 brothers,^ the reason being that her husband's brothers all 
 belong to the group from which alone she may receive a 
 husband. 
 
 In the Kaitish tribe, which lies further north than the ciassifica- 
 Arunta, in the generation above his own a man applies the o7reia™^ 
 same term akaurli to his father and to his father's brothers, tionship 
 blood and tribal ; '^ and he applies the same term arungwa to k^u'is^. 
 ijis mother and to his mother's sisters, blood and tribal. In 
 his own generation he applies the same term alkiriia to his 
 elder brothers and to the sons of his father's elder brothers ; 
 the same term achirri to his younger brothers and to the 
 sons of his father's younger brothers ; and the same term 
 arari to his elder sisters and to the daughters of his father's 
 elder brothers. In the generation below his own he applies 
 the same term atumpirri to his own sons and daughters and 
 to his brothers' sons and daughters. A wife applies the same 
 
 ' Native Tribes, pp. 77 sq. aurli maianinga. Thus a father is 
 
 discriminated from his brothers. 
 
 ' But he distinguishes his father's Similar discriminations are made by 
 elder brothers as aiaurli aniaura, and other tribes further to the north. See 
 bis lather's younger brothers as ak- below, pp. 302, 303. 
 
300 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 Classifica- 
 tory terms 
 of rela- 
 tionship 
 among the 
 Warra- 
 munga. 
 
 Classifica- 
 tory terms 
 of rela- 
 tionship 
 among the 
 Worgaia. 
 
 term umbirniia to her husband and to her husband's brothers, 
 blood and tribal.^ 
 
 In the Warramunga tribe, immediately to the north of 
 the Kaitish, in the generation above his own a man applies 
 the same term gambatja to his father and to his father's 
 brothers, blood and tribal ; and he applies the same term 
 kurnandi to his mother and to his mother's sisters, blood 
 and tribal. In his own generation he applies the same term 
 papati to his elder brothers and to the sons of his father's 
 elder brothers ; the same term kukaitja to his younger 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's younger brothers ; 
 the same term kabalu to his elder sisters and to the daughters 
 of his father's elder brothers ; and the same term katununga 
 to his wife and to his wife's sisters. In the generation below 
 his own he applies the same term katakitji to his children 
 and to the children of his brothers. But while he applies 
 the same term {katakitji) to his own children and to his 
 brothers' children, he applies quite a different term {kulu-kulu) 
 to his sisters' children. The reason for the difference has 
 already been given. A wife applies the same term kulla-kulla 
 to her husband and to her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 In the Worgaia tribe, to the east of the Warramunga, in 
 the generation above his own a man applies the same term 
 wakathua to his father and to his father's brothers. In 
 his own generation he applies the same term lalu to his 
 elder brothers and to the sons of his father's elder brothers ; 
 the same term uranathu to his younger brothers and to the 
 sons of his father's younger brothers ; the same term lilikia 
 to his elder sisters and to the daughters of his father's elder 
 brothers ; the same term uranii to his younger sisters and 
 to the daughters of his father's younger brothers ; and the 
 same term munkara to his wife and to his wife's sisters. In 
 
 1 Native Tribes, p. 79. The same 
 term umbirniia is applied by a hus- 
 band to his wife, and on analogy we 
 should expect to find it applied by him 
 also to his wife's sisters, but this is not 
 mentioned by Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen. They say that umbirniia 
 expresses the relationships of "hus- 
 band, wife, husband's brothers, blood 
 and tribal, sister's husband, wife's 
 
 brothers, blood and tribal." Here 
 perhaps " wife's brothers " is a mistake 
 for " wife's sisters." 
 
 ^ Northern Tribes, pp. 78 sq. j 
 Native Tribes, p. 80. The lists in 
 these two passages differ slightly. I 
 follow the list in Northern Tribes as 
 the later and presumably the more 
 correct. 
 
1 THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 301 
 
 the generation below his own he applies the same term 
 ninenta to his own sons and to his brothers' sons ; and the 
 same term ninianu to his own daughters and to his brothers' 
 daughters. But while he applies the same terms {ninenta 
 and ninianu) to his own sons and daughters and to the sons 
 and daughters of his brothers, he applies as usual a different 
 term {nitharu) to the children of his sisters. A wife applies 
 the same term illinathu to her husband and to her husband's 
 brothers.^ 
 
 In the Umbaia tribe, to the north-east of the Warra- ciassifica- 
 munga, in the generation above his own a man applies the o'fTeia™* 
 same term ita to his father and to his father's brothers ; tionship 
 and he applies the same term kutjina to his mother and to un^baia. '^ 
 his mother's sisters. In his own generation he applies the 
 same term pappa to his elder brothers and to the sons of his 
 father's elder brothers ; the same term kakula to his younger 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's younger brothers ; 
 and the same term karinnia to his wife and to his wife's 
 sisters. In the generation below his own he applies the 
 same term tjatjilla to his own children and to the children 
 of his brothers. But while he applies the same term 
 (^tjatjilla) to his own children and to his brothers' children, 
 he applies as usual quite a different term {kula) to his sisters' 
 children. A wife applies the same term kari to her husband 
 and to her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 In the Tjingilli tribe, to the north of the Warramunga, ciassifica- 
 a man applies the same name kita to his father and o7re'a-'"* 
 to his father's brothers ; the same term thinkatini to his tionship 
 mother and to his mother's sisters ; the same term kalini to xjingmi"'^ 
 his wife and to his wife's sisters ; the same term pappa to his 
 own children and to his brothers' children ; the same term 
 thaminji to his own daughters and to his brothers' daughters. 
 A wife applies the same term nambia to her husband and 
 to her husband's brothers.' 
 
 In the Gnanji tribe still further to the north, in the ciassifica- 
 generation above his own a man applies the same term o°?eia-™* 
 itipati to his father and to his father's brothers ; and he tionship 
 applies the same term kutjina to his mother and to his cHanf . ' ^ 
 
 ' Northtm Tribes, pp. 80 sq. ^ Ibid. pp. 81 sq. . 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 83 sq. 
 
302 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 mother's sisters. In his own generation he applies the same 
 term pappaii to his elder brothers and to the sons of his 
 father's elder brothers ; the same term kakula to his younger 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's younger brothers ; 
 the same term pappana to his elder sisters and to the 
 daughters of his father's elder brothers ; the same term 
 kakallina to his younger sisters and to the daughters of 
 his father's younger brothers ; the same term karina to his 
 wife and to his wife's sisters. A wife applies the same term 
 kari to her husband and to her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 In the Binbinga tribe, still further north, near the coast 
 of the Gulf of Carpentaria, a man calls his father kuni, his 
 father's elder brother kuni puninjilla, and his father's younger 
 
 Bkiwfgl.^ brother kuni niopai. Here, accordingly, we see that a dis- 
 tinction is drawn between the father and his brothers. But 
 in the same tribe a man applies the same term kutjina to 
 his mother and to his mother's sisters ; the same term pappa 
 to his elder brothers and to the sons of his father's elder 
 brothers ; the same term pappaia to his younger brothers and 
 to the sons of his father's younger brothers ; the same term 
 kakarinnia to his elder sisters and to the daughters of his 
 father's elder brothers ; the same term tjuluna to his younger 
 sisters and to the daughters of his father's younger brothers ; 
 and the same term karina to his wife and to his wife's 
 sisters. A wife applies the same term kaii-kaii to her 
 husband and to her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 In the Mara tribe, on the coast of the Gulf of Carpen- 
 taria, in the generation above his own a man applies the 
 same term naluru to his father and to his father's brothers ; 
 
 ^ra. ^ ^nd he applies the same term katjirri to his mother and 
 to his mother's sisters. In his own generation he applies 
 the same term guauaii to his elder brothers and to the 
 sons of his father's elder brothers ; the same term niritja 
 to his younger brothers and to the sons of his father's 
 younger ^ brothers ; the same term gnarali to his elder sisters 
 and to the daughters of his father's elder brothers ; the 
 
 1 Northern Tiibes, pp. %/^ sq. "father's elder brother's son" 
 
 2 Ibid. pp. 8? sq. (Northern Tribes, p. 87). But here 
 
 "elder" is obviously a mistake for 
 5 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen say ' ' younger. " 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 303 
 
 same term gnanirritja to his younger sisters and to the 
 daughters of his father's younger brothers ; and the same 
 term irrimakula to his wife and to his wife's sisters. In 
 the generation below his own he applies the same term 
 nitjari to his sons and to his brothers' sons ; and the same 
 term gnaiiati to his daughters and to his brothers' daughters. 
 A wife applies the same term irrimakula to her husband 
 and to her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 Lastly, in the Anula tribe on the Gulf of Carpentaria a ciassifica- 
 man calls his father winiati, but his father's elder brother o7reia™° 
 winiati tjanama, and his father's younger brother winiati Honship 
 tjanamaama. Here again, therefore, as among the Binbinga, ^nuia^ 
 the father is discriminated from his brothers. But in this 
 tribe a man applies the same term parata to his mother and 
 to his mother's sisters ; the same term tjapapa to his elder 
 brothers and to the sons of his father's elder brothers ; the 
 same term winaka to his younger brothers and to the sons 
 of his father's younger brothers ; the same term natjapapa 
 to his elder sisters and to the daughters of his father's elder 
 sisters ; the same term arunguta to his wife and to his wife's 
 sisters ; and the same term katja-katja to his own children 
 and to his brothers' children. But while he applies the same 
 term {katja-katja) to his own children and to his brothers' 
 children, he applies as usual quite a different term {kurna- 
 atinia) to his sisters' children. A wife applies the same term 
 arunguta to her husband and to her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 This survey of the cardinal terms of relationship in the The ciassi- 
 central and northern tribes of Australia suffices to prove f^^^^"^^. 
 their classificatory nature. They are terms which designate pressgroup 
 relationships between groups, not between individuals. Each shipsTnd 
 individual is classed as the son or daughter of many fathers and originated 
 of many mothers : he or she classes as brothers and sisters mafl-iage. 
 many men and women who on our system are no relations 
 at all to him or her : every man classes many women as his 
 wives besides the one to whom he is actually married : every 
 woman classes many men as her husbands besides the one to 
 whom she is actually married : every man and every woman 
 class as their children many boys and girls whom they 
 neither begat nor bare. Thus the whole population is 
 
 ' Northern Tribes, pp. 87 sq. 2 /j,a; pp. gg jy_ 
 
304 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 distributed into groups, and the system of kinship consists 
 of the relations of these groups to each other. The only 
 reasonable and probable explanation of such a system of 
 group relationships is that it originated in a system of group 
 marriage, that is, in a state of society in which groups of 
 men exercised marital rights over groups of women, and the 
 limitation of one wife to one husband was unknown. Such 
 a system of group marriage would explain very simply why 
 every man gives the name of wife to a whole group of women, 
 and every woman gives the name of husband to a whole 
 group of men, with only one or even with none of whom he 
 or she need have marital relations ; why every man and 
 every woman apply the names of father and mother to whole 
 groups of men and women of whom it is physically im- 
 possible that more than two individuals can be their parents; 
 why every man and every woman apply the names of brother 
 and sister to whole groups of men and women with whom 
 they need not have a drop of blood in common ; and why, 
 finally, every man and every woman claim as their sons and 
 daughters whole groups of men and women whom they neither 
 begat nor bare. In short, group marriage explains group 
 relationship, and it is hard to see what else can do so. 
 The diffi- Apart from the reluctance which some people feel to 
 
 under- *^ admit that a large part or the whole of mankind has passed 
 standing through a Stage of social evolution in which individual 
 thTciTssr niarriage was unknown, the only serious obstacle to the 
 ficatory acceptance of this simple and adequate explanation of the 
 
 SVStGTTl 
 
 every man classificatory System is the difficulty of understanding how a 
 has many person should ever come to be treated as the child of many 
 
 "mothers , ._. •' 
 
 springs mothers. This difficulty only exists so long as we confuse 
 fustag^ur °'^'^ "^oxA " mother " with the corresponding but by no means 
 word equivalent terms in the languages of savages who have the 
 wi[h°he' classificatory system. We mean by " mother " a woman who 
 corre- has given birth to a child ; the Australian savages mean by 
 but"no"^ " another " a woman who stands in a certain social relation 
 equivalent to a group of men and women, whether she has given birth 
 th™cia"ssi- to any one of them or not. She is " mother " to that group 
 ficatory even when she is an infant in arms. A grown man has 
 short it is been seen playing with a small girl whom he called quite 
 a^ver'lr" ^^^ously and, according to his system of relationship, quite 
 
 fallacy. 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 30S 
 
 rightly his " mother." ^ But he was not such a fool as to 
 imagine that the child had given birth to him. He was 
 merely using the term " mother " in the Australian, not 
 the English, sense ; and if we will only clear our minds 
 of the confusion created by the common verbal fallacy of 
 employing the same word in two different senses, the 
 imaginary difficulty about one man and many mothers will 
 cease to block the straight road to the understanding of the 
 classificatory system of relationship. It is not even necessary 
 to suppose that, as Dr. Rivers has suggested,^ the blood tie 
 between a mother and her offspring may, under a system of 
 group marriage, have been forgotten in later life, so that 
 adults would be as uncertain about their mothers as they 
 were about their fathers. The true relation between mother 
 and child may always have been remembered, but it was an 
 accident which did not in any way affect the mother's place 
 in the classificatory system ; for she was classed with a 
 group of " mothers " just as much before as after her child 
 was born. Similarly a man is classed with a group of 
 " fathers " when he is a toddling infant just as much as when 
 he has begotten a large family. The classificatory system is 
 based on the marital, not on the parental, relation. It is 
 founded on the division of the community into two inter- 
 marrying groups. From that simple and primary grouping 
 all the other groups and all the group relationships of the 
 system appear to be derived. 
 
 The view that the group relationships of the classificatory The view 
 system originated in group marriage, primarily in the bisec- '^u '^rela- 
 tion of a community into two exogamous halves, is shared tionshipsof 
 by some of the best authorities on the Australian aborigines. "'" ''''^''' 
 
 ficatory 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 58. The natives bore him.'" See P. A. Kleintitschen, 
 of the Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain Die Kustenbewohner der Gazellehalb- 
 haye the classificatory system of relation- insel (Hiltrup bei MUnster, preface 
 •hip; hence among them "a child dated Christmas 1906), p. 190. Even 
 gives the name of mother not only to this claim of triple maternity must be 
 her who bore him, but also to all his interpreted according to the classifica- 
 malernal aunts. A European not tory ideas of motherhood, 
 familiar with these relationships is sur- 
 prised when he hears a native boasting " W. H. R. Rivers, " On the Origin 
 of having three mothers. His con- of the Classificatory System of Relation- 
 fusion is increased when the three ships," in Anthropological Essays pre- 
 »"eged mothers stoutly assert : sented to Edward Burnett Tylor 
 ' Amital fa iai'a ia, All three of us (Oxford, 1907), pp. 317 sq. 
 
 VOL. 1 X 
 
3o6 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 systems are Thus Mr. Lorimcr Fison says: "It must, I think, be 
 founded allowed that the classificatory terms point to group-marriage 
 mafdage is as Well as to group-relationship, to a time when the veinda- 
 shared by ^gi^^i proups were, so to speak, married to one another." ^ 
 
 some of & I- . , . . ,,.... 
 
 the best Again, Dr. Howitt observes that "it is upon the division 
 on'the'"^' of the whole community into two exogamous inter- 
 Austraiian marrying classes that the whole social structure is built up ; 
 aborigmes. ^^^ ^^ various relationships which are brought about by 
 those marriages are defined and described by the classifica- 
 tory system." ^ " This fundamental law of communal division 
 underlies and runs through all the more developed systems 
 of four or eight subclasses, and even shows traces of its 
 former existence in tribes in which the class system has 
 become decadent, and the local organisation has taken place 
 and assumed control of marriage. The division of the tribal 
 community into two classes is the foundation on which the 
 whole structure of society is built." ^ And to the same effect 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen write that "the fundamental 
 feature in the organisation of the Central Australian, as in 
 that of other Australian tribes, is the division of the tribe 
 into two exogamous intermarrying groups. These two 
 divisions may become further broken up, but even when 
 more than two are now present we can still recognise their 
 former existence. In consequence of, and intimately asso- 
 ciated with, this division of the tribe, there has been developed 
 a series of terms of relationship indicating the relative status 
 of the various members of the tribe, and, of necessity, as the 
 division becomes more complex so do the terms of relation- 
 ship." * " The conclusion to which we have come is that we 
 do not see how the facts . . . can receive any satisfactory 
 explanation except on the theory of the former existence of 
 group marriage, and further, that this has of necessity given 
 
 1 Lorimer Fison, "The Classifica- persons who on the Fijian system should 
 
 tory System of Relationship," yii«)-«a/ marry each other; other first cousins, 
 
 of the Anthropological Institute, xxiv. namely the children of two brothers or 
 
 (1895) P- 368. The veindavolani of two sisters, are not marriageable 
 
 groups are the persons who in the with each other. See L. Fison, op. cit. 
 
 Fijian system of relationship are mar- pp. 360 sq. 
 
 riageable with each other. They con- 2 ^ -^ Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 sist of such first cousins as are the Soutk-East Atistralia, f. 157. 
 children of a brother and of a sister ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 174. 
 
 respectively. These are the only « Native Tribes, p. 55. 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM l<yj 
 
 rise to the terms of relationship used by the Australian 
 natives." ^ And after completing their second great explora- 
 tion they wrote : " We are, after a further study of these 
 tribes, more than ever convinced that amongst them group 
 marriage preceded the modified form of individual marriage 
 which is now the rule amongst the majority, though in all 
 of the latter we find customs which can only be satisfactorily 
 explained on the supposition that they are surviving relics of 
 a time when group marriage was universally in vogue 
 amongst all of the tribes." ^ 
 
 A similar conclusion is reached by Dr. Rivers, who has Dr. Rivers 
 investigated the classificatory system in many different com- Xsiifica- 
 munities, none of them Australian. He says : " The classi- tory system 
 ficatory system in one form or another is spread so widely marriage.'' 
 over the world as to make it probable that it has had its 
 origin in some universal, or almost universal, stage of social 
 development, and I have attempted to indicate that the kind 
 of society which most readily accounts for its chief features 
 is one characterized by a form of marriage in which definite 
 groups of men are the husbands of definite groups of 
 women." ' Further, Dr. Rivers is probably right in holding The ciassi- 
 that " the classificatory system was in its origin expressive f'=*'°''y 
 
 . , - or terms pro- 
 
 entirely of status. The terms would stand for certain rela- babiy at 
 tions within the group to which only the vaguest ideas of 3"^^^,^^ 
 consanguinity need have been attached."* If this view of status only, 
 the classificatory terms of relationship as originally expres- "angdnity. 
 sive of status rather than of kinship be borne in mind, it is 
 obvious that the imaginary difficulties about the multiplica- 
 tion of fathers and mothers for each individual fall away of 
 themselves. As I have already pointed out,^ the Australian 
 terms which answer to our " father " and " mother " do not 
 necessarily imply either paternity or maternity in our sense 
 of the terms. 
 
 But although it is probable that in their origin the But though 
 classificatory terms of relationship denoted status merely 'he ciassi- 
 and not ties of blood, and although in Australia, for example, teTtnTmay 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 59. presented to Edward Burnett Tylor 
 
 • Northern Tribes, p. 95. (Oxford, 1907), p. 323. 
 
 ' W. H. R. Rivers, " On the Origin < W. H. R. Rivers, op. cit. pp. 
 
 of Ihe Classificatory System of Rela- 321 sq. 
 tionihip," in Anthropological Essays ' Above, pp. 286 sq., 304 sq. 
 
3o8 
 
 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 have 
 
 originally 
 expressed 
 onlystatus, 
 they are at 
 present 
 certainly 
 used to 
 express 
 also con- 
 sanguinity 
 and 
 affinity. 
 
 In 
 
 Australia 
 a form of 
 group 
 marriage 
 persists to 
 this day 
 among 
 some of 
 the central 
 tribes, 
 notably the 
 Urabunna 
 and Dieri. 
 
 at the present day small children may still be spoken of as 
 " fathers " and " mothers " in this sense, it is certain that the 
 classificatory terms are now also used to express ideas of 
 consanguinity and affinity by those who employ them ; 
 indeed the people have no other words to convey these 
 ideas. And as time goes on the tendency would seem to 
 be to use these terms more and more to denote consan- 
 guinity or affinity and less and less to denote status. At 
 least such a tendency has been remarked by Dr. Rivers in 
 three separate communities which possess the classificatory 
 system. He says : " There is not the slightest doubt that 
 at the present time the system is an expression of consan- 
 guinity and affinity to those who use it. I have now 
 investigated the classificatory system in three communities,^ 
 and in all three it is perfectly clear that distinct ideas of 
 consanguinity and affinity are associated with the terms. 
 The correct use of the terms was over and over again 
 justified by reference to actual blood or marriage ties trace- 
 able in the genealogical records preserved by the people, 
 though in other cases in which the terms were used they 
 denoted merely membership of the same social group and 
 could not be justified by distinct ties of blood or marriage 
 relationship. There is in these three peoples definite evidence 
 of the double nature of the classificatory system as an expres- 
 sion of status and of consanguinity, and there are definite 
 indications of a mode of evolution of the systems by which 
 they are coming to express status less and ties of consan- 
 guinity and affinity more." ^ 
 
 In Australia we are not left merely to infer the former 
 prevalence of group marriage from the group relationships 
 of the classificatory system, for a form of group marriage 
 persists to the present time in certain of the central tribes, 
 particularly in the Urabunna and in the Dieri, whose social 
 organisation, as we shall see later on, closely resembles that 
 of the Urabunna. In the Urabunna tribe, as in all the 
 tribes with which we are dealing, certain groups of men and 
 
 1 "Mabuiagand Murray Islands in of the Classificatory System of Rela- 
 Torres Straits, and the Todas in India." tionships," in Anthropological Essays 
 Dr. Rivers has since studied the system presented to Edward Burnett Tylor 
 in other communities. (Oxford, 1007), p ^22. 
 
 2 W. H. R. Rivers, " On the Origin "• f J 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM 309 
 
 women are by birth nupa or marriageable to each other. 
 On this subject Messrs. Spencer and Gillen write as follows : 
 " Every man has one or more of these nupa women who are 
 especially attached to him and live with him in his own 
 camp, but there is no such thing as one man having the 
 exclusive right to one woman ; the elder brothers or nuthi 
 of the woman, who decide the matter, will give one man a 
 preferential right, but at the same time they will give other 
 men of the same group to which he belongs — that is, men 
 who stand in the same relationship to the woman as he does 
 — a secondary right, and such nupa women to whom a man 
 has the legal right of access are spoken of as his piraungaru. 
 A woman may be piraungaru to a number of men and, as 
 a general rule, men and women who are piraungaru to one 
 another are to be found living together in groups. As we Group 
 have said before, ' individual marriage does not exist either ^™g^the 
 in name or in practice amongst the Urabunna tribe.' In Urabunna. 
 this tribe we have : 
 
 " (i) A group of men all of whom belong to one moiety 
 of the tribe and are regarded as the nupas, or possible 
 husbands, of a group of women who belong to the other 
 moiety of the tribe. 
 
 "(2) One or more women specially allotted to one 
 particular man, each standing in the relationship of nupa 
 to the other, but no man having exclusive right to any one 
 woman — only a preferential right. 
 
 "(3) A group of men who stand in the relationship of 
 piraungaru to a group of women, selected from amongst 
 those to whom they are nupa. In other words, a group of 
 women of one designation have, normally and actually, 
 marital relations with a group of men of another designa- 
 tion," ' or, as the same writers elsewhere put it, " a group of 
 women of a certain designation are actually the wives of a 
 group of men of another designation." ^ 
 
 And since in this tribe groups of women are thus common The 
 to groups of men, it naturally follows that the children born f,''"'^"" 
 
 f 1 , * born 01 
 
 01 sucn unions are also common to the groups. All the such group 
 children born of women whom a man might marry, whether ^^.u!" 
 
 ' Northtm Tribes, pp. 72 sq. Compare Native Tribes, pp. 61-64. common to 
 
 ^ NcdiveTribii,^.(>^. ^^ ^ the groups. 
 
3IO TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 he has marital relations with them or not, call him " father " 
 
 inia) and he calls them " children " {biakd). Whilst naturally 
 
 there is a closer tie between a man and the children of the 
 
 women who habitually live in camp with him, still there is 
 
 no name to distinguish between the children of his own 
 
 wives and those of women whom he might marry but with 
 
 whom he has no sexual relations. All children of the men 
 
 who are at the same level in the generation and belong to 
 
 the same class and totem are regarded as the common 
 
 children of these men, and similarly the men are regarded 
 
 collectively by the children as their fathers.^ 
 
 The group With respcct to this existing custom of group marriage 
 
 of^thr^*^ among the Urabunna it is observed by Messrs. Spencer and 
 
 Urabunna Gillcn that " there is no evidence of any kind to show that the 
 
 is not an practice in the Dieri and Urabunna tribes is an abnormal 
 
 abnormal development. The organisation of these tribes, amongst 
 
 ment. whom the two exogamous intermarrying groups still persist 
 
 — groups which in other tribes of the central area have been 
 
 split into four or eight — indicates their retention of ancient 
 
 customs which have become modified in tribes such as the 
 
 Arunta and Warramunga, though amongst them we find 
 
 traces of customs pointing back to conditions such as still 
 
 persist amongst the Urabunna. If they were abnormal 
 
 developments, then there could not possibly be found the 
 
 remarkable but very instructive gradation from the system of 
 
 individual marriage as developed amongst many Australian 
 
 tribes and the undoubted exercise of group marital relations 
 
 which is found in the Dieri and the Urabunna. 
 
 " In regard to marital relations it may be said that the 
 Central Australian native has certain women, members of a 
 particular group, with whom it is lawful for him and for 
 other men also to have such relations. In the tribes with 
 the simplest and undoubtedly the most primitive organisa- 
 tion these women are many in number. They all belong to 
 a certain group, and, in the Urabunna tribe, for example, 
 a group of men actually does have, continually and as a 
 normal condition, marital relations with a group of women. 
 This state of affairs has nothing \vhatever to do with poly- 
 gamy any more than it has with polyandry. It is simply a 
 
 ^ Native Tribes, pp. 63 sq. 
 
J THE CLASSIFJCATORY SYSTEM 3" 
 
 question of a group of men and a group of women who may 
 lawfully have what we call marital relations. There is Group 
 nothing whatever abnormal about it, and in all probability "^"^rob- 
 this system of what has been called group marriage, serving ably done 
 as it does to bind more or less closely together groups of^o^ote 
 individuals who are mutually interested in one another's progress. 
 welfare, has been one of the most powerful agents in the 
 early stages of the upward development of the human 
 race.'" 
 
 Even those central and northern tribes of Australia Even in 
 which no longer practise this form of group marriage observe ^j^s^'"'° 
 certain customs which seem to be relics or survivals of which no 
 group marriage, or rather of a sexual communism which praftL a 
 must have far transgressed the limits now imposed on the fo™ of 
 intercourse of the sexes by the existing exogamous divisions, marriage 
 the classes and subclasses. For among all these tribes at '^^'^^ ^"^^ 
 
 , , , , . customs 
 
 marriage before a woman is handed over to one man to be which seem 
 his wife she is obliged to have intercourse not merely with '? ^ ^"J" 
 
 ° ^ vivals of 
 
 those men of her husband's group who might lawfully be group 
 her husbands, but also with men of other groups with ^^™g^fi 
 whom at other times she is strictly forbidden to cohabit, wider 
 In most of the tribes even a woman's tribal brothers have ^!!"fi"""" 
 
 munism. 
 
 access to her on this occasion, though at any other time 
 such a union with tribal brothers would be regarded as 
 incest and punished with death. The extraordinary rights 
 thus regularly accorded to men over every woman just 
 before her marriage cannot be explained as a mere orgy of 
 unbridled lust ; for they are not granted to every male 
 without distinction, but only to those who stand to the 
 woman in certain well-defined relationships ; and further, 
 the whole proceedings are strictly regulated by custom, for 
 the men have access to the woman in a prescribed order 
 according to the precise position which they occupy towards 
 her in the tribal system, so that the men who at other 
 times would be wholly tabooed to her come first and the 
 men who might lawfully be her husbands come last.^ 
 
 For example, in the Kaitish tribe men of the following 
 relationships have access to a woman just before her 
 
 ' Northtm Tribes, pp. 73 sq. note ', 107, no sq. ; Northern Tribes, 
 
 • Native Tribes, pp. 92, 96, 102 pp. 133, 136. 
 
312 TOTEMISM IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Communal marriage in the following order : Ipmunna, that is, men of 
 rights over ^j^^ ^^^^ moictv (class) of the tribe as her own ; mothers' 
 
 a woman j \ ^ ' 
 
 before her brothers' soHS ; tribal elder and younger brothers ; and 
 
 ^"ng^the lastly, men whom she might lawfully marry, but who have 
 
 Kaitish. no right to her when once she becomes the wife and the 
 
 property of a member of the group to which they belong. 
 
 If the woman happens to be, say, of the Panunga subclass, 
 
 then the men who have access to her on this occasion 
 
 belong to the four subclasses Ungalla, Uknaria, Purula, and 
 
 Panunga, but men of the other four subclasses Bulthara, 
 
 Appungerta, Kumara, and Umbitchana are excluded.^ Thus 
 
 two of the subclasses which are granted the privilege, namely, 
 
 Panunga and Uknaria, belong to the woman's own moiety or 
 
 class, from which at ordinary times she is strictly debarred 
 
 by the rule of exogamy. Yet even on this occasion liberty 
 
 does not degenerate into unregulated licence, since four out 
 
 of the eight subclasses are excluded from the privilege. 
 
 Similar In all the other central and northern tribes the customs 
 
 rightTarf ^* marriage are similar, though the men who are accorded 
 
 exercised the privilege vary from tribe to tribe. " But in all cases the 
 
 A^Tentrai Striking feature is that, for the time being, the existence of 
 
 and what can only be described as partial promiscuity can clearly 
 
 northern , t> ,i • i i . , . , 
 
 tribes. be seen. By this we do not mean that marital rights are 
 allowed to any man, but that for a time such rights are 
 allowed to individuals to whom at other times the woman is 
 ekirinja, or forbidden." ^ " In every tribe, without exception, 
 men have intercourse with her who belong to the same group 
 as her husband — that is, are lawfully her husbands, and in 
 various tribes others who stand to her in one or other of the 
 following relationships also have access : — father's sister's 
 sons, mother's brother's sons, mother's brother, mother's 
 mother's brother, elder and younger brothers, but not in 
 blood, father's father, husband's father. To all of these, 
 except on rare occasions, and to some of them always after- 
 wards, she is strictly tabooed. In fact intercourse with any 
 of them, except on such rare occasions, would be imme- 
 diately followed by punishment, and in the case of certain, 
 such as tribal brothers, by death." ^ 
 
 1 Native Tribes, p. 96. 2 Ibid. pp. 94 sq., 107. 
 
 ^ Northern Tribes, p. 136. 
 
I THE CLASSIFICATORY SYSTEM S'S 
 
 I fully agree with Messrs. Spencer and Gillen that these Such 
 customs are best explained " as lingering relics of a former ^^^^ 
 stage passed through in the development of the present appear 'o 
 social organisation of the various tribes in which they are a former 
 found." ^ " They indicate the temporary recognition of certain ='*'^ °^ 
 general rights which existed in the time prior to that of the munism. 
 form of group marriage of which we have such clear traces 
 yet lingering amongst the tribes. We do not mean that 
 they afford direct evidence of the former existence of actual 
 promiscuity, but they do afford evidence leading in that 
 direction, and they certainly point back to a time when 
 there existed wider marital relations than obtain at the 
 present day — wider, in fact, than those which are shown in 
 the form of group marriage from which the present system 
 is derived. On no other hypothesis yet advanced do the 
 customs connected with marriage, which are so consistent in 
 their general nature and leading features from tribe to tribe, 
 appear to us to be capable of satisfactory explanation." ^ 
 
 ' Native Tribes, p. 96. 2 Ibid. p. iii. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA 
 
 8 I . Physical Geography of South-Eastern A ustralia 
 in Relation to Aboriginal Society 
 
 While the We have Seen that the central and northern tribes of 
 northern"'^ Australia present, first, a practically continuous gradation 
 tribes of in their totemic system as we proceed northwards from the 
 are^homo- Centre to the sea, and, second, a nearly complete uniformity 
 geneous in in their social organisation, that is, in their exogamous rules, 
 organisa- over the whole of the same wide area. It is otherwise with 
 tion, the jjje tribes of South-Eastern Australia, which are, or rather 
 
 tribes of ... .... 
 
 South-East were, as heterogeneous m their totemic and social systems as 
 Australia ^jjg others are on the whole homogeneous. The contrast in 
 
 are very ° 
 
 heterogene- these rcspects between the two sets of tribes is probably to be 
 Ais'h^e'tero- explained in large measure by the different physical configura- 
 geneity is tion of the Countries which they occupy. The uniformity of 
 Tconse?^ the barren steppes and monotonous plains of Central and 
 quence of Northern Australia presents few obstacles to the intercourse 
 varied con- of the tribcs, for it is only at rare intervals that the scattered 
 figuration inhabitants of the wilds are parted from each other by a 
 
 of the , . . , . '' 
 
 country, line of rugged mountains, itself cleft by deep gorges which 
 serve as highways between one side and the other of these 
 desolate and stony ranges. The ease of communication 
 between the tribes has naturally facilitated the transmission 
 of customs and ideas from one to the other ; hence we can 
 understand the remarkable uniformity of some institutions 
 and the hardly less remarkable gradation of others over the 
 whole of the central and northern region. On the other 
 hand in South-Eastern Australia the dislocation of custom 
 
 314 
 
CHAP. II PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY S'S 
 
 between neighbouring tribes is often a natural consequence 
 of the physical barriers which divide them. For in this 
 part of the continent great rivers, broad lakes, thick 
 forests, and lofty mountains break up the face of nature, 
 and so render communication between the savages in 
 many contiguous districts at once arduous and infre- 
 quent. Thus cut off from others by difficult or im- 
 passable obstacles, each community has been left free to 
 develop its institutions in its own way, and we need not 
 wonder that as a result of such seclusion the lines of 
 development should have diverged somewhat widely from 
 each other. 
 
 But the greater natural diversity of South- Eastern The differ- 
 Australia, compared with the dreary monotony of Central cJi^teand 
 and Northern Australia, has fostered the divergence or of fertility 
 dislocation of custom in another way than by severing the "u^h ° 
 tribes from their neighbours. The differences of physical greater in 
 features and of geographical situation are inevitably attended Eastern 
 by differences of climate, and these again by differences in J?^" •'' 
 the supply of water, of game, of fish, of edible plants and Australia. 
 fruits, in short, of all the necessities and conveniences of 
 life. From the high Australian Alps of Eastern Victoria 
 and New South Wales, where in winter the tree-ferns lie 
 buried in snow for months together, where traffic at such 
 times is only possible on Norwegian snow shoes,^ and where, 
 as in the snowfields of Switzerland, the gentian breaks 
 the dazzling veil of white with its blue blossoms,^ the 
 traveller may pass by almost insensible gradations from one 
 extremity of climate and scenery to another. Through 
 dense forests, where the trees in the ravines are the most 
 gigantic yet seen on earth," he descends to valleys where 
 rivers tumble in graceful cascades or wind between lofty 
 cliffs and hanging woods, rank with creepers, ferns, and 
 vines. In some of these stately forests the flame-tree with 
 'ts great bunches of red flowers grows in such luxuriance as 
 to wrap the side of a mountain in a crimson pall that may 
 
 ' /• W. Gregory, Australasia, i. ' A. R. Wallace, op. cit. pp. 49 
 
 (London, 1907) p. 195 (in 5/o«/(»r</'j sq., 2.TI, sqg. Many of these trees are 
 
 ^'iptmlium ef Geography and Travtl). over 400 feet in height; one fallen 
 
 A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. giant has been found to measure 480 
 
 (London, 1893) p. 54. feet. 
 
3i6 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 be seen for miles out at sea.^ With its grand mountains, 
 beautiful waterfalls, numerous lakes, rich soil, luxuriant 
 vegetation, and agreeable climate Victoria is the most 
 favoured part of the continent and well deserves its old 
 name of Australia Felix.^ 
 The wim- Yet in its north-western portion, the Wimmera District 
 ™k:ro?'^ as it is called, the territory of Victoria merges into those 
 Victoria, boundlcss flats which characterise the interior of Australia. 
 Here for miles and miles the eye may range over level 
 plains, where the roads run in perfectly straight lines and 
 the paddock fences are arranged with the regularity of a 
 chess-board, where only a few gum-trees dotted here and 
 there along the creeks break the weary monotony of the 
 vast expanse which stretches away till it meets the sky-line 
 on the north or is bounded on the south by the blue peaks 
 The maiiee of Mount Korong faintly descried in the far distance.* It is 
 ^'^™ ■ here, too, that our imaginary traveller who has descended 
 from the snowy heights of the Australian Alps will first 
 meet with what is called the mallee scrub, which covers 
 great areas in the interior of Australia. This is a dense 
 shrubbery or thicket of a dwarf species of eucalyptus to 
 which the natives give the name of mallee. It resembles a 
 bushy willow or osier ; the stems grow to a height of 
 fourteen feet without a branch, and are set as thick in the 
 yellow sandy soil as reeds in a jungle, so that a road cut 
 through the scrub resembles a deep trench enclosed by high 
 banks. The aspect of country covered with such scrab is 
 very gloomy. From any eminence you can perceive nothing 
 on earth but a sea of sombre brown bushes stretching as far 
 as the eye can reach, above which a solitary tree rising at 
 rare intervals seems only to deepen the melancholy of the 
 scene, especially on a dull day when a grey clouded sky 
 broods over the mournful silence of the landscape. Even 
 sunshine hardly cheers the prospect, for if it lightens 
 a little the sad colouring of the endless shrubbery, it 
 at the same time extends the view of it further and 
 
 1 A. R. Wallace, op. cit. pp. 53, Victoria, see J. W. Gregory, Austral- 
 
 2IS> 269, 272. Compare J. W. asia, i. pp. 407 sqq. 
 Gregory, Australasia, i. 153. 3 a. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. 
 
 A. R. Wallace, op. cit. pp. 265, pp. 267 sq. ; J. W. Gregory, Atistral- 
 
 269 sq., 273. As to the lakes of asia, i. 394. 
 
„ PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY ii7 
 
 further, and so seems to render escape from it still more 
 hopeless.* 
 
 But the mallee scrub is by no means the worst that the The muiga 
 traveller has to encounter in these regions. More dreaded 
 still is the mulga scrub, consisting chiefly of dwarf acacias. 
 These grow together in irregular spreading bushes armed 
 with strong spines, and where they are matted and knit 
 together with other shrubs they form a dense mass of 
 vegetation through which nothing but the axe can cleave 
 a way. Fortunately the mulga scrub is far less common 
 than the mallee scrub, or the task of the explorer would be 
 even more laborious and distressing.^ But worst of all the 
 products of the Australian wilderness is the spinifex or 
 porcupine grass {Triodia irritans), which spreads over sandy 
 plains for hundreds of miles and probably covers a greater 
 extent of surface than any other plant in Australia. It is 
 a hard spiny grass growing in tussocks of sharp yellowish 
 spikes, which, radiating like knitting-needles from a huge pin- 
 cushion, bid defiance even to camels accustomed to munch 
 the thorny vegetation of the desert, while their cruel points so 
 lacerate the legs of horses and goad the beasts into such frenzy 
 that it is often necessary to destroy them. This pest haunts 
 the most arid sandy wastes where no water is to be found 
 either above or below ground. No wonder that it is the dread 
 of the Australian explorer. However, its range is happily 
 limited by about the twenty-eighth parallel of south latitude, 
 so that it only fringes the northern boundary of that part of 
 Australia with which we are at present concerned.' Indeed The 
 with it we reach the true desert country and the heart, the ^^""'f , 
 
 J , , - deserts oi 
 
 aead heart, of the contment. Here the characteristic feature Australia. 
 of the landscape is the long succession of yellow sandhills 
 dying down from time to time into dead flats covered with 
 mulga scrub or, where all vegetation disappears, overlaid with 
 brown and purple stones, which are set so close together as 
 to form as it were a tesselated pavement that stretches away 
 to the horizon. In this dismal and monotonous scenery a 
 
 '.^" '5^^'"'"=*• ^»stralasia, i. 46 3 A. R. WaUace, Australasia, i. 
 
 '?• i J. W. Gregory, Australasia, i. 48 sj. As to the porcupine grass see 
 
 » '/' B *'^° Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 
 
 A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. of Central Australia, p. 6. 
 
3i8 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Great 
 contrasts 
 in rainfall 
 and tem- 
 perature 
 between 
 the coasts 
 and the 
 interior of 
 Australia. 
 
 wretched diversity is here and there created by the remains of 
 what once were lakes, but are now nothing but level expanses 
 of white glistering salt hemmed in by low hills overgrown 
 with dreary scrub. Around these waterless basins there is 
 no sign of life, and the most perfect silence reigns.^ 
 
 The extraordinary contrast between these arid wildernesses 
 of the interior and the luxuriant forests and rich park-lands 
 of Victoria, the gulf which divides Australia Deserta from 
 Australia Felix, is an effect of the variation in the rainfall, 
 which diminishes rapidly as we recede inland from the sea and 
 from the lofty mountains of the south-east, and varies from 
 sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety inches on the coast to five or 
 six inches, or even to less than an inch, in the far interior.^ 
 And as the rainfall decreases so the heat increases the further 
 we withdraw from the refreshing influence of the sea breezes, 
 laden with moisture and dispensing coolness, fertility, and 
 life. From the chill air of the Australian Alps, where the 
 snowdrifts linger in the gullies even at midsummer, and 
 snow showers may fall at any time throughout the year,' the 
 change is great to the torrid heat of the central deserts, 
 where the temperature occasionally rises to such a pitch that 
 were it prolonged at the same height it would inevitably 
 destroy life. The mercury in a thermometer, sheltered both 
 from sun and wind, has been known to rise till it burst the 
 tube, which was graduated to 127" Fahrenheit. Such fervent 
 heat probably does not last for a long time together ; yet 
 for three months Captain Sturt found the mean temperature 
 to be over 101° Fahrenheit in the shade ; and the drought 
 was such that every screw dropped out of the boxes, combs 
 and horn handles split up into fine flakes, the lead fell out 
 of pencils, the finger-nails of the explorers became as brittle 
 as glass, and the hair of men and the wool of sheep ceased 
 to grow.* 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 
 of Central Australia, pp. 2, 6 sq. 
 
 ^ J. W. Gregory, Australasia, i. 
 157 sq., 191 sqq. ; E. Reclus, Nouvelle 
 Giographie Universelle, xiv. 757 ; A. 
 W. Hio'iiK'A, Native Tribes of South- East 
 Australia, pp. 38 sq. 
 
 ^ A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. 4 1 ; 
 J. W. Gregory, Australasia, i. 195. 
 
 ^ Captain C. Sturt, Narrative of an 
 Expedition into Central Australia 
 (London, 1849), i. 305 sq., ii. 90 jy. 
 Elsewhere Captain Sturt observes : " I 
 took a straight line for the water-holes, 
 and reached them at half-past 6 P.M., 
 after an exposure, from morning till 
 night, to as great a heat as man ever 
 endured ; but if the heat of this day 
 
„ PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 319 
 
 Even parts of the interior which are drained by great Drougiits 
 and perennial rivers, such as the basin of the Darling River ^^ ,,jg 
 in New South Wales, nevertheless suffer from long and severe Darling 
 
 River. 
 
 droughts. The Darling River commonly flows between high 
 banks of clay, but occasionally, swollen by the tropical 
 rains in Queensland, it pours over its banks and floods the 
 country for miles. At such a time steamers have been 
 known to sail for hours over the submerged plains without 
 sighting land.' Yet even of this country we are told by an 
 early settler, whose account I will quote, that in its natural 
 state it " could not support a large population, being subject 
 to protracted droughts, during which both food and water 
 must have been scarce. During my fifteen years' experience 
 there were three severe droughts, varying in duration from 
 eighteen to twenty-two months. At such times the little 
 rain that fell on the dry and parched ground was insufficient 
 to replenish the water-holes, or soak the ground enough to 
 promote a growth of vegetation. But it appears, from what 
 some of the old natives have told me, that Europeans have 
 not experienced the worst that the country is liable to, 
 for they say that they once saw it in a drier state than it 
 has been since the settlers came, and there has been stock 
 on the country as a drain on the water-supply. On that 
 occasion their only water-supply was at the few springs in 
 the back country and at the rivers. All surface water-holes 
 were dry ; some of which would, I know, stand through a 
 two years' drought with stock drinking at them. They 
 camped at the springs or the rivers, existing on the half- 
 starved animals, which were forced to drink from the same 
 supply, and in consequence of their weak condition were 
 killed without much difficulty. In a drought there is neither 
 grass nor herbage in the neighbourhood of water, and the 
 desert-like appearance of the surrounding brick-red sandhills 
 
 mu exaaavt, that of the succeeding casion, when Mr. Browne and I were 
 
 one on which we returned to Joseph returning from the north, had the heat 
 
 «-u mil more so. We reached our approached to this; nor did I think 
 
 aettnation at 3 p.m., as we started that either men or animaU could have 
 
 e»rly,»ndonlookingat the thermometer lived under it" (C. Sturt, op cil i 
 
 TOO behmd a tree about five feet from 288). 
 the ground, I found the mercury stand- 
 
 »B»1 I3»*; on removing it into the > J. W. Gr^ory, Australasia, i. 
 
 "in 11 roie to 157'. Only on one oc- 261 sq., 305. 
 
320 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 and grey-coloured clay flats is relieved only by sundry hardy 
 
 bushes and small trees, which somehow hold up against the 
 
 extreme dryness and hot winds. These long droughts are 
 
 generally broken suddenly by a fall of two or three inches 
 
 of rain, followed by lighter rains, which rapidly improve 
 
 the appearance of the country ; grass and herbage become 
 
 abundant, and water-fowl return in large numbers to the 
 
 creeks, and the aborigines gladly avail themselves of the 
 
 opportunity of moving on to fresh hunting-grounds, which 
 
 they can only reach when surface water is plentiful." ^ 
 
 The larger Similarly Spencer and Gillen have described the marvel- 
 
 and more ^°"^ transformation of the face of the country which takes 
 
 abundant place when, after a long drought, rain has fallen on the arid 
 
 food have Steppes of Central Australia. At these times what had 
 
 given the lately been a sandy desert becomes, as if by magic, a garden 
 
 the coast teeming with life and gay with the blossoms of endless 
 
 an advan- flowering plants.^ Such descriptions help us to realise the 
 
 the natives simple truth that both animals and plants depend directly 
 
 of the fQj. theii- existence on a due supply of water, and where 
 
 interior. _ ^ a x .» 7 
 
 that fails, the inevitable consequence, sooner or later, is 
 sterility and death. Now the coast-lands of Australia are, 
 as we have seen, the best watered parts of the continent ; * 
 on them, accordingly, the supply of food, both animal and 
 vegetable, is most abundant. Hence the coastal tribes of 
 Australia have, on the whole, enjoyed a great advantage 
 over the inland tribes in the struggle for existence, since 
 they have had to their hand abundance of water, abun- 
 dance of fish and game, abundance of the fruits of the 
 earth.* These favourable conditions have naturally reacted 
 on the life of the natives, who, partially relieved from the 
 need of devoting themselves to the purely animal quest for 
 
 1 r. Bonney, " On some Customs some extent an exception to this rule, 
 of the Aborigines of the River Darling," since at this point the desert extends 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, nearly to the sea. Indeed, along the 
 xiii. (1884) p. 123. whole extent of the Great Australian 
 
 2 See above, pp. 170 sq. Bight, a length of about a thousand 
 
 3 Above p Ti8 miles, not a single stream enters the 
 
 ' '^ ocean (A. R. Wallace, Atistralasia, i. 
 
 See A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes 31 sq.). Still even here the coastal 
 
 0/ Soutk-East Australia, p. 35. The tribes are better off than the inland 
 
 tribesat the head of the Great Australian tribes, since they can draw a supply of 
 
 Bight, in South Australia, form to fish and shell-fish from the sea. 
 
I, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 321 
 
 food, have had leisure to make some advances on the road 
 to civilisation. For example, whereas the tribes of Central Thus 
 Australia appear not to have conceived the idea of making central 
 any kind of clothing as a protection against cold, but huddle '*« are 
 
 , , . - - . , , , . , naked and 
 
 naked round their fires on frosty nights, though they might houseless, 
 easily clothe themselves in the skins of kangaroos and "^.?1°^^' 
 wallabies,' the tribes who inhabit the coast of South Australia made for 
 make excellent warm rugs out of opossum, kangaroo, wallaby, ^^™^^^^^ 
 and other furs. The skins are first dried, then carefully and soiicf 
 scraped and scored with a sharp stone or shell to make ^^"^"""'^ 
 them flexible ; afterwards they are cut into squares, which 
 are sewn with the sinews of a kangaroo's tail, the eye-holes 
 being made in the skins with a sharp-pointed bone. In 
 the Port Lincoln tribe the best of these rugs are always 
 worn by the women. ^ Further, the Narrinyeri tribe make 
 thick, durable mats out of the bark of the mallee scrub, 
 which they dry and beat into a fibrous mass. Also they 
 gather seaweed on the shore, wash it in fresh water, dry it, 
 and work it into mats with a shaggy nap, which serve them 
 as beds. Moreover, they take the skins of many animals, 
 peg them out on the ground till they are dry, and then 
 spread them out on the earth whenever they encamp in 
 damp or marshy places.' Again, whereas the natives of 
 Central Australia have nothing to protect themselves from 
 the weather but shelters of shrubs placed so as to screen 
 the occupants from the prevailing wind,* in South- Western 
 Victoria the aborigines built permanent houses of wood or 
 stone large enough to accommodate a dozen or more persons. 
 Each of these houses was occupied by a family, and when 
 the members of the family were grown up, the house was 
 partitioned off into apai;tments, each facing the fire, which 
 burned in the centre. When the material employed was 
 wood, the mode of construction was to set up strong limbs 
 of trees in the shape of a dome high enough to allow a tall 
 
 J^^f\ '"'' ^'"*"' ^'^''" ^"''" '^1" Aboriginis of Victoria, i. 27 1. 
 
 '/ Cmlral Aiulralia, ^f. \(,-l^. , 
 
 • G. Taplinand C. W. Schurmann ^- ^aplin, "The Narrinyeri," in 
 
 in Nmive Tribes of South Australia, ^'^''"' Tribes of South Australia, 
 
 PP- 43. »I0 sq. The Varr.i tribe of P' 43- 
 
 o^«Ii!l ?*'" c'^l'" ""83 out of < Spencer and GiUen, Native Tribes 
 
 opossum skins. See K. Brough Smyth, of Central Australia, p. 1 8. 
 
 VOU I 
 
 Y 
 
322 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 man to stand upright under them. The interstices were 
 filled with smaller branches, and the whole was covered with 
 sheets of bark, thatch, sods, and earth till the roof and sides 
 were proof against wind and rain. Where stones were 
 more easily procured than wood and bark, the walls were 
 built of flat stones and roofed with branches and thatch. 
 Where several families lived together, each built its own 
 house facing one central fire. Thus, in what appeared to 
 be one dwelling, fifty or more persons could be accommo- 
 dated, when, in the words of the natives themselves, they 
 were " like bees in a hive." These comfortable and healthy 
 habitations, as they are called by an early settler in Victoria, 
 whose description of them I have reproduced, were situated 
 on dry spots beside a lake, stream, or salubrious swamp, but 
 never near a malarious morass nor under large trees, which 
 might fall or be struck by lightning.^ Similarly the tribes 
 of South Australia in the district of Adelaide and the 
 Murray River sometimes built huts of thick, solid logs of 
 wood, which they covered with grass, creepers, and anything 
 else that would make them waterproof. Large, long huts 
 of this sort would contain from five to ten families, each of 
 them with its separate fire.^ The contrast between these 
 comfortable, well-built houses and the miserable temporary 
 shelters of the Central Australians is immense, and marks a 
 great step upward on the social ladder. 
 Huts of the In like manner the early explorers and settlers on the 
 tribes of ^ast and west coasts of Australia observed that the natives 
 New South vvrho dwelt by the sea had larger and better houses than 
 
 Wales 
 
 the natives of the interior. Thus Collins, writing of 
 
 1 J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines of Discovery into Central Australia 
 
 (Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, (London, 1845), ii. 302 sq. As to 
 
 1 88 1), pp. \osq. The tribes described the tribes here described. Eyre informs 
 
 by J. Dawson occupied the south- us that his descriptions apply to the 
 
 western part of Victoria between Port- natives of South Australia, and particu- 
 
 land, Colac, Ararat, and perhaps Pit- larly to the tribes of the Adelaide 
 
 field. See A. W. Hewitt, Native district and the Murray River (op. cit. 
 
 Tribes of SotUh- East Australia, p. 69. ii. 151). He quotes (ii. 301 note) an 
 
 Dr. Hewitt tells us that Dawson account of a permanent native village, 
 
 enjoyed exceptional opportunities of which consisted of thirteen large huts, 
 
 observation from nearly the settle- warm and well constructed, each hut 
 
 ment of the State of Victoria [op. cit. being built -of a strong frame of wood, 
 
 P- 307)- and covered with thick turf 
 
 ^ E. J. "Eyxe, Journals of Expeditions 
 
i; PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 323 
 
 the aborigines of New South Wales near the end of the 
 eighteenth century, says : " Their habitations are as rude as 
 imagination can conceive. The hut of the woodman is 
 made of the barlt of a single tree, bent in the middle, and 
 placed on its two ends on the ground, affording shelter to 
 only one miserable tenant. These they never carry about 
 with them. On the sea coast the huts were larger, formed 
 of pieces of bark from several trees put together in the form 
 of an oven, with an entrance, and large enough to hold six 
 or eight people." ^ On the opposite side of Australia, when sir George 
 Sir George Grey was exploring the western coast in the ^ll^^^ ^f 
 neighbourhood of Gantheaume Bay, he came upon a remark- the signs of 
 ably fertile district, which exhibited tokens of a comparatively fn^aterlaf 
 dense native population settled in fixed villages. It will be culture 
 best to allow the explorer to describe his observations and nati*vK of^ 
 to state his conclusions in his own words. He says : — ^ fertile 
 
 " We now crossed the dry bed of a stream, and from w«t" 
 that emerged upon a tract of light fertile soil, quite over- Australia. 
 run with warran plants,^ the root of which is a favourite 
 article of food with the natives. This was the first time we 
 had yet seen this plant on our journey, and now for three 
 and a half consecutive miles we traversed a fertile piece of 
 land, literally perforated with the holes the natives had made 
 to dig this root ; indeed we could with difficulty walk across 
 it on that account, whilst this tract extended east and west 
 as far as we could see. It was now evident that we had 
 entered the most thickly-populated district of Australia that 
 I had yet observed, and moreover one which must have 
 been inhabited for a long series of years, for more had here 
 been done to secure a provision from the ground by hard 
 manual labour than I could have believed it in the power of 
 uncivilised man to accomplish.' After crossing a low lime- 
 ' Lieut. -Col. Collins, Account of the the continent " 
 
 7Z"a ?^' '" ^«" ^o"^'' '*'«'". ' The manual labour to which Grey 
 
 a«CTnd Ediuon (London, 1804), p. here refers is dearly that of digging up 
 
 3W. "|e fim edition of this work the roots. He gives no hint that the 
 
 wu published at London in 1798. natives cultivated them, nor have we 
 
 InLr?! °" *"" POS^umousj any right to assume that they did so, 
 
 « » Vk " P°^^ * "^"Py- ^''°"g'* ^' '= •'''^•y ^°°"gl' t'lat they 
 
 Di~/v^ »'«^''" "s a species of performed magical ceremonies or in- 
 
 Z™Z'^^'?'\°h^mliVet]ies'»ietl tichiuma, as the Arunta would call 
 
 B.n!/^.i, 1 "*"*" ^^ '*" ^"^ ••>«"• to make the plants grow. See 
 MOW both on the cast and west side of above, pp. 105 sqq 
 
324 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 stone-range, we came down upon another equally fertile 
 warran ground, bounded eastward by a high range of rocky 
 limestone hills, luxuriantly grassed, and westward by a low 
 range of similar formation. The native path, about two 
 miles further on, crossed this latter range, and we found 
 ourselves in a grassy valley, about four miles wide, bounded 
 seawards by sandy downs. Along its centre lay a chain of 
 reedy fresh-water swamps, and native paths ran in from all 
 quarters, to one main line of communication leading to. the 
 southward. . . . 
 
 " Such a heavy dew had fallen during the night, that 
 when I got up in the morning, I found my clothes com- 
 pletely saturated, and everything looked so verdant and 
 flourishing compared to the parched - up country which 
 existed to the north of us, and that which I knew lay to the 
 south, that I tried to find a satisfactory reason, to explain 
 so strange a circumstance — but without success. It seemed 
 certain, however, that we stood in the richest province of 
 South-west Australia, and one which so differs from the 
 other portions of it in its geological characters, in the eleva- 
 tions of its mountains which lie close to the sea coast, in the 
 fertility of its soil, and the density of its native population, 
 that we appeared to be moving upon another continent. 
 As yet however the only means I had of judging of the 
 large number of natives inhabiting this district, had been 
 from their paths and warran grounds. . . . 
 
 " Being unable to ford the river here, we followed it in a 
 S.E. direction for two miles, and in this distance passed two 
 native villages, or, as the men termed them, towns ; the huts 
 of which they were composed differed from those in the 
 southern districts, in being much larger, more strongly built, 
 and very nicely plastered over on the outside with clay, and 
 clods of turf, so that although now uninhabited, they were 
 evidently intended for fixed places of residence. This 
 again shewed a marked difference between the habits of the 
 natives of this part of Australia, and the south-western 
 portions of the continent ; for these superior huts, well- 
 marked roads, deeply sunk wells, and extensive warran 
 grounds, all spoke of a large and comparatively speaking 
 resident population, and the cause of this undoubtedly 
 
n PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 325 
 
 must have been, the great facilities for procuring food in 
 so rich a soil." ^ 
 
 Thus in material culture, in clothes and habitations, the Material 
 natives of the better -watered and more fruitful coasts of P^°^'^"^Qf 
 Australia exhibit a marked superiority over the naked, life is at 
 houseless nomads of the central deserts. It is natural and and\n^'^" 
 perhaps inevitable that man's earliest efforts to ameliorate pffect of 
 his lot should be directed towards the satisfaction of his progress. 
 physical wants, since the material side of his nature is the 
 indispensable basis on which, in a material world, his intel- 
 lectual and moral being must rest. But material progress 
 in the arts and comforts of life is at the same time a sure 
 sign of intellectual progress, since every implement, from 
 the rudest club of the lowest savage to the most complex 
 and delicate machine of modern science, is nothing but the 
 physical embodiment of an . idea which preceded it in the 
 mind of man.^ Hence in the evolution of culture, mental 
 improvement is the prime factor, the moving cause ; material 
 improvement is secondary, it follows the other as its effect. 
 It would be well if the shallow rhetoricians who rail at the 
 advance of mechanical science in our own age could appre- 
 hend this truth. They would then see that in arraigning 
 what they do not understand they are really arraigning that 
 upward movement in the mind of man which, though we 
 know neither its origin nor its goal, is yet the source of all 
 that is best and noblest in human nature. 
 
 From these considerations it follows that a people's Advance in 
 progress in the material arts is not only the most obvious |Jjg j^'^Jj'* 
 but on the whole the surest measure of its intellectual and measure of 
 social progress. The highest types of human intellect and ^n'^ Itl&x 
 character are never found among naked, houseless, artless advance. 
 
 ' G. Grey, Journals of two Expedi- the boomerang and the viiaddy, he 
 
 lions of Discovery in North- West and says : " These words and these imple- 
 
 Westem Australia (London, 1841), ments are but the outward signs or 
 
 ii. 12 sq., IS jy., 19 J?. symbols of particular ideas in the mind ; 
 
 and the sequence, if any, which we 
 
 ' This dependence of material upon observe to connect them together, is 
 
 intellectual progress was justly insisted but the outward sign of the succession 
 
 upon by that philosophical student of of ideas in the brain. It is the mind 
 
 primitive man, the late Gener.-il Pitt- that we study by means of these 
 
 Rivers. Thus, for example, speaking symbols" (The Evolution of Culture, 
 
 ofthe characteristic Australian weapons, Oxford, 1906, p. 23). 
 
326 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 savages ; they are only found in countries and in ages 
 which have attained to the highest pitch of material civilisa- 
 tion, which have carried the arts and crafts to their greatest 
 perfection. It is in towns, not in the wilderness, that the 
 fairest flowers of humanity have bloomed. True civilisation 
 begins, as the very name suggests, with the foundation of 
 cities. Where no such ganglia of concentrated energy 
 exist, the population is savage or barbarous. 
 The coastal Though the aboriginal Australians never advanced so 
 Ai!'stra°fa ^'^^ ^^ *^° \iv:M towns, we have seen that in some parts of 
 shew signs the more fertile regions bordering on the sea they established 
 andtocTat ^hat may fairly be described as permanent villages, both 
 as well as well-built and comfortable. Side by side with this evidence 
 pr^lssby of material progress we find evidence also of political and 
 compari- social progress among the tribes of the coast. For whereas 
 the central among the aborigines of the central steppes the government 
 tribes. pf ^^g j-j-jbe is in the hands of an oligarchy of old men, who 
 completely control everything without regard to the opinions 
 or wishes of the younger men,^ the natives of the more 
 fruitful regions near the sea had made, when they were first 
 observed by Europeans, considerable- advances towards a 
 monarchical government, which is an essential step in the 
 evolution of civilisation out of savagery." 
 
 1 Thus Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in tribal matters, then some day he 
 tell us that the elder men " form, as it will be honoured by one of the older 
 were, an inner council or cabinet and men inviting him to come and consult 
 completely control everything. The over matters, after the advisability of 
 younger men have absolutely no say doing so has been agreed upon by the 
 whatever in the matter " (Northern members of the council. He will 
 Tribes, p. 21). Again they write: probably be invited several times, and 
 "Whenever a large number of natives will then gradually take his place as a 
 are met together to perform ceremonies, recognised member of the inner council 
 there are always the heads of different of the tribe, his influence increasing as 
 local groups present. The elder and he grows older and older. Not only 
 more important amongst these seem does this council of elder men determine 
 naturally to associate together as an matters concerned with various cere- 
 informal but, at the same time, all- monies, but in addition it deals with 
 powerful council, whose orders are the punishment of the more serious 
 implicitly obeyed by the other men. crimes." This senate or council of 
 The fact that any individual is the elders has the power of life and death, 
 headman of his local group gives him, for it sends out avenging parties to 
 in itself, no claim whatever to attend- punish culprits who have infringed the 
 ance upon these councils. If, however, fundamental laws of the tribe. See 
 he be at all a distinguished man, whose Northern Tribes, pp. 24 sq. 
 conduct has shown that he is to be ^ See my Lectures cm the Early 
 trusted, and that he is deeply interested History of the Kingship, pp. 81 sqq. 
 
II PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 327 
 
 It is true that in the central tribes each local totemic Among the 
 group has its headman or alatunja, as the Arunta call him ; trlb'^^there 
 but his authority is somewhat vague and he has no definite is no chief- 
 power over the members of his group. His main duties are '^'"^ "''' 
 rather sacred or magical than civil, his principal function 
 being to perform the ceremonies for the multiplication of the 
 totemic animal or plant and to take charge of the secret 
 storehouse in which the most prized possessions of the 
 people, to wit, their churinga or sacred sticks and stones, are 
 carefully preserved from the eyes of the profane.^ The 
 post is within certain limits hereditary, for it passes from 
 father to son, always provided that the son is of the same 
 totem as his father ; for example, the headman of a 
 Kangaroo group must be a Kangaroo man, and if he has a 
 son who is also a Kangaroo, he may transmit his office of 
 headman to that son at his death. But since among the 
 true central tribes a man's totem is not determined by that 
 of his father and often differs from it, a son sometimes 
 cannot inherit the post of headman from his father. In 
 that case the father, when he comes to die, nominates his 
 successor, who is always either a brother or a brother's son.^ 
 As the functions of the local headman in these tribes are to 
 a great extent magical, being concerned with the ceremonies 
 for the multiplication of the totemic animal or plant, so 
 with the gradual diminution of these ceremonies as we 
 proceed from the centre northwards the importance of the 
 office of headman also gradually diminishes until, regarded 
 from the magical or ceremonial point of view, it reaches its 
 lowest point among the coastal tribes. For among these 
 tribes the social aspect of the totemic groups has become 
 more prominent, while their economical and magical aspect 
 is almost obliterated.* But while the duties of a totemic 
 headman decrease in importance as we pass from the centre 
 towards the sea, yet the authority of the post becomes 
 concentrated in fewer hands. For whereas among the 
 Arunta there may be, and usually are, several headmen for 
 
 • Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes, ^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes, 
 
 PP- 9-l5i IS4) 'SQ-^oS ; ''"^•i Northern pp. 10 sq. 
 
 Tribes, pp. 20-27, 285-297, 309 sq., ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern 
 
 316. Tribes of Central Australia, p. 23. 
 
/ 
 
 328 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 each totem, among the Warramunga and other northern 
 tribes each totemic clan has only one headman. For 
 example, in these northern tribes all the Kangaroo people 
 recognise the authority of one Kangaroo headman ; all the 
 Water people recognise the authority of one Water headman, 
 and so forth. Nay, more than that, the natives recognise in 
 a vague way a headman for each of the two tribal moieties. 
 For example, when Spencer and Gillen visited the Warra- 
 munga tribe, an old White Cockatoo man was regarded as 
 the head of one moiety of the tribe, and a man of the 
 mythical water-snake totem {wollunqud) was regarded as the 
 head of the other. This honourable position they owed in 
 large measure to their age and learning. When it came to 
 hard knocks, neither of these venerable sages would have 
 put himself in the forefront of the battle. That duty they 
 discreetly left to a veteran of the name of Tjupilla, head 
 of the wind totem, who enjoyed the reputation of being 
 a first-class fighting man.' It seems possible that this 
 dual headship of a tribe might in time have developed 
 into a double kingship, if the aborigines had been left free 
 to evolve their institutions on their own lines. As it is, the 
 vague authority attaching to the post of headman in these 
 tribes has never grown even into a chieftainship ; for we are 
 told that among these people " there is no such thing as a 
 chief of the tribe, nor indeed is there any individual to 
 whom the term chief can be applied." ^ It is true that in 
 up-country parts a native of appropriate age may sometimes 
 be found decorated with a brass plate whereon is inscribed 
 some such legend as " King Billy, chief of the Gurraburra 
 tribe." But these claims to sovereignty have no foundation 
 in fact.^ 
 But on the On the other hand, on the more fertile coasts of Australia 
 
 !?oas1s the "" aboriginal society appears to have made some approach to, 
 tribes have if not to havc actually evolved, a regular chieftainship. Thus 
 approach"'^ i" the days of the first settlement about Botany Bay it was 
 to a regular observed by the English colonists that the natives "are 
 
 chieftain- 
 
 °'"P' ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern " There is no one to whom the term 
 
 Tribes, pp. 25 sq. 'chief,' or even head of the tribe, can 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, TVa/iz/e TW'fej-, be properly applied." 
 
 p. 10. Similarly in their Northern 3 Spencer and Gillen, JVaftw 7>-«i}«, 
 
 Tribes (p. 20) these writers observe : p. 103 note'. 
 
II PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 329 
 
 distributed into families, the head or senior of which exacts 
 compliance from the rest. In the early intercourse with 
 them (and indeed at a much later period, on the -English 
 meeting with families to whom they were unknown) they 
 were always accosted by the person who appeared to be the 
 eldest of the party ; while the women, youths, and children 
 were kept at a distance. The word which in their language 
 signifies father was applied to their old men ; and when, 
 after some time, and by close observation, they perceived the 
 authority with which Governor Phillip commanded, and 
 the obedience which he exacted, they bestowed on him the 
 distinguishing appellation of Be-anna, or father. This title 
 being conferred solely on him (although they perceived the 
 authority of masters over their servants) places the true 
 sense of the word beyond a doubt, and proves that to those 
 among them who enjoyed that distinction belonged the 
 authority of a chief When any of these went into the 
 town, they were immediately pointed out by their companions, 
 or those natives who resided in it, in a whisper, and with 
 an eagerness of manner which, while it commanded the 
 attention of those to whom it was directed, impressed them 
 likewise with an idea that they were looking at persons 
 remarkable for some superior quality even among the savages 
 of New Holland." ^ 
 
 Again, with regard to the Narrinyeri, who occupied a Chieftain- 
 district on the coast of South Australia, to the south of^^P j^^ 
 Adelaide, we are told that " each of the tribes of the Narrinyeri. 
 Narrinyeri has its chief, whose title is rupulle (which means 
 landowner), who is their leader in war, and whose person is 
 carefully guarded in battle by the warriors of his clan. The 
 rupulle is the negotiator and spokesman for the tribe in all 
 disagreements with other tribes ; and his advice is sought 
 on all occasions of difficulty or perplexity. His authority 
 is supported by the heads of families, and he is expected 
 always to reside on the hunting-grounds of the tribe. The 
 rupulle used to possess the right to divide the animals taken 
 in the chase amongst the other heads of families, but this is 
 seldom observed now. The chieftainship is not hereditary, 
 
 ' Lieut. -Col. Collins, Account of the English Colony in New South Wales 
 (London, 1804), pp. 351 sq. 
 
330 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 Chieftain- 
 ship in 
 South- 
 Western 
 Victoria. 
 
 but elective. The deceased chief's brother, or second son, is 
 quite as eligible for the dignity as the eldest son, if the 
 heads of families prefer him. . . . But the most real authority 
 exercised by the chief and his supporters is enforced by 
 means of witchcraft. If any young men or women attempt 
 a departure from the customs of their forefathers they are 
 immediately threatened with ngadhungi, or millin, and this 
 usually restrains them." ^ Of these magical modes of re- 
 inforcing the claims of law and morality the one {ngadhungi) 
 consists in securing a bone of any animal of which the 
 culprit had partaken and afterwards putting it in the fire. 
 The other {inillhi) consists in the more summary and 
 perhaps more effectual process of knocking him down with 
 a stout cudgel and then operating on him with the same 
 instrument till he is delivered over to the power of a demon 
 called Nalkaru.^ 
 
 But it is in the south-western parts of Victoria, the 
 Australia Felix of the older geographers, that the authority 
 of one man over his fellows seems to have been carried 
 furthest. Here, to quote an excellent authority who knew 
 the natives in the early days of the colony, " every tribe has 
 its chief, who is looked upon in the light of a father, and 
 whose authority is supreme. He consults with the best men 
 of the tribe, but when he announces his decision they dare 
 not contradict or disobey him. Great respect is paid to the 
 chiefs and their wives and families. They can command the 
 services of every one belonging to their tribe. As many as 
 six young bachelors are obliged to wait on a chief, and 
 eight young unmarried men on his wife ; and, as the children 
 are of superior rank to the common people, they also have 
 a number of attendants to wait on them. No one can 
 address a chief or chiefess without being first spoken to, 
 and then only by their titles as such and not by personal 
 names, or disrespectfully. Food and water, when brought to 
 the camp, must be offered to them first, and reeds provided 
 for each in the family to drink with ; while the common 
 people drink in the usual way. Should they fancy any 
 article of dress, opossum rug, or weapon, it must be given 
 
 1 Rev. G. Taplin, "TheNarrinyeii," 
 Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 32. 
 
 ^ Rev, G. Taplin, op. cit., pp. 2^sq., 
 
 26 sqq. 
 
II PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 331 
 
 without a murmur. If a chief leaves home for a short time 
 he is always accompanied by a friend, and on his return is 
 met by two men, who conduct him to his wuurn [hut]. 
 At his approach every one rises to receive him, and remains 
 silent till he speaks ; they then enquire where he has been, 
 and converse with him freely. When a tribe is moving 
 from one part of the country to another, the chief, accom- 
 panied by a friend, precedes it, and obtains permission from 
 the next chief to pass, before his followers cross the boundary. 
 When approaching a friendly camp, the chief walks at the 
 head of his tribe. If he is too old and infirm to take the 
 lead, his nearest male relative or best friend does so. On 
 his arrival with his family at the friendly camp, a comfort- 
 able wuurn is immediately erected, and food, firewood, and 
 attendance are provided during his visit. When he goes out 
 to hunt, he and his friends are accompanied by several men 
 to carry their game and protect them from enemies. A 
 strange chief approaching a camp is met at a short distance 
 by the chief, and invited to come and sit down ; a fire is made 
 for him, and then he is asked where he has come from, and 
 what is his business. The succession to the chiefdom is by 
 inheritance. When a chief dies the chiefs of the neigh- 
 bouring tribes, accompanied by their attendants, assist at the 
 funeral obsequies ; and they appoint the best male friend of 
 the deceased to take charge of the tribe until the first great 
 meeting after the expiry of one year, when the succession 
 must be determined by the votes of the assembled chiefs 
 alone. The eldest son is appointed, unless there is some 
 good reason for setting him aside. If there are no sons, the 
 deceased chief's eldest brother is entitled to succeed him, 
 and the inheritance runs in the line of his family. Failing 
 him, the inheritance devolves upon the other brothers and 
 their families in succession." ^ 
 
 This incipient tendency to a monarchical rule which The 
 manifests itself among the coastal tribes of Australia may tendency to 
 be itself the direct consequence of that more regular and monarchi 
 
 cal rule 
 
 plentiful supply of food which the neighbourhood of the sea, among the 
 e abundant rainfall, commonly ei 
 leans of subsistence are constant 
 
 • J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, pp. 5 sq. 
 
 with its more abundant rainfall, commonly ensures. For<=°?*'^'^ 
 
 ' . tnbes of 
 
 where the means of subsistence are constant and copious, AustraUa 
 
may be an 
 effect of a 
 more 
 abundant 
 supply of 
 food and 
 more 
 settled 
 habits of 
 life. 
 
 The social 
 organisa- 
 tion of the 
 coastal 
 tribes 
 marks a 
 similar 
 advance 
 upon the 
 social or- 
 ganisation 
 of the tribes 
 in the 
 interior. 
 
 332 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 the population naturally increases in number and becomes 
 stationary, since the principal motive for a migratory life, 
 namely the exhaustion of the food-supply within the area 
 under occupation, has ceased to operate. And with a larger 
 and more fixed population, concentrated within definite 
 boundaries, the opportunities which a man of superior 
 abilities enjoys for extending his influence over his fellows 
 also increase and multiply, whereas it is difficult for him to 
 assert and enforce his will upon wandering groups thinly 
 scattered over a wide region. Hence it is that the nomadic 
 life does not lend itself readily to monarchy, which, if it 
 is to be stable, must be exercised over a settled, not a 
 migratory people.^ 
 
 Thus far we have found that the tribes which occupy the 
 well-watered and fertile coasts of Australia have made some 
 progress in material culture and political constitution by 
 comparison with the tribes which roam over the arid and 
 barren steppes of the interior. A parallel advance in their 
 social organisation and marriage customs was long ago 
 remarked and referred to its true cause by our principal 
 authority on the tribes of South- Eastern Australia, Dr. 
 A. W. Howitt. He wrote : " With the exception of that 
 part of North -Eastern Queensland where the Kamilaroi 
 type touches the coast, the whole of the coast tracts, 
 speaking broadly, between the Great Dividing Range and 
 the sea, both in Queensland and New South Wales, and 
 
 1 The view that the migratory life is 
 incompatible with higher progress in 
 civilisation has been rightly maintained 
 by a philosophic historian of America, 
 E. J. Payne. He observes that both agri- 
 culture and herdsmanship "have passed 
 through two successive and well-defined 
 stages, which may be called the migratory 
 and the stationary ; the former denoting 
 that stage in which food-production is 
 practised over a wide area, portions of 
 which are successively occupied and 
 abandoned, the latter that in which 
 the most favourable spots have been 
 ultimately selected and permanently oc- 
 cupied, and industry, confined within 
 these limited areas, is strenuously 
 directed to the development of their 
 capacities. No pastoral tribe has ever 
 
 begun to advance until it has thus ceased 
 from habits of wandering and settled 
 within such a limited area. No agri- 
 cultural tribe which adheres to the 
 method of essartage, by which small 
 separate clearings are made in the 
 forest, where food-plants are temporarily 
 cultivated, and which are afterwards 
 abandoned for others, has ever based 
 any high degree of advancement on this 
 method. The first effective stimulus is 
 invariably given where human effort is 
 confined to narrow physical limits, and 
 where the process of artificial subsistence 
 has consequently assumed a stationary 
 character, which habit has rendered 
 permanent " (E. J. Payne, History of 
 the New World called America, i. 
 330)- 
 
u PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 333 
 
 between the Murray River and the sea in Victoria and 
 South Australia, were occupied by communities having 
 abnormal types of class system which in most cases 
 count descent through the male line. These coast tracts, 
 taken as a whole, are the best watered and most fertile 
 parts of Australia, and, moreover, the richest in animals and 
 plant food for an aboriginal population. This coincidence 
 of advanced social development with fertility of country is 
 not without some significance. The most backward-standing 
 types of social organisation, having descent through the 
 mother and an archaic communal marriage, exist in the 
 dry and desert country ; the more developed Kamilaroi 
 type, having descent through the mother, but a general 
 absence of the pirauru marriage practice,^ is found in the 
 better watered tracts which are the sources of all the great 
 rivers of East Australia ; while the most developed types, 
 having individual marriage, and in which, in almost all cases, 
 descent is counted through the father, are found along the 
 coasts where there is the most permanent supply of water 
 and most food. In fact, it is thus suggested that the social 
 advance of the Australian aborigines has been connected 
 with, if not mainly due to, a more plentiful supply of food 
 in better watered districts." ^ 
 
 To the same effect Professor Baldwin Spencer observes : 
 " It is a well-marked feature that, if we desire to find a 
 tribe, whether it be one with male or with female descent, 
 which has become specialised or highly modified in regard 
 to its organization, we must search along the coast-line. 
 The most backward and primitive tribes occupy the central 
 area. Now, a very striking feature in the physiography of 
 Australia is the presence of a series of Ranges, of which a 
 very characteristic example are those known as the Great 
 Divide, in the south-east part of the continent, separating a 
 comparatively well-watered coastal fringe from a dry interior, 
 where, over wide areas, conditions of life are more unfavour- 
 able. It will be seen that tribes, which will subsequently be 
 shown to be modified, such as the Narrinyeri, of South 
 
 ' As to this form of group marriage, on the Australian Class Systems,'' 
 see below, pp. 363 sqq. Journal of the Anthropological Insti- 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "Further Notes C«/;, xviii. (1889) pp. 33 jy. 
 
334 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Australia, the Victorian tribes generally, the coastal tribes 
 
 on the east of the continent, and those on the west of the 
 
 Gulf of Carpentaria, all inhabit areas where conditions of 
 
 life are relatively favourable." ^ 
 
 A better Again, in discussing the question whether the magical 
 
 climate ceremonies which the Dieri and other tribes of Central 
 
 abundant Australia about Lake Eyre practise for the purpose of 
 
 food seem increasing- the food - supply are to be considered as a 
 
 to have ° ', -_.', 
 
 been potent survival of primitive belief and custom. Dr. Howitt observes 
 "roducin-^ that " the Dieri tribe in its organisation, and in its customs 
 the more" and beliefs, is one of the most backward-standing tribes I 
 soc^iarron- know of, and therefore it would not be surprising if the 
 ditionofthe magical food-producing ceremonies were retained, while the 
 AuTtraHan' Other tribes have departed from them. Assuming that the 
 tribes. Dieri do, in fact, continue ceremonies which belonged to the 
 primary functions of the early totemistic groups, it may be 
 worth considering whether there are any apparent reasons 
 why the native tribes in other parts of Australia have 
 abandoned them. I have before pointed out that the tribes 
 can be arranged in a series : first, those with pirrauru 
 marriage ; then those in which that form of marriage has 
 become a rudimentary custom ; and, finally, those which 
 have more or less lost their class organisation, and have 
 developed a form of individual marriage. Now compare 
 such a series of tribes with regard to these magical food- 
 producing ceremonies, and also as to the climatic conditions 
 under which they live. We shall find that the Lake Eyre 
 tribes are under a minimum rainfall, a very high temperature, 
 and a prevailing aridity, with fertile intervals, when there is 
 abundance of animal and vegetable food supplies. At the 
 further end of the series, whether in Queensland, New South 
 Wales, Victoria, or South Australia, the tribes living, say, 
 on the coast lands, are under climatic conditions very different 
 from those of Central Australia, with a good rainfall, a more 
 temperate climate, and a plentiful and constant food supply, 
 both animal and vegetable. This comparison comes out 
 clearly when the tables of rainfall, given in the introductory 
 
 ^ Baldwin Spencer, " Totemism in ment of Science, Dunedin, January 
 Australia," Transactions of the Aits- 1904, p. 381. 
 tralasian Association for the Advance- 
 
II PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 335 
 
 chapter, are inspected. This comparison will fall in line 
 with former conclusions, namely, that the tribes of the Lake 
 Eyre basin have remained in a far more primitive condition 
 socially than those of South-East Australia. If so, it would 
 point to conditions of better climate, and more abundant 
 and regular food supply, as potent causes in the advance- 
 ment of the social condition of the south-east tribes." ' 
 
 When Dr. Howitt wrote the former of the passages However, 
 which I have just quoted from his writings he was f^'ibes^f ^ 
 not aware that to the north of the tribes of Lake Eyre the barren 
 lies another group of central tribes, living under similar fi°nd"he"^ 
 climatic conditions, which have a complex marriage system later eight- 
 of eight exogamous subclasses with descent of the class ganisati'on 
 and subclass in the male line. That the eight - class side by side 
 systetn of these central tribes is later and more advanced earlier two- 
 than the two-class system of the Dieri and other tribes '^'"^f °';" 
 
 ganisation. 
 
 about Lake Eyre is a proposition which, in my opinion, 
 does not admit of dispute, since it seems certain that the 
 eight subclasses have been produced by bisection of four 
 subclasses, and these again by bisection of two primary 
 classes, which two primary classes represent the first 
 dichotomy of an originally undivided commune. Thus we 
 are bound to recognise that, side by side in Central 
 Australia, there are living under similar climatic conditions 
 two sets of tribes, one with the most rudimentary and the 
 other with the most advanced of the normal types of 
 Australian social organisation. The sharp line of cleavage 
 between these two sets of tribes has already been indicated, 
 for it runs between the Urabunna and the Arunta tribes, 
 whose social and totemic systems have been described 
 above.' With regard to the question of descent I have with group 
 pointed out * that with a system of group marriage, such as maternal 
 we have strong grounds for believing to have been at one descent 
 time universal among the Australian aborigines, descent nec^sariiy 
 may be traced as easily in the paternal as in the maternal ^o™. , 
 line, since the paternity recognised under such a system is than 
 that of a group, not of an individual, and the group ofP^'^™^' 
 " fathers " is quite as well known as the group of " mothers." 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ^ Above, pp. 1 75 m- 
 
 Soutk-Easl Australia, pp. 154 sq. ^ Above, pp. 167, 249. 
 
336 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap,. 
 
 Hence there is no need to suppose that paternal descent is 
 necessarily later than maternal descent, and derived from it.^ 
 Even when group-marriage has been exchanged for individual 
 marriage, the difficulty of tracing descent from the father is 
 hardly greater in savage than in civilised society. In both 
 it is assumed that the man who cohabits with a woman is 
 the father of her child, although, as I have pointed out,^ 
 fatherhood to a Central Australian savage is a very different 
 thing from fatherhood to a civilised European. To the 
 European father it means that he has begotten a child on a 
 woman ; to the Central Australian father it means that a 
 child is the offspring of a woman with whom he has a right 
 to cohabit, whether he has actually had intercourse with her 
 or not. To the European mind the tie between a father 
 and his child is physical ; to the Central Australian it is 
 social. If we wish to avoid confusion in discussing the 
 institutions of a race so different from our own, we must 
 
 1 Similavly Messrs. Spencer and 
 Gillen observe : " It is, for example, 
 generally assumed that counting de- 
 scent in the female, is a more primitive 
 method than counting descent in the 
 male line, and that of two tribes, in 
 one of which we have maternal descent 
 and in the other paternal, the former 
 is in this respect in a more primitive 
 condition than the latter ; but it may 
 even be doubted whether in all cases 
 the counting of descent in the female 
 line has preceded the counting of it in 
 the male line. The very fact that 
 descent is counted at all, that is, that 
 any given individual when born has 
 some distinguishing name, because he 
 or she is born of some particular 
 woman, indicates the fact that men 
 and women are divided into groups 
 bearing such distinctive names, for it 
 must be remembered that in these 
 savage tribes the name which is trans- 
 mitted to offspring, and by means of 
 which descent is counted, is always a 
 group name. When once we have 
 any such system, whether it be totemic 
 or otherwise, then we have arrived at 
 a stage in which it is possible to ima- 
 gine that the men of one particular 
 group have marital relations only with 
 
 women of another particular group. 
 Supposing we take two of these exo- 
 gamous groups, which we will desig- 
 nate A and B. Thus men of A have 
 marital relations with women of B, 
 and vice rersa. When once these 
 groups are established, then, there is, 
 in reality, no difficulty whatever in 
 counting descent in the male just as 
 easily as in the female line. It is quite 
 true that the individual father of any 
 particular child may not be known, 
 but this, so far as counting descent 
 under the given conditions is concerned, 
 is a matter of no importance. The only 
 name which can be transmitted, and 
 by means of which descent can be 
 counted (as indeed it is amongst the 
 Australian tribes of the present day), 
 is the group name, and as women of 
 group B can only have marital relations 
 with men of group A, it follows that 
 the father of any child of a woman of 
 group B must belong to group A, and 
 therefore, though the actual father may 
 not be known, there appears to be no 
 inevitable necessity for the child to 
 pass into group B rather than into 
 group A " [Native Tribes, p. 36 note '). 
 
 ^ Above, p. 167. 
 
II PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 337 
 
 clearly distinguish between these two very different con- 
 ceptions of paternity, the physical and the social, which we 
 confound under the same name.^ 
 
 From these considerations it follows that among the We have 
 Australian tribes paternal descent is not of itself a proof of ^s"me' '° 
 social advancement ; and thus one of the arguments adduced 'hat tribes 
 by Dr. Howitt to prove the advance in culture of the coastal trace " ^ 
 as compared with the inland tribes appears to be invalid, descent 
 
 ~ r t 1 • • , , through the 
 
 So far as 1 am aware, there is no evidence that any father 
 Australian tribe has exchanged maternal for paternal formerly 
 
 , , ., ,.,.., . traced it 
 
 descent, and until such evidence is forthcoming we are not through the 
 justified in assuming that those tribes which now trace ™°*«''- 
 descent from the father formerly traced it from the mother. 
 
 On the other hand the survival of a form of group The 
 marriage among the central tribes in the basin of Lake ^^'™' °'^ 
 Eyre ^ may fairly, with Dr. Howitt, be regarded as evidence marriage 
 of the more backward state of these tribes in comparison crat^iU 
 with the tribes of the fertile coasts of Victoria and New '"bes is 
 South Wales, who practise individual marriage. Yet even their more 
 this test is not an absolute one, if Dr. Howitt is right in primitive 
 
 State. 
 
 holding that group marriage prevails, or prevailed till lately, 
 among tribes on the southern coast of South Australia.^ 
 But with regard to the greater part of the territory occupied 
 by the tribes of that coast it is to be remembered that the 
 deserts characteristic of Central Australia here extend nearly 
 to the sea,* so that the coastal tribes at this point labour 
 under some of the same natural disadvantages which have 
 retarded progress among the steppe-dwellers of the interior. 
 
 Again, in some districts on the coast the partial or The breait- 
 entire breakdown of totemism, or of the exogamous classes, fo°temi^m 
 or of both together, appears, as Dr. Howitt has pointed out, and 
 to furnish unquestionable evidence of a social advance arnon"the 
 among the tribes who have thus succeeded in emancipating coastal 
 themselves more or less completely from the thraldom of 
 
 ' The distinction between physical would bear this distinction in mind, 
 paternity and maternity on the one side ^ See above, pp. 308 sqq., and below, 
 
 and social paternity and maternity on pp. 363 sqq. 
 
 the other side has been clearly pointed ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 outbyMr. A. van GennepinhisjI^Mw South-East Australia, p. 191. See 
 
 tl Ugtndes d'Australie (Paris, 1906), below, pp. 369-371. 
 pp. Ixiii. sq. Much confusion would be * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 35. 
 
 avoided irstudents of primitive marriage See also above, p. 320 note*. 
 
 VOL. I Z 
 
338 TOTEMISM JN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA ciiAv. 
 
 these burdensome superstitions. The evidence of the decay 
 
 of totemism and exoganay in parts of South-Eastern Australia 
 
 which border on the sea will come before us in the sequel. 
 
 Totemism Further, we have seen reason to believe that the totemic 
 
 moreprimi- gygtem of the central tribes is more primitive than that of 
 
 centre than the coastal tribes both in its social and in its religious or 
 
 on the magical aspects, namely, in its permission to persons of the 
 
 same totem to marry each other, in its mode of determining 
 
 the totem of every individual, in its extensive use of magic 
 
 for the multiplication of the totemic animals and plants, and 
 
 in its allowing and even compelling men under certain 
 
 circumstances to eat their own totems.^ 
 
 Intellectual Again, whereas the central tribes are ignorant of, and 
 
 ^"? . indeed deny, the part which the father plays in the begetting 
 
 progress of offspring,^ the tribes of South-Eastern Australia on the 
 
 tribes^o*'' contrary, affirm that children emanate from the father alone 
 
 the south- and are merely nurtured by the mother.^ Lastly, whereas 
 
 ^^^'' the conception of a supreme supernatural being appears to 
 
 be wholly lacking among such of the central tribes as have 
 
 remained unaffected by European influence, the natives of 
 
 South-Eastern Australia are reported to have believed in a 
 
 mythical headman somewhere up in the sky, who might in 
 
 time have developed into a native god of a common pattern, 
 
 if his career had not been cut short by the arrival of a foreign 
 
 race with a foreign deity.* 
 
 Taken alto- Taken altogether the evidence points to the conclusion 
 
 gether the ^j^g^j. guch advances as have been made by the Australian 
 
 evidence . . . , , ., , /- -i it 
 
 points to abongmes m material culture, tribal government, family life, 
 'i"^ ^°"that knowledge of natural processes, and elements of religion, 
 the central have been made by the tribes of the coast and of those 
 on^lie^'^^ south-eastern portions of the continent where the natural 
 
 1 See above, pp. 229 s^i/., 242 syg., infantine nurture to their mother" (A. 
 251 s^. W. Hewitt, "Notes on the Australian 
 
 2 See above, pp. l8S s^^. Class Systems," journal of iAe AntAro- 
 ' "It is necessary to keep in view pological Institute, xii. (1883) p. 502). 
 
 the fact that these aborigines, even Com^sxe id.. Native Tribes of South- 
 
 while counting ' descent ' — that is East Australia, pp. 255, 263 ; A. L. 
 
 counting the class names — through the P. Cameron, " Notes on some Tribes 
 
 mother, never for a moment feel any of New South VfaXes," Journal of the 
 
 doubt, according to my experience, Anthropological Institute, xiv. (1885) 
 
 that the children originate solely from p. 352. 
 the male parent, and only owe their * See above, pp. 145 sqq. 
 
» PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 339 
 
 conditions in respect of climate, soil, and water have been most whole the 
 
 favourable to human existence by furnishing the natives with a ™"g^ ^"™'' 
 
 plentiful supply of food and of other necessaries, and thereby 'i^e coastal 
 
 enabling them to multiply and become settled ; while on the eastern 
 
 contrary the more backward and comparatively primitive tribes '"''^= '^^ 
 1 1 • 1 • 1 1 • 1 -1 /- 1 • . most ad- 
 
 are those which inhabit the and wastes of the interior, where vanced. 
 
 the hard conditions of life in the desert have had the effect, 
 which they never fail to produce, of keeping down the numbers 
 and retarding the intellectual and social progress of the 
 poverty-stricken nomads."- Yet these steps on the upward road 
 have not been made with a rigid, a mechanical uniformity ; 
 for we have seen that side by side with the most primitive 
 form of totemism the central tribes possess the most highly 
 developed type of exogamy, namely, the division of the 
 community into eight exogamous classes. The exception 
 only illustrates the truth, which the whole history of mankind 
 must impress on an attentive student, that in every human 
 society there are marked inequalities of culture ; the condi- 
 tions of progress are too manifold and too complex to allow 
 any single community or group of communities to outstrip 
 its fellows equally in every respect. Amongst the most 
 advanced peoples may be discovered relics of a ruder past ; 
 amongst the most backward races may be detected germs 
 and anticipations of a happier future.'^ 
 
 § 2. Tribes with two Classes {Kararu and Matteri) 
 and Female Descent 
 
 For our knowledge of the social and totemic systems 
 of the tribes in the south-eastern regions of Australia 
 
 ' In this conclusion I am happy to Australia, p. xii. ). 
 
 agree with Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, ^ Similarly Dr. Howitt observes : 
 
 than whom none has a better right to " Yet it may be well to keep in view 
 
 form and express an opinion as to that no two tribes are practically at the 
 
 relative position of the tribes of Central same point of development, as indicated 
 
 Australia. They say : "Taking every for instance by an advance from group 
 
 class of evidence into account, it marriage to some form of individual 
 
 appears to us to be very difficult to marriage. Thus I see no difficulty in 
 
 avoid the conclusion that the central believing that while the Arunta have 
 
 tribes, which, for long ages, have been reached male descent with segmentation 
 
 shielded by their geographical isolation into eight subclasses, they may have 
 
 from external influences, have retained retained early beliefs as to their totem 
 
 the most primitive form of customs and ancestors " (Native Tribes of South-East 
 
 beliefs" (Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 155). 
 
Researches 
 of Dr. A. 
 W. Howitt 
 in South- 
 East 
 Australia. 
 
 Tribes 
 with two 
 exogamous 
 classes and 
 female 
 descent. 
 
 340 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 we are mainly indebted to the researches of Dr. A. W. 
 Howitt and his colleague the Rev. Lorimer Fison. The 
 results of these researches, which extended over many years, 
 are summed up by Dr. A. W. Howitt in a book which 
 must always remain the standard work on the subject.^ In 
 the following survey of totemism and exogamy in South - 
 Eastern Australia I shall therefore follow in the main 
 Dr. Hewitt's arrangement and presentation of the facts, and 
 shall abstain from using later accounts, because since he 
 collected his information a good many years ago, the process 
 of extinction or decay has gone so far among the tribes of 
 Victoria and New South Wales that little or nothing can 
 now be learned with any certainty from the few survivors 
 as to the ancient customs and beliefs of their forefathers.^ 
 Dr. Howitt's last message to anthropologists was to urge on 
 them the need of the greatest caution in accepting evidence 
 from the remnants of decaying tribes. I take heed to the 
 warning and shall accordingly treat the tribes of South-East 
 Australia as, for the purposes of this study, practically extinct. 
 In the year 1907 the total number of full-blooded natives in 
 the whole State of Victoria was under two hundred.^ Hence 
 though, for the sake of convenience, I shall often speak of 
 these tribes in the present tense, the reader is to understand 
 that the customs and beliefs described in the following 
 pages belong for the most part, if not altogether, to the 
 past. 
 
 We begin our survey with those tribes which have 
 the simplest social organisation, namely, a bisection of 
 the whole community into two exogamous moieties or 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, The Native Tribes 
 of South - East Australia (London, 
 1904). In addition the student should 
 consult the joint work of Messrs. 
 Howitt and Fison, Kamilaroi and 
 Kumai (Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, 
 and Brisbane, 1880), and a series of 
 valuable papers contributed partly by 
 Mr. L. Fison, but mainly by Dr. 
 Howitt to \h& Journal of the Anthropo- 
 logical Institute of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, between the years 1880 and 
 1907. These papers will be referred 
 to from time to time in what follows. 
 
 ^ As to the decadence of the abori- 
 
 gines in this part of Australia, see 
 Prof. Baldwin Spencer, " Totemism 
 in Australia," Transactions of the Aus- 
 tralian Association for the Advancement 
 of Science (Dunedin, January 1904), 
 pp. 403 sq. ; A. W. Howitt, " The 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia," 
 Jom-nal of the Royal Anthropological 
 Institute, xxxvii. (1907) p. 278; id., 
 "A Message to Anthropologists," i?«w«iS 
 des Etudes Ethnographiques et Socio- 
 logiques, i. (1908) pp. 481 sq. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, "A Message to 
 Anthropologists," op. cit. p. 481. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 341 
 
 classes with descent in the female line. This simple and 
 doubtless ancient type of social organisation is found 
 among the tribes about Lake Eyre, in the interior of Tribes of 
 South Australia. Properly speaking, this group of tribes ^ ^*' 
 should be classed with the central tribes, for though Lake 
 Eyre, about which they cluster, lies a good deal to the 
 south of the true centre of Australia, yet the natural features 
 and climate of tht country exhibit all the characteristics of 
 those arid sun -scorched wastes which occupy the greater 
 part of the interior of the continent. The name of Lake The 
 Eyre is given to a vast expanse of barren flats and salt LakeEyre. 
 swamps, some four thousand square miles in area, which 
 through subsidence of the land now lies nearly forty feet 
 below sea-level, so that the rivers which from time to time 
 pour floods of water into it from the Queensland Hills have 
 no outlet, and the water soon evaporates in the torrid heat 
 of the sun, leaving only a saline crust behind. In summer 
 you may stand on what is called the shore of the lake and 
 sweep the horizon with a powerful glass without seeing a 
 drop of water. The landscape at such times is, to the last 
 degree, desolate and forbidding, indeed one of the most 
 dismal on earth, for the country all round these salt flats 
 is a dreary wilderness of bare sun-baked clay pans, stony 
 deserts, where the pebbles are set so thick that a cart-wheel 
 leaves no rut, or barren sand-dunes which stretch away into 
 the distance with the regularity and monotony of railway 
 embankments. To add to the gloom of the scenery the sky, 
 even in summer, is often overcast for days with banks of 
 heavy clouds which sometimes hang low as if to mock the 
 parched and thirsty wanderer with the sight of water beyond 
 his reach. The prevailing hue of earth and heaven is a 
 dingy monotonous grey ; the distance is often blotted by a 
 low dull haze. Not a sound is to be heard, not a living 
 thing is to be seen, the only motion is that of the cloud-rack 
 drifting sullenly across the leaden sky. No wonder that the 
 natives of this forlorn region should be amongst the lowest 
 even of the low Australian savages ; no wonder that at times, 
 driven to desperation by the droughts which have blasted 
 their land into a desert, they should, like the prophets of 
 Baal, have slashed themselves with knives and called with 
 
342 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 loud cries on the spirits to send rain from the pitiless heaven.^ 
 The advent of Europeans has practically exterminated these 
 children of the wilds without enabling their supplanters per- 
 manently to occupy the land. Deserted homesteads and 
 wire-fences straggling on the ground now mark the retreat 
 of the white man from these realms of sterility and death.^ 
 Though the Before proceeding to give an account of the social and 
 aboriVtaes totemic system of the tribes, now much reduced in numbers, 
 are the which Still inhabit these dreary solitudes, I think it well to 
 savages Correct a misapprehension which appears to exist as to the 
 about place assigned by modern anthropologists to the Australian 
 possess race in general and to the tribes of Lake Eyre in particular. 
 accurate J)- }ja,s been assumed ' that, because we rank the Australian 
 
 informa- 
 tion they aborigines among the lowest races of mankind, we thereby 
 
 nece'ssarii '"^P^y that they are degraded, stupid, lazy, brutal, and so 
 
 degraded, forth. The assumption rests on a confusion of thought. 
 
 Lowness in the scale of humanity is confounded with 
 
 degradation, with which it has no necessary connection. 
 
 Similarly in the animal creation the ant, the bee, the 
 
 elephant, and the dog are low in the scale by comparison 
 
 with man, but they are not degraded, and it would be a 
 
 calumny to describe them as stupid, lazy, brutal, and so on ; 
 
 for many of these creatures display a degree of intelligence 
 
 and industry, of courage and affection which should put 
 
 many men to shame. In regard to the Australian aborigines 
 
 all that modern anthropology maintains is that, on the ground 
 
 of the comparatively primitive nature of their material culture, 
 
 superstitious beliefs, and social customs, they rank as the 
 
 lowest of all the existing races of men about whom we 
 
 possess accurate information. The pygmies of Central 
 
 Africa may be, and the extinct Tasmanians almost certainly 
 
 were, still lower than the Australians in the scale of humanity, 
 
 but about them we have practically no information of any 
 
 value. To set the Australians above the Bantu and negro 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, "The Dieri and (London, 1906), pp. 21, 29 sq., 47, 
 
 other Tribes of Central Australia," 51 sq., 57, 69, 92 sq., 101, \Qi sqq., 
 
 Joui-nal of the Anthropological Institute, 109 sq., 112 sq., I20 sqq., 1 34, 1 56, 
 
 XX. (1 89 1) pp. 91-93. etc. See also his Australasia, i. 95, 
 
 2 The extreme desolation of the 485-487 ; A. R. Wallace, Australasia, 
 
 basin of Lake Eyre is graphically de- i. 23. 
 
 picted by Professor J. W. Gregory in 3 gy p^gf j_ -yv. Gregory, The 
 
 his book, The Dead Heart of Australia Dead Heart of Australia, pp. 165 sqq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 343 
 
 races of Africa would be absurd ; for the Bantus and negroes 
 have tamed cattle, cultivated the ground, invented or at 
 least practised weaving and pottery, worked the metals, 
 built cities, and founded kingdoms, and the Australians 
 have done none of these things. But though the Australians 
 in their long isolation from the rest of the world have 
 lagged far behind other races in the evolution of culture, 
 they exhibit, so, far as I can judge, no symptom at all of 
 physical, mental, or social degradation ; on the contrary 
 they appear to me to display both in their traditions and 
 in their customs unequivocal signs of an advance from a 
 state of savagery much lower than that in which they were 
 found by Europeans. To these marks of progress I have 
 already repeatedly called attention in the course of this work, 
 and I shall have occasion to do so again in the sequel. 
 Indeed I know of no savages who can properly be described 
 as degraded except such as have been corrupted by contact 
 with civilisation, learning the vices without acquiring the 
 virtues of the higher race. 
 
 In classing the Australians, on the ground of their Pitt-Rivers 
 material culture, social institutions, and superstitious beliefs, □"aceof'the 
 at the bottom of all the existing races of men about whom Australian 
 we are accurately informed, I am happy to agree with an fn°h'f'"^^ 
 inquirer equally conspicuous for the exactness of his know- human 
 ledge and the sobriety of his judgment, the late General 
 Pitt - Rivers, who reached the same conclusion from a 
 comparison of the Australian weapons and tools with those 
 of other savages. He observes : " Lowest amongst the 
 existing races of the world of whom we have any accurate 
 knowledge are the Australians. All their weapons assimilate 
 to the forms of nature ; all their wooden weapons are con- 
 structed on the grain of the wood, and consequently their 
 curves are the curves of the branches out of which they 
 were constructed. In every instance in which I have 
 attempted to arrange my collection in sequence, so as to 
 trace the higher forms from natural forms, the weapons of 
 the Australians have found their place lowest in the scale, 
 because they assimilate most closely to the natural forms." ^ 
 
 ' Lieutenant-General A. Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, The Evolution of Culture 
 (Oxford, 1906), p. II. 
 
344 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Position The tribes of the Lake Eyre basin occupy, or used to 
 
 andnum- Qccupy, a territory about three hundred miles long from 
 
 Dieri. north to south by three hundred miles broad from east to 
 
 west. Of these the Dieri tribe, inhabiting the lower course 
 
 of the Barcoo River on the east and south-east side of Lake 
 
 Eyre, was the largest and most important, and it may be 
 
 taken as typical of the rest, all of which appear to have 
 
 agreed with it in being divided into two exogamous moieties 
 
 or classes with descent in the female line.^ At the present 
 
 day the numbers of the Dieri have dwindled to one hundred 
 
 and fifty all told, and a mission - station of the German 
 
 Lutheran Church has been established among them since 
 
 1 866.^ The following account of their totemic and social 
 
 system is based in large part on the evidence of men who 
 
 knew the tribe in their purely savage state many years ago. 
 
 Exogam- The Dieri are divided into two exogamous intermarrying 
 
 ous classes jjjoieties or classes which bear the names of Kararu and Matteri 
 
 and totem 
 
 clans of the respectively. Each moiety or class is again subdivided into 
 a number of totem clans. To the exogamous moieties or 
 classes and to the totem clans the Dieri give the name of 
 murdus or, more correctly, madas? The following is a list of 
 the Dieri totem clans, so far as they have been ascertained, but 
 the list is incomplete.* In it the clans are arranged under 
 the classes (moieties or phratries) to which they belong. 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, "The Dieri aura) are assigned as totems to the 
 
 and other Kindred Tribes of Central Kararu moiety, and iguana (kopiri) 
 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- and Duboisia Patersoni (pitcheri) are 
 
 logical Institute, xx. (1 89 1) pp. 31 assigned as totems to the Matteri 
 
 sqq. ; id.. Native Tribes of South-East moiety. None of these five seems 
 
 Australia, pp. 44 sq. to find a place in the later list. In 
 
 ^ J. W. Gregory, The Dead Heart the Matteri moiety the fish totem 
 
 of Australia, pp. 59 sq., 191. (tnariara) of the later list is called a 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of mullet in the earlier, and the kirkapara 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 90 sq., 779 totem, for which no English equivalent 
 
 note 2. is given in the later list, is called 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 91. "bone fish" in the earlier. The 
 
 Dr. Howitt's earlier list of the Dieri list of Dieri totems given by S. Gason 
 
 totems (" The Dieri and other Kindred includes kangaroo (chookooroo), iguana 
 
 Tribes of Central Australia, "yoarwa/o/' (cappirrie), and the vegetable seed 
 
 the Anthropological Institute, xx. {1891) cannaarra, as well as rain, mice, emu, 
 
 p. 38) differs from his later list in rat, grub (purdie), fish (murkara), dog, 
 
 several particulars. I have reproduced and crow. But Gason does not say 
 
 the later as presumably the more how the totems are distributed between 
 
 correct. In the earlier list kangaroo the moieties or classes. See Journal 
 
 (chukuru), the mulga tree {malia), and of the Anthropological Institute, xxiv. 
 
 the seed of Portulacca oleracea (kan- (1895) pp. 167 sq. 
 
TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 
 
 345 
 
 DiERi Tribe 
 Classes and Totems 
 
 Kararu 
 
 Matteri 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Rain, carpet-snake, crow, native companion, red ochre, a 
 small frog, seed of Claytonia sp., a rat {maiaru), a 
 bat (tapaiuru), the pan-beetle {Helaeus perforatus), 
 milketyelparu, a frog (kaladiri), the rabbit-bandicoot, 
 shrew-mouse (Jiunta), a small mouse {karabana). 
 
 A caterpillar, {muluru, the Witchetty grub of Spencer 
 and Gillen), cormorant, emu, eagle-hawk, a fish. 
 Acacia sp., dingo, native cat, kirhapara (bone fish ?), 
 small marsupial {kokula), kangaroo rat. 
 
 The marriage rule is that a man must always marry a Rules of 
 woman of the other moiety or class ; in other words, Kararu "^'^^cent 
 men must marry Matteri women, and conversely Matteri among the 
 men must marry Kararu women. In regard to totems, a °'*"' 
 man is free to marry a woman of any totem in the other 
 moiety of the tribe. For example, a Kararu man of the 
 rain totem may marry a Matteri woman of the caterpillar 
 totem, or of the cormorant totem, or of the emu totem, or 
 of the eagle-hawk totem, etc. Both the class (moiety) and 
 the totem clan are hereditary in the female line ; in other 
 words, every child takes both of them from his or her mother. 
 Thus, if a Kararu man of the rain totem marries a Matteri 
 woman of the caterpillar totem, then their children, both 
 male and female, will be Matteri-caterpillars ; if a Kararu 
 man of the rain totem marries a Matteri woman of the 
 cormorant totem, then their children, both male and female, 
 will be Matteri-cormorants. Or if a Matteri man of the 
 emu totem marries a Kararu woman of the carpet-snake 
 totem, then their children will be Kararu-carpet-snakes ; if 
 he marries a Kararu woman of the crow totem, then the 
 children will be Kararu-crows, and so on.^ 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of pological Imtitute, xvii. (1888) p. 186) 
 
 Smith-East Australia, ■f^. 175 jy. The is incorrect. See Dr. A. W. Howitt, 
 
 •tatement of S. Gason that men take in Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 
 their father's totem and women their stitute, xx. (1891) pp. 36x7. 
 mother's totem {Journal of the Anthro- 
 
346 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Prohibition Although a two-class system, like a four-class system, 
 ofmarriage ^j^gg jjqj. ^f j^ggif prevent the marriage of a man's children 
 mans ' with his sister's children,^ yet the Dieri practically bar such 
 '^^'d'hfs" marriages by placing a man's children in the relation 
 sister's of kami (which means non- marriageable) to his sister's 
 children, children ; but in the next generation the children of 
 these children are noa or marriageable to each other.^ 
 The effect of this prohibition is, in conjunction with the 
 class system, to bar all marriages between first cousins. 
 For when first cousins are the children of two brothers 
 or of two sisters, their union is barred by the class system ; ' 
 and in the remaining case, when first cousins are the 
 children of a brother and a sister respectively, though 
 their marriage is not barred by the class system, yet it 
 is specially guarded against by this Dieri rule which makes 
 such cousins kami or non-marriageable with each other. 
 Thus in regard to such first cousins, the children of a 
 brother and a sister respectively, the Dieri system presents 
 a remarkable contrast to the Urabunna system ; for whereas 
 under the Urabunna system a man's proper wife is his 
 first cousin, the daughter of his mother's elder brother or 
 of his father's elder sister,* these female first cousins are 
 under the Dieri system prohibited to him by a special 
 rule. We cannot doubt that the Urabunna custom which 
 enjoins a man to marry one of his first cousins is older 
 than the Dieri custom which forbids him to do so. The 
 Dieri prohibition is clearly an innovation on the older 
 system which permitted and even recommended certain 
 consanguineous marriages ; it is another step taken by 
 these savages towards the accomplishment of that object at 
 which their whole class system was directly aimed, namely, 
 the prevention of the marriage of near kin. This practical 
 prohibition of a marriage which is not barred by the class 
 system is interesting, because it shews how tribal opinion may 
 condemn and prevent certain unions which yet, so far as the 
 class rules are concerned, might be lawfully contracted. We 
 may reasonably suppose that all the marriages which are now 
 
 1 Above, pp. 276 sq. 3 See above, p. 181. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 189. * See above, pp. 177 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 347 
 
 formally interdicted by the various exogamous class systems, 
 were in like manner informally reprobated by public opinion 
 before the cumbrous machinery of exogamy was put in 
 operation against them. In other words, we may assume 
 that a moral objection to such marriages always preceded, 
 and was the cause of, their legal prohibition. 
 
 According to S. Gason,^ the Dieri do not pay any Relations 
 particular respect to their totems, and will kill and eat them fohi/^otem 
 whenever they are edible animals or plants. There is a and to 
 strong feeling of fellowship between all persons of the same "f^^^ 
 totem. When a visitor arrives in camp, he is entertained 'o'em clan, 
 by his relatives or, in default of them, by people of his 
 totem. " Those of the same totem keep together, eat and 
 live together, and lend each other their women. Even 
 strangers from a distance of three or four hundred miles are 
 thus hospitably entertained. The first question is, ' Minna 
 Murdu ? ' that is to say, ' What is your totem ? ' The 
 surrounding and distant tribes have some totems different 
 to those of the Dieri, but these can always find out which 
 are the same." ^ 
 
 To account for the origin of their totems the Dieri tell Dieri 
 various stories about the Mura-muras, the mythical pre- jhl^or'l^n 
 decessors and prototypes of the tribe, who, like the alcheringa of their 
 ancestors of the Arunta, are said to have wandered about ° *'"°' 
 the country instituting the rites and ceremonies which are 
 still, or were till lately, observed by their descendants or 
 successors. These Mura-muras were men, women, and 
 children who led the same sort of life as the Dieri, but were 
 far more powerful magicians than even the medicine-men of 
 the present day claim to be. They gave names to the 
 natural features of the country, such as the rocks and the 
 rivers, which they met with in their wanderings ; and when 
 their work was done they were themselves turned into rocks 
 or petrified tree-trunks, which the natives still point out as 
 indisputable evidence of the truth of the legends.* One of 
 
 ' In JourtuU of the Anthropological Tribes of Central Australia, ''_/(?«ma/^ 
 
 Institute, xvii. (1888) p. 186 j id., xxiv. the Anthropological Institute, xx. (1891) 
 
 (189s) p. 168. pp. 41 sq. 
 
 • Rev. H. Vogelsang, of the Lutheran ' These legends of the it/»>-a-OT»rax 
 
 Mission to the Dieri, quoted by A. W. were collected for Dr. Howitt by the 
 
 Howitt, " The Dieri and other Kindred Rev. Otto Siebert, missionary to the 
 
Another 
 Dieri 
 legend of 
 the origin 
 of their 
 totems. 
 
 348 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 the tales which the Dieri tell to explain the origin of the 
 totems {murdus, madas) runs as follows. They say that in 
 the beginning the earth opened in the midst of Perigundi 
 Lake and the totems {murdus or madas) came trooping out, 
 one after the other. Out came the crow, and the shell 
 parakeet, and the emu, and all the rest. Being as yet 
 imperfectly formed and without members or organs of sense, 
 they laid themselves down on the sandhills which surrounded 
 the lake then just as they do now. It was a bright day, 
 and the totems lay basking in the sunshine, till at last, 
 refreshed and invigorated by it, they stood up as human 
 beings {kand) and dispersed in all directions. That is why 
 people of the same totem are now scattered all over the 
 country. You may still see the island in the lake out of 
 which the totems came trooping long ago.^ 
 
 Another Dieri story to explain the origin of the totems, 
 or at least of the totem names, runs thus. Once upon a 
 time there was a Mura-mura man and his name was Mandra- 
 mankana. He came to the neighbourhood of Pando, 
 which the white men call Lake Hope. There he saw two 
 girls, who jeered at him, and when he made love to them, 
 they gave him the slip. So he went forth meditating 
 revenge, and as he went he sang songs which made the fruit 
 to grow, some bitter and some sweet. The two girls found 
 these plants and they liked the sweet fruit very much. 
 After a time they came to a tanyu bush, laden with its red 
 and yellow fruit. But the sly Mandra-mankana was lurking 
 in the bush, and when the two girls, suspecting nothing, drew 
 near, he killed them both and cut off their breasts. Coming 
 to the camp of the murdered damsels, he decked himself out 
 in paint and feathers, hung the breasts of the girls on his 
 chest, and danced before the people. But two young men 
 recognised the breasts of his victims and knocked him very 
 hard on the head, so that it split open, and then all the 
 
 Dieri at Killalpanina on the Cooper 
 River. See A. W. Hewitt and Otto 
 Siebert, " Legends of the Dieri and 
 Kindred Tribes of Central Australia," 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 xxxiv. (1904) pp. \oo sqq.; Miss Mary 
 E. B. Howitt, " Some Native Legends 
 
 from Central Australia," Folk-lore, xiii. 
 (1902) pp. 403 sqq. ; A. W. Howitt, 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, 
 pp. 90, 475 sqq., 779 sqq. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 476, T19sqq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 349 
 
 people fell upon him ; even the little children struck him 
 with their tiny fists. So they buried him and laid wood on 
 his grave, and went away. One day a crow perched on the 
 grave, and pecked thrice at the wood, and said " Caw ! caw ! 
 caw I " Then the dead man awoke, and came out of the 
 grave, and looked about, but nobody was to be seen. 
 However, he perceived the footprints of the people, and 
 he followed them up to their new camp on Cooper's 
 Creek. When he came up with them, they were wading 
 and splashing in the river, driving the fish before them with 
 bushes and grass. So he hid himself in the water and, 
 opening his mouth very wide, he swallowed them all up, 
 men, fish, grass, water, everything. Some few of the people 
 who were at a distance saw with alarm a monster in the 
 water with his arms round their comrades, hugging them to 
 himself. A remnant escaped by jumping over his arms. As 
 they ran away, the Mura-mura man called " Gobbler-up-of- 
 Grass" looked after them and gave to each of them as 
 he ran his totem name. Those who ran to the north were 
 the seed of the manyura, the bat, a marsupial rat {maiaru), 
 a small marsupial {palyard), the shell parakeet, the cormorant, 
 the eagle-hawk, the emu, the crow, a caterpillar {j>adi), called 
 by the whites the witchetty grub, red ochre, the carpet-snake, 
 and the Duboisia Hopwoodii. These, as I said before, all 
 ran away to the north. Those that ran to the south-east 
 were the kangaroo, the dingo, the jew lizard, the lace lizard 
 or iguana, a marsupial rat {kokula), a small marsupial {punta), 
 another small marsupial {karabana), the native companion, 
 the rain, a crane, a wfeter-rat, the native cat {pira-moku), a 
 frog {kaladiri), another frog {tidnamard), the curlew, and the 
 kangaroo rat. Those who ran to the south were a fish 
 {makara, the native perch), the native cat {jikaurd), the 
 box-tree {Eucalyptus microthecd), the rabbit-bandicoot or 
 bush wallaby {Paragak lagotis), and one more [kirhapard), 
 whose English name is uncertain, perhaps the eel. When 
 they were all gone, the mura-mura came out of the 
 water and vomited. As he did so, all his teeth fell 
 out, and they are still to be seen at Manatandri. After 
 that he went a little further off, sat down, and died. His 
 body turned into stone, and you may see it looking 
 
350 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 like a rock on the Cooper Creek to the north of Lake 
 Hope.i 
 
 In this latter legend the list of names helps to supple- 
 ment the list of totem clans which has already been given,^ 
 and it probably throws light on the geographical distribution 
 of the clans ; for we can hardly doubt that the majority 
 of each totem clan was found in that quarter to which its 
 mythical ancestor was said to have run in order to escape 
 the maw of the mura-mura man in the river. 
 Dieri The Dieri have also a legend of the origin of exogamy. 
 
 thf orlg'in -^s reported by S. Gason the legend runs thus : " Murdoo 
 ofexogamy. (subdivision of tribe into families). Murdoo means taste, but 
 in its primary and larger signification implies family, founded 
 on the following tradition. After the creation, as previously 
 related, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and others of the 
 closest kin intermarried promiscuously, until the evil effects 
 of these alliances becoming manifest, a council of the chiefs 
 was assembled to consider in what way they might be 
 averted, the result of their deliberations being a petition to 
 the Mooramoora, in answer to which he ordered that the 
 tribe should be divided into branches, and distinguished one 
 from the other by different names, after objects animate and 
 inanimate, such as dogs, mice, emu, rain, iguana, and so forth, 
 the members of any such branch not to intermarry, but with 
 permission for one branch to mingle with another. Thus 
 the son of a dog might not marry the daughter of a dog, 
 but either might form an alliance with a mouse, an emu, a 
 rat, or other family. This custom is still observed, and the 
 first question asked of a stranger is, ' What murdoo ? ' namely. 
 Of what family are you ? " ^ 
 Another In this version of the legend the Mooramoora, whom 
 
 thrJegend. Gason regarded as a Good Spirit or deity,* is clearly one 
 of the Mura-muras, the mythical predecessors or ancestors 
 of the Dieri.^ The version of the same legend which the 
 Rev. Otto Siebert, a missionary to the Dieri, obtained for 
 Dr. A. W. Howitt, is as follows : " The several families 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of in Native Tribes of South Australia, 
 South-East Australia, pp. 476, 781- pp. 260 sq. 
 
 2 Above, pp. 344 sq. * S- ^^°"' '^- "'• P- 260- 
 ^ S. Gason, " The Dieyerie Tribe," ' See above, pp. 148 sq. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 35' 
 
 of Murdus married in themselves without shame. This 
 occasioned great confusion, and sexual disorder became 
 predominant. The Pinnarus (elders) observing this, came 
 together to consider how these evils might be avoided. 
 They agreed that the families should be divided, and that no 
 member of a segment should marry within it. In accordance 
 with this it was ordered that ' Yidni padi madu {murdu) 
 wapanai kaualka kuraterila, yidni kaualka wapanai warugatti 
 kuraterila, etc' That is, ' Thou grub totem, go to produce 
 crow ; thou crow totem, go to produce emu, etc.,' and so on 
 for the other totems." ^ 
 
 Both these versions of the legend agree in alleging that The tradi- 
 there was a time when the present restrictions on marriage |j,°e"ex''o^.' 
 were unknown, and when consequently near kinsfolk married gamous 
 among themselves without shame ; both agree in alleging ^^\\^^V^ 
 •that the exogamous rules were deliberately introduced for ateiy intro- 
 the purpose of regulating the intercourse of the sexes and the pur- 
 putting an end to a state of sexual promiscuity which had p°s^ °f. 
 come to be regarded as a great evil. These traditions, mfm^ge 
 therefore, accord perfectly with the conclusion, which we accords 
 
 t I , . . . > ^ . . . . .. ■ with other 
 
 have reached mdependently from the consideration of other evidence. 
 evidence, that the exogamous prohibitions were deliberately 
 devised and enforced for the sake of preventing the union 
 in marriage of persons whom the natives regarded as too 
 near of kin.** But, as Dr. Howitt has pointed out, there is 
 a discrepancy between the two versions of the Dieri legend 
 as to the introduction of exogamy. For whereas in Gason's 
 version the totem clans were introduced simultaneously with, 
 and as a means of carrying out, the exogamous rules, in Mr. 
 Siebert's version the totem clans existed before the intro- 
 duction of exogamy and had been till then endogamous, 
 that is, people of the same totem clan had been free 
 to marry each other. Thus Siebert's version agrees with 
 the traditions of the other Central Australian tribes which 
 represent endogamy as habitually practised by the totem 
 clans before the introduction of the exogamous classes.* 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- 
 
 South-Easl Australia, p. 481 ; A. W. logical Institute, xxxiv. (1904) p. 129. 
 Howitt and Otto Siebert, " Legends of ' See above, pp. 273 sqq. 
 
 the Dieri and Kindred Tribes of Central ' See above, pp. 251 sq. 
 
352 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 This agreement is a strong argument in favour of the truth 
 icuiin of the tradition. The Kulin tribe of Victoria had a similar 
 legend legrend that their ancestors used to marry without any regard 
 
 of the ° . . T> ••! I 
 
 origin of to kinship, until two medicme-men went up to ±5unjiJ, the 
 
 exogamy, gj-g^j. mythical headman of the tribe in the sky, and requested 
 
 that the people should divide themselves into two exogamous 
 
 classes. Bunjil granted their request and ordained that 
 
 one of these classes should be called Bunjil (eagle-hawk) 
 
 and the other Waang (crow).^ 
 
 The tradi- With regard to the agency by which these great changes 
 
 exo"cI^y °f tribal custom were introduced, it is to be observed that in 
 
 was intio- Gason's versiou of the Dieri legend the innovation is ascribed 
 
 the^oider to the mythical predecessors or ancestors of the people 
 
 men or by (the Mura-muras), that in Mr. Siebert's version it is attri- 
 
 men is buted to the tribal elders, and that in the Kulin legend it 
 
 confirmed jg ggj. jown to two medicine- men, who had previously 
 
 practice of obtained the sanction of Bunjil, the mythical headman of 
 
 the present |.]^g tribe. In SO far as these stories refer the introduction 
 
 day. 
 
 of social reform to the authority of the older men, and 
 
 especially of the medicine-men, they are confirmed by what 
 
 appears to be the practice of the present day ; for the best 
 
 modern observers of the Australian aborigines are of opinion 
 
 that if the elders, who practically rule the tribe, agree on the 
 
 advisability of introducing even an important change of 
 
 custom, they have it in their power to persuade the people 
 
 Dr. to adopt it. Thus Dr. Howitt says : " From what I know 
 
 vieTof^ of the Australian savage I can see very clearly how such a 
 
 the way social change might be brought about. They universally 
 
 social"^ believe that their deceased ancestors and kindred visit them 
 
 changes during sleep, and counsel or warn them against dangers, or 
 
 may be . o o < 
 
 introduced communicate to them song-charms against magic. I have 
 in Aus- known many such cases, and I also know that the medicine- 
 
 tralian . ; ' 
 
 tribes. men see visions that are to them realities. Such a man if 
 of great repute in his tribe might readily bring about a 
 social change, by announcing to his fellow medicine-men a 
 command received from some supernatural being such as 
 Kutchi of the Dieri, Bunjil of the Wurunjerri, or Daramulun 
 of the Coast Murring. If they received it favourably, the 
 next step might be to announce it to the assembled head- 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 126, 491. 
 
I TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 353 
 
 men at one of the ceremonial gatherings as a supernatural 
 command, and this would be accepted as true without 
 question by the tribes-people." ^ As to the particular reform 
 with which we are here concerned, Dr. Howitt writes : " I 
 cannot see any reason to doubt that the first division of 
 Australian communities into two exogamous intermarrying 
 communes was an intentional act arising from within the 
 commune prior to its division. The evidence which I have 
 before me, drawn from the existing customs and beliefs of 
 the aborigines, not only leads me to that conclusion, but 
 also to the further conclusion that the movement itself 
 probably arose within the council of elders, in which the 
 tribal wizard, the professed communicant with ancestral 
 spirits, holds no mean place. The change, whenever it was 
 effected, must, I think, have been announced as having been 
 directed by the spirits of the deceased ancestors {e.g. Mura 
 Mura of the Dieri), or by the Headman of Spiritland 
 himself {e.g. Bunjil of the Kulin, or Daramulun of the 
 Murring)." ^ 
 
 A similar view as to the agency by which changes of Spencer 
 tribal custom are effected among the Australian aborigines vi"t'^of ™ ^ 
 is held by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, who have had the way 
 excellent opportunities of forming an opinion on the sub- sodai"^ 
 ject. Speaking of the headmen of the central tribes they changes 
 observe : " It is undoubtedly by means of the meetings g'natri^th 
 and consultations of leading men such as these that changes influential 
 
 J 1 . 1 t #T^f . "len and 
 
 m regard to customs can be introduced. The savage is gradually 
 essentially a conservative. What was considered by his ^pi'ead 
 father and, more important still, by his grandfather and to gr 
 great-grandfather, to be the right and proper thing to do, ^1"^^'°^ 
 is the only right and proper thing for him. But yet at the tribe. 
 same time, despite this very strong feeling, changes are 
 introduced. It is these old men, the heads of the totem ic 
 groups, who are most interested in all matters concerned 
 with tribal government and custom. If we are safe in 
 regarding the traditions of the different tribes as affording 
 evidence of any value, it is interesting to find that not a few 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Australian Class Systems," Journal 
 
 StiM-Eati Australia, pp. 89 sq. of the Anthropological Institute, xii. 
 
 'A. W; Howitt, "Notes on the (1883) pp. 500 xjf. 
 
 VOL. I 2 A 
 
 group 
 
354 TOTEM ISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 of them refer to changes introduced by special individuals of 
 note. Almost every tribe has a tradition of special men or 
 women who first introduced the stone knife for use at 
 initiation, in place of the fire-stick, which previously had 
 caused the deaths of many of the young men. So again 
 every tribe ascribes the introduction of the present marriage 
 system to special eminent alcheringa ancestors. In some 
 cases, further, we find that some special ancestor proposed a 
 change, and was supported in this by some other individual. 
 Probably this really explains what has taken place in the 
 past and is still going on in the present. Every now and 
 again there arises a man of superior ability to his fellows ; 
 indeed in every tribe there are always one or two individuals 
 who are regarded as more learned than the others, and to 
 whom special respect is paid. During the performance of 
 important ceremonies, when large numbers of the tribe and 
 even members of other tribes are gathered together, the 
 informal council of the leading men is constantly meeting. 
 Matters of tribal interest are discussed day after day. In 
 fact, unless one has been present at these tribal gatherings, 
 which often extend over two or three months, it is difficult 
 to realise the extent to which the thoughts of the natives 
 are occupied with matters of this kind. A change may 
 perhaps have been locally introduced by some strong man 
 acting in conjunction with the older men of his own 
 group. This is discussed amongst the various leading 
 men when they meet together, and then, if the innovation 
 gains the support of other leaders, it will be adopted 
 and will gradually come to be recognised as the right 
 thing." 1 
 Another And elsewhere Spencer and Gillen tell us that "after 
 
 oAhrir"' carefully watching the natives during the performance of 
 view of the their ceremonies and endeavouring as best we could to enter 
 
 means by • . ,i • r i* i • i . 
 
 which 'nto their feelmgs, to thmk as they did, and to become for 
 social the time being one of themselves, we came to the conclusion 
 
 reforms \ -r 
 
 may be that it One Or two of the most powerful men settled upon the 
 
 carried out advisability of introducing some change, even an important one, 
 
 tribes. it would be quite possible for this to be agreed upon and carried 
 
 out. That changes have been introduced, in fact, are still 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 26 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 355 
 
 being introduced, is a matter of certainty ; the difficulty to 
 be explained is, how in face of the rigid conservatism of the 
 native, which may be said to be one of his leading features, 
 such changes can possibly even be mooted. The only 
 possible chance is by means of the old men, and, in the case 
 of the Arunta, amongst whom the local feeling is very 
 strong, they have opportunities of a special nature. Without 
 .belonging to the same group, men who inhabit localities 
 close to one another are more closely associated than men 
 living at a distance from one another, and, as a matter of 
 fact, this local bond is strongly marked — indeed so marked 
 was it during the performance of their sacred ceremonies 
 that we constantly found it necessary to use the term ' local 
 relationship.' Groups which are contiguous locally are 
 constantly meeting to perform ceremonies ; and among the 
 alatunjas [headmen] who thus come together and direct 
 proceedings there is perfectly sure, every now and again, to 
 be one who stands pre-eminent by reason of superior ability, 
 and to him, especially on an occasion such as this, great 
 respect is always paid. It would be by no means impossible 
 for him to propose to the other older men the introduction 
 of a change, which, after discussing it, the alatunjas of the 
 local groups gathered together might come to the conclusion 
 was a good one, and, if they did so, then it would be adopted 
 in that district. After a time a still larger meeting of the 
 tribe, with head men from a still wider area . . . might be 
 held. At this the change locally introduced would, without 
 fail, be discussed. The man who first started it would 
 certainly have the support of his local friends, provided they 
 had in the first instance agreed upon the advisability of its 
 introduction, and not only this, but the chances are that he 
 would have the support of the head men of other local 
 groups of the same designation as his own. Everything 
 would, in fact, depend upon the status of the original 
 proposer of the change ; but, granted the existence of a 
 man with sufficient ability to think out the details of any 
 change, then, owing partly to the strong development of the 
 local feeling, and partly to the feeling of kinship between 
 groups of the same designation, wherever their local habita- 
 tion may be, it seems quite possible that the markedly 
 
356 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 conservative tendency of the natives in regard to customs 
 handed down to them from their ancestors may every now 
 and then be overcome, and some change, even a radical one, 
 be introduced. The traditions of the tribe indicate, it may 
 be noticed, their recognition of the fact that customs have 
 varied from time to time. They have, for example, traditions 
 dealing with supposed ancestors, some of whom introduced, 
 and others of whom changed, the method of initiation. 
 Tradition also indicates ancestors belonging to particular 
 local groups who changed an older into the present marriage 
 system, and these traditions all deal with special powerful 
 individuals by whom the changes were introduced." ^ Among 
 the qualities which confer this commanding influence on certain 
 men a knowledge of ancient lore and skill in magic are par- 
 ticularly mentioned.^ 
 Codes of Hence if the best authorities on the subject are right, 
 
 oftlnten *^^ elaborate class system of the Australian aborigines may 
 fathered have Originated with a single man of keener mind and 
 being™'' stronger character than his fellows, who persuaded them 
 to accept his invention either on its own merits or as a 
 revelation directly imparted to him by the higher powers. 
 Thus it would seem that among these rude savages we 
 may detect the germ of that policy which, among more 
 civilised peoples, has led so many legislators to father their 
 codes on gods or heroes of the remote past. For example, 
 the most famous body of ancient Hindoo law is said to have 
 been revealed to human sages by the divine or heroic Manu, 
 who figures in legends as the father of mankind, the founder 
 of social and moral order, the author of legal maxims, and 
 especially as the inventor of sacrificial rites — in short, as 
 what the Central Australians would call an alcheringa 
 ancestor or a mura-mitra? The sacred laws of the ancient 
 Persians, embodied in the Avesta, are said to have been 
 revealed by the supreme deity Ahura Mazda to the prophet 
 Zoroaster,* just as the sacred laws of the Hebrews were 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 4 The Zend-Avesta, translated by 
 
 of Central Australia, ^^^: \2, \^ sq. J. Darmesteter, part i. pp. 4 sqq. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 12. (Sacred Books of the East, vol. iv.) i 
 
 The Laws of Manu, translated by A. V. Williams Jackson, Zoroaster, the 
 
 G. Biihler, pp. xii. Ivii. sqq., \ sqq. Prophet of Iran (New York, 1901), 
 
 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxv.). pp. 36 sqq. 
 
n TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 357 
 
 revealed by Jehovah to Moses. The Babylonian King 
 Hammurabi apparently claimed to have received his famous 
 code direct from the Sun-god/ and Lycurgus was popu- 
 larly supposed to have received the Spartan laws from the 
 inspired lips of the Delphic priestess,^ So too the Greeks 
 thought that King Minos obtained the Cretan laws from the 
 tnouth of Zeus himself in the sacred Dictsan cave,^ and 
 the Romans imagined that King Numa instituted their 
 sacrificial rites and ceremonies through the inspiration of 
 the nymph Egeria, with whom he consorted in her holy 
 grove.^ It is thus that in many lands and many ages 
 religion or superstition is invoked to enforce the dictates of 
 human wisdom or folly upon the more credulous portion of 
 mankind. 
 
 Like the central and northern tribes described by Spencer Magical 
 and Gillen, the Dieri perform magical ceremonies for the multi- pgrfOTmed 
 plication of their totemic animals, no doubt with the intention by the 
 of thereby increasing the food -supply of the tribe. For the multi- 
 example, the carpet-snake (woma) and the lace-lizard or iguana plication 
 (Jiaperi or kapiri) are two of their totems,^ and in order to snakes 
 produce a plentiful crop of these reptiles, members of the Dieri, and lace- 
 Yaurorka, Yantruwunta, Marula, Yelyuyendi, Karanguru, and which are 
 Ngameni tribes assemble periodically at Kudna-ngauana on 'otems"'^"^ 
 the Cooper River. Here there is a certain sandhill, under 
 which a niura-mura named Minkani is supposed to live in 
 a cave. To judge from the description of him, he seems to 
 be one of those fossil beasts or reptiles which are found in 
 the deltas of rivers flowing into Lake Eyre. Such fossil 
 bones are called kadimarkara by the Dieri. When the 
 
 ' This is not directly alleged in the carnasensis, Antiquit. Roman, ii. 6i. 
 
 code itself, but at the head of the now ' piato, Minos, 13 sq., pp. 319 sq.; 
 
 celebrated monument on which the Strabo, xvi. 2. 38, p. 762 ; Dionysius 
 
 code is inscribed there is carved a Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Roman, ii. 
 
 figure of the king in an attitude of 61. 
 
 adoration before the sun -god, and if * Livy, i. 19. S; Ovid, Fasti, iii. 
 
 H. Winckler is right, the scene repre- 154, 259 sqq. ; Ovid, Metam. xv. 
 
 •ems the monarch receiving his laws 479 sqq. ; Plutarch, Numa, 4 ; Diony- 
 
 from the deity. See H. Winckler, sius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Roman. 
 
 Die Cesette Hammurabis^ (Leipsic, ii. 60 sq. 
 
 '903). p. 3. ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tnbes of 
 
 ' Herodotus, i. 65 j Polybius, x. 2 ; Soutk-Easi Australia, p. 783 ; A. W. 
 
 Sirabo, xvi. 2. 38 sq,, pp. 761 sq. ; Howitt and O. Siebert, m Journal of 
 
 Xenophon, Reipubl. Lacedaem. 8 ; the Anthropological Institute, xxxiv. 
 
 Plutarch, Z>vur^».r, 5 ; Dionysius Hali- (1904) p. 105. 
 
358 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 time has come for performing the ceremony, the men leave 
 the women behind in the camp and go alone to the 
 sandhill, where the mura-mura resides. On reaching the 
 spot they dig down until they come to damp earth and 
 what they call the excrement of the mura-mura. The 
 digging then proceeds very carefully until, as they say, 
 the elbow of the mura-mura is uncovered. Then two men 
 stand over him, and, a vein in the arm of each having 
 been opened, they allow the blood to fall on his remains. 
 The Minkani song is now sung, and the men, roused to 
 a frenzy of excitement, strike at each other with weapons 
 till they reach the camp, distant about a mile from the 
 sandhill. The women come out to meet them, and, rushing 
 forward with loud cries, hold shields over their husbands to 
 protect them and stop the fighting. The tidnamadukas, that 
 is, the men who claim the land as theirs in right of their 
 mothers,^ thereupon collect the blood dripping from the 
 wounds, and scatter it, mixed with the supposed excrement 
 from the Minkani's cave, over the sandhills in order that 
 they may bring forth the young carpet-snakes and iguanas 
 which are hidden in them. This ceremony, as Dr. Howitt 
 observes, is clearly similar to the intichiuma ceremonies 
 which the Arunta and other central tribes perform for the 
 multiplication of their totems, and the intention is the same, 
 namely, to produce a supply of the totemic animal in order 
 that it may be eaten by the tribe. On the analogy of these 
 Arunta rites the men who perform the ceremony ought to 
 have for their totem the particular animal or plant which 
 they seek to propagate by their magic. Hence, in the 
 Minkani ceremony the performers should be men of the 
 carpet-snake and iguana totems ; but Dr. Howitt has not 
 been able to ascertain that this is so.^ 
 
 1 The word tidnamaduka is com- everything belonging to the paternal 
 
 pounded of /2rf«3, "foot," and »/irrf;<,4a, line. For instance, a fether's mura- 
 
 " mother," "grandmother," or "an- mura, together with his 'fatherland,' 
 
 cestress." " A tidnamaduia is a m&n is his pintara, while the mother's 
 
 who claims a certain tract of country brother, speaking of his mother's mura- 
 
 as his, and whose mother and her mu7-a and his ' motherland,' calls it 
 
 brothers claim it for him. Tidna- his maduka " (A. W. Howitt, Native 
 
 maduka, or, shortly, maduka, is the Tribes of South -East Australia, p. 
 
 complement oi pintara. Maduka in- 785, note 2). 
 
 chides everything belonging to the 2 a. W. Howitt, "Legends of the 
 
 maternal line, as pintara includes Dieri and Kindred Tribes of Central 
 
n TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 359 
 
 Another ceremony observed by the tribes of Lake Magical 
 Eyre for the multiplication of iguanas, which are one oi"^^^^^ 
 their principal articles of food, has been described by S. muitipiica- 
 Gason. He tells us that the Dieri do not themselves i^„as. 
 perform it, but that they are invariably invited, and attend 
 the ceremony. When iguanas are scarce, a day is appointed 
 for the rite, and the men assemble and sit down in a circle. 
 The old men thereupon take leg-bones of emus, sharpened 
 at both ends, and pierce their own ears with them several 
 times, while, regardless of the pain, they sing the following 
 song : " With a boomerang we gather all the iguanas from 
 the flats and plains, and drive them to the sandhills, then 
 surround them, that all the male and female iguanas may 
 come together and increase." Should there be a few more 
 iguanas after the ceremony than there were before, the 
 natives boast of having produced them ; but if the creature 
 is as scarce as ever, they fall back on their customary excuse 
 that some other tribe took away their power.^ 
 
 Again, the Dieri perform a strange ceremony for the Dieri 
 purpose of making the wild fowl lay their eggs. This they t^^ke^ 
 do after heavy rains, when the smaller lakes, lagoons, and wild fowls 
 swamps are generally full of fresh water and flocks of wild gg^s. *"^ 
 fowl congregate about them. On a fine day, after the rains, 
 all the able-bodied men sit in a circle, each with the 
 sharpened leg-bone of a kangaroo ; the old men sing an 
 obscene song, and while they do so the others pierce their 
 scrotum with the sharp bone. The pain must be great, but 
 they show no sense of it, though they are generally laid up 
 for two or three weeks afterwards, unable to walk. While 
 they are thus torturing themselves, the women are crying.^ 
 They also perform a ceremony for the multiplication of wild 
 dogs, which are one of their totems, and another ceremony 
 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- pological Institute, xxxiv. (1904) p. 
 
 logical Institute, xxxiv. (1904) pp. 105, where wooto is defined as " carpet- 
 
 124 j;.; k.'^.'Ro^SlA, Native Tribes snake," and kaperi (not kapiri) is 
 
 of South-East Australia, pp. 797 sq. defined as " lace lizard, commonly 
 
 In the latter passage the words "the called iguana." 
 
 young W>«<.and >ra/»W (carpet-snake) ^ g ^ .. ^^^ „; ^,;^ .p^;^ 
 
 lizard "seem to be a mistake for '< the ;„ ^^^.^^ j,^-^^^ ^j ^outh Australia, 
 
 young WoOTO (carpet-snake) and Aa/in 
 
 (lizard)." Compare p. 783 of the P' '^' 
 
 same work and Journal of the Anthro- ^ S. Gason, op. cit. pp. 278 sq. 
 
Dieri cere- 
 mony for 
 maki ng 
 rain. 
 
 ,360 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 for the multiplication of snakes; but both of these are 
 reported to be so obscene that they are indescribable.^ We 
 may conjecture that these ceremonies are performed by men 
 of the wild dog and snake totems respectively. The Dieri 
 also perform ceremonies, based on the principle of imitative 
 magic, for the making of rain. In these ceremonies the 
 wished-for rain is simulated by blood drav/n from the arms 
 of two medicine-men, and clouds are represented partly by 
 down floating in the air, partly by two large stones, which 
 are afterwards placed as high as possible in the branches of 
 the tallest trees, as if to cause the clouds to mount in the 
 sky. Also they make a hut of logs and branches and then 
 knock it down with their heads. " The piercing of the hut 
 with their heads symbolizes the piercing of the clouds ; the 
 fall of the hut, the fall of the rain." On the analogy of the 
 practice of the central and northern tribes described by 
 Spencer and Gillen, we should expect to find that among 
 the Dieri this rain-making ceremony was performed by men 
 of the rain or water totem. However, Dr. Howitt tells us 
 that the whole tribe joins in the ceremony under the direction 
 of the medicine-man.^ 
 Headmen In the Dieri tribe, as in all the other tribes akin to it, 
 
 °^*^ , the oldest man of a totem clan is its pinnaru or head. 
 
 totem clans ^ .11. 
 
 and other Further, each horde or local division of the tribe has 
 
 among"the ^^^° ^^^ pimiaru OX head, who may happen also to be the 
 
 Dieri. head of a totem clan. But the head of a totem clan 
 
 or of a local division need not have much or any authority 
 
 ' S. Gason, op. cit. p. 280. 
 
 ^ S. Gason, " The Dieyerie Tribe," 
 Native Tribes of Sottth Australia^ pp. 
 276-278 ; A. W. Howitt, in Journal of 
 the Anthropological Institute, xx. ( 1 89 1 ) 
 pp. 90-93 ; id.. Native Tribes of South- 
 East Australia, pp. 394-397. The 
 two stones used in the rain-making cere- 
 mony are heart-shaped and represent 
 two young men named Dava-uhi, who 
 are believed to be the senders of rain. 
 When rain is wanted, the Dieri smear 
 the two stones with fat and sing a long 
 song. At other times the stones are 
 kept carefully wrapt up in featlners and 
 fat ; for the Dieri think that were the 
 
 stones to be scratched, the whole 
 people would suffer perpetual hunger 
 and could never be satisfied, however 
 much they might eat. And if the 
 stones were broken, the sky would 
 redden, the dust of some dried witchetty 
 grubs, which they tell of in one of 
 their legends, would spread from the 
 westward over the whole earth, and at 
 the sight of it men would die of terror. 
 See A. W. Howitt and O. Siebert, 
 " Legends of the Dieri and Kindred 
 Tribes of Central AusXxsXia.," Journal oj 
 the Anthropological Institute, xxxiv. 
 (1904) pp. 125 sq. ; A. W. Howitt, 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, 
 pp. 799 sj. 
 
n TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 361 
 
 outside of his clan or division. For example, Dr. Howitt 
 knew a man who was head of the Eagle -hawk clan in 
 virtue of his great age, but who otherwise had little 
 influence, because he was neither a warrior, a medicine-man, 
 nor an orator. The pinnarus collectively are the headmen 
 of the tribe, and of them some one is superior to the rest. 
 In 1862-63, when Dr. Howitt knew the Dieri, the The head- 
 principal headman was a certain Jalina-piramurana, who^j°,^^ 
 was head of a seed totem, and was also recognised as the 
 head of the whole tribe. The seed which this man had for 
 his totem is called kunaura by the Dieri ; it is the seed of 
 the Claytonia sp., and forms at times the principal vegetable 
 food of the tribes about Lake Eyre, being ground into a 
 porridge and eaten raw or baked into a cake in hot ashes. 
 The headman of this totem used to boast of being the " tree 
 of life " or the " stay of life," and sometimes he was spoken 
 of as the plant itself {manyura, that is, Claytonia sp.) of 
 which the seed is the totem. In the Dieri tribe the heads 
 of the totem clans and local divisions, together with eminent 
 warriors, orators, and, generally speaking, old men of stand- 
 ing and importance, compose what may be called the inner 
 council or senate of the tribe, which discusses and decides on 
 all matters of importance at secret sittings held in some 
 place away from the camp. Admission to this inner council 
 is a jealously guarded privilege, and to divulge its secrets 
 is a crime punished with death. The principal headman 
 presides, and among the business transacted at it are the 
 arrangements for hunting game, for festive or ceremonial 
 gatherings, and the punishment of offences, such as the 
 procuring of death by magic, murder, breach of the marriage 
 laws, and the revelation of the secrets of the initiation 
 ceremonies to uninitiated persons or to women. The heads 
 of the totem clans and of the local divisions and other 
 distinguished men wear, or used to wear, circlets of red 
 feathers on their heads as a sign of rank. The Dieri is the 
 only Australian tribe in which Dr. Howitt remembers to 
 have seen this red badge of honour.' 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and logical Ittstitute, xx. (1 89 1) pp. 64- 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central 71; id.. Native Tribes of South- East 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- Australia, pp. 297-300, 320-323. In 
 
362 TOTEMJSM IN SOUTH-EASTERA AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Ciassifica- Like all other Australian tribes about whom we have 
 
 oTreiatSn- ^xact information, the Dieri have the classificatory system 
 ship in use of relationship. For example, in the generation above his 
 Dieri!^ ^ o^" ^ "^^^ applies the same term ngaperi {appiri) to his 
 father and to his father's brothers ; and he applies the same 
 term ngandri {andrt) to his mother and to his mother's 
 sisters. In his own generation he applies the same term 
 negi {niehie, neyi) to his elder brothers, to the sons of his 
 father's brothers, and to the sons of his mother's sisters ; 
 and he applies the same term kaku to his elder sisters, to 
 the daughters of his father's brothers, and to the daughters 
 of his mother's sisters. He applies the same term noa to 
 his wife, to his wife's sisters, and to his brothers' wives ; 
 and on her side a woman applies the same term noa to her 
 husband, to her husband's brothers, and to her sisters' 
 husbands. In the generation below his own a man applies 
 the same term ngata mura (athamoord) to his own sons, 
 to the sons of his brothers, and to the sons of his wife's 
 sisters.^ Thus a Dieri man may have many " fathers " who 
 never begot him, many " mothers " who never bore him, 
 many " brothers " and " sisters '' who are the children of 
 neither of his parents, and many " sons " whom he never 
 begot. In the mouth of the Dieri these terms of relationship, 
 while they include the relationships which we designate by 
 them, also include many more : they mark the relationship 
 of the individual not to individuals merely but to groups. 
 It has already been pointed out that such classificatory 
 terms, descriptive of group relationships, are only explicable 
 on the hypothesis that they are directly derived from group- 
 marriage.^ That inference has long been rightly drawn by 
 Dr. A. W. Howitt, our principal authority on the Dieri and 
 other tribes of South-Eastern Australia.^ 
 
 the former passage Dr. Howitt identi- Australia, p. i6o ; id., "Australian 
 
 fies the manyura plant (of which the Group-Relationships," Journal of the 
 
 seed is the ktmaura totem) ^ Portu- Jioyal Anthropological Institute, yxxm. 
 
 lacca oleracea ; in the latter he identifies (1907) pp. 287 sq. 
 
 it as Claytonia sp. 2 See above, pp. 303 sqq. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and 3 A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and 
 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central other Kindred Tribes of Central Aus- 
 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- tralia," Journal of the Anthropological 
 
 logical Institute, xx. (1891) pp. 43-50 ; Institute, xx. (1891) pp. 99, io2 ; id., 
 
 id.. Native Tribes of South-East in i^tftt-/»?-«, xvii. (1906) pp. 185, 189. 
 
n TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 363 
 
 Nor in dealing with the Dieri are we left merely to infer Group- 
 the former existence of group-marriage from the present use "mOTg^Uie 
 of terms descriptive of group relationship ; for a form of Dieri. 
 group-marriage still survives among the Dieri, as among the 
 Urabunna/ side by side with a more specialised, though not 
 strictly individual, marriage. In order to explain these two Marriage- 
 forms of marriage we must begin by premising that in the among°the* 
 Dieri tribe, as in other Australian tribes, certain groups of Dieri and 
 men and women in the intermarrying classes are by birth Australian 
 marriageable to each other, in other words, they are potential "''''es. 
 spouses. The Arunta call these potential spouses unawa ; ^ 
 the Urabunna call them nupa ; ' the Dieri call them noa. 
 In the Dieri tribe this noa relationship of marriageability or 
 potential spouseship is specialised by the betrothal to each 
 other of a boy and a girl who are noa one to the other, and 
 have been born about the same time. The betrothal is 
 arranged by the mothers of the two children with the con- 
 currence of the brothers of the girl's mother. The fathers 
 have no part in the arrangement. In every such case a 
 sister, whether own or tribal, of the betrothed boy must be 
 promised as a wife to a brother, whether own or tribal, of 
 the betrothed girl. The new relation thus created between Tippa- 
 the betrothed is called tippa-nialku, and as a sign of betrothal '^^rfkige 
 the navel strings of the two children are tied up with emu among the 
 feathers and different coloured strings.* " By the practice of '^"^'^ 
 betrothal two noa individuals of opposite sexes become, if I 
 may use the term, specialised to each other as tippa-malku 
 for the time being, to the exclusion of any other man in 
 that relation. In other words, no woman can be tippa-malku 
 to two or more men at the same time. It seems to me 
 that out of this system of specialisation the individual 
 marriage of some tribes has been developed. The germ of 
 individual marriage may be seen in the Dieri practice, for, 
 as I shall show later on, a woman becomes a tippa-malku 
 wife before she becomes a pirrauru or group-wife. But 
 
 ' See above, pp. 308 sqq. * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes af 
 
 JO J /-■!! j,T .■ T -L South-East Africa, p. 177. Compare 
 
 'Spencer and Gillen, A^a/.i-« r«i« .^ .. T^j,^ ^/i^^i ^„j „^^„ Kindred 
 
 of Central Australia, pp. 71, 74- Tribesof Soulh-EastAustralia,">«"«<»'' 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. pp. of the Anthropological Institute, xx. 
 61 sq. See above, pp. 308 sq. {1891) pp. 53 sqq. 
 
364 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 at the same time it must be remembered that every woman 
 is potentially a group -wife, and unless she dies after 
 she becomes a tippa-malku wife, she becomes actually a 
 group-wife. The woman is one of a group, over whom in 
 advance a man is given special rights by being made tippa- 
 malku to her, but at the same time with the fullest knowledge 
 that she is not to be his individual wife as we understand 
 the term. These explanations are necessary to guard 
 against the misconception from using the words 'individual 
 wife.' " 1 
 Pirrauru This form of marriage secures that a woman is specialised, 
 
 amoiig^ttie though not exclusively appropriated, to one particular man. 
 Died. She may therefore be called his primary wife. But in addition 
 to his primary wife {tippa-malkti) every Dieri man may have 
 one or more secondary wives called pirraurus, who at the 
 same time may be, and commonly are, the primary wives of 
 other men. These secondary wives are formally and cere- 
 moniously allotted to him by the headmen or tribal council 
 in presence of the tribe, so that the relationship thus formed 
 Ceremony is public and lawful. When the proposal to contract these 
 marriage.'^" Secondary marriages has been mooted and agreed upon, the 
 persons concerned assemble with their friends at some place 
 in the camp about noon. If the men who are to be married 
 are of the same totem, the head of their totemic clan attends 
 with his ceremonial or magical staff called kandri, which 
 is made out of the root of a certain tree. He and his 
 fellow headmen, if there are more totemic clans than one 
 concerned, make ridges of sand with their staves, one for 
 each of the persons who is about to contract the pi'rrauru 
 or secondary marriage. Then each pair of ridges is brought 
 together to form a single ridge higher and broader than 
 either of the two singly, thus symbolising the joining 
 together of the married couple. Finally, one of the men, 
 usually he who is given as a secondary husband (pirrauru), 
 takes sand from the ridge and sprinkles it over the upper 
 part of his thighs, and, as the Dieri express it, buries the 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of before she becomes a pirrauru or 
 
 South -East Australia, p. 179. The group- wife " was afterwards corrected 
 
 statement in this passage that "a by Dr. Howitt. See below, p. 366 
 
 woman becomes a tippa-malku wife notei. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 365 
 
 pirrauru in the sand. In the case of two men who 
 exchange their primary wives to be secondary wives 
 {fiirraurus) the same procedure is observed, and the cere- 
 monies are completed in the evening. When the marriage 
 ceremony takes place at noon, it is, so to say, a private 
 affair ; but when it is celebrated in the evening all the 
 people in the camp attend. When that is so, the headmen 
 of the two totemic clans concerned take their stand opposite 
 to each other, about fifty yards apart, each of them holding 
 two pieces of burning wood. The two pairs of secondary 
 spouses {pirraurus) are loudly announced by name, the 
 whole assembly repeats the names in a loud voice, and 
 the two pieces of wood are struck together. But commonly 
 it is not merely two pairs of secondary spouses {pirraurus) 
 who are thus allotted to each other. The whole of the 
 marriageable or married people are usually either allotted 
 or re-allotted to each other by this ceremony, which is 
 performed for batches of them at the same time.^ 
 
 We are told that a secondary wife (pirrauru) is always Reiation- 
 a ■' wife's sister " or a " brother's wife," and that the relation ^'''p °^ ""^ 
 
 . „ firrauruot 
 
 arises through the exchange of wives by brothers ; "^ but secondary 
 probably brother and sister are here to be understood in sp°"ss^s to 
 
 ^ ^ ■' . each other. 
 
 their wide classificatory sense, which, besides brother and 
 sisters in our sense of the terms, includes many persons 
 whom we should call cousins, and many more whom we 
 should not regard as relations at all.' If two brothers are 
 married to two sisters, they commonly live together in a 
 group-marriage of four. When a man becomes a widower, 
 he has the use of his brother's wife as his secondary wife 
 {pirrauru), for which he makes presents to his brother. A 
 guest is offered his host's primary wife as a temporary 
 pirrauru, provided the woman is marriageable {noa) to him, 
 that is, provided that she belongs to the class into which he 
 may marry. A man may always exercise marital rights 
 over his secondary wife {pirrauru) when they meet in the 
 absence of her primary husband {tippa-malku) ;*' but he 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of raurti are both reciprocal. A man 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 181 sq. calls his primary wife tippa-malku, and 
 
 a /iirf. p. 181. she calls him tippa-malkti. A man 
 
 ' See above, p. 362. calls his secondary wife pirrauru, and 
 
 * The terms tippa-malku and pir- she calls him pirrauru. 
 
366 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 cannot take her from him without his consent except at 
 certain ceremonial times, when a general sexual licence prevails 
 between the intermarrying classes, as for instance at the 
 initiation ceremonies, or at one of the marriages arranged 
 between a man and a woman of two different tribes. When 
 the primary husband {tippa - malku) is absent, his wife is 
 taken and protected by one of her secondary husbands 
 {pirraurus), for every woman may have several secondary 
 husbands, just as every man may have several secondary 
 wives. It is an advantage to a man to have many secondary 
 wives, for in the absence of their primary husbands they 
 supply him with a share of the food which they procure. 
 A man may also obtain great influence in the tribe by 
 lending his secondary wives to other men and receiving 
 presents in return ; and the property which he thus amasses 
 ' he may employ to extend his power still further by dis- 
 tributing it among the headmen and other persons of 
 consequence. Hence the leading men of the tribe generally 
 have more primary wives and more secondary wives than 
 Relation of other men. A primary wife takes precedence of a secondary 
 wife'(/z>L- ^if^ ; f"'' example, if they are both with their husband in 
 malku) to a camp, the man will sleep next to the fire with his primary 
 ^^lie[pir- wife beside him and his secondary wife beyond her. When 
 rauru). ^ primary wife dies, a secondary wife will take charge of 
 her children, and tend them affectionately. A man may 
 have a secondary wife {pirrauru) before he has a primary 
 one [tippa - ma/ku), and similarly a woman may have a 
 secondary husband before she has a primary one. In other 
 words, a man or woman may enter into the pirrauru 
 relationship before he or she is .married in what we should 
 regard as the regular way.^ A man calls the children of his 
 secondary wife his sons and daughters ; and on their side 
 they call him father, and give the name of mother to his 
 primary wife as well as to their real mother. But if a man 
 
 ' \x\yis, Native Tribes of South- East where Dr. Hewitt says: "A girl 
 
 Australia, pp. 179 and 181, Dr. becomes marriageable after she has 
 
 Howitt stated that every woman be- been initiated to womanhood at the 
 
 came a primary wife (tippa -malku) Wilpadrina ceremony, and may then 
 
 before she became a secondary or be allotted as a pirrauru, whether she 
 
 group-wife (pirrauru). But this state- be in the relation of ft)>;>a-/«a//t« or not." 
 
 ment he afterwards corrected. See Com^axcid.,vnJoumaloftheIi.Anthro- 
 
 Folk-lore, xviii. (1907) pp. 166 sq., poloiical/nstitute,xxxvn.(igo7) p. 26S. 
 
ji TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES Z(>7 
 
 were more narrowly questioned, he would qualify his state- 
 ment by saying that the primary husband of his mother is 
 his " real father," and that the secondary husband {pirrauru) 
 of his mother is his "little father." In like manner he 
 would more precisely define his father's secondary wife 
 (^pirrauru) as his " little mother," to distinguish her from his 
 " real mother." Often the women do not know whether 
 their primary or their secondary husband is the father of a 
 particular child ; indeed they sometimes refuse to admit 
 that there is only one father. Thus the child, is indeed 
 regarded as the offspring of the group-father and not of the 
 individual-father.^ 
 
 The pirrauru relationship in the Dieri tribe, like the The 
 piraungaru in the Urabunna,^ is clearly a form of group- •f^f^'^o^" 
 marriage, for under it a group of men and a group of ship is a 
 women are publicly allotted to each other as husbands and g°oup- 
 wives by the highest tribal authority, and exercise marital marriage, 
 rights accordingly over each other.^ And it appears that 
 this form of group-marriage was not confined to these tribes, 
 but was shared by many others. Thus in 1861-62 Dr. Group- 
 Howitt found an equivalent of the pirrauru system among ^^^^\<ae. 
 the Yantruwanta tribe, who live higher up than the Dieri Yantm- 
 on Cooper's Creek or the Barcoo River,* and some hundred KunTan" 
 and twenty miles further up the same river, within the daburi. 
 Queensland boundary, the Kurnandaburi tribe practised 
 pirrauru marriage under the name of dilpa-malli. The 
 Kurnandaburi tribe is, like the Dieri, divided into two inter- 
 marrying moieties or classes, which bear the names of 
 Matara and Yungo ; and in addition to a system of primary 
 marriage {nubaid) corresponding to the tippa-malku marriage 
 of the Dieri, they have a system of secondary or group- 
 marriage corresponding to the pirrauru marriage of the 
 Dieri. These secondary spouses bear the name of dilpa- 
 malli, and consist of a group of own or tribal brothers on 
 
 ' For the original authorities on Folk-lore, xvii. (1906) pp. 174 sqq., 
 
 which the above account al pirrauru xviii. (1907) pp. ibd sqq. 
 marriage is based, see A. W. Howitt, 2 Above, p. 309. 
 
 "The Dieri and other Kindred Tribes of , „, „ •.. »r-- t l 
 
 ^ .,,.,.,, , I r 11.. A^ 'A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes 01 
 
 Central Australia, ^Journal of the An- c ^1. t^ , a . f .0- 
 
 ., ^ , . , , ,; , „ <;o„,\ „„ South-East Australia, p. 187. 
 thropological Institute, xx. (1 89 1) pp. ' "^ ' 
 
 53-59! "^M Native Tribes of South- * A. W. Howitt, in Folk-lore, xviii. 
 
 East Australia, pp. 181-187; id., in (1907) pp. 183^4-. 
 
368 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 the one side, and a group of own or tribal sisters on the 
 other side ; and these two groups cohabit whenever the 
 tribe assembles, or at any time when the two groups meet. 
 But these secondary or group-marriages, like the primary 
 or individual marriages {nubaia), are subject to the law of 
 exogamy, which forbids a man to marry a woman of the 
 same class and totem as himself; hence in these group- 
 marriages it is necessary that all the husbands should be of 
 one exogamous class (whether Matara or Yungo), and that 
 all the wives should be of the other. Provided she does 
 not transgress the class laws, every woman may have as 
 many of these secondary husbands {dilpa-mallis) as she likes, 
 and they are constantly changing them. Besides the marital 
 relations which openly exist between groups of dilpa-malli 
 men and women, similar relations exist secretly between 
 men and their brothers' wives and between women and their 
 sisters' husbands. Ostensibly these persons are tabooed to 
 each other, and may not sit in the same camp or converse 
 freely ; but, nevertheless, they have sexual intercourse with 
 each other in private. This is clearly, as Dr. Howitt 
 observes, an equivalent of the pirrauru relation of the 
 Dieri, and it may very well illustrate a transition from 
 group-marriage to the more specialised form of marriage 
 which the Dieri call tippa-malku. That more specialised 
 form of marriage is recognised and practised by the Kur- 
 nandaburi tribe under the name of nubaia, and in this tribe, 
 as among the Dieri, the mode in which the specialisation 
 has been brought about appears to be betrothal. A female 
 child is betrothed by her parents to some boy or man, who 
 becomes her abaija. When the two are married, their 
 relation is called nubaia ; and, just as among the Dieri, an 
 exchange of sisters is a regular accompaniment of a nubaia 
 marriage, that is, the boy who gets a wife must give a sister 
 in exchange to his wife's brother.' 
 Group- Again, we find a system of group -marriage in the 
 
 rmong^the Yandairunga or Yendakarangu tribe, which occupied the 
 Yandair- country extending from the western shores of Lake Eyre 
 
 unga. ' 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and logical Institute, xx. (1891) pp. 60- 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central 62 ; id.. Native Tribes of South-East 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- Australia, pp. 192 sq. 
 
n TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 369 
 
 westward for about a hundred and forty miles, and north 
 and south for the same distance south of the Peak. This 
 tribe is a southern division of the Urabunna, and their 
 system of group-marriage, which they call pira, corresponds 
 to the piraungaru of the northern Urabunna on the one 
 side,^ and to the pirrauru of the Dieri on the other side ; 
 while their other form of marriage {nupd) corresponds to 
 the nupa of the northern Urabunna and the tippa-malku 
 of the Dieri. Under the latter and more specialised form 
 of marriage {nupa) a young girl is betrothed by her relations, 
 such as her brothers or her mother's brothers, to a man who 
 must be of the proper class. Under the system of group- 
 marriage {pira) men claim certain women as their wives 
 {piras) by birthright.^ Again, a system of group-marriage Group- 
 appears to have existed in the Parnkalla tribe, whose l^^thr^*^ 
 social organisation in two exogamous classes, with maternal PamUaiia 
 descent, agrees with that of the Lake Eyre tribes, though po^ ^ 
 their territory lies far to the south of Lake Eyre, terminating Lincoln. 
 at Port Lincoln on the sea. The marriage customs of the 
 tribe are thus described by the missionary, Mr. C. W. 
 Schiirmann : " The aborigines of this portion of the province 
 are divided into two distinct classes, viz. the Mattiri and 
 Karraru people. This division seems to have remained 
 among them from time immemorial, and has for its object 
 the regulation of marriages ; none being allowed within 
 either of these classes, but only between the two ; so that 
 if a husband be Mattiri, his wife must be Karraru, and vice 
 versa. The distinction is kept up by the children taking 
 invariably the appellation of that class to which their mother 
 belongs. There is not an instance of two Mattiri or Karraru 
 being married, although they do not seem to consider less 
 virtuous connections between parties of the same class 
 incestuous. There are of course other limitations to marriage 
 between nearly related people besides this general dis- 
 
 ' Above, pp. 308 sqq. pp. 33 sq. In Native Tribes of Soutk- 
 
 East Australia (pp. 93, 187 sq.) Dr. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and Hewitt calls the tribe Yendakarangu, 
 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central which is presumably the more correct 
 
 Australia," Journal of the Anthropo- form of the name. As to the classes 
 
 logical Institute, xx. (1891) p. 60; and totems of the tribe, see below, 
 
 as to the territory of this tribe, see ib. pp. 374 ^1- 
 
 VOL. I 2 ^ 
 
370 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 tinction ; but it is very difficult to ascertain them, on 
 account of the innumerable grades of consanguinity that 
 arise from polygamy, and from frequent interchanging 
 and repudiating of wives. Besides, friendship among 
 the natives assumes always the forms and names of re- 
 lationship, which renders it almost impossible to find out 
 the difference between real or nearly adopted relatives. 
 . . . The loose practices of the aborigines, with regard 
 to the sanctity of matrimony, form the worst trait in 
 their character ; although the men are capable of fierce 
 jealousy, if their wives transgress unknown to them, yet they 
 frequently, send them out to other parties, or exchange with 
 a friend for a night ; and, as for near relatives, such as 
 brothers, it may almost be said that they have their wives 
 in common. While the sending out of the women for a 
 night seems to be regarded as an impropriety by the natives 
 themselves, the latter practice is a recognised custom, about 
 which not the least shame is felt. A peculiar nomenclature 
 has arisen from these singular connections ; a woman 
 honours the brothers of the man to whom she is married 
 with the indiscriminate name of husbands ; but the men 
 make a distinction, calling their own individual spouses 
 yungaras, and those to whom they have a secondary claim, 
 by right of brotherhood, kartetis." ' In this account of the 
 marriage customs of the Parnkalla tribe at Port Lincoln the 
 exogamous classes Mattiri and Karraru are clearly identical 
 in name and substance with the Matteri and Kararu classes 
 of the Dieri, while it is highly probable, as Dr. Howitt has 
 pointed out,^ that the yungara spouses correspond to the 
 primary or specialised spouses {tippa-malku\ and the karteti 
 spouses to the secondary or group spouses {pirrauru) of the 
 Dieri ; and in this tribe, as in the Dieri, the Kurnandaburi, 
 and the Yendakarangu tribes, the specialisation of women 
 to men seems to have been effected by betrothal of them in 
 their youth or infancy ; for we are told that among the 
 Port Lincoln natives " the mode of marrying is the most 
 unceremonious in the world. Long before a young girl 
 
 ' C. W. Schiivmann, " The Ab- 223. 
 original Tribes of Port Lincoln," A^a/zOT 2 a. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 Tribes of South Australia, pp. 222, South-East Australia, p. 191. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 371 
 
 arrives at maturity, she is affianced by her parents to some 
 friend of theirs, no matter whether young or old, married or 
 single, and as soon as she shows symptoms of puberty, she 
 is bid to follow him without any further ceremony, and 
 without consulting her own inclinations." ^ 
 
 Altogether Dr. Howitt reckons that the tribes which Extent of 
 practised a form of group-marriage like the pirrauru of the o°cupkd 
 Dieri must have occupied an area of some 500,000 square by tribes 
 miles, extending for a distance of 850 miles from Oodnadatta, ^oup- 
 the northern boundary of- the Urabunna, to the eastern marriage. 
 frontier of the Dieri or of the Mardala tribe between the 
 Flinders Range and the Barrier Range.^ In this great area 
 the old system of group-marriage appears to have survived 
 till to-day, or at all events till within living memory, though 
 side by side with this relic of sexual communism there 
 now exists in these same tribes a more specialised form of 
 marital union which approximates, without attaining, to the 
 exclusive appropriation of a woman or of women to one man. 
 This existing system of group-marriage {pirrauru, piraungani) This exist- 
 clearly supplies the key to the classificatory system of ^"^g^^yp.'" 
 relationship, since it shows us in actual operation those very marriage 
 group relationships which the classificatory system of relation- key^to^the^ 
 ship expresses in words. As Dr. Howitt has well put it : cisissifica- 
 " The pirauru practice is clearly a form of group-marriage, of reiation- 
 in which a number of men of one exogamous division co- ^'"P- 
 habit with a number of women of the other division. The 
 children of this group necessarily also constitute a group in 
 which the members are brothers and sisters, and between 
 them marriage is prohibited. Here we find the idea which 
 underlies the prohibition of marriage within the class division. 
 All in it, in any given level of the generation, are brothers 
 and sisters. The preceding level in 'the generation is the 
 group-progenitor of the fraternal group, and this latter in 
 its turn produces a group of children which stands in the 
 filial relation to it. Here we have the actual fact as it 
 exists in the pirauru group, and this pictures to us the 
 
 • C. W. SchUrmann, in Native which Dr. Howitt hereomitstomention, 
 Triies of South Australia, pp. 222 was in his opinion the sea, from Port 
 sq. Lincoln on the east to Eucla on the 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, in Folk-lore, xviii. west. See A. W. Howitt, Native 
 (I907)p. 184. The southern boundary, Tribes 0/ South-East Australia, f. 191. 
 
372 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 former condition of the class divisions, which condition has 
 been fossilized, so to say, in the relationship terms used. 
 The classificatory system of relationships, to use the term 
 employed by the late Dr. Morgan, has been a great stumbling- 
 block in the path of many anthropologists, who in following 
 their lines of enquiry have been guided by ideas in which 
 they have grown up from infancy, as to the nature of the 
 relations which exist between individuals. It has probably 
 not suggested itself to them that since our system of 
 counting relationships arises out of and is fitted to the 
 conditions of our society, it might be that savages whose 
 social conditions are so different may require some terms to 
 define their relationships quite different in their character to 
 those which we have. This error has probably arisen from 
 considering a savage as a human being who in a rude 
 exterior thinks much as does a civilized man. Such an idea 
 cannot have a sound foundation. We see its results perhaps 
 in the most marked form in the writings of Rousseau, but 
 even later writers are not free from it." ^ 
 A powerful If we ask how it is that in these tribes a more specialised, 
 in^restrict-' though not yet individual, form of marriage {tippa-malkti) 
 ing the old has arisen side by side with the system of group-marriage, 
 group^ ° oi^s answer suggested by Dr. Howitt is that a powerful 
 marriage instrument in thus restricting the old eroup rights appears 
 
 appears , , , .5", , , . , , ,, , 
 
 to have to have been the practice of betrothal, m other words the 
 been the j-jgg ^j^j establishment of the right to give away a girl in 
 betrothal, marriage to some particular individual of the group which 
 intermarries with the group to which she belongs. This is 
 a very common custom in Australian tribes, and must have 
 been a powerful agent in producing a feeling of ownership 
 in the husband. The further rise of individual possession 
 would also bring about a sense of individual paternity as 
 regards the wife's children which could not exist under 
 group-marriage." ^ In fact, when a man came to regard his 
 wife as his individual property, he would naturally come to 
 regard her children as also belonging exclusively to him, 
 and thus, as I have already pointed out,' he might well look 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and Institute, xx. (1891) p. 99. 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central Aus- 2 /^^^^ p_ jqj. 
 
 U&Va," Journal of the Anthropological ' Above, p. 167. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 373 
 
 upon his children as his property long before he knew that 
 they were his offspring ; and on their side the children 
 might recognise him as their master long before they were 
 aware that he was their begetter. The recognition of social 
 paternity by no means carries with it the recognition of 
 physical paternity ; for whereas social paternity is a fact 
 patent to the eyes of the whole community, physical paternity 
 in the strict sense is a physiological process which no human 
 eye has seen, and of which the true nature can hardly be 
 understood by a savage. 
 
 Another agency which, as Dr. Howitt has indicated,' The dis- 
 may well have contributed to the restriction of group rights f^rpeo°pie 
 and to the rise of individual marriage is the dispersal of the in small 
 people in small groups or even in single couples over the ^^^ °^ 
 country in their search for food. For the separation which couples 
 such a dispersal entails could hardly fail to weaken the ™are 
 ties which bound each of these scattered groups to the rest helped to 
 of the tribe, while the prolonged and intimate association the old 
 between individuals, which their isolation favoured, would ^^mun^i 
 
 ' ' rights over 
 
 naturally often endear them to each other and render them women. 
 unwilling to resign the objects of their affection to the embraces 
 of others who, although they were members of the same tribe, 
 had through long absence become almost strangers. 
 
 However the change has been brought about, we shall Specialised 
 hardly err in regarding the specialised form of marriage "f^g*®* 
 {tippa-malku) in these tribes as an encroachment on the old tippa- 
 communal rights of the tribe and as a step towards that ^'^rob-'^''* 
 system of purely individual marriage which is found among ably an 
 
 cncro3.ch' 
 
 other Australian tribes, particularly among tribes which ment on 
 inhabit more fertile regions than the burning and arid ""^ "''^ , 
 
 - - , T-. 1 . • 1 < communal 
 
 wastes of Lake Eyre ; though even in these more advanced rights. 
 communities an unwonted and startling event, such as the 
 sudden illumination of the nightly sky by the Southern 
 Streamers, sufficed to produce a temporary reversion to the 
 older practice of partial promiscuity, as if thereby they sought 
 to expiate the habitual neglect of their ancestral customs.^ 
 
 • A. W. Howitt, in Journal of the other Kindred Tribes of Central Aus- 
 Anlhrofohgical Institute, xx. (1891) Ua-Wa.," Journal of the Anthropological 
 p. 103. /»«/»■/«/;, XX. ( 1 89 1 ) p. loi. Compare 
 
 id., Native Tribes 0/ South-East Aus- 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and tralia, pp. 276^7. 
 
374 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Thus far we have dealt with the totemic and social 
 system of the Dieri. Concerning the other tribes of the 
 Lake Eyre basin, which possess a similar system, our infor- 
 mation is far less abundant, and accordingly we shall 
 The Yen- despatch them more summarily. Thus, to begin with the 
 •^^'^^"su Yendakarangu or Yandairunga tribe, which is a southern 
 dairunga branch of the Urabunna, inhabiting the country to the west 
 ciSes'^ of Lake Eyre, the Yendakarangu are divided, just like the 
 totems, and Dieri, into two exogamous intermarrying classes or moieties 
 m^riage. Called respectively Kararu and Matteri, with descent in the 
 female line, and, just as with the Dieri, each exogamous 
 class includes a number of totem clans. But in one im- 
 portant respect the marriage rules of the Yendakarangu 
 tribe differ from those of the Dieri and agree with those of 
 the Urabunna. For whereas with the Dieri a man is free 
 to marry a woman of any totem in the other exogamous 
 class, in the Yendakarangu he is not so free, but is restricted 
 in his choice of a wife to one or more definitely assigned 
 totems. The following table exhibits a list of Yenda- 
 karangu totems with the marriages appropriate to each.^ 
 
 Yendakarangu (Yandairunga) Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Marries with 
 
 
 c 
 
 Cloud 
 
 Wadnamura. 
 
 
 
 Crow 
 
 Wadnamura and Eagle-hawk. 
 
 
 
 Red ochre 
 
 Cormorant and Eagle-hawk. 
 
 Kararu ■ 
 
 
 Rat 
 
 Cormorant and Bull-frog. 
 
 
 Wallaby 
 
 Iguana and Lizard. 
 
 
 
 Emu 
 
 Eagle-hawk and Bull-frog. 
 
 
 
 Musk duck 
 
 Eagle-hawk and Dog. 
 
 
 
 Snake 
 
 Wadnamura. 
 
 
 r 
 
 Eagle-hawk 
 
 Red ochre, Musk duck, and Crow. 
 
 
 
 Cormorant 
 
 Rat and Red ochre. 
 
 
 
 Iguana 
 
 Wallaby. 
 
 TV/TnttPri 
 
 
 Dog 
 
 Musk duck. 
 
 iVlctlLCll 
 
 
 Wadnamura 
 
 Snake, Cloud, Crow. 
 
 
 
 Mulga tree 
 
 Emu. 
 
 
 
 Bull-frog 
 
 Rat. 
 
 
 
 Lizard 
 
 Wallaby. 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Kindred Tribes of Central Australia," 
 Smtth-East Australia., pp. 187 sq. Journal of the Anthropologicalltistitute, 
 Compare id., "The Dieri and other xx. (1891) pp. 39, 41. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 375 
 
 On this list Dr. Howitt observes : " This table is evi- 
 dently imperfect. According to the almost universal rule, 
 which obtains also with the Yendakarangu, that sisters are 
 exchanged as wives, there should be reciprocity between the 
 totems in their marriages. In the list this is the case as to 
 some of each class, and therefore one is fairly justified in 
 believing that it is so with the others. On this view I have 
 added those totems which have been omitted, but which 
 appear to be reciprocal, and which are in italics to distinguish 
 them." 1 
 
 As children in the Yendakarangu tribe take their class Rules of 
 and totem from their mother, not from their father, it follows among the 
 that if, for example, a Kararu man of the red ochre totem Yendakar- 
 marries a Matteri woman of the cormorant totem, their ^^^' 
 children will be Matteri and Cormorants ; if a Matteri man 
 of the bull-frog totem marries a Kararu woman of the rat 
 totem, then their children will be Kararu and Rats ; and 
 similarly with the rest. In this tribe there is the like 
 feeling of fellowship between persons of the same totem 
 which prevails among the Dieri. When a stranger arrives 
 at a camp, he is entertained by men of the same totem as 
 himself.* And like other Australian tribes the Yendakarangu ciassifica- 
 have the classificatory system of relationship. For example, ofTeiation- 
 in the generation above his own a man applies the same shipamong 
 term kuyia to his father and to his father's brothers. In karangu, 
 his own generation he applies the same term nuthi to his 
 elder brothers, to the sons of his father's brothers, and to the 
 sons of his mother's sisters ; he applies the same term kaku 
 to his elder sisters, to the daughters of his father's brothers, 
 and to the daughters of his mother's sisters ; and he applies 
 the same term nupa to his wife and to his wife's sisters 
 (whom, however, he may also call bilya, the term which he 
 applies to the daughters of his father's sisters and to the 
 daughters of his mother's brothers). In the generation 
 below his own he applies the same term wardu to his own 
 sons and to his brothers' sons. On her side a woman applies 
 the same term nupa to her husband and to her husband's 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of other Kindred Tribes of Central Aus- 
 South-East Australia, p. 188. iiaWa." Journal of the Anthropological 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and Institute, xx. (1891) p. 42. 
 
376 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 brothers.! As usual, these terms express the relationship 
 
 of the individual not to individuals merely but to groups. 
 
 Every man has many wives, and every woman has many 
 
 husbands ; every child has many fathers and many mothers, 
 
 and so forth. And as usual these terms expressive of group 
 
 relationships doubtless originated in group- marriage, one 
 
 form of which actually exists, or existed till lately, in this 
 
 particular tribe.^ 
 
 The Won- To the uorth-west of Lake Eyre there is a tribe called 
 
 tribe^'fts '^^ Wonkamala whose social organisation resembles that of 
 
 classes and the Dieri ; for it is divided into the same two exogamous 
 
 totems. moieties or classes, Kararu and Matteri, with totem clans in 
 
 each class and descent in the female line. The totems 
 
 of the Kararu class are rain, carpet-snake, crow, and red 
 
 ochre. The totems of the Matteri class are a caterpillar 
 
 {padi)^ cormorant, emu, a pouched mouse {kokula), Duboisia 
 
 Hopwoodii (of which the native name is pitcheri), and 
 
 wolkutyi, of which the English equivalent seems to be 
 
 unknown.* The Wonkamala, like the Dieri, apply the 
 
 same name murdu to their exogamous classes and to 
 
 their totems.* 
 
 The To the north of Lake Eyre is the Ngameni tribe, with a 
 
 tribe™ks' similar social organisation and rule of descent. The two 
 
 classes and exogamous classcs are the same (Kararu and Matteri), and 
 
 the totem clans included under each are exhibited in the 
 
 following table.® 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, "The Dieri and See A. W. Hewitt, "The Dieri and 
 other Kindred Tribes of Central Aus- other Kindred Tribes of Central K\i.s- 
 iiaWa." Journal of the Anthropological ixsiMn," Journal of the Anthropological 
 Institute, xx. (1891) pp. 50 sq. Institute, xx. (1891) p. 38; id., Native 
 
 2 See above, pp. 368 sg. It is to Tribes of South-East Australia, -p. 783, 
 be remembered that the Yendakarangu who, however, elsewhere {Native Tribes 
 are a southern branch of the Urabunna. of South-East Australia, pp. 91, 799) 
 As to group - marriage among the gives muluru as the Dieri name for the 
 Urabunna, see above, pp. 308 sqq. witchetty grub. 
 
 ' This caterpillar (padi), which is a * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 totem also of the Dieri is said to be the South-East Australia, p. 95. 
 
 witchetty grub, which is an important ' Ibid. p. 91. 
 
 totem and article of food of the Arunta. ' Ibid. p. 94. 
 
 [Table. 
 
TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 
 
 377 
 
 Ngameni Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Kararu 
 
 Matteri ■ 
 
 Rain, carpet-snake, crow, native companion, a small frog 
 {tidnamara), seed of Claytonia sp., a bat (tapairu), 
 the pan-beetle, milkityerparal^'), a frog, the rabbit- 
 bandicoot, slow-worm, a small pouched mouse {bal- 
 yara), kangaroo. 
 
 A caterpillar (muruwalt), cormorant, emu, eagle-hawk, 
 a fish (markara), a variety of acacia, dingo, native cat, 
 kirrhapara (?), a small marsupial {kokula), kangaroo 
 rat, Duboisia Hopwoodii {pitckeri), expedition for 
 red ochre, a lizard {wompirka), iguana-lizard, curlew, 
 shell -parakeet, a crane (black with white on the 
 wings). 
 
 The Ngameni, like the Dieri, apply the same name 
 murdu to their exogamous classes and to their totems.^ 
 
 To the south of the Ngameni, in the desert country The Won- 
 between Cooper's Creek on the south and the Diamantina ^^^^,"1?^ 
 River on the north, is or used to be the Wonkanguru tribe classes and 
 with a similar organisation and rule of descent. Its totems, ° ^™^' 
 arranged under the same two exogamous classes, Kararu 
 and Matteri, are exhibited in the following table.^ 
 
 Wonkanguru Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Kararu 
 
 Matteri 
 
 Rain, carpet-snake, crow, red ochre, small frog {tidna- 
 mara), seed of Claytonia sp., a rat {maiaru), a bat 
 {tapairu), the rabbit-bandicoot. 
 
 A caterpillar {wonamara), cormorant, emu, eagle-hawk, 
 dingo, a small marsupial {kokula), Duboisia Hop- 
 woodii {pitcheri). 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, op. cit. p. 91. 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South- East Australia, p. 92. 
 
378 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The Wonkanguru, like the Dieri, apply the same name 
 
 murdu to their exogamous classes and to their totems.^ 
 
 The Another tribe in the country between Cooper's Creek 
 
 ^fb"e,°[t^^ and the Diamantina, but to the east of the Wonkanguru 
 
 classes and and higher up the basins of the rivers, is the Yaurorka tribe. 
 
 to ems. j^ j^^^ ^j^^ same two exogamous classes, Kararu and Matteri, 
 
 with totem clans and descent in the female line. Its totems 
 
 are exhibited in the following table.^ 
 
 Yaurorka Totems 
 
 Classes, 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Kararu 
 
 Matteri 
 
 Rain, carpet-snalce, native companion, red ochre, seed 
 of Claytonia sp., pan -beetle, a frog ikuyarku), the 
 rabbit-bandicoot, slow-worm, a small pouched mouse 
 {baliyard), box eucalyptus, water-rat, shrew-mouse, 
 mesembrianthemum. 
 
 A caterpillar (muluru), cormorant, emu, eagle-hawk, a 
 fish {ngampuru), dingo, native cat, widla, kangaroo, 
 rat, Duboisia Hopwoodii {pitckeri), karingara (?), ' 
 iguana-lizard, curlew, tillngaru {'?), a crane (black 
 with white on wing), a large grey hawk. 
 
 totems. 
 
 The Yaurorka, like the Dieri, apply the same name 
 murdu to their exogamous classes and to their totems.^ 
 The Yan- Still further to the east, higher up the course of Cooper's 
 
 tribe?'its Creek, is the Yantruwunta tribe. It also has a similar social 
 classes and organisation with two exogamous classes, totem clans, and 
 descent in the female line. But the names of the two 
 classes are different, being Kulpuru and Tiniwa, instead of 
 Kararu and Matteri. Its totems are exhibited in the follow- 
 ing table.* 
 
 1 A. W. Hewitt, op. cit. p. 91. * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ■^""''^■^'^f' Australia p. 92. In the 
 South-East Australia, p. 95. class Tiniwa it will be observed that 
 
 the dingo occurs twice. This may be 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 91. a mistake. 
 
TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 
 Yantruwunta Totems 
 
 379 
 
 Classes, 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Kulpuru 
 
 Tiniwa 
 
 Rain, carpet-snake, a rat {kunamari), kanunga, the 
 pan-beetle, a frog {kutyarku), the rabbit-bandicoot, 
 shrew-mouse. 
 
 A caterpillar {padingura-padi), a caterpillar (ngam- 
 puru), dingo, widla {?), a pouch-mouse {padi-padi), 
 Duboisia Hopwoodii ( ■pitcheri), a lizard {mungalli), 
 iguana-lizard, curlew, shell-parakeet, a crane (black 
 with white on wings), bream, dingo. 
 
 The Yantruwunta apply the same name katniri to their 
 exogamous classes and to their totems.^ 
 
 Still further up the course of Cooper's Creek or the The Kur- 
 Barcoo River, within the territory of Queensland, is the °rite,^its" 
 Kumandaburi tribe. Its social organisation is similar to classes and 
 that of the foregoing tribes, for it is divided into two °^"^' 
 exogamous classes with totem clans and descent in the 
 female line. But the names of the two exogamous classes 
 differ from those of the preceding tribes, being Yungo and 
 Matara, of which Matara, however, is probably equivalent to 
 the Matteri of the Dieri and other Lake Eyre tribes. The 
 totems of the Kurnandaburi are exhibited in the following 
 table.' 
 
 Kurnandaburi Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Yungo 
 
 Matara 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Kangaroo, native companion, iguana, large black cor- 
 morant, small black cormorant, blue crane, dingo, 
 carpet-snake, crow, small crow, small grubs found in 
 trees {paringoro), a frog {prekomatu), a rat {parind), 
 teal-duck. 
 
 Brown snake, emu, frilled lizard, kangaroo rat, speckled 
 brown snake, opossum, small bandicoot, small 
 burrowing rat (korinyd). 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 91. pare id., "The Dieri and other 
 
 Kindred Tribes of Central Australia," 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 South-East Australia, p. 97. Com- stitute, xx. (1891) pp. 31, 39. 
 
38o TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The Kurnandaburi apply the same name gaura to their 
 
 exogamous classes and their totems. Dr. Howitt could not 
 
 ascertain whether a man may marry a woman of any totem 
 
 in the other class, or whether he is restricted to the 
 
 women of one particular totem.^ We have seen that a 
 
 system of group-marriage obtains, or used to obtain, in 
 
 this tribe.^ 
 
 Ciassifica- The Kurnandaburi have the classificatory system of 
 
 ofTeia™n- relationship. Thus in the generation above his own a man 
 
 ship among applies the same term kamundi to his mother, to his mother's 
 
 nandaburi. sisters, and to the wives of his father's brothers. In his 
 
 own generation he applies the same term kokundi to his 
 
 brothers, and to the sons of his father's brothers. He 
 
 applies the same term abaija to his wife, to his wife's sisters, 
 
 and to his brothers' wives. A woman applies the same 
 
 term abaija to her husband, to her husband's brothers, and 
 
 to her sisters' husbands. In the generation below her own 
 
 a woman applies the same term worua to her sons and to 
 
 her sisters' sons.^ 
 
 Eastern 
 group of 
 tribes with 
 two exo- 
 gamous 
 classes, 
 Mukwara 
 and Kil- 
 para, and 
 female 
 descent. 
 
 § 3. Tribes with two Classes (^Mukwara and Kilpard) 
 and Female Descent 
 
 To the eastward of the Dieri the boundaries of tribes 
 with the two exogamous classes Kararu and Matter! are 
 marked roughly by the Grey and Barrier Ranges. Beyond 
 these mountains to the east is another group of tribes, which 
 are also divided each into two exogamous classes with totem 
 clans in both classes and with descent both of the class and 
 of the totem in the female line ; but whereas among the 
 tribes to the west of the mountains the two exogamous 
 classes are named Kararu and Matteri, among the tribes to 
 the east of the mountains they are named Mukwara and 
 Kilpara. This eastern group of tribes with the classes 
 Mukwara and Kilpara is of great extent and appears to 
 comprise at least three nations, namely the Itchumundi, the 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 96, 192. 
 
 ^ See above, pp. 367 sq. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, " Australian Group- 
 Relationships," Journal of the Royal 
 Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. ( 1907) 
 pp. 287 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 381 
 
 Karamundi, and the Barkinji. Almost all the territory of 
 these nations seemingly lies within the boundaries of New 
 South Wales, and together they occupy practically the 
 whole course of the Darling River from the Barwon River 
 to the junction of the Darling with the Murray, and for 
 some fifty miles back from the Darling towards the Bogan 
 and Lachlan Rivers.^ Other tribes having the same two 
 exogamous classes (Mukwara and Kilpara) also extended 
 for some distance up the Murray River from its junction 
 with the Darling River. Among these were the Wiimbaio, 
 the Ta-tathi, and the Keramin.^ 
 
 In this group of tribes, according to Mr. A. L. P. in this 
 Cameron, " the class divisions are always strictly exo- ^^'!°"P °^^ 
 gamous (Mukwara marrying Kilpara, and Kilpara marrying rule of 
 Mukwara), yet this general rule is restricted by nearness y^^^t™ctiy 
 of blood, so that, apart from the class regulations, there enforced. 
 are special laws prohibiting consanguineous marriages. 
 The strictness with which the class laws are always carried 
 out is surprising. Even at the present day, when the 
 decrease of their numbers has made it very difficult to obey 
 all their ancient customs, any infringement of the marriage 
 law, if persisted in, is punished by death. . . . Even in 
 casual amours, which are not of infrequent occurrence, the 
 class laws are invariably observed. Instances might be 
 found in each of the tribes I am concerned with, but one 
 from the Ta-ta-thi will perhaps suffice to show the general 
 resemblance of custom. In this tribe there is at times a 
 good deal of promiscuous intercourse between the sexes, but 
 this is always within the class limits, any infringement of 
 which always brings down upon the offenders the swift 
 wrath of the tribe. My Ta-ta-thi informants tell me that 
 members of this tribe were rarely ever known to break the 
 law, but that if a man and a woman of forbidden classes did 
 marry, the man would be put to death and the woman be 
 beaten or speared, or both, till she was nearly dead ; the 
 reason given for not meting out to her the same punishment 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of xiv. (1885) pp. 11,^ sqq. 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 49 sq., 97, ' A. L. P. Cameron, of. cit. pp. 
 
 194 ; A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on 346, 349 ; A. W. Howitt, Native 
 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 
 
 fournal of the Anthropological Institute, 51 sq., \oo sq. 
 
382 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 as to the man being that she was in a manner probably 
 coerced."! Similarly Dr. Hewitt tells us that when the 
 question was put to several men of one of these tribes, 
 " What would be done if a Mukwara took a Mukwara for 
 his wife .' " the reply was an emphatic, " No good — suppose 
 that, then we kill him." ^ 
 Practice of In this group of tribes, as in the tribes of Lake Eyre, 
 betrothal in ^^ advance towards individual marriage has been made by 
 a custom of betrothing girls in childhood. When a betrothed 
 girl becomes marriageable she is taken to her future 
 husband's camp by her mother or mother's brother. "The 
 father has nothing to do with the disposal of his daughter. 
 The reason given is that the daughter belongs to the class 
 Belief that of her mother's brother, not to that of her father. Not- 
 withstanding this, they believe that the daughter emanates 
 from her father solely, being only nurtured by her mother." ' 
 In this view of fatherhood the Darling River tribes differ 
 widely from the Arunta and other tribes of Central Aus- 
 tralia, while, on the other hand, they agree with the opinion 
 which Aeschylus puts in the mouth of Apollo,* and which 
 the sapient James Boswell inclined to accept, "that our 
 species is transmitted through males only, the female being 
 all along no more than a nidus, or nurse, as Mother Earth 
 is to plants of every sort ; which notion seems to be 
 confirmed by that text of scripture, ' He was yet in the loins 
 
 a child 
 emanates 
 from the 
 father 
 alone. 
 
 1 A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 xiv. (1885) pp. 351 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 Sotith-East Australia, p. 194. How- 
 ever, according to another observer 
 of the Darling River tribes, oiTences 
 against the law of the exogamous 
 classes were not visited so severely. 
 He says: "These tribes are divided 
 into two classes called Muckwarra and 
 Keelparra ; the relationship between 
 the two is called Kengoojah. A 
 Muckwarra must marry a Keelparra, 
 and vice versa. Children belong to 
 the same class as their mother, and 
 when quite young are often betrothed 
 by their parents. It is considered 
 a very serious offence for two persons 
 
 of the same class to marry, and one 
 that cannot be forgiven. The offenders 
 are spoken of by all as bad, and are 
 generally despised. The loss to them 
 of the love and respect of their friends 
 is a very heavy punishment ; illegal 
 marriages are therefore rare." See 
 F. Bonney, " On some Customs of the 
 Aborigines of the River Darling, New 
 South Wales," Journal of the Anthropo- 
 logical Institute, xiii. (1884) pp. 128 sq. 
 
 ^ A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. p. 352. 
 The custom of betrothal in these tribes 
 is mentioned also by F. Bonney {op. 
 cit., p. 129), who says: "Children 
 belong to the same class as their 
 mother, and when quite young are 
 often betrothed by their parents." 
 
 * Aeschylus, Euinenides, 657 (627), 
 sqq. 
 
,1 TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 383 
 
 of his Father when Melchisedeck met him ;' (Heb. vii. 10) 
 and consequently, that a man's grandson by a daughter, 
 instead of being his surest descendant, as is vulgarly said, 
 has, in reality, no connexion whatever with his blood." ^ 
 
 But although in the Darling River tribes, with which Traces of 
 we are here concerned, girls are very often betrothed in ^^?age 
 childhood, and wives are bound to be faithful to their in the 
 husbands,^ nevertheless among them " a custom, which seems ^^^ 
 to indicate a time when marriage was in the group, is that '"tes. 
 of exchanging wives, either at some grand assembly of the 
 tribe, or in order to avert some threatened calamity. This 
 custom is, I think, rare at present. It is also an occasional 
 custom, that two tribal brothers having quarrelled, and 
 wishing for a reconciliation, the one sends his wife to the 
 other's camp, and a temporary change is effected. These 
 facts seem to show, when taken in consideration with other 
 tribal customs, that in New South Wales there was a time 
 in the past when group marriage was in force, for even now 
 one class is theoretically husband or wife to another class." ' 
 For instance, in the Barkinji nation every Mukwara man 
 speaks of every Kilpara woman as " wife," while every 
 Kilpara woman speaks of every Mukwara man as "husband."* 
 
 All these tribes appear to possess the classificatory ciassifica- 
 system of relationship. At all events, Mr. A. L. P. Cameron, o°7eia[i^n- 
 who has given us a valuable account of some of them, ship in 
 tells us that the system is found in all the tribes described ^^^ 
 by him, and he records in detail the classificatory terms of panicu- 
 relationship in use among the Wathi-Wathi, a tribe which wa^h^ 
 seems to have the same social organisation as the rest, Wathi. 
 though its territory lies further east on the Murray River.* 
 With regard to the relationships expressed by the classi- 
 ficatory terms Mr. Cameron says : " They are as real to 
 them as are our own to us, and any man who married a 
 woman who was, according to this system, his sister, that is 
 to say, the daughter of his father's brother, or of his mother's 
 
 ' James Boswell, Life of Samtul xiv. {1885) p. 352. 
 
 Jokiuon, Ninth Edition (London, ' A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. p. 353. 
 
 1822), ii. 399 note^. * A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. p. 352. 
 
 ' A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on * A. L. P. Cameron, <^. cit. p. 346 ; 
 
 •ome Tribes of New South Wales," A. W. Howitt, AWjz/< Tribes of South- 
 
 Jntmalof the Anthropological Institute, East Australia, pp. 50, 52. 
 
384 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 sister, would be deemed guilty of incest, and would incur 
 the penalty of death. The same system of relationships is 
 found in all the tribes I deal with in these notes, and in 
 them all a man regards his mother's sister's child, or his 
 father's brother's child, in precisely the same light as he 
 regards his mother's child or his father's child." ^ Thus, to 
 take the terms used by the Wathi-Wathi, in the genera- 
 tion above his own a man applies the same term tnamui to 
 his father and to his father's brothers. In his own generation 
 he calls his elder brother wawi and his younger brother 
 mamui, and he applies the same terms to the sons of his 
 father's brothers and to the sons of his mother's sisters, 
 calling them either wawi or mamui according as they are 
 older or younger than himself Similarly, he calls his elder 
 sister tatui and his younger sister minukui, and he applies 
 the same terms to the daughters of his father's brothers and 
 to the daughters of his mother's sisters, calling them tatui or 
 minukui according as they are older or younger than himself 
 A husband applies the same term nopui to his wife, to his 
 wife's sisters, and to his brothers' wives ; and a wife applies 
 the same term nopui to her husband and to her husband's 
 brothers. In the generation below his own a man applies 
 the same term wa-ipui to his own sons, to the sons of his 
 brothers, and to the sons of his wife's sisters.^ As usual, 
 these classificatory terms express group relationships, and 
 are probably derived from a system of group-marriage, of 
 which, as we have seen,' there are traces in these tribes of 
 the Darling River, 
 Traditions Like the tribes of Central Australia, the natives of the 
 
 °Bookoo- Darling River have traditions of a wonder-working race of men 
 muri, a. who occupicd the country long ago, excelled in the magical 
 working ^rts, transformed themselves into animals, and gave rise to 
 
 race of some of the natural features of the landscape. On this sub- 
 men who , /> X -r> /-< .^. 
 
 occupied ject Mr A. L. p. Cameron says : " There is a tradition very 
 
 1 A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. p. 354. Howitt gives only one term wawi as 
 
 2 A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. pp. the equivalent of ■' brother." See 
 354x17. It is singular that the same A. W. Howitt, "Australian Group- 
 term mamui should be applied to the Relationships," Journal of the Royal 
 father and to the younger brother. In Anthropological Institute,yiYiXS\\.(\^0'j) 
 his list of the Watu-Watu (Wathi- p. 288. 
 
 Wathi ?) terms of relationship Dr. 3 Above, p. 383. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 385 
 
 widespread among the tribes I am concerned with, that the country 
 the earth was originally peopled by a race much more jPj^'/j^"' 
 powerful, especially in the arts magic, than that which now mura- 
 inhabits it. This first race is in different localities known Jhroieri 
 by different names, but as the legends regarding them are ^nd the 
 much the same, those of one tribe will serve for illustra- ancesTo"!"^ 
 tion. The Wathi-wathi call them Bookoomuri, and say they °^ **= 
 
 /• /- 1 • 1 • ,. Arunta. 
 
 were famous for fightmg, huntmg, etc., and were eventually 
 changed into animals by Tha-tha-puli, who then created the 
 present race. Others say that the Bookoomuri effected the 
 transformation themselves, and that as animals they felt an 
 interest in the new race that succeeded them, and imparted 
 to it much valuable knowledge. A belief exists that the 
 magical powers of the doctors, disease-makers, and rain- 
 makers has been handed down to them from the Bookoo- 
 muri!' ' In these marvellous Bookoomuri it is easy to see 
 the equivalent of the mura-mura of the Dieri and the 
 alcheringa ancestors of the Arunta. The writer who reports 
 them further observes : " There are many traditions of the 
 wonderful feats performed by the Bookoomuri, and I think 
 that most, if not all, the tribes of New South Wales, and 
 perhaps of Australia, believe that the country was formerly 
 inhabited by a different race from that which occupies it at 
 the present day." And he acutely asks : " Is it possible 
 that the totemic divisions of a tribe are connected with this 
 belief in a race of men who afterwards became animals ? It 
 might be, for instance, that the class which has for its totems 
 Eagle-hawk, Kangaroo, Bandicoot, believes that the Bookoo- 
 muri who were transformed into those animals were the 
 ancestors of that class. But I have no direct evidence of 
 such a belief" ^ The conjecture thus cautiously put forward 
 by Mr. Cameron many years ago has been to a large extent 
 confirmed by the fuller knowledge which we have since 
 acquired of the native Australian legends, though in these 
 legends the founders of the totem clans appear oftener to have 
 been animals or semi-animals who afterwards became men 
 than men who were subsequently transformed into animals. 
 
 ' A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on xiv. (1885) p. 368. 
 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," ^ A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. p. 
 
 Jmmalofthe Anthropological Institute, 369. 
 
 VOL. I 2 C 
 
386 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Wathi- 
 wathi 
 tradition 
 of the 
 origin of 
 fire. 
 
 As an example of the stories which the Darling River 
 natives tell about the wonderful Bookoomuri we may take 
 the legend of the origin of fire. The Wathi-wathi say that 
 once upon a time there were two Bookoomuri, of whom one 
 was a water-rat and the other a codfish. They alone were 
 in possession of fire, and they jealously guarded it in a 
 clearing among the great thickets of reeds on the banks of 
 the Murray River. The other Bookoomuri as well as the 
 present race of men made many efforts to get a spark of 
 the fire, but all in vain. At last one day a hawk, who of 
 course had been a Bookoomuri, discovered the water-rat and 
 the codfish in the act of cooking mussels, which they had 
 procured from the river. Up he flew to a great height and 
 caused a strong wind to "blow sparks from the fire among 
 the dry reed-beds. The conflagration which ensued was, 
 however, extinguished by the efforts of the water-rat and the 
 codfish. Then the hawk sent a wind from the opposite 
 direction, and after that a whirlwind. Sweeping the sparks 
 before it, the storm set the whole of the reed-beds in a blaze, 
 and soon the roaring conflagration spread to the forests and 
 laid waste vast tracts of country, so that a tree has never 
 grown there since. That is why there are now immense 
 treeless plains where once there were greenwoods. But the 
 natives thus obtained fire and learned to make it by friction.'' 
 In this Australian legend the hawk plays the same beneficent 
 part that is played in Greek legend by the fire-bringer 
 Prometheus, who has himself been identified by an eminent 
 scholar with the eagle which preyed on his vitals.^ 
 
 1 A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. p. 368. 
 A very similar legend is told by the Ta- 
 ta-thi (ib. pp. 368 sq.). These stories 
 have all the appearance of being native 
 and genuine. But in the pit of fire 
 in which, according to some of these 
 people, bad men are roasted after death, 
 we may perhaps detect a ray of Gospel 
 truth illuminating with a somewhat 
 lurid light the darkness of heathendom. 
 See A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. pp. 
 364 sq. 
 
 2 Salomon Reinach, PromiMe{'?2cn%, 
 I9°7)> PP- 24 J??. ; id., Cultes, Mythes 
 et Relif^ions, iii. (Paris, 1908) pp. 68 
 sqq. As to the discovery or theft of 
 
 fire the Kurnai tell how the brown 
 hawk recovered fire for them after it 
 had been stolen by some thieves, who 
 were making off with it and climbing up 
 a cord into the sky, when the hawk 
 swooped on them and dashed the fire 
 with its wings from their hands. The 
 fire fell to the ground, and the robin 
 blew it into a flame and smeared it on 
 his breast, where you may see the red 
 mark of it to this day. See A. W. 
 Howitt, " Further Notes on the Aus- 
 tralian Class Sysi&ras," Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xviii. (1889) 
 p. 54. The Wurunjerri relate how 
 the crow (waang) stole fire from some 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 387 
 
 We have seen that the Darling River tribes may be The 
 divided into three nations, the Itchumundi, the Karamundi, ^^^^^^ 
 and the Barkinji.^ Of these the Itchumundi nation occupies nation. 
 the country which lies back from the Darling River and is 
 bounded on the west by the Grey and Barrier Ranges. It 
 includes the Wilya, Kongait, Bulali, and Tongaranka tribes. 
 Of these the Wilya occupied the country about the Grey The 
 Ranges, with its headquarters about Endeavour Lake.^ Its ^^^jts 
 totems, divided between the two exogamous classes Mukwara classes and 
 and Kilpara, are shown in the following table.^ totems. 
 
 Wilya Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Mukwara | 
 Kilpara 
 
 Eagle-hawk, kangaroo, bandicoot, duck, frilled lizard, 
 opossum, dingo. 
 
 Emu, carpet-snake, bone-fish, padi-melon, wallaby. 
 
 In this nation the two classes, Mukwara and Kilpara, wiiya rules 
 
 were as usual strictly exogamous ; that is, Mukwara might of carnage 
 
 only marry Kilpara, and vice versa. But there was a further descent. 
 
 limitation of marriage in regard to the totems, for a man of 
 
 one class was not always free to marry a woman of any 
 
 totem of the other class. For example, a Mukwara of the 
 
 eagle-hawk totem married a Kilpara of the bone-fish totem : 
 
 a Mukwara of the kangaroo totem married a Kilpara of the 
 
 emu totem ; a Mukwara of the dog totem married a Kilpara 
 
 of the padi-melon totem ; and so on. As a child took its 
 
 class and totem from its mother, it follows that if a Mukwara 
 
 man of the eagle-hawk totem married a Kilpara woman of 
 
 the bone-fish totem, the children would be Kilpara and 
 
 Bone-fish : if a Mukwara man of the kangaroo totem married 
 
 a Kilpara woman of the emu totem, the children would be 
 
 Kilpara and Emus ; and so on.'' 
 
 young women who are identified with ^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 the Pleiades. See A. W. Howitt, Soulh-East Australia, pp. 49, 98. 
 Native Tribes of Soulh-East Australia, 3 ^ ^ 
 
 P- 430- ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ' Above, pp. 380 sq. ■• A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 194. 
 
388 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 The Kara- The Karamundi nation occupied the basin of the Darling 
 
 nation River from the junction of the Culgoa with it downwards to 
 Wilcannia and beyond. It included the Milpulko, Nauaiko, 
 The Mil- Guemo, and Barrumbinya. Of these the territory of the 
 puiko tribe, Milpulko bordered on the Darling River from Wilcannia 
 
 Its classes '^ ° 
 
 andtotems. downwards. Its totems, divided between the two exogamous 
 classes Mukwara and Kilpara, are shown in the following 
 table.' 
 
 Milpulko Totems 
 
 Classes, 
 
 Mukwara 
 
 Kilpara | 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Eagle-hawk, kangaroo, bandicoot, duck, frilled lizard. 
 
 Emu, carpet-snake, bone-fish, iguana, padi-melon, 
 opossum, wallaby. 
 
 In this tribe, again, a child takes its class and totem 
 from its mother. For example, if a Mukwara man of the 
 kangaroo totem marries a Kilpara woman of the emu 
 totem, the children will be Kilpara and Emus. The tribes 
 of the Karamundi nation, to which the Milpulko belong, 
 have a rule like that of the Itchumundi nation, according to 
 which a member of either class may marry only in one 
 totem clan of the other class. For example, a Mukwara 
 man of the kangaroo totem may marry a Kilpara woman of 
 the emu totem and of no other.' 
 
 There is reason to believe that the Karamundi nation 
 
 also includes tribes on the Paroo and Warrego Rivers, to 
 
 The Paru- the north of the Darling. Among them is the Paruinji 
 
 iS'ciasse's tribe, which occupies the course of the Paroo River from 
 
 andtotems. Hungerford, at the Queensland boundary, southward to 
 
 Bootha-bootha.* It has the same two exogamous classes 
 
 (Mukwara and Kilpara) as the preceding tribes, with 
 
 totem clans and descent both of the classes and of the 
 
 totems in the female line. Its totems, arranged under 
 
 '&^ 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of '^ K.W. Howitt, op. at. p. 98. 
 
 South -East Australia, pp. 49 sq., 3 a. W. Howitt, op. dt. p. 189, 
 
 98. * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 50, 99. 
 
TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 
 
 389 
 
 the two exogamous classes, are exhibited in the follow- 
 ing table.^ 
 
 Paruinji Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Mukwara 
 Kilpara 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Eagle-hawk, kangaroo, bandicoot, opossum, lizard. 
 Emu, bream, carpet-snake, iguana. 
 
 The Barinji, another tribe on the Paroo River, has the The Bar- 
 following totems distributed between the same two exoga- ■("^'Jlj^'^^ 
 mous classes, Mukwara and Kilpara.^ andtotems. 
 
 Barinji Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Mukwara \ 
 Kilpara 
 
 Eagle-hawk, kangaroo, bilbae (a rabbit-like burrowing 
 animal), turkey, whistling duck, bandicoot. 
 
 Emu, snake, lizard, wallaby, iguana, native companion. 
 
 The last of the three nations which occupied the lower The 
 basin of the Darling River was the Barkinji. This was a nat^n^'its 
 large nation, whose territory, averaging some fifty miles in classes and 
 breadth, skirted the Darling River on its south-eastern side '°'^'"'- 
 from the junction of the Bogan River with it down to a 
 point about half-way between Menindie and Pooncarrie. 
 According to Mr. A. L. P. Cameron, tribes belonging to this 
 nation occupied the country west as well as east of the 
 Darling River for a mean breadth of eighty miles.^ This 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 99. 
 
 ^ A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on some 
 Tribes of New South yitdes" Journal 
 tf tilt Anthropological Institute, xiv. 
 (1885) p. 348, where the Barinji totems 
 are given on the authority of Mr. J. 
 D. Scott. Dr. A. W. Howitt has, ap- 
 parently in error, assigned these totems 
 to the liarkinji (Native Tribes 0/ South- 
 
 East Australia, p. 99). But Mr. 
 Cameron, to whom he refers, dis- 
 tinguishes the Barkinji from the Barinji 
 and says that he cannot give the list of 
 Barkinji totems. 
 
 ^ A. L. P. Cameron, "Notesonsome 
 Tribes of New South Wales," Journal 
 of the Anthropological Institute, xiv. 
 (1885) p. 346 ; A. W. Howht, Native 
 Trihei of South-East Australia, p. 50. 
 
390 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 nation also had the two exogamous classes Mukwara and 
 Kilpara, but all that we know of its totems is that Mukwara 
 included emu and whistling duck, while Kilpara included 
 lizard and kangaroo/ 
 The The Wiimbaio tribe occupied the country at the junction 
 
 wiimbaio Qf j.j^g Darling and Murray Rivers for a distance of about 
 
 tribe, Its ° "^ T» • • i_ 
 
 classes and thirty miles up and down the Murray River on its south 
 
 totems. bank. Their territory did not go back southward from the 
 
 river for more than a day's journey, or about twenty miles. 
 
 They had the two exogamous classes Mukwara and Kilpara ; 
 
 and with regard to totems Mukwara included eagle-hawk, 
 
 lizard, and others, while Kilpara included crow, bone-fish, 
 
 and others. Children took their class and totem from their 
 
 mother. Girls were betrothed in infancy. The Wiimbaio 
 
 intermarried with the adjoining tribes both on the Murray 
 
 The Ta- and the Darling Rivers.^ On the northern bank of the 
 
 ksciasses' Murray River, from its junction with the Darling River 
 
 andtotems. upwards to Euston, lived the Ta-tathi, a strong tribe, which 
 
 had the same two exogamous classes Mukwara and Kilpara 
 
 with the following totems distributed between them.* 
 
 Ta-tathi Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Mukwara 
 Kilpara 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Light brown eagle-hawk, teal-duck, jew lizard. 
 Crow, iguana, brown-coloured eagle-hawk. 
 
 Sex totems jn the Ta-tathi group of tribes, besides the regular 
 
 of the , , , , 
 
 Ta-tathi. totcms, the bat was very much reverenced by the men, and 
 
 was never killed by them. If a woman killed a bat, there 
 
 used to be a great disturbance, in which the women were 
 
 ' A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on some Tribes of New South Wales," 
 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological Instiinte, xlv. (1885) p. 349. Dr. Howitt tells 
 
 xiv. (1885) p. 348, note 2. us that he is unable to assign the totems 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of of this tribe to their respective class ; 
 
 Soiith-East Australia, pp. 51 sq., 100, but Mr. A. L. P. Cameron, to whom 
 
 194. he refers, assigns them as in the text 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 52, without any remark to indicate that he 
 
 100; A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on was in doubt. 
 
TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 
 
 391 
 
 sometimes wounded. Similarly the women reverenced a 
 species of small owl, and attacked the men if they tried to 
 kill one of the birds. They called the bat rakur and the 
 small owl dhrail. The Wathi-wathi called the bat benalongi 
 and the small ov/\ yeraliri. Thus the bat and the little owl 
 were the sex totems of the men and women respectively. 
 " In this group of tribes a man never kills his totem, but he 
 does not object to eat it when killed by another. Every- 
 thing in the universe is divided among the different 
 members of the tribe ; some claim the trees, others the 
 plains, others the sky, stars, wind, rain, and so forth." ^ 
 
 Adjoining the Ta-tathi on the Murray River were the The 
 Keramin, a tribe which had the same two class divisions tribe, its 
 Mukwara and Kilpara, with the following totem clans dis- Masses and 
 
 .1,1 19 totems. 
 
 tributed between them. 
 
 Keramin Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Mukwara { 
 Kilpara 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Dark- coloured eagle -hawk, red kangaroo, teal-duck, 
 spoonbill, bandicoot, lizard. 
 
 Silverfish, emu, crow, padi-melon, whip-snake. 
 
 With regard to the totems in these tribes we are 
 informed that in the Barkinji, Ta-tathi, and Keramin tribes 
 any totem of Mukwara may marry any totem of Kilpara, 
 and vice versa} 
 
 Tribes with the same two exogamous classes (Mukwara 
 and Kilpara) extended up the Murray River as far as the 
 junction of the Loddon, a tributary which flows into the 
 Murray from the south ; but the totems of these tribes are 
 unknown.'' Moreover, another large tribe or nation called 
 
 ' A. L. p. Cameron, " Notes on 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," 
 Journal ofihe Anthropological Institutf, 
 xiv. (1885) p. 350. As to sex totems 
 see above, pp. 47 sq. 
 
 • A. L. P. Cameron, op. cit. pp. 
 
 346. 349- 
 ' A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on 
 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 xiv. (1885) p. 351; A. W. Howitt, 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, 
 p. 195. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 100 sq., 
 195 sq. 
 
392 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The the Berriait, which occupied a great extent of country 
 
 Berriait between the Darling, Murray, and Lachlan Rivers, was also 
 
 nation. *" ^ ' i ■ .^i r 
 
 divided into two exogamous classes bearing the names ot 
 Mukwara and Kilpara, but the names of their totems have 
 not been recorded. The wide region over which the Berriait 
 roamed is almost waterless, and the natives were driven 
 to wring a substitute for water from the roots of trees, 
 particularly from the mallee (a species of eucalyptus) and 
 from a species of Hakea locally known as the " needle bush." 
 These roots they cut and allowed to drip an unpalatable 
 but welcome fluid into vessels placed to receive it. When 
 even this precarious supply failed, there was nothing left for 
 them but to fight their way through hostile tribes to the 
 rivers or perish miserably of thirst.^ 
 
 § 4. Tribes with two Classes {Eagle-hawk and Crow) 
 and Female Descent 
 
 Tribes of Beyond the sources of the Yarra and the Goulbourn 
 tablelands. R-ivers the lofty Dividing Range of South-Eastern Australia 
 widens out into great Alpine tablelands, where grassy downs 
 alternate with mountain summits. In winter these uplands 
 are buried deep under snow, in summer they are carpeted 
 with Alpine flowers. The lower slopes and tablelands are 
 habitable throughout the year. These high plateaux, ex- 
 tending from about Woodspoint in Victoria to New South 
 Wales, where they culminate in Mount Kosciusko, were 
 inhabited by several tribes, among whom were the Ya-itma- 
 The Ya- thang, the Ngarigo, and the Wolgal.^ Of these the Ya-itma- 
 trme"'''"^ thang, commonly called the Omeo tribe, inhabited the 
 mountainous country in which the rivers Mitta-Mitta and 
 Tambo take their rise. Unfortunately for them gold was 
 discovered in their country in 1852, a great rush of miners 
 set in, the natives went down before them, and when ten 
 years had passed only four or five members of the once 
 numerous tribe remained alive. Very little has been 
 recorded of this hapless folk, but among their totems were 
 
 1 A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on Hewitt, Native Tribes of South-East 
 
 some Tribes of New South Wales," Australia, p. 51. 
 
 Journal of theAnthropological Institute, 2 a. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 xiv. (1885) pp. 346 j-y., 349; A. W. South-East Australia, p. 77. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 393 
 
 the rabbit-rat and the bat. The same totems are found in 
 the neighbouring Ngarigo tribe, with which the Theddora 
 branch of the Ya-itma-thang intermarried. The rule of 
 marriage was that of the two -class tribes with female 
 descent, but it is not known whether a man was free to 
 marry a woman of any totem in the other class, or whether 
 he was restricted to certain totems. In this tribe, as in the 
 Urabunna, a man's proper wife was the daughter, own or 
 tribal, of his mother's brother. In the Theddora branch of 
 the Ya-itma-thang a girl was betrothed by her father, usually 
 at or after her birth, and was given to her husband when she 
 had grown up. A man to whom a girl had been promised 
 endeavoured to obtain a lock of her hair, and if she after- 
 wards jilted him, he would wrap the hair in an eagle-hawk's 
 feather and put it in a water-hole. As the hair rotted, the 
 jilt would sicken and die. Dr. Howitt tells us that he knew 
 a woman of this tribe named Old Jenny, who had broken the 
 tribal law by marrying a man to whom she stood in the 
 classificatory relation of mother. Years afterwards her sin, 
 or at all events her kinsfolk, found her out at the Black 
 Mountain station on the Snowy River. They essayed to 
 correct their erring sister with the persuasive argument of 
 clubs, but the stout old lady gave such an exceedingly good 
 account of herself with a digging-stick that they were fain 
 to desist.^ 
 
 The Ngarigo and Wolgal tribes were divided each into Eagie- 
 two cxogamous classes which bore the names of Eagle-hawk ^row *" 
 and Crow respectively. Each class included a number ofci^^si^s. 
 totem clans ; and the men of either class were free to 
 marry women of any totem in the other class. Children 
 took both their class and their totem from their mother." 
 The Ngarigo tribe occupied the Manero tableland, between The 
 the Wolgal on the north, the Ya-itma-thang on the north- triS^fw 
 west, the Kurnai on the west and south-west, and the Yuin classes and 
 or Coast Murring on the south-east.^ Their totems were 
 distributed between the two exogamous classes Eagle-hawk 
 and Crow as follows : — ■* 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, A'alii'c Tribes of sj., 197. 
 
 Soutk-Easl Australia, pp. 77, loi, 3 ^^, ^^^^^. ^. g 
 
 196, 197. ' -^ '^ ' 
 
 ' A. W. llowilt, op. cit. pp. loi * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. loi sq. 
 
394 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Ngarigo Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Eagle-hawk 
 {Merung) 
 
 Crow 
 
 ( Yukembruk) 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Lyre-bird, bat, flying squirrel {bulemba), tuan, black 
 snake, a fish {mulan or munja), the mopoke, black 
 opossum, red wallaby. 
 
 A small hawk, rabbit-rat, flying squirrel {baua), 
 kangaroo, emu, lace -lizard, native companion, spiny 
 ant-eater, sleeping lizard. 
 
 Betrothal The practice of betrothing girls in childhood prevailed 
 
 ajmon^ the a,mong the Ngarigo, the rule being that a man married the 
 
 daughter of his mother's brother. When a betrothed girl 
 
 was marriageable her father took her to her husband's camp 
 
 and handed her over to him. The widow of a Ngarigo 
 
 man did not go to his brother who was of the same mother, 
 
 but to the son of his father's elder brother, that is, to the 
 
 man who, under their system of relationship, was the elder 
 
 brother of the deceased."' 
 
 The The Wolgal tribe inhabited the tablelands of the highest 
 
 tribe^Us Australian Alps and their northern slopes, their boundaries 
 
 classes and beginning at Kauwambat, near Pilot Mountain, and running 
 
 °^™^- along the Indi River to Walleregang.^ By 1870 the tribe 
 
 was nearly extinct, but among the few survivors was the 
 
 bard or singer of the tribe, with whom Dr. Howitt was 
 
 acquainted. The Wolgal totems were distributed between 
 
 the two exogamous classes Eagle -hawk and Crow as 
 
 follows : — ^ 
 
 Wolgal Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Eagle-hawk \ 
 
 {Malian) \ 
 
 Crow f 
 
 {Umbe) \ 
 
 Kangaroo, emu, hawk, dingo, flying squirrel, lyre-bird, 
 bat. 
 
 Wombat, brown snake, a star (? Venus), bandicoot, 
 spiny ant-eater, rabbit-rat. 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of '^ A.'W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 78. 
 
 Sonth-East Australia, pp. 196, 198 j^. ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. I02. 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 395 
 
 In these tribes a man was free to marry a woman of Woigai 
 any totem in the other class ; but his proper wife was the ™a^j^e 
 daughter, own or tribal, of his mother's brother. In the and 
 Wolgal tribe it was usual to betroth a girl in her childhood 
 to a full-grown or even old man of the proper clciss. When 
 she was old enough to be married, her father, accompanied 
 by his brother, took her to her future husband's camp and 
 left her there. A Wolgal man, speaking to Dr. Howitt, said 
 that a father could do what he liked with his daughter, because 
 the child is his, and " he only gives it to his wife to take care 
 of for him." Contrasted with the practice of the Dieri, among 
 whom the mother alone disposes of her infant daughter, this 
 Wolgal custom marks an advance towards paternal descent.^ 
 
 Among all these tribes the rule that a man must avoid Avoidance 
 his wife's mother was strictly observed. For example, in °n-Sw. ^^ 
 the Ngarigo tribe a woman might not see her son-in-law 
 nor even hear his name pronounced. If any one chanced 
 to mention his name in her hearing, she would put her 
 fingers in her ears and say, " Be quiet." ^ 
 
 In the dense forests, jungles, and swamps which intervene The 
 between the high Australian Alps and the coast of Gipps- ^^:^^ ' 
 land, in South-Eastern Victoria, there lived a tribe of broken 
 men called the Biduelli. They appear to have been a 
 medley composed of refugees who had fled from the neigh- 
 bouring tribes. Both their language and their totems were 
 mixed. They dwelt dispersed in small open glades of the 
 thick jungle which covers their dreary inhospitable country. 
 Their classes and totems descended in the female line. 
 Among them Dr. Howitt found one family with the class- 
 name Crow (jukembruk) and the totem rabbit-rat, which 
 accords with the Ngarigo system. The Biduelli also had 
 the two sex totems of the Kurnai, namely, emu -wren 
 (yiirung) and superb warbler (djiitgutt)^ 
 
 § 5- Tribes with four Subclasses and Female Descent 
 
 From tribes which are organised in the simplest fashion, 
 namely, in two exogamous moieties or classes, with descent 
 
 ' A. W, Howitt, Native Tribes of ^ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 79-81, 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 197 sq. 102 sq. 
 
 ' A. W. Howilt, op. cit. p. 199. 
 
396 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Tribes iti the female line, we now pass to the consideration of tribes 
 subdasses ^^^^h possess a more complex social organisation, the two 
 and female primary exogamous classes being among them subdivided into 
 escent. j-^^^. gxogamous subclasses with descent in the female line. 
 The We may begin with the Kamilaroi, a large nation of North- 
 
 Kamiiaroi Eastern New South Wales, consisting of many tribes under 
 
 nation of > a j 
 
 New South the same designation, which is derived from the negative 
 ^^^' kamil or kumil. The territory of the Kamilaroi included 
 nearly the whole of the pastoral district of Liverpool Plains ; 
 it stretched north to the Queensland border, and westward 
 Extent and down the Darling River from Walgett to Bourke.-' With 
 their regard to the extent and physical nature of the country 
 
 country, occupied by tribes which possessed the Kamilaroi type of 
 social organisation. Dr. Howitt writes as follows : " To the 
 eastward of the boundary which I have marked for the 
 Barkinji type,^ the country is better watered and has far 
 greater food -supply for an aboriginal population, until at 
 the eastern coast the food-supply reaches its maximum. I 
 am now speaking generally, and not with reference to 
 isolated spots, which might be picked out where the coast is 
 barren. Over this better watered and provisioned country 
 extends the Kamilaroi type of system, with a range also 
 along the northern watershed to the boundary of South 
 Australia, and probably beyond it to the westward. It 
 appears to touch the eastern coast line, and to follow it to 
 about Rockhampton, where it leaves the coast and, striking 
 southwards along the coast range, follows its general direc- 
 tion until at about the Hunter River, in New South Wales, 
 it reaches its most southeriy limit. Thence the boundary 
 of the Kamilaroi type strikes westward to the junction 
 of the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, where it joins 
 the south-eastern boundary of the Barkinji type. Thus 
 the true Kamilaroi organisation, with small variations, 
 mainly in dialectic forms of the class names, spreads 
 over an area in Eastern Australia at the very least 
 looo miles north and south by 500 miles east and 
 west. This area comprises some of the best watered and 
 
 • A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of organisation, with its two exogamous 
 Smth-East Australia, p. 57. classes Mukwara and Kilpara, see 
 
 As to the Barkinji type of social above, pp. 389 sq. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 397 
 
 most fertile tracts, exclusive of the rich lands of the coast 
 line."^ 
 
 In the Kamilaroi type of social organisation the two Kamiiaroi 
 primary exogamous moieties or classes, which bear the '^'^^^^ ^ 
 names of Kupathin and Dilbi, are subdivided each into two andtotems. 
 subclasses, which bear the names of Ipai, Kumbo, Muri, 
 and Kubi. Included under the classes (moieties) and sub- 
 classes there are, as usual in Australian tribes, a number of 
 totem clans. The following table exhibits the classes 
 (moieties), subclasses, and totem clans of the Kamilaroi 
 type as they existed on the Gwydir River, a tributary of 
 the Darling River in the north-east of New South Wales.^ 
 
 Kamilaroi System 
 
 Classes 
 (Moieties). 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 
 { 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Emu, carpet -snake, black 
 
 snake 
 
 red 
 
 Kupathin 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 kangaroo, honey, walleroo, frog, 
 
 cod- 
 
 
 
 
 fish. 
 
 
 
 
 Dilbi 
 
 { 
 
 Muri 
 
 Kangaroo 
 
 , opossum, bandicoot, 
 
 padi- 
 
 Kubi 
 
 melon, 
 
 iguana, black 
 
 duck, eagle- 
 
 
 
 
 hawk. 
 
 scrub turkey, 
 
 yellow 
 
 -fish. 
 
 
 
 
 honey-fish, bream. 
 
 
 
 ' A, W. Howitt, "Further Notes 
 on the Australian Class Systems," 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 xviii. (1889) pp. 32 sq. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "Notes on the 
 Australian Class SysXeras," Journal of 
 the Anthropological Institute, xii. (1883) 
 p. 500; id.. Native Tribes of South- 
 East Australia, p. 1 04. In the latter 
 passage Dr. Howitt has transposed, 
 apparently by accident, the totems of 
 Kupathin and Dilbi, and omitted the 
 iguana from the list of Dilbi totems. 
 Compare the Kamilaroi totems men- 
 lionwl by the Rev. W. Ridley, in 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 ii- ('873) p. 264, and quoted by Dr. 
 A. W. Howitt, A^o/«w Tribes of South- 
 East Australia, pp. 202, 204. Miss 
 
 Mary E. B. Howitt has kindly con- 
 sulted her father's manuscripts for me 
 and has confirmed the names and the 
 distribution of the totems which I have 
 given in the text. The table which 
 stands on p. 104 of Native Tribes of 
 South- East Australia should there- 
 fore be corrected accordingly. Miss 
 Howitt's letter to me is dated April 
 27th, 1908. In the Kamilaroi tribe 
 corresponding to the masculine names 
 of the subclasses (Ipai, Kumbo, Muri, 
 and Kubi) there are feminine names 
 (Ipatha, Butha, Matha, and Kubitha). 
 See Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi atui 
 Kiirnai, pp. 36, 37 note ; and above, 
 p. 62. Here, again, in the text I omit 
 the feminine forms for the sake of 
 simplicity. In his Native Tribes of 
 
398 
 
 TOTEMISM IN SO UTH-E ASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 Dr. 
 
 Howitt on 
 the rela- 
 tion of the 
 four-class 
 system to 
 the two- 
 class 
 system. 
 
 Kamilaroi 
 rules of 
 marriage 
 and 
 descent. 
 
 On this system Dr. Howitt observes: "Kupathin and 
 Dilbi divide the tribal community into two moieties, just as 
 Matteri and Kararu or any other of the pairs of class names 
 do. Omitting for a moment the four subclasses, there remain 
 only the two classes, each with its group of totems, and the 
 analogy to the two-class system is at once apparent. It is 
 clear that the difference consists in the interpolation between , 
 the totems and the two classes of four subclasses ; or perhaps 
 the more correct statement would be that each primary class 
 has been divided into two moieties, and that the totems 
 either remain with the primary, and are common to both, as 
 in some tribes, or, as in others, have been divided between 
 the subclasses. When this occurs it is evidently a further 
 stage in the process of subdivision." ^ 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent in the Kamilaroi 
 system have been already explained,^ but it may be well to 
 repeat them. The marriage system in outline is this. An 
 Ipai man marries a Kubi woman and their children are 
 Muri. A Kumbo man marries a Muri woman and their 
 children are Kubi. A Muri man marries a Kumbo 
 woman and their children are Ipai. A Kubi man marries 
 an Ipai woman and their children are Kumbo. To put 
 this in tabular form : — 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Kupathin {|P^_:^^^ 
 
 _.,, . ("Muri 
 ^^^b> JKubi 
 
 Kubi 
 Muri 
 
 Kumbo 
 Ipai 
 
 Muri 
 Kubi 
 
 Ipai 
 Kumbo 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 200 sqq.. 
 Dr. Howitt has used the feminine 
 forms without explanation. 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 104 sq. But 
 it is doubtful whether in these tribes 
 the totems are really subdivided be- 
 tween the subclasses. See below, pp. 
 408 sq., 419, 433 sq. 
 
 2 Above, pp. 62, 68 sq. See W. 
 
 Ridley, ' ' Report on Australian Lan- 
 guages and Traditions," foumal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, ii. (1873) 
 pp. 263 sqq. ; id., KdmilarSi and other 
 Australian Languages, Second Edition 
 (Sydney, 1875), PP- 161 -f?- > Fison 
 and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 
 pp. 36 sq. ; A. W. Howitt, Native 
 Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 
 200 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 399 
 
 Hence it appears that a man always marries a woman The rule 
 belonging to one of the two subclasses which make up the."^^"^^^^^'^' 
 other moiety of the tribe, and that the children belong to which is 
 the subclass neither of their father nor of their mother, but ^s^oHhe 
 to the other subclass of their mother's moiety. For example, four-class 
 the children of an Ipai man and a Kubi woman are Muri, seem™to 
 which is the complementary subclass of their mother's sub- ^"^ ^^° 
 class, since Muri and Kubi together make up one moiety or prevent the 
 class (namely, Dilbi) of the tribe. Similarly, the children of a carnage 
 Muri man and a Kumbo woman are Ipai, which is the comple- with their 
 mentary subclass of their mother's subclass. Thus we have '\''/',^"it 
 here what I have called indirect female descent,' since the effects this 
 children belong to their mother's moiety (class) of the tribe, ^1^^^^^ 
 but not to her subclass. The rules of marriage and descent parenu 
 are precisely analogous to those which prevail among the children in 
 Southern Arunta, except that in the Southern Arunta there different 
 is indirect male descent instead of indirect female descent, 
 since the child belongs to its father's class and to his com- 
 plementary subclass,^ instead of, as among the Kamilaroi, 
 to its mother's class and to her complementary subclass. 
 As I have already observed, it seems evident that rules of 
 marriage and descent at once so complex and so regular 
 cannot be the result of a train of accidents, but must have 
 been deliberately devised in order to effect a definite purpose. 
 That purpose appears to have been to prevent the marriage 
 of parents with children, and it was effectually attained by 
 arranging that children should always belong to a subclass 
 into which neither their father nor their mother might 
 marry. If that simple rule was observed, the marriage of 
 parents with children was thenceforth impossible. Only we 
 must remember that in speaking of fathers, mothers, and 
 children in this connection we employ these terms of relation- 
 ship not in our narrow sense of the words, but in the much 
 wider classificatory sense which the Australian aborigines 
 give to them, and in accordance with which every person 
 has a whole group of " fathers " and a whole group of 
 "mothers." Hence, when we say that the complex rules of 
 the four subclasses were deliberately devised to prevent the 
 marriage of mothers with sons and of fathers with daughters, 
 
 ' Above, p. 68. ^ See above, p. 260. 
 
40O TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 we do not mean that they were intended merely to hinder 
 a son from marrying the mother who bore him and a 
 daughter. from marrying the father who begat her, but that 
 they were also intended to hinder a man from marrying any 
 one of his group -mothers and a woman from marrying 
 any one of her group-fathers.^ 
 The In the light of this explanation we can understand the 
 
 aversion to obiect of that great restriction on freedom of marriage which 
 
 marriages •' ° i -i i • i i 
 
 between the four-class System imposes on the tribes which have 
 and their adopted it. Under the simple two-class system a man is 
 children theoretically free to marry any woman in the other moiety 
 probably of the tribe, though practically at the present day he is 
 felt before debarred from a number of these women by customs which 
 expression Operate independently of the class system. For example, 
 was given jf ^q two-class System is combined with female descent, a 
 four-class man's daughter will belong to his wife's class, and will 
 system. therefore be marriageable to him. Or, again, if the two- 
 class system be combined with male descent, a woman's son 
 will belong to her husband's class, and will therefore be 
 marriageable to her. But such marriages, though theoretic- 
 ally possible under the two-class system, are practically 
 forbidden even in those Australian tribes which have only 
 the two-class system. This proves that the aversion to such 
 marriages may and does exist before it finds, so to say, 
 legal expression in a tribal ordinance forbidding them. The 
 subdivision of the two original exogamous classes into four 
 exogamous subclasses, with the rule that a child is born 
 into the subclass neither of its father nor of its mother, 
 appears to be nothing more than a successful attempt to 
 give legal expression to what had previously been only a 
 moral or instinctive feeling. The council of elders, it would 
 seem, in certain tribes came to the conclusion that it was 
 not enough to trust to this purely instinctive feeling, and 
 that it was advisable to incorporate it in the formal law of 
 
 I That this, and not the mere pro- intended to prevent the possibility of 
 
 hibition of marriage between actual intermarriage between parents (own 
 
 parents and their children, was the and tribal) and children." See A. W. 
 
 aim of the subdivision of the tribe into Howitt, "Notes on the Australian 
 
 four subclasses was long ago perceived Class Sys\.e[a%" Journal of the Anthro- 
 
 by Dr. Howitt, who observes: "The pological Institute, xii. (1883) p. 504. 
 
 secondary divisions into subclasses were See further above, pp. 285 sqq. 
 
U TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 401 
 
 the tribe. This they did by an ingenious extension of the 
 existing class system, dividing the two old classes into four 
 subclasses, and ordaining that children should never belong to 
 the subclass of either parent, so that marriage between parent 
 and child would be henceforth impossible. The new rule, 
 in all probability, only gave formal sanction to what had long 
 been the informal custom of the tribe.^ Hence it is that, 
 whereas under the two-class system a man is theoretically, 
 though at the present day not practically, free to marry any 
 woman of the other class, under the four-subclass system he 
 is not so free either in theory or in practice. Instead of 
 having, as under the two-class system, one half of the women 
 of the tribe open to him as wives, he has now, roughly 
 speaking, only one quarter of them so open. The new rule 
 excludes him from one quarter of the women who previously 
 were marriageable with him. If descent is in the female 
 line, as among the Kamilaroi, then in the quarter from which 
 under the new rule he is excluded are comprised all the 
 women who under the classificatory system are reckoned his 
 daughters. If descent is in the male line, then in the 
 quarter from which under the new rule he is excluded are 
 comprised all the women who under the classificatory system 
 are reckoned his mothers. With female descent a man is 
 already prevented by the two-class system from marrying 
 his mother, because she belongs to his own class. With 
 male descent a man is already prevented by the two-class 
 system from marrying his daughter, because she belongs to 
 his own class. Hence the innovation which the introduction 
 of the four-class system effected was to bar the marriage of 
 a man either with his daughter or with his mother, according 
 as descent was reckoned in the female or in the male line. 
 
 If this view of the development of the four-subclass if the 
 system out of an original two-class system be correct, it sy^em^was 
 raises a presumption that the two-class system itself had a devised to 
 
 ' This also has been clearly recog- social prohibition which forbids the 
 
 nised by Dr. Hewitt, who observed intermarriage of parents and children, 
 
 long ago : " I think that the sub- or brother and sisters, is universal 
 
 division of the classes was intended to throughout Australia." See A. \V. 
 
 render impossible those unions which Howitt, "Notes on the Australian 
 
 were perhaps even then forbidden by C\ass SyAems" /ournal of the Anthro- 
 
 public opinion; for, while these sub- pological Institute, xii. (1883) p. 
 
 divisions have only a local range, the 502. 
 
 VOI-. I 2 D 
 
402 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 prevent the Similar Origin ; in other words, that just as the community 
 ""aims seems to have split itself into four in order to render marriage 
 with their between parents and children impossible, so it may previously 
 if probable ^ave Split itself into two in order to render marriage between 
 that the brothers and sisters impossible. Both segmentations of the 
 sysTenwas Community, on this theory, were reformatory in the sense 
 devised to that they were deliberately instituted in order to give legal 
 marrkge ^ and formal sanction to what had hitherto been an informal 
 of brothers custom of the tribe. The agents who brought about the 
 
 with their , ^ , . , r i i 
 
 sisters. reforms were not smgle despots or legislators, of whom there 
 is no evidence in aboriginal Australian society, but the 
 council of elders, who in the opinion of the most competent 
 observers possess both the sagacity to conceive and the 
 power to initiate such changes of tribal custom.^ At least 
 this view of the evolution of the apparently complex marriage 
 laws of the Australian aborigines has the merit of simplicity 
 and consistency. We can thus explain by a few clear 
 principles the otherwise bewildering complexity of a social 
 system which some have attempted to account for by 
 theories as complicated and cumbrous as the cycles and 
 epicycles which a misplaced ingenuity invented to explain 
 the solar system, till Copernicus swept these cobwebs away 
 for ever by the convincing simplicity of truth. 
 
 Kamiiaroi In the Kamilaroi tribes, with their system of female 
 
 descent, children take their totems as well as their primary 
 class (moiety) from their mother. Thus if a Kupathin man 
 of the emu totem marries a Dilbi woman of the kangaroo 
 totem, the children will be Dilbi Kangaroos. If a Kupathin 
 man of the emu totem marries a Dilbi woman of the opossum 
 totem, the children will be Dilbi Opossums. If a Dilbi man 
 of the iguana totem marries a Kupathin woman of the 
 black snake totem, the children will be Kupathin Black 
 Snakes. And so on.^ From this it appears that, so far 
 as the primary classes (moieties) and totems are concerned, 
 descent is precisely the same in the four -class system 
 with female descent as in the two-class system with female 
 
 ' See above, pp. 352 sqq. pp. 2.(>a,sq.; Fison and Howitt, Kami- 
 
 ^ W. Ridley, " Report on Australian laroi mid Kurnai, p. 43; A. W. 
 
 Languages and Traditions," _/««?-««/ 0/" Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East 
 
 Ihe Anthropological Institute, \\. (1873) Australia, p. 202. 
 
 descent of 
 the totem 
 
II TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 403 
 
 descent ; in both of them descent is direct in the maternal 
 line, since children take their primary class (moiety) and 
 their totem from their mother. In neither the primary class 
 nor the totem is descent at all affected by the interpolation 
 between the two of the four subclasses. 
 
 In one of the Kamilaroi tribes a remarkable exception Exception 
 to the exogamy of the subclasses has been recorded. A e°ogamy 
 man of any subclass was allowed to marry any woman of of 'he 
 his own subclass provided her totem was different from his. ,„ ^ne 
 Thus, for example, an Ipai man of the emu totem might of "^^ 
 
 r . /-Ill, 1 1 r Kamilaroi 
 
 marry an Ipai woman of the black snake totem but not of tribes, 
 the emu totem. A Kubi man of the kangaroo totem might 
 marry a Kubi woman of the iguana totem, but not of the 
 kangaroo totem. And so with the rest. Curiously enough 
 this violation of the exogamy of the subclasses did not affect 
 the children, for they took the same subclass and totem 
 which they would have taken if their mother had married a 
 man of the proper subclass instead of a man of her own 
 subclass ; that is to say, the children took their mother's 
 totem and the subclass which was complementary to her 
 subclass. For example, the children of an Ipai man and an 
 Ipai woman were Kumbo, which is the complementary sub- 
 class of their mother's subclass Ipai, and if her totem was 
 black snake, their totem was black snake too. The children 
 of a Kubi man and a Kubi woman were Muri, which was the 
 complementary subclass of their mother's subclass Kubi, and 
 if her totem was iguana, so was theirs. This exception to 
 the exogamy of the subclasses seems to be unique, but it is 
 well attested. It shows that in the tribe which admitted of 
 it, the exogamy of the totem was more firmly established 
 than the exogamy of the subclass, since the exogamy of the 
 totem was strictly maintained, while that of the subclass 
 was relaxed.^ 
 
 Among the Kamilaroi " a female captive would be the Rule as to 
 property of her captor, if she were of the proper class-name ; captfv^. 
 but in any case he must be a noted fighting-man to be 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, /kamilaroi and exogamy of the subclasses are Mr. T. 
 
 Xumai, pp. 45-48, 63 sg.; A. W. E. Lance and the Rev. W. Ridley, 
 
 Howitt, hfative Tribes of South-East both experienced and trustworthy 
 
 Australia, pp. 203 sq. The authorities observers, 
 for this remarkable exception to the 
 
404 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 allowed to have more than one wife. If the woman did not 
 
 belong to the proper class, he had to give her back to her 
 
 Punish- relations. If a man among the Kamilaroi took a woman to 
 
 ment for ^^jf^ contrary to the tribal laws, her kindred would complain 
 
 breach of ■' , . , , i i ,11 
 
 marriage to the local division to which he belonged, and they were 
 l^rTong the bound to take the matter up. If they did not do this, a 
 Kamilaroi. fight would be sure to arise between members of the two 
 subclasses concerned. In some cases, however, if a man 
 persisted in keeping a woman as his wife who was of one of 
 the subclasses with which his subclass could not marry, he 
 was driven out of the company of his friends. If that did 
 not induce him to leave the woman, his male kindred 
 followed him and killed him. The female kindred of the 
 woman also killed her." ^ 
 Avoidance In the Kamilaroi nation, as in many if not all Australian 
 
 f^°^^^' tribes, a woman might neither speak with nor look at her 
 daughter's husband. The rule was rigidly observed. If a 
 man met his mother-in-law by chance, they instantly turned 
 round, back to back, and remained at a distance. If one of 
 them desired to communicate with the other, the message 
 had to be sent through a third party. They seemed to 
 think that it would be extremely indelicate for a mother-in- 
 law and a son-in-law to speak together. So far did they 
 carry this custom of mutual avoidance that from the hour 
 that an infant girl was betrothed by the promise of her 
 parents, the man to whom she was betrothed had strictly 
 to avoid the sight of his future mother-in-law.^ Among 
 the Kamilaroi of the Gwydir River the custom was enforced 
 with the most rigorous severity, for we learn that these 
 people inflicted the penalty of death on any man who spoke 
 or held any communication with his wife's mother.^ It is - 
 worth while observing that with a custom of female descent, 
 such as prevails among the Kamilaroi, a woman and her 
 
 ' Cyrus E. Doyle, quoted by Dr. A. Traditions," Journal of the Anthropo- 
 
 W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South- logical Institute, ii. (1873) p. 267). 
 
 East Australia, p. 208. Similarly The ordeal consists in standing exposed 
 
 the Rev. W. Ridley, speaking of the to a shower of spears, which the culprit 
 
 Kamilaroi marriage customs, says : is allowed to parry or avoid. 
 "Any breach of these laws incurs 2 -vy, Ridley, A'(7';«?7arA',2pp. 157 jy. 
 
 sentence of death, or of exposure to ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 an ordeal that may end in death " South-East Australia, p. 208, referring 
 
 ("Report on Australian Languages and to Cyrus E. Doyle as his authority. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 405 
 
 daughter's husband necessarily belong to different primary 
 classes and are therefore so far marriageable to each other, 
 though their union is actually barred by the subdivision into 
 four subclasses. This suggests that the institution of four 
 subclasses may have been designed to prevent the marriage 
 of a man with his wife's mother as well as with his daughter. 
 
 If a man killed another maliciously and unfairly, an Rule of 
 obligation rested on the men of the same subclass and °° 
 totem as the victim to avenge his death by slaying a man 
 of the same subclass and totem as the murderer. For 
 example, if an Ippai man of the emu totem murdered a 
 Kubi man of the padi-melon totem, then the other Kubi 
 Padi-melons would kill an Ippai Emu, thus satisfying the 
 demands of justice, as justice is conceived by the Kamilaroi.^ 
 
 The Kamilaroi had the classificatory system of relation- ciassifi- 
 ship, though the terms appear not to have been fully recorded. ^5°^ of 
 In the generation above his own a man applied the same relation- 
 term umbathi to his mother, to his mother's sisters, and to among the 
 the wives of his father's brothers. In his own generation Kamilaroi. 
 he applied the same term ungina to his wife, to his wife's 
 sisters, and to his brothers' wives ; and a wife applied the 
 same term golid to her husband, to her husband's brothers, 
 and to her sisters' husbands.^ 
 
 To the west and south-west of the Kamilaroi lay the The 
 Wiradjuri, a very large and powerful tribe or nation of tribes naUon?*^' 
 occupying a vast extent of country in Central New South 
 Wales, and distinguished by a common language which was 
 spoken in various dialects. To the westward this tribe or 
 nation bordered on those tribes of New South Wales who 
 have the two-class Mukwara and Kilpara system, which has 
 been already described.' The territory of the Wiradjuri 
 extended from Mudgee to Hay and for a long way down 
 the Lachlan River. The name Wiradjuri is derived from 
 wirai, a word which in the tribal language means " no." ^ 
 
 ' W. Ridley, " Report on Australian Relationships," Journal of the Royal 
 
 Languages and Traditions,"y(7«>7w/ of Antkropological/nstitu/e, xxxvii. (1907) 
 
 the AtUhropologual Institute, ii. (1873) pp. 287 sq. 
 p. a68; compare id., Kimilarii,^ ' gee above, pp. 380 J?y. 
 
 p. 159. * A. L. P. Cameron, "Notes on 
 
 ' A. W.Howitt, "Australian Group- some Tribes of New South Wales," 
 
4o6 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Like the Kamilaroi the Wiradjuri are divided into two 
 
 Classes, 
 
 an/tmem's prini'^ry classes and four subclasses, all exogamous, with 
 
 of the 
 Wiradjuri. 
 
 descent in the female line ; and the names of the subclasses 
 are the same, or nearly the same, as those of the Kamilaroi 
 subclasses. Included under the classes and subclasses there 
 are, as usual, a number of totem clans. The social system 
 of that tribe of the Wiradjuri nation which occupied the 
 greater part of Riverina is shown in the subjoined table.^ 
 
 Wiradjuri System, Riverina District 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Subrlnsses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Moiety A - 
 
 Yibai 
 
 opossum 
 fly 
 
 English bee 
 kangaroo-rat 
 native bee 
 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 bloodsucker-lizard 
 padi-melon 
 
 
 crow 
 
 
 Murri 
 
 red kangaroo 
 a small lizard 
 
 Moiety B . 
 
 1 
 Kubbi 
 
 young emu 
 
 flying squirrel 
 bush-rat 
 chicken-hawk 
 bandicoot 
 
 The names of the primary classes or moieties in this 
 tribe have not been ascertained. The rules of marriage and 
 descent, so far as the classes and subclasses are concerned, 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 xiv. (1885) p. 345; A. W. Howitt, 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, 
 pp. 55 sq., 105.I 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 105 sq. 
 
 The name of one of the subclasses 
 is given variously as Wumba, Wumbi, 
 and Wumbo. For the sake of uni- 
 formity I have adopted the form 
 Wumbi, which is used repeatedly by 
 Dr. Howitt {op. cit. p. 209). 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 407 
 
 are the same as in the Kamilaroi system. An Yibai man 
 marries a Kubbi woman and the children are Murri : a 
 Wumbi man marries a Murri woman and the children are 
 Kubbi : a Murri man marries a Wumbi woman and the 
 children are Yibai : a Kubbi man marries an Yibai woman 
 and the children are Wumbi.^ To put this in tabular form : — 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Yibai 
 Wumbi 
 
 1 Murri 
 (.Kubbi 
 
 Kubbi 
 Murri 
 
 Wumbi 
 Yibai 
 
 Murri 
 Kubbi 
 
 Yibai 
 Wumbi 
 
 But in respect of the totems the marriage rules of the Marriage 
 Wiradjuri differ from those of the Kamilaroi. For whereas descent of 
 among the Kamilaroi a man is apparently free to marry a the totems 
 woman of any totem in the other class or moiety of the wiradjuri 
 tribe, among the Wiradjuri, at least in the southern branch '"''«• 
 of the tribe, each totem is restricted to marriage with certain 
 totems of the other class. The following table exhibits the 
 intermarriage and descent of the totems in the southern 
 branch of the Wiradjuri tribe, so far as Dr. Howitt could 
 ascertain them, but with regard to some of the totems he 
 was not able to obtain the necessary information.^ 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 106, 209. 
 In this tribe, as in the Kamilaroi, there 
 are feminine as well as masculine forms 
 of the names of the subclasses. The 
 feminine forms are Yibatha, Butha, 
 (corresponding to the masculine 
 Wumbi), Matha (corresponding to 
 
 Murri), and Kubbitha. For the sake 
 of simplicity I use only the masculine 
 forms in the text. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 208 sg. I 
 again omit the feminine forms of the 
 names (Yibatha, Butha, Matha, and 
 Kubbitha) for the sake of simplicity. 
 
 [Table. 
 
4o8 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 WiRADjuRi Tribe, Southern Branch 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 ( Yibai 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 bush- rat 
 
 Murri 
 
 bush-rat 
 
 
 Yibai 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 flying-squirrel 
 
 Murri 
 
 flying-squirrel 
 
 
 Yibai 
 
 opossum 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 bush- rat 
 
 Murri 
 
 bush-rat 
 
 A 
 
 Yibai 
 
 opossum 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 flying-squirrel 
 
 Murri 
 
 flying-squirrel 
 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 bloodsucker- 
 
 Murri 
 
 young emu 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 young emu 
 
 
 
 lizard 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • Murri 
 
 young emu 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 bloodsucker- 
 lizard 
 
 Yibai 
 
 bloodsucker- 
 lizard 
 
 B- 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 bush-rat 
 
 Yibai 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 flying-squirrel 
 
 Yibai 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 bush-rat 
 
 Yibai 
 
 opossum 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 opossum 
 
 
 ^ Kubbi 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 Yibai 
 
 opossum 
 
 Wumbi 
 
 opossum 
 
 In the 
 four-class 
 system the 
 totems of 
 each class 
 alternate 
 between 
 the sub- 
 classes of 
 that class 
 in alternate 
 genera- 
 tions. 
 
 From this table it may be observed that while the 
 totems remain constantly within the same class (moiety) 
 from generation to generation, they alternate from one sub- 
 class to its complementary subclass with each generation 
 reckoned from a mother to her children. For example, in 
 the one moiety the eagle-hawk totem belongs to a woman 
 of the Yibai subclass in one generation and to her children 
 of the Wumbi subclass in the next : in the other moiety the 
 totem bush-rat belongs to a woman of the Kubbi subclass 
 in the one generation and to her children of the Murri sub- 
 class in the next. This alternation of the totems between 
 the subclasses is not peculiar to the Wiradjuri ; it necessarily 
 occurs wherever hereditary totemism exists with the four- 
 class system. For since under these conditions a child 
 always takes its totem from one of its parents, while its 
 subclass always differs from theirs, the totem shifts like a 
 shuttle backwards and forwards with each generation between 
 the complementary subclasses of its mother's class or 
 between the complementary subclasses of its father's class, 
 according as descent is in the maternal or in the paternal 
 line. In the Wiradjuri tribe descent is in the maternal line, 
 and accordingly the totem shifts in alternate generations 
 
n TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 409 
 
 between the complementary subclasses of the mother's class. 
 For example, the daughter of a Kubbi bush-rat woman is a 
 Murri bush-rat woman, and the daughter of this Murri bush-rat 
 woman is a Kubbi bush-rat woman, just as was her maternal 
 grandmother. Thus the bush-rat totem swings backwards 
 and forwards like a pendulum between the complementary 
 subclasses Kubbi and Murri. And the same rule holds of 
 all the other totems.' This shews, as I shall point out again 
 later on, that though the clan totems may be and commonly 
 are permanently divided between the primary classes or 
 moieties, they cannot be so divided between the two com- 
 plementary subclasses which compose each of the two 
 primary classes, since they are constantly fluctuating with 
 each generation between these two complementary sub- 
 classes. Hence tables which represent the clan totems as 
 divided between the two subclasses of a primary class must, 
 it would seem, be so far erroneous. 
 
 In the Southern Wiradjuri children were betrothed to Betrothal 
 each other in very early youth. When the boy is old wiradjuri! 
 enough to marry, that is, when his beard has grown after he 
 has passed through the initiation ceremony, and the consent 
 of the kindred on both sides has been given, he fetches his 
 betrothed to be his wife. Commonly a brother of the bride 
 accompanies his sister to her new home in order to receive a 
 sister of the bridegroom to wife in exchange. This custom 
 of exchanging sisters had a special name, giin-gun-mur? 
 With regard to the initiation ceremonies of the Wiradjuri, 
 which they call burbung, it is a rule that the members of 
 a class, subclass, or totem cannot initiate their own boys, 
 but must invite the members of the intermarrying class, 
 subclass, and totem to assist in the ceremonies.^ 
 
 In the Wiradjuri tribes of the Lachlan River the names wiradjuri 
 of the two primary classes or moieties are Mukula and J,"^^ 
 Budthurung, and the totems are arranged under them as Lachian 
 follows :-* t^^ 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 584. and totems. 
 
 Soulk-East Australia, p. 210. ■* A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 210 sq. 107. 
 
4IO TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 WiRADjuRi System, Lachlan River 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 padi-melon 
 
 Mukula 
 
 1 
 
 opossum 
 mallee-hen 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 emu 
 
 • 
 
 
 opossum 
 
 r 
 
 
 red kangaroo (nzurri) 
 bandicoot 
 
 
 Murri 
 
 black duck 
 snake 
 
 Budthurung 
 
 
 lace-lizard 
 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 red kangaroo 
 
 black duck {budthurung) ^ 
 
 lace-lizard 
 
 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 Marriage In the marriage system of these Lachlan River tribes 
 
 Tn^e''^''^"' there is an anomalous feature : in his choice of a wife a man 
 
 wiradjuri is not restricted to one of the two subclasses of the other 
 
 oftoe moiety ; he is free to marry into either of them. This, it is 
 
 Lachlan obvious, is SO far to abandon the four-subclass system and 
 
 revert to the original two-class system, under which a man 
 
 is theoretically at liberty to marry any woman of the other 
 
 moiety. The reversion may, as Dr. Howitt suggests,^ have 
 
 been caused by a diminution of numbers, which perhaps 
 
 rendered the restrictions imposed by the four-subclass system 
 
 incompatible with the continued existence of the tribe. The 
 
 following table exhibits the rules of marriag'e and descent 
 
 in the Wiradjuri tribes of the Lachlan Rivers, as they were 
 
 ascertained by Mr. A. L. P. Cameron.^ In the table the 
 
 anomalous marriages are indicated by italics. 
 
 ' It will be observed that budthurung 
 (black duck) is the name of the primary 
 class as well as of the totem. Of this 
 fact Dr. Howitt has found no explana- 
 tion. Similarly murri (red kangaroo) 
 
 is the name of a subclass as well as of 
 a totem. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 212. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 211 sq. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 4H 
 
 WiRADjuRi Tribe, Lachlan River 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband, 
 
 Ipai 
 
 mallee-hen 
 or 
 
 Ipai padi-melon 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 opossum 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 mallee-hen 
 or 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 emu 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 opossum 
 
 tis 
 
 •s 
 
 •o 
 
 Murri 
 Murri 
 
 Murri 
 
 Murri 
 
 Kubbi 
 Kubbi 
 
 red kangaroo 
 black duck 
 
 snake 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 red kangaroo 
 black duck 
 
 Kubbi lace-lizard 
 [ Kubbi bandicoot 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Kubbi black duck 
 
 Kubbi red kangaroo 
 
 Kubbi lace-lizard 
 
 Murri bandicoot 
 
 Kubbi bandicoot 
 
 Murri black duck 
 
 Murri red kangaroo 
 
 Murri snake 
 
 Murri red kangaroo 
 
 Murri black duck 
 
 Murri snake 
 
 Kubbi bandicoot 
 
 Murri bandicoot 
 
 Kubbi black duck 
 
 Kubbi red kangaroo 
 
 Kubbi lace-lizard 
 
 Kumbo mallee-hen 
 Kumbo emu 
 
 Ipai opossum 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Ipai 
 Ipai 
 
 opossum 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 padi-Tnelon 
 
 padi-melon 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Kumbo opossum 
 
 Ipai opossum 
 
 Kumbo mallee-hen 
 
 Kumbo emu 
 
 Children. 
 
 The children are 
 always of their 
 mother's class 
 and totem, and 
 of the subclass 
 which is com- 
 plementary to 
 her subclass. 
 Thus if she is 
 Ipai, they are 
 Kumbo ; if she 
 is Kumbo, they 
 are Ipai. If 
 she is Murri, 
 they are 
 Kubbi ; if she 
 is Kubbi, they 
 are Murri. 
 
 Some confusion seems to have crept 
 into Dr. Hewitt's table. I have en- 
 deavoured to correct it, but cannot feel 
 sure that I have succeeded. For the 
 
 sake of simplicity I have again omitted 
 the feminine forms (Ipatha, Butha, 
 Matha, and Kubbitha) which Dr. 
 Howitt uses without explanation. 
 
412 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Personal In theWiradjuri, as in other tribes of South-East Australia, 
 
 totems of ^jjg medicine-men had what Dr. Hewitt calls their secret per- 
 
 medicme- , 
 
 men sonal totems in addition to their clan totems. For example, 
 
 wiradjurf we hear of a Wiradjuri medicine -man whose clan totem was 
 kangaroo, but whose secret personal totem was tiger-snake. 
 The account which he gave to Dr. Howitt of the way in 
 which he received his personal totem {budjan) and became a 
 medicine-man is instructive.-^ He said : " When I was about 
 ten years old I was taken to the initiation ceremony 
 [burbung) and saw what the old men could bring out of 
 themselves ; and when my tooth was out " the old men 
 chased me with the quartz -crystals {wallungs) in their 
 mouths, shouting ^ Ngai, Ngai,' and moving their hands 
 towards me. I went into the bush for a time, and while 
 there my old father came out to me. He said, ' Come here 
 to me ' ; and he then showed me a piece of quartz-crystal in 
 his hand, and when I looked at it he went down into the 
 ground and I saw him come up all covered with red dust. 
 It made me very frightened. He then said, ' Come to me,' 
 and I went to him, and he said, ' Try and bring up a quartz- 
 crystal {wallung)! I did try, and brought one up. He 
 then said, ' Come with me to this place.' I saw him 
 standing by a hole in the ground, leading to a grave. I 
 went inside and saw a dead man, who rubbed me all over 
 to make me clever, and who gave me some quartz-crystals. 
 When we came out my father pointed to a tiger-snake {gunr) 
 saying, ' That is your budjan (secret personal totem) ; it is 
 mine also.' There was a string tied to the tail of the snake 
 and extending to us. It was one of those strings which the 
 doctors bring up out of themselves, rolled up together. He 
 took hold of it saying, ' Let us follow him.' The tiger-snake 
 went through several tree-trunks, and let us through. Then 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, " On Australian word instead of, or in addition to, the 
 
 M^AicmeMen" Journal of the Anihro- native Australian term. 
 pological Institute, fMi. (1887) p. 50; 2 Jq many tribes of South-East 
 
 id., Native Tribes of South-East Australia one or sometimes two teeth 
 
 Australia, pp. 406 sq. There are are knocked out of the mouth of each 
 
 small verbal differences in the account novice at initiation. See A. W. Howitt, 
 
 as reported in tlvese two passages. I Native Tribes of South-East Australia, 
 
 have used my discretion as to which to pp. 538 sqq., 563, 564, 565, 566, 569, 
 
 follow in the text, and I have occasion- 571, 576, 586 sq., 588, 589, 592, 613, 
 
 ally inserted the equivalent English 616, 641, 655 sq., 675 sq. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 413 
 
 we went to a great Currajong tree,^ and went through it, and 
 after that to a tree with a great mound or swelling round its 
 roots. It is in such places that Daramulun ^ lives. Here 
 the tiger-snake went down into the ground, and we followed 
 him, and came up inside the tree, which was hollow. There 
 I saw a lot of little Daramuluns, the sons of Baiame.^ After 
 we came out again the tiger-snake took us into a great hole 
 in the ground in which were a number of tiger-snakes, which 
 rubbed themselves against me, but did not hurt me, being 
 my hudjan (personal totem). They did this to make me a 
 clever man and a doctor or wizard {wulla mullung)" The 
 name budj'an, which the Wiradjuri apply to their personal 
 totems, is applied by the Murring or Yuin tribe to their 
 totems, both personal and hereditary.* 
 
 To the north of the Wiradjuri of the Lachlan River is 
 
 ' Brachychiton populneum. 
 
 ^ The mound or swelling in which 
 the mythical Daramulun is said to live 
 is the circular mound on which in the 
 Wiradjuri tribe boys were placed at the 
 rites of initiation. On these occasions 
 a figure of Daramulun was moulded or 
 cut in the ground, representing him as 
 a one-legged being with a sharp-pointed 
 bone instead of a second leg. See 
 A, W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Sotith- 
 East Australia, ^^. 584 sq.; id., "On 
 some Australian Ceremonies of Initia- 
 tion," Journal of the Anthropological 
 Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 452 sq. 
 The medicine-man's naiTative, quoted 
 in the text, shews that there were 
 supposed to be many Daramuluns, 
 some of them small, and that they 
 lived in the ground. The belief in a 
 mythical being called Daramulun is 
 shared by other tribes than the Wirad- 
 juri. The Yuin say that Daramulun 
 used to live on earth and taught them 
 what to eat and how to celebrate the 
 initiation ceremonies. When he died 
 and was put in the ground, his ghost 
 went up to the sky. Others say that 
 he ascended up to heaven in the flesh, 
 just as the medicine -men still do. 
 See A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South- East Australia, pp. 494 sq. 
 The Theddora, according to an old 
 woman of the tribe, called Daramulun 
 
 "father" (fapang), and thought that 
 he came down with a noise like 
 thunder to make the boys into men. 
 See A. W. Howitt, op, cit. p. 493. 
 The thundrous noise with which Dara- 
 mulun came down for this purpose 
 was the booming sound of the bull- 
 roarers which were swung at the 
 initiation ceremonies ; their roar was 
 supposed to represent thunder, which 
 was the voice of Daramulun. See A. 
 W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 538; id., in 
 Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 stitute, xiii. (1884) p. 446. 
 
 ^ Baiame is a mythical being in 
 whom the Kamilaroi believed. Some 
 missionaries have regarded him as an 
 aboriginal god, the maker and preserver 
 of all things. Dr. Howitt explained 
 him as the native ideal of a headman. 
 See W. Ridley, KdmilarH,^ pp. 135 
 sq. ; A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 494, 499 
 sqq., 506 sq. 
 
 * See below, pp. 489 sq. As to per- 
 sonal or, as I have called them, indi- 
 vidual totems, see above, pp. 49 sqq. 
 The subject will be more fully discussed 
 when we come to deal with totemism 
 in America, where such personal totems 
 or guardian spirits, as perhaps they 
 should rather be called, are much com- 
 moner than in Australia. 
 
414 TO TEMISM IN SO UTH-EA S TERN A US TEA LI A chap. 
 
 The the country of the Wonghibon tribe, which may be roughly 
 
 ^5°°/" defined by the townships of Mossgiel, Ivanhoe, Cobar, 
 
 tribe, its Nymagee, and Nyngan. The only permanent water in this 
 
 subclasses, district is at its north-eastern extremity, where it skirts the 
 
 and totems, gogan Rlver for some way. Hence the natives of the 
 
 southern parts must have either gone to the Lachlan or 
 
 Darling in time of drought, or else lived on the water 
 
 extracted from the mallee and other roots. The Wonghibon 
 
 appear to be an offshoot or branch of the Wiradjuri nation, 
 
 with whom they live on friendly terms.^ Their system of 
 
 classes, subclasses, and totems, as reported by Dr. A. W. 
 
 Howitt, is as follows : — ^ 
 
 Wonghibon System 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Ngielbumurra -'. 
 Mukumurra . ■! 
 
 Ipai 
 Kumbo 
 
 Murri 
 Kubbi 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 emu 
 
 opossum 
 
 black duck 
 bandicoot 
 red kangaroo 
 
 From this it appears that the Wonghibon totems are 
 similar to those of the Wiradjuri, and that their subclasses 
 are the same as those of the Kamilaroi. We are told that 
 the same names for the subclasses " are also used by tribes 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 56, 107 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 108, 214. Mr. A. L. P. Cameron gives the 
 Wonghibon totems differently as follows ,: — 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Kumbu .... 
 
 crow 
 kangaroo 
 
 Murri .... 
 Kubbi . . 1 
 
 iguana 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 opossum 
 
 See A. L. P. Cameron, " Notes on some Tribes of New South Wales, ''_/<>«?■««/ 
 of the Anthropological Institute, xiv. (1885) p. 348. Probably both lists are 
 incomplete. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 415 
 
 which are wholly unacquainted with the Kamilaroi language, 
 but among whom the organisation of society is the same 
 as in the Kamilaroi tribes." ^ 
 
 In regard to marriage and descent the Wonghibon tribe Marriage 
 presents the same anomalous feature as the Wiradjuri of the descent 
 Lachlan River : that is to say, a man is free to marry a *" "^^ 
 
 Wong- 
 
 woman of either subclass of the other moiety, provided that hibon 
 her totem differs from his. The following table exhibits '"''^• 
 the rules of marriage and descent in the Wonghibon tribe, 
 so far aS they have been ascertained by Mr. A. L. P. 
 Cameron and revised by Dr. Howitt.^ In the table the 
 anomalous marriages are indicated by italics. 
 
 Wonghibon Tribe 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 black duck 
 
 
 
 
 
 Murri 
 Murri 
 
 kangaroo 
 bandicoot 
 
 The children are 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 emu 
 
 Kubbi 
 Kubbi 
 Murri 
 
 black duck 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 kangaroo 
 
 always of their 
 mother's class 
 and totem, and 
 of the subclass 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 ■53 
 
 Ipai 
 
 opossum 
 
 Kubbi 
 Murri 
 Murri 
 
 kangaroo 
 black duck 
 bandicoot 
 
 which is com- 
 plementary to 
 her subclass. 
 Thus if she is 
 
 •Sj 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Murri 
 Kubbi 
 Kubbi 
 
 black duck 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 kangaroo 
 
 Ipai, they are 
 Kumbo ; if she 
 is Kumbo, they 
 are Ipai. If 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 emu 
 
 Murri 
 Murri 
 Kubbi 
 
 black duck 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 kangaroo 
 
 she is Murri, 
 they are 
 Kubbi ; if she 
 is Kubbi, they 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 opossum 
 
 Murri 
 Kubbi 
 Kubbi 
 
 kangaroo 
 black duck 
 bandicoot 
 
 are Murri. 
 
 ' A. L. v. Cameron, op. cit, pp. In the table I have omitted the feminine 
 
 347 sq, forms (Ipatha, Butha, Matha, and Kub- 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of bitha) of the subclass names for the 
 
 South- East Australia, pp. 213-215. sake of simplicity. 
 
4i6 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 WONGHIBON Tribe {continued) 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 
 Murri 
 
 kangaroo 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Ipai 
 
 opossum 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 emu 
 
 The children are 
 
 
 Murri 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 emu 
 
 always of their 
 
 
 
 
 ipai 
 
 iruillee-hen 
 
 mother's class 
 
 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 opossum. 
 
 and totem, and 
 of the subclass 
 
 s , 
 
 Murri 
 
 black duck 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 which is com- 
 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 emu 
 
 plementary to 
 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 opossum 
 
 her subclass. 
 
 D 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thus if she is 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ipai, they are 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 wild duck 
 
 Ipai 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 Kumbo; if she 
 
 
 
 
 Ipai 
 
 emu 
 
 is Kumbo, they 
 
 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 opossum 
 
 are Ipai. If 
 she is Murri, 
 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 Ipai 
 
 emu 
 
 they are 
 
 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 opossum 
 
 Kubbi ; if she 
 
 
 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 is Kubbi, they 
 are Murri. 
 
 
 Kubbi 
 
 kangaroo 
 
 Ipai 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 Kumbo 
 
 opossum 
 
 mallee-hen 
 
 emu 
 
 
 Practical 
 reversion to 
 two-class 
 system. 
 
 Avoidance 
 of mother- 
 in-law. 
 
 Just as with the Wiradjuri of the Lachlan River, so 
 with the Wonghibon the permission to marry a woman of 
 either subclass of the other moiety is, in so far as it removes 
 the subclass restrictions on marriage, practically a reversion 
 to the old two-class system, which in theory allows a man 
 to marry any woman of the other moiety. 
 
 In the foregoing tribes we again meet with the custom 
 that mother-in-law and son-in-law mutually avoid each 
 other. The custom, says Mr. A. L. P. Cameron, " is of 
 universal occurrence so far as I know throughout the whole 
 of Australia, certainly in every tribe of aborigines I have 
 ever come in contact with in New South Wales and Queens- 
 land. A man never speaks to his wife's mother if he can 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 417 
 
 possibly avoid it, and she is equally careful in shunning all 
 communication with him." ^ 
 
 A similar system of two classes and four subclasses, with The Kuin- 
 totem clans and descent in the female line, is found among ™^,"™ 
 the Kuinmurbura, a tribe which claimed the peninsula between classes, 
 Broad Sound and Shoalwater Bay on the coast of Queensland, and totems', 
 to the north of Rockhampton. But while the Kuinmurbura 
 system resembles that of the Kamilaroi, the Wiradjuri, and 
 the Wonghibon, the names both of the classes and of the sub- 
 classes are quite different, as may be seen from the following 
 table :—'■ 
 
 Kuinmurbura System 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Yungeru 
 Witteru 
 
 ( 
 { 
 
 Kurpal the barrimundi 
 Kuialla a hawk 
 
 Karilbura good water 
 Munal iguana 
 
 black eagle-hawk 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 curlew 
 
 clear water (kauara) 
 
 scrub wallaby 
 
 a hawk (kolpobora) 
 
 The Kuinmurbura is one of the few tribes in which 
 the names for the classes or subclasses are those of animals 
 or other natural objects. Other tribes in which the classes 
 or subclasses or both are so named are the Wolgal and 
 Ngarigo in New South Wales,* the Kulin tribes of Victoria,* 
 and the Annan River tribe of Queensland.^ 
 
 In the Kuinmurbura tribe the rules of marriage and 
 
 ' A. L. p. Cameron, " Notes on some Tribes of New South Wales,'' 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xiv. (1885) p. 353. 
 
 '' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South- East Australia, pp. 60, 11 1. 
 Feminine forms of the subclass names are formed by post-fixing an to them, as 
 masculine Kurpal, feminine Kurpalan. 
 
 ' See above, pp. 393 sq. * See below, p. 435. 
 
 ' The system of the Annan River tribe near Cooktown is this : 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Walar, 
 Murla, 
 
 a bee 
 a bee 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 {Wandi, eagle-hawk 
 
 Walar, a bee 
 
 (Jorro, a bee 
 
 yA'ulchal, salt-water eagle-hawk 
 
 Descent is in the male line. See A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Sotith-East 
 Australia, p. 118. 
 
 VOL. I 2 E 
 
Marriage 
 and 
 
 descent in 
 the Kuin- 
 murbura 
 tribe. 
 
 418 TO TEMISM IN SO UTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 descent are as follows : — A Kurpal man marries a Karilbura 
 woman and the children are Munal. A Kuialla man marries 
 a Munal woman and the children are Karilbura. A Karil- 
 bura man marries a Kurpal woman and the children are 
 Kuialla. A Munal man marries a Kuialla woman and the 
 children are Kurpal. This is the ordinary rule of marriage 
 and descent in a four-subclass system with female descent; 
 a man of any particular subclass always marries a woman of 
 a particular subclass in the other moiety of the tribe, and 
 the children belong to the subclass which is complementary 
 to their mother's subclass. And as regularly happens under 
 such a system, children take their totem as well as their 
 primary class (moiety) from their mother. The following 
 table exhibits the rules of marriage and descent in the 
 tribe,^ from which it would seem that men were not free to 
 marry women of any totem in the subclass with which they 
 intermarried, but that they might only marry the women of 
 one particular totem. But the rules appear to be incomplete, 
 for nothing is said of the marriage of women of the water 
 and wallaby totems. 
 
 KUINMURBURA TRIBE 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 
 'Kurpal 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 hawk 
 
 Munal 
 
 hawk 
 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 laughing- 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 curlew 
 
 Munal 
 
 curlew 
 
 
 
 jackass 
 
 
 
 
 
 C - 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Munal 
 
 hawk 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 hawk 
 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 laughing- 
 
 Munal 
 
 curlew 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 curlew 
 
 
 . 
 
 jackass 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 curlew 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 water 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 wallaby 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 S 
 
 Karilbura 
 
 hawk 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 1 
 
 Munal 
 
 curlew 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 
 Munal 
 
 water 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 laughing-jackass 
 
 *■ Munal 
 
 hawk 
 
 Kuialla 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 Kurpal 
 
 eaglfe-hawk 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of subclass names (Kurpalan, Kuiallan, 
 SoiUh-East Australia, p. 218. Here Karilburan, and Muifelan) for the sake 
 again I omit the feminine forms of the of simplicity. 
 
II TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 419 
 
 From this table it may be seen that, as regularly happens Alternation 
 in the normal four-subclass system, the totems oscillate ""^ ""^ 
 
 - totems 
 
 between the two subclasses of a moiety in alternate genera- between 
 tions. Thus if the mother is a Hawk of the Karilbura sub- su^ci^ses 
 class, her children are Hawks of the Munal subclass, and her of each 
 daughters' children are Hawks of the Karilbura subclass, just '^'''^^' 
 like their maternal grandmother ; so that in three genera- 
 tions the pendulum (represented by the hawk totem) has 
 swung from Karilbura through Munal and back to Karilbura. 
 And the other totems perform similar oscillations. 
 
 In the Kuinmurbura tribe, and the neighbouring tribes Betrothal 
 which had the same social system, marriage was commonly ^7"-^ ''"^ 
 preceded by betrothal of the girl in her infancy. The cere- murbura. 
 mony of betrothal was performed by the girl's male cousin, 
 that is, either by her mother's brother's son or by her father's 
 sister's son. When the girl was mature, all the unmarried Survival 
 men of the same class and totem as her future husband had Carriage 
 access to her as a matter of right before she was handed among the 
 over to him. This custom is probably a rudimentary sur- niurbura. 
 vival of group-marriage ; the men who, in virtue of their 
 class and totem, belong to the group which is marriageable 
 with the girl's group, exercise the old group right over the 
 woman for the last time before resigning her to her husband. 
 The relation in which they stand to her bears the name of 
 durki, which seems to answer to the noa relationship of the 
 Dieri, the nupa of the Urabunna, and the unawa of the 
 Arunta.* In the Kuinmurbura tribe a widow went to the 
 elder brother {inurang) or to the younger brother {woerii) of 
 her deceased husband. A female captive was the property 
 of her captor, if she was of the proper class and totem.^ 
 
 The Kuinmurbura had the classificatory system of re- ciassifi- 
 lationship. Thus in the generation above his own a man "^^^^^n of 
 applied the same term bena to his father, to his father's relation- 
 brothers, and to the husbands of his mother's sisters ; and the'^Kuln"^ 
 he applied the same term aia to his mother, to his mother's murbura. 
 sisters, and to the wives of his father's brothers. In his 
 own generation he applied the same term murang to his 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of above, pp. 178, 297, 298, 362, 363. 
 South -East Australia, pp. 219 sg. 
 As to tioa, nupa, and unawa, see - A. W. Howitt, of. cit. p. 220. 
 
420 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 brothers, to the sons of his father's brothers, and to the 
 sons of his mother's sisters. He applied the same term 
 gingil to his wife, to his wife's sisters, and to his brothers' 
 wives ; and a wife applied the same term nupa to her hus- 
 band, to her husband's brothers, and to her sisters' husbands. 
 In the generation below his own a man applied the same 
 term manbon to his sons, to his brothers' sons, and to the 
 sons of his wife's sisters ; and similarly a woman applied 
 the same term nugin to her sons and to her sisters' sons,^ 
 
 To the south-west of the Kuinmurbura, between the 
 Mackenzie River and the Lower Dawson, there lived down to 
 189 s a tribe called the Kongulu which had a similar social 
 and'tofems. organisation, consisting of two primary classes (moieties), 
 four subclasses, and totem clans with descent in the female 
 line. The names of the two primary classes, Yunguru and 
 Wutthuru, are clearly equivalent to the Yungeru and Witteru 
 of the Kuinmurbura. These classes were each divided into 
 two subclasses as follows : — ^ 
 
 The 
 
 Kongulu 
 tribe, its 
 classes, 
 
 Kongulu System 
 
 Class. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Yunguru ■[ 
 
 Bunya 
 Tarbain 
 
 Wutthuru \ 
 
 Kaiyara 
 Bunjur 
 
 Marriage 
 
 and 
 
 descent 
 
 in the 
 
 Kongulu 
 
 tribe. 
 
 The rules of marriage are normal. A Bunya man 
 marries a Kaiyara woman and the children are Bunjur. A 
 Tarbain man marries a Bunjur woman and the children are 
 Kaiyara. A Kaiyara man marries a Bunya woman and the 
 children are Tarbain. A Bunjur man marries a Tarbain 
 woman and the children are Bunya. To put this in tabular 
 form : — ' 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, " Australian Group- 
 Relationships," Journal of the Royal 
 Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. (1907) 
 pp. 287 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. in, 220. 
 In the former passage the names Tar- 
 bain and Kaiyara appear as Jarbain 
 
 and Kairawa. 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 220. 
 The feminine forms of the subclass 
 names are formed by adding gun to 
 the masculine forms, thus Bunyagun, 
 Tarbaingun, Kaiyaragun, and Bun- 
 jurgun. For the sake of simplicity 
 I omit these feminine forms. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 421 
 
 KoNGULu Tribe 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 
 Kaiyara 
 Bunjur 
 
 Bunya 
 Tarbain 
 
 Bunjur 
 Kaiyara 
 
 Tarbain 
 Bunya 
 
 In the Kongulu tribe the totems were called baikain, and Grouping 
 were transmitted from mother to child. They were usually °^^^^^ 
 animals, but sometimes trees. The totem names appear to in the 
 have been grouped under certain collective names, such as IJite^'" 
 Mirunjul, the effect of which has not been explained. The 
 following list gives the totems and collective names, so far 
 as they have been ascertained : — ' 
 
 Collective Names. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Mirunjul . 
 
 Jiimi 
 Kulpuwura 
 
 black or brush wallaby 
 black iguana 
 eagle-hawk 
 sandal-wood 
 
 great owl 
 frilled iguana 
 brigalow 
 
 crow 
 
 scrub wallaby 
 
 West of the Great Dividing Range, and separated by it Four-class 
 from those Queensland tribes whose social system has just ^^^ '" 
 
 — ' ^ ■* ijueens- 
 
 been described, there were many tribes with the four sub- land to the 
 
 ' A. \V. Howitt, Native Tribes of South- East Australia, p. 112. 
 
422 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 west of the class system on the waters of the Belyando, Barcoo, Thomson, 
 
 □[^fd'ing and Flinders Rivers. Strictly speaking, these Queensland 
 
 Range. tribes belong rather to North- Eastern Australia than to 
 
 South-Eastern Australia, with which we are here concerned ; 
 
 but since they have been dealt with by Dr. A. W. Howitt 
 
 they may find a place in this chapter. Of these tribes the 
 
 Wakelbura on the Belyando River, above its junction with 
 
 the Suttor River, may serve as an example. The name of 
 
 the tribe is derived from wakel " eels " and the possessive 
 
 postfix l>ura. Formerly their name was Kerbulbura, 
 
 derived from kerbul, the edible root of a water-lily which 
 
 grows in the swamps and watercourses.^ 
 
 The The Wakelbura tribe is divided into two primary 
 
 tribe, its exogamous classes (moieties) called Mallera and Wuthera, 
 
 classes, and four subclasses called Kurgilla, Banbe, Wungo, and Obu. 
 
 andtotems. Thus the names both of the classes and of the subclasses 
 
 are entirely different from those of the Kamilaroi ; but on 
 
 the other hand one of the class names (Wuthera) seems 
 
 clearly to be equivalent to Witteru and Wutthuru in the 
 
 Kuinmurbura and Kongulu tribes.^ The two class names 
 
 Mallera and Wuthera extend as far as Charters Towers, 
 
 where the Akulbura tribe speaks a different dialect and has 
 
 different names for the classes and subclasses. At about 
 
 Muttabura, on the Thomson River, and near Clermont, these 
 
 class names cease with the Bathalibura tribe, which has the 
 
 same names for its four subclasses as the Wakelbura, but 
 
 calls its two primary classes Yungaru and Wutheru.' The 
 
 classes, subclasses, and totems of the Wakelbura tribe are 
 
 shown in the following table : — * 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of pohgical Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 191, 
 South-East Australia, pp. 62, 112. note') repeatedly spells the name of 
 
 2 See above, pp. 417, 420. one of the primary classes Mallera, not 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Malera, as Dr. Howitt here gives it. 
 SotM-East Australia, pp. 112 sg. For the classes and subclasses of the 
 
 ■• A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 112, on Wakelbura, see also Mr. J. [C] 
 the authority of Mr. J. C. Muirhead, Muirhead, cited by E. M. Curr, Tlie 
 who elsewhere (Joiirnal of the Anthro- Australian Race, iii. 26 sq. 
 
 [Table. 
 
Classes. 
 
 TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 Wakelbura System 
 
 Totems. 
 
 423 
 
 Mallera 
 
 Wuthera 
 
 opossum, spiny ant-eater, eagle -hawk, 
 turkey, iguana, black bee, kangaroo 
 
 forest kangaroo, ringtail opossum, iguana 
 
 emu, carpet-snake, gidya-tree, wallaby 
 
 black duck, carpet-snake, large bee, emu, 
 walleroo, gidya-tree, wallaby 
 
 "In the Wakelbura tribe the totem animal is spoken of Respect 
 as 'father.' For example, a man of the Binnung-ttrra^^^'^^^ 
 (Frilled-lizard totem) holds that reptile as sacred, and he Wakelbura 
 would not only not kill it, but would protect it by prevent- [°tems."^ 
 ing another person doing so in his presence. Similarly a 
 man of the Screech-owl totem would call it ' father,' and 
 likewise hold it sacred and protect it. So far does the 
 feeling go, that when a man could not get satisfaction for 
 an injurious action by another, he has been known to kill 
 that beast, bird, or reptile which that man called ' father,' 
 and thus obtain revenge, and perhaps cause the other to do 
 the same, if he knew of it. A man who was lax as to his 
 totem was not thought well of, and was never allowed to 
 take any important part in the ceremonies." ^ 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent of the classes in the Man-iage 
 Wakelbura tribe are such as usually prevail in tribes with ^X^^eM 
 the four -subclass system and female descent. Thus a in the 
 Kurgilla man marries an Obu woman and the children are ,rjbe. 
 Wungo. A Banbe man marries a Wungo woman and the 
 children are Obu. A Wungo man marries a Banbe woman 
 and the children are Kurgilla. An Obu man marries a 
 Kurgilla woman and the children are Banbe. Thus the 
 children as usual belong to their mother's class (moiety) 
 
 ' A. \V. Howitt, Native Tribes of totems here menlioned do not appear 
 
 Soiit/i-East Australia, pp. 147 sg., on in Dr. Howitt's list of Wakelbura 
 
 the authority of Mr. J. C. Muirhead. totems given above. 
 The frilled-lizard and screech-owl 
 
424 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 and to the subclass which is complementary to her subclass. 
 To put this in tabular form : — - 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Cliildren. 
 
 Mallera (^"f"^ 
 (^ Banbe 
 
 Wuthera |W""&° 
 \Obu 
 
 Obu 
 Wungo 
 
 Banbe 
 Kurgilla 
 
 Wungo 
 Obu 
 
 Kurgilla 
 Banbe 
 
 But in the Wakelbura tribe the descent, or perhaps rather 
 the determination, of the totems is abnormal, for the 
 children take their totems neither from their mother nor 
 from their father. No reason has been ascertained for this 
 peculiarity, and the tribe is now extinct. The following 
 table was compiled from data furnished by the marriages 
 and descents in four generations in one case, five in another, 
 and two in a third.^ 
 
 Wakelbura Tribe 
 Marrias:e and Descent 
 
 
 Husband. 
 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 
 Kurgilla opossum 
 Kurgilla plains-turkey 
 Kurgilla plains-turkey 
 Kurgilla small honey- 
 bee 
 
 Obu 
 Obu 
 Obu 
 Obu 
 
 emu 
 
 carpet-snake 
 hill kangaroo 
 carpet-snake 
 
 Wungo carpet-snake 
 
 ? 
 ? 
 ? 
 
 
 ^Banbe iguana 
 
 Wungo 
 
 carpet-snake 
 
 Obu emu 
 
 _g J Wungo carpet-snake 
 3 [Obu emu 
 
 Banbe 
 Kurgilla 
 
 iguana 
 opossum 
 
 Kurgilla opossum 
 Banbe emu 
 
 In the Wakelbura tribe a wife was obtained only by 
 betrothal, except in the rarer cases of elopement and capture. 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 221. I omit 
 the feminine forms of the subclass 
 names, which are formed by the post- 
 
 fix an attached to the masculine forms, 
 thus, Kurgillan, Banbean, Wungoan, 
 Obuan. 
 
II TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 425 
 
 It was the mother who chose a husband for her daughter Betrothal 
 as soon as the child was born, and when the girl was ^vakdbura 
 marriageable her betrothed husband took her away with him. tribe. 
 If she eloped, her betrothed husband fought her paramour, 
 and the victor kept her. If after she had consented to 
 marry the man to whom she had been betrothed in infancy 
 she eloped with some other man, even of the proper class 
 and totem, she would be almost cut to pieces by her own 
 brothers and her father's brothers, and also by the men of 
 her betrothed husband's totem. Her brothers might even 
 almost kill her, because by her elopement they would lose 
 the woman by whose exchange they might have obtained a 
 wife for one of them.^ 
 
 The tribal law among the Wakelbura was extremely strict Punish- 
 as to irregular connections or elopements between persons too ,™eguiar 
 nearly related to each other. " Such persons would be, for marriages 
 instance, those whom we call cousins, both on the father's and wakeibura 
 the mother's side, or who are of the class, subclasses, or totems '"be. 
 which do not intermarry. For instance, if a KurgiUa-iunara 
 man ran off with an Ohuan-zva/laroo (hill kangaroo) woman, 
 who ought properly in due course to have married a Kurgilla- 
 burkuin (plains-turkey) man, his own and tribal brothers would 
 be against him, as well as the brothers, own and tribal, of 
 the woman, and those also of the promised husband. In 
 short, he would have to fight with all of them." In such 
 fights, when the missiles were exhausted, the combatants 
 closed on each other with knives, a dense ring of blacks 
 forming round them to see fair play. The knives were 
 formerly of stone, but in later times of iron, sometimes 
 made out of a sheep-shears blade, ground to a sharp edge. 
 The fight was sometimes to the death. The offender always 
 came off worst, there were so many against him. In any 
 case the woman was terribly gashed with the knives. Her 
 own mother would cut and sometimes kill her. If she 
 survived, she was compelled to go with her betrothed or to 
 return to her husband, if she were already married.- 
 
 At festive meetings of the Wakelbura tribe men of the 
 
 ' .■v. W. Howiit, Native Tribes of 224. It does not appear what is the 
 SoiUh-East Australia, pp. 221 sq. English equivalent of the totem name 
 
 * A. W. Howiit, op. cit. pp. 222- tiinara. 
 
426 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Exchange Same totem exchanged wives for two or three days, and 
 
 of wives, ^j^gy j^lgQ jgjj^ women to friendly visitors, provided these 
 
 among the were of the proper class, subclass, and totem. A widow 
 
 ^^''''^" went to the brother of her deceased husband, or, if there 
 
 DUra. 
 
 were none, to his best friend of the same totem. The 
 brother must be of the same mother, but might be of a 
 different father. If children of an unlawful amour or 
 unlawful marriage were allowed to live, they were called 
 " mongrels " {kongara), and belonged to their mother's sub- 
 class ; for instance, if she were Wungo, her illegitimate 
 child would be Wungo also, but it would have no totem.^ 
 Group- " In this tribe, as will be seen from the following 
 
 mamage example, there was group -marriage. Say that there are 
 Wakeibura seven men, all Mallera-kurgilla-small-bee, and who are, 
 '"''®' some own, and some tribal brothers. One of these men is 
 
 married, his wife being Wutheran-obukan- carpet -snake. 
 None of the other six men is married. They and the 
 woman married to their brother call each other husband 
 and wife, and the six men have and exercise marital rights 
 as to her. Her child calls each of these six men father, as 
 well as the seventh man, who is the actual husband of its 
 mother, and the six men have to protect the child. This 
 clearly is a form of the pirrauru marriage of the Lake Eyre 
 tribes. The importance of this occurrence in a tribe, so 
 distant from those of Lake Eyre, is that the Wakeibura is one 
 of a large group of tribes who have the same organisation." ^ 
 Capture In the group of tribes to which the Wakeibura belonged 
 
 from^other women Were sometimes captured by the tribes who came 
 tribes. to attend an initiation or other ceremony. This was done 
 when the ceremonies were over, and the people were going 
 homewards. But it was the visitors who captured women 
 from their hosts, not the hosts who captured them from their 
 guests. However, an opportunity for such a rape did not 
 always present itself, for the practice was well known and 
 the women were closely guarded. Yet at times a woman 
 would wait till the visitors were gone two or three days on 
 their homeward journey, and then steal after the man who 
 had won her heart, and who lingered behind the rest for her. 
 
 1 A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 224. 
 ^ A. W. Hewitt, op. cit. p. 224. 
 
II TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 427 
 
 A captured woman belonged to her captor, if she were of 
 the class and totem with which he might marry. But he 
 did not keep her if she had been severely mauled with 
 knives. The issue of such a union was called ungkara or 
 unguru, which also means " mongrel." ' 
 
 The initiation ceremonies of the Wakelbura tribe are initiation 
 called Umba. They can only be held by men of the ^ff^^"'^ 
 primary class Mallera or of the primary class Wuthera, not Wakei- 
 by both combined. Men of one primary class initiate the ^^ 
 boys of the other primary class. Thus men of the primary 
 class Wuthera initiate boys of the Kurgilla and Banbe 
 subclasses, which together compose the other primary class 
 Mallera. This is in accordance with the usual rule of 
 Australian tribes that men of one moiety initiate the youths 
 of the other moiety. The reason for the rule, as Dr. Howitt 
 has pointed out, " seems to be that it is only when the 
 youth has been admitted to the rights and privileges of 
 manhood in the tribe that he can obtain a wife. As his 
 wife comes to him from the other moiety, it is the men of 
 that moiety who must be satisfied that he is, in fact, able to 
 take his place as the provider for, and the protector of, the 
 woman, their sister, who is to be his wife. In this con- 
 nection one can therefore see why it is that the future wife's 
 brother, who is also his sister's husband, is the guardian of 
 the youth in the ceremonies." ^ 
 
 In the Wakelbura and kindred tribes everything in the Subtotems 
 world, both animate and inanimate, is arranged under the ^^°J^| ''^° 
 two classes Mallera and Wuthera, and belongs in a manner bura. 
 to the members of one or other of these classes.^ From 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of only be held by Malera or Wuthera 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 224 sq. men, not by both combined. Thus if 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of there are Kurgilla and Banbe boys to 
 South - East Australia, pp. 607 sq. be made men, it would be Wuthera 
 In this passage Dr. Howitt says that men who would hold the Umba, that 
 the Wakelbura practice is an exception is to say, the men of the one subclass 
 to the rule that men of one moiety Kurgilla initiate the boys of the other 
 initiate the youths of the other moiety. subclass Banbe, or vice versa." There 
 But the example which he gives (the seems to be some confusion in this 
 initiation of Kurgilla -Banbe boys by statement. 
 Wuthera men), if it is correctly re- 
 ported, refutes his statement, since ^ J. C. Muirhead, cited by Dr. A. W. 
 Wuthera is the other moiety from Vlovi'M, \n Journal of the Anihropologi- 
 Kurgilla - Banbe. He says: "The ra//Hj/;VK/^, xiii. (1884) p. 43S note ^ ; 
 ceremonies are called Umba, .ind can id., xviii. (1889) p. 6i note'. 
 
428 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 this curious classification of the universe are derived various 
 practical rules, which confer certain privileges and impose 
 certain restrictions on members of the classes and subclasses. 
 Among the Thus in regard to diet all the game and other food is divided 
 ^dl'ci^r i"t° tw° sorts called Mallera and Wuthera respectively, and 
 and sub- the Mallera primary class eats Mallera food, while the 
 own^peciai Wuthera primary class eats Wuthera food. Moreover, each 
 kinds of subclass has its special sorts of food allotted to it, of which 
 alone it is permitted to partake. The Banbe subclass is 
 restricted to opossum, kangaroo, dog, honey of small bee, 
 etc. The Wungo subclass has for its food emu, bandicoot, 
 black duck, black snake, brown snake, etc. The Obu sub- 
 class eats carpet-snakes, honey of the stinging bee, etc. 
 And the Kurgilla subclass lives on porcupine, plain-turkey, 
 etc. To the Kurgilla also belong apparently water, rain, 
 fire, and thunder, and they enjoy the reputation of being 
 able to make rain at pleasure. If a Wungo man, camped 
 out by himself, were to dream that he had killed a porcupine, 
 he would believe that next day he would see a Kurgilla 
 man, since the porcupine is one of the animals on which 
 Kurgilla men live.^ On this subject we read further that 
 " certain animals are the especial game of each class. Obu, 
 for instance, claims as his game emu and wallaby, and if 
 he wishes to invite his fellows of the same subclass, in a 
 neighbouring tribe, to hunt the common game, he must do 
 this by means of a message-stick, made from the wood of 
 a tree which is, like themselves, of the Obu subclass." ^ " If 
 a young man or young woman of the Wakelbura tribe eats 
 forbidden game, such as emu, black-headed snake, porcupine, 
 they will become sick, and probably pine away and die, 
 uttering the sounds peculiar to the creature in question. It 
 is believed that the spirit of the creature enters into them 
 
 ' E. M. Curr, The Australian Kace, occurs in Northern Queensland, and 
 
 iii. 27, on the authority of Mr. James further, that even the message-stick 
 
 [C] Muirhead, where the names of the which is carried by the messenger must 
 
 subclasses are given as Kargilla, Ban- be made of some tree which belongs to 
 
 bey, Wongoo, Oboo. the same class division as both the 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of sender and the bearer of the message. 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 113. "I In the tribes referred to, the whole 
 
 learn from Mr. J. C. Muirhead that the universe is, so to say, arranged under 
 
 practice of sending a message through a the two primary class" (A. W. Howitt, 
 
 totem \i.e. by a messenger of the same in Journal of the Atithropohgical In- 
 
 totem as the sender of the message] stitute, xiii. (1884) p. 438 note^.) 
 
n TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 429 
 
 and kills them." ^ A similar belief, as we have seen, used 
 to prevail in Samoa as to the effect of eating the flesh of a 
 tabooed or sacred animal.^ 
 
 Further, when a Wakelbura man desires to perform a Subtotems 
 magical rite, he must use for the purpose only things which waktibura 
 are of the same class as himself, and when he dies he is '" magical 
 laid on a stage made of the branches and covered with the rites.""^"^^ 
 leafy boughs of a tree of his class.^ For example, if the 
 deceased was of the Banbe subclass, boughs of the broad- 
 leaved box-tree would be used to cover him, because that 
 tree is of the Banbe subclass. Men of the primary class 
 Mallera would lay the boughs on the corpse, since the 
 Mallera class includes the two subclasses Banbe and Kurgilla. 
 Further, after placing the body on the stage, they carefully 
 work the ground underneath with their feet into dust, and 
 smooth it so that the slightest mark or print on it can be 
 observed. Then they make a large fire near the spot and 
 retire to their camp. But before they leave the place they 
 mark the trees in such a way that this " blazed line " leads 
 back to the frame with the corpse. This they do to prevent 
 the dead man from following them. Next morning the 
 relations of the deceased inspect the ground under the corpse. 
 If the track or mark of a beast, bird, or reptile is visible in 
 the dust, they infer from it the totem of the person who 
 caused the death of their kinsman by witchcraft. For 
 example, if a black or brown snake has been there, the 
 culprit must be a Wungo man ; if a carpet -snake has 
 crawled over the dust, the guilty man must be an Obu, 
 because carpet-snakes are Obu ; if a native dog has left the 
 print of his feet, the murderer must be a Banbe man, since 
 dogs are of the Banbe subclass ; and so on. But if no 
 animal had left its tracks on the prepared ground, the friends 
 of the deceased would try to frighten the ghost out of his 
 bark shroud. Failing in the attempt, they would again 
 smooth down the dust and return morning and evening to 
 the spot, till they caught the ghost and learned from him 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 113, and in 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 769. Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 
 ' Above, pp. 17 sq. xviii. (1889) p. 61 note^ citing Mr. J. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of C. Muirhead as his authority. 
 
430 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Siibtotems 
 in other 
 tribes. 
 
 who had been the cause of his death. When they had 
 ascertained this to their satisfaction, they would bury the 
 body temporarily for two months, then dig it up, chop it in 
 pieces, and making as small a parcel of it as possible give it 
 to the mother or sister of the deceased to carry to all the 
 meetings of the tribe, till the death was avenged. Sometimes 
 a man's remains would be carried about thus for two years. 
 When the woman tired of her burden, she would drop it 
 down the stem of a hollow tree and strip a ring from the 
 bark of the trunk to mark the spot.^ 
 
 This remarkable distribution of all the objects of nature 
 under the exogamous classes and subclasses of the tribe is 
 not peculiar to the Wakelbura. Examples of similar classi- 
 fications in other Australian tribes have already been noticed.^ 
 The various objects which, without being a man's totem, are 
 yet reckoned to his class and subclass have been called by 
 Dr. Howitt subtotems.* The precise relation in which a 
 man's subtotems stand to his totem is not clear to us, 
 and probably the ideas of the natives themselves on the 
 subject are vague ; but we are told that " among all 
 the natural objects of his class, there is some one which 
 is nearer to him than any other. He bears its name, and 
 it is his totem." * 
 
 The Port 
 Mackay 
 tribe in 
 Queens- 
 land, its 
 classes and 
 subclasses. 
 
 The class system of the Wakelbura was found also, with 
 some variation of nomenclature, in the tribe which inhabited 
 the district of Port Mackay on the eastern coast of Queens- 
 land, to the north of Broad Sound. In this tribe the names 
 of the two primary classes were Yungaru and Wutaru, of 
 which the latter clearly corresponds to the Wuthera of the 
 Wakelbura. The names of the subclasses were Gurgela, 
 Bunbai, Wungo, and Kubaru, which answer to the Kur- 
 gilla, Banbe, Wungo, and Obu of the Wakelbura. And 
 the rules of marriage and descent were the same. Thus a 
 Gurgela man married a Kubaru woman and the children 
 
 sq., 470 sqq. 
 
 ' J. C. Muirhead, quoted by Dr. A. 
 Howitt, m Journal of the Anthropologi- 
 cal InstitittR^ xiii. (1^84) p. 191 note ^ ; 
 E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, iii. 
 28 sq. 
 
 2 Above, pp. 78-80, 133-136. See 
 also below, pp. 431 sq., 451 sqq., 462 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, " Australian Group 
 Relations," Annual Report of the Smith- 
 sonian Institution for 1 8S3, p. 818. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 113. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 431 
 
 were Wungo. A Bunbai man married a Wungo woman and 
 the children were Kubaru. A Wungo man married a Bunbai 
 woman and the children were Gurgela. A Kubaru man 
 married a Gurgela woman and the children were Bunbai. 
 To put it in tabular form : — ^ 
 
 Port Mackay Tribe 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Yungaru {^^;;U 
 Wutaru /Wungo 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Kubaru 
 Wungo 
 
 Bunbai 
 Gurgela 
 
 Children. 
 
 Wungo 
 Kubaru 
 
 Gurgela 
 Bunbai 
 
 In this tribe it was deemed shameful and unnatural ifciassifica- 
 a man cohabited with a woman of a wrong class. Every o^reiatlon"^ 
 Gurgela man called every other Gurgela his brother, every ship in 
 Kubaru woman his wife, and every Wungo his son, unless the Mackay 
 Wungo man belonged to the preceding generation, in which '"be. 
 case the Gurgela man called him father.^ Hence it appears 
 that the Port Mackay tribe employed the classificatorj' 
 system of relationship. 
 
 Like the Wakelbura, the Port Mackay tribe appeared to Subtotems 
 imagine that the system of their exogamous classes was a \\^^°^ 
 universal law of nature, so they divided everything between "■'''>= 
 them. They said that wind belongs to one class, and the 
 rain to the other ; that alligators are Yungaru and kangaroos 
 
 ' Mr. G. V. Bridgnian, cited by E. M. 
 Curr, The Australian Race, iii. 45 jy-. 
 and by R. Brough Smyth, The Abor- 
 igines of Victoria, i. 91. In the latter 
 passage the name of one of the sub- 
 classes is given as Bembia instead of 
 Bunbai. Compare Kison and Howitt, 
 Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 34. As with 
 the Wakelbura, the feminine forms of 
 the subclass names are formed by post- 
 fixing an to the masculine. As usual I 
 have omitted these feminine forms for 
 
 the sake of simplicity, 
 
 - E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, 
 iii. 47. Compare Mr. G. F. Bridgman, 
 quoted by R. Brough Smyth, The 
 Aborigines of I'icloria, i. 91: "On 
 the system just described hinges [j/r] 
 all their ideas of relationship. Their 
 terms for father, mother, brother, sister, 
 uncle, aunt, etc., etc., are by no means 
 synonymous with ours, but convey dif- 
 ferent ideas," etc. 
 
432 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Wutaru ; that the sun is Yungaru and the moon Wutaru ; 
 
 and so on with the constellations, with the trees, and with 
 
 the plants. If you pointed out a star to them, they would 
 
 tell you to which class it belonged.^ 
 TheBunta- Another tribe whose subclass system conforms to that 
 murra tribe Qf ^.j^g Wakclbura is the Buntamurra in South -Western 
 
 of Queens- 
 land, its Queensland. The territory of the tribe reaches from about 
 
 ^"^"ilftl^l Thargominda in the south to Kaiabara Creek on the north- 
 ana totems, o 
 
 west, to the Paroo River on the east, and a good way up 
 the Bulloo River northwards. The tribe is distant about 
 four hundred miles in a straight line from the Wakelbura, 
 and marks the extreme southern limit of this particular type 
 of the four-subclass system. On the other side, towards the 
 south, it borders on the two-class system of the Darling River 
 tribes.^ The names of the two primary classes of the Bunta- 
 murra have not been ascertained, but the names of the four 
 subclasses are Gurgela, Banbari, Wongo, and Guberu, which 
 correspond to the Kurgilla, Banbe, Wungo, and Obu of the 
 Wakelbura. The following is a list of the totem clans 
 arranged under the subclasses : — ^ 
 
 Buntamurra Tribe 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Gurgela 
 Banbari 
 Wongo 
 
 Guberu 
 
 Kangaroo, padi-melon, wallaby, eagle-hawk. 
 
 Crow, mountain snake, porcupine (^Echidna sp.). 
 
 Wild goose, wild turkey, white duck, swan, opossum, 
 diving duck. 
 
 Bandicoot, iguana, smallest iguana. 
 
 As in the Kongulu tribe, the feminine forms of the subclass 
 
 1 G. F. Biidgman, quoted by R. 
 Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Vic- 
 to}-ia, i. 91, and by Fison and Howitt, 
 Kamilaroi and Kurnai, pp. 167 sq. ; 
 E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, iii. 
 45- 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 64. 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 1 13 J?., 
 226. In the former passage Gurgela, 
 Banbari, and Guberu are spelled Gur- 
 gilla, Banburi, and Gubero. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 433 
 
 names were formed by postfixing gun to the masculine form, 
 as masculine Guberu, feminine Guberugun.' 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent of the classes and Marriage 
 subclasses in the Buntamurra are normal ; that is, a Gurgela ^"g*^"*' 
 man marries a Guberu woman and the children are Wongo. Bunta- 
 A Banbari man marries a Wongo woman and the children """"* 
 are Guberu. A Wongo man marries a Banbari woman and 
 the children are Gurgela. A Guberu man marries a Gurgela 
 woman and the children are Banbari. To put this in 
 tabular form : — ^ 
 
 
 The Buntamurra Tribe 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 /Gurgela 
 \ Banbari 
 
 fWongo 
 t Guberu 
 
 Guberu 
 Wongo 
 
 Banbari 
 Gurgela 
 
 Wongo 
 Guberu 
 
 Gurgela 
 Banbari 
 
 As usually happens under this system, children take Alternation 
 their totem from their mother, while their subclass is the °otems 
 complementary subclass of hers. For example, if a Wongo- between the 
 opossum man married a Banbari-crow woman, the son classes of 
 and daughter of the marriage would be Gurgela-crows ; ^ mo'e'y 
 and if this Gurgela - crow woman married a Guberu- 
 bandicoot man, the son and daughter would be Banbari- 
 crows, just like their maternal grandmother. Thus in 
 the direct female line the totem (in this case crow) would 
 never change, but it would alternate between the two 
 subclasses (in this case Banbari and Gurgela) of a moiety 
 in alternate generations. Yet the native informant in this 
 as in other tribes with the four-subclass system asserted that 
 each subclass had its own totems, and in accordance with 
 this statement the totems of the Buntamurra are arranged 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Kongulu, see above, p. 420 note '. 
 Seulh-East Australia, p. 114. As to 
 
 the feminine subclass names of the ^ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 226. 
 
 VOL. I 2 F 
 
434 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 under the various subclasses in the table above. It is 
 difficult to understand why certain totems should be thought 
 to belong to a particular subclass, when the regular rule of 
 descent in the four-subcla'rs system necessitates the alterna- 
 tion of the totem between the two subclasses of a moiety in 
 alternate generations ; from which it seems to follow that 
 though the totems are certainly divided between the two 
 moieties or classes, they are not subdivided between the two 
 subclasses which compose a moiety or class. The only 
 explanation of the native statements that each subclass has 
 its own totems would seem to be the one suggested by Dr. 
 Howitt, namely, that the native who has been questioned on 
 the subject has had in his mind his own subclass and the 
 subclasses of some of his acquaintances, and that he has 
 accordingly assigned to these subclasses the particular totems 
 which he himself and they happened to possess, forgetting 
 that these totems would in every case pass into another 
 subclass in the next generation.^ 
 
 § 6. Tribes with two Classes and Male Descent 
 
 Tribes with We have now concluded our survey of tribes with 
 
 and male ^ normal class system and female descent in South- 
 
 escent. Eastern Australia. The tribes which combine the regular 
 
 class system with male descent appear to be far less 
 
 numerous, and we shall therefore be able to dismiss them 
 
 more rapidly. Just as in dealing with tribes which have 
 
 female descent, we shall begin with the simpler social 
 
 organisation in two primary classes before we take up the 
 
 more complex organisation in two primary classes and four 
 
 subclasses. 
 
 The Kuiin The Kulin nation, which was organised in two classes 
 
 territory, with male descent, occupied a large area of Central and 
 
 Southern Victoria, ranging from Colac and Murchison on 
 
 the west to Mount Baw Baw and Wangaratta on the east, 
 
 and touching the sea at Port Phillip and Western Port on 
 
 the south.^ Thus their country comprised a great part of 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 226 sq. 
 South-East Australia, pp. 210, 221, 2 a. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 70. 
 
n TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 435 
 
 the high Victorian mountains with their woods and waters. 
 The lofty and extensive uplands from which Mount Baw 
 Baw rises are still covered with dense forests of gum-trees, 
 traversed by paths and roads leading to the camps of the 
 miners.' Here the great spurs sent out by the central 
 mountains enclose valleys through which rivers flow north- 
 ward to join the Murray or southward into Bass Strait. 
 Tribes of the Kulin nation claimed these rivers to their 
 sources in the Alpine heights, where they hunted in summer 
 as soon as the inhospitable snows of winter had melted.^ 
 
 Unfortunately very little has been recorded of the class The Kuiin 
 organisation of the Kulin people. However, Dr. Howitt ^y^^g^ 
 obtained some scanty information from a few survivors of into two 
 Wurunjerri, Thagunworung, and Galgalbaluk tribes, which ^1"' 
 are now practically extinct. As to the other tribes of the bawk and 
 nation all he could learn was that they had the names of 
 the two primary classes Bunjil (Eagle-hawk) and Waang 
 (Crow). These two class names. Eagle-hawk and Crow, 
 appear to have extended, with slight variations, over Victoria 
 north and south for a distance of a hundred and seventy 
 miles, from Echuca to Port Phillip Heads, and east and 
 west for a distance of two hundred miles from St. Arnaud 
 to Buffalo.' In the Jajaurung tribe the class name Bunjil 
 (Eagle-hawk) was replaced by Wrepil, which also meant 
 Eagle-hawk. As to the totems of the Kulin nothing definite Traces of 
 is known, except that in the Wurunjerri tribe there was a among'the 
 totem the swamp-hawk {thard) in the Eagle-hawk class.'' Kuiin. 
 However, traces of totemism may perhaps be detected in the 
 legends told of certain mythical animals, which are called 
 the sons or the boys of Bunjil, and are said to have been 
 carried up with him when he went aloft in a whirlwind, being 
 wafted to the upper regions by a blast which the Musk-crow 
 at his order let out of a skin-bag. Among the sons of Bunjil 
 are the green parroquet, the blue mountain parrot, the 
 
 ' J. W. Gregory, Australasia, i. 388. ing of this group of tribes, observes 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of that " the two intermarrying divisions 
 South-East Australia, pp. 36 sg., were Eaglehawk (Bunjil) and Crow 
 72. (Waa), and there was one totem at- 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 1 26. tached to the Crow division " {Journal 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, o/.«'/. pp. 126, 252. of the Anthropological Institute, xviii. 
 However, elsewhere Dr. Howitt, writ- (1889) p. 47). 
 
436 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 swamp-hawk, the nankeen kestrel, the flying mouse, and the 
 brush-tailed Phascologale ; and all of them, with the possible 
 exception of the flying mouse, may be seen to this day 
 shining as stars in the sky. Bunjil himself, according to 
 the Wurun Jerri, is the star Altair ; the brush -tailed 
 Phascologale is Achernar ; the swamp - hawk and the 
 nankeen kestrel gUtter in the constellation of the Centaur; 
 while the green parroquet and the blue mountain parrot add 
 fresh lustre to the nocturnal glories of the Southern Cross.^ 
 Rules of In respect of marriage the Kulin nation observed the 
 
 arTddefcent ^^^^ '^^ °f ^^e classes ; for an Eagle-hawk (Bunjil) man 
 among the must marry a Crow (Waang) woman, and a Crow man must 
 "'"■ marry an Eagle-hawk woman. But contrary to the custom 
 of the tribes of South-Eastern Australia which we have 
 hitherto been considering, children took their class from 
 their father and not from their mother ; hence the children 
 of an Eagle-hawk man and a Crow woman were Eagle- 
 hawks, and the children of a Crow man and an Eagle-hawk 
 woman were Crows.^ A curious rule of etiquette was 
 observed by Eagle-hawk and Crow men of the Wurunjerri 
 tribe. When they were encamped at the same fire, each 
 man had his own stick to stir it with and to cook his food. 
 If he touched the stick of a man of the other class he 
 thought that his fingers would swell, and that he would 
 have to go to the medicine-man in order to have the wood 
 drawn out from his hand.^ 
 Theinstitu- The institution of the marriage laws was attributed by 
 exogamous ^he Kulin to the sagacity of Bunjil. In spite of his name, 
 classes was which means Eagle-hawk, Bunjil appears in the legends as a 
 the"Kuiin^ kindly old man, the head of his tribe, who lived up in the 
 a°ceiesti'''i ^^^ ^'^^ ^'^ *"'° Black Swan wives, and his son the Rain- 
 headman, bow. He made earth, trees, and mankind, fashioning men 
 out of clay and then causing them to live, while his brother 
 the Bat (Vallina) brought women up out of the water to be 
 the wives of these Australian Adams. The interest of Eagle- 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes oj Systems," Journal of the Anthrofo- 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 128. For logical Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 
 
 the ascension of Bunjil to heaven, see 47 sq. 
 id., pp. 491 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 252; id., ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 " Further Notes on the Australian Class Sottth-East Australia, p. 40 1. 
 
" TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 437 
 
 hawk or Bunjil in the human race did not cease with his 
 creation of them out of clay. He taught them the arts of 
 life, and when they married without any regard to kinship 
 he showed them a better way. It is said that a deputation 
 consisting of two medicine-men, waited upon him in his 
 mansion aloft, and received from him the sage advice that 
 Eagle-hawk should be on this side and Crow on that, and 
 that Eagle-hawk should always marry Crow, and Crow 
 marry Eagle-hawk. Which accordingly they did ever after- 
 wards. In their simple speech the name of Bunjil or Eagle- 
 hawk, the creator and benefactor of mankind, was a synonym 
 for wisdom or knowledge, and they called him " Our 
 Father." ^ We need not suppose that the Kulin learned 
 these childish fancies from the whites. 
 
 While in the northern tribes of the Kulin nation, for in the 
 example in the Bangerang tribe. Eagle-hawks and Crows Kuim 
 were intermixed and scattered over the tribal country, '"'>es 
 in the southern tribes of the nation, for example, in the classes 
 the Wurun Jerri and Bunurong, the members of these ^.^^ ^°™- 
 two exogamous classes Eagle -hawk and Crow were locai exo- 
 segregated from each other and dwelt in separate districts, ^^^^ 
 so that the rule of class exogamy was combined with a to marry a 
 rule of local exogamy ; that is, a man had to marry a '"^^°^ 
 woman not only of the other class but also of another district as 
 district.^ This is the first instance we have hitherto met another" 
 with of that custom of local exogamy which we shall class. 
 find in the sequel practised by several coastal tribes 
 of South - Eastern Australia. Amongst the exogamous 
 districts of these Southern Kulin tribes were the following.' 
 The watershed of the Yarra River, which flows through 
 Melbourne from the eastern highlands, was occupied by the 
 Warunjerri-baluk, who were all Crows. The western slopes 
 of Mount Macedon, the summit of which looks down from 
 the north on the spreading bay of Port Phillip, and west- 
 ward over the beautiful and fertile lands of Australia Felix,* 
 were inhabited by another Crow people, the Gunung-willam- 
 
 > A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 2 a. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 484, 491 South-East Australia, pp. 126 sg. 
 
 J?. Compare .rf., " On some Australian 3 ^ ^ ^^^. ^., , 
 &t\\th," Jourttal of the Anthropological 
 
 Institute, xui. (1884) pp. 192, I93. J94- * J- W. Gregory, Australasia, i. 63. 
 
 ii&. 
 
438 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Inter- 
 marriage of „r 
 the tribes 
 near Mel- 
 bourne. 
 
 Girls 
 given in 
 marriage 
 
 baluk. Some forty miles to the east of Melbourne yet 
 another Crow people, the Ngaruk-willam, had their home 
 on the southern side of that vast pile of igneous rocks 
 known as the Dandenong Ranges, where in the ravines the 
 gum-trees soar to a height of over four hundred feet.^ And 
 the Bunurong people, who were all Eagle-hawks, inhabited 
 the sea coast from the Werribee River to Anderson's Inlet, 
 and inland till they touched the southern boundaries of the 
 Crows. 
 
 With regard to the intermarriage of these clans or tribes 
 Eagle-hawks and Crows, each occupying its separate 
 territory. Protector Thomas, quoted by Dr. Howitt, has said 
 that " between the five nearest tribes to Melbourne there is 
 a kind of confederacy or relationship. Thus the Yarra, 
 Western Port, Geelong, Goulburn, and Devil's River tribes, 
 though continually quarrelling, nevertheless are in a degree 
 united. A Yarra black must get himself a wife, not out of 
 his own tribe, but either of the other tribes. In like manner 
 a Goulburn man must get his lubra ^ from the Yarra, Devil's 
 River, Western Port, or Geelong tribe. Thus a kind of 
 social compact is formed against any distant tribe who 
 might intrude upon their country, when all united to expel 
 the intruder." ^ 
 
 In the Kulin nation it was the father of a girl who 
 disposed of her in marriage " through and by his elder 
 brother," but before doing so he talked the matter over with 
 his wife. However, the actual exchange of girls in marriage 
 took place only by the authority of the respective fathers, 
 when the assembled old men had decided that the damsels 
 were old enough to be married. Each girl would then 
 be sent away under the care of her elder brother, who 
 brought back his brother's future wife.* In these tribes all 
 
 ^ A. R. Wallace, Australasia^ i, 49 
 sq.; T- W. Gregory, Australasia, i. 
 388-" 
 
 ^ That is, wife. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South -East Australia, pp. 252 sq. 
 Mr. Thomas's evidence was given 
 before a committee of the Legislative 
 Council of Victoria in 1858. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 253. 
 However, on p. 255 Dr. Howitt 
 writes : " The actual ceremony of 
 marriage was by the girl's father 
 and some of the old men taking 
 the girl to the camp of her pro- 
 mised husband, and there saying to 
 her, ' That is your husband ; if you 
 run away from him, you will be 
 punished.'" 
 
 .i^ 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 439 
 
 marriages between first cousins, without exception, whether au 
 the children of two brothers, or of two sisters, or of a^^^f^ 
 brother and a sister respectively, were absolutely forbidden, cousins 
 it being held that the children of brothers and sisters *^°'''''^'^^°- 
 were too near to each other to marry.^ Hence it would 
 seem that by a simple prohibition the Kulin attained 
 the same object which the Arunta and other central tribes 
 secured by the more complicated machinery of the eight- 
 class system ; that is, they prevented a man's children from 
 marrying his sister's children, for the other marriages 
 between first cousins (viz. the marriage between the children 
 of two brothers and the marriage between the children of 
 two sisters) were already barred by the two-class system as 
 well as by the four-class system, whether with male or 
 female descent.^ Indeed the Kulin went even further and 
 forbade the marriage not only of a man's children with his 
 sister's children, but also of the descendants of these children 
 on both sides as far as the relationship could be traced ; 
 for such descendants were still held to be " too near " 
 and only a little removed from " brother and sister." * 
 This extended prohibition marks an advance on the system 
 of the Urabunna, which not only allows but enjoins the 
 marriage of a man's children with his sister's children, 
 though the brother and sister whose children marry each 
 other need be brother and sister only in the classificatory 
 sense of the terms.* The adoption of male descent by the 
 Kulin may also, though it need not necessarily,^ be another 
 stage on the upward road of these savages towards civilisa- 
 tion. Certainly their unhesitating recognition of physical Recogni- 
 paternity is a clear gain to knowledge which distinguishes pw°cai 
 them from the Arunta and other central tribes. They told paternity. 
 Dr. Howitt that " the child comes from the man, and the 
 woman only takes care of it." On this subject one of 
 Dr. Howitt's native informants said, " I remember what old 
 Boberi, the brother of Billibilleri, said at Dandenong, when 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of lived at the junction of the Goulburn 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 254. and Murray Rivers. It was one of the 
 
 ' See above, pp. 180 sq. northern Uibes of the Kulin (\. W. 
 
 ' A. \V. Howitt, op. cil. p. 257. Howitt, op. cit. p. 126). 
 This statement seems to apply particu- ♦ See above, pp. 177 sq. 
 
 larly to the Bangerang tribe, which ' Seeabove, pp. 167, 24S.W/., 335^^. 
 
440 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 some of the boys were grumbling and would not mind him. 
 The old man got vexed, and said to his son, ' Listen to me ! 
 I am here, and there you stand with my body ! ' " •" 
 Punish- If a girl eloped with a man who was within the for- 
 
 ment of bidden degrees, all the young men gave chase, and if they* 
 marriages, overtook the culprits they mauled or even killed them. 
 Sometimes a man of one local tribe would carry off a 
 woman from another local tribe. When that happened, the 
 headman of the injured tribe sent a challenge to the offender 
 to come and fight. The people on both sides then mustered 
 and fought, the men attacking the men with boomerangs, 
 spears, and shields, while the women belaboured each other 
 with digging sticks. A widow went to the brother of her 
 deceased husband. If there were no brother, her father or 
 her brother disposed of her.^ 
 Mutual In the Kulin nation, as in Australian tribes generally, a 
 
 of mother- "^^^ might hold no communication with his wife's mother 
 in-law and and her sister, nor might a woman look at or speak to her 
 gtp' " *' daughter's husband and his brother. If she did so, it was 
 thought that her hair would turn white. Hence when a 
 man sent a present of game to his father-in-law, the mother- 
 in-law would rub charcoal over her face, and especially over 
 her mouth, before she would venture to partake of the 
 meat ; after that she might eat of it safely without her hair 
 blanching.' 
 Blood- In the Wurunjerri tribe, when a man of one class, say 
 
 amon^^the ^" Eagle-hawk, was called on to appear and answer for 
 Wurun- having killed a man of the other class, say a Crow, all his 
 fellow Eagle-hawk men would stand on one side under their 
 headman, and all the Crow men, the kindred of his victim, 
 would stand on the other side also under their headman. 
 Then the avengers would throw spears at the culprit till he 
 was either killed or so hurt that he could no longer defend 
 himself, or until his headman called out " Enough." * The 
 Wurunjerri, like so many Australian tribes, were governed 
 by the old men, among whom individuals distinguished for 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ^ K. ^. Hewitt, op. cit. pp. 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 255. 256 sq. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 255- 
 
 257- "A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 336. 
 
 X 
 
 jerri, 
 
II TRIBES WITH TWO CLASSES 441 
 
 their sagacity and good character were especially listened to 
 and obeyed. Each local group had its headman, and of 
 these headmen one was recognised as the head of all. Some 
 of these men were great warriors, others great orators, and 
 greatest of all, at the time when Melbourne was founded, 
 was a celebrated bard.^ 
 
 The Wurunjerri tribe had the classificatory system ofciassifi- 
 relationship. Thus in the generation above his own a man ^^^"^ ^f 
 applied the same term mamen to his father, to his father's relation- 
 brothers, and to the husbands of his mother's sisters ; and thew'm^n^ 
 he applied the same term babun to his mother, to his mother's JeTi. 
 sisters, and to the wives of his father's brothers. In his own 
 generation he applied the same term bangan to his brothers, 
 to the sons of his father's brothers, and to the sons of his 
 mother's sisters. He applied the same term bimbang to his 
 wife, to his wife's sisters, and to his brothers' wives ; and a 
 wife applied the same term nangurung to her husband, to 
 her husband's brothers, and to her sisters' husbands. In the 
 generation below his own a man applied the same term 
 mumum to his sons, to his brothers' sons, and to the sons 
 of his wife's sisters. Similarly a woman applied the same 
 term wurutigin to her sons and to her sisters' sons.^ 
 
 § 7. Tribes with four Subclasses and Male Descent 
 
 In South-Eastern Queensland, round about Maryborough, Queens- 
 there was a group of tribes with four subclasses and ^"^ ^^^^ 
 male descent. Their territory stretched along the coast as subclasses 
 far south as Brisbane and northward somewhat beyond ^"fcenf ' 
 latitude 25°. Inland it extended for a distance of about 
 two hundred miles.' The country occupied by these tribes 
 belongs in respect of climate and fertility to the most 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of to define the northern limits of this 
 
 Soulh-East Australia, pp. 307, 308. class system, but it must be south of 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, " Australian Group- Rockhampton, for a new set of names 
 
 Relationships," Jounial of the Royal comes in there with female descent, of 
 
 Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. which the Kuinmurbura tribe, which 
 
 (1907) pp. 287 sq. occupied the peninsula between Broad 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Sound and Shoalwater Bay, is the 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 58-60, II 5, example." As to the system of the 
 
 with the map facing p. 90. Dr. Howitt Kuinmurbura tribe, see above, pp. 417 
 
 observes (pp. 1 1 7 jjr. ) : " I am not able sqj. 
 
442 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 their 
 country. 
 
 Natural favoured regions of Australia. Compared with the rest of 
 fertility of Queensland this eastern or coastal district "is the most 
 varied, the most fertile, and in every way the most important. 
 It has the best climate, the richest soil, the highest mountains, 
 and the most beautiful scenery, and it comprises the larger 
 portion of the settled country. Its abundant rains and high 
 temperature make it suited to the growth of almost all 
 tropical and sub-tropical products, while sheep and cattle 
 also thrive in it. It is almost wholly covered with wood, 
 either scrub or forest, and has much fine woodland scenery 
 and a very luxuriant vegetation. The coast is thickly strewn 
 with islands, which often form fine harbours ; and within the 
 tropics the great Barrier coral-reef extends itself at some 
 miles from the coast, producing a calm sea, in which are 
 numerous islands of various sizes, and offering scenes of 
 great beauty." ^ As a great part of Queensland lies within 
 the tropics, its climate is more uniformly hot than that of the 
 southern portions of the continent. Yet it may be doubted 
 whether the heat is so oppressive here as further south, for 
 Queensland suffers neither from the scorching winds nor 
 from the sudden and extreme changes of temperature which 
 are such trying features' "in -the climate of other parts of 
 Australia. Though the rainfall in all the coast districts is 
 heavy, yet during much of the year the weather is fine, the 
 sky cloudless, the atmosphere dry and exhilarating. At 
 Brisbane the winter is a delightful season, with cool mornings 
 and evenings, bright and warm days, the sky always blue, 
 and the air wonderfully transparent.^ 
 
 About the year 1859 the blacks who inhabited this happy 
 land might be counted by thousands, and they strictly ob- 
 served their native customs ; but by the year 1888 the whole 
 of the Maryborough tribes, with which we are here concerned, 
 could not muster a hundred and fifty individuals all told.' 
 Surrounding them on the inland side were tribes with the 
 system of four subclasses and female descent,* which has 
 already been dealt with.° Of the tribes with four subclasses 
 
 Great 
 dimin\ition 
 of these 
 tribes. 
 
 ' A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. 349. 
 The Barrier Reef does not skirt the 
 territory of the tribes we are here con- 
 cerned with ; it begins further north. 
 
 2 A. R. Wallace, op. at., i. 352, 
 
 353- 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 60. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 115. 
 
 ^ Above, pp. 395 sqq. 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 443 
 
 and male descent the Kaiabara may be taken as a type. The 
 They inhabited the Bunya-Bunya mountains about sixty "f^^^ 
 miles inland from Maryborough. The triennial harvest of classes, 
 the bunya-bunya tree, which grows in their country, was the andtmems. 
 occasion of great gatherings and festivities, to which other 
 tribes were summoned from a distance by messengers.^ The 
 tree {Pimis Bidwelliand) is the principal constituent of a vast, 
 scrubby, almo.st impassable forest which extends, or used to 
 extend, between Wide Bay and the head of the River Boyne. 
 Rising to a height sometimes of seventy feet, with a stem 
 as straight as a mast, the bunya-bunya branches out at the 
 top into a mass of cone-shaped foliage, and every three years 
 it is laden with a magnificent crop of fruit, which was greedily 
 eaten by the natives. The fruit grows in the shape of a 
 pine -apple cheese, consisting of some fifty or more little 
 triangular nuts, which adhere together in a bunch till they 
 are quite ripe, when a sharp blow easily severs them. For 
 six months, from November to May, all the blacks within a 
 hundred miles used to eat these fruits and nothing else. It 
 was their great jubilee, a season of gladness and festivity.^ 
 The Kaiabara were divided into two primary classes called 
 Kubatine and Dilebi, four subclasses called Bulkoin, Bunda, 
 Baring, and Turowain, and totem clans. The names of the 
 two primary classes (moieties) Kubatine and Dilebi are clearly 
 identical with the Kupathin and Dilbi of the Kamilaroi 
 system. The Kaiabara system may be exhibited in tabular 
 form as follows : — ' 
 
 Kaiabara System 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Kubatine | 
 Dilebi 1 
 
 Bulkoin 
 Bunda 
 
 Baring 
 Turowain 
 
 Carpet-snake, flood water, native cat, white 
 eagle-hawk. 
 
 Turtle, lightning, rock carpet-snake, bat, 
 black eagle-hawk. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Australia (\jinion, 1846), pp. \i,T sq. 
 
 Seut/i-£ast Australia, pp. 60, S9S>76S. ' A. W. Howitt, ATaiive Tribes of 
 
 " C. P. Hodgson, Reminiscences of South-East Australia, pp. 115 sq.\ 
 
444 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Marriage The rules of marriage and descent of the subclasses in 
 
 and descent ^ \_x\h& are as follows. A Bulkoin man marries a Turowain 
 
 among the 
 
 Kaiabara. woman and the children are Bunda. A Bunda man marries 
 a Baring woman and the children are Bulkoin. A Baring 
 man marries a Bunda woman and the children are Turowain. 
 A Turowain man marries a Bulkoin woman and the children 
 are Baring. To put this in tabular form : — ^ 
 
 Kaiabara Tribe 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 „ , . ("Bulkoin 
 Kubatme j^^^^^ 
 
 Dilebi ./Ba™^. 
 ^ Turowam 
 
 Turowain 
 Baring 
 
 Bunda 
 Bulkoin 
 
 Bunda 
 Bulkoin 
 
 Turowain 
 Baring 
 
 The 
 
 four-class 
 
 system, 
 
 whether 
 
 with male 
 
 or female 
 
 descent, 
 
 was 
 
 apparently 
 
 devised to 
 
 prevent the 
 
 marriage 
 
 of parents 
 
 with 
 
 children. 
 
 Thus a man must always marry a woman from one of 
 the two subclasses in the other moiety of the tribe, and the 
 children belong to the subclass neither of their father nor 
 of their mother, but to the subclass which is complementary 
 to their father's subclass. Hence the children always belong 
 to their father's class (moiety), though never to his subclass. 
 For example, if the father is Kubatine-Bulkoin, the children 
 will be Kubatine-Bunda ; if the father is Dilebi-Baring, the 
 children will be Dilebi-Turowain. From this we see that 
 the classes descend directly and the subclasses indirectly in 
 the male line ; in other words, every child belongs to its 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 
 xiii. (1884) p. 336. In the latter 
 passage Dr. Hewitt interprets the class 
 names Dilebi and Cubatine as meaning 
 ' 'flood-water " and " lightning" respec- 
 tively, while Baring is interpreted as 
 "turtle," Turowain as "bat," Bulkoin 
 as "carpetj-snake," and Bunda as 
 ' ' native cat. " But these interpretations 
 are not repeated by Dr. Howitt in his 
 book. Perhaps in his earlier statement 
 (Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 
 stitute, /.f.)the names of the classes and 
 subclasses were confused with those of 
 the totems, of which none were given. 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 228 sq. 
 The Kaiabara had a mode of recording 
 the four subclasses and their marriages 
 in a diagrammatic form on a stick, the 
 markings being made in such a manner 
 as to represent a man with his arms 
 crossed. See A. W. Howitt, op. cit. 
 pp. 230 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 445 
 
 father's class and to the subclass which is complementary to 
 his. The general principle is the same as in the system of 
 four subclasses with female descent ; for in both systems a 
 man is restricted in his choice of a wife to, roughly speaking, 
 one fourth of the women of the tribe, and in both systems 
 the children belong neither to the subclass of their father 
 nor to that of their mother. The only difference is that in 
 the one system the children belong to their father's com- 
 plementary subclass and in the other system to their mother's 
 complementary subclass ; in the former accordingly there is 
 male descent, in the latter there is female descent. In both 
 systems the subclasses with their peculiar rule of descent 
 appear to have been instituted for the purpose of preventing 
 marriages between parents and children, and this purpose 
 was effected very simply by the arrangement that children 
 should always belong to a section of the community into 
 which neither their father nor their mother was allowed to 
 marry. To speak more exactly, the two-class system with More exact 
 female descent prevents a man from marrying his mother of^j^"™' 
 (because she is of the same class with him), but not from effects of 
 marrying his daughter (because she is of the other class), ciass^nd 
 Conversely, the two-class system with male descent prevents four-ciass 
 a man from marrying his daughter (because she is of the same resp^-^ 
 class with him), but not from marrying his mother (because ''veiy. 
 she is of the other class). Hence where female descent pre- 
 vailed, the introduction of the four subclasses was intended 
 to prevent the marriage of a man with his daughter ; where 
 male descent prevailed, the introduction of the four subclasses 
 was intended to prevent the marriage of a man with his 
 mother. Marriages between brothers and sisters had already 
 been prevented by the simpler division of the tribe into two 
 exogamous classes; for under that system brothers and sisters 
 always belonged to the same exogamous class, and therefore 
 could not marry each other. That older two-class system wa# 
 retained when the new four- class system was introduced, 
 so that every man in the tribe had his class as well as his 
 subclass, and was thus effectually debarred from marrying 
 his sister, his mother, or his daughter. Only in speaking 
 of brothers and sisters, and parents and children, we must 
 remember that these terms are used in their wide classificatory 
 
446 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 sense so as to include many persons whom we should not 
 designate by them. The intention first of the two -class 
 and afterwards of the four -class system was to debar 
 from each other whole groups of men and women between 
 many of whom we should recognise no blood relationship 
 whatever.^ 
 Peculiar But while the rules of marriage and descent in the 
 
 Kaiabara tribe are normal so far as the classes and sub- 
 classes are concerned, they are abnormal with respect to the 
 totems. For whereas the rule of male descent, direct or 
 indirect, prevails as to the classes and subclasses, the rule of 
 female descent, with a certain peculiarity, prevails as to the 
 totems, as may be seen by the following table : — ^ 
 
 rule as to 
 the descent 
 of the 
 totems 
 in the 
 Kaiabara 
 tribe. 
 
 Kaiabara Tribe 
 Marriage and Descent of Totems 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 6 
 
 r Bulkoin carpet- 
 
 Turowain 
 
 black eagle- 
 
 Bunda 
 
 white eagle- 
 
 
 snake 
 
 
 hawk 
 
 
 hawk 
 
 .a 
 
 Bunda native 
 
 Baring 
 
 rock carpet- 
 
 Bulkoin 
 
 scrub carpet- 
 
 f^ 
 
 I cat 
 
 
 snake 
 
 
 snake 
 
 
 f Baring turtle 
 
 Bunda 
 
 white eagle- 
 
 Turowain 
 
 black eagle- 
 
 .Q 
 
 
 
 hawk 
 
 
 hawk 
 
 Q 
 
 Turowain bat 
 
 Bulkoin 
 
 female carpet- 
 
 Baring 
 
 scrub carpet- 
 
 L 
 
 
 snake 
 
 
 snake 
 
 Hence it appears that though the child takes his father's 
 class and the subclass which is complementary to his father's 
 subclass, he takes a totem which is neither that of his father 
 nor that of his mother, but which is more akin to that of 
 his mother, since it is a beast or bird of the same species as 
 hers but of a different colour or sex. For example, if a 
 Carpet-snake man marries a Black Eagle-hawk woman, the 
 children are White Eagle-hawks ; if a Turtle man marries 
 a White Eagle-hawk woman, the children are Black Eagle- 
 hawks. And so with the rest. ^The custom seems to be 
 an attempt to extend to the totems the rule of alternation 
 
 ' See also above, pp. 271 sqg. 
 2 A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 229 sq. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 447 
 
 in alternate generations which prevails with the subclasses, 
 so that just as the child takes a subclass which is neither 
 that of his father nor that of his mother, but which is akin 
 to one of them, so he should take a totem which is neither 
 that of his father nor that of his mother, but which is akin 
 to one of them. Only it is curious that, with male descent 
 of the class and subclass, the totem of the child should be 
 akin to that of its mother instead of to that of its father. 
 
 The Kaiabara had the classificatory system of relation- ciassifi- 
 ship. Thus in the generation above his own a man applied syg^ of 
 the same term baboin to his father, to his father's brothers, reiation- 
 and to the husbands of his mother's sisters ; and he applied among the 
 the same term avang to his mother, to his mother's sisters, Kaiabara. 
 and to the wives of his father's brothers. In his own genera- 
 tion he applied the same term nuni to his brothers and to 
 the sons of his father's brothers. He applied the same term 
 malemungan to his wife, to his wife's sisters, and to his 
 brothers' wives ; and a woman applied the same term 
 malaume to her husband, to her husband's brothers, and 
 to her sisters' husbands. In the generation below his own 
 a man applied the same term nogoin to his sons and to his 
 brothers' sons. Similarly a woman applied the same term 
 nogoin to her sons and to her sisters' sons.' 
 
 In the tribes between the Kaiabara and the sea the The tribes 
 names of the subclasses, though substantially the same as \^^y. 
 those of the Kaiabara, varied slightly in form ; but the rules borough 
 of marriage and descent, so far as concerns the classes and land?lhetr 
 subclasses, appear to have been in some of the tribes classes and 
 identical. This may be seen by the following table : — ^ 
 
 ' A. W. Hewitt, "Australian Group- Aldridge among these tribes and in 
 
 Relationships," Journal of the Royal Great Sandy Island, Dr. Howitt ob- 
 
 AHthropologicalInstitute,x\\Vu. (igoj) serves that they "differed considerably 
 
 pp. 287 sg. amongst themselves in the arrangement 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of of the subclasses and in the marriages 
 
 South -East Australia, pp. 116 sq., and descents. So much so that the 
 
 231. However, in regard to the tables correctness of some of them seemed 
 
 of marriage and descent which were doubtful." 
 collected for him by Mr. H. E. 
 
 [Table 
 
448 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Tribes about Maryborough 
 Marriage and Descent 
 
 Direct 
 descent 
 of the 
 class and 
 indirect 
 descent of 
 the sub- 
 class. 
 
 Personal 
 totems 
 [piruha) 
 among 
 the Mary- 
 borough 
 tribes. 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 „ ^,. C Balgoin 
 
 Tilbi (Pf^''^"^ . 
 1^ Theirwain 
 
 Theirwain 
 Parang 
 
 Bunda 
 Balgoin 
 
 Bunda 
 Balgoin 
 
 Theirwain 
 Parang 
 
 From this it will be seen that, just as among the 
 Kaiabara, children belong to their father's class and to his 
 complementary subclass. For example, if he is Kupathin- 
 Balgoin and his wife Tilbi-Theirwain, the children will be 
 Kupathin-Bunda ; that is, they will be of their father's class 
 Kupathin and of the subclass Bunda, which is comple- 
 mentary to his subclass Balgoin. Thus descent both of 
 the class and of the subclass is in the male line ; but whereas 
 the descent of the class is direct (since the children belong 
 to their father's class), descent of the subclass is indirect 
 (since the children belong not to their father's subclass but 
 to the one which is complementary to it). 
 
 A remarkable feature in the totemism of these tribes is 
 reported by Dr. Howitt. He says : " In the tribes within 
 fifty miles of Maryborough (Queensland), each boy has a 
 totem called Pincha, which is given to him by his father, and 
 which he calls Noru, that is, ' brother.' For instance, say 
 that a man's Pincha is Fish-eagle {kunka), he gives to each 
 of his sons a Pincha ; for instance, to one a kangaroo 
 {guruman), to another a large white grub {pu-yung) which 
 is found in gum-trees, and so on. A man does not kill or 
 eat his Pincha. Moreover, he is supposed to have some 
 particular affinity to his father's Pincha, and is not per- 
 mitted to eat it." 1 From this account it would seem that 
 in these tribes every man had a personal totem which was 
 assigned to him by his father, though on what principle the 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 147, on the 
 authority of Mr. Harry E. Aldridge. 
 
 ..id 
 
TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 
 
 449 
 
 assignation was made does not appear, and the personal 
 totems of brothers differed from each other as well as from 
 that of their father. Parallel to the personal totems 
 {pinchd) of these Maryborough tribes are the budjan or 
 jimbir of the Wiradjuri and the Yuin and the thundung 
 or " elder brothers " of the Kurnai.^ 
 
 In the Muruburra tribe, living at White Cliffs on The 
 Great Sandy Island, the names of the four subclasses were Jfi^*!^"^ 
 practically the same as in the Kaiabara and Maryborough subclasses 
 tribes, and descent was in the male line both for the ^"ttms 
 subclass and the totem ; but the names of the two primary 
 classes have not been ascertained. The following list of 
 subclasses and totems was obtained by Dr. Howitt from a 
 member of the Muruburra tribe, who was of the Theirwain 
 class and the fire totem : — * 
 
 Muruburra Tribe 
 Class System 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 
 r 
 
 Balgoin 
 Bunda 
 
 Baring 
 Theirwain 
 
 water-snake, carpet-snake, red kangaroo, 
 
 emu, turtle, iguana, 
 black dingo, black duck, thunder, yellow 
 
 dingo. 
 
 fish-hawk, bream, 
 fire, opossum. 
 
 In this Queensland group of tribes with four sub- Marriage 
 classes and male descent, just as in the Kulin nation of*^'*.^" 
 
 ' ■' cousins 
 
 Victoria with two classes and male descent,^ the marriage of prohibited, 
 all cousins was forbidden ; that is, not only were the children 
 of two sisters and the children of two brothers forbidden to 
 marry, as they necessarily are in all Australian tribes with 
 a two- or four-class system, but the children of a brother 
 and a sister were equally forbidden to marry, and for the 
 
 ' See above, pp. 412 j;., and below, South-EasI Australia, pp. 117, 230. 
 
 P- 495- 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ' See above, pp. 438 sq. 
 
 VOL. I 2 G 
 
 k 
 
450 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 same reason, namely, that they were too near of kin. It 
 sometimes, however, happened that cousins fell in love with 
 each other and made a runaway match of it, but if they 
 were caught they were severely punished and sometimes 
 killed.! 
 
 Betrothal In these tribes wives were obtained in various ways. 
 
 of girls and Sometimes girls were betrothed in their infancy to suitable 
 
 capture of ° ■' 
 
 women. men. A woman captured from a hostile tribe belonged to 
 her captor, if she were of the proper class. Nearly all their 
 fights resulted from the capture of women ; indeed these 
 people made forays for the purpose of carrying off wives.^ 
 Also there was a curious practice of capturing women after 
 two tribes had met at the Dora or initiation ceremonies of 
 young men. On the last evening, when the last dance was 
 over, and the assembly was dispersing in the darkness, 
 spreading out like a fan from the ceremonial ground, the 
 young men of both sides of the community used to lie in 
 wait for the women, then rush out and carry them off as 
 they returned to their camps. This had to be done quietly, 
 or the girls' friends would hear and rescue them. If the 
 ravishers were confident in their numbers, they defended 
 their captives ; if not, they let them go and fled for their 
 lives, sometimes receiving very ugly wounds from their 
 pursuers. The women thus taken might be either married 
 or single, but a preference was always shown for single 
 women. A young man would learn beforehand which was 
 the right girl for him, and when he seized her he would ask 
 her of what class she was ; for if she was not of the class 
 into which he might marry he would at once let her go. 
 His object was to get a wife of the right class. At such 
 gatherings there was always some one who could tell every- 
 body's class, subclass, and totem.^ 
 Custom When a man died, his surviving brother, whether elder 
 
 levirate *-"' younger, might marry the widow ; but he must be either 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of cousin-marriage. 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 232. Yet 9 a iir tr 'i^ ^ -^ nt-% 
 
 _ „ .^^ ^ ,, f ./ „,„. 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 232, 
 
 Dr. Howitt tells us (op. at. p. 230) > .r rr .- 
 
 that in the Muruburra tribe a man's ^•' "' 
 
 proper wife was the daughter of his ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 233 
 
 mother's brother. Perhaps the Muru- sq. As to the Dora or initiation 
 
 burra were exceptional in permitting, ceremonies of these tribes, see id. pp. 
 
 or rather recommending, this case of 599-606. 
 
n TRIBES WITH FOUR SUBCLASSES 451 
 
 a full or a half-brother in our sense of the word, and not 
 merely a tribal brother.^ 
 
 The tribes about Maryborough observed the usual rule Mutual 
 of avoidance between son-in-law and mother-in-law. The ^^r^l\^- 
 two would never look at or towards each other. A man in-iaw and 
 would hide himself anywhere or anyhow, if his wife's ^°°"'°' *• 
 mother were near. The relation between them was called 
 mulong? 
 
 § 8. Tribes with Anomalous Class Systems and 
 Female Descent 
 
 We have now completed our survey of the tribes with Tribes with 
 normal class systems, whether of the two-class or of the l"°"!!fi°"' 
 
 * ' marriage 
 
 four-class type, in South- Eastern Australia. It remains systems, 
 to notice some tribes whose class systems present certain 
 anomalous features. We begin with those which trace 
 descent in the female line. Among these the first to be 
 considered will be the Wotjobaluk, whose tribal name is 
 derived from wotjo, " man," and i>aluk, " people." ' 
 
 The Wotjobaluk occupied a considerable area of what is The 
 known as the Wimmera district of North- Western Victoria. baiu']^°of 
 Their country extended from the Wimmera to the Richardson victoria. 
 River and northward to the salt lakes in which these streams 
 lose themselves before they reach the Murray.* The whole 
 of this district, as we have seen, consists of vast sandy plains, 
 sparsely covered with grass and intersected with belts of 
 scrub and forests of Casuarina, Banksia, and eucalyptus. 
 The climate is very dry, the rainfall very low, and the 
 drought sometimes severe.' 
 
 The Wotjobaluk were divided into two exogamous The 
 classes (moieties) called Krokitch and Gamutch respectively, baiuk° 
 and each of these classes included a number of totem clans, 'heir 
 the members of which claimed to own various natural ^„^ 
 species and natural phenomena. The things which the wtems. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, JVaiive Tribes of other (A. W. Hewitt, op. cit. p. 
 
 Stuth-East Australia, p. 236. 237). 
 
 " A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 236. ' a. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 54. 
 
 SimUarly among the tribes about * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 54. 
 
 Brisbane a man and his mother-in-law ' A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. 
 
 never looked at or spoke to each 267 j?., 273. See above, pp. 316 xy. 
 
452 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 members of a totem clan thus claimed as belonging to them 
 may be called their subtotems. Examples of similar sub- 
 totems have met us before.^ "The whole universe," says 
 Dr. Howitt, " including mankind, was apparently divided 
 between the classes. Therefore the list of subtotems might 
 be extended indefinitely. It appears that a man speaks of 
 some as being ' nearer to him ' than others. I am unable 
 to ascertain the precise meaning of this expression. When 
 pressed upon this question, a black would say, ' Oh, that is 
 what our fathers told us.' " ^ The social system of the 
 Wotjobaluk tribe with its classes, totems, and subtotems is 
 set forth in the following table : — ^ 
 
 Wotjobaluk System 
 
 Classes, 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Subtotems. 
 
 Krokitch - 
 
 the sun 
 
 galah (or white) 
 cockatoo 
 
 a cave 
 pelican 
 carpet-snake 
 
 the hot wind 
 
 a tuber {munyd) 
 
 the star Fomalhaut iBunjit), plains 
 turkey, opossum, a grub {gur\ a 
 tuber i^garukd), grey kangaroo, red 
 kangaroo. 
 
 native companion, bandicoot, emu, 
 mussel, musk duck, mountain duck, 
 magpie goose. 
 
 subtotems not known. 
 
 a venomous snake, a small snake, 
 Pennant's lorikeet, a small bird 
 {wurip), the moon. 
 
 subtotems not known. 
 
 1 See above, pp. 78-80, 133-136, 
 430, 431 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 454 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 121. 
 Compare, id., " Australian Group Rela- 
 
 tions," Annual Report of the Smith- 
 sonian Institution for 1883, pp. 818 
 sq. ; id., "Further Notes on the 
 Australian Class Systems," Journal of 
 the Anthropological Institute, xviii. 
 (1889) pp. 60-64. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 453 
 WoTjoBALUK System (^continued) 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Subtotems. 
 
 Gamutch 
 
 deaf adder 
 the sea 
 
 pelican 
 
 black cockatoo 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 native cat, black swan, tiger -snake, 
 sulphur - crested cockatoo, crow, 
 dingo. 
 
 subtotems not known. 
 
 thunder, magpie, native cat, fire, white 
 gull, white-bellied cormorant, small 
 black cormorant, large cormorant, 
 bull oak ( Casuartna glauca\ a wader, 
 grey heron, chough. 
 
 a small iguana, lace-lizard, black duck, 
 a small snake, teal duck, a bird 
 Uering). 
 
 In this tribe the classes, totems, and subtotems are all 
 called mir} On the Wotjobaluk system Dr. Howitt observes 
 that it appears to be a peculiar development of the two-class 
 system of the Darling River tribes with totem clans but no 
 subclasses.^ But in the case of the Wotjobaluk, he says, 
 "some of the totems have advanced almost to the grade of 
 subclasses, and they have a markedly independent existence. 
 The new features are the numerous groups of subtotems 
 attached to the classes Gamutch and Krokitch respectively 
 It seems as if some of the totems of a two-class system had 
 grown in importance, leaving the remaining totems behind 
 in obscurity ; and probably this has arisen through this 
 tribe dividing the whole universe between the two classes, 
 as, for instance, the Wiradjuri do." ' 
 
 As to the respect which a Wotjobaluk entertained 
 for his totem animal, we are told that he "would not 
 harm his totem if he could avoid it, but at a pinch he 
 would eat it in default of other food. In order to injure 
 
 Peculiar 
 features 
 of Wotjo- 
 baluk 
 totems. 
 
 Intimate 
 connection 
 between 
 a man 
 and his 
 totem. 
 
 > A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South- East Australia, p. 122. 
 • See above, pp. 380 sqq. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 122. 
 
454 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 another person he would, however, kill that person's totem. 
 
 To dream about his own totem means that some one has 
 
 done something to it for the purpose of harming the sleeper 
 
 or one of his totemites. But if he dreams it again, it means 
 
 himself, and if he thereupon falls ill, he will certainly see 
 
 the wraith of the person who is trying to ' catch ' him. The 
 
 same beliefs are held by the other tribes of this nation." ' 
 
 Such beliefs illustrate the intimate connection which is 
 
 supposed to subsist between a man and his totem ; the 
 
 totem animal appears to be to some extent identified with 
 
 the man, since any injury done to it will be felt by him. 
 
 Relation Further, several of the totems are thought to be specially 
 
 totems^" related to each other. Thus the sun totem {ngaui) is in 
 
 with each some Way associated with the white cockatoo {garckuka) 
 
 °' ^' totem. For a man of the sun totem has been known to 
 
 claim the white cockatoo as a second name of his totem 
 
 (mir) ; he maintained that both Sun and White Cockatoo 
 
 were his names, but that Sun was specially his name and 
 
 White Cockatoo " came a little behind it." On the other 
 
 hand, another man who claimed to be both Sun and White 
 
 Cockatoo, said that he was especially White Cockatoo, and 
 
 that Sun " came a little behind his White Cockatoo name." 
 
 The exact relation of the two Dr. Howitt was not able to 
 
 ascertain. He inclines to regard the two as "very slightly 
 
 divergent branches of the same totem," or as "slightly 
 
 divergent appendages of the class Krokitch, under new 
 
 names." ^ 
 
 Totemic Some light is thrown on the relation of the totems to 
 
 customs ^^"-^ other by the mechanical method which the Wotjobaluk 
 
 among the employed to preserve and explain a record of their classes 
 
 baiuk° 3.nd totems. It was their custom to bury the dead with 
 
 their heads pointing in different directions according to 
 
 their class and totem, and the various directions were all 
 
 fixed with reference to the rising sun. Two of Dr. Howitt's 
 
 informants, who were old men, spent about two hours in 
 
 laying out the mortuary directions on the ground with sticks, 
 
 and Dr. Howitt took their bearings with a compass. The 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of id., m Journal of the Anthropological 
 South-East Australia, pp. 145 sq. Institute, xviii. (1889) p. 61. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 122 ; 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 455 
 
 diagram which he thus constructed, he tells us, may not be 
 altogether correct because the list of totems is probably 
 incomplete. It is as follows : — ^ 
 
 A Tuber 
 
 The Sun 
 
 Thus it will be observed that men of the Sun totem are 
 laid in the grave with their heads to the east ; men of the 
 White Cockatoo totem are buried with their heads to the 
 north-east ; men of the Hot Wind totem are buried with 
 their heads to the north-west, which was appropriate, since 
 in the country of the Wotjobaluk the hot wind blows from 
 that quarter. And similarly with the other totems. It will 
 be noticed that the pelican totem is found in both the two 
 primary classes Krokitch and Gamutch. No explanation 
 of this repetition is given by Dr. Howitt. He tells us that 
 the Sun was the principal totem, and that from it all the 
 other totems are counted.^ When a man died, he was no Mortuary 
 longer called by his old totem name, but received a new J^l'^^o't'o 
 name, which varied with the particular totem. These new baiuk. 
 names are called by Dr. Howitt " mortuary totems." Thus 
 when a man of the sun totem died, he would no longer be 
 
 > A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 Sottlh-East Australia, pp. 453 sq. ; 
 id. " Further Notes on the Australian 
 Class Systems," /ouma/ 0/ /Ae Antkro- 
 pohgical Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 
 
 62 sq. 
 
 '^ A. W. Howitt, in Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xviii. (1889) 
 P- 63- 
 
 L 
 
4S6 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 spoken of as Sun (ngaui) but as " Behind the sun " (wurti- 
 ngaui), that is, as a shadow cast behind the speaker by the 
 sun. When a man of the Krokitch class and the pelican 
 totem died, he would no longer be called Pelican (patchangal, 
 batya-ngal) but " Bark of the mallee " {mitbagragr) ; and so 
 on with the other totems. The custom probably originated 
 in the extreme dislike of the aborigines to name the dead.^ 
 Relation The relation in which people stand to their subtotems 
 
 tothdr ^^ distinguished from their totems is, as usual, somewhat 
 subtotems. vague and indefinite. A man claims to own his subtotem, 
 but he does not identify himself with it or name himself 
 after it, as he names himself after his totem. For example, 
 a man of the Sun totem claims kangaroos as his property 
 because they are his subtotems, but he is not called 
 Kangaroo ; he is called Sun after his totem the sun. 
 Similarly a man of the sun totem claims the star Fomal- 
 hault {Bunjil) as his, but he is not named after the star. 
 Again, a man of the hot wind totem claims two sorts of 
 snakes, two sorts of birds, and the moon as his, but he is not 
 called after any of them ; he is called Hot Wind. " The 
 true totem," says Dr. Howitt, " owns him, but he owns the 
 subtotem." ^ 
 Sex totems The totemic system of the Wotjobaluk is still further 
 Wotj'o- ^ complicated by the possession of what I have called sex- 
 baiuk : the totems.^ Among them the sex-totem or, as they called it, 
 "brother "the "brother" of the men was the bat, and the sex-totem 
 of the men, or " sister " of the women was the owlet-nightjar, which was 
 
 the owlet- -r jj r i r^i o .» 
 
 nightjar also called the ' wife of the men. These sex-totems of the 
 IS the Wotjobaluk, says Dr. Howitt, " were real totems, although of 
 of the a peculiar kind. They were called yaur or flesh, or ngirabul 
 or mir, just as were the totems proper." The only difference 
 was that, whereas the bat was the brother of all the men 
 and the owlet-nightjar the sister of all the women, an 
 ordinary totem was the brother or sister only of the men 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, in Journal of the Institution for l88j, pp. 8i8 sq. ; id.. 
 
 Anthropological Institute, liMm. (1889) "Further Notes on the Australian 
 
 p. 64 ; id, , Native Tribes of South- Class Systems, "Journal of the Anthro- 
 
 East Australia, p. 123. fological Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 
 
 '' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of (>\ sq. 
 South-East Australia, p. 123; id., in 
 
 Annual Report of the Smithsonian ^ See above, pp. 47 sq. 
 
 women. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 457 
 
 and women who bore its name. In regard to their sex- 
 totems the Wotjobaluk said that " the life of the bat is the 
 life of a man, and the life of the owlet-nightjar is the life of 
 a woman," and that when either of these creatures is killed 
 the life of some man or of some woman is shortened. In 
 such a case every man or every woman in the camp feared 
 that he or she might be the victim, and from this cause 
 great fights arose in the tribe between the men on one side 
 and the women on the other. For example, some men 
 might kill an owlet-nightjar and then boast of their exploit 
 in camp. The women would then in their turn kill a bat 
 and carry it to the camp on the point of a stick, and with a 
 piece of wood in its mouth to keep it open. This was held 
 aloft in triumph, the oldest woman walking at the head of 
 the procession and the younger women following, while they 
 all shouted Yeip Yeip (hurrah) ! The men then turned out, 
 armed with clubs, boomerangs, and even spears, and engaged 
 the women, who fought with their digging-sticks, belabouring 
 the men with them and cleverly parrying or breaking the 
 spears that were thrown at them. Sometimes, however, the 
 spears went home and the women were wounded or killed. 
 But at other times they got the better of their male adver- 
 saries, who had to retire discomfited with broken heads and 
 sore bones. These curious fights between men and women 
 over their sex-totems seem to have occurred in all the tribes 
 of South-Eastern Australia among whom sex-totems have 
 been found.' The true character of the sex-totem, as Dr. The life of 
 Howitt justly observes, appears to be shown by the state- ^o^^^fj 
 ment of the Wotjobaluk that "the life of a bat is the life of thought to 
 a man," and that "the life of an owlet-nightjar is the life of^^"^"^ 
 a woman '' ; for such a belief fully explains the rage of either the life of 
 sex when one of their sex-totems has been killed.^ Thus totem. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "Further Notes the man or of the Bat. 
 on the Australian Class Systems," ^ A. W. Howitt, The Native Tribes 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological Insti- o/Soulh-East Australia, p. 14S: "The 
 
 tute, xviii. (1889) pp. 57 sq.; id,, true character of the sex totem is shown 
 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, by the Wotjobaluk expression, 'The 
 
 pp. 148, 150, 151. In the first of life of a bat is the life of a man,' mean- 
 
 these passages we read : " The Wotjo ing that to injure a bat is to injure some 
 
 said that the Bat was the man's ' brother' man, while to kill one is to cause some 
 
 and that the Nightjar was his 'wife.'" man to die. The same saying applies 
 
 From this it is not quite clear whether to the Owlet-nightjar with respect to 
 
 the Nightjar was deemed the wife of women." 
 
458 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 among the Wotjobaluk the conception of a sex-totem, as 
 
 well as of an ordinary totem/ seems to involve a more or 
 
 less complete identification of a man or woman with his or 
 
 her totem animal. His or her life is apparently thought to 
 
 be so bound up with that of the animal that an injury done 
 
 to the animal injures correspondingly the man or woman, 
 
 while its destruction entails his or her death. On these and 
 
 similar facts I formerly based a theory that a totem may 
 
 have been supposed to contain the external soul of the 
 
 person who claimed it.^ 
 
 Marriage The rule of marriage in the Wotjobaluk tribe was that a 
 
 descent "^^^ °^ '^'^^ class (Krokitch or Gamutch) must marry a 
 
 among the woman of the other class (Gamutch or Krokitch), but that 
 
 bahik" ^^ ^"'■^ f*"^^ ^^ nis-Ty a woman of any totem in that class. 
 
 The children took their class and totem from their mother. 
 
 For example, if a Krokitch man of the sun totem married a 
 
 Gamutch woman of the black swan totem, the children 
 
 would be Gamutch Black Swans. If a Gamutch man of 
 
 the tiger-snake totem married a Krokitch woman of the 
 
 bandicoot totem, the children would be Krokitch Bandicoots, 
 
 and so on.^ In all negotiations with a view to marriage the 
 
 first question was, " What is the yauerin (' flesh ') of the two 
 
 persons ? " For yauerin meant class and totem as well as 
 
 flesh, and no marriage could take place between persons of 
 
 Local the wrong class or totem. But besides this class restriction 
 
 amonrtiie °" marriage there was in the Wotjobaluk tribe a local 
 
 Wotjo- restriction also, since a man was forbidden to marry a 
 
 woman of the same place as his mother : they thought his 
 
 flesh (jaueriii) was too near to the flesh of the women who 
 
 lived there. Hence he had to go for a wife to some place 
 
 where there was no flesh (^yauerin) near to his. The same 
 
 rule applied to the woman.* Thus we find that in the 
 
 Wotjobaluk, as in the southern tribes of the Kulin nation,^ 
 
 class exogamy is combined with local exogamy. This is 
 
 1 See above, pp. 453 sq. sq.; id.. Native Tribes of South-East 
 
 2 The Golden Botcgh,^ hi. 413 sqq. ^"^f^^li", PP- 24 1 sq In the last of 
 * f J J/ tjjggg passages Dr. Hewitt omits to 
 
 5 A. W. Howitt, "Australian Group state the rule of marriage with respect 
 
 Relations," Annual Report of the to the totems. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution for l88j, p. * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 819; id., m Journal of the Anthro- South-East Australia, p. 241. 
 
 pological Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 60 ^ See above, pp. 437 sq. 
 
 baluk. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 459 
 
 the anomalous feature in the class system of the Wotjobaluk, 
 which in other respects appears to be normal. 
 
 Besides the restrictions imposed by the class and the Wotjo- 
 maternal district, the Wotjobaluk, like all other Australian prohMtion 
 tribes, prohibited marriage between persons who stood in ofmamage 
 certain degrees of kinship to each other. In particular they coi^n^s" 
 laid great stress on forbidding the marriage of a marrup the 
 
 ... 7 1- .1 1 children 
 
 With a marrup-gurk ; that is, a man might not marry the of a 
 daughter of his mother's brother nor of his father's sister, brother 
 
 _, ., .,.„,,. . and a 
 
 Two such persons might not mix their flesh, their yauerin sister. 
 being too near. Nay more than that, their descendants 
 were prohibited from marrying each other so long as the 
 relationship between them could be traced. However, the 
 native informants added " that they remembered that one or 
 two cases had occurred in which such a marriage had been 
 permitted, but in them the parties were from places far 
 distant from each other, for instance, the Wimmera and 
 Murray Rivers, and that in those cases their respective 
 parents were distant tribal brothers and sisters." ^ This 
 Wotjobaluk prohibition to marry the daughter of a mother's 
 brother or of a father's sister is, as Dr. Howitt observes,^ a 
 great remove from the custom of the Urabunna, among 
 whom, on the contrary, a man's proper wife is precisely the 
 daughter of his mother's (elder) brother or of his father's 
 (elder) sister.' The same view as to the propriety of 
 marriage with the daughter of a mother's brother or of a 
 father's sister was held also by the Jupagalk, a tribe which 
 bordered on the Wotjo nation, but they said that the 
 woman should be obtained from a distant place so as not 
 to be too near him in flesh.* We have seen that the Kulin, 
 like the Wotjobaluk, also prohibited not only the marriage 
 of first cousins, the children of a brother and a sister, but 
 also the marriage of the descendants of such cousins, so 
 far as the relationship could be traced.' 
 
 In the Wotjobaluk tribe, when it had been ascertained Betrothal 
 that there were no impediments of any kind to the marriage ^"^^g^ 
 of two persons, whether a girl and a boy, or a girl and a among the 
 
 Wotjo- 
 baluk, 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ' See above, pp. 177 sq. 
 South- East Australia, pp. 241-243. * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 243. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 243. ' See above, pp. 438 sq. 
 
46o TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Punish- 
 ment of 
 elopement 
 and of 
 unlawful 
 marriages 
 among the 
 Wotjo- 
 baluk. 
 
 man, they were betrothed by their respective fathers, whose 
 consent was essential. Yet it was the elder brothers of the 
 pair who made the arrangements. Such engagements might 
 be made at any time, but they were most commonly 
 arranged at the great gatherings when the intermarrying 
 tribes met together to feast or perform ceremonies. In 
 anticipation of these meetings the young men used to 
 ascertain what unmarried girls had not been betrothed, 
 which of them were of the class with which theirs might 
 marry, and what were the places from which they might 
 take a wife. Having ascertained these particulars two 
 young men would meet at one of these assemblies and 
 agree to give their sisters in exchange to be the wives 
 of their respective younger brothers.^ The ceremony of 
 marriage was simple. The bride was taken to the bride- 
 groom's camp by her father, accompanied by the father, 
 father's brothers, brothers, and male paternal cousins of the 
 bridegroom. At the camp the father's sister of the bride 
 said to her, " That is your husband. He will give you food. 
 You must stop with him." No one but the bridegroom had 
 access to the bride at marriage in this tribe. Men too were 
 very strict in requiring fidelity from their wives, and would 
 not lend them to friends or visitors from a distance.^ 
 
 It happened not uncommonly that a girl who had been 
 betrothed to a man in her infancy liked some one else better 
 and eloped with him. All her male kindred pursued the 
 runaway couple, and if they caught them, the lover had to 
 fight them or rather to parry the spears which they threw at 
 him. The girl's father and brothers were the first to cast 
 their spears at him, and the others followed. If he passed 
 through the ordeal successfully, he was allowed to keep the 
 girl, provided always that he was of the right class and not 
 within the prohibited degrees of relationship. But he had 
 to find a sister to give in exchange for her.^ Very different 
 was the case if the man who ran away with a girl was of 
 
 1 A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 241 sq. 
 
 ^ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 245. 
 However, in the Mukjarawaint tribe, 
 which was the southern branch of the 
 Wqtjo nation, men of the same totem 
 
 as the bridegroom had access to the 
 bride at marriage. See A. W. Howitt, 
 op. cit. pp. 243, 24s sq. 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 
 245 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 461 
 
 the wrong class or within the prohibited degrees of relation- 
 ship. Such an offence against the tribal morality was 
 punished with great severity. All the men of both the 
 intermarrying classes gave chase, and if they caught the 
 culprit they would kill and bury him. " My Wotjobaluk 
 informants said that this was always done in the old times 
 before white men came ; but that they did not do as their 
 western neighbours did, namely, eat him. It was the duty 
 of the woman's father and brothers, in such a case, to kill 
 her. This was confirmed to me by a Mukjarawaint man, 
 who said that if a man took a woman who was of the same 
 yauerin as himself, the pursuers, if they caught him, killed 
 him, and with the exception of the flesh of the thighs and 
 upper arms, which were roasted and eaten, they chopped the 
 body into small pieces, and left them lying on a log. The 
 flesh was eaten by his totemites, including even his brothers. 
 This he said was also the custom of the Jupagalk." ^ 
 
 It was not customary in the Wotjobaluk tribe for a widow not 
 widow to be taken by her deceased husband's brother, ^l^^^ ^^ 
 They had a feeling against the practice. An old man husband's 
 explained to Dr. Howitt that it was unpleasant to lie in '"^°* ^' 
 the place of a dead brother, and so to be always reminded 
 of him.^ Similarly some of the Queensland tribes near 
 Brisbane considered it monstrous that a man should marry 
 his brother's widow, and such marriages never took place 
 among them ; but the brother of the deceased had a voice 
 in giving the widow to another.' 
 
 The Wotjobaluk had the classificatory system of relation- ciassifi- 
 ship. Thus in the generation above his own a man applied "^^"^^ „( 
 the same term maam to his father, to his father's brothers, reiation- 
 and to the husbands of his mother's sisters ; and he applied l^^^a^^. 
 the same term bap to his mother, to his mother's sisters, and baiuk. 
 to the wives of his father's brothers. In his own generation 
 he applied the same term 7vau to his brothers, to the sons of 
 his father's brothers, and to the sons of his mother's sisters. 
 He applied the same term matjun to his wife, to his wife's 
 sisters, and to his brothers' wives. A woman applied the 
 same term nanitch to her husband, to her husband's brothers, 
 
 > A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 2 a. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 248. 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 246 sq. ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 237. 
 
462 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 and to her sisters' husbands. In the generation below his 
 own a man applied the same term ngaluk to his sons, to his 
 brothers' sons, and to the sons of his wife's sisters. Similarly 
 a woman applied the same term nunungyep to her sons, to 
 her sisters' sons, and to the sons of her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 The 
 
 Mukjara- 
 
 waint. 
 
 In the south-western part of Victoria, to the south of 
 the Wotjobaluk, there was a tribe or subtribe who were 
 reckoned to the Wotjobaluk, but who called themselves 
 Mukjarawaint. They lived in the northern parts of the 
 picturesque Grampian Mountains and at the sources of the 
 Wimmera River.^ Their system of classes and totems has 
 not been recorded ; but we hear of a black cockatoo totem 
 and a white cockatoo totem among them, and learn inci- 
 dentally that a White Cockatoo man might marry a Black 
 Cockatoo woman.^ 
 
 From the southern limits of the Mukjarawaint to 
 the sea on the south, and from Mount Gambler on the 
 west to Eumerella Creek on the east, there was a nation 
 who called themselves Mara, a name which in their 
 language signified " man " or " men." * A small tribe of 
 this nation bore the name of Gournditch-mara, and had its 
 tribe, their headquarters at Gournditch or Lake Condah.* This tribe 
 totems ^° ^^^ divided into two exogamous classes, Krokitch and 
 Kaputch, the names of which are clearly identical with the 
 Krokitch and Gamutch of the Wotjobaluk. Two totems 
 are recorded, namely. White Cockatoo and Black Cockatoo, 
 each of which claimed a number of subtotems. The system 
 may be exhibited in tabular form as follows : — ® 
 
 The JVEara 
 nation. 
 
 The 
 
 Gourn 
 
 ditch-mara 
 
 1 A. W. Hewitt, " Australian Group- 
 Relationships," Journal of the Royal 
 Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. (1907) 
 pp. 287 sq. 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 54 sq,, 243. 
 As to the Grampian Mountains com- 
 pare A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i. 
 267, 269. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 245 sq. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 69, 
 124. 
 
 5 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 69. See 
 the account of this tribe by the Rev. 
 J. H. Stable, of the Church Mission, 
 Lake Condah, reported by Fison and 
 Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kumai, pp. 
 274-278. 
 
 " A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 124, on 
 the authority of the Rev. J. H. Stable. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 463 
 
 GOURNDITCH-MARA TRIBE 
 
 Classes and Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Subtoteras. 
 
 Krokitch 
 
 white cockatoo 
 
 pelican, laughing-jackass, parrot, owl, 
 mopoke, large kangaroo, native 
 companion. 
 
 Kaputch 
 
 black cockatoo 
 
 emu, whip -snake, opossum, brush 
 kangaroo, native bear, swan, eagle- 
 hawk, sparrow-hawk. 
 
 In this tribe the child took its class and totem from its 
 mother, but belonged to the local division of its father and 
 spoke his language. Wives were obtained from distant 
 places, because such women were thought not to be so 
 " close in flesh " as those who lived in the same or neigh- 
 bouring districts. Here, accordingly, as in the Wotjobaluk 
 and the southern tribes of the Kulin nation, a rule of local 
 exogamy was superadded to the rule of class exogamy. 
 Children were betrothed by their parents, sister being 
 exchanged for sister in the usual way. " There was no 
 sexual licence allowed at any time in this tribe, although 
 occasionally a man lent his wife to others, but this was 
 always the occasion of fight between him and the better- 
 thinking of the tribes-people." ^ 
 
 The Gournditch-mara belonged to a large group of tribes 
 in South- Western Victoria, which have been well described 
 by Mr. James Dawson.^ He tells us that the aborigines are 
 divided into tribes, each of which has its own country 
 distinguished by the name or language of the tribe.* 
 " Every person is considered to belong to his father's tribe, 
 and cannot marry into it. Besides this division, there is 
 another which is made solely for the purpose of preventing 
 marriages with maternal relatives. The aborigines are 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of gines (Melbourne, Sydney, and Ade- 
 South-East Australia, pp. 69, 249. laide, 1881). 
 
 ' James Dawson, Australian Abort- ^ J. Dawson, op. cit. p. i. 
 
 Marriage 
 and 
 descent 
 among the 
 Gourn- 
 ditch-mara. 
 
 Tribes of 
 South- 
 Western 
 Victoria, 
 their 
 
 exogamous 
 classes 
 or clans. 
 
464 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 everywhere divided into classes ; and every one is considered 
 to belong to his mother's class, and cannot marry into it in 
 any tribe, as all of the same class are considered brothers 
 and sisters. There are five classes in all the tribes of the 
 Western District, and these take their names from certain 
 animals — the long-billed cockatoo (kuurokeetch), the pelican 
 {kartpoerapp), the banksian cockatoo {kappatck), the boa 
 snake (kirtuuk), and the quail {kuunamit)." Of these five 
 classes the first two, namely, Long-billed Cockatoo and 
 Pelican, were looked upon as sister classes and no marriage 
 between them was permitted. The same was true of the 
 third and fourth classes, namely Banksian Cockatoo and Boa 
 Snake ; they were sister classes and no marriage between 
 them was allowed. The fifth class, namely Quail, was not 
 so related to another class, and might therefore marry into 
 any class but its own. The first two classes (Long-billed 
 Cockatoo and Pelican) were allowed to marry into any of 
 the remaining three classes, and so were the third and fourth 
 classes (Banksian Cockatoo and Boa Snake).^ To put this 
 in tabular form : — 
 
 Tribes of South-Western Victoria 
 
 Classes or Totems 
 
 r Long-billed Cockatoo [kuurokeetch) 
 \ Pelican {kartpoerapp) 
 
 J Banksian Cockatoo {kappatck) 
 \Boa Snake {kirtuuk) 
 
 Quail {kuunamit) 
 
 It is doubt- It might be doubted at first sight whether these divisions, 
 
 these^divi^"^ which Mr. Dawson calls classes, are what we call classes or 
 
 sions were subclasses or totem clans. Their uneven number is against 
 
 cias^erOT^ the view that they are what we now call classes or subclasses, 
 
 totem since such classes are regularly found in groups of two and 
 
 subclasses in groups of four or eight. Probably Dr. Howitt is 
 
 right in treating Mr. Dawson's classes as totem clans. He 
 
 points out that the first four of the animals which give their 
 
 ' J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, ing heear to the masculine form ; 
 pp. 26 sq. The feminine forms of for example, masculine kartpoerapp, 
 these class names are formed by add- "pelican," lemysmi^ kartpoerapp heear. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 465 
 
 names to these classes are totems of the Wotjobaluk, and 
 that the third is one of the totems of the Gournditch-mara. On 
 the whole Dr. Howitt inclines to believe that classes or sub- 
 classes, in the sense in which we employ these terms, did 
 not exist among the tribes of South-Western Victoria at the 
 time when they were described by Mr. James Dawson, for 
 otherwise that experienced observer could hardly have over- 
 looked them.^ 
 
 Inquiries made by Mr. A. L. P. Cameron among the Black and 
 natives near Mortlake, which is within the area of the tribes cockatoo 
 described by Mr. Dawson, elicited the following list ofwems. 
 totems : — ^ 
 
 (Krokage, white cockatoo, red crest. 
 Karperap, pelican. 
 
 IKubiick, black cockatoo. 
 \Kartuk, whip snake. 
 
 Of these totems Pelican was supplementary to White 
 Cockatoo, and Whip Snake was supplementary to Black 
 Cockatoo. Thus it appears that with these people, just as 
 with the Gournditch-mara, the two principal totems were 
 White Cockatoo and Black Cockatoo, and their native 
 names Krokage and Kubitch are clearly equivalent to the 
 class-names of the Gournditch-mara, namely Krokitch and 
 Kaputch, which in their turn are identical with the class- 
 names of the Wotjobaluk, namely Krokitch and Gamutch. 
 The names which Mr. Dawson assigns to the two cockatoo 
 "classes," namely Kauurokeetch and Kappatch, are also, it 
 would seem, merely slightly different forms of the same two 
 class-names Krokitch and Gamutch.' 
 
 The aborigines of South-Western Victoria, described by Tradition 
 Mr. Dawson, had a tradition that the first progenitor of^j^^'^f 
 their tribes was a Long-billed Cockatoo, who had for his wife the classes 
 a Banksian Cockatoo. These two were the great -great- 
 grandfather and great -great -grandmother of the people. 
 They had sons and daughters who belonged to their mother's 
 class, and were therefore Banksian Cockatoos. As the laws 
 
 • A. W. Howitt, Nalive Tribes of ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 125. 
 
 Smtk-East Australia, pp. 124 sq., ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 125, 
 
 250. 250. 
 
 VOL. I 2 H 
 
466 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 of consanguinity forbade marriages between them, it was 
 
 necessary to introduce " fresh flesh " {wambepan tuuram), 
 
 which could only be obtained by marriage with strangers. 
 
 The sons got wives from a distance, and their sons, again, 
 
 had to do the same. That is how the Pelican, Snake, and 
 
 Quail classes were introduced, which, together with those 
 
 of their first parents, the Long-billed Cockatoo and the 
 
 Banksian Cockatoo, form the five maternal classes or totem 
 
 clans which exist, or rather used to exist, all through the 
 
 Western District of Victoria.^ 
 
 The tribes In these tribes of South- Western Victoria, as in other 
 
 wSern t"t)es inhabiting the better-watered and more fertile regions 
 
 Victoria on or near the coast, strict rules of local exogamy were 
 
 ii^c™i"exo'^ superadded to the rule of class exogamy. For every man 
 
 gamy with was forbidden to marry into his father's tribe, into his 
 
 totem""^ mother's tribe, into his grandmother's tribe, into an adjoining 
 
 exogamy, tribe, and even into any tribe that spoke his own dialect.^ 
 
 These complex marriage laws appear to have been strictly 
 
 enforced. On this subject Mr. James Dawson, who knew 
 
 the people well, writes as follows : " No marriage or 
 
 betrothal is permitted without the approval of the chiefs of 
 
 each party, who first ascertain that no ' flesh ' relationship 
 
 exists, and even then their permission must be rewarded by 
 
 Strictness presents. So strictly are the laws of marriage carried out, 
 
 their mar- that, should any signs of affection and courtship be observed 
 
 riage laws between those of ' one flesh,' the brothers or male relatives 
 
 Inforced. °f the woman beat her severely ; the man is brought before 
 
 the chief, and accused of an intention to fall into the same 
 
 flesh, and is severely reprimanded by the tribe. If he 
 
 persists, and runs away with the object of his affections, 
 
 they beat and ' cut his head all over ' ; and if the woman 
 
 was a consenting party she is half-killed. If she dies in 
 
 consequence of her punishment, her death is avenged by the 
 
 man's receiving an additional beating from her relatives. 
 
 No other vengeance is taken, as her punishment is legal. 
 
 A child born under such conditions is taken from the 
 
 parents, and handed over to the care of its grandmother, 
 
 who is compelled to rear it, as no one else will adopt it. 
 
 ^ J. Dawson, Australian Aborigities, p. 27, 
 2 J. Dawson, op. cit. pp. 26, 27. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 467 
 
 It says much for the morality of the aborigines and their 
 laws that illegitimacy is rare, and is looked upon with such 
 abhorrence that the mother is always severely beaten by 
 her relatives, and sometimes put to death and burned. Her 
 child is occasionally killed and burned with her. The 
 father of the child is also punished with the greatest severity, 
 and occasionally killed. Should he survive the chastise- 
 ment inflicted upon him, he is always shunned by the 
 woman's relatives, and any efforts to conciliate them with 
 gifts are spurned, and his presents are put in the fire and 
 burned. Since the advent of Europeans among them, the 
 aborigines have occasionally disregarded their admirable 
 marriage laws, and to this disregard they attribute the 
 greater weakness and unhealthiness of their children." ^ 
 
 Among these people children were betrothed to each Betrothal 
 other in marriage as soon as they could walk. The pro- ^^^ amonR 
 posal was made by the girl's father. A youth was not the tribes 
 allowed to marry until he had been formally initiated into western 
 manhood. No person related to him by blood might victoria, 
 interfere or assist in the rites of initiation. Should the boy 
 have brothers-in-law, they came and took him away to their 
 own country to be initiated, and there he had to stay for 
 twelve moons. If he had no brothers-in-law, strangers from 
 a distant tribe came and took him away to their country. 
 During his residence in this far country he was not allowed 
 to speak the language of the tribe, but he learned to under- 
 stand it when spoken. At the end of the time all the hairs 
 of his beard were plucked out, and he was made to drink 
 water mixed with mud. That completed his initiation into 
 manhood. The upper front teeth of the novice were not 
 knocked out in the Western District of Victoria, as they 
 were in many other Australian tribes. He was then intro- 
 duced to the young woman who was to be his wife. They 
 might look at each other, but were not allowed to converse.^ 
 
 When the young man's beard was grown again and the Marriage 
 young woman had attained a marriageable age, she Wcis ^"55"^^ 
 sent away from her tribe and placed under the care of the and wife 
 young man's mother, or his nearest female relative, whOgp^^^^ 
 
 .... o different 
 
 ' J. Dawson, Australtan Abortpnes, p. 28. languages. 
 
 2 J. Dawson, op. cit. pp. 28, 30. 
 
468 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap 
 
 kept her till the two were married, but not in the same hut 
 with her future husband. She was constantly attended by 
 one of his female relatives, but was not allowed to speak 
 the tribal language. She was expected, however, to learn it 
 sufficiently to understand it. On the marriage day bride 
 and bridegroom were adorned on their brows with bunches 
 of red feathers from the neck of the long-billed cockatoo, 
 while the bridegroom had besides the white feather of a swan's 
 wing, the web of which was torn so as to flutter in the wind. 
 Feasting and dancing celebrated the happy day, and the 
 young pair were conducted to a new hut, which was to be 
 their home. But for two moons the two were not allowed to 
 Mutual look at or speak to each other. During all that time they 
 of husband ^^''^ attended day and night by a bridemaid and a brideman, 
 and wife and had to sleep on opposite sides of the fire, the bride beside 
 time after ^^ bridemaid and the bridegroom beside the brideman. In 
 marriage, order that she might not see her husband during this time, 
 the bride kept her head and face covered with her opossum 
 rug while he was present, and he kept his face turned 
 away from her. This mutual avoidance of the newly- 
 wedded couple used to afford much amusement to the young 
 people of the tribe, who would peep into the hut and laugh 
 at them. If the pair needed to communicate with each 
 other they had to speak through their friends.^ Even 
 after these temporary barriers between husband and wife 
 were removed, they had always to speak to each other in ' 
 different languages, he using the speech of his tribe, and she 
 using the speech of hers. On this subject Mr. Dawson 
 writes : " Every person speaks the tribal language of the 
 father, and must never mix it with any other. The mother 
 of a child is the only exception to this law, for, in talking 
 to it, she must use its father's language as far as she can, 
 and not her own. At the same time, she speaks to her 
 husband in her own tribal language, and he speaks to her 
 in his ; so that all conversation is carried on between 
 husband and wife in the same way as between an Englishman 
 and a Frenchwoman, each speaking his or her own language. 
 This very remarkable law explains the preservation of so 
 many distinct dialects within so limited a space, even where 
 
 ' J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, pp. 30-32. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 469 
 
 there are no physical barriers to ready and frequent com- 
 munication between the tribes." ^ 
 
 These customs illustrate the stringency with which the Mutual 
 rule of local exogamy was enforced by the natives of South- of^other- 
 Western Victoria. The same people also rigidly observed in-iaw and 
 the usage which in many Australian tribes obliges a man 
 and his mother-in-law to keep aloof from each other. 
 Indeed, among the natives of South - Western Victoria 
 this mutual avoidance began with the betrothal of the 
 infants. The girl's mother and her aunts might not look 
 at the future son-in-law, nor speak to him from the time of 
 his betrothal till his death. Should he come to the camp 
 where they were living, he must lodge at a friend's hut, as 
 he was not allowed to go within fifty yards of their abode ; 
 and if he met them on a path, they at once left it, clapped 
 their hands, covered up their heads with rugs, walked in a 
 stooping posture, and spoke in whispers till he had passed. 
 When they spoke in each other's presence they had to use 
 a special lingo called " turn tongue," but not for the sake 
 of concealing their meaning, for everybody understood it. 
 The future son-in-law never at any time mentioned the 
 name of his future mother-in-law. Similar rules of avoid- 
 ance were observed after the marriage had taken place. 
 They might not look upon each other even when one of 
 them was dying. After death, however, the living looked 
 upon the dead. " The aborigines," says Mr. Dawson, " who 
 show great willingness to give explanations of their laws 
 and habits to those persons they respect, cannot give any 
 reason for this very extraordinary custom, which is said to 
 be observed all over Australia, and in several island groups 
 in the Pacific Ocean." ^ 
 
 In these tribes, when a married man died, his brother Relation 
 was allowed to marry the widow, and if she had a family ,0 ^is 
 he was bound to marry her, for it was his duty to protect brothers 
 
 widow 
 
 her and rear his brother's children. If there was no 
 brother, the chief sent the widow to her own tribe, with 
 whom she must remain till her period of mourning was 
 ended. Those of her children who were under age were 
 
 ' J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, p. 40. 
 ' J. Dawson, op. cit. pp. 29, 32 sq. 
 
Sex- 
 totems, the 
 bat and the 
 fern-owl or 
 goatsucker. 
 
 470 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 sent with her, and remained with their mother's tribe till 
 they came of age, when they returned to their father's tribe, 
 to which they belonged.^ 
 
 Among the tribes of South- Western Victoria the common 
 bat was the sex-totem of the men, and the fern-owl or large 
 goatsucker was the sex-totem of the women. For Mr. 
 Dawson tells us that " the common bat belongs to the men, 
 who protect it against injury, even to the half-killing of 
 their wives for its sake. The fern owl, or large goatsucker, 
 belongs to the women, and, although a bird of evil omen, 
 creating terror at night by its cry, it is jealously protected 
 by them. If a man kills one, they are as much enraged as 
 if it was one of their children, and will strike him with their 
 long poles." ^ 
 
 Immediately to the west of the tribes which we have 
 just been considering there was the Buandik tribe about 
 Mount Gambier in the extreme south-eastern comer of 
 South Australia. Its territory extended along the coast 
 from the Glenelg River on the east to Rivoli Bay on the 
 west.^ The tribe was divided into two exogamous classes, 
 with totem clans and subtotems, like the Wotjobaluk ; and 
 the names of its two classes, Kroki and Kumite, are 
 probably only altered forms of the two Wotjobaluk class 
 names Krokitch and Gamutch. The following is the 
 system of the classes, totems, and subtotems in tabular 
 form : — * 
 
 1 J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, 
 p. 27. 
 
 2 J. Dawson, op. cit. p. 52. 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, pp. 68 sq., 251. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 123; 
 Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 
 Kumai, p. 168, on the authority of 
 Mr. D. S. Stewart. 
 
 [Table 
 
11 TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 471 
 
 BuANDiK Tribe 
 Classes and Totems 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Subtotems. 
 
 
 tea-tree {werio) 
 an owl {wirmal) 
 
 duck, wallaby, owl, crayfish, etc. 
 
 Kroki . 
 
 an edible root 
 
 bustard, quail, dolvich (a small kan- 
 
 (mumd) 
 white crestless 
 
 garoo), etc. 
 kangaroo, she -oak, summer, sun, 
 
 
 cockatoo (karaal) 
 
 autumn, wind, etc. 
 
 
 fish-hawk 
 
 smoke, honeysuckle tree (Banksia), 
 etc. 
 
 
 pelican 
 
 dog, blackwood tree {Acacia melan- 
 
 Kumite . 
 
 crow {waa) 
 
 oxylon), fire, frost, etc. 
 lightning, thunder, rain, clouds, hail, 
 winter, etc. 
 
 
 black cockatoo 
 
 moon, stars, etc. 
 
 
 (wild) 
 a harmless snake 
 
 fish, eels, seals, stringbark tree, etc. 
 
 
 (karato) 
 
 
 The usual law of exogamy prevailed as to the classes ; 
 that is, Kroki might only marry Kumite and vice versa. 
 Descent of the class was in the female line.' 
 
 With regard to the Buandik classification of nature under Subtotems 
 the subtotems, and the relation in which a man stood to Bu^'jfdjij 
 them and to his totem, Mr. D. S. Stewart says : "All this 
 appears very arbitrary. I have tried in vain to find some 
 reason for the arrangement. I asked, ' To what division 
 does a bullock belong?' After a pause, came the answer, 
 ' It eats grass : it is Boortwerio.' ^ I then said, ' A crayfish 
 does not eat grass : why is it Boortwerio ? ' Then came 
 the standing reason for all puzzling questions : ' That is 
 what our fathers said it was.' A man does not kill, or use 
 
 » A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 Soulh-East Australia, p. 251. 
 
 ' Each totem name had the prefix 
 boort meaning "dry," which in the 
 table has been omitted for the sake of 
 simplicity (A. W. Howitt, Native 
 
 Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 
 124). tVerio means tea-tree. Hence 
 Boortwerio means "of the tea -tree 
 totem." Similarly ^oorftoa means "of 
 the crow totem." 
 
472 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 as food, any of the animals of the same subdivision with 
 himself, excepting when hunger compels ; and then they 
 express sorrow for having to eat their wingong (friends) or 
 tumanang (their flesh). When using the last word they 
 touch their breasts, to indicate the close relationship, meaning 
 almost a part of themselves. To illustrate : — One day one 
 of the black fellows killed a crow. Three or four days 
 afterwards a Boortwa (crow), named Larry, died. He had 
 been ailing for some days, but the killing of his wingong 
 hastened his death. A Kumite may kill and eat any tuman 
 of the Kroki, and a Kroki may likewise use any tuman of 
 the Kumite. In the blood revenge arrangement, these 
 subdivisions bear a prominent part. Also, in cases of 
 uncertain death, the tuman of the slayer will appear at the 
 inquest." ^ This account of the relation in which a man 
 stands to his wingong (friend) or tuman (flesh) clearly shows 
 how closely he identifies himself with his totem animal, 
 since the death of the animal hastens his own. 
 
 § 9. Tribes with Anom-alous Class Systems and 
 Male Descent 
 
 Tribes with We uow pass to the consideration of tribes with 
 class anomalous class systems and male descent. The first to 
 
 systems be noticed is the Yerkla-mining, a tribe situated on the 
 
 and male ^ . „ . .. t-i • i 
 
 descent. coast of the Great Australian Bight at the boundary between 
 ? ki South Australia and West Australia. From Eucla the terri- 
 raining. tory of the tribe stretches westward for about forty miles and 
 eastward for about a hundred. Inland the tribesmen range 
 as far as they dare go, but the barren nature of the country 
 in this direction has set limits to their wanderings ; and 
 their imagination has peopled the great NuUarbor Plains, 
 the southern edge of which is about twenty-five miles from 
 the sea, with a gigantic and very dreadful snake, which 
 devours every living thing and spares not even the stones and 
 trees. The tribe calls itself Yerkla-mining, which means 
 " men of the Morning Star." ^ They are reported to have 
 the following totems : — 
 
 ' D. S. Stewart, quoted by Fison ^ a. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kumai, South-East Australia, pp. 65, 129 ; 
 P- 169. id., "Notes on the Australian Class 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 473 
 
 Yerkla-mining Tribe 
 
 Totems 
 
 Budera .... root 
 
 Budu .... digger (one who digs) 
 
 Kura .... dingo 
 
 Wenung . . wombat 
 
 These totem clans appear to be localised ; for the Budera 
 and Budu are said to live inland in the cliff country, while 
 the Kura and Wenung inhabit the coast.^ Girls are Marriage 
 betrothed in their childhood, and may be claimed by their th^ yTrkia- 
 husband at any time. It is the father who betrothes his mining. 
 daughter, but he may be overruled by his elder brother, 
 especially if his brother has the support of the chief medicine- 
 man of the local group. If a girl elopes with another man, 
 the old men give chase and punish her severely when they 
 catch her. Her lover has to fight her promised husband, 
 if the latter desires it. The number of spears thrown at the 
 culprit is determined by the medicine-men. A wife is 
 bound to be faithful to her husband, and is rarely lent to a 
 visitor. For repeated infidelities she may be killed. When 
 a man dies, his widow goes to his brother.^ 
 
 In Yorke Peninsula of South Australia, between Spencer The Nar- 
 Gulf and the Gulf of St. Vincent, lives a tribe called the [^bl'lu 
 Narrang-ga. The tribe is divided into four classes, which classes, 
 bear the names of Emu, Red Kangaroo, Eagle-hawk, and andTocai 
 Shark ; and the tribal country is divided into four parts, divisions. 
 each of which is inhabited by the people of one class only. 
 The Emu people live in the north, the Red Kangaroo people 
 in the east, the Eagle-hawk people in the west, and the 
 Shark people in the south of the peninsula. Thus the class 
 
 Systems," Journal of the Anthropo- pological Institute, xii. (1883) pp. 508- 
 
 logietU Institute, xii. (1883) p. 508. 510 ; also above, p. 70. Dr. Hewitt's 
 
 Yerkla is " the morning star," and authority for the rules was Mr. Elphin- 
 
 mining is " man " or " men." stone Roe, formerly telegraph operator 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of at Eucla. As Dr. Howitt did not 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 129. repeat these rules in his volume Native 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 257 jy. Tribes of South -East Australia, he 
 
 For the reported marriage rules of the seems to have entertained well-founded 
 
 totem clans in this tribe, see A. W. doubts as to their correctness. I now 
 
 Howitt, " Notes on the Australian follow him in omitting them. 
 Class SyAtms," Journal of the Anthro- 
 
474 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 organisation has become completely localised : the class 
 divisions coincide with the local divisions.^ Each class 
 includes, or used to include, a number of totems, which are 
 shown in the following table : — 
 
 Marriage 
 and descent 
 among the 
 Narrang-ga. 
 
 Narrang-ga Tribe 
 Classes, Totems, and Local Divisions 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Emu (Kari) 
 
 Red Kangaroo ( Waui) 
 
 Eagle-hawk ( Wiltu) 
 
 Shark (Wilthuthu) 
 
 Totems. 
 
 swallow, mtillet, wild 
 turkey, magpie, mo- 
 poke, lark, dingo 
 
 all totems together with 
 the class name are 
 extinct 
 
 wombat, wallaby, kan- 
 garoo [nantu), seal 
 (multa), crow (gtia) 
 
 wild goose, pelican, 
 butter-fish, sting-ray, 
 whiting 
 
 Local Divisions. 
 
 Kumara — the northern part of 
 the peninsula south 
 of Wallaroo, Kad- 
 ina, and Clinton. 
 
 Windera — the eastern part of 
 the peninsula. 
 
 Wari — the western part of the 
 peninsula. 
 
 Dilpa — the extreme (southern) 
 part of the penin- 
 sula. 
 
 Marriage 
 of cousins 
 forbidden. 
 
 It will be observed that the four classes all bear the 
 names of animals ; hence it might, as Dr. Howitt suggests,^ 
 be better to call them primary totems than classes. With 
 regard to the rules of marriage and descent in the Narrang- 
 ga tribe Dr. Howitt says: "The restrictions which affect 
 marriage are neither class, totem, nor locality, but relation- 
 ship. The class and totem names pass from father to child, 
 the totems having, as in some other cases of male descent, 
 become attached to localities instead of being scattered over 
 the tribal country. In tabulating the marriages and descents 
 in this tribe from the data given by the old men, I found 
 that descent is in the male hne, and that a man might 
 marry a woman even of his own totem. As in all tribes, 
 sister-marriage was strictly forbidden. This rule, of course, 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Kamilaroi and Kumai, pp. 284 sq. 
 South-East Australia, pp. 67, 129 sq. 
 
 The tribe was formerly called Turra 2 ^ -^7. Howitt, NoHve Tribes of 
 
 by Dr. Howitt. See Fison and Howitt, South-East Australia, p. 259. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 475 
 
 included the father's brother's daughter and the mother's 
 sister's daughter, but a prohibition also attached to the 
 daughter of the mother's brother and of the father's sister." ^ 
 In other words, the Narrang-ga, like the Kulin, the Wotjo- 
 baluk, and some Queensland tribes,^ forbade all marriages 
 between first cousins, whether the cousins were the children 
 of two brothers, or of two sisters, or of a brother and a sister. 
 According to old men whose memory went back to the time 
 before Yorke Peninsula was occupied by the whites, the 
 Narrang-ga used to wage wars with other tribes and capture 
 women. " Men_ were allowed to keep women whom they 
 captured, because there was no law which restricted a man 
 to any particular class or totem." * 
 
 Such is the account of the marriage rules and totemic Different 
 system of the Narrang-ga which Dr. Howitt gives in his great fhe°d^s° 
 work. Native Tribes of South-East Australia. If the account system of 
 is correct, as we may assume it to be, the social system ofrang-gaor 
 the Narrang-ga is very anomalous, for the classes, if they are Tuna tribe 
 indeed classes and not totem clans, have become completely Mr. w. j. 
 localised, and neither class nor totem has any influence Kuhn. 
 on marriage. But in an earlier work Dr. Howitt gave a 
 somewhat difterent account of the social system of the 
 Narrang-ga or Turra tribe (as he then called it), referring to 
 the Rev. W. Julius Kiihn, of the Boorkooyanna Mission, as 
 his authority.^ As that earlier account, where it differs from 
 the later, has not, so far as I know, been withdrawn by 
 Dr. Howitt, I think it well to repeat it here for comparison 
 with the other. It is possible that Mr. Kiihn's statements 
 refer to a state of things which has since passed away. 
 According to him, the Turra (that is the Narrang-ga) tribe 
 was divided into two exogamous classes. Eagle-hawk and 
 Seal, with totem clans arranged as follows : — ^ 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of year (1899) Mr. F. J. Gillen resided 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 258 sq. for some time at Moonta and had oppor- 
 
 ' See above, pp. 438 sq., 449 sq., tunities of investigation. Another of 
 
 459. Dr. Howitt's informants was Mr. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 260. Sutton, manager of the aboriginal sta- 
 
 * See Fison and Howitt, Kaviilaroi tion in Yorke Peninsula. See A. W. 
 
 and Kurnai (Melbourne, etc., 1 880), Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East 
 
 pp. 284-287. Dr. Howitt's later in- Australia, pp. 67 note', 259. 
 
 quiries seem to have been made by or for ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 
 
 him in 1887 and 1899. In the latter Kurnai, pp. 284 sq. 
 
476 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Eagle-hawk ( Wiltu) \ 
 Seal {Multa) 
 
 Totems. 
 
 wombat, wallaby, kangaroo, iguana, wombat- 
 snake, bandicoot, black bandicoot, crow, rock 
 wallaby, emu. 
 
 wildgoose, butter-fish, mullet, schnapper, shark, 
 salmon. 
 
 " The classes are exogamous, but any totem of one class 
 may intermarry with any totem of the other class ; the 
 children take the father's class and totem. 
 Marriage " Girls are given in marriage by their parents, whose 
 
 of the"^ consent is essential ; wives are also obtained by exchange of 
 Narrang-ga female relatives. If the parents refused their consent, it 
 tribe. might be that a young man would run off with a girl. The 
 
 parents would search for him for the purpose of killing 
 him, and the penalty as to the girl, if caught, was death, 
 which was inflicted by the parents or nearest relatives. The 
 man was generally protected by his class division. When 
 opinion was divided as to this, a fight might take place 
 to decide his right to keep the girl. For instance, if a 
 Wiltu-wortu [Eagle-hawk-wombat] man were to elope with a 
 Multa-worrimbru [Seal-butter-fish] woman, he would be pro- 
 tected by the Wiltu-wortu men. But a Wiltu-wortu man 
 would not be permitted to keep a Wiltu-wortu woman as 
 his wife. Even if he were to capture one she would be 
 taken from him, and if she persisted in following him she 
 would be killed. ' When a female was captured in war, she 
 was the property of her captor ; ^ but the section of the tribe 
 to which she belonged would fight for her recovery. Failing 
 to do that, they would endeavour to capture a woman from 
 the other section of the tribe, and keep her. 
 
 " Women were bound to be faithful to their husbands, 
 also the husbands to their wives. Whoever was guilty of 
 unfaithfulness was liable to be punished by death at the 
 hands of the class of the offender. 
 
 ' "It follows from the preceding case if she were of some class from 
 statement that it would only be the which he might legally take a wife." 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 477 
 
 " When the two subtribes Wiltu [Eagle-hawk] and Multa 
 [Seal] met for a grand corrobboree, the old men took any of 
 the young wives of the other class for the time, and the 
 young men of the Wiltu exchanged wives with those of the 
 Multa, and vice versa, but only for a time, and in this the 
 men were not confined to any particular totem. Yet at other 
 times men did not lend their wives to brothers or friends." ^ 
 
 According to this account, the social system of the Turra Discre- 
 or Narrang-ga tribe was a normal one, consisting of two between 
 exogamous classes with totem clans and descent of the Dr. Howitt 
 class and of the totem in the paternal line. Nothing is said Kuhn " 
 as to the localisation of the classes in separate districts, in their 
 And the list of totems differs in several particulars from that of the 
 given by Dr. Howitt in his later work. It will be observed Narrang-ga 
 
 . r^ \ / jir 7 \ 1-1 1- n/TTT-i °'' Turra 
 
 that Seal {Multa), which, according to Mr. Kiihn, was one tribe. 
 of the two exogamous classes, was a totem of the Eagle- 
 hawk class according to Dr. Howitt's later account, and 
 further that Emu and Shark, which were classes according 
 to Dr. Howitt, were totems according to Mr. Kiihn. How 
 these discrepancies are to be explained, 1 cannot say ; but 
 I have thought it right to call attention to them. 
 
 On the opposite side of St. Vincent Gulf from the The Nar- 
 Narrang-ga lived the Narrinyeri, a tribe of which a valuable [helr^mem 
 account has been given by the Rev. George Taplin.^ Their clans and 
 country extended along the south-eastern coast of South districts. 
 Australia from Cape Jervis to Lacepede Bay, and inland to a 
 point about thirty miles above the place where the Murray 
 River flows into Lake Alexandrina.^ The tribal territory 
 was divided into eighteen districts, of which fourteen were 
 inhabited each by the members of a single totemic clan. 
 Three of the districts were inhabited by three clans each, 
 and one district was inhabited by two. Thus the process of 
 localising each totem clan in a single district was nearly, 
 though not quite, complete.* According to Mr. Taplin, each 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and tribe in E. M. Curr's The Australian 
 
 Kumai, pp. 285 sq. Race, ii. 242-267. 
 
 ' Rev. George Taplin, "The Nar- ' Native Tribes of South Australia, 
 
 rinyeri," in Native Tribes of South p. i ; A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 Australia (Adelaide, 1879), pp. I- 156. South-East Australia, ■p. 68. 
 See also Mr. Taplin's account of the * A. W. Howitt, of. cit. p. 130. 
 
478 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 of these eighteen local clans or, as he calls them, tribes " is 
 regarded by them as a family, every member of which is 
 a blood relation, and therefore between individuals .of the 
 same tribe no marriage can take place. Every tribe has its 
 ngaitye or tutelary genius or tribal symbol in the shape of 
 some bird, beast, fish, reptile, insect, or substance." -^ But 
 while marriage with a woman of the same district was 
 prohibited wherever the district was inhabited by a single 
 totemic clan or (as Mr. Taplin calls it) tribe, the custom 
 was different where three such clans, or perhaps rather sub- 
 clans, dwelt in one district. In this last case the three 
 clans or subclans were allowed to intermarry with each 
 other just as if they inhabited separate districts. But this 
 relaxation of the rule of local exogamy was not extended 
 to the case where two clans or subclans dwelt together in 
 one district ; both these clans or subclans were for purposes 
 of marriage treated as one, and all marriages between them 
 were prohibited.^ Children belonged to the local clan of 
 their father, not of their mother, and a man's sons always 
 inherited their father's property.^ 
 
 The following is the list which Dr. Howitt gives of the 
 clans and totems of the Narrinyeri : — * 
 
 ' G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," 
 Native Tribes of South Australia, p. I. 
 Elsewhere the same writer says, "The 
 Narrinyeri are exogamous, and never 
 marry in their own tribe " (p. 12). 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 260. In Dr. 
 Hewitt's statement, here referred to, 
 the words " or more " appear to in- 
 troduce confusion and contradiction. 
 I have accordingly omitted them. 
 
 ^ G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri,'' in 
 Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 12; 
 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes ofSouth- 
 
 Rast Australia, p. 68. 
 
 * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 131. Com- 
 pare G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," in 
 Native Tribes of South Aiistralia, p. 2; 
 id., in E. M. Curr's The Australian 
 Race, ii. 244. In addition to Mr. 
 George Taplin's published account of 
 the tribe Dr. Howitt had at his 
 disposal some facts and explanations 
 furnished to him both by Mr. George 
 Taplin and by the late Mr. T. W. 
 Taplin (Native Tribes of South-East 
 Australia, p. 68). 
 
 [Table 
 
TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 479 
 
 Narrinyeri Tribe 
 Clans and Totems 
 
 Narrinyeri 
 clans and 
 totems. 
 
 • Name of Clan.1 
 
 English of the Name. 
 
 Tolem. 
 
 Raminyeri ^ 
 
 rumaii, the west 
 
 wirulde or 
 tangari 
 
 wattle gum 
 
 Tanganarin 
 
 where shall we go ? 
 
 mangurit-puri or 
 
 pelican 
 
 Kandarl-inyeri 
 
 whales 
 
 non 
 kandarli 
 
 whales 
 
 Lungundararn 
 
 seaside men 
 
 tyellityelH 
 
 fern 
 
 Turarorn 
 
 coot men 
 
 turi or tettituri 
 
 coot 
 
 Park-inyeri 
 
 deep water 
 
 kunguldi 
 
 butter-fish 
 
 Kanmeraorn 
 
 mullet men 
 
 kanmeri 
 
 mullet 
 
 Kaikalab-inyeri 
 
 watching 
 
 (l) ngulgar-inyeri 
 
 bull-ant 
 
 
 
 (2) pingi 
 
 a water-weed 
 
 Mungul-inyeri 
 
 thick or muddy water 
 
 wanyi 
 
 chocolate sheldrake 
 (mountain duck) 
 
 Rangul-inyeri 
 
 howling dog 
 
 turiit-pani 
 
 dark-coloured dingo 
 
 Karat-inyeri 
 
 signal smoke 
 
 turiit-pani 
 
 light-coloured dingo 
 
 Filt-inyeri 
 
 ants 
 
 (l) maninki 
 
 leech 
 
 
 
 (2) pomeri 
 
 cat-fish 
 
 
 
 (3) kallkaUi 
 
 a lace-lizard 
 
 Talk-inyeri 
 
 fulness 
 
 (I) ? 
 
 leech 
 
 
 
 (2) ? 
 
 cat-fish 
 
 
 Artemus sp. 
 
 (3) Hyawi 
 
 a lace-lizard 
 
 WuUoke 
 
 the wood-sparrow 
 
 (I) f 
 
 leech 
 
 
 
 (2) ? 
 
 cat-fish 
 
 
 
 (3) ? 
 
 hl lace-lizard 
 
 Karowalli 
 
 gone over there 
 
 waiyi 
 
 whip-snake 
 
 Punguratpula 
 
 place of bulrushes 
 
 peldi 
 
 musk duck 
 
 Wel-inyeri 
 
 belonging to itself or 
 
 (I) nakart 
 
 black duck 
 
 
 by itself 
 
 (2) ngumundi 
 
 black snake with 
 red belly 
 
 Luth-inyeri 
 
 belonging to the sun- 
 
 (I) kungari 
 
 black swan 
 
 
 rising 
 
 (2) ngeraki 
 
 seal 
 
 
 
 (3) kikinummi 
 
 black snake with 
 grey belly 
 
 Wunyakulde 
 
 corruption of walk- 
 ande, the north 
 
 nakkare 
 
 black duck 
 
 Ngrangatari or 
 
 at the south-west or 
 
 waukawiye 
 
 kangaroo rat 
 
 Gurrangwari 
 
 at the south-east 
 
 
 
 On this list Dr. Howitt observes : " The names of the 
 clans are such as might have been at one time totems. For 
 
 ' The postfix yeri or inyeri, "be- 
 longing to," is omitted from some of 
 the names. 
 
 ' In his table Dr. Howitt gives the 
 name of this clan as Bamir-inyeri. But 
 elsewhere (p. 132) he gives the name 
 
 as Raminyeri, and as this form is sup- 
 ported by Mr. G. Taplin (Native 
 Tribes of South Australia, p. 2 ; E. M. 
 Curr, The Australian Race, ii. 244), I 
 conclude it to be the more correct. 
 
48o TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 instance, Piltinyeri, which means 'belonging to ants,' has 
 three subtotems — leech, cat-fish, and lace-lizard. This is 
 analogous to the system of the neighbouring Buandik, and 
 to the totems and subtotems of the Wotjobaluk. In others 
 the name is strictly local, and resembles the local designa- 
 tions of the Narrang-ga and of the Kurnai." ^ Further 
 explanations of the origin and meaning of these clan names 
 are given by Dr. Howitt as follows : " The Raminyeri are 
 the most westerly clan of the Narrinyeri. The Tanganarin 
 occupy the country at the bend of the Murray mouth. 
 Tradition says that the tribe was nonplussed when they 
 came down the river and found that it went into the sea, 
 and said one to another, ' Where shall we go ? ' The 
 Kandarl-inyeri inhabit a tract of country near the Murray 
 mouth. Whales were frequently stranded on their coast, 
 being possibly flurried by getting into the volume of fresh 
 water of the Murray River. The Park-inyeri owned the 
 deepest part of the Coorong. The Kaikalab-inyeri occupied 
 a promontory running partly across the Coorong, and were 
 in a good position to watch all that went to and fro. The 
 Rangul-inyeri and the Karat-inyeri had a country infested 
 by wild dogs. The Karat-inyeri possess a bold bluff on the 
 shores of Lake Alexandrina, which was a good position for 
 making and observing signals, and at this spot a lighthouse 
 has since been built. The Pilt-inyeri is the name by which 
 this clan is usually known, Talk-inyeri and Wulloke being in 
 some sort subclans. Their arrangement of totem[s] is singular, 
 there being three kinds of leeches, cat-fish, and lace-lizards, and 
 each one of these has a distinct name. Maninki is a large dark- 
 coloured leech ; pomeri is the largest kind of cat-fish, and also 
 is the name of cat-fish generally. Kallkalli is the dark-coloured 
 lace-lizard. These are the totems belonging to the Pilt-inyeri. 
 The tiyawi, belonging to the Talk-inyeri, is a spotted lace- 
 lizard. The warrangumbi belonging to the Wulloke is a very 
 large species of lace-lizard. The Luth-inyeri call themselves 
 by this name, but their neighbours call them Kalatin-yeri. 
 Kalatin means shining, this clan having grassy slopes that are 
 visible at a long distance when the sun shines on them." ^ 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 130 jy. 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 132. 
 
n TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 481 
 
 Among the Narrinyeri the totem as well as the local Namnyeri 
 clan passed by inheritance from father to child, who, when |°^^L) 
 it was an animal, might not kill or eat it, although another 
 person might do so.^ On this subject the Rev. George 
 Taplin wrote as follows : " There is another superstition 
 believed in by the Narrinyeri. Every tribe has its ngaitye ; 
 that is, some animal which they regard as a sort of good 
 genius, who takes an interest in their welfare — something 
 like the North American Indian totem. Some will have a 
 snake, some a wild dog, some a bird, and some an insect. 
 No man or woman will kill her ngaitye, except it happens 
 to be an animal which is good for food, when they have no 
 objection to eating them. Nevertheless, they will be very 
 careful to destroy all the remains, lest an enemy might get 
 hold of them, and by his sorcery cause the ngaitye to grow 
 in the inside of the eater, and cause his death. I know 
 several persons whose ngaityar are different kinds of snakes, 
 consequently they do not like to kill them ; but when they 
 meet with them they catch them, pull out their teeth, or else 
 sew up their mouths, and keep them in a basket as pets. 
 Once I knew of a man catching his ngaitye in the person of 
 a large female tiger snake, and, after pulling out the teeth, 
 he put it in a basket, and hung it up in his wurley [hut]. 
 The next morning they found that she had brought forth 
 sixteen young ones. This increase of family was too much 
 for those blacks to whom she did not stand in the relation 
 of ngaitye, so they killed them all. . . . One day a couple 
 of wild dogs came on a predatory expedition into my neigh- 
 bourhood, so I shot one of them ; and immediately after 
 was reproached very much for hurting the ngaitye of two or 
 three blacks residing here. People are sometimes named 
 from their ngaitye ; as, for instance, Taowinyeri, the person 
 whose ngaitye is Taow ; the native name of the guana." ^ 
 Again, speaking of the same subject, Mr, Taplin says : " I Similarity 
 then found in the course of my reading and observation that xar^fnyeri 
 there are superstitions and customs amongst the Narrinyeri beliefs to 
 identical even in name with the Samoans and the Tanese. samoanl ^ 
 
 ' A. \V, Howitt, Native Tribes of ^ G. Taplin, " The Narrinyeri," in 
 
 South-EasI Australia, p. 147, referring Native Tribes of South Australia, pp. 
 
 to Mr. F. W. Taplin as his authority. 63 sq. 
 
 VOL. I 2 I 
 
482 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 For instance, every Samoan has, or had, according to Dr. 
 George Turner, his aitu. This consisted in some fish, or 
 bird, or insect, which was the totem of his family, and he 
 supposed that if he ate the aitu it would form in his inside 
 and kill him. Well, the Narrinyeri believe that every tribe 
 has its ngaitye (observe the similarity of the word to aitu), 
 and this ngaitye is the totem of the tribe, and they suppose 
 that if they eat a portion of the ngaitye, and an enemy of 
 the tribe gets hold of the remainder, he can make it the 
 means of powerful sorcery, and cause it to grow in the 
 inside of the eater of it. Therefore when a man eats of his 
 tribe's ngaitye, he is careful either to eat it all or else to 
 conceal and destroy the remains. I remember an old man 
 killing a large mygale spider, which was the ngaitye of his 
 tribe, and, to prevent mischief, he immediately swallowed 
 it." ^ This belief that the totem animal may grow up inside 
 of the person who eats it has already met us in South-East 
 Australia.^ Such beliefs may have a bearing on the origin 
 of totemism, if I am right in thinking that totemism was at 
 first a theory devised to explain the origin of conception.^ 
 The Narrinyeri word for a totem {ngaitye') means literally 
 " friend." All the members of a totemic clan were regarded 
 as blood relations.* 
 
 In the Narrinyeri tribe, at least in that part of the tribe 
 which lived about Encounter Bay, every medicine-man had 
 a personal totem {ngaitye) or guardian spirit in the shape of 
 an animal or vegetable which he regarded as his friend or 
 protector. These totems differed with the individuals. One 
 man would have a snake, another an ant, another seaweed, 
 and so on. The totem was his only remedy for every disease. 
 When a patient came to him the doctor would suck the 
 part affected and then spit out his totem or some part of it. 
 For example, if his totem was seaweed, he would spit oMt 
 seaweed. One doctor in this tribe used to cure large boils, 
 which the natives were very subject to, by sucking out the 
 
 1 Rev. George Taplin, " Further aitu and ngaitye is probably acci- 
 
 Notes on the Mixed Races of Aus- dental. 
 
 \X!S\3." Journal of the Anthropological * Above, pp. 428 sq. 
 
 Institute, iv. (1875) p. 53. As to the ^ gee above, pp. 157-159. 
 
 Samoan belief see above, pp. 17 J?. * Rev. George Taplin, in E. M. 
 
 The resemblance between the vi'ords Curr's The Australian Race, ii. 244. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 483 
 
 matter and swallowing it, alleging that it was his friend or 
 protector {ngaitye)} Thus it appears that the Narrinyeri 
 applied the same name ngaitye " friend " to their clan totems 
 and to their personal totems or guardian spirits, which shows 
 how closely the two different sorts of totems were associated 
 in their minds. 
 
 In the Narrinyeri tribe a girl was given in marriage, Marriage 
 usually at a very early age, sometimes by her father, but of^^e™^ 
 generally by her brother. " The ceremony," we are told, Narrinyeri. 
 " is very simple, and with great propriety may be considered 
 an exchange, for no man can obtain a wife unless he can 
 promise to give his sister or other relative in exchange. 
 The marriages are always between persons of different 
 tribes, and never in the same tribe. Should the father 
 be living he may give his daughter away, but generally 
 she is the gift of the brother." ^ " It is considered dis- 
 graceful for a woman to take a husband who has given no 
 other woman for her. But yet the right to give a woman 
 away is often purchased from her nearest male relative by 
 those who have no sisters. Of course this amounts to the 
 same thing. In most instances a brother or a first cousin 
 gives a girl away in exchange for a wife for himself" ' 
 The first inquiry with regard to a proposed marriage was, Aversion to 
 whether there existed any tie of kinship between the parties, "l^^'^^^s 
 
 ■' ^ '^ ' of cousins. 
 
 for any such tie was a bar to their union. The Narrinyeri 
 were very strict on this point. They had a very great 
 aversion to the marriage even of second cousins.'' " Marriage Elopement. 
 by elopement occurred, but the woman was looked on with 
 disfavour, because there had been no exchange of a sister 
 
 ' H. E. A. Meyer, " Manners and T/ie Australian Hace, ii. 245. 
 Customs of the Aborigines of the En- 
 counter Bay Tribe," in Native Tribes * G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," in 
 
 of South Australia, pp. 197 sq. Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 
 
 ' Rev. H. E. A. Meyer, quoted by 12. Elsewhere Mr. Taplin writes: 
 
 G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," A'a//Vd "The Narrinyeri never marry one 
 
 Tribes 0/ South Australia, p. id; A. who belongs to the same ngaitye or 
 
 W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South- totem — that is, of the same clan ; 
 
 East Australia, p. 260. By " tribe " neither do they allow near relations 
 
 Mr. Meyer no doubt means a local to marry, although of different clans, 
 
 division, which, among the Narrinyeri, This is always regarded as of the first 
 
 as we have seen (p. 477), generally importance. Cousins never marry" 
 
 coincides with a totem clan. (in E. M. Curr's The Australian Race, 
 
 ' Rev. G. Taplin, in E. M. Curr's ii. 245). 
 
484 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 for her. In the cases of elopement the young man might 
 Sexual call in the aid of his comrades, who then had the right of 
 license on ^^ggg to the girl, and his male relatives would only defend 
 occasions, him from the girl's kindred on the condition of access to 
 her. In regard to this, I may point out here that the 
 initiated youth, during the time he was narumbe, had 
 complete licence as to the younger women, and could even 
 approach those of his own class and totem. This shows a 
 survival of older customs, and at the same time marks the 
 distinction between the mere inter-sexual intercourse and 
 the proprietary right of marriage." ^ 
 Noviciate The condition of narumbe or noviciate, to which Dr. 
 
 N™rriny*t Howitt refers, lasted in the Narrinyeri tribe until the young 
 men's beards had been thrice plucked out and had thrice 
 grown again to a length of two inches. During all this 
 time they were forbidden to eat any food which belonged to 
 women, and twenty different kinds of game besides were 
 tabooed to them. It was thought that if they ate any of 
 these forbidden foods, they would grow ugly and break out 
 in sores, and that their hair would turn prematurely grey. 
 Only the animals most difficult to procure were assigned for 
 their subsistence. Everything which the novices possessed 
 or obtained became itself narumbe or sacred from the touch 
 of women. Even the bird hit by their waddy, or the 
 kangaroo speared by their spear, or the fish taken by their 
 hook was forbidden to all females, and that, too, even when 
 the weapons had been wielded by the hands of others. Yet 
 in spite of this, and although they were not permitted to 
 take a wife until the time of their noviciate had expired, the 
 novices were allowed the privilege of promiscuous inter- 
 course with the younger portion of the other sex. A single 
 clan could not initiate its youths without the aid of other 
 clans. The Narrinyeri practised neither circumcision nor 
 the knocking out of teeth at initiation.^ 
 
 Among the Narrinyeri there is a family which performs, 
 or used to perform, a magical ceremony to ensure a supply 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 15-18; id., in E. M. Curr's The 
 South-East Australia, p. 261. Australian Race, ii. 253-255 ; A. W. 
 
 2 G. Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," Howitt, »/. nV. pp. 673-675. 
 Native Tribes of South Australia, pp. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 485 
 
 of water and fish. At a certain point of Lake Victoria, in Magical 
 the country of the tribe, when the water at long intervals ^rf^°eT 
 sinks very low, the stump of a tree emerges from its surface, by the 
 Whenever this happens, it is the duty of a man of a certain m^nllc- 
 family to anoint the stump with grease and red ochre ; for ''°" *''•> 
 otherwise they think that the lake would dry up and the foh^"^ '^ 
 supply of fish be cut off. The duty passes by inheritance 
 from father to son.^ This custom reminds us of the magical 
 ceremonies {jntichiumd) performed for the multiplication of 
 plants, the procuring of rain, and so forth, by totem clans in 
 Central Australia. 
 
 Another ceremony observed by the Narrinyeri to ensure Ceremonies 
 success in the chase has been described by Mr. George by^^J^^ 
 Taplin. He says : " The remains of a kind of sacrifice is Narrinyeri 
 found amongst them. When they go on a great kangaroo succ^s^hi 
 hunt they knock over the first wallaby which comes near the chase 
 enough to the hunters. A fire is then kindled and the cutting up 
 wallaby placed on it, and as the smoke ascends a kind of=in<="i"- 
 chant is sung by the men, while they stamp on the ground 
 and lift up their weapons towards heaven. This is done to 
 secure success in hunting, but the reason of the custom they 
 know not." ^ The Narrinyeri also practised some curious 
 rites at the cutting up of an emu ; and though these rites 
 like the preceding ceremonies may not be directly connected 
 with their totems, yet a description of them may find a 
 place here, since they illustrate the mental attitude of the 
 natives towards animals, and so indirectly throw light on 
 the origin of totemism. " Among the Narrinyeri, when an 
 emu is killed, it is first plucked, then partly roasted, and 
 the skin taken off. The oldest men of the clan, accompanied 
 by the young men and boys, then carry it to a retired spot 
 away from the camp, all women and children being warned 
 not to come near them. One of the old men undertakes 
 the dissection of the bird, and squats near it, with the rest 
 standing round. He first cuts a slice off the front of one of 
 the legs, and another piece off the back of the leg or thigh ; 
 the carcase is turned over, and similar pieces cut off the 
 other leg. The piece off the front of the legs is called 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 2 G. Taplin, in E. M. Curr's The 
 South-East Australia, pp. 399 sq. Australian Racr, ii. 252. 
 
486 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap, 
 
 ngemperumi ; that off the back of the leg or 'Cn\^,pundarauk. 
 The bird is then opened and a morsel of fat taken from the 
 inside and laid with the sacred or narumbe portions already 
 cut off on some grass. The general cutting up of the 
 whole body is then commenced, and whenever the operator 
 is about to break a bone, he calls the attention of the 
 bystanders, who, when the bone snaps, leap and shout and 
 run about, returning in a few minutes only to go through 
 the same performance when another bone is broken. When 
 the carcase has been cut up into convenient pieces for dis- 
 tribution, it is carried by all to the camp, and may then be 
 eaten by men, women, and children, but the men must first 
 blacken their faces and sides with charcoal. The sacred 
 pieces ngemperumi and pundarauk can only be eaten by the 
 very old men, and on no account even touched by women 
 or young men. If the men did not leap and yell when a 
 bone is broken, they think their bones would rot in them ; 
 and the same if any but the deputed person should break a 
 bone. This ceremony was practised by all the clans of the 
 Narrinyeri." ^ These curious rites seem to imply a belief in 
 a sympathetic connection between the bones of men and 
 the bones of the game which they kill and eat. Many 
 savages superstitiously abstain from breaking the bones of 
 the animals which they eat, and some will not suffer dogs to 
 gnaw them.^ Perhaps the key, or at least one key, to such 
 superstitions is furnished by the Narrinyeri practice, the 
 motive for which seems to be a belief that the breaking of 
 the animal's bones will sympathetically break the bones of 
 the person who eats its flesh, unless he proves his bodily 
 frame to be quite intact by skipping and leaping at the 
 critical moment, 
 ciassifica- The Narrinyeri had the classificatory system of relation- 
 
 o7reiation- ^^'P" ^^'^^ i" the generation above his own a man applied 
 ship the same term nanghai to his father, to his father's brothers, 
 
 N^^rifyeri. ^"^ ^o the husbands of his mother's sisters ; and he applies 
 the same term nainkana to his mother, to his mother's 
 sisters, and to the wives of his father's brothers. In his own 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 2 77i« Cohere 5<;»<f/5, Second Edition, 
 South-East Australia, p. 763, referring ii. 416 sq. 
 to Mr. F. W. Taplin as his authority. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 487 
 
 generation he applied the same term gelanaui to his brothers, 
 to the sons of his father's brothers, and to the sons of his 
 mother's sisters. In the generation below his own he applied 
 the same term porlean to his sons, to his brothers' sons, and 
 to the sons of his wife's sisters. A woman applied the same 
 term porlean to her sons, to her sisters' sons, and to the sons 
 of her husband's brothers.^ As commonly happens under 
 the classificatory system of relationship, the Narrinyeri had 
 quite different terms for elder and younger brothers and 
 sisters. Thus a man said, gelanowe, " my elder brother," 
 but (arte, " my younger brother " : he said, maranowi, " my 
 elder sister," but tarte, " my younger sister." ^ This shews 
 that the Narrinyeri, like many other tribes with the classifi- 
 catory system of relationship, carefully distinguish between 
 elder brothers and elder sisters, but confound younger brothers 
 and younger sisters under the same name. 
 
 The general account which the Rev. George Taplin Mr. 
 gives of the classificatory system of relationship among the ^^^ 
 Narrinyeri applies, mutatis mutandis, to most other peoples account 
 who live under the same system. As a clear statement of the °]assifica- 
 relationships which flow from the system in so many peoples too' system 
 it deserves to be quoted. Mr. Taplin writes thus : — ^ ship 
 
 " The following is the system of relationship amongst among the 
 the Narrinyeri : — 
 
 " I. I being male, the children of my brothers are my 
 sons and daughters, the same as my own children are ; 
 while the children of my sisters are my nephews and nieces. 
 The grandchildren of my brothers are called niaiyarare 
 [which is also the term applied by me to my own grand- 
 children] ; while the grandchildren of my sisters are called 
 mutthari. 
 
 " 2. I being female, the children of my sisters are my 
 sons and daughters, the same as my own sons and daughters 
 are ; while the children of my brothers are my nephews and 
 
 ■ A. W. Hewitt, " Australian Group- rinyeri," N^ative Tribes of South 
 
 Relationships," Journal of the Royal Australia, p. 52. 
 
 Anthropological litslilule,y.y.\w\\.(iqoj) ' Rev. G. Taplin, op. cit. pp. 49 sq. 
 
 pp. 287 sq. Compare Rev. George The words printed in square brackets 
 
 Taplin, "The Narrinyeri," Native in the first numbered paragraph have 
 
 Tri/igt of South Australia, pi>. ^S-Si- been interpolated by me. See Rev. 
 
 " Rev. George Taplin, " The Nar- G. Taplin, op. cit. p. 52. 
 
488 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 nieces ; consequently it is common to hear a native address 
 as nanghy, or my father, the man who is his father's brother, 
 as well as his own father ; and as nainkowa, or my mother, 
 the woman who is his mother's sister, as well as his own 
 mother. 
 
 " 3. All my father's brothers are my fathers, but all my 
 father's sisters are my aunts. But my father's elder brothers 
 have the distinguishing title of ngoppano, and his younger 
 have the title of wyatte. These terms would be used 
 in the presence of my own father. The name for aunt is 
 barno. 
 
 "4. All my mother's sisters are my mothers, but all 
 my mother's brothers are my uncles. Wanowe is the word 
 for uncle. 
 
 " 5. The children of my father's brothers are my brothers 
 and sisters, and so are the children of my mother's sisters ; 
 but the children of my father's sisters, and those of my 
 mother's brothers, are my cousins. The word for cousin is 
 nguyanowe. 
 
 " 6. I being male, the children of my male and female 
 cousins are called by the same name as the grandchildren 
 of my sisters, ^mUthari. 
 
 " 7. The brothers of my grandfathers, and those of my 
 grandmothers, and also their sisters, are my grandfathers 
 and grandmothers. Whatever title my father's father has, 
 his brothers have, and so of the sisters of my mother's 
 mother. 
 
 " 8. My elder brother is called ga/anowe, and my 
 younger brother is called tarie. My elder sister is called 
 maranowe, and my younger sister is called tarte. There is 
 no collective term by which I can designate all my brothers 
 and sisters, whether older or younger than myself." 
 
 The The last group of tribes with an anomalous class system 
 
 mrticuiariy ^""^ male descent which we shall notice are the Murring and 
 the Yuin more especially the Yuin tribes. Their country is far away 
 from that of the Narrinyeri whom we have just been 
 considering ; for while the Narrinyeri inhabit the coast of 
 South Australia, the Murring inhabit the coast of New 
 South Wales from its extreme south point at Cape Howe 
 
n TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 489 
 
 northwards to the Shoalhaven River. Inland their territory 
 extended from the sea to the slopes of the mountains which 
 run parallel to the coast.^ 
 
 Among the Yuin the class system is in a decadent Totems 
 condition ; indeed they are said to have neither class names '^"'yuln °^ 
 nor even traces of them. But there are many totems both here- 
 scattered over the country, and their names are inherited ^^^n^" 
 from the father, not from the mother. " The totem name 
 was called budjan, and it was said to be more like joia, or 
 magic, than a name ; and it was in one sense a secret name, 
 for with it an enemy might cause injury to its bearer by 
 magic. Thus very few people knew the totem names of 
 others, the name being told to a youth by his father at 
 his initiation." In many cases Dr. Howitt found that 
 men had two totem names {budjan), one hereditary and 
 the other bestowed by a medicine- man at the initiation 
 rites.^ 
 
 For example, Dr. Howitt knew a man whose clan totem, 
 inherited from his father, was kangaroo, but whose personal 
 totem was wombat. This personal totem had been assigned 
 to him at initiation by the medicine-man, who warned him 
 not to eat it. Another Yuin man, whose hereditary clan 
 totem was kangaroo, believed that the animal gave him 
 warnings of danger by hopping towards him, and he said that 
 it would not be right for a man of the kangaroo {kaualgar) 
 totem to kill a kangaroo. Similarly, another man of the 
 black duck totem thought that black ducks warned him 
 against enemies and other perils, therefore he would not 
 eat the birds. This Black Duck man told Dr. Howitt that Belief that 
 once while he was asleep a man of the lace-lizard totem f ""'" ^ 
 
 i^ totemic 
 
 sent a lace-lizard to him, and that the reptile went down animal 
 his throat and almost ate his totem, the black duck, which Jj^fbody" 
 was in his breast, so that he nearly died. This narrative is 
 very instructive because it shews, as Dr. Howitt points out, 
 that the totem is conceived as forming part of the man, 
 residing in his body. We need not wonder therefore that 
 among the Yuin it was a rule that a man should neither 
 kill nor eat his totem {budjan or jinibir)? Hence too we 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of '■' A. \V. Howitt, op. cit. p. 133. 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 81 sq. ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 147. 
 
490 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 List of 
 Yuiii 
 otems 
 
 can understand why it was that at one of the dances in the 
 initiation ceremonies, when the totem name " Brown Snake " 
 was shouted, a medicine-man produced from his mouth a 
 small live brown snake, which his tribesmen believed to be 
 his familiar.^ The following is the list of totems which Dr. 
 Howitt obtained from Yuin old men : — ^ 
 
 YuiN Tribe 
 Totems 
 
 kangaroo 
 
 bream 
 
 emu 
 
 black snake 
 
 bush-rat 
 
 black duck 
 
 kangaroo-rat 
 
 a small owl {jaruai) 
 
 dingo 
 
 a small owl (tiska) 
 
 eagle-hawk 
 
 fat 
 
 crow 
 
 Echidna histrix (?) {jaiian-gabakh) 
 
 peHcan 
 
 grey magpie 
 
 white-breasted cormorant 
 
 bandicoot 
 
 lace-hzard 
 
 water-hen 
 
 brown snake 
 
 guninibil (?) 
 
 Sex-totems. Like various other tribes of South-East Australia the 
 Yuin had sex-totems. With them the bat and the emu- 
 wren were the " brothers " of all the men, and the tree- 
 creeper [Cliniacteris scandens) was the " sister " of all the 
 women.^ 
 
 Although the clan totems of the- Yuin were decadent, they 
 \^ still regulated marriage, for no person might marry a person of 
 the same totem as himself But in addition to exogamy of 
 the totem clan the Yuin, like the tribes of Western Victoria 
 and coastal tribes such as the Narrinyeri and the Kurnai, 
 observed a rule of local exogamy ; for no man might marry 
 a woman who inhabited the same district as himself The 
 principles of marriage were thus laid down for his son's 
 
 Local 
 exogamy 
 among 
 Yuin. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "On Australian 
 IVIedicine Men, " Jotirnal of the Anthro- 
 pological Institute, xvi. (1887) pp. 
 
 43 ^9- 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-East Australia, p. 133. 
 
 3 A. W. Howitt, "On the Migrations 
 of the Kurnai AnccAots," Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xv. (1886) 
 p. 416 ; id.. Native Tribes of South- 
 East Australia, p. 150. 
 
11 TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 491 
 
 guidance by an old Braid wood man : " No one should marry 
 so as to mix the same blood, but he must take a woman of 
 a different name {mura, totem) than his own ; and besides 
 this, he must go for a wife to a place as far as possible from 
 his own place." This man, being of Braidwood, went for a 
 wife to Moruya, and he had to give a sister in exchange to 
 his wife's brother. The people who got their living by 
 climbing trees for game in the forests of the interior had to 
 go down to the sea-coast and obtain wives from the people 
 who maintained themselves by fishing ; and similarly the 
 fisher-folk married the sisters of the tree-climbers or waddy- 
 men, as they were called. The limits within which wives 
 were thus procured by the exchange of sisters is indicated 
 by the round which a boy's tooth, knocked out at the 
 initiation ceremonies of the tribe, used to make, being passed 
 on from one headman to another. In old times the limits 
 were Bem Lake, Delegate, Tumut, Braidwood, and so on to 
 Shoalhaven, and thence following the sea-coast to Bem 
 Lake. As Bem Lake was within the territory of the Kurnai 
 tribe, its inclusion seems to show that the Yuin intermarried 
 with the Kurnai.' Among the Yuin the father's sister's cousin 
 child was free to marry the mother's brother's child : in ™j^"ng^tlie 
 other words, marriage was permitted between first cousins, Yuin. 
 provided that the two were the children of a brother and a 
 sister respectively and that they belonged to the proper 
 intermarrying districts.^ 
 
 In the Yuin tribe marriages were arranged solely by the Betrothal'. 
 father. They said that the child belongs to the father, ^"^P^^ '^'^ 
 because his wife merely takes care of his children for him, 
 and that therefore he can do what he likes with his daughter. 
 Often a father would betroth his daughter in her infancy ; 
 in that case, when she was grown up, her future husband 
 claimed her and gave a sister in exchange to his wife's 
 brother. Sometimes the fathers would arrange matches 
 between their children at the end of the initiation ceremonies, 
 when the whole intermarrying community met.^ If a man Punish- 
 ran away with a woman whom he might not lawfully marry, JJXwfui 
 
 marriages. 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ''■ A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 262. 
 SoHlh-East Australia, pp. 133, 261, ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 262, 
 
 262. 263. 
 
492 TO TEMISM IN SO UTH-EA S TERN A US TRA LI A chap. 
 
 all the other men would pursue him, and If they caught 
 him and he refused to give the woman up, the medicine- 
 man of the place would probably say, " This man has done 
 very wrong, you must kill him." Then some one would 
 thrust a spear into him, his kinsmen not daring to interfere, 
 The lest they should meet the same fate.^ A widow went to her 
 
 Levirate. husband's brother, if he had one. If not, her male kindred 
 gave her to a man of their choice. In these tribes men did 
 Avoidance not lend their wives to their brothers. And among them 
 
 of mother- j.^^ common rulc of aboriginal Australian society which for- 
 m-law. ° . . . , 
 bade a man to hold any direct communication with his wife s 
 
 mother was very strictly observed. He might not look at 
 
 her nor even in her direction. If so much as his shadow 
 
 fell on his mother-in-law, he would have to leave his wife, 
 
 and she would have to return to her parents. This law of 
 
 avoidance was strongly impressed on the novices at the 
 
 initiation ceremonies.^ In the Hunter River tribe, further 
 
 to the north, a man was formerly forbidden to speak to his 
 
 mother-in-law under pain of death ; but in later times the 
 
 death penalty was commuted into a severe reprimand and 
 
 banishment from the camp for a time.^ 
 
 ciassifica- The Yuin had the classificatory system of relationship. 
 
 ofTeiation- Thus in the generation above his own a man applied the 
 
 ship same term mamung to his mother, to his mother's sisters, 
 
 vSn"^ ^ ^nd to the wives of his father's brothers. But on the other 
 
 hand he applied different terms to his father (banga), to his 
 
 father's brothers (nadjung), and to the husbands of his 
 
 mother's sisters {kaung). Thus the Yuin discriminated 
 
 between a father and his brothers, but not between a 
 
 mother and her sisters. In his own generation a Yuin 
 
 man applied the same term dadung to his brothers, to the 
 
 sons of his father's brothers, and to the sons of his mother's 
 
 sisters. He applied the same term nadjanduri to his wife, 
 
 to his wife's sisters, and to his brothers' wives ; and a wife 
 
 applied the same term tarrama to her husband, to her 
 
 husband's brothers, and to her sisters' husbands. In the 
 
 generation below his own a man applied the same term 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes oj " A. W. Howilt, op. cit. p. 266. 
 
 South - East Australia, pp. 264, 3 a. W. Howitt, of. cit. p. 267, on 
 
 266. the authority of C. F. Holmes. 
 
II TRIBES WITH ANOMALOUS CLASS SYSTEMS 493 
 
 wurum to his sons, to his brothers' sons, and to the sons of 
 his wife's sisters. A woman applied the same term wurum 
 to her sons, to her sisters' sons, and to the sons of her 
 husband's brothers.^ 
 
 § 1 0. Tribes with neither Exogamous Classes nor 
 Totem Clans 
 
 In a few tribes of South-East Austrah'a the organisation Tribes 
 of society in exogamous classes and totem clans has not ^x'^amous 
 been found, whether it be that such an organisation never classes and 
 existed among them or, as is more probable, that it has '°'^""^'^^' 
 perished. Of these tribes the best known is the Kurnai of 
 Gippsland, who have had the good fortune to be examined 
 and described by Dr. A. W. Howitt.^ Their territory The 
 occupied almost the whole of Gippsland, stretching along '^"'■"^'' 
 the coast for about two hundred miles and extending inland of their 
 for about seventy miles to the Dividing Range.' It is a '^°"""'>'- 
 land of giant mountains, great forests, fine streams, and 
 fertile plain.s, with a climate and a soil well fitted to the 
 growth of the orange. Much of the rugged region to the 
 north and east is still unexplored, and indeed almost 
 inaccessible, so broken is it by precipices and ravines.'' To 
 the native inhabitants before the advent of the whites, 
 this rich and beautiful country teemed with the means of 
 subsistence. The grassy forests and savannahs were stocked 
 with kangaroos and other sorts of herbivorous marsupials : 
 the forest trees harboured opossums, the native bear, and the 
 iguana : the rivers and lakes swarmed with varieties of fish 
 and eels : plants, bushes, and trees of different kinds afforded 
 edible substances in roots, berries, or seeds ; and both on 
 land and water birds were many and various. Food was 
 therefore abundant and varied, including almost everything 
 from the grubs of insects to the great kangaroo. In such 
 a country, lying between the ocean and the high snowy 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, " Australian Group- Kamilaroi and Kui-nai (Melbourne, 
 Relationships," y«/>7/a/ of the Royal 1880), pp. 177 sqq. 
 Anthropological Inslitt,U,^^xvxx. (1907) 3 ^ ^ nown. Native Tribes of 
 
 PP; ^7 '^- ^ , ., , , , . South-East Australia, p. 73. 
 
 ' They were first clescribed by him ■ r / j 
 
 in the work which he published jointly ^ A. R. Wallace, Australasia, i, 
 
 with the late Rev. Lorimer Fison, 285-287. 
 
the Kurnai, 
 
 Traces 
 of a class- 
 system 
 among 
 them. 
 
 494 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 ranges of the Australian Alps, droughts such as periodically 
 desolate the interior of the continent are rare, if not un- 
 known.'' Great indeed is the difference between this happy, 
 fruitful, temperate land and the arid, sun-scorched wilderness 
 of Lake Eyre ; and accordingly great is the difference 
 between the social system of the natives in these two 
 sharply contrasted regions.^ 
 Local While the Kurnai were divided neither into exogamous 
 
 ^™^^™J[°' classes nor into totem clans, they recognised the principle 
 of exogamy, for among them marriages could only properly 
 take place reciprocally between members of certain districts. 
 However, judging from similarities of language, from tradition, 
 and from common customs, Dr. Howitt concludes that the 
 Kurnai were probably an offshoot of the Kulin nation and 
 may at one time have been organised like the Kulin in 
 two exogamous classes, Eagle-hawk (Bunjil) and Crow.^ For 
 while among the Western Port tribes to the west of the 
 Kurnai the name Bunjil signified " eagle-hawk," and was 
 applied to a supernatural old man who lived at the sources 
 of the Yarra River, among the Kurnai the title Bunjil 
 was regularly bestowed on every old man, being compounded 
 with another word significative of some quality or peculiarity. 
 For example, one man was called Bunjil-tambun from his 
 skill in catching perch {tambun). Another was named 
 Bunjil-barlajan from his skill in spearing platypus {barlajan). 
 Another was called Bunjil-daua-ngun from daua-ngun, " to 
 turn up,'' because he was noted for making bark canoes, 
 much turned up at the bow.* Another was called Bunjil- 
 bataluk, because he was attended by a tame lace-lizard 
 [batalukY This usage of the title Bunjil may possibly be 
 connected with the former existence of an exogamous class 
 named Bunjil or Eagle-hawk. Again, the reverence which 
 the Kurnai showed for the crow {ngarugal) may perhaps 
 have been derived from a time when the crow gave its 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 
 Kurnai^ p, 208. 
 
 ^ As to Lake Eyre and its tribes see 
 above, pp. 340 sqq. 
 
 3 A. ^. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 South-Mast Australia^ p. 134. As to 
 the Kulin class system, see above, 
 
 pp. 434 sqq. 
 
 * Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 
 Kurnai, pp. 323 j-^.; A. W^. Howitt, 
 Native Tribes of South- East Australia, 
 pp. 738 sq. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 277. 
 
II TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 495 
 
 name to a second exogamous class and was revered by its 
 members. The crow was said to be the friend of the 
 Kurnai, and it was deemed wrong to kill a crow. To do 
 so, they thought, would bring on stormy weather.^ 
 
 Further, every Kurnai received the name of some Kurnai 
 marsupial, bird, reptile, or fish from his father, when he was brothers • 
 about ten years old or at initiation. A man would say, the equi- 
 pointing to the creature in question, "That is your elder ™te^^° 
 brother {thundung) ; do not hurt it." Dr. Howitt knew of 
 two cases in which the father said to his son, " It will be 
 yours when I am dead." While each man protected his 
 animal "elder brother" {thundung), the animal was in its 
 turn believed to protect his human "younger brother" by 
 warning him in dreams of approaching danger or by coming 
 towards him in bodily shape. Sometimes, too, it was appealed 
 to in song-charms to relieve him in sickness. And appar- 
 ently people claimed to exercise power over their " elder 
 brothers " ; for Dr. Howitt knew a man whose " elder 
 brother" was shark {yalmerai), and who would not hurt a 
 shark ; but if there were too many sharks about, the man 
 would "sing" them, and then they were supposed to go 
 away. The animal '' elder brothers " {thundung) of the 
 Kurnai included the wombat, kangaroo, platypus, water-hen, 
 a small bird {blitburing), eagle-hawk {gwanomicrrung), tiger- 
 snake, sea-salmon, small conger-eel, and large conger-eel. 
 Dr. Howitt justly observes that these " elder brothers " are 
 clearly the equivalents of the totems of other tribes ; but if, 
 as he supposes, the Kurnai were formerly divided into two 
 exogamous moieties Eagle-hawk and Crow, he is unable to 
 say to which of the moieties the various totems belonged.- 
 Close parallels to the " elder brothers " of the Kurnai are 
 furnished by the personal totems of the Yuin and of the 
 tribes about Maryborough. Like the Kurnai, the tribes about 
 Maryborough called their personal totems their " brothers." ' 
 
 ' A. W. llowilt, Native Tribes of March 1904, Dr. Howitt seems not 
 
 South-East Australia, pp. 134^^. to have embodied it in his book. In 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt,*/. r;'/. p. 135. The this letter, which announced the dis- 
 
 interesling information as to the man covery of the animal "elder brothers" 
 
 who had a shark for his "elder brother " of the Kurnai, Dr. Howitt also mentions 
 
 and used to "sing" sharks was com- that a woman would call her personal 
 
 municated to me by Dr. Howitt in a totem bauung, that is, "elder sister." 
 letter dated Clovelly, Metung, 12th ' See above, pp. 448 j^., 489 ji/. 
 
496 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Sex-totems But not Only had every Kurnai his own animal " elder 
 
 among the brother " or personal totem, as we may call it ; all the 
 
 Kurnai, the ' . / Cj -j. v 
 
 emu-wren Kurnai men united m reverencmg the emu-wren (ittiptturus 
 su'lrb'' Malachurus) as their "elder brother," and all the women 
 warbier.the similarly United in reverencing the superb warbler {Malurus 
 '^^1°^"^" ' Cyaneus) as their "elder sister." In short, the emu-wren, 
 "sister" which they called yeerung, and the superb warbler, which 
 men and they Called djeetgun, were the sex-totems of the men and 
 women re- women respectively. Sometimes, if the men and women 
 quarrelled, the women would go out and kill an emu-wren 
 in order to spite the men by the death of their " brother." 
 When they returned to the camp with the dead bird, the 
 men would attack them with their clubs, and the women 
 would defend themselves with their digging-sticks. Or the 
 men might be the aggressors by killing a superb warbler, 
 and the women would then avenge the death of their "sister" 
 by attacking the men. Curiously enough, these fights over 
 the two birds, the men's " brother " and the women's " sister," 
 were sometimes deliberately provoked by the women as 
 a means of inducing the young unmarried men to offer 
 marriage to the young unmarried women. When bachelors 
 were shy and backward, the elder women would go out into 
 the forest, kill some emu-wrens, and bring them back to the 
 camp. Then they would show the dead birds to the men, 
 who flew into a rage at the murder of their " brothers." 
 Young men and young women now attacked each other 
 with sticks, heads were broken, and blood flowed. Even 
 married men and women joined in this free fight. Next 
 day some of the young men would go out and kill some of 
 the superb warblers, the women's '' sisters " ; so there would 
 be another fight, perhaps worse than the first, when they 
 came back. By and by, it might be in a week or two, 
 when the wounds and bruises were healed, a young man 
 might meet a young woman and say, " Superb Warbler ! 
 What does the Superb Warbler eat ? " She would answer, 
 " She eats kangaroo, opossum," and so forth. This con- 
 stituted a formal offer of marriage and an acceptance, and the 
 couple thereafter eloped with each other in the customary 
 fashion of the tribe. While fights of this sort between the 
 sexes on account of the killing of their sex-totems seem to 
 
II . TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 497 
 
 have been common among the tribes which practised this 
 curious form of totemism, the Kurnai are the only tribe 
 who are known to have used such combats as a means of 
 promoting marriage.^ With regard to sex-totems in general, 
 which have as yet been found nowhere but among the tribes 
 of South-East Australia, Dr. Howitt observes : " I am quite 
 unable to offer any suggestion as to the origin of the sex 
 totems. I am not aware of any case in which they have 
 been eaten. They are thought to be friendly to the sex 
 they are akin to, and are protected by it." ^ 
 
 Moreover, Kurnai medicine-men were sometimes believed Personal 
 to possess what we may call a personal totem of their own Ku^n^i" 
 which they had obtained by dreaming about the animal, medicine- 
 For example, a Kurnai man dreamed several times that he "'^"' 
 had become a lace-lizard and, as such, had assisted at a 
 corrobboree of these reptiles. Hence it was believed that 
 he had acquired power over them, and he had actually a 
 tame lace-lizard, about four feet long, in his camp, while his 
 wife and children lived in another camp close by. As he 
 put it, his lace-lizard {bataluk) and himself were like the 
 same person, as he was a lace-lizard {bataluk) also. The 
 lizard accompanied him wherever he went, sitting on his 
 shoulders or partly on his head, and people thought that it 
 informed him of danger, helped him in tracking his enemies 
 or young couples who had eloped, and in fact was his friend 
 and protector. It was also believed that he could send his 
 familiar lizard at night to injure people in their camps while 
 they slept. In consequence of this comradeship with lace- 
 lizards, and probably because he was in some manner one of 
 them, he received the name of Bunjil-lace-lizard.' Another 
 Kurnai medicine-man had a tame brown snake which he fed 
 on frogs. People were very much afraid of him, because 
 they supposed that he sent the snake out at night to injure 
 them.* One of the best remembered of the Kurnai seers or 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and South- East Australia, p. 151. 
 Kurnai, pp. 201 sq.; A. W. Howitt, ' A. W. Howitt, "On Australian 
 
 " Further Notes on the Australian Class Medicine Men," Journal of the An- 
 
 ^yAems," Journal o/the Anthropological thropological Institute, xvi. (1887) p. 
 
 Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 56 sf.; id., 34 ; id., Native Tribes of South-East 
 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, Australia, p. 387. 
 pp. 148 sq., 273 sq. * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 387 sq. 
 VOL. I 2 K 
 
498 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 wizards was a man named Mundauin. It is related of him 
 that he became a seer {birraark) by dreaming thrice that he 
 was a kangaroo, and as such participated in a corrobboree 
 of these animals. In consequence of this kinship with 
 kangaroos he might not eat any part of a kangaroo on 
 which there was blood, nor might he even carry home one 
 which had blood on it. Others carried and cooked the 
 bleeding animal for him, and then gave him cooked pieces 
 of the flesh which he was allowed to eat. He said that if 
 he were to eat any kangaroo flesh with blood on it, or touch 
 the fresh blood of a kangaroo, the spirits or ghosts (mrarts) 
 would no longer take him up aloft. For after he had 
 dreamed of kangaroos, he began to hear the ghosts drum- 
 ming and singing up on high, and at last one night they 
 came and carried him away. And afterwards, when the 
 ghosts wished to communicate with him they used to catch 
 him up by night, and people could hear him and the spirits 
 up in the air or among the tree-tops whistling and shouting, 
 till at last, as the night grew late, a hollow muffled voice 
 said, " We must now go home, or the west wind may blow 
 us out to sea." ^ These accounts shew that in Australia 
 personal totems or guardian spirits were sometimes acquired 
 in dreams, just as they commonly were in North America.^ 
 If personal totems so obtained came to be afterwards trans- 
 mitted by inheritance, as they might be, it seems clear that 
 they would be indistinguishable from clan totems of the 
 ordinary type. 
 
 While marriage among the Kurnai was regulated by 
 locality and not by the thundungs or personal totems of the 
 parties, it nevertheless happened that under the rule of male 
 to the into- '^^^'^^"*^ the personal totems [thundungs) were segregated 
 marrying into the intermarrying districts, and so indirectly affected 
 or seemed to affect marriage. For since a man regularly 
 brought his wife to his own district, and she did not transmit 
 her personal totem ithundung or rather bauung^) to the chil- 
 dren, while he transmitted his to them, it follows that in the 
 same district the same totem was inherited without change 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, " On Australian Australia, pp. 390 sq. 
 
 Medicine Men," Journal of the An- j _ 
 
 thropological Institute, xvi. (1887) p. bee above, p. 50. 
 
 45; id.. Native Tribes of South- East ' See above, p. 495, note^. 
 
II TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 499 
 
 from generation to generation. Thus, under the influence of 
 paternal descent these personal totems became localised in 
 certain areas ; and as marriage was regulated by these areas, 
 it might appear that the totemic area, in so far as it coincided 
 with the exogamous local area, also regulated marriage.^ 
 Marriage among the Kurnai was individual, not communal. 
 It is true that in the common case of elopement the men Sexuai 
 who had been initiated at the same time as the bridegroom [.'grta^n'" 
 had a right of access to the bride. But after marriage no occasions. 
 sexual licence was allowed, except when, terrified by the 
 glare of the Southern Streamers in the nightly sky, the old 
 men ordered the people to exchange wives for the day, and 
 swung the dried hand of a dead man to and fro with cries 
 of " Send it away ! " ^ 
 
 The custom of local exogamy, combined with the Eiope- 
 numerous prohibited degrees of relationship, had the effect ^s"o^^y 
 of placing so many impediments in the way of marriage form of 
 among the Kurnai that the propagation of the tribe would ™mong^^he 
 almost have ceased if the young people had not often taken Kurnai. 
 matters into their own hands, and set all the rules at 
 defiance by running away with each other. Indeed, elope- 
 ment was commonly the only way out of the deadlock, and 
 it became in fact the ordinary mode of marriage in the tribe, 
 being tacitly connived at, though publicly denounced and 
 severely punished, by the professedly indignant parents of the 
 runaways.* The exaggerated scrupulosity of the Australian 
 savage as to the marriage of near kin had at last landed him 
 in a grave dilemma ; he had to choose between law-breaking 
 and extinction, and he naturally chose to break the law. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of positively that the rule was that all 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 269. A young women ran ofj with their 
 
 table of the intermarrying localities is husbands ; and she could only recollect 
 
 given by Dr. Howitt [op. cit. p. 272). three cases where girls had been given 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 276 sq. away." See Fison and Howitt, op. cit. 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and p. 200 note*. "Among the Kurnai 
 
 Kurnai, pp. 200-202 ; A. W. Howitt, elopement was the recognised and most 
 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, frequent form of marriage, yet here 
 
 pp. 273-279. One of Dr. Howitt's both parties, if caught, were severely 
 
 informants was a certain woman Nanny, — the woman savagely — punished" (A. 
 
 the oldest of the Gippsland aboriginals W. Howitt and L. Fison, "From 
 
 then living, for she had been a widow Mother-right to Father-right, "_/i>«r»a/ 
 
 with grey hair when Angus M'Millan of the Anthropological Institute, xii. 
 
 discovered the country. "She stated (1883) p. 39). 
 
5O0 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Ciassifica- Yet in the classificatory terms of relationship the Kurnai 
 
 tory terms preserved a record of a time when their ancestors had been 
 
 of relation- *■ • • i i j." 
 
 ship among as loose as their descendants were strict in sexual relations. 
 
 the Kurnai. jj^yg jj^ t^e generation above his own a man applied the 
 same term mungan to his father, to his father's brothers, 
 and to the husbands of his mother's sisters ; and he applied 
 the same term yukan to his mother, to his mother's sisters, 
 and to the wives of his father's brothers. Further, as com- 
 monly happens under the classificatory system, the Kurnai 
 had quite different terms for elder and younger brother, and 
 again for elder and younger sister. Thus a man called his 
 elder brother thundung, but his younger brother bramung; 
 he called his elder sister bauung, but his younger sister 
 lunduk ; and he applied these same words for brother and 
 sister to his first cousins, the sons and daughters of his 
 father's brothers and sisters, and the same words to his other 
 first cousins, the sons and daughters of his mother's sisters 
 and brothers. He applied the same term maian to his 
 wife, to his wife's sisters, and to his brothers' wives ; and a 
 woman applied the same term bra to her husband, to her 
 husband's brothers, and to her sisters' husbands. In the 
 generation below his own a man applied the same term lit 
 to his children, to his brothers' children, and to the children 
 of his wife's sisters ; and a woman applied the same term 
 lit to her children, to her sisters' children, and to the children 
 of her husband's brothers.^ Terms thus expressive of group 
 relationship are best explicable, as I have already pointed 
 out,^ on the hypothesis that they are derived from a system 
 of group-marriage. 
 
 Custom of Among the Kurnai on the death of a married man his 
 
 lmong"thT ^^^'^ ^^"* ^^ ^^^'^ *° ^^^ surviving brother, and if he had 
 Kurnai. Several wives they went to his brothers in order of seniority. 
 The reason alleged for this custom was that a brother is 
 the proper person to support his brother's widow and his 
 brother's children. The widow might, however, refuse to 
 marry her husband's brother and might choose another 
 
 1 A. W. Hewitt, Native Tribes of Institute, xxxvii. (1907) pp. 287 sq. 
 
 South- East Australia, p. 169; id.. Compare Fison and Howitt, Aawj'&m 
 
 "Australian Group - Relationships," attd J^urnai, pp. 2-^6 sjg. 
 Journal of the Royal Anthropological 2 Above, pp. 303 sqq. 
 
11 TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 501 
 
 man whom she liked better.^ This custom of succession to 
 a deceased brother's widow is known as the Levirate.^ It 
 occurs in many, though not in all, Australian tribes,* and it 
 has been practised by many other peoples in many other 
 parts of the world. The custom is probably to be explained The 
 with Dr. Howitt,* at least for Australia, as a relic of group- j^ ^taWy 
 marriage : the brothers, who under that system would have a '•eiic of 
 shared their wives in their lifetime, afterwards inherited marriage, 
 them successively, each stepping one after the other into "o' °f 
 
 I • /■ > • 1 , f T-. • 1 polyaudiy. 
 
 the shoes of his deceased predecessor. The emment anthro- 
 pologist, J. F. McLennan, indeed, proposed to explain the 
 Levirate as a relic of polyandry, not of group -marriage.® 
 But against this view it is to be said that group-marriage is 
 found in Australia, whereas polyandry is not ; so that the 
 cause presupposed by Howitt actually exists in the region 
 where the custom is practised, while the cause presupposed 
 by McLennan does not. Further, it should be borne in 
 mind, that whereas both the Levirate and the classificatory 
 system of relationship, with its plain testimony to group- 
 marriage, occur very widely over the world, the custom of 
 polyandry appears to have been comparatively rare and 
 exceptional, and the reason for its rarity is simply that the 
 only basis on which polyandry could permanently exist, to 
 wit, a great numerical preponderance of men over women, 
 appears never to have been a normal condition with any 
 race of men of whom we have knowledge. In Africa, for 
 example, as in Australia, the custom of the Levirate is very 
 common and the classificatory system of relationship seems 
 to be widely spread, but the custom of polyandry is apparently 
 unknown." It is more reasonable, therefore, to look for the 
 origin of the widely diffused custom of the Levirate in a 
 custom like group-marriage, which we have good reason for 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and p. 46 1 . 
 Kuntai, p. 204. * A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 ' The name is derived from the South-East Australia, p. 281. 
 Latin &»!>, "husband's brother." As ^ ].¥.M.cLaaiax\,Studies in Ancient 
 
 to the custom, see A. H. Post, Grund- History (London, 1886), pp. 108 sgq.; 
 
 riss der ethnclogischen Jurisprudenz, J. F. McLennan and D. McLennan, 
 
 i. 186 sqq.; id., Afrikanische Juris- The Patriarchal TAeory (London.lSSi), 
 
 prudent, i. 419 sqq. The evidence pp. i$6 sqq., 266 sqq. 
 might easily be multiplied. ° A. H. Post, Afrikanische Juris- 
 
 • For some exceptions, see above, prudens, i. 419 note'. 
 
502 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 With 
 changed 
 surround- 
 ings the 
 castom of 
 the Levir- 
 ate has 
 assumed a 
 different 
 character 
 among 
 different 
 peoples. 
 
 believing to have been at one time very widely diffused, 
 rather than in a custom like polyandry for which no such 
 evidence is forthcoming. 
 
 But when the Levirate survived, as it often did, among 
 peoples who had left group -marriage far behind them, it 
 would naturally assume a different character with its changed 
 surroundings. Thus wherever the rights of property and 
 the practice of purchasing wives had become firmly 
 established, the tendency was to regard the widow as part 
 of the inheritance which passed to the heir, whether he was 
 a brother, a son, or any other relation of the deceased 
 husband. This, for example, appears to be the current 
 view of the Levirate in Africa, where the custom is 
 commonly observed.^ Again, wherever it came to be 
 supposed that a man's eternal welfare in the other world 
 depends on his leaving children behind him, who will 
 perform the rites necessary for his soul's salvation, it 
 naturally became the pious duty of the survivors to remedy 
 as far as they could the parlous state of a kinsman who had 
 died childless, and on none would that duty appear to be 
 more incumbent than on the brother of the deceased. In 
 such circumstances the old custom of the Levirate might be 
 continued, or perhaps revived, with the limitation which we 
 find in Hebrew and Hindoo law, namely that a brother 
 must marry his brother's widow only in the case where the 
 deceased died childless, and only for the purpose of begetting 
 on the widow a son or sons for him who had left none of 
 his own. Thus what had once been regarded as a right of 
 succession to be enjoyed by the heir might afterwards come 
 to be viewed as a burdensome and even repulsive obligation 
 imposed upon a surviving brother or other kinsman, who 
 submitted to it reluctantly out of a sense of duty to the 
 dead. This is the light in which the Levirate has been 
 considered by Hindoo lawgivers.^ 
 
 But neither of these explanations can apply to the 
 Levirate as practised by the aborigines of Australia, for 
 
 ■ A. H. Post, Afrikanische Juris- Arischen Philologie und Altertums- 
 
 pnidenz, i. 419-425. kunde, vol. ii.) ; J. F. McLennan and 
 
 2 J. Jolly, Hecht und Sitte, pp. 70 'D.McLsnnn.n, The Patriarchal Theory, 
 
 sq. (in G. Biihler's Grundriss der Indo- pp. 156 sqq., 266 sqq. 
 
II TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 503 
 
 these savages neither buy their wives and transmit them 
 like chattels to their heirs, nor do they believe in a heaven 
 from which the childless and friendless are excluded. 
 Accordingly we must look for another explanation of their 
 custom of handing over a widow to her deceased husband's 
 brother, and such an explanation lies to our hand in the old 
 custom of group-marriage, which still survives among the 
 more backward of the tribes. 
 
 But to return to the Kurnai. " The curious custom," Avoidance 
 says Dr. Howitt, " in accordance with which the man was °^^^^l^ ^ 
 prohibited from speaking to, or having any communication among the 
 or dealings with, his wife's mother, is one of extraordinary "™^'' 
 strength, and seems to be rooted deep down in their very 
 nature. So far as I know it is of widespread occurrence 
 throughout Australia." Dr. Howitt mentions a Kurnai 
 man of his acquaintance, who was a member of the Church 
 of England, but who nevertheless positively refused to 
 speak to his mother-in-law and reproached Dr. Howitt for 
 expecting him to commit so gross a breach of good manners.' 
 The most probable explanation of this singular rule of This 
 avoidance appears to be the one which Dr. Howitt has ^^probLbiy 
 suggested, namely that it is intended to prevent the intended 
 possibility of that marriage with a mother-in-law which, 'mpro^r' 
 while it was repugnant to the feelings of the native, was yet relations 
 
 between 
 
 not barred by the old two-class system with maternal the two. 
 descent.^ This view is not indeed free from difficulties, 
 some of which have been already pointed out ; ^ but on the 
 whole it seems open to fewer objections than any other 
 explanation that has yet been put forward. 
 
 Professor E. B. Tylor has suggested that the ceremonial Professor 
 avoidance in question springs from a practice of the husband's 'ry'"''^ 
 
 ^ r fe I* explanation 
 
 residing after marriage with his wife's family, who regard him of the 
 as an intruder and therefore pretend to ignore him.* But seems"in- 
 this explanation can hardly apply to Australia, where the applicable 
 wife regularly goes to live with her husband's people. Yet t^aiia!^ 
 nowhere apparently is the custom of avoidance more widely 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and ' Above, p. 286 note. 
 
 Kurnai, p. 203. Compare A. W. < E. B. Tylor, "On a Method of 
 
 Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East investigating the Development of Insti- 
 
 Australia, f. 279. \.\>,\\o'Cis" Journal of the Anthropological 
 
 ' See above, note on pp. 285 sq. Institute, xviii. (1889) pp. 246-248. 
 
504 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 However, spread and more deeply rooted than in Australia. However, 
 Aus°ra!^'° while Messrs. Spencer and Gillen know of no Australian 
 a man does tribe in which it is the custom for a man .to take up his 
 ws'atode"'' abode with his wife's family and to work for them, they 
 with his point to certain observances which may possibly be relics 
 parents, he of such a practice. Thus in the Arunta, Unmatjera, and 
 is often Kaitish tribes a man is bound to provide his father-in-law 
 provide {tkunterd), whether actual or tribal, with food even before he 
 them with partakes of it himself ; and on the other hand he is strictly 
 
 food, which '■ 1 1 1 1 . /■ 1 • 
 
 may per- forbidden to eat the flesh of any animal which his father-in- 
 law, actual or tribal, has killed or even only seen. More 
 than that, he must be careful not to let men who stand to 
 him in the relation of father-in-law see him eating any food, 
 lest they should spoil it by " projecting their smell into it." 
 It is believed that were he to eat the flesh of game which 
 has been killed or seen by his father-in-law, the food would 
 disagree with him and he would sicken and suffer severely.^ 
 Similarly among some of the tribes of South-.East Australia 
 a man was bound to provide his wife's parents and sometimes 
 other members of her family with food according to certain 
 fixed and definite rules. Thus amongst the Kurnai if a man 
 killed five opossums, he had to give two of them to his 
 wife's parents and two of them to her brothers. If a 
 Kurnai killed a wombat, the whole of the carcass went to his 
 wife's parents ; for this animal was reckoned the best of 
 food. If a man killed a native sloth bear, he gave it to his 
 wife's parents ; if he killed two, he gave one to his wife's 
 parents and one to his own parents ; if he killed three, he 
 gave two to his wife's parents and one to his own parents ; 
 and so on. He might probably keep the liver of the sloth 
 bear for himself and his wife. If he killed several swans, he 
 kept one or more for his family and sent the remainder to 
 his wife's parents ; but if he had killed a large number of 
 the birds, he sent most of them to bis wife's parents and a 
 smaller number to his own parents. If a man killed a 
 conger-eel, it went to his wife's father. This custom of 
 providing a wife's parents with food was called by the 
 Kurnai neborak; and we are told that "in all cases the 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native T^ribes Northern Tribes of Central Australia, 
 of Central Australia, pp. 469 jy. ; id. , J)p. 609 sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 505 
 
 largest supply and the best of the food is sent to the wife's 
 parents." Apparently, though we are not expressly told so, 
 the food thus given to the parents of a man's wife was sent 
 through his wife, not given by him directly to them. And 
 next morning his parents-in-law sent him some food in 
 return through their daughter, his wife, " on the assump- 
 tion that their son-in-law provided for his family on the 
 preceding day, but may want some food before going out 
 to hunt afresh." ^ Similarly among the Manero natives the 
 custom of providing a wife's parents with food was strictly 
 observed ; a man had to supply his father-in-law and 
 mother-in-law with the best parts of the game, and if possible 
 with wombat flesh, that being considered the best of all. 
 The food was always carried by the wife to her parents.^ 
 Again, among the Mukjarawaint, if a married man killed a 
 kangaroo, he sent some of it to his parents-in-law through 
 his wife, because he might not go near her mother, or her 
 father might come himself to fetch it.' Such customs may 
 possibly, as Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe, be derived 
 from a time when a man owed allegiance to his wife's group.^ 
 But it is also possible that the customs have an entirely 
 different origin. 
 
 Another tribe which appears to have lost both its The 
 exogamous classes and its totems was the Chepara. They tri^'!^^ 
 occupied the extreme south-east corner of Queensland, ™aiTiage 
 between Brisbane and the New South Wales boundary, and ^ices 
 Their territory skirted the sea, but also extended inland, of'o'^^s- 
 Among them marriage was regulated by locality, and names 
 descended in the male line.* If an unmarried girl was 
 captured on a raid, she belonged to her captor, and his 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 280. Yet Dr. Howitt says (p. 280) 
 
 Kumai, pp. 261-263 > A. W. Howitt, that in this tribe "a wife was obtained 
 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, from any clan, even that of the 
 
 pp. 756-758. husband." As Dr. Howitt regularly 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of employs the term clan in the sense of 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 760. * '°<=»' division of a tribe with male 
 
 ? A \xT .T ... > -^ ^a descent (op. cit. p. 43), it would seem 
 
 A. W. Howitt, op. at. p. 764. fto„ the ftatement which I have just 
 
 « Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes quoted that in the Chepara tribe the 
 
 »f Central Australia, p. 470. districts were not exogamous. It is 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of therefore difficult to see how they can 
 
 Smith-East Australia, pp. 86, 135 sq., have regulated marriage. 
 
mimes at 
 initiation, 
 
 506 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 comrades had no right of access to her. Wives were not 
 exchanged under any circumstances, nor were they lent to 
 Panto- friendly visitors.-' At the initiation ceremonies of this tribe 
 men used to give pantomimic representations of flying foxes 
 on branches, of bees flying about, of curlews, and of many 
 other creatures. Perhaps, as Dr. Howitt suggests, these 
 representations may be relics of totems which have dis- 
 appeared.^ 
 Avoidance Among the Chepara a woman was not allowed to see 
 
 in-law. her daughter's husband in camp or elsewhere. When he 
 was present she kept her head covered by an opossum rug. 
 The camp of the mother-in-law faced in a different direction 
 to that of her son-in-law. A screen of high bushes was 
 erected between both huts, so that nobody could see over 
 from either, and husband and wife conversed in a tone which 
 her mother could not overhear. When the mother-in-law 
 went for firewood, she crouched down, as she went in or out, 
 with her head covered. If the son-in-law climbed a tree to 
 take a hive of native bees, his wife might sit at the foot of 
 it, but her mother had to stay a long way oiT with her head 
 muffled up. When the man had got the hive, descended 
 the tree, and gone off", the mother-in-law might come 
 and help her daughter to cut up the comb and carry it 
 away.^ 
 Ciassifica- The Chepara possessed the classificatory system of 
 
 ofTeia™n- relationship. Thus in the generation above his own a 
 *ip man applied the same term bing to his father and to his 
 
 Chepara. father's brothers ; and he applied the same term buyung to 
 his mother and to his mother's sisters. In his own genera- 
 tion he applied the same term nabong to his brothers, to the 
 sons of his father's brothers, and to the sons of his mother's 
 sisters. He applied the same term nubunpingun to his wife 
 and to his wife's sisters ; and a woman applied the same 
 term nubunping to her husband and to her husband's brothers. 
 In the generation below his own a man applied the same 
 term naring to his sons, to his brothers' sons, and to the 
 sons of his wife's sisters. Similarly a woman applied the 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 581 sq. 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 280. 3 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. 280 
 
 2 A. W. Howitt, op. cit. pp. sq. 
 
II TRIBES WITHOUT CLASSES OR CLANS 507 
 
 same term naring to her sons, to her sisters' sons, and to the 
 sons of her husband's brothers.^ 
 
 § II. Equivalence of the Exogamoiis Classes 
 
 From the foregoing survey of totemism and exogamy Diversity of 
 in South-Eastern Australia it may be seen how diversified ^jteJ^ln 
 are the . social systems which have been based on these South-East 
 two principles. In some tribes we find the simple two- "^ 
 class system, in others the more complex four-class system, 
 while in others, again, the system of exogamous classes has 
 vanished or left only faint traces behind. In some tribes there 
 is male descent ; in others there is female descent. In 
 some tribes the totem clans are well developed and clearly 
 defined ; in others they are decadent or almost, if not 
 wholly, obliterated. On the whole, the extinction of the 
 class system is most marked among the tribes of the coast, 
 who, retaining the principle of exogamy, have applied it 
 to local districts instead of to kinship groups, or rather 
 perhaps have identified the local groups with the kinship 
 groups. The chief factor in this conversion of kinship 
 exogamy into local exogamy has been the adoption of 
 paternal in preference to maternal descent ; for where the 
 men remain in the same district, and transmit their family 
 names unchanged from generation to generation, while the 
 names of the wives whom they import from other districts 
 die out with their owners, the result is to make the kinship 
 group, indicated by the possession of a common hereditary 
 name, coincide more or less exactly with the local group, 
 and thus the principle of class or kinship exogamy tends to 
 pass gradually and almost insensibly into the principle of 
 local exogamy.^ 
 
 The different types of social organisation, being distri- where 
 buted over the continent, are necessarily in contact with each ^'iffCTent' 
 other at many points. A tribe, for example, with the two- marriage 
 class system may border on a tribe with the four-class system : mrat^nd 
 a tribe with female descent may have for its neighbour another intermarry, 
 
 they have 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, "Australian Group- pp. 287 sq. 
 Relationships," Journal of the Royal 
 Anthrofologicallnstitutt,-ii.\ii.\u.(igo7) ^ See also above, pp. 81, 83. 
 
5o8 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 to adjust with male descent ; and so on. No great difficulty would 
 "^^'■^ be created by this contact of discordant systems if the 
 
 systems so -' ./-it. j.-i r 
 
 as to fit relations between the tribes were uniformly hostile, lor 
 jJiher* then each tribe would go its own way, indifferent as to 
 the modes in which their enemies across the border married 
 and reared their children. But, on the whole, the relations 
 between neighbouring tribes in Australia have been peaceful 
 and friendly, and intermarriage between them has been 
 the rule rather than the exception. Accordingly, wherever 
 two intermarrying tribes possessed different types of social 
 organisation, it has been necessary for them to come to 
 an understanding with each other on the subject of marriage, 
 to dovetail, so to say, the matrimonial system of the one 
 into the matrimonial system of the other, so that every 
 person in the one tribe may know whom in the other 
 tribe he or she, in accordance with the rigorous principles 
 of savage exogamy, is at liberty to marry. This nice and 
 sometimes complex adjustment of the divergent marriage 
 laws of neighbouring tribes has been carried out, on the 
 whole, by the Australian aborigines with a skill which does 
 credit to their intelligence. " Wherever two systems touch 
 each other," says Dr. Howitt, " the members of the adjacent 
 tribes invariably know which of the neighbouring classes 
 corresponds to their own, and therefore the individual knows 
 well with which class or subclass of the other tribe his own 
 intermarries ; and he knows also, though perhaps not quite 
 so well, the marriage relations of the other class or subclass, 
 as the case may be." ^ 
 Equiva- With regard to the equivalence of the various marriage 
 
 systems to each other, I will quote the observations of Dr. 
 
 various 
 
 class Howitt. He says : " The equivalence of class or subclasses 
 
 long ago attracted my attention when I was studying the 
 organisation of the Kamilaroi tribes. I found on comparing 
 the class divisions of any large group of allied tribes 
 such as the Kamilaroi, that the several tribes have more or 
 less marked differences in their classes and subclasses, either 
 in the names themselves or, in extreme cases, in their 
 arrangement. These differences are often merely dialectic 
 variations of name ; but in other cases they amount to 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. 141 sq. 
 
II EQUIVALENCE OF THE EXOGAMOUS CLASSES, 509 
 
 differences in the structure of the system itself. When a 
 still larger group of tribes is examined, the variations 
 become wider and the differences greater. Nevertheless, 
 the general identity of structure and of the fundamental 
 laws of the classes over wide areas proves, beyond doubt, 
 that these varied forms are substantially equivalent. I may 
 note here that the boundaries of a class system are usually 
 wider than those of a tribe, and that the boundaries of any 
 one type of system have a still wider range, and include 
 those aggregates of tribes which I have termed nations. 
 All such aggregates are bound together by a community of 
 class organisation which indicates a community of descent." ^ 
 
 Examples will show how this equivalence of the exogam- Examples 
 ous classes is carried out in practice. In the Wotjobaluk g^uf^ience 
 tribe the two class names are Krokitch and Gamutch. To of the class 
 the north the Wotjobaluk bordered on the Wiimbaio, whose ^y='*™=- 
 class names are Mukwara and Kilpara. A Wotjobaluk 
 man, who was Krokitch, told Dr. Howitt that when he went 
 to the Wiimbaio tribe he was Kilpara, and that the people 
 there told him that the Gamutch of the Wotjobaluk was 
 the same as the Mukwara of the Wiimbaio. A similar 
 statement was made to Dr. Howitt by a man of the tribe 
 which is next to the Wiimbaio up the Murray River. He 
 said that he was Kilpara, but that when he went south he 
 was Krokitch ; and his wife added that, being Mukwara at 
 home, she was Gamutch in the south.^ 
 
 From a survivor of the Gal-gal-baluk clan of the Jajaurung 
 tribe, who lived on the Avoca River, Dr. Howitt learned 
 that two sets of class names met there, Bunjil and Waang of 
 the Jajaurung tribe, and Krokitch and Gamutch of the tribe 
 living to the west of the river. In the south-west of Victoria 
 the same sets of class names meet between Geelong and Colac, 
 where Kroki is equivalent to Bunjil and Kumitch to Waang.* 
 
 On the Maranoa River in Southern Queensland two More 
 types of the four-class system meet, the equivalents of the of^'the'''^ 
 Kamilaroi names on the one side, and the equivalents of equivalence 
 the Northern Queensland names on the other. There, as it systems!^* 
 was put to Dr. Howitt, "a Hippai man is also Kurgilla," 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ^ A. W. Howitt, o/. <-«:?. pp. \yi sq. 
 Smtth-East Australia, p. 137. ' A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 138. 
 
5IO TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 and so on with the other names of the subclasses. To the 
 north-east of the Marona tribe three types of the four- 
 class system meet. There is a tribe called the Bigambul 
 with four subclasses, called, in Kamilaroi fashion, Hipai, 
 Kombo, Murri, and Kobi. There is a tribe called the 
 Emon with four subclasses called Taran, Bondan, Barah, 
 and Bondurr. And there is a tribe called the Ungorri with 
 four subclasses called Urgilla, Anbeir, Wungo, and Ubur. 
 The equivalence of all these three sets of subclasses is 
 recognised by the tribes in the manner indicated in the sub- 
 joined table : — ^ 
 
 Bigambul. 
 
 Emon. 
 
 Ungorri. 
 
 Hipai 
 Kombo 
 
 Murri 
 Kobi 
 
 Taran 
 Bondan 
 Barah 
 Bondurr 
 
 Urgilla 
 Anbeir 
 Wungo 
 Ubur 
 
 A similar equivalence between the exogamous classes 
 
 of different tribes has been recorded of the tribes of 
 
 North- Western Queensland towards the Gulf of Carpentaria.^ 
 
 West of the Wiradjuri nation is a vast area occupied 
 
 by tribes with the two-class system. Here the two class 
 
 equivalence names Kilpara and Mukwara extend north-west to the Grey 
 
 dass^ Range, where they adjoin the two class names Kulpuru 
 
 systems, and Tiniwa of such tribes as the Yantruwunta. Here it 
 
 seems that Kulpuru is the equivalent of Kilpara, and that 
 
 Tiniwa is the equivalent of Mukwara. The Yantruwunta 
 
 More 
 examples 
 of the 
 
 1 A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 Souih-East Australia, pp. 109, 138. 
 The recorded totems of the Emon tribe 
 are emu, water, carpet-snake, and scrub 
 turkey. Those of the Ungorri tribe are 
 kangaroo, bandicoot, opossum, flying 
 fox, brown snake, and lizard. Prob- 
 ably both lists are incomplete. Neither 
 in the Emon nor in the Ungorri tribe 
 could Dr. Howitt ascertain the names 
 of the two exogamous moieties or 
 classes. See A. W. Howitt, op. cit. 
 pp. 109 sq. 
 
 2 E. Palmer, "Notes on some 
 Australian Tribes," Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 
 300. See Mr. Palmer's evidence, quoted 
 below, pp. 521 sq. "The Maikolon 
 [Mycoolon] names on the Cloncurry 
 River are the equivalents of those of 
 the Kugobathi on the Mitchell River, 
 on the east side of the Gulf of Car- 
 pentaria " (A. W. Howitt, Native 
 Tribes of South - East Australia, p. 
 138, on the authority of Mr. Edward 
 Palmer). 
 
II EQUIVALENCE OF THE EXOGAMOUS CLASSES 511 
 
 names in their turn have their equivalents to the west in the 
 names of the Dieri classes, Kararu and Matteri, for Tiniwa is 
 the same as Kararu, and Kulpuru is the same as Matteri. 
 This identification of the class names would therefore carry 
 us southward through a number of tribes to Port Lincoln, 
 where the Dieri class names occur.^ 
 
 To the westward of Lake Eyre are the Urabunna with Mutual 
 the same class names of the Dieri in the forms of Kirarawa ^f^'^g""^"' 
 and Matthurie.^ On the north the Urabunna with their two-class 
 two-class system and female descent border on the southern of^the* 
 Arunta with their system of four nominal though eight Urabunna 
 real subclasses and male descent.^ The arrangement of^gj^gn™ 
 marriages between persons of two tribes with such very 'o 'he 
 different social organisations is necessarily a matter of system of 
 some nicety, which cannot be carried out without the *e Arunta 
 
 . with male 
 
 exercise of a good deal of thought and sagacity. Yet descent. 
 this feat, which might puzzle a civilised lawyer, has been 
 successfully accomplished by the Australian savages. As 
 to the mode in which the adjustment is made it will be 
 best to quote the statement of our informants, Messrs. 
 Spencer and Gillen. They say : " It sometimes happens, in 
 fact not infrequently, that a man from the neighbouring 
 Arunta tribe comes to live amongst the Urabunna. In 
 the former where it adjoins the latter there are four sub- 
 classes, viz. Bukhara and Panunga, Kumara and Purula, and 
 in addition descent is counted in the male line. Accordingly 
 the men of the Bulthara and Purula classes are regarded as 
 the equivalents of the Matthurie moiety of the Urabunna 
 tribe, and those of the Panunga and Kumara classes as 
 the equivalents of the Kirarawa. In just the same way a 
 Matthurie man going into the Arunta tribe becomes either 
 a Bulthara or Purula, and a Kirarawa man becomes either a 
 Panunga or a Kumara man. Which of the two a Matthurie 
 man belongs to is decided by the old men of the group 
 into which he goes. Sometimes a man will take up his 
 abode permanently, or for a long time, amongst the strange 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Schiirmann, in Native Tribes of South 
 
 Smtk-East Australia, p. 138. For Australia, p. 222; above, p. 369. 
 
 the class names (Karraru and Mattiri) 2 See above, pp. 176 sqq. 
 
 of the Port Lincoln tribe see C. W. ' See above, pp. 259 sgg. 
 
512 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 tribe, in which case, if it be decided, for example, that he is 
 a Bukhara, then his children will be born Panunga, that 
 is, they belong to his own adopted moiety. He has, of 
 course, to marry a Kumara woman, or if he be already 
 provided with a wife, then she is regarded as a Kumara, and 
 if he goes back into his own tribe then his wife is regarded 
 as a Kirarawa, and the children also take the same name. 
 This deliberate change in the grouping of the classes and 
 subclasses so as to make them fit in with the maternal line 
 of descent or with the paternal, as the case may be, will be 
 more easily understood from the accompanying table : — 
 
 Arunta. Urdbunna arrangement of the Arunta subclasses. 
 
 Bukhara 1 . , . Bukhara 1 . ^ « /,,r ^.i_ • > 
 
 Panunga) '"°"*y ^- Purula | "^o.ety A (Matthune). 
 
 Kumara ) • .. ,, Panunga ) ■ ^ t, /t^- \ 
 
 Purula } '""'^'y ^- Kumara } "^"'^'y ^ (K.rarawa). 
 
 " The working out of this with the result that the 
 children belong to the right moiety of the tribe into which 
 the man has gone may be rendered clear by taking one or 
 two particular examples. 
 
 " Suppose that a Matthurie man goes into the Arunta 
 tribe, then he is told by the old men of the group into which 
 he has gone that he is, say, a Bukhara. Accordingly he 
 marries a Kumara woman (or if, which is not very likely, 
 he has brought a woman with him, then she is regarded 
 as a Kumara) and his children will be Panunga, or, in other 
 words, pass into the father's moiety as the subclasses are 
 arranged in the Arunta, but not into that of the mother as 
 they are arranged amongst the Urabunna. 
 
 " Again, suppose a Purula man from the Arunta tribe 
 takes up his abode amongst the Urabunna. He becomes 
 a Matthurie, and as such must marry a Kirarawa (or if 
 married his wife is regarded as such). His children are 
 Kirarawa, which includes the subclass Kumara into which 
 they would have passed in the Arunta tribe, and to which 
 they will belong if ever they go into the latter. 
 
 " These are not merely hypothetical cases, but are, in the 
 district where the two tribes come in contact with one 
 
II EQUIVALENCE OF THE EXOGAMOUS CLASSES 513 
 
 another, of by no means infrequent occurrence ; and, without 
 laying undue stress upon the matter, this deliberate changing 
 of the method of grouping the subclasses so as to allow of 
 the descent being counted in either the male or female line, 
 according to the necessity of the case, is of interest as 
 indicating the fact that the natives are quite capable of 
 thinking such things out for themselves. It is indeed not 
 perhaps without a certain suggestiveness in regard to the 
 difficult question of how a change in the line of descent might 
 possibly be brought about." ^ 
 
 The effect of that rearrangement of the Arunta subclasses, Effect 
 which Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have thus explained, is that rearrange- 
 so long as an Urabunna man lives in the Arunta tribe hismentofthe 
 children belong to his own moiety of the tribe, in accordance subclasses. 
 with the Arunta rule of paternal descent ; but that whenever 
 he goes back to the Urabunna, his children belong to their 
 mother's moiety of the tribe, in accordance with the 
 Urabunna rule of maternal descent. Conversely, when an 
 Arunta man lives in the Urabunna tribe, his children belong 
 to their mother's moiety of the tribe in accordance with the 
 Urabunna rule of maternal descent ; but whenever he goes 
 back to the Arunta tribe, his children belong to his own 
 moiety of the tribe, in accordance with the Arunta rule of 
 paternal descent. This result is attained simply enough 
 by arranging the four Arunta subclasses in different pairs 
 so as to suit the different systems of the two tribes. 
 
 This and more evidence of the same sort ^ confirms the The social 
 view, which Messrs. Howitt and Fison long ago advanced, °ion^o^e 
 that the changes made in the social organisation of the Australian 
 tribes, including the classificatory system of relationships, appears to 
 were matters of deliberate intention and not the result of'^^^^*^^^" 
 chance.' Reviewing the whole series of intermediary steps deliberate 
 which we have surveyed in this chapter, from the two-class '"'^°"°"', 
 
 - , _, , not ^ result 
 
 system of the Dieri with group marriage and female descent of chance. 
 to the classless system of the Kurnai with local exogamy, 
 individual marriage, and male descent, the experienced 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes ^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of 
 
 cf Central Australia, pp. 68 jy. South-East Australia, p. 140. Com- 
 
 ' See Spencer and Gillen, Northern pare Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 
 
 Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 120- Kurnai, pp. 160 sq. 
 
 VOL. I 2 L 
 
514 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-EASTERN A USTRALIA chap, ii 
 
 and cautious Dr. Howitt concludes as follows : " The two 
 exogamous class divisions begin the series of changes which 
 I have described, and it may now be asked how they them- 
 selves originated. My opinion is that it was by the same 
 process as that by which the four arose from the two, namely 
 by the division of an original whole, which I have referred 
 to as the Undivided Commune. The two classes have been 
 intentionally divided into four and eight subclasses, so that 
 it does not seem to me unreasonable to conclude also that 
 the segmentation of the hypothetical Commune was made 
 intentionally by the ancestors of the Australian aborigines." ^ 
 With this conclusion of the veteran anthropologist I cordially 
 agree. 
 
 ' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of professed communicant with ancestral 
 
 South-East Australia, p. 143. Else- spirits, holds no mean place. The 
 
 where Dr. Howitt had written as change, whenever it was effected, must, 
 
 follows : "I cannot see any reason to I think, have been announced as having 
 
 doubt that the first division of Australian been directed by the spirits of the 
 
 communities into two exogamous inter- deceased ancestors {e.g. Mura Mura of 
 
 marrying communes was an intentional the Dieri), or by the Headman of 
 
 act arising from within the commune Spiritland himself (e.g. Bunjil of the 
 
 prior to its division. The evidence Kulin, or Daramulun of the Murring)." 
 
 which I have before me, drawn from See A. W. Howitt, " Notes on the 
 
 the existing customs and beliefs of the Australian Class Systems, "y«ar«3/ of 
 
 aborigines, not only leads me to that the Anthropological Institute, ■a\.(\%%'^ 
 
 conclusion, but also to the further pp. 500 sq. Compare id., Natitie 
 
 conclusion that the movement itself Tribes of South -East Australia, pp. 
 
 probably arose within the council of 89 sq, 
 elders, in which the tribal wizard, the 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 
 
 North -East Australia coincides with the Colony of Tribes of 
 Queensland. Some of the tribes of that colony have been ^'^'t''" 
 dealt with in the preceding chapter, because they fell within Central 
 the scope of Dr. Howitt's researches, who is our principal land^"^ 
 authority for the tribes of South-East Australia. In the 
 present chapter I shall describe the exogamous and totemic 
 systems of the remaining tribes of Queensland, so far as 
 these have been reported by competent witnesses. Our 
 chief authority for the natives of this region is Mr. W. E. 
 Roth, who has given us valuable accounts of the tribes of 
 North-West Central Queensland.^ The area covered by his 
 researches includes the districts of Upper Flinders, Cloncurry, 
 Leichhardt-Selwyn, Upper Georgina, and Boulia.^ In what 
 follows I shall rely mainly on the information supplied by 
 Mr. Roth. 
 
 Throughout North-West Central Queensland the type 
 of social organisation is the four-class system with maternal 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies The region covered by Mr. Palmer's 
 
 anong^ the North- IVest-Central Queens- observations partly coincides with that 
 
 /a»(/i4iffn(f««« (Brisbane and London, described by Mr. W. E. Roth; for it 
 
 '897). The information given in these comprises the valleys of the Saxby, 
 
 Studies has since been supplemented by Flinders, Cloncurry, Leichhardt, and 
 
 Mr. Roth in a series of Bulletins pub- Gregory Rivers, but it also extends 
 
 lished by the Government of Queensland further to the north-east so as to include 
 
 (Nttmbers I-I2, Brisbane and Sydney, part of the valley of the Mitchell River 
 
 1901 .1909,). An excellent, though as far down as its junction with the 
 
 brief, account of some Queensland Lynd. 
 tribes has been given by Mr. Edward 
 
 Palmer ("Notes on some Australian * See the map of North-West 
 
 tribes," Journal of the Anthropological Central Queensland forming Plate I. of 
 
 Iiutitute xiii. (1884) pp. 276-334). V<1. F.. Ko\h's Ethnological Studies. 
 
 51S 
 
Through- 
 out these 
 tribes the 
 type of 
 social 
 organisa- 
 tion is the 
 four-class 
 system 
 with female 
 descent. 
 
 5 16 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 descent. To be more precise, the native tribes are regularly 
 subdivided into two exogamous classes or moieties and four 
 exogamous subclasses with descent in the female line. The 
 names of the classes are Ootaroo and Pakoota or local varieties 
 of these names (Woodaroo, Urtaroo, Pakutta, Burgutta) : the 
 names of the subclasses are in general Koopooroo, Woongko, 
 Koorkilla, and Bunburi. Of these four subclasses, Koopooroo 
 and Woongko together make up the class or moiety Ootaroo ; 
 while Koorkilla and Bunburi make up the other class or 
 moiety Pakoota. The children belong to the class of their 
 mother, but to the other subclass, according to the usual rule 
 of descent in Australian tribes with four or more subdivisions. 
 Thus if the mother belongs to the Ootaroo class and the 
 Koopooroo subclass, the children will belong to the Ootaroo 
 class, but to the Woongko subclass. And similarly with the 
 rest. Further, the men of any particular subclass may only 
 marry the women of one other subclass, and vice versa. Thus, 
 a Koopooroo man may only marry a Koorkilla woman, and 
 their children are Bunburi : a Woongko man may only marry 
 a Bunburi woman, and their children are Koorkilla : a Koor- 
 killa man may only marry a Koopooroo woman, and their 
 children are Woongko : a Bunburi man may only marry a 
 Woongko woman, and their children are Koopooroo. This 
 may be put in tabular form as follows : — ^ 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Husbands. 
 
 Wives. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Ootaroo \ 
 
 Koopooroo 
 Woongko 
 
 Koorkilla 
 Bunburi 
 
 Bunburi 
 Koorkilla 
 
 Pakoota \ 
 
 Koorkilla 
 Bunburi 
 
 Koopooroo 
 Woongko 
 
 Woongko 
 Koopooroo 
 
 Thus the subclasses fall as usual into pairs which may, 
 for convenience of reference, be called complementary or twin 
 
 I W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies 
 among the North-West-Central Queens- 
 land Aborigines (Brisbane and London, 
 1897), pp. 56-58. I have substituted 
 
 the terms class and subclass for Mr. 
 Roth's gamo - matro-nym and paedo- 
 matro-nym, to which they are clearly 
 equivalent. 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 517 
 
 subclasses, each pair being subdivisions of one of the two Compie- 
 primary classes. Koopooroo and Woongko are comple- [^^"'^ °'' 
 mentary or twin subclasses of the primary class Ootaroo, while classes. 
 Koorkilla and Bunburi are complementary or twin subclasses ^^^l^^^ 
 of the primary class Pakoota. The social system is identical descent in 
 with that of the Kamilaroi/ though the names of the classes Hne.*^""*'^ 
 and subclasses are different. Descent of the primary classes 
 (Ootaroo and Pakoota) is direct in the female line, since 
 children belong to their mother's primary class ; but descent 
 of the subclasses is indirect in the female line, since children 
 belong, not to their mother's subclass, but to its comple- 
 mentary or twin subclass. 
 
 The names of the four subclasses Koopooroo, Woongko, Subclasses 
 Koorkilla, and Bunburi are those which are in use among pit'a^piita 
 the Pitta-Pitta tribe at Boulia. But the same subclasses with Miorii, 
 the same names exist universally throughout the Boulia tnSs.^ '^ 
 District among the dozens of different tribes occupying it. 
 Also outside that district exactly the same terms are applied 
 to the subclasses at Roxburgh on the Georgina River, among 
 the Miorii and Goa people of the Middle and Upper Diaman- 
 tina River, and among the natives of the Cloncurry and 
 Flinders Districts. Nay more than that they occur along 
 the eastern coast of Queensland for a long way, certainly as 
 far as from Cooktown on the north to Broadsound on the 
 south.' They are also found in the Yerrunthully tribe near 
 Hughenden, at the headwaters of the Flinders River in Central 
 Queensland ; ° and the same subclasses occur too in the 
 Ringa-Ringa tribe on the Burke River in Queensland.* 
 
 In three other tribes of North- West Central Queensland, Subclasses 
 namely the Kalkadoon, Miubbi, and Workoboongo, equivalent Kaikl. 
 subclasses are found, but their names are different ; and in doon, 
 
 ' See above, pp. 396 sqq, names of the sulxilasses, Coobaroo, 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, Woonco, Koorgielah, and Bunbury, 
 
 etc., p. 57 ; id.. Notes on Social and which are clearly the same as Mr. 
 
 Individual Nomenclature among certain Roth's Kooparoo, Woongko, Kurkilla, 
 
 North Queensland Aboriginals, p. 3 and Bunburi. The names of the 
 
 (paper read before the Royal Society primary classes of the Yerrunthully are 
 
 of Queensland, November 13, 1897, not given by Mr. Palmer. 
 separate reprint). ■■ Mr. Jno. Lett, cited by Dr. A. W. 
 
 ' E. Palmer, "Notes on some HoWM, Journal of the Anthropological 
 
 Australian Tribes," Journal of the Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 337, where 
 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) the names are given as Coobooroo, 
 
 pp. 301 sq. Mr. Palmer writes the Wonko, Goorkela, and Bunbury. 
 
5i8 
 
 TO TEMISM IN NORTH-EAST A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 Miubbi, 
 
 and 
 
 Worko- 
 
 boongo 
 
 tribes. 
 
 the Kalkadoon tribe the name of one of the moieties or 
 primary classes is Mullara instead of Pakoota. The names 
 of the subclasses in these three tribes are as follows : — 
 
 Pitta- Pitta, etc. 
 
 Kalkadoon. 
 
 Miubbi. 
 
 Workoboongo. 
 
 Koopooroo = 
 Woongko = 
 
 Patingo 
 Kunggilungo 
 
 Badingo 
 Jimmilingo 
 
 Patingo 
 Jimmilingo 
 
 Koorkilla = 
 Bunburi = 
 
 Marinungo 
 Toonbeungo 
 
 Youingo 
 Maringo 
 
 Kapoodungo 
 Maringo 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent in the Kalkadoon 
 
 Marriage 
 
 scent in the ^^^^^ may be tabulated as follows :- 
 
 Kalkadoon 
 tribe. 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Ootaroo -j 
 
 Patingo 
 Kunggilungo 
 
 Marinungo 
 Toonbeungo 
 
 Toonbeungo 
 Marinungo 
 
 Mullara 
 
 Marinungo 
 Toonbeungo 
 
 Patingo 
 Kunggilungo 
 
 Kunggilungo 
 Patingo 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent in the Miubbi tribe 
 
 tribe. 
 
 Marriage 
 
 s"ent in the "^^7 ^c tabulated as follows :- 
 
 1 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies 
 among the North- West Central Queens- 
 land Aborigines, pp. 56, 57. The names 
 of the Kalkadoon primary classes (Oota- 
 roo and Mullara) are clearly identical 
 with Wuthera and Mallera, the names 
 of the primary classes of the Wakelbura 
 tribe, at Elgin Downs, on the Belyando 
 River, Queensland. It is worthy of 
 note that in the Wakelbura tribe the 
 names of two of the subclasses, viz. Kur- 
 gilla and Wungo, agree with the names 
 (Koorkilla and Woongko) of two of the 
 subclasses of the Queensland tribes 
 mentioned above, though not with 
 those of the Kalkadoon. S&& Journal 
 of the Anthropological Institute, xiii. 
 (1884) pp. 337, 342 ; A. W. Howitt, 
 Native Tribes of South-East Australia, 
 
 pp. 112, 221; above, pp. 422 sq. 
 Further, the class name Ootaroo is 
 found also, in slightly disguised forms 
 (Witteru, Wutthuru, or Wutaru), in 
 the Kuinmurbura, Kongulu, and 
 Mackay tribes of Queensland. See 
 L. Fison and A. W. Howitt, Kaviilaroi 
 and Kumai, p. 34 ; Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) 
 p. 336 ; A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes 
 of South-East Australia, p. Ill ; 
 above, pp. 417, 420, 431. 
 
 2 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, 
 etc., p. 58. 
 
 3 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, 
 p. 59. As to the names (Woodaroo 
 and Pakutta) of the primary classes 
 among the Miubbi, see ibid. p. 56. 
 
in TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 519 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Woodaroo 
 
 Badingo 
 Jimmilingo 
 
 Youingo 
 Maringo 
 
 Maringo 
 Youingo 
 
 Pakutta 1 
 
 Youingo 
 Maringo 
 
 Badingo 
 Jimmilingo 
 
 Jimmilingo 
 Badingo 
 
 The Mycoolon tribe of North- West Queensland, on the Marriage 
 Flinders River, about a hundred miles south of Normanton, ^^'Ju'^^j" ,,,j. 
 has the same subclasses and rules of descent as the Miubbi, Mycoolon 
 but like many other Australian tribes it has two sets of' 
 names for the subclasses, one set for the men and the other 
 set for the women. These names are as follows : — 
 
 . tribe. 
 
 Male. 
 
 Female. 
 
 Bathingo 
 Jimalingo 
 Yowingo 
 Marringo 
 
 Munjingo 
 Goothamungo 
 Carburungo 
 Ngarran-ngungo 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent are these : — * 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Bathingo 
 Jimalingo 
 
 Carburungo 
 Ngarran-ngungo 
 
 Marringo {male) and Ngarran-ngungo 
 
 {female) 
 Yowingo {m.) and Carburungo {f.) 
 
 Yowingo 
 Marringo 
 
 Munjingo 
 Goothamungo 
 
 Jimalingo {m.) and Goothamungo (/) 
 Bathingo {m.) and Munjingo (/) 
 
 ' E. Palmer, ' ' Notes on some 
 Australian Tribes," Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) 
 pp. 302 sq. I have changed Mr. 
 ftdmer's order of the names for the 
 sake of easier comparison with Mr. 
 Roth's. The names of the classes of 
 the Mycoolon arc not given by Mr. 
 Palmer. Other Australian tribes have, 
 
 like the Mycoolon, two sets of names 
 for the subclasses, one for the men 
 and the other for the women ; but the 
 female names are sometimes merely 
 variants of the male names. See 
 above, pp. 268, 269, 397 note^, 407 
 note', 415 note^ 417 note^, 418 
 
 note 1, 420 note ' 
 note ',463 note '. 
 
 424 note', 431 
 
520 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 Or if, for the sake of simplicity, the feminine forms of 
 the subclass names be omitted, the table will stand thus : — 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 * { 
 « { 
 
 Bathingo 
 Jimalingo 
 Yowingo 
 Marringo 
 
 Yowingo 
 Marringo 
 Bathingo 
 Jimalingo 
 
 Marringo 
 Yowingo 
 Jimalingo 
 Bathingo 
 
 land tribes. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the Mycoolon system, like that 
 of the other Queensland tribes just described, agrees 
 essentially with the Kamilaroi system of New South Wales. 
 It consists of two exogamous classes or moieties and four 
 subclasses with descent in the female line, children belonging 
 to their mother's class and to her complementary or twin 
 subclass ; so that we have direct female descent of the 
 classes and indirect female descent of the subclasses. 
 Equivalent Equivalent subclasses under different names are found 
 in'other^ also among other Queensland tribes. Thus the Woolangama 
 Queens- at Normanton (who came originally from between Spear 
 Creek and Croydon) call the subdivisions Rara, Ranya, 
 Awunga, and Loora, these being equivalent respectively to 
 the Koopooroo, Woongko, Koorkilla, and Bunburi of the 
 Pitta-Pitta. The Koreng-Koreng of the Miriam Vale, south 
 of Gladstone, name them Deroin, Balgoyn, Bunda, and 
 Barung ; while a number of tribes, such as the Taroombul 
 at Rockhampton, the Duppil at Gladstone, the Karoonbara 
 at Rosewood and Yaamba, the Rakivira at Yeppoon, the 
 Bouwiwara at Marlborough, and the Koomabara at Torilla, 
 all agree in naming the subclasses Koorpul, Koodala, 
 Karalbara, and Munnul for the males, and Koorpulan, 
 Koodalan, Karalbaran, and Munnulan for the females. 
 These equivalent names for the subclasses may be tabulated 
 as follows : — ^ 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, Notes on Social and (paper read before the Royal Society 
 Individual Nomenclature among certain of Queensland, November 13th, 1897, 
 North. Queensland Aborigines, • p. 3 separate reprint). 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 521 
 
 Pitta-Pitta, etc. 
 
 Woolangama. 
 
 Koreng-Koreng. 
 
 Toorambul, Duppil, etc. 
 
 Koopooroo 
 Woongko 
 jKoorkilla 
 \Bunburi 
 
 Rara 
 Ranya 
 Awunga 
 Loora 
 
 Deroin 
 Balgoyn 
 Bunda 
 Barung 
 
 Koorpul 
 Koodala 
 Karalbara 
 Munnul 
 
 Although the names of the subclasses vary in some of Equiva- 
 these Queensland tribes, yet under different names these ^.^j^^^^f^'^^ 
 exogamous divisions are treated by the natives themselves sions in 
 as equivalent to each other even in tribes that live far apart, frjti^*"' 
 On this subject Mr. Palmer says : " There is no well- 
 authenticated instance with which I am acquainted of 
 any Australian blacks who were without one form or 
 another of divisions into classes ; where such divisions 
 have been believed to be absent it has been from the 
 want of their being discovered by the observer, and not 
 from their non-existence. The blacks are born into these 
 divisions, and are reared up with the idea instilled into them 
 that it is necessary for them to observe as sacred the class 
 rules ; indeed, to many it would be like sacrilege to marry 
 contrary to these established rules. They do not give any 
 traditions as to when these rules were first introduced, the 
 fact being that they have carried the idea of the divisions 
 with them through all their wanderings since they first settled 
 in Australia. It seems strange, but is perhaps not unaccount- 
 able, that the classes and their divisions found in all the 
 tribes correspond with each other, although differing in name 
 or in totem, over localities separated from each other by 
 hundreds of miles. 
 
 " Like all other Australian tribes, those of the Gulf 
 of Carpentaria are divided into separate divisions. Taking 
 the Mycoolon tribes as an instance, adjoining tribes have 
 the same class names, and have totems having the same 
 meaning. Tribes at a greater distance have a different 
 set of divisions, with distinguishing totems for each class. 
 In cases of distant tribes it can be shown that the class 
 divisions correspond with each other, as, for instance, in 
 the class divisions of the Flinders River and Mitchell 
 
522 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST A USTRALIA chaF. 
 
 River tribes ; and these tribes are separated by four hundred 
 miles of country, and by many intervening tribes. But 
 for all that, class corresponds to class in fact, and in 
 meaning, and in privileges, although the name may be 
 quite different, and the totems of each dissimilar. Some 
 tribes have males and females of the same name, while 
 others have separate class names for males and females. It 
 is well known now that from Moreton Bay to the shores of the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria, a distance of over fifteen hundred miles 
 in length, and for seven hundred miles inland, or even to a 
 much greater distance, the blacks are divided into divisions 
 for the purpose of preventing too close connections in 
 marriage, and that all these divisions correspond with each 
 other. Thus a blackfellow from one of the most southern 
 tribes could easily tell from what division he could obtain a 
 wife if he were to visit a tribe in the far north, if such a visit 
 could be effected, and he were received by them." ^ 
 Meaning The meaning of the names of the subclasses in these 
 
 names of Queensland tribes has not been reported either by Mr. W. E. 
 the classes Roth or by Mr. E. Palmer, our chief authorities on the 
 classed. subject. Indeed Mr. Roth tells us that he could not ascer- 
 tain it.^ But on the other hand he points out that the 
 names of the two moieties or primary classes (Ootaroo and 
 Pakoota) bear a resemblance to the Pitta-Pitta numerals 
 for " one " and " two," namely oorooroo and pakoola? If this 
 etymology should prove to be correct, it would favour the 
 view that the moieties or primary classes are not totemic, 
 but that they originated in a simple bisection of the tribe 
 which was devised and carried out for the purpose of regu- 
 lating marriage.* Further research into the nomenclature of 
 the classes and subclasses of Australian tribes might perhaps 
 lead to the discovery of other names borrowed from simple 
 numerals. 
 Mr. Roth The preceding account of the exogamous divisions 
 
 fin? "°' among the tribes of North-West-Central Queensland proves 
 that they are organised on the regular four-class system 
 
 ' E. Palmer, "Notes on some ' ^ V^.'E. V-oth, Ethnological Studies, 
 
 AMStxs\\a.n Tnhes," Journal of the An- p. 57. 
 
 thropological Institute, xiii. (18^4) pp. 3 Op. cit. pp. 26, 56. 
 
 299 sq. 4 See above, pp. 282 sqq. 
 
 totemism 
 in Queens- 
 land. 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 523 
 
 with descent in the maternal line. But whereas the ordinary 
 Australian tribe is further subdivided into clans, each with 
 its totem or totems, no such totemic clans have been found 
 by Mr. W. E, Roth to exist among the tribes of North- 
 West-Central Queensland.^ It is possible, however, that they 
 exist but have escaped his attention. For totem clans of the 
 ordinary type, with hereditary totems and a rule of exogamy, 
 apparently occur in some of the Queensland tribes,^ and 
 wherever the organisation in exogamous classes exists in 
 Australia we expect to find the totemic organisation under- 
 lying it. 
 
 Moreover, another careful observer, Mr. Edward Palmer, Elaborate 
 has reported totemism as existing among some of the food ^iwos 
 Queensland tribes which possess the very same exogamous strictly 
 subclasses that are recorded by Mr. Roth. His evidence byThe^ 
 will be adduced presently. Meantime it is important to exogamous 
 note that Mr. Roth himself has discovered and described in Queens- 
 among the Queensland tribes an elaborate system of food '^°'^- 
 taboos, which, while they resemble the food taboos observed 
 by totemic clans, yet differ from them in two remarkable 
 respects. For in the first place the social groups which 
 observe them are not totemic clans but the four exogamous 
 subclasses ; and in the second place each group (in this 
 case, each subclass) has not, like an ordinary totemic clan, 
 only one forbidden food, whether animal or vegetable, on 
 the contrary it has regularly several or even many tabooed 
 articles of diet, from all of which every member of the sub- 
 class is expected rigorously to abstain under severe penalties. 
 These taboos are imposed on men and women as soon as 
 
 ' Mr. Roth says: "So far, I have in the animals, etc., forbidden to the 
 
 met with no examples of totemism in different exogamous groups, and to a 
 
 Northern or North - West - Central far less degree to women and children 
 
 Queensland " (Notes on Social and generally, and to the novices tempor- 
 
 Individual Nomenclature among certain arily at the initiation ceremonies." See 
 
 North Queensland Aboriginals, f^. 11 W. E. Roth, "On certain Initiation 
 
 sg.). In his latest published work Ceieraonies," NortA Queensland £tA>io- 
 
 Mr. Roth modifies this statement as graphy. Bulletin No. 12 (Sydney, 
 
 follows: "By totemism I understand 1909), p. 168. In this passage by 
 
 a certain connection between an animal " exogamous groups " Mr. Roth means 
 
 or plant, or group of animals or plants, wh»J I call the subclasses, 
 and an individual or group of individuals 
 
 respectively, and judged by this standard, ^ For example, in the Kuinmurbura, 
 
 the only totemism discoverable through- Kongulu, and Wakelbura tribes. See 
 
 out North Queensland is that met with above, pp. 417, 421, 422 sq. 
 
524 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 they have passed through the first initiation ceremony. The 
 forbidden foods are nearly all animals ; indeed Mr. Roth at 
 first reported that after very careful search he could find no 
 plants, trees, fruits, shrubs, and grasses laid under an inter- 
 dict. However, in a later publication, as we shall see, he 
 mentions the stinging-tree among the things associated with, 
 and therefore probably tabooed to, one of the exogamous 
 subclasses. While the members of each subclass are strictly 
 forbidden to eat certain species of animals, they are not 
 necessarily prohibited from killing them. The list of 
 tabooed foods is constant for each subclass throughout a 
 tribe, but it varies for corresponding subclasses in different 
 tribes, and these variations appear to be well known to the 
 more intelligent natives. For example, a man of the 
 Koopooroo subclass in the Pitta-Pitta tribe has not the 
 same restrictions on his diet as a man of the same Koopooroo 
 subclass in the neighbouring Mitakoodi tribe at Cloncurry.^ 
 These taboos are rigorously observed and enforced. " Upon 
 this point," says Mr. Roth, " these aboriginals appear to be 
 extremely particular, and should one of them wilfully 
 partake of that which is ' tabooed,' he is firmly convinced 
 that sickness, probably of a fatal character, will overtake 
 him, and that certainly it would never satisfy his hunger. 
 Should such a delinquent be caught red-handed by his 
 fellow-men, he would in all probability be put to death." ^ 
 Foods Lists of animals which are forbidden as food to the 
 
 to'^the ^° various subclasses have been recorded by Mr. Roth. They 
 subclasses, may be tabulated as follows : — ^ 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, Notes on Social and logical Studies, p. 57' 
 Individiml Nomenclature among certain ^ ^_ ^ ^^^^ Ethnological Studies, 
 
 North Qtteensland Aboriginals, pp. 3 . 
 
 sq. (paper read before the Royal r- j/- 
 
 Society of Queensland, November 13, ^ ^. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, 
 
 1897, separate reprint) ; id., Ethno- pp. 57 ^1- 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 525 
 
 Pitta-Pitta Tribe (Boulia District) 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Tabooed Animals (Totems?). 
 
 ' Koopooroo 
 Woongko 
 
 (Koorkilla 
 Bunburi | 
 
 iguana, whistler-duck, black-duck, " blue-fellow " 
 crane, yellow dingo, and small yellow fish 
 " with-one-bone-in-him." 
 
 scrub-turkey, eagle-hawk, bandicoot or "bilbi," 
 brown snake, black dingo, and "white alto- 
 gether" duck. 
 
 kangaroo, carpet-snake, teal, white-bellied brown- 
 headed duck, various kinds of "diver" birds, 
 " trumpeter " fish, and a kind of black bream. 
 
 emu, yellow snake, golah parrot, and a certain 
 species of hawk. 
 
 Kalkadoon Tribe (Leichhardt-Selwyn Ranges) 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Tabooed Animals (Totems ?). 
 
 /• Patingo j 
 ( = Koopooroo) 1 
 
 Kunggilungo I 
 ( = Woongko I 
 
 ■ Marinungo [ 
 ( = Koorkilla) ] 
 
 Toonbeungo 
 ( = Btmburi) 
 
 :o r 
 
 emu, carpet-snake, brown-snake, mountain-snake, 
 etc., porcupine, wallaby, rat, opossum, and 
 " mountain " kangaroo. 
 
 emu, carpet - snake, brown - snake, " mountain " 
 snake, porcupine, "mountain" kangaroo, wallaby, 
 opossum, "sugar-bag" {i.e. honey), and various 
 fish. 
 
 pelican, whistler-duck, black duck, turkey, " plain " 
 kangaroo {i.e. living on the plains), and certain 
 kinds of fish. 
 
 whistler - duck, wood -duck, "native companion," 
 " plain " kangaroo, rat, bandicoot, and carpet- 
 snake. 
 
 MiTAKOODi Tribe (Cloncurry District) 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Tabooed Animals (Totems?). 
 
 1 Koopooroo . 
 
 (Woongko . 
 
 Koorkilla . 
 
 Bunburi 
 
 principally iguana, whistler- duck, and carpet-snake. 
 
 „ porcupine, emu, and kangaroo. 
 
 „ water-snake, corella, eagle-hawk, black- 
 duck, and turkey, 
 principally carpet-snake and dingo. 
 
526 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 WOONAMURRA TRIEE (FLINDERS DISTRICT) 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Tabooed Animals (Totems?). 
 
 JKoopooroo . 
 \Woongko 
 Koorkilla . 
 
 Bunburi 
 
 principally carpet-snake and emu. 
 
 ? 
 
 „ eagle-hawk, black-snake, and brown- 
 snake, 
 principally black-duck and turkey. 
 
 GOA Tribe (Upper Diamantina) 
 
 Subclass. 
 
 Tabooed Animals (Totems?). 
 
 Koopooroo 
 
 emu and kangaroo. 
 
 Animals, Among the natives of the Proserpine River the four 
 
 etc°'a'sso- subclasses bear the names Kupuru, Wungko, Kurchilla, and 
 ciated Banbari, which are practically identical with the Koopooroo, 
 Tubci^ses Woongko, Koorkilla, and Bunburi of the Pitta-Pitta ; and 
 on the associated with each subclass are certain animals, plants, or 
 River."^^'"^ Other objccts, which, so far as they are edible, are probably 
 tabooed to the members of the respective subclass. The 
 list of these associated or tabooed objects is this : — ^ 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Associated Objects (Totems?). 
 
 Kupuru 
 
 Wungko 
 J Kurchilla . 
 1 Banbari 
 
 stinging-tree, emu, eel, turtle, 
 wind, rain, brown-snake, carpet-snake, 
 rainbow, opossum, ground-iguana, frilled lizard, 
 honey, sting-ray, bandicoot, eagle-hawk. 
 
 An inspection of the foregoing tables may suffice to 
 convince us that the restrictions in respect of food which 
 
 1 W. E. Roth, North Queensland stiiion, Magic, and Medicine CSn&hant, 
 Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5, Super- 1903), p. 21. 
 
m TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 527 
 
 such a system of taboos lays on every member of a subclass The food 
 
 must be much more burdensome than those which are ^'^"^ 
 
 imposed on members of an ordinary totemic clan ; for exogamous 
 
 whereas the members of a totemic clan have as a rule to ™ Qu^eS- 
 
 abstain only from one sort of animal or plant, members of '^nd seem 
 
 these subclasses have each to abstain from several or even totemism 
 
 many sorts of animals under pain of death. The question •" decay:. 
 
 11 • TT • 1 • 1 • 1 1 1 . "'e sub- 
 
 naturally arises, How is this multiplex, abnormal totemism, classes 
 
 as we may call it, of the subclasses, related to the simple, '*^^* 
 
 normal totemism of the clans ? Has it been developed out superseded 
 
 of that system by the absorption of the totemic clans in the *an's°and"^ 
 
 subclasses ? or does it on the contrary represent an earlier inherited 
 
 stage in the evolution of totemism, a stage out of which in taboos. 
 
 process of time the normal totemism of the clans might 
 
 have been evolved by a segmentation of the exogamous 
 
 subclasses 1 In short, is the totemism of the subclasses 
 
 totemism in decadence or totemism in germ ? If one of 
 
 these solutions is true, it appears to me that the probabilities 
 
 are all in favour of the former, that is, of the view that the 
 
 totemism of the subclasses is decadent, and that it has been 
 
 produced by the absorption of the old totem clans in the 
 
 newer exogamous classes. For we have seen grounds for 
 
 believing that the original organisation of the Australian 
 
 tribes was in totemic clans, and that the exogamous classes 
 
 were introduced later for the purpose of regulating marriage 
 
 by barring the union of persons too near of kin.^ If that is 
 
 so, it would be contrary to all analogy to suppose that the 
 
 subclasses of these Queensland tribes represent a stage of 
 
 social evolution prior to the development of the totemic 
 
 clans, that they are, so to say, the hive from which totemic 
 
 clans in time might have swarmed, if the process of evolution 
 
 had not been rudely interrupted by the coming of the white 
 
 race. Far more likely is it that the weight of the newer 
 
 social organisation in exogamous classes has crushed the 
 
 old totem clans out of existence, while at the same time it 
 
 has inherited from them the system of totemic taboos, which, 
 
 no longer distributed among a number of small separate 
 
 groups (the clans) so as to sit lightly on all, are now heaped 
 
 together and press heavily on every member of the newer 
 
 1 See above, pp. 162 sq., 251 sq.^ 257 sq. 
 
land. 
 
 528 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 and larger group (the subclass) which has superseded and 
 obliterated its predecessors. In point of fact we have 
 already detected among the northern tribes of Central 
 Australia, whose totemism is more advanced than that of 
 the true central tribes, clear traces of a gradual supersession 
 of the totemic clans by the exogamous classes.^ It is, 
 therefore, natural enough to find the same process of develop- 
 ment carried a stage further among the neighbouring tribes 
 of North- Western Queensland. 
 Mr. But I have said that the existence of totemism of the 
 
 evide^c ^ normal sort in these Queensland tribes appears to be vouched 
 as to the for by an excellent observer, Mr. Edward Palmer. Let us 
 totemism" '^'^^ ^°°^ ^"^ '^'^ evidence closely and see whether it really 
 in Queens- conflicts with that of Mr. Roth, who finds no instances of 
 normal totemism, that is, of totemic clans, in this region. 
 
 That totemism exists among the tribes of North- Western 
 Queensland certainly appears to be attested by Mr. E. Palmer, 
 who says : " They have a great reverence for the particular 
 animal symbolising their respective classes, and if any one were 
 to kill say, a bird belonging to such a division in the sight of 
 the bearer of its family name, he might be heard to say, 
 ' What for you kill that fellow ? that my father 1 ' or ' That 
 brother belonging to me you have killed ; why did you 
 do it ? ' " ' 
 
 Again, we have seen that the subclasses of the Yerrun- 
 thuUy and Ringa-Ringa tribes of Queensland bear the same 
 names as the subclasses of the Pitta-Pitta and other tribes 
 described by Mr. Roth.^ Now, according to Mr. Palmer, 
 the subclasses of the YerrunthuHy tribe on the Flinders 
 River " are represented by totems," which are reported as 
 follows : — * 
 
 1 See above, pp. 225, 227 sq., 235 ^ Above, p. 517. 
 sq. 
 
 2 E. Palmer, "Notes on some * E. Palmer, "Notes on some 
 Australian Tribes," Journal of the Australian Tribes," Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) 
 p. 300. p. 302. 
 
TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 
 
 529 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Bunbury . 
 Coobaroo . 
 
 Koorgielah 
 Woonco . 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Carpet-snake 
 Brown snake 
 Emu . 
 Plain turkey 
 Native dog 
 Whistling-duck 
 
 Tharoona 
 
 Warrineyah 
 
 Goolburry 
 
 Bergamo 
 
 Cubburah 
 
 Chewelah 
 
 The totems of the Ringa-Ringa tribe on the Burke River, 
 according to Mr. J. Lett, are said to be these : — ^ 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totem Names. 
 
 Goorkela ) 
 Bunbury j 
 
 Turkey, emu, iguana. 
 
 Wonko 1 
 Coobooroo J 
 
 Carpet-snake, death adder, native cat, kan- 
 garoo, rat. 
 
 Again, we have seen that the subclasses of the Mycoolon 
 tribe of Queensland bear the same names as the subclasses of 
 the Miubbi tribe described by Mr. Roth.^ In regard to the 
 Mycoolon we learn from Mr. Palmer that " each class name 
 has a symbol or totem in this tribe, or animal representing 
 that class. Each young lad is strictly forbidden to eat of 
 that animal or bird which belongs to his respective class, 
 for it is his brother. The classes are represented as 
 follows : — 
 
 Marringo . 
 Yowingo 
 
 Bathingo 
 Jimalingo 
 
 . Black duck 
 
 Karrabah 
 
 f Plain turkey 
 ■ 1 Eagle-hawk 
 
 Thoorna 
 Cooreythilla 
 
 f Carpet-snake 
 ■ ( Iguana 
 
 . Koorema 
 . Yangolah 
 
 . Whistling-duck . 
 
 . Wallatho 
 
 ' Mr. Jno. Lett, Burke River, 
 Queensland, reported by Dr. A. W. 
 Howitt in Journal of the Anthropo- 
 
 VOL. 1 
 
 logical Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 337. 
 2 Above, pp. 518, 519. 
 
530 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 " On the Leichhardt River, Jimalingo is represented by 
 Wootharoo, whose totem is catfish." ^ 
 On the The question now arises, Does the foregoing evidence 
 
 whole it Qf Messrs. Palmer and Lett as to the totems of the Yerrun- 
 
 seems that ... , 
 
 in North- thully, Ringa-Ringa, and Mycoolon tribes suffice to establish 
 
 Queens- f^*" ^hese tribcs the existence of totemic clans of the ordinary 
 
 land pattern ? It appears to me that it does not. In every case 
 
 totemism the totemic animal is associated with an exogamous subclass, 
 of the clans precisely as in Mr. Roth's fuller account of the system. 
 
 super- There is nothing to shew that, as in other Australian tribes, 
 
 seded by ^he totcms are inherited by every person directly from his 
 
 totemism . 
 
 of the father or mother, so as to remain constant from generation 
 exogamous j.q generation, while the twin subclasses alternate in alternate 
 
 subclasses, " 
 
 generations. To say this is simply to say that there is no 
 
 proof of the existence of true totemic clans in these particular 
 
 tribes. Therefore we have no reason to assume that the 
 
 evidence of Messrs. Palmer and Lett conflicts with that of 
 
 Mr. Roth on this subject ; and as Mr. Roth has investigated 
 
 the question fully, and appears moreover to be a careful and 
 
 accurate observer, it is difficult to suppose that totemic clans 
 
 of the ordinary sort could have escaped his observation if they 
 
 really existed. The conclusion of the whole matter is that 
 
 among the tribes of North- West Queensland the old totemism 
 
 of the clans has apparently been superseded by a new and 
 
 more burdensome totemism of the exogamous subclasses. 
 
 The same In the light of the foregoing discussion it seems possible 
 
 Iferifa^^^ that as to some tribes of South-East Australia Dr. Howitt's 
 
 have native informants may after all have been right in affirming 
 
 in^ot'ber^ that the totems were permanently attached to the subclasses 
 
 Australian and did not alternate between them in alternate generations, 
 
 tribes 
 
 as Dr. Howitt thought they must do.^ For in these tribes, 
 as apparently in the Queensland tribes which we are con- 
 sidering, the totemic clans may have been absorbed in the 
 exogamous subclasses, bequeathing to them their totemic 
 
 1 E. Palmer, "Notes on some above, pp. 516, 518 note 1. 
 Australian Tribes," Journal of the ^ ^^g jq tjjjj alternation or oscillation 
 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) of the totems between the subclasses in 
 
 p. 303. Wootharoo as the name of a alternate generations, see above, pp. 
 
 subclass is probably identical with 408 sq., 419, 433 sq. 
 Ootaroo (Woodaroo)^ the name of a ' See above, pp. 433 sq. 
 
 class in some Queensland tribes. See 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 531 
 
 taboos, so that the totems, instead of oscillating between two 
 subclasses in alternate generations, would come to rest 
 finally in one of them. For with totemism of the subclasses 
 instead of the clans these oscillations or alternations 
 necessarily cease ; the totems become permanently attached 
 each to its particular subclass, 
 
 A point of great interest in these totemic taboos of the The 
 subclasses is that they only come into force when the boy or t°bo™rof 
 girl has passed through the first ceremony of initiation,^ in the sub- 
 other words, has attained to puberty and been allowed to come^lnto'' 
 rank with the men or women of the tribe. Strange as it fo''<=e when 
 may seem, observers have in general failed to record whether gjri has 
 the ordinary taboo as to eating the totemic animal or plant passed 
 
 ir ir,.,i through 
 
 applies to every member of a totem clan from birth or only the first 
 from puberty. We know indeed that many kinds of food '=^''.e™°"y 
 are tabooed to a youth before or at initiation ; ^ but so far tion. 
 as I remember we are not told whether among the foods so 
 tabooed is his totemic animal or plant. The point may be 
 of great importance for an understanding of totemism. For 
 if it should appear that the prohibition to eat the totem 
 only begins to be observed by men and women when they 
 become marriageable, this would be a strong argument in 
 favour of the intimate relation between what I have called 
 the religious and the social side of totemism ; since in the 
 life of the individual the two characteristic commands of 
 normal totemism, " Thou shalt not eat thy totem," and 
 "Thou shalt not marry a woman of thy totem," would 
 then come into operation simultaneously and might there- 
 fore reasonably be thought to be mutually interdependent. 
 Whereas, if the prohibition to eat the totem begins to be 
 observed in infancy, this would favour the view, to which the 
 Australian evidence seems to point, that the prohibition was 
 originally independent of the prohibition to marry a woman 
 of the same totem. It is to be hoped that information on 
 this subject may yet be forthcoming before it is too late. 
 
 ' This is expressly stated by Mr. W. into force for every individual " as soon 
 
 E. Roth in his Notes on Social and as he or she arrives at the necessar)' 
 
 Individual Nomenclature among certain age," by which, however, he probably 
 
 North Queensland Aboriginals, p. 3. means puberty. 
 Elsewhere (Ethnological Studies, p. 
 
 57) he merely says that the taboos come ^ See above, pp. 40-42. 
 
532 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 Benefits In some of these Queensland tribes thunder, rain, wind, 
 
 by"th"^'^ rainbow, stinging-tree, and honey are included among the 
 
 totems. totems, if we may call them so, of the subclasses ; and the 
 
 totems, whether animals or things, are supposed to benefit the 
 
 men and women in various ways, provided they be duly called 
 
 upon at the proper times. The practice of thus invoking the 
 
 totems is described by Mr. Roth as follows : — 
 
 Custom of " Calling upon namesakes, etc., before going to sleep, etc. — 
 
 upon^ On the Tully River, also, whenever a man (or woman) lies 
 
 name-sake down and Stretches himself for a spell, or on going to sleep, 
 
 animals, . . _ . , . , , ^ 
 
 etc., in or on ansmg of a mornmg, he mentions m more or less oi 
 order to an Undertone, the name of the animal, etc., after which he is 
 
 ensure sue- . , . . . r ■ 
 
 cess in the Called, or belonging to his group-division, prefixing it with 
 chase or wintcha ? wintcha ? { = where ? where ?). If there is any 
 
 to obtam . _ ^ ' •' 
 
 warning of particular noise, cry, or call connected with such name, he 
 danger. j^^y. jnimic it. The objects aimed at in carrying out this 
 practice, which is taught by the elders to the youngsters 
 as soon as they are considered old enough to learn such 
 things, are that they may be lucky and skilful in hunting, 
 and be given full warning as to any danger which might 
 otherwise befall them from the animal, etc., after which they 
 are named. If a man, named after a fish, thus regularly 
 calls upon it, he will be successful, in catching plenty on 
 some future occasion, should he be hungry. If an individual 
 neglects to call the thunder, rain, etc., provided of course 
 they are his name-sakes, he will lose the power of making 
 them. Snakes, alligators, etc., will never interfere with 
 their name-sakes, provided they are thus always called upon, 
 without giving a warning — a ' something ' which the 
 aboriginal feels in his belly, a tingling in his thighs or legs, 
 etc. If the individual neglects to do so, it is his own fault 
 that he is bitten or caught. This calling upon name-sakes 
 is not supposed to benefit the women very much. If people 
 were to call upon others than their name-sakes, under the 
 circumstances above mentioned, it would bear no results 
 either for good or harm. 
 
 " A similar practice prevails on the Proserpine River, 
 where the native, before going to sleep, calls upon one or 
 other of the names of the animals, plants, or other objects 
 connected with his particular primary group-division, thus : — 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 533 
 
 " Kurchilla : rain-bow, opossum, ground-iguana, frilled lizard. 
 
 " Kupuru : stinging-tree, emu, eel, turtle. 
 
 " Banbari : honey, sting-ray, bandicoot, eagle-hawk. 
 
 •" Wungko : wind, rain, brown-snake, carpet-snake. 
 
 "In reply to inquiries, the reason given me is that when 
 called upon they warn the people, who have summoned 
 them, of the advent of other animals, etc., during sleep." ' 
 
 From this account it appears that by observing certain Thus men 
 rules a man, whose name-sake or totem, if we may call h^v™ power 
 it so, is thunder or rain, can make thunder or rain ; over their 
 that a man whose totem is a fish can catch plenty off^/^nta 
 that sort of fish ; that a man whose totem is a snake and other 
 or an alligator will not be bitten by a snake or an tribes. 
 alligator, and so forth. In other words, the man is appar- 
 ently credited with possessing a magical control over his 
 totem species, whether the totem be an animal or a thing, 
 so that if the animal be edible he can catch plenty of the 
 species ; if it be a dangerous creature, it will not harm him ; 
 and if it be an inanimate object like thunder or rain, he can 
 produce it at pleasure. Similarly, as we have seen, in the 
 Arunta and other tribes of Central Australia the men of the 
 various totem clans perform magical ceremonies {intichiumd) 
 for the multiplication of their totem animals and plants in 
 order that these may serve as food for their fellow-tribesmen ; 
 while the men of the totem themselves abstain, as a rule, 
 from eating of their totem animal or plant.^ 
 
 But here a difficulty arises. For Mr. Roth has told us Difficulty 
 that the Queensland natives strictly abstain, under pain of J,^^^g°]JJj. 
 death, from eating the edible animals associated with their Roths 
 particular subclasses or paedo-matronymic groups, as he calls ° * *""*" 
 them. Yet in the passage just quoted he seems to affirm 
 that men may kill and eat such animals, indeed that they 
 possess a special power of catching them. How is the 
 apparent discrepancy to be explained ? The work from 
 which the latter passage (about the killing of the animals) is 
 extracted was published some six years later than the work 
 from which the former passage (about the forbidden foods) 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, North Queensland 1903), pp. 20 sq. 
 Ethnography, Bulletin No. j, Super- ^ See above, pp. 104^;;., 183 jyy., 
 
 stition. Magic, and Medicine (Brisbane, 2 1 4 j ??. 
 
534 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 was extracted ; and in the interval Mr. Roth may very well 
 have ascertained that the rule against eating the totem (if 
 we may call it so) was not so absolute as he had at first sup- 
 posed ; he may possibly have discovered that, just as among 
 the Central Australian tribes, there are circumstances in 
 which the clansmen are permitted or even required to eat 
 their clan totem. In that case, the analogy between the 
 magical aspect of the totems in Queensland and in Central 
 Australia would be fairly complete. 
 The name- But the solution of the difficulty may perhaps lie in a 
 areinTOked different direction. It will be observed that while Mr. Roth 
 may be speaks of the animal or thing in question as " belonging to 
 individual ^is group-division," he also speaks of it as the man's namesake. 
 totems Thus it is possible that the animal or thing which the man 
 clan calls upon and which benefits him in various ways, may not 
 
 totems. bg ^-jjg totem of his subclass, but merely an object speci- 
 ally associated with him as an individual ; in fact that it 
 may be his individual or personal totem or guardian 
 spirit. That there are such personal totems or guardian 
 spirits in Queensland, as in other parts of Australia,^ 
 appears from Mr. Roth's account of the individual names 
 Mode of bestowed on boys and girls at birth. He says : " At 
 nameron Princess Charlotte Bay, Cape Bedford, on the Proserpine 
 children at River, etc., the choice of an infant's pet name depends upon 
 augury. The mother's mother, or other old female, takes a 
 small portion of the navel-string, with after-birth attached, 
 and keeps shaking it pretty violently while the other old 
 women sitting around call out proposed names one after the 
 other : the moment the string breaks, the name which was 
 then called is chosen. From the fact, however, at the Cape, of 
 the same names occurring in the same family, there is every 
 reason for believing that there is some collusion when the 
 navel-string becomes finally torn. On the Bloomfield, certain 
 of the women will come round the child soon after its birth, 
 talk to it somewhat as follows : — ' Your name is the same 
 as mine, isn't it, dear ? ' and accept the kicking of a leg, the 
 turning of the head, a gurgling in the throat — in fact, any- 
 thing on the part of the infant as a sign or token of affirma- 
 tion. The name thus given to a child is either that of an 
 
 1 See above, pp. 448 sq., 489 sq., 495. 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 535 
 
 animal, plant, locality, or that of some relative (a name 
 already known, but the meaning of which, in many cases, 
 has been lost). Tully River girls are never named after 
 snakes, fish, or crocodiles. There is no necessarily connect- 
 ing dependence — though I am prepared to admit the 
 possibility of its having once existed — between the child 
 and its name-sake animal, or plant, which in different districts 
 may or may not be destroyed and eaten by it." ^ These 
 animals and plants, which in some districts the human name- 
 sakes may not destroy or eat, are not far removed from personal 
 totems, and in so far as the same names occur, as we are 
 told that they do, in the same family, they approximate also 
 to clan totems. In districts where a man is permitted to 
 destroy and eat his namesake animal, we could understand 
 why he should call upon the creature in order that he may 
 be successful in catching and killing members of the species. 
 
 Something like a personal totem seems also to be in Personal 
 use among the Yaraikanna tribe of Cape York, the extreme |°'^?fn the 
 northern point of Queensland. They call it an ari. A Yaraikanna 
 man has one or more ari, which may be acquired in several cap's York. 
 ways. The ari of a lad is determined at the ceremony of a lad re- 
 initiation into manhood. The youth lies down on his back personal 
 and a man loosens one of his front teeth with a kangaroo ^°^^^ (f") 
 bone. When the tooth is loosened, the operator taps it tooth is 
 smartly, mentioning at each tap one of the " countries " knocked 
 owned by the lad's mother, or by her father, or by another puberty. 
 of her relatives. These names are recited in a regular 
 order, and the country whose name is mentioned when the 
 tooth breaks away is the land to which the lad will belong. 
 The lad is then given some water with which to rinse his 
 mouth, and he gently lets the gory spittle fall into a water- 
 basket made of leaves. The old men carefully inspect the 
 clot of blood and spittle and trace in it some likeness to a 
 natural object, an animal, plant, stone, or whatever it may 
 be. The natural object thus chosen will be the ari of the 
 newly made man. Again, a person may get an ari through 
 a dream. It appears that if an old man dreams of anything 
 at night, that thing is the ari of the first person he sees 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, North Queensland stition. Magic, and Medicine (Brisbane, 
 Ethnography, Bulletin No. j, Super- 1903), p. 19. 
 
536 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 next morning, " the idea being that the animal, or whatever 
 appears in the dream, is the spirit of the first person met 
 with on awakening." Thus a native of the Yaraikanna 
 tribe, Tomari by name, has three ari : ( i ) aru, a crab, which 
 he got through blood divination at initiation ; (2) untara, 
 diamond fish ; (3) alungi, crayfish. The two latter were 
 given to him as the result of dreams. The ari of Tomari's 
 father is a carpet snake, that of his mother an oyster, and 
 that of his wife a kind of fruit. This shows that the ari is 
 not hereditary. Women obtain their ari in the same way 
 as men. " The ari is thus a purely individual affair and is 
 not transmissible, nor has it anything to do with the regula- 
 tion of marriages." ^ In these respects, therefore, the ari 
 resembles the totem of the Central Australians, which in 
 like manner is not transmitted either from the father or 
 from the mother and has nothing to do with the regulation 
 of marriage. 
 Belief of The resemblance thus traceable between what we may 
 
 fath^r""^ call the personal totems {art) of the extreme northerly 
 blacks that point of Australia and the totems of the central tribes is 
 made of Strengthened by the customs and beliefs of the natives of 
 mud and the Pennefather River in Queensland ; for these customs 
 women by and beliefs seem to form an intermediate link between the 
 a being Qjjg ggj gf totems and the other. The Pennefather blacks 
 
 called 
 
 Anjea. think that a being called Anjea, who was originally made 
 by Thunder, fashions babies out of swamp-mud and inserts 
 them in the wombs of women. He is never seen, but can 
 be heard laughing in the depths of the bush, amongst the 
 rocks, down in the lagoons, and along the mangrove swamps ; 
 
 ' A. C. Haddon, Head - hunters, sisters ; which indicates that there is 
 
 Black, White, and Brown (London, a territorial idea in kinship and in 
 
 1901), pp. 193 sg. ; Reports of the the consequent marriage restrictions" 
 
 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition (Head-hunters, p. 194). But this 
 
 to Torres Straits, v. pp. 193, 221. statement is not repeated, so far as I 
 
 In regard to marriage, however, Dr. have observed, in the Reports of the 
 
 Haddon says : " If it was true, as I Cambridge Anthropological Expedition 
 
 was told, that men and women may to Torres Straits. The similarity of 
 
 not marry into the same ari in their the ari to the personal totem (the mani- 
 
 own place, but may do so when away too or okki of some North American 
 
 from home, its sanctity is local rather tribes) has been already indicated by 
 
 than personal. A wife must be taken Dr. Haddon (Head-hunters, p. 194). 
 
 from another ' country,' as all belonging As to the totems of the Central Aus- 
 
 to the same place are brothers and tralians, see above, pp. 187 sqq. 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 537 
 
 and when they hear him, the blacks say, " Anjea he laugh ; 
 
 he got him piccaninny." Women do not know when the 
 
 infants are put inside them, because they may be placed 
 
 in position by day or by night or in a dream ; only when 
 
 they are placed, the women feel them. Now when Anjea Everychiid 
 
 makes the mud-baby, he animates it with a piece of its portion of 
 
 father's spirit ichoi), if it is a boy, but with a piece of the *« spirit 
 
 , . - , , . .... . , , , '^ , , of its father 
 
 spirit of Its fathers sister, if it is a girl ; and when he makes or of its 
 the next little brother or sister, he puts another piece of the fathers 
 spirit of the father or of the father's sister in the mud-baby, and 
 so on. You must not, however, suppose that these portions 
 of spirit are abstracted from the living father or the living 
 father's sister. ' That is not so. What happens is this. When a portion 
 a child is born into the world, a portion of its spirit stays in chjid^j 
 its after-birth. Hence the grandmother takes the after-birth ?p>nt stays 
 away and buries it in the sand, and she marks the place by birth. 
 thrusting sticks in a circle into the ground and tying their 
 tops together into a sort of cone. So when Anjea comes 
 along and sees the circle of sticks, he knows what is there 
 and he takes out the spirit and carries it away to one of 
 his haunts, and there it may remain for years, in a cleft of 
 the rock, in a tree, or in a lagoon. Near Mapoon there Places 
 are three or four such places where Anjea keeps the spirits ^j^^ of^ 
 of babies ready for use. One of them is among the sand- ^^abies stay 
 stone rocks at TuUanaringa, which white people call Cullen reinca^^ ^* 
 Point ; another is on the beach of Baru ; another is among °ated. 
 the rocks of Tronkanguno, at the meeting of the waters of 
 the Batavia and Ducie Rivers ; another is in the woods 
 among the mangrove swamps of Lalla ; and a fourth is in 
 the fresh-water lagoons. There the spirits live till Anjea 
 takes them and puts them into mud-babies, and then they 
 are born again. So when a new baby is born, the father 
 and mother know quite well whose spirit is in it ; for if it 
 is a boy, his father's spirit is in it, and if it is a girl, its 
 father's sister's spirit is in it. But what they do not 
 know is where Anjea has been keeping the spirit all these 
 years. And the way they find that out is this. While the 
 grandmother cuts the navel-string, they call out the haunts 
 of Anjea, whether they be on the beach, or in the lagoons, 
 or in the woods among the mangrove swamps, or in the 
 
538 
 
 TO TEMISM IN NOR TH-EA ST A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 Compari- 
 son of the 
 beliefs of 
 the Penne- 
 father 
 natives 
 with those 
 of the 
 Yaraikanna 
 tribe of 
 Cape York 
 and the 
 tribes of 
 Central 
 Australia. 
 
 rocks at the meeting of the waters, or wherever they may- 
 be ; and the place which is mentioned when the string 
 breaks is the place where the spirit lived all that long time. 
 That place is the child's own country, its true home, where 
 in future it will have the right to roam and to hunt, though 
 it may be far away from the place where it was born. 
 Hence a baby is sometimes spoken of as an infant got from 
 a tree, a rock, a stone, or fresh water.^ 
 
 Thus the mode of determining the country to which a 
 person belongs or which belongs to him is very similar 
 among the Yaraikanna tribe of Cape York and the natives 
 of the Pennefather River ; only in the one case the deter- 
 mination takes place at puberty, in the other case at birth, 
 and accordingly in the one case the decisive moment is the 
 breaking of the tooth, in the other the breaking of the 
 navel-string. From the similarity of the two customs we 
 may fairly infer that the country assigned to a man of the 
 Yaraikanna tribe at the extraction of his tooth is the one in 
 which his spirit was supposed to tarry since its last in- 
 carnation ; and further, though this is more doubtful, we 
 may conjecture that his ari or personal totem, which is 
 determined at the same time, is the animal, plant, or what 
 not, in which his spirit resided since its last embodiment in 
 human form, or perhaps in which a part of his spirit may be 
 thought to lodge during life. In favour of this last con- 
 jecture it may be pointed out that according to the Penne- 
 father blacks a portion of a man's spirit resides permanently 
 in his after-birth and is thus in a sense the man's external 
 
 • W. E. Roth, North Queensland 
 Ethnography, Bulletin No. J, Super- 
 stition, Magic, and Medicine, pp. i8, 
 23. An almost identical belief obtains 
 among the natives of the Proserpine 
 River, on the eastern coast of Queens- 
 land (W. E. Roth, op. cit. p. 18). 
 With the expression an infant " got 
 from a tree or a rock " we may com- 
 pare the Greek phrase oi^i 70/3 dTrJ 
 Zpvli'i iaui iraKauf>6,Tov ou5' d.Trb Trirp-qs 
 (Homer, Odyssey, xix. 163), as to 
 which see A. B. Cook, " Oak and 
 'Ssick," The Classical Review, x v. ( 1 90 1 ) 
 pp. 322 sgg. As to the rights of 
 families or of individuals over special 
 
 districts, Dr. J. D. Lang observes : 
 ' ' The territory of each tribe is sub- 
 divided, moreover, among the different 
 families of which it consists, and the 
 proprietor of any particular subdivision 
 has the exclusive right to direct when 
 it shall be hunted over, or the grass 
 burned, and the wild animals destroyed ; 
 for although there is always a general 
 assembly of the tribe, and sometimes 
 of neighbouring tribes, on such occa- 
 sions, the entertainment is supposed to 
 be provided exclusively by the pro- 
 prietor of the land, who is accordingly 
 master of the ceremonies " (J. D. Lang, 
 Queensland (London, 186 1), p. 336). 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 539 
 
 soul. However that may be, the beliefs of the Pennefather 
 natives in the reincarnation of ancestral spirits seem clearly 
 to be akin to those of the Central Australian tribes ; and 
 the trees, rocks, or water in which Anjea keeps the spirits 
 of the dead till it is time for them to be born again are very 
 like the nanja trees, rocks, or water where, according to the 
 Arunta and other Central tribes, the souls of the dead dwell 
 in the intervals between their incarnations.-' Further, the 
 magical power which the Queensland natives are thought 
 to wield over their namesake animals, plants, or things so as 
 to be able to produce them at pleasure or to catch and kill 
 them,^ bear a striking resemblance to the magical powers 
 which the Central Australians exert over their totems for pre- 
 cisely the same purposes.^ Finally, the ari of the Yaraikanna 
 and the namesakes of the other Queensland tribes resemble 
 the Central Australian totems in this that they appear to have 
 nothing to do with the regulation of marriage.* 
 
 The mode of determining a man's personal totem by the Rites of 
 knocking out of his tooth at puberty may perhaps help us to '"rhaps" 
 understand the motive of the similar ceremony which is so connected 
 commonly observed among the tribes of South - East J^'temism 
 Australia.^ Can it be that the practice of knocking out a and the 
 tooth at initiation was everywhere associated with the reincama- 
 assignment of a personal totem to the novice ? and if this ''°"- 
 was true of the custom of tooth-extraction as an initiatory 
 rite, may it not be true also of the customs of circumcision 
 and subincision ? I have elsewhere conjectured that all such 
 rites, the essence of which seems to consist in removing 
 from the novice a vital part of his person, may have been 
 intended to ensure the rebirth of his spirit at a future time.® 
 
 ' Spencer and Gillen, JVa/jw TWfej view, November 1904, pp. 204-218. 
 
 of Central Australia, pp. 123 sqq. ; id.. In the Queensland tribes described by 
 
 Northern Tribes of Central Australia, Mr. E. Palmer "The custom ofknock- 
 
 pp. 14s sqq., 341, 396; above, pp. ing out the two front teeth is connected 
 
 188 sqq. Can the name Anjea be with the entry into their heaven. If 
 
 connected with the word nanja ? they have the two front teeth out they 
 
 ^ See above, p. 532. will have bright clear water to drink, 
 
 ' See above, pp. 104 sqq., 183 sqq., and if not they will have only dirty or 
 
 Z\\ sqq. muddy water " (E. Palmer, " Notes on 
 
 * See, however, the note on p. 536. some Australian Ti\hes," Journal of the 
 
 ' See above, p. 412 note'. Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) 
 
 •J. G. Frazer, "The Origin of p. 291). 
 
 Circumcision," The Independent Re- 
 
540 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 If there is any truth in these conjectures, it would seem to 
 follow that rites of initiation are intimately connected with 
 totemism and the theory of the reincarnation of the dead. 
 But the precise nature of the connection, if indeed it exists at 
 all, remains still obscure. 
 Subtotems The tribes of North-Western Queensland described by 
 iand"^^°'' ^'■- ^- Palmer appear to have had subtotems ; that is, they 
 apparently distributed all the objects of nature between their 
 exogamous classes, just as some tribes of South- Eastern 
 Australia are known to have done.^ On this subject Mr. 
 Palmer writes : " All nature is also divided into class names, 
 and said to be male and female. The sun and moon and 
 stars are said to be men and women, and to belong to 
 classes just as the blacks themselves." ^ 
 Breaches Among these tribes any breach of the class-laws in 
 
 ciass^iaws fcspect of marriage was punished by the death of the guilty 
 punished pair, the blood -relations on both sides consenting to the 
 ■ execution.^ It was the council of elders which condemned 
 the culprits and despatched its ministers to execute the 
 sentence. Once, on the Bloomfield River, when the criminal 
 escaped the agents of justice, an eiifigy of him was made of 
 soft wood and buried,* no doubt for the purpose of killing 
 Modes of him magically thereby. Wives were obtained in various 
 wive™"^ ways. Sometimes a man would exchange his blood-sister 
 for the blood-sister of another man, provided the women 
 were of the proper classes and subclasses ; but the camp- 
 council had to give its consent unanimously to this 
 arrangement. At other times the camp-council assigned a 
 wife to a man without consulting his wishes. If the council 
 refused to allow a man to marry the woman whom he loved, 
 though she was of the right class and subclass, the two 
 would sometimes elope with each other, and afterwards 
 return as man and wife to the camp. On their return they 
 had to run the gauntlet, the people hacking them with 
 knives and belabouring them with sticks and boomerangs. 
 
 1 See above, pp. 427 sqq., 431 sq., s w. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, 
 451 sqq., 470 sqq. p. 181. 
 
 2 E. Palmer, "Notes on some • W. E. Roth, North Queensland 
 Austrahan Tribes," Journal of the Ethnography, Bulletin No. 8, Notes 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) on Government, Morals, and Crime 
 P- 30°- (Brisbane, 1906), p. 5. 
 
Ill TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 541 
 
 But when they had passed through this ordeal, they were 
 allowed to live together.^ Boys and girls were sometimes 
 betrothed to each other. If a woman was captured or 
 taken in war, she might be kept by her captor, provided 
 she was of the class and subclass into which he was allowed 
 to marry. The tribes made raids into each other's territories 
 to steal women, sometimes going long distances to get 
 them.* Men inherited the widows of their deceased brothers The 
 in accordance with the custom of the Levirate.^ Levirate. 
 
 A man never looked at, spoke to, or approached his Custom of 
 mother-in-law, " but the father-in-law did not come under be°wrenTe- 
 the same restriction." * However, the custom in this lations by 
 respect appears to vary in different tribes of Queensland, as '"*^^®- 
 we learn from the following account, in which the term 
 step-parents is seemingly used in the sense of parents-in-law. 
 "Certain of an individual's relatives are strictly tabu from 
 him, in so much that he may neither approach, converse 
 with, accept from, nor give them anything. This especially 
 refers to the father-in-law and mother-in-law. These and 
 other relationship restrictions are, however, far from constant. 
 Thus, on the Pennefather a man must not look at either of 
 his step-parents, though it is permissible for him to converse 
 with them with face averted ; a woman may talk with both 
 in a natural manner, the business of the mother-in-law here 
 being to attend her in her confinements. At Miriam Vale, 
 south of Rockhampton, and at Boggy Creek, Upper 
 Normanby River, as well as elsewhere, a man may, under 
 certain circumstances, address his step-parents from a 
 distance in a comparative whisper. On the Tully, both 
 male and female talk to the father-in-law either by his 
 individual name, whatever it may be, or by the generic one 
 of ni-ubi ; but their teeth would rot out were they to con- 
 verse with the mother-in-law, though they may speak of her 
 by the generic term of wai-min, but never by her individual 
 name. With the sole exception, perhaps, of those cases 
 where the mother-in-law acts as midwife, the practice of 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, p. 301. As to betrothal, compare W. 
 
 p. igi. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, p. 181. 
 
 * E. Palmer, " Notes on some ' E. Palmer, op. cit. pp. 282, 298. 
 
 Australian Tribes," Journal of the * E. Palmer, op. cit. p. 301 ; \V. 
 
 Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, •p. 182. 
 
542 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST A USTRALIA chap. 
 
 both males and females refusing to touch any food prepared 
 by their step-parents is universal. In some districts it is 
 usual for the wife not even to converse with her husband's 
 blood-brothers, but on the TuUy she may lawfully have 
 marital relations with them ; the converse of husband and 
 wife's blood-sisters, with its corresponding inconstancy, also 
 Custom of holds true. It is the usual practice for a man never to 
 avoidance ^^jj^ ^ j^jg bJood-sister, or sometimcs not even mention her 
 
 between ' 
 
 brothers name, after she has once reached womanhood." This 
 and sisters. ^^g^Qj^ Qf mutual avoidance between blood brothers and 
 sisters from puberty onwards will meet us again in Melanesia 
 and other places. That it is intended as a precaution against 
 incest appears highly probable. 
 The With regard to the government of these tribes we are 
 
 governrai ^old that " there is no hereditary chieftainship, or any one 
 by the possessing authority among the northern tribes, so far as 
 in council. Can be made out ; one man being as good as another. To 
 old men, however, great respect is shown, and whatever 
 authority is acknowledged among them is centred in the 
 aged, on account of their years and grey hairs. All matters 
 connected with their social affairs are settled in open council 
 at night, when each man speaks from his camp in turn, and 
 is listened to without interruption. No young men or lads 
 join in the talk."^ Similarly Mr. Roth says that "the 
 general government of the community is carried on by an 
 assembly of elders, a camp council, as it were, of the elder 
 males : not that this council has any fixed constitution or 
 definite name applied to it, but by common consent it is 
 accepted that all the older males take part in its deliberations, 
 which, after all, are more or less informal. . . . Matters 
 with which such a camp council concerns itself are those 
 connected with the welfare and interests of the tribe 
 collectively, and mainly relate to its external affairs, though 
 events may take place in the home-Hfe which call for 
 interference. The question of peace or war would fall 
 within its province, as well as the conditions for any proposed 
 covenant. Covenants for the extermination of a common 
 
 1 W. E. Roth, North Queensland Museum, vol. vii. No. 2, 1908). 
 Ethnography, Bulletin No. 11, p. 78 
 (extract from Records of the Australian ^ E. Palmer, op. cit. p. 282. 
 
in TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 543 
 
 enemy may be made by two tribes on the basis of settling 
 existing differences between themselves, without having 
 recourse to mutual bloodshed." ^ 
 
 As apparently always happens in aboriginal Australian ciassifica- 
 society, the marriage system of these Queensland tribes is com- o'fTetoio" 
 bined with the classificatory system of relationship. On this ship among 
 subject I will again quote Mr. Edward Palmer. After speaking 'and triSs. 
 of the exogamous classes he proceeds : " The relationships of 
 the natives are founded on these laws : they call their father's 
 brother the same as father, and mother's sister the same as 
 mother. Our ideas of kinship are so different to theirs that 
 calling them uncles or aunts or cousins or sisters or brothers 
 does not convey any such meaning to them as it does to us, 
 for they regard as brothers all those who belong to the same 
 class or division as themselves ; and among all blacks they 
 discover some degree of affinity. They have a clear enough 
 idea of their relationships ; the fault seems to lie with us 
 who do not comprehend theirs. Being founded on such a 
 totally different system to ours, the individual relationship 
 is, I believe, ignored for the sake of the class system. They 
 recognise its relationships ; hundreds of times a black boy 
 has said, ' Such and such a one is my brother,' when I knew 
 that he was not a brother, as we call such a relationship, and 
 the same with father and mother. A blackfellow will say, 
 and will be correct in saying, ' So many are my fathers,' or 
 ' So many mothers I have ' ; he should call them uncles or 
 aunts ; but brought up under the influence of their class 
 system of relationships, it is as difficult for them to under- 
 stand our system as it is for us to get at the secret of theirs. 
 But there can be little doubt but that all their relationships 
 are founded on the class systems or divisions, and they 
 recognise such relationships, and call each other by them. 
 From their earliest youth they comprehend such relationships 
 and know no other." ^ 
 
 Hence in these tribes persons belonging to the same sub- 
 class call each other " brothers " and " sisters," whether they 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, North Qtumsland ^ E. Palmer, " Notes on some Aus- 
 
 Ethnography, Bulletin No. 8, Notes iTaXian Tilbes," journal of tie j4n//tro- 
 
 on Government, Morals, and Crime pological Institute, xiii. (1884) pp. 
 
 (Brisbane, 1906), p. 5. 300 sq. 
 
544 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 The ciassi- are related to them by blood or not : they call the members 
 ficatory gf j.]^gjj. complementary or twin subclass their "mother's 
 
 terms im~ 
 
 ply group brothers " and " mothers," whether they are related to them 
 relation- ]^ blood or not : they call the members of the subclass into 
 
 snips and ^ ^ 
 
 probably which alone they may marry " brothers-in-law " and " sisters- 
 onginated jn-iaw," whether they are married or not : and they call the 
 
 in group ' ^ ^ •' 
 
 marriage, members of the remaining subclass (the complementary or 
 twin subclass of the preceding) their " fathers '' and " father's 
 sisters," whether they are related to them by blood or not. 
 For example, if we take a man of the Koopooroo subclass, 
 he will call members of his own subclass (Koopooroo) his 
 brothers and sisters, because his brothers and sisters are 
 included in it. He will call members of his complementary 
 or twin subclass (Woongko) his mother's brothers and his 
 mothers, because his mother and her brothers are included in 
 it. He will call members of the subclass into which alone he 
 may marry (Kobrkilla) his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, 
 because his wife, present or future, and her brothers and sisters, 
 are included in it. And he will call members of the remaining 
 subclass (Bunburi, the complementary or twin subclass of his 
 wife's subclass) according to their generation either his fathers 
 and father's sisters, or his sons and daughters, because his father 
 and father's sisters, and his own sons and daughters, are in- 
 cluded in it. Thus throughout North- West-Central Queens- 
 land every person, male or female, young or old, is related to 
 every other person in one or other of the following capacities : 
 " brother," "sister," " brother-in-law," "sister-in-law," "mother's 
 brother," "mother," "father," "father's sister," "son," 
 "daughter," and that, too, even when, according to our 
 notions, they are in no way related to each other either by 
 blood or marriage. Hence every person may have, and 
 generally has, many "fathers" and "mothers," as well as 
 " brothers " and " sisters " ; and he or she may be, and 
 commonly is, "son-in-law" or "daughter-in-law" and 
 " father " or " mother " to many men and women, even when 
 he or she is not only unmarried but an infant.^ Thus as 
 
 ' W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies Ittdividual Nomenclature among certain 
 
 amottg the North-West-Central Queens- North Queensland Aboriginals, p. 2: 
 
 land Aborigines, pp. 56, 59 sq., 63 " These terms, mother, father, brother, 
 
 sq. Compa.ie id. , Notes on Social and sister, in addition to their generally 
 
Ill 
 
 TOTEMISM IN NORTH-EAST AUSTRALIA 
 
 545 
 
 usual in the classificatory system relationships are conceived 
 as existing between groups rather than between individuals, 
 and these group relationships are in all probability derived 
 from a system of group-marriage. In some of the Queensland Relic of 
 tribes which we are considering a relic of group-marriage, if m^fage. 
 not of promiscuity, still survives in the rule which obliges 
 every girl at puberty to have intercourse with all the men 
 in the camp, except with her own father and with those 
 who belong to her own subclass ; indeed, even men of her 
 own subclass are allowed access to her, if they belong to 
 another tribe.^ 
 
 As examples of the classificatory terms of relationship ciassifica- 
 which are used by the Queensland aborigines we may take o°7Jat?on- 
 those of the Pitta-Pitta tribe in the Boulia district. In the ship in the 
 generation above his own a Pitta-Pitta man applies the same (^'i^" '"^ 
 term upperi to his father and his father's brothers, both blood 
 and tribal ; and he applies the same term umma to his mother 
 and to his mother's sisters, both blood and tribal. In his 
 own generation he applies the same terms titi and kako to 
 his brothers and sisters and to his first cousins, the sons and 
 daughters of his father's brothers and of his mother's sisters 
 respectively. In the generation below his own he applies 
 the same term uttapeukka to his own children and to the 
 children of his brothers, both blood and tribal.^ 
 
 accepted meaning of relationship by 
 blood, express a class or group-con- 
 nection quite independent of it. Mother 
 is the one and the same name used by 
 an aboriginal to express not only the 
 woman that gave him birth, but also 
 the sisters (matron or virgin) connected 
 with her by blood, as well as the 
 dozens of women connected with her 
 by class or group. . . . Similarly with 
 
 the terms brother, father, sister." 
 
 1 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies 
 among the North- West- Central Queens- 
 land Aborigines, pp. 69, 174. The 
 custom is observed in the Pitta- Pitta and 
 neighbouring tribes of the Boulia, Leich- 
 hardt - Selwyn, and Upper Georgina 
 Districts. 
 
 2 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies, 
 p. 64. 
 
 VOL. I 
 
 2 N 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 Our information with regard to the natives of West 
 Australia is unfortunately very scanty, but it suffices to 
 shew that in its general lines their social organisation 
 resembles that of most other Australian tribes ; for here 
 as elsewhere the tribes appear to be regularly divided into 
 exogamous classes, and perhaps, though that is not so 
 clear, into totem clans. 
 
 § I. Toternism in South- West Australia 
 
 Exogamous The first place apparently at which the exogamous 
 classes classes SO characteristic of the Australian aborigines were 
 
 among the ° 
 
 natives at observed and described was King George's Sound at the 
 Geofge's extreme south-west point of Australia. Here, we are told, 
 Sound. " the whole body of the natives are divided into two classes, 
 Erniung and Tern or Tddman ; and the chief regulation is, 
 that these classes must intermarry, that is, an Erniung with 
 a Tddman. Those who infringe this rule are called Yure- 
 dangers, and are subject to very severe punishment. The 
 children always follow the denomination of the mother. 
 Thus, a man who is Erniung will have all his children 
 Tddman ; but his sister's children will be Erniungs. This 
 practice is common to all the tribes in the neighbourhood, 
 with the exception of the Murrain." ^ " With respect to 
 
 1 "Description of the Natives of of tAe Royal Geographical Society, i. 
 
 King George's Sound (Swan River (1832) pp. 37 sq. Mr. Nind resided 
 
 Colony) and Adjoining Country, written as medical officer at King George's 
 
 by Mr. Scott Nind, and communicated Sound from 1827 to 1829. 
 by R. Brown, Esq., Y.K.S.," Journal 
 
 546 
 
CK. IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 547 
 
 the divisions and subdivisions of tribes, there exists so 
 much intricacy, that it will be long before it can be under- 
 stood. The classes Erniung and Tern are universal near the 
 Sound ; but the distinctions are general, not tribual. Another 
 division, almost as general, is into Moncalon and Torndirrup ; 
 yet there are a few who are neither. These can scarcely 
 be distinguished as tribes, and are very much intermingled. 
 The Moncalon, however, is more prevalent to the eastward 
 of our establishment, and the Torndirrup to the westward. 
 They intermarry, and have each again their subdivisional 
 distinctions, some of which are peculiar, and some general ; 
 of these are Opperheip, Cambieh, Mahnur, etc. 
 
 " What I, however, consider more correctly as tribes. The 
 are those which have a general name and a general district, named"^ 
 although they may consist of Torndirrup or Moncalon, from the 
 separate or commingled. These are, I believe, in some ^^^^ ^^^^^j 
 measure named by the kind of game or food found most most 
 abundant in the district. The inhabitants of the Sound f„ °^ '"^ 
 and its immediate vicinity are called Meananger, probably several 
 derived from mearn, the red root above mentioned and 
 anger, to eat. It is in this district that the mearn is the 
 most abundantly found ; but distant tribes will not eat 
 the mearn, and complain much of the brushy nature of the 
 country — that it scratches their legs. Kangaroos of the 
 larger sort are scarce here, but the small brush kangaroo is 
 plentiful, and grass-trees and Banksia are abundant, as is 
 also, in the proper season, fish. The natives residing on 
 the right, and extending to the coast about North-West 
 Cape, are called Murram. This country, or district, is said 
 to be more fertile, and produces different kinds of edible 
 roots. It affords also more ponds of water, more wild fowl, 
 and more emus. 
 
 "These tribes are also not universally divided into 
 Erniung and Tern, and frequently infringe the rule. 
 Adjoining them inland is the Yobberore. This country 
 appears more hilly and better wooded ; but we have had 
 very little intercourse with the natives who belong to it. 
 Next to them is the Will or Weil district, which is a very 
 favourite country, and may probably be named from Weil 
 or Weit (ants' eggs). . . . Next to the Weil district is that 
 
548 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 of Warrangle or Warranger, from warre (kangaroo), and 
 seems to be of the same character as the Weil, which is 
 chiefly open forest land, with a little short grass, and 
 abounding in kangaroos, opossums, and other animals, as 
 well as many birds, which are not found near the coast. 
 The Corine district — the name of which may be derived 
 from quur (which I believe to be the bush kangaroo) — is 
 said to be very open and nearly free from wood. . . . 
 Descent " Although every individual would immediately announce 
 
 °^*^ to us his tribual name and country, yet we have not been 
 
 exogamous , - , ,^. 
 
 classes. enabled to trace any regular order of descent. The son 
 
 follows his mother as Erniung or Tern, and his father as 
 
 Torndirrup or Moncalon. Beyond this we have not been 
 
 able to penetrate, for half brothers are not unfrequently 
 
 different. This would probably be caused by cross 
 
 marriages. From the same cause also their divisions of 
 
 relationship are very numerous. Etcher, mother ; cuinkur, 
 
 father ; tnourert, brother or sister ; konk or conk, uncle, 
 
 etc., etc. 
 
 Wives '' In their marriage, they have no restriction as to tribe ; 
 
 fromT'^ but it is considered best to procure a wife from the greatest 
 
 distance, distance possible. The sons will have a right to hunt in 
 
 the country from whence the mother is brought. They 
 
 are very jealous as to encroachments on their property, and 
 
 the land is divided into districts, which is the property of 
 
 families or individuals."^ 
 
 General From the foregoing account we may infer that some of 
 
 ''^IT"^^ the tribes of South-West Australia in the neighbourhood 
 
 exogamy of King George's Sound were divided into two exogamous 
 
 tribes^of ^ classes called Erniung and Tem respectively, with descent 
 
 i^'"S in the maternal line : while other tribes appear to have 
 
 Gcorsfs's 
 
 Sound. been divided into two exogamous classes named Torndirrup 
 and Moncalon respectively with descent in the paternal line. 
 Further, it would seem that the tribes with the two primary 
 classes Torndirrup and Moncalon were subdivided into sub- 
 classes, which bore the names of Opperheip, Cambien, Mahnur, 
 etc. Further, the practice of taking wives from as great 
 a distance as possible seems to shew that among these 
 
 1 Scott Nind, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1. (1832) pp. 
 42-44. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SO UTH- WEST A USTRALIA 549 
 
 tribes, as among some of the coast tribes of South- 
 East Australia, a custom of local exogamy was super- 
 added to the custom of class exogamy ; in other words, 
 that a man was bound to marry a woman of another 
 district as well as of another class. However, the in- 
 formation which I have quoted is both vague and meagre, 
 and the only conclusions we can deduce with certainty 
 from it are that exogamous subdivisions existed among 
 the tribes near King George's Sound, and that in some 
 of them these divisions were hereditary in the maternal 
 line. 
 
 Among these tribes polygamy was in vogue, and one Marriage 
 man might have many wives. Gjrls were seemingly at the ^ong^the 
 disposal of their fathers and were generally betrothed in fibes of 
 their infancy or even before birth. The men to whom George's 
 they were betrothed were often middle-aged or old ; indeed Sound. 
 the majority of the men remained single until past thirty 
 years of age, and some of them continued bachelors much 
 longer. The old men, on the other hand, had several wives 
 of all ages. " This state of things is in some measure 
 compensated by what is called tarramanaccarack ; it is, in 
 fact, courting a wife whilst her husband is living, upon the 
 understanding with both parties that she is to be the wife 
 of the lover after the death of the husband. The presents 
 in this case are made to the husband, as well as to the 
 woman ; but what she receives she generally divides with 
 him. This practice is done openly, and permitted ; but it 
 must be carried on in so decorous a manner as not to 
 occasion scandal to the parties, or jealousy to the husband." ' 
 Widows were not uncommonly inherited by the nearest The 
 relations of their deceased husband. When twins were ^evirate. 
 born, one of them was killed ; if the children were of Twins. 
 different sexes, they killed the boy and preserved the girl. 
 The reasons which they gave for destroying a twin were 
 "that a woman has not sufficient milk for two children, 
 and cannot carry them and seek her food." ^ In these Medicine- 
 tribes the men who possessed most influence were the 
 doctors or medicine - men {mulgarradocks) ; they were 
 
 ' Scott Nind, va Journal of the Royal Geographical Socitty, i. {1832) p. 39. 
 » Scott Nind, I.e. 
 
550 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 thought to be able to cause or cure disease, to bring 
 
 down lightning, and to drive away wind or rain." ^ 
 
 Sir George Much fuller and more precise information as to 
 
 account of exogamy and totemism in South - Western Australia is 
 
 totemism furnished by Sir George Grey, formerly Governor of South 
 
 gamyin Australia, whose account was published in 1841. As his 
 
 West account is both lucid and important, I will reproduce it 
 
 entire for the convenience of my readers. Sir George Grey 
 
 was the first to point out the resemblance between the 
 
 totemic systems of Australia and North America. He 
 
 writes as follows : — ^ 
 
 The " Traditional Laws of Relationship and Marriage. — One 
 
 families, Qf ^jjg most remarkable facts connected with the natives, 
 
 clans, or 
 
 classes of is that they are divided into certain great families, all the 
 of^Ves7^^ members of which bear the same names, as a family, or 
 Australia, second name : the principal branches of these families, so 
 far as I have been able to ascertain, are the 
 
 Ballaroke 
 
 Tdondarup 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 Nagarnook 
 
 Nogonyuk 
 
 Mongarlung 
 
 NarrangTir. 
 
 " But in different districts the members of these families 
 give a local name to the one to which they belong, which is 
 understood in that district, to indicate some particular 
 branch of the principal family. The most common local 
 names are, 
 
 Didaroke 
 
 Gwerrinjoke 
 
 Maleoke 
 
 Waddaroke 
 
 Djekoke 
 
 Kotejumeno 
 
 Namyungo 
 
 Yungaree. 
 
 " These family names are common over a great portion 
 of the continent ; for instance, on the Western coast, in a 
 
 ' Scott Nind, op. cit. pp. 41 sq. West and Western Australia during 
 
 ^ George Grey, Journals of two the years iS^y, 38, and 3g (London, 
 Expeditions of Discovery in North- 1841), ii. 225-231, 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH- WEST A USTRAUA 551 
 
 tract of country extending between four and five hundred Wide 
 miles in latitude, members of all these families are found, orthe^"*^ 
 In South Australia, I met a man who said that he belonged f'"""'? 
 to one of them, and Captain Flinders mentions Yungaree, 
 as the name of a native in the Gulf of Carpentaria. 
 
 " These family names are perpetuated, and spread 
 through the country, by the operation of two remarkable 
 laws : — 
 
 " 1st. That children of either sex, always take the family 
 name of their mother. 
 
 " 2nd. That a man cannot marry a woman of his own 
 family name. 
 
 " But not the least singular circumstance connected with 
 these institutions, is their coincidence with those of the 
 North American Indians. . . . 
 
 " The origin of these family names is attributed by the The names 
 natives to different causes, but I think that enough is not j^jyed" 
 yet known on the subject, to enable us to form an accurate from so™e 
 opinion on this point — one origin frequently assigned by or'piam 
 the natives is, that they were derived from some vegetable common 
 or animal being very common in the district which the district. 
 family inhabited, and that hence the name of this animal 
 or vegetable became applied to the family. I have in my 
 published vocabulary of the native language, under each 
 family name, given its derivations, as far as I could collect 
 them from the statements of the natives.^ 
 
 " But as each family adopts some animal or vegetable, 
 as their crest or sign, or Kobong as they call it, I imagine it 
 more likely, that these have been named after the families, 
 than that the families have been named after them. 
 
 " A certain mysterious connection exists between a family Mysterious 
 and its kobong, so that a member of the family will never ^°°^n°" 
 kill an animal of the species, to which his kobong belongs, a family 
 should he find it asleep ; indeed he always kills it reluctantly, ^^^^^^^ 
 and never without affording it a chance to escape. This totem. 
 arises from the family belief, that some one individual of 
 the species is their nearest friend, to kill whom would be 
 a great crime, and to be carefully avoided. Similarly, a 
 native who has a vegetable for his kobong, may not gather 
 » See below, pp. SSS •??• 
 
552 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST A USTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 it under certain circumstances, and at a particular period 
 of the year. The North American Indians have this same 
 custom of taking some animal as their sign. Thus it is 
 stated in the Archceologia Americana} ' Each tri^e has the 
 name of some animal. Among the Hurons, the first tribe 
 is that of the bear ; the two others of the wolf and turtle. 
 The Iroquois nation has the same divisions, only the turtle 
 family is divided into two, the great and the little.' And 
 again, in speaking of the Sioux tribes ^ : — ' Each of these 
 derives its name from some animal,' part of an animal, or 
 other substance, which is considered as the peculiar sacred 
 object or medicine, as the Canadians call it, of each band 
 respectively.' To this we may add the testimony of John 
 Long, who says,^ ' one part of the religious superstition of 
 the savages consists in each of them having his own totam, 
 or favourite spirit, which he believes watches over him. 
 This totam they conceive assumes the shape of some beast 
 or other, and therefore they never kill, hunt, or eat the 
 animal whose form they think the totam bears.' 
 
 " Civilized nations, in their heraldic bearings, preserve 
 traces of the same custom. 
 
 " Female children are always betrothed, within a few 
 days after their birth ; and from the moment they are 
 betrothed, the parents cease to have any control over the 
 future settlement of their child. Should the first husband 
 die, before the girl has attained the years of puberty, she 
 then belongs to his heir. 
 
 " A girl lives with her husband at any age she pleases, 
 no control whatever is in this way placed upon her 
 inclinations. 
 
 " When a native dies, his brother inherits his wives and 
 children, but his brother must be of the same family name 
 as himself. The widow goes to her second husband's hut, 
 three days after the death of her first. 
 Old men « The old men manage to keep the females a good deal 
 
 the women, amongst thcmselves, giving their daughters to one another, 
 and the more female children they have, the greater chance 
 
 Marriage 
 customs. 
 
 The 
 Levitate. 
 
 ^ "Vol. 2, p. 109, quoting from 
 Charlevoix, vol. 3, p. 266." 
 
 ^ " Ibid. p. 1 10, quoting from Major 
 
 Long's Exp. vol. i. ch. 15." 
 
 3 " Voyages and Travels, p. 86.'' 
 
IV TOTEMJSM IN SOUTH- WEST A USTRALIA 553 
 
 have they of getting another wife, by this sort of exchange ; 
 but the women have generally some favourite amongst the 
 young men, always looking forward to be his wife at the 
 death of her husband. 
 
 " But a most remarkable law is that which obliges Law of the 
 families connected by blood upon the female side, to ^'^°°^ '^^"'^' 
 join for the purpose of defence and avenging crimes ; 
 and as the father marries several wives, and very often 
 all of different families, his children are repeatedly all 
 divided amongst themselves ; no common bond of union 
 exists between them, and this custom alone would be 
 sufficient to prevent this people ever emerging from the 
 savage state. 
 
 " As their laws are principally made up of sets of Rules of 
 obligations due from members of the same great family ™ "d^^ent 
 towards one another, — which obligations of family names among the 
 are much stronger than those of blood, — it is evident that *^ ^^^' 
 a vast influence upon the manners and state of this people 
 must be brought about by this arrangement into classes. 
 I therefore devoted a great portion of my attention to this 
 point, but the mass of materials I have collected is so large, 
 that it would occupy much more time to arrange it, than I 
 have been able to spare, so as to do full justice to the 
 subject ; but in order to give an accurate idea of the 
 nature of the enquiries I pursued, I have given in the 
 Appendix (A) ^ a short genealogical list, which will show 
 the manner in which a native gives birth to a progeny of a 
 totally different family name to himself; so that a district 
 of country never remains for two successive generations in 
 the same family. These observations, as well as others 
 made with regard to the natives, can be only considered to 
 apply, as yet, to that portion of Western Australia lying 
 between the 30th and 3Sth parallels of S. lat. unless the 
 contrary is expressly stated ; though I think there is strong 
 reason to suppose that they will, in general, be found to 
 obtain throughout the continent." 
 
 The genealogies which Sir George Grey gives in an Gene- 
 Appendix ^ are summarised in the following table, where ^'°g'^- 
 the names given are those of what the writer calls the 
 ' See below, pp. 553 sq. 2 Qp. at. ii. 391-394. 
 
554 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 principal branches of the great families into which the 
 natives are divided : — 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 )) 
 
 No-go-nyuk 
 
 No-go-nyuk 
 
 Tdon-dar-up 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 jj 
 
 Na-gar-nook 
 
 Na-gar-nook 
 
 No-go-nyuk 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 3J 
 
 Tdondarup 
 
 Tdondarup 
 
 Ngotak 
 
 Na-gar-nook 
 
 Na-gar-nook 
 
 >) 
 
 No-go-nyuk 
 
 No-go-nyuk 
 
 J) 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 Ballar-oke 
 
 Horror 
 of incest. 
 
 Similar 
 
 horror of 
 
 incest 
 
 among the 
 
 North 
 
 American 
 
 Indians. 
 
 Amongst these tribes, as amongst most Australian tribes, 
 the rules of exogamy seem to have been rigidly enforced. 
 At least Grey tells us that " the crime of adultery is 
 punished severely — often with death. Anything approaching 
 the crime of incest, in which they include marriages out of 
 the right line, they hold in the greatest abhorrence, closely 
 assimilating in this last point with the North American 
 Indians, of whom it is said in the ArchcBologia Americana : 
 ' They profess to consider it highly criminal for a man to 
 marry a woman whose totefn (family name) is the same 
 as his own, and they relate instances when young men, 
 for a violation of this rule, have been put to death by 
 their own nearest relatives.' ^ 
 
 " And again : ' According to their own account, the 
 Indian nations were divided into tribes for no other 
 purpose than that no one might ever, either through 
 temptation or mistake, marry a near relation, which at 
 present is scarcely possible, for whoever intends to marry 
 must take a person of a different tribe.' ^ 
 
 " The same feeling was remarked by Dobrizhoffer in 
 South America ; for, speaking of an interview with a 
 native tribe, to whom he was preaching, he says : — ' The 
 
 ^ "Vol. 2, p. no, quoting from Tanner's Narrative, p. 313." 
 2 "Ibid." 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 555 
 
 old man, when he heard from me that marriage with 
 relations was forbidden, exclaimed, " Thou sayest well, 
 father, such marriages are abominable ; but that we know 
 already." From which I discovered that incestuous con- 
 nexions are more execrable to these savages than murder 
 or robbery.' ^ 
 
 " Any other crime may be compounded for, by the 
 criminal appearing and submitting himself to the ordeal 
 of having spears thrown at him by all such persons as 
 conceive themselves to have been aggrieved, or by permitting 
 spears to be thrust through certain parts of his body ; such 
 as through the thigh, or the calf of the leg, or under the 
 arm. The part which is to be pierced by a spear, is fixed 
 for all common crimes, and a native who has incurred this 
 penalty, sometimes quietly holds out his leg for the injured 
 party to thrust his spear through." ^ 
 
 Elsewhere Grey gives briefly some of the native stories Legends of 
 as to the origin of the families or clans. Thus the Ballaroke onhe'^" 
 family is said to derive its name from having in former various 
 times subsisted mainly on a very small species of opossum, 
 to which the natives give the name of bollard} They say, 
 too, that the Ballarokes were a species of swan called kuljak 
 before they were transformed into men.* The Nagarnook 
 family is said to take its name from a species of small fish 
 called nagkarn, on which in former times they chiefly fed.^ 
 The Tdondarup or Dtondarup family is related to have been 
 a species of water-fowl called koolama before they were 
 changed into men.® The Ngotak family is reported to have 
 
 ' "Account of the Abipones, vol. i. in common use amongst the Aborigines 
 
 p. 69." Dobrizhoffer here tells us 0/ Westet-n Australia, by G. F. Moore 
 
 that " the Abipones, warned by nature (appended to the same writer's Diary 
 
 alone and by the example of their of Ten Years eventful Life of an early 
 
 forefathers, shun marris^e with any settler in Western Australia, London 
 
 relations whatever and shrink from it 1884), is avowedly based on Grey's 
 
 more than from a serpent " (Historia Vocabulary, and contains little or 
 
 de Abiponibus, Vienna, 1 784, ii. nothing new of importance with refer- 
 
 222). ence to the exogamous divisidos. The 
 
 2 G. Qx^y, Journals of two Expedi- writer says {s.v. " Ballarok ") that there 
 
 tietis of Discovery in North- West aiul are four principal families, namely, 
 
 Western Australia, ii. 242 sq. Ballarok, Dtondarup, Ngotak, and 
 
 ' G. Grey, Vocabulary of the Dialects Naganok. 
 
 of South- Western Australia, 2nd edi- * G. Grey; Vocabulary, p. 71. 
 
 tion (London, 1840), p. 4. The De- ^ G. Grey, Vocabtilaiy, p. 95. 
 
 scriptive Vocabulary of the Languages « G. Grey, Vocabulary, p. 66. 
 
556 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 been either widgeons {eroto) or a species of duck {djin-be- 
 nong-erd) before they were transformed into human beings. 
 So too the Nogonyuk family are believed to have been a 
 species of water-fowl, the mountain-duck (karbungd), before 
 their metamorphosis into men.^ And a like tale was told 
 of " the Didaroke family, a branch of the Ngotaks " : they 
 also had been a sort of water-fowl {kij-jin-brooii) before they 
 exchanged their bird-shape for human form.^ 
 Summary Thus from Grey's account we gather that the tribes of 
 
 kitoma-^ South- Western Australia, from the thirtieth parallel of south 
 tion as to latitude southward were divided into at least seven exo- 
 Austraiin gamous totcm clans with descent in the female line. Two 
 tribes, of the names of these clans, namely Tdondarup and 
 Mongalung, seem to be clearly identical with Torndirrup 
 and Moncalon which we met with as names of exogamous 
 divisions, whether classes or totem clans, among the tribes 
 near King George's Sound.* Further, it appears from 
 Grey's account that the members of one of these clans or 
 families, as he calls them, were not limited in their choice 
 of wives or husbands to the members of one other clan or 
 family only ; for in his genealogies he records several cases 
 in which a man of one clan married wives of two different 
 clans, and one case in which a man married wives of three 
 different clans. Some of the legends related to account for 
 the origin of the families or clans shew that here as in 
 other parts of Australia the natives believed themselves 
 to be descended from animals of their totem species ; while 
 two of the legends seem to preserve a reminiscence of a 
 time when men habitually ate their totems, as if that had 
 been the right and proper thing for them to do. These 
 latter traditions agree with and are confirmed by the similar 
 traditions current among the central tribes.* 
 
 It is possible that some of the exogamous divisions 
 which Grey seems to have regarded as totem clans were not 
 totem clans but classes or subclasses (phratries or sub- 
 classes phratries). At least Sir John Forrest's account of what he 
 abo^lines^ Calls the two " great tribes " Tordnerup and Ballarook, which 
 
 of West 
 
 Australia. ^- Grey, Vocabulary, pp. 29, 37. « See above, p. 547. 
 
 ^ G. Grey, Vocabulary, p. 61. 
 
 ^ G. Grey, Vocabulary, p. 63. 6 See above, pp. 238 sqq. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH- WEST A USTRALIA 557 
 
 are clearly the same as Grey's Tdondarup and Ballaroke, 
 seems to shew that these are exogamous classes or sub- 
 classes rather than totem clans. He writes as follows : 
 " The natives of Western Australia are divided into tribes, 
 which bear certain names ; there are several, but they all 
 merge into two great tribes called the Tornderup and the 
 Ballarook. Wherever a native goes, so long as he does 
 not go beyond the limit of these tribes, he will always be 
 protected by his own tribe, although he may be a perfect 
 stranger to them ; in fact they look upon him as a brother. 
 The marriage laws are also very strict. A Tornderup must 
 not marry a Tornderup, although she may be quite a 
 stranger ; if he wants a wife he must take a Ballarook. 
 Sometimes they break through this rule, aiTd generally get 
 speared or killed for their pains. They are constantly 
 quarrelling about their wives, and running away with one 
 another's wives is very common. The poor women generally 
 get the worst of it, being often speared, and even sometimes 
 killed. Still, even this severe punishment does not deter 
 them, and it is just as common now as it was forty years 
 ago. Betrothal is very general. A child a year old will 
 sometimes be betrothed to an old man, and it will be his 
 duty to protect and feed her, and (unless she is stolen by 
 some one else) when she is old enough she becomes his 
 wife. In the case of a husband's death his wife belongs to 
 the oldest man of his family, who either takes her himself 
 or gives her to some one else. There is no marriage 
 ceremony, merely handing over the woman to the man. 
 Children always take after the mother's tribe. If a mother 
 is Tornderup, the child is Tornderup, and so on." ^ 
 
 The suspicion that Grey may have mistaken exogamous Bishop 
 classes or subclasses for totem clans is confirmed by the^^^Q^n"' 
 account which Bishop Salvado of the Catholic Mission at of 'be 
 New Norcia, in South-Western Australia, has given of the cf^f^""^ 
 marriage laws observed by the aborigines of that district, ^t New 
 
 Norcia. 
 
 which is situated some fifty miles inland on the low Darling 
 Range, about the thirty -first parallel of south latitude. 
 The Bishop has set forth the exogamous classes and rules 
 
 ' John Forrest, " On the Natives of of tht Anthropological Institute, v. 
 Central and Western AustraIia,"/<>«r«o/ (1876) p. 317. 
 
558 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 of marriage of the tribe in an elaborate genealogical tree ; 
 and the information thus supplied has been digested by Mr. 
 Lorimer Fison into tables, which, with his explanations and 
 comments, I will here reprint. They give a clear statement 
 of the system, which in certain of its features is anomalous, 
 that is, it differs from the regular patterns of Australian 
 tribal organisation in two, four, or eight exogamous classes. 
 Mr. Fison's statement is as follows : — ^ 
 Mr.Fison's "The Ncw Norcia tribe is divided into six classes, its 
 oA'hr"' system therein differing from that found among the West 
 marj-iage Australian natives in the neighbourhood of the N.W. Cape, 
 recorded which is of the four-class Kamilaroi type, with the usual 
 by Bishop arrangements as to marriage and descent. 
 
 " The six classes are called respectively, Palarop, 
 Nokongok, Jirajiok, Mondorop, Tondorop, and Tirarop. 
 Their marriage prohibitions are exhibited in the following 
 table : — 
 
 Class 
 
 May not marry 
 
 Palarop 
 
 Nokongok 
 
 Jirajiok 
 
 Mondorop 
 
 Tondorop 
 
 Tirarop 
 
 Jirajiok, Palarop. 
 Jirajiok, Nokongok. 
 Jirajiok, Palarop, Nokongok. 
 Tirarop, Mondorop. 
 Tirarop, Tondorop. 
 Tirarop, Tondorop, Mondorop. 
 
 " A glance at this table shows that the six classes range 
 themselves into two sets of three each, and the prohibitions 
 reveal an exogamous law, which is strictly binding upon 
 every class, and partially binding upon each set. A clear 
 distinction between the two sets is thus arrived at ; in fact, 
 each set represents a primary class, like Dilbi or Kupathin 
 of the Kamilaroi, but with three subclasses belonging to it, 
 instead of two, as in the Kamilaroi system. Distinguishing 
 these primary classes as A and B, we have : — 
 
 ' See E. M. Curr, The Australian 
 Race, i. 320 sq. 
 
 2 Lorimer Fison, "The New Norcia 
 Marriage Laws," Journal of the An- 
 
 thropological Institute, xviii. (1 889) 
 pp. 6S-70. I have tacitly corrected a 
 few misprints in the names of the 
 classes. 
 
IV 
 
 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-WEST A USTRALIA 
 
 559 
 
 A = Palarop, Nokongok, Jirajiok. 
 B = Mondorop, Tondorop, Tirarop. 
 
 " In the- following table the marriages are shown, those Table 
 which offend against the usual exogamous law of the theTe^iar 
 primary classes being distinguished thus * : — and the 
 
 anomalous 
 marriages 
 in these 
 classes. 
 
 Primary Class A 
 
 Marries 
 
 Primary Class B 
 
 Marries 
 
 Palarop 
 
 Mondorop B 
 Tondorop B 
 Tirarop B 
 Nokongok A* 
 
 Mondorop 
 
 ' 
 
 Palarop A 
 Nokongok A 
 Jirajiok A 
 Tondorop B* 
 
 Nokongok 
 
 Mondorop B 
 Tondorop B 
 Tirarop B 
 Palarop A* 
 
 Tondorop 
 
 Palarop A 
 - Nokongok A 
 Jirajiok A 
 Mondorop B* 
 
 Jirajiok 
 
 Mondorop B 
 Tondorop B 
 Tirarop B 
 
 Tirarop \ 
 
 Palarop A 
 Nokongok A 
 Jirajiok A 
 
 " From the foregoing we get the social organisation of the 
 tribe which is as follows : — 
 
 "(l) Two primary classes. 
 
 " (2) Each primary class has three exogamous subclasses, 
 any one of which may marry into any subclass of the other 
 primary division. 
 
 " (3) In each primary class two of the subclasses inter- 
 marry with one another as well as with all those of the other 
 primary division. 
 
 " It will be observed that one subclass in each primary 
 division (Jirajiok A, Tirarop B) marries only into the other 
 division. That is to say, these two subclasses observe the 
 usual exogamous rule of the primary classes, and the 
 question is, why the other subclasses do not observe it? 
 One or two conjectural solutibns of this problem might 
 be offered ; but our experience in these researches has 
 made us shy of such solutions how plausible soever they 
 may appear. If we knew the regulations as to descent and 
 
56o 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WpST AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Maternal 
 descent 
 of the 
 classes. 
 
 Mrs. 
 Bates's 
 account 
 of the 
 exogamous 
 classes of 
 the West 
 Australian 
 aborigines. 
 
 the totemic divisions of the subclasses (supposing them to 
 exist here as elsewhere) we should probably find in them 
 much to help us. Unfortunately Dr. Salvado not only does 
 not give these particulars, but he turns a deaf ear to our 
 appeals for information concerning them, and all our efforts 
 to obtain the information from other sources have been 
 equally unsuccessful." 
 
 The classes or subclasses in this New Norcia tribe were 
 hereditary in the female line, the children taking them from 
 their mother, not from their father.^ Two of the class- 
 names, namely Tondorop and Nokongok, appear to be 
 identical with two of the family names given by Grey, 
 namely Tdondarup and Nogonyuk, which confirms, as I 
 have said, the suspicion that Grey may have mistaken some 
 of the names of exogamous classes or subclasses for the 
 names of totem clans. 
 
 The suspicion is further strengthened by the evidence of 
 Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, who has personally investigated the 
 exogamous divisions of the natives of South- West Australia. 
 She reports as follows : — ^ 
 
 " From my personal investigations amongst those of the 
 old southern natives with whom I have lived for over four 
 months, I find that the whole of the southern peoples 
 occupying the line of coast from about Jurien Bay to 
 Esperance (or thereabouts) have two primary divisions 
 which intermarry, but which are strictly forbidden to marry 
 within themselves. These divisions are called respectively 
 Wor-dung-mat and Manytchmat. . . . These two primary 
 divisions have been subdivided into four, viz. : — 
 
 Bal-larruk 
 Na-gar-nook 
 Ton-da-rup 
 Did-ar-ruk. 
 
 " Of these four, Bal-lar-ruk and Na-gar-nook represent 
 the Wordungmat division and Tondarup and Didarruk the 
 Manytchmat division. 
 
 ' E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, 
 i. 320. 
 
 2 Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, M.R.G.S.A., 
 " The Marriage Laws and some Cus- 
 
 toms of the West Australian Abori- 
 gines," Victorian Geographical Journal, 
 xxiii.-xxiv. (1905-1906) pp. 42-44. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 561 
 
 "The four classes have been further segmented as 
 under : — 
 
 Ballarruk, Nagarnook, Waijuk, Kootijcum, Gwalook, Gooanuk, 
 Noganyuk, and Eedalyuk, all included in the primary Wordungmat 
 division, 
 
 Tondarup, Didarruk, Kayganook, Jeedalyuk, Melamumong, in- 
 cluded in the Manytchmat division. 
 
 " These numerous subdivisions may be only local ; they 
 certainly obtain amongst the people living on the south 
 coast between Mandurah and Cape Leeuwin, but the 
 four principal class names are to be found along the whole 
 coast line between Jurien Bay and Esperance. I have met 
 a Jurien Bay Tondarup and an Esperance Bay Ballarruk 
 and Didarruk. . . . 
 
 " The marriage laws and forms of descent of the two Marriage 
 primary classes are as under : — decent in 
 
 the classes. 
 Man. Woman. Children. 
 
 Wordungmat marries Manytchmat, their children are Manytchmat. 
 Manytchmat marries Wordungmat, their children are Wordungmat. 
 
 " Of the four subdivisions, the marriages are as follows : — 
 
 Ballarruk marries Tondarup or Didarruk, children Tondarup or 
 Didarruk. 
 
 Nagarnook marries Tondarup or Didarruk, children Tondarup or 
 Didarruk. 
 
 Tondarup marries Ballarruk or Nagarnook, children Ballarruk or 
 Nagarnook. 
 
 Didarruk marries Ballarruk or Nagarnook, children Ballarruk or 
 Nagarnook. 
 
 " Ballarruk and Nagarnook cannot marry, either between 
 themselves or with any of their subdivisions, but they can 
 marry any of the other classes ; also Tondarup and 
 Didarruk cannot marry each other nor their subdivisions, 
 but they can marry Ballarruk, Nagarnook, and their sub- 
 divisions." 
 
 From the foregoing account it appears that the natives Tables 
 of the southern coast of West Australia between Jurien Bay t^e dafses. 
 and Esperance are divided into two exogamous classes and marriages, 
 four subclasses as follows : — descent 
 
 VOL. I 2 O 
 
562 
 
 TOTEM ISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 among the 
 
 natives 
 
 of the 
 
 southern 
 
 coast of 
 
 West 
 
 AustraUa. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Wordungmat < 
 
 Ballarruk 
 Nagarnook 
 
 Manytchmat 
 
 \ Tondarup 
 ( Didarruk 
 
 The rules of marriage and descent may be tabulated as 
 follows : — 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 Ballarruk 
 Nagarnook 
 
 Tondarup "j g 
 Didarruk -g 
 Tondarup g. 
 Didarruk j ^ 
 
 Tondarup 
 Didarruk 
 Tondarup 
 Didarruk 
 
 ■3 
 i 
 
 rt' r Tondarup 
 
 •g " 
 %^ Didarruk 
 
 1' " 
 
 Ballarruk \ | 
 Nagarnook g) 
 Ballarruk '^ 
 Nagarnook J 5 
 
 Ballarruk \ | 
 Nagarnook go 
 Ballarruk " ^ 
 Nagarnook j 5 
 
 Anomalous If these rules are correctly reported, it appears that 
 marriages, descent both of the class and the subclass is maternal in 
 the direct line : in other words, children belong to their 
 mother's subclass as well as to her class. This is a departure 
 from the normal type of an Australian tribe with four sub- 
 classes, since, as we have seen, in tribes thus organised the 
 children regulariy belong to a different subclass both from 
 their mother and from their father, whether descent be 
 traced in the maternal or in the paternal line.^ Further, it 
 is to be observed that in these tribes each subclass is free to 
 marry into either of the two subclasses of the other primary 
 class, which is equivalent to abandoning the exogamy of 
 the subclasses, while retaining the exogamy of the primary 
 classes. These facts appear to be symptoms of decay in 
 the exogamous system of the people. 
 
 Three of the four names of subclasses recorded by Mrs. 
 Bates, namely, Ballarruk, Nagarnook, and Tondarup, are 
 
 ' See above, pp. 395 sqq., 443 sqq. 
 
IV 
 
 TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 563 
 
 clearly identical with three of the names of families or clans 
 (namely, Ballaroke, Nagarnook, and Tdondarup) recorded 
 by Grey. 
 
 The names of the classes, according to Mrs. Bates, Totemic 
 " appear to have totemic meanings. Wordungmat are crows. ^^,he'°^s 
 Manytchmat are cockatoos. Ballarruk are Bootallung, names. 
 pelicans. Nagamooks are Weja, emus. Tondarups are 
 Dondurn, fishhawks. Didarruk are Didara (or Wadani), 
 the sea. The Walja, or eaglehawk, is supposed to be the 
 Mamangur or father, of all ; Wordung and Manytch 
 are his nephews. I obtained some information recently 
 with reference to the Walja. I had made close and con- 
 tinuous inquiries as to whether there was a tribe named 
 after the Walja, and I discovered that there has been a 
 small tribe of Waljuks in the neighbourhood of Beverley 
 and York. I learn, however, that the tribe, as such, appears 
 to have died out." ^ " The eaglehawk was sometimes called 
 Mamangurra, and was supposed by the southern coastal 
 natives to have made all living things into noyyung or 
 ngunning? He was himself both noyyung and ngunning. 
 He had a wife in the squeaker crow. Many of their legends 
 have the eaglehawk as the central figure, but animals, birds, 
 and reptiles figure in all native legendary lore." ' 
 
 If Mrs. Bates's derivations are right, it would seem that Classes, 
 the names of the classes or moieties of these West Australian and^t'^tem's 
 tribes, like those of some tribes of South-East Australia, areofSouth- 
 totemic. The totems of the classes and subclasses on her AiSraiian 
 shewing are these : — 'ribes. 
 
 Classes. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Subclasses. 
 
 Totems. 
 
 Wordungmat 
 Manytchmat 
 
 crow 1 
 cockatoo \ 
 
 Ballarruk 
 Nagarnook 
 
 Tondarup 
 Didarruk 
 
 pelican 
 emu 
 
 fishhawk 
 the sea 
 
 ' Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, "The 
 Marriage Laws and some Customs of 
 the West Australian Aborigines," 
 Victorian Geographical Journal, xxiii.- 
 xxiv. (1905-1906) p. 47. 
 
 - These are the two terms of 
 relationship applied to the two primary 
 classes. See below, p. 566. 
 
 2»Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. p. 
 58. 
 
S64 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST A USTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 The following is the account which Mrs. Bates gives of 
 totems in West Australia. " Every native has a totem of 
 some animal, bird, or fish. . . . The word for ' totem ' in 
 the Vasse district is oobarree, at Perth it is oobar, on the 
 Gascoyne and Ashburton it is walaree, and on the De Grey 
 River it is wooraroo, in York and Beverley it is boorongur. 
 
 " Marriages are independent, of personal totems, and a 
 man whose oobarree is a kangaroo may marry a woman who 
 is of his proper marrying class and who may have the same 
 totem, a different totem being bestowed upon the children. 
 Totems in the south appear to be always given from some 
 circumstance attendant on the birth of the children. I will 
 give you a few instances of this. 
 
 " Beyoo means swollen. Beyooran, a female, was so 
 called from the fact of her father missing the whereabouts 
 of a kangaroo he had killed, and finding it in the afternoon 
 all swollen from the sun's heat. The girl's oobaree or totem 
 was a kangaroo. Put-bee-yan, a female, was named after a 
 tame opossum which used to make a noise like /«^-/«^ when 
 coming for its food. Put-bee-yan's totem was an opossum. 
 Baaburgurt's name was given him from his father observing 
 a sea mullet leaping out of the water and making a noise 
 like Brrr-Baaburr. The kalda or sea mullet is Baabur's 
 totem. Baabur's father and his father's brothers also had 
 the kalda as their totem, but his grandfathers had different 
 totems. Nyilgee was named after a swamp wallaby (called 
 woorark) which her father was about to kill, but 'in the act. 
 of raising his spear the little wallaby escaped. ' Yalgy 
 yookan,' the father said, 'if he had only stood a moment 
 longer, I should have got him,' and he called his daughter 
 Nyilgeean ; her totem is the woorark." ^ 
 
 From this account it appears that the totems of West 
 Australia here described are personal or individual totems, 
 not totems shared by whole clans, and that they are bestowed 
 on children at birth, being often determined by the appear- 
 ance of some animal, which henceforth becomes the child's 
 totem. It is possible that clan totems may have disappeared, 
 as they have done in some tribes of South-East Australia.^ 
 A trace of clan or perhaps subclass totems seems to survive 
 
 1 Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. p. 49. 2 Sge above, pp. 493 sqq. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 565 
 
 in the belief of the southern natives that their ancestors 
 were once animals or birds. " For instance, the Nagarnooks 
 are called Wejuk (emus), and are even supposed at the 
 present time to be able to transform themselves from men 
 to emus at will." ^ Among the names for a totem Mrs. Bates 
 does nof mention kobong, the word for it given by Grey. 
 
 The rule that a man must avoid his mother-in-law seems Avoidance 
 to prevail, under various names {too-ah, doo-ah, ngan-yerri, °n.I^°' ^' 
 nganya, kenjir, dar-ar-buk), throughout West Australia. He 
 may not speak to her nor look at her, nor enter her hut, nor 
 eat the food she has prepared ; and she must avoid him in 
 like manner. The men believe that they will become bald 
 if they look at their mothers-in-law, and the women think 
 that their hair will turn grey if they speak to their sons-in- 
 law.^ Sometimes a bull-roarer js swung to warn the mother- 
 in-law to keep away from her son-in-law.* 
 
 Further, amongst some at least of the tribes of West Rule of 
 Australia brothers and sisters mutually avoid each other ; beuvten"^* 
 indeed, from the time that a lad has attained to puberty, he brothers 
 may never speak to or even look at his sisters again. The ^" 
 practice is thus reported by Mrs. Bates : — 
 
 " I am informed that amongst the native tribes near the 
 head of the Grenough River, when a boy is taken away 
 from [for ?] the ceremony of initiation, which includes circum- 
 cision and subincision, he takes a ceremonious farewell of 
 his sister or sisters, as on his return from the initiation 
 ground, he must never look at or speak to them again. 
 A. L. P. Cameron, writing in Science of Man, July 1904, 
 states that the Cooper Creek tribe had a similar custom. 
 It is, however, the general rule throughout the State for 
 ' own ' sisters and brothers to keep apart from each other. 
 Paljeri^ boys cannot play with or speak to Paljeri girls, nor 
 can Tondarup boys and girls play together. Paljeri boys 
 and Kymera girls (or vice versa) when very young can play 
 together, and Tondarup boys and Nagarnook or Ballarruk 
 girls can also play with each other, as also with other 
 
 ' Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. from the Bishop of West Australia at 
 
 p. 58. Liverpool, 29th May 1908. 
 
 ' Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. ^ As to the Paljeri and other sub- 
 
 p, 50. classes here mentioned, see below, 
 
 ' This I learned in conversation pp. 569 sqq. 
 
S66 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 classes." ^ We have met with this custom of avoidance between 
 
 brothers and sisters in Queensland,^ and we shall meet with it 
 
 again among totem ic tribes in other parts of the world. 
 
 System of " With regard to the relationship existing amongst the 
 
 shlpLmong West Australian aborigines ; taking the two primary divisions 
 
 the West of the Southern people Wordungmat and Manytchmat, there 
 
 aborigines. ^'^^ two terms always applied to these, noy-yung and ngunning. 
 
 These terms are interchangeable according to the division 
 
 that is speaking. 
 
 " For instance, I have been adopted into the Tondarup 
 class [of the primary division Manytchmat],^ therefore all 
 Tondarups, Didarruks, and their subdivisions are ' my own ' 
 family, they are ngunning to me. Into whatever district I 
 go I sit by a ngunning fire. Now the various relationship 
 terms which I use amongst the Tondarup and Didarruks are 
 demma-mat and murranmat (grandparent's stock), ngangarmat 
 (mother stock), ngoondanmat (brother stock), and jookamat- 
 (sister stock). I will find representatives of some of these 
 amongst all the tribes which I may visit. 
 
 " Noy-yung is the word I (as a Tondarup) would use in 
 speaking to the Wordungmat division. Noy-yung are my 
 relations-in-law, so to speak, and the terms of relationship 
 are demina-mat and murranmat (these words are applied to 
 maternal or paternal grandparents), kor- da-mat (husband 
 stock), ngooljarmat or deenamat (brother-in-law or sister-in 
 law stock), mungartmat (aunt stock), konganmat (uncle 
 stock). My father (jnamman) is noy-yung. 
 
 " These are some of the noy-yung relationships (I give 
 the English equivalents of the terms merely for the sake of 
 clearness). As regards nearer relationships, all my father's 
 brothers are my fathers {mamanmat), yet my father's sisters 
 are mungart (aunt stock), and I can marry my mungarfs 
 (aunt's stock) sons, who are my kordamat (husband stock). 
 
 "All my mother's sisters are my mothers {ngangamat), 
 but my mother's brothers are konganmat (uncle stock), and 
 I can marry their sons who are also my kordamat (husband 
 stock). 
 
 "The children of my fathers and mothers are my 
 
 1 Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. p. 2 See above, p. 542. 
 
 5'- 3 Sgg above, pp. 561 sqq. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN SOUTH- WEST A USTRALIA 567 
 
 brothers and sisters, they are ngunning, 'my, own,' but the 
 children of my father's sisters and my mother's brothers are 
 kordamat (husband stock) and are noy-yung!' ^ 
 
 From this account it appears that the natives of South- ciassifi- 
 West Australia employ the classificatory system of relation- ^^°^^ of 
 ship, and that a man's proper wife is the daughter of his relation- 
 mother's brother or (what comes to the same thing) the^'^'''' 
 daughter of his father's sister. 
 
 Further, these tribes, like some tribes of South - East Subtotems. 
 Australia and of Queensland,^ extend their class system so as 
 to include the whole of nature under it. Thus we are told 
 that "the terms noy-yung and ngunning are also used to 
 denote the relationship that every tree, shrub, root, etc., bears 
 to the person who is speaking. For instance, the Red Gum 
 is a male, and belongs to the Manytchmat division ; it is 
 ngunning to me. The White Gum is a female, and belongs 
 to the Wordungmat division ; it is noy-yung to me, and so 
 on." " In fact the primary classes, Wordungmat and 
 Manytchmat divide all natural objects between them, and 
 every living thing and every tree, root, and fruit is noy-yung 
 or ngunning" * 
 
 § 2. Totemism in North- West Australia 
 
 The natives of the north-western region of West Australia Tribes of 
 are less decadent than those of the south-western parts, ^'^'.''aus 
 because they have been far less demoralised by contact traiia less 
 with whites.* Like the tribes of the South- West, they are fh^those 
 divided into exogamous classes, but the names of the classes of tiie 
 are different. They differ also from the tribes of the South- vvest. 
 West in practising circumcision, and some of them practise 
 subincision as well. On this subject Sir John Forrest, 
 speaking of the natives of West Australia, observes : " The Rites of 
 rite of circumcision is also universal with all I have met, '^1''="™- 
 
 ' cision and 
 
 except those belonging to the south-west corner of Australia ; subincision. 
 it is a sort of religious ceremony with them. They gather 
 
 ' Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. pp. ^ Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, op. cit. pp. 
 
 47 J?- 48, 49- 
 
 ' This I learned in conversation from 
 - See above, pp. 427 sqq., 431 sqq., the Bishop of West Australia at Liver- 
 451 sqq., 470 sqq., 540. pool, 29th May 1908. 
 
tribes. 
 
 568 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 together in large numbers, and the men and women part 
 for a fortnight or more, and are not expected to see one 
 another ; if they accidentally meet they run for their lives." -^ 
 As to the line of demarcation between the circumcised and 
 the uncircumcised tribes in West Australia Mrs. Daisy M. 
 Boundary gates writes as follows : " Here in this State there seem to 
 the circum- be two great divisions, a northern and southern, or perhaps 
 cised and j-jjgy might be defined more particularly by classifying them 
 cumcised as a circumcised and uncircumcised people. Both these 
 divisions bear distinct class names, and both have peculiar 
 customs and laws handed down by oral tradition from father 
 to son for countless generations. The great northern division 
 covers, as far as I have at present ascertained, the portion 
 of country lying between East Kimberley and a point some- 
 where in the neighbourhood of Jurien Bay, about lat. 30° 
 South, but at what exact point I cannot find out until I make 
 a personal investigation. The same customs, habits, marriage 
 laws, and laws of descent obtain amongst the northern 
 division, a slight difference in nomenclature being the only 
 variation. This division from Kimberley [in the North-East] 
 down to a little below the De Grey River practises circum- 
 cision or subincision, the former compulsory, the latter not 
 generally so. Just below the Grey River, from the coast 
 inland to about forty miles or so, the coastal natives have 
 given up the practice, and all along the coast down to Point 
 Malcolm (or thereabouts) the natives have substituted nose 
 piercing for circumcision. The circumcised tribes touch the 
 coast at the De Grey and Point Malcolm. The nearest 
 
 ' J. Forrest, "On the Natives of Anthropological Institute, -Ksixa.. (1894) 
 
 Central and Western Australia, yOT«-«a/ p. 327). In the district of North- 
 
 of the Anthropological Institute, v. West Australia which is roughly com- 
 
 (1876) pp. 317 s^. "All the tribes prised between lat. 21° and 23° S. 
 
 of N.W. Australia practise circum- and long. 117° and 120° E. all the 
 
 cision" (E. Clement, "Ethnographical males are circumcised at puberty, and 
 
 Notes on the Western Australian Ab- " to prevent the too rapid increase of 
 
 origines," Internationales Archiv fur children the mika operation is per- 
 
 Ethnographie, xvi. (1904) p. 9). formed on a number of young men. 
 
 " Circumcision, or splitting the pre- It consists of splitting the urethra for 
 
 puce as a rite, is universal, and is about 5 centimetres with a sharp flint- 
 
 usually performed early in the morn- stone " (E. Clement, " Ethnographical 
 
 ing, at 4 or S a.m., the whole tribe Notes on the Western Australian 
 
 being gathered together" (P. W. Ahongmts," Internationales Archiv fur 
 
 Bassett - Smith, "The Aborigines of Ethnographie, sm. {igo^) -p. i-i. 
 North-West Amttzixa.," Jourjial of the 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN NORTH- WEST A USTRALIA 569 
 
 point at which they touch the coast between these two 
 places is at Geraldton, where they encroach within twenty 
 miles of that port, the reason for this being that the uncir- 
 curacised are being constantly adopted into the circumcised 
 tribes. A circumcised man does not enter into and reside 
 amongst the uncircumcised people, but an uncircumcised 
 man may be adopted into the circumcised tribes. . . . 
 There is traditional evidence that the custom of circumcision The tying 
 has only comparatively recently died out in many parts of Jl'^jy^^*" 
 the Nor'- West below the De Grey. At Roebourne it has round the 
 been replaced by the tying at initiation of a ligature so harbee™ 
 tightly round the upper part of the arm that if worn for a substituted 
 lengthy period it sometimes causes that member to wither °^^^a\i. in 
 and become useless, but this is a rare occurrence." ^ " The =0™^ tribes. 
 inland tribes in the neighbourhood of the De Grey River 
 are all circumcised, but not the tribe [namely, the Ngurla] 
 about which I am writing. However, they frequently 
 intermarry, the class system of marriage, as I understand, 
 obtaining in all. But few of them pierce the septum of the 
 nose. On the arrival of the males at the age of puberty, 
 or shortly after, the Ngurla and other tribes in the neigh- 
 bourhood amongst whom circumcision is not practised 
 subject them to the painful ordeal of having their arms 
 tied tightly round above the elbow, when the hands and 
 arms swell and become powerless, in which state they are 
 kept for some weeks, being hand-fed by their friends during 
 the time. A similar custom prevails in the Umbertana 
 tribe." ' 
 
 The natives of North- West Australia are divided into Exogamous 
 four exogamous classes or subclasses, which are reported to '^^^ jj^g 
 bear substantially the same names over the great extent of natives 
 country from Derby in the north-east to the Murchison w«t™"' 
 River in the south-west. They have certainly been recorded Australia. 
 in the territory between the Fortescue and De Grey Rivers, 
 including Nickol Bay. The names of these classes are 
 Boorong, Banaka, Kymera, and Paljeri, and the rules of 
 
 ' Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, " The West Australia practise subincision 
 
 Marriage Laws and some Customs of the was mentioned to me in conversation 
 
 West Australian Aborigines," Vutorian by the Bishop of West Australia. 
 
 Grtf,fra/>5»Vo//o«r»a/,xxiii.-xxiv. (1905- ^ Ch. Harper, in E. M. Curr's The 
 
 1906) pp. 40 sq. That the natives of Australian Race, i. 291. 
 
Table of 
 marriage 
 and 
 descent. 
 
 570 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 marriage and descent among them are indicated in the 
 following table : — ^ 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Boorong 
 Banaka 
 Kymera 
 Paljeri 
 
 Banaka 
 Boorong 
 Paljeri 
 Kymera 
 
 Kymera 
 Paljeri 
 Boorong 
 Banaka 
 
 1 Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, " The 
 Marriage Laws and some Customs of the 
 West Australian Aborigines," Victorian 
 Geographical Journal^ xxiii. -xxiv. ( 1 905 - 
 1906) p. 41. The names of the four 
 classes or subclasses are variously 
 
 spelled by our authorities, the differ- 
 ences probably representing local differ- 
 ences of pronunciation. These varia- 
 tions are indicated, with the names of 
 the respective authorities for them, in 
 the following table : — 
 
 Mrs. Bates. 
 
 Sir J. Forrest. 
 
 L. H. Gould. 
 
 A. K. Richardson. 
 
 E. Clement. 
 
 E. Clement. 
 
 Boorong 
 Banaka 
 Kymera 
 Paljeri 
 
 Boorunggnoo 
 Banigher 
 Kimera 
 Paljarie 
 
 Poronga 
 Banaka 
 Kimera 
 Paliali 
 
 Booroongoo 
 Panaka 
 Kymurra 
 Palyeery 
 
 Burong 
 Baniker 
 Caiemurra 
 Ballieri 
 
 Burong 
 Banaka 
 Kymerra 
 Paljarri 
 
 See J. Forrest, quoted by L. Fison, 
 "Australian Marriage Y,a.vis," Journal 
 of the Anthropological histitute, ix. 
 (1880) p. 356 ; L. H. Gould, in Fison 
 and Howitt's KaTuilaroi and Kurnai, 
 p. 36 ; A. K. Richardson, in E. M. 
 Curr's The Australian Rcue, i. 298 ; 
 E. Clement, "Ethnographical Notes 
 on the Western Australian Aborigines," 
 Internationales Archiv fiir Ethtio- 
 graphie, xvi. (1904) p. 12. The 
 statements of Sir John Forrest and 
 Mr. A. K. Richardson refer to the 
 natives at Nickol Bay ; the statements 
 of Mr. E. Clement refer to the Gnal- 
 luma and Gnamo tribes respectively, 
 of which the Gnalluma tribe inhabits 
 the district between the Nickol and 
 Yule Rivers, while the Gnamo tiibe 
 inhabits the Nullagine district between 
 the Oakover and Turner Rivers. The 
 Ngurla tribe at the mouth of the De 
 Grey River has the same four class- 
 names in slightly different forms 
 
 (Poorungnoo, Banakoo, Kiamoona, 
 Parrijari), but the rules of marriage 
 and descent are reported to be different, 
 as appears from the following table : — 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Poorungnoo 
 Banakoo 
 Kiamoona 
 Parrijari 
 
 Parrijari 
 Kiamoona 
 Banakoo 
 Poorungnoo 
 
 Kiamoona 
 Parrijari 
 Poorungnoo 
 Banakoo 
 
 See Ch. Harper, in E. M. Curr's 
 The Australian Race, i. 290. How- 
 ever, we are told that Mr. Harper was 
 not quite certain as to the details of 
 the system, and it is possible that he 
 may have made a mistake as to the 
 rules of marriage. All the other 
 authorities cited above are unanimous 
 as to the rules of marriage and descent 
 in the classes. 
 
IV 
 
 TOTEMISM IN NORTH- WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 571 
 
 It is probable that these four classes are in reality sub- it is not 
 classes which are grouped in pairs under two primary classes ; ^^her 
 but the existence of such primary classes is not recorded, descent in 
 and without a knowledge of the primary classes and of the is maternal 
 grouping of the subclasses under them, we cannot say °''p^'«™*'- 
 whether descent in these tribes is traced in the maternal or 
 in the paternal line. For, as usually happens with a four- 
 class system, the children belong to a subclass which differs 
 both from the subclass of the mother and from the subclass 
 of the father, and unless we know whether the subclass to 
 which the children belong is the complementary subclass of 
 their mother's or of their father's subclass, we cannot say 
 whether descent is maternal or paternal. However, a trace 
 of two primary classes may perhaps be detected in the 
 statement that the Kymera and Paljeri (Kimera and Paljarie) 
 are the parent stock.^ 
 
 It would seem that the names of three out of the four Similarity 
 subclasses in these tribes agree with the names of three °^ "l^, „, 
 
 o names of 
 
 subclasses in the Arunta tribe, as these are recorded by the sub- 
 Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, Banaka answering to Panunga, 111^^0/1116 
 Kymera to Kumara, and Paljeri perhaps to Bukhara.^ Arunta. 
 If these three identifications are right, it will follow Conjectural 
 that the West Australian subclass Boorong answers to ^n"of\ije 
 the Arunta class Purula. Accepting these equivalences North- 
 provisionally, we may arrange the West Australian sub- ^fraiian 
 classes on the Arunta model as follows : — subclasses 
 
 on the 
 .\runta 
 pattern. 
 
 Husband. 
 
 Wife. 
 
 Children. 
 
 Class A 1 1^'^^^^ 
 \ Paljeri 
 
 Class B ( 1°°'°''^ 
 \ Kymera 
 
 Boorong 
 Kymera 
 Banaka 
 Paljeri 
 
 Paljeri 
 Hanaka 
 Kymera 
 Boorong 
 
 In this table it will be observed that the rules of 
 marriage and descent are those which are given inde- 
 pendently by five authorities on the West Australian 
 
 ' Sir J. Forrest, cited by L. Fison, the Anthropological Imtitute,\-s.. (\%%o) 
 "Australian Marriage Laws, 'y'OT'raa/tf/' p. 357. ^ See above, pp. 2.^t) sqq. 
 
572 
 
 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 Rules of 
 marriage. 
 
 Cousin 
 marriages. 
 
 Betrothal. 
 
 Avoidance 
 
 of wife's 
 
 mother. 
 
 The 
 
 Levirate. 
 
 tribes. All that I have done is, accepting these rules 
 and provisionally identifying the West Australian sub- 
 classes with the Arunta subclasses which they resemble in 
 name, to arrange the four West Australian subclasses in 
 pairs corresponding to the Arunta pairs. The result is to 
 yield a normal four-class system with descent in the paternal 
 line, which accordingly corresponds closely to the system 
 of the Southern Arunta, among whom there are only four 
 names for the subclasses. 
 
 Persons bearing the same class- name may not marry 
 each other. Any such marriage is regarded as incest and 
 rigorously punished. For instance, " the union of Boorong 
 and Boorong is to the natives the union of brother and 
 sister, although there may be no real blood relationship 
 between the pair, and a union of that kind is looked upon 
 with horror, and the perpetrators very severely punished 
 and separated, and if the crime is repeated they are both 
 killed." ^ A man may marry two or more sisters. The 
 children of a brother are marriageable {nuba) with the 
 children of his sister ; but as usual the children of two 
 brothers may not marry each other nor may the children 
 of two sisters.^ The permission granted to first cousins, the 
 children of a brother and of a sister respectively, to marry each 
 other, suffices of itself to prove that these tribes have not 
 got the eight-class system, since that system, as we have 
 seen,^ bars all such marriages. Girls are betrothed to men 
 at birth or in their infancy. After betrothal a man may not 
 see his future mother-in-law. Should it be absolutely neces- 
 sary for him to speak to her, the two must turn their backs 
 to each other. When a man dies before or after marriage, 
 his surviving brother takes the betrothed girl or widow to 
 be his wife. But if he already has as many wives as he 
 wants, he will cede her to his younger brother or to any 
 man who is her tribal husband (nuba). Old men generally 
 have the most and the youngest wives. Men often exchange 
 
 ' Mrs. Daisy M. Bates, in Victorian 
 Geographical Journal, xxiii.-xxiv. (1905- 
 1906) p. 42. The statement quoted 
 in the text was made by a settler who 
 had lived in the Tableland district, in- 
 land from Roebourne, for twenty years. 
 
 2 E. Clement, " Ethnographical 
 Notes on the Western Australian Abo- 
 rigines," Internationales Archiv fiir 
 Ethnographic, xvi. (1904) p. 12. 
 
 ^ See above, pp. 277 sqq. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN NORTH- WEST A USTRALIA 573 
 
 their wives for one or two nights, especially at corrobborees.^ 
 Yet adultery, we are told, is generally punished with death.^ 
 
 The natives of North -West Australia, between the Magical 
 Fortescue and Turner Rivers, perform magical ceremonies forX""^ 
 for the multiplication of edible animals and plants, when- muUipii- 
 ever these become scarce. So far as appears, the performers g^ibie ° 
 at any one of these ceremonies must be drawn exclusively animals 
 from one of the four exogamous classes; but the different''" p^"=- 
 classes officiate in different ceremonies. The rites, which 
 seem to be partly based on the principle of imitative magic, 
 regularly take place at a large heap of stones called a 
 tarlow or more rarely at a single stone. Different cairns 
 {tarlows) are set apart for the multiplication of different 
 animals or plants, and each of them is under the charge 
 of one of the four exogamous classes. For example, if 
 kangaroos grow scarce in a season of drought, the headman 
 of the class (say the Ballieri) which has charge of the 
 kangaroo cairn (tarlow) will go with as many members of the 
 same Ballieri (Paljeri) class as he can muster to the cairn, which 
 may perhaps be thirty or forty miles distant. There they 
 perform their rites, such as hopping round and round the 
 cairn in imitation of kangaroos, drinking kangaroo-fashion 
 from troughs placed on the ground, and beating the cairn 
 with spears, stones, and fighting clubs. In the evening a 
 corrobboree is held, at which the men and women are 
 grotesquely painted with red or yellow ochre or charcoal, 
 and everything connected with the hunting and killing 
 of kangaroos is freely displayed. Monotonous chants are 
 sung, boomerangs are rattled together, and a kangaroo 
 bone is moved rapidly up and down in the lateral incisions 
 of a throwing-stick.^ . 
 
 Again, if seeds which are used as food grow scarce, Cere- 
 another cairn (Jarloiv) set apart for the multiplication of[!^°g^^^°J 
 these seeds is visited by the headman of the class (say the of seeds 
 
 ' E. Clement, op. cit. p. 13. The Aborigines of North-West Australia," 
 
 writer met with a single case of poly- Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 
 andry. "A mother-in-law must not stiltilc, xxiii. {1894) p. 327. 
 speaic to her prospective son-in-law" ' E. Clement, "Ethnographical 
 
 (P. W. Bassett-Smith, in Journal of Notes on the Western Australian 
 
 the Anthropological Institute, xxiii. Aborigines," Internationales Aichiv 
 
 {1894) p. 327). /«> Ethnographic, xvi. (1904) pp. 
 
 " P. W. Bassett - Smith, " The 6 sg. 
 
574 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA ch*''- 
 
 and the Caiemurra) together with as many people, both men and 
 
 rn'rffish, women, of the Caiemurra (Kymera) class as he can get 
 
 emus, etc' together. In the ceremony at the cairn the wooden bowls 
 
 used for winnowing grass-seeds and the stone mills used 
 
 in grinding them play a prominent part. The ground 
 
 about the cairn is beaten flat with stones and sprinkled 
 
 with water, and the women go through the performance 
 
 of winnowing and grinding, while songs are sung and 
 
 dances danced. Again, when it is desired to multiply fish, 
 
 the particular cairn set apart for that purpose is visited 
 
 by people of the Ballieri (Paljeri) class, if it should be 
 
 under their care for the time being ; and in the ceremony 
 
 fishing-nets and a poisonous plant ikurraru) which they 
 
 throw into the pools to stupefy the fish, are much displayed. 
 
 In like manner there are cairns for the multiplication of 
 
 bustards, hawks, iguanas, cockatoos and nearly every 
 
 animal, as well as for the multiplication of seeds which 
 
 are used as foods. At the cairn for the increase of emus 
 
 the walk and run of that bird are closely imitated, and 
 
 ornaments made of emu feathers are worn.^ 
 
 Inheritance When a headman who has charge of a particular cairn 
 
 sacred dics, the care of the sacred stones descends to his son or 
 
 cairns at daughter ; and as the children always belong to a class 
 
 magical different from that of their parents, it follows that the 
 
 ceremonies custody of the cairns passes from one exogamous class to 
 
 a.r6 per- 
 
 formed. another with each generation. For example, when a head- 
 man of the Caiemurra (Kymera) class dies, the cairn of 
 which he had charge will be inherited by his son, who is 
 of the Burong (Boorong) class, and so the keepers of the 
 cairn will be the Burongs instead of the Caiemurras. For a 
 similar reason, when a Ballieri (Paljeri) headman dies, his 
 cairn passes to the Baniker (Banaka) class, because that is 
 the class to which his son belongs. Both men and women 
 may inherit the control of a cairn, and one exogamous 
 class may have the charge of several cairns at the same 
 time. But no members of other classes may be present at 
 the magical ceremonies for the multiplication of animals 
 or plants ; for it is believed that their presence would break 
 
 ' E. Clement, " Ethnographical Aborigines," Internationales Archiv 
 Notes on the Western Australian fiir Ethnographie, -xmi. (1904) p. 7. 
 
IV TOTEMISM IN NORTH-WEST A USTRALIA 575 
 
 the spell, and that the rite would have to be deferred till the 
 next new moon, the proper time for weaving the magic spells 
 being when the moon is about three days old.^ 
 
 Both in their aim and in their methods these ceremonies Resem- 
 for the multiplication of animals and plants clearly corre- o[^th«e 
 spond to the intichiuma ceremonies which the Arunta and ceremonies 
 other Central Australian tribes perform for the increase intidiiuma 
 of their totems ; only whereas among the central tribes ceremonies 
 these rites are observed by members of the respective central 
 totem clans, among the western tribes they are performed Australians. 
 by members of the exogamous classes. This seems to 
 shew that here as elsewhere among tribes dwelling on 
 or near the coast the old organisation in totem clans has 
 been or is being ousted by the newer organisation in 
 exogamous classes.^ 
 
 It is not clear why these savages regularly perform their Perhaps 
 ceremonies for the increase of animals and plants either at g'j^i^jjgj 
 heaps of stones or sometimes at single stones. Perhaps, like spirits of 
 some of the Central Australians, they believe that the dis- ^"dpiants 
 embodied spirits of animals and plants congregate in the are thought 
 stones, from which they can be driven out by magic in order ^^^ caims. 
 to be reborn as real animals and plants, and so in due time 
 to be killed or gathered and eaten. This may be why they 
 beat the kangaroo cairn with spears, clubs, and stones. 
 
 The foregoing information, scanty as it is, appears to Resem- 
 indicate a close similarity in customs between the north- tw^e^the 
 western and the central tribes of Australia, as the latter central and 
 have been described by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. In western 
 both sets of tribes we see circumcision ^ and subincision ""''^• 
 
 ' E. Clement, I.e. wound is perfectly healed. After that 
 
 ' See above, pp. 225, 227 sq., 235 in some tribes it is pounded up with 
 
 sq., 526-530. kangaroo meat and given to the novice 
 
 ^ Amongst the north-western tribes to eat ; in others it is taken by the 
 
 the rite of circumcision is called buckli, kinsfolk to a large tree and inserted 
 
 and bull - roarers {fioonan - gharries) beneath the bark. While their wounds 
 
 are swung at it in order to keep are healing, the novices swing bull- 
 
 the evil spirit (djuiw) away. The roarers to warn off young women. See 
 
 operation is performed with a stone E. Clement, "Ethnographical Notes 
 
 knife named borutla or cumiemarra ; on the Western Australian Aborigines," 
 
 whilst it is proceeding' the women set Internationales Archiv fiir Ethno- 
 
 up a frightful howling in their camp, graphic, xvi. (1904) pp. 10 sq. In 
 
 which they are not allowed to leave. these respects the rites present some 
 
 The severed foreskin of each novice is analogies to those of the central 
 
 tied to his hair and left there till the tribes. Thus, for example, among the 
 
576 
 
 TOTEM ISM IN WEST A US TR A LI A 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 The 
 
 northern 
 tribes dis- 
 believe in 
 the co- 
 habitation 
 
 practised as initiatory rites, marriage regulated by classes, 
 the names of some of which are clearly the same in both 
 regions, and magical ceremonies performed for the multi- 
 plication of edible animals and plants. Further, amongst 
 the northern tribes about Port Darwin and the Daly River, 
 particularly the Larrekiya and Wogait, "conception is not 
 regarded as a direct result of cohabitation." The old men 
 of the sexes of the Wogait Say that there is an evil spirit who takes 
 direct babies from a big fire and places them in the wombs of 
 cause of women, who must then give birth to them. When in the 
 
 conception. . , . i i -n 
 
 ordmary course of events a man is out huntmg and kills 
 game or gathers vegetable food, he gives it to his wife, 
 who must eat it, believing that the food will cause her to 
 conceive and bring forth a child. When the child is born, 
 it may on no account partake of the particular food which 
 produced conception until it has got its first teeth.-' This 
 theory of child-birth resembles those which are current 
 among the tribes of Central Australia and Queensland in 
 so far as conception is regarded as not resulting directly 
 from cohabitation ; and it confirms to some extent the 
 suggestion which I have made, that a person's totem may 
 have been most commonly determined by the particular 
 food which a woman had partaken of immediately before 
 she first felt the child in her womb.^ To judge by these 
 indications, the view is shared by all the tribes of Central 
 
 Unnnatjera the severed foreskin is 
 preserved for some time after the 
 operation and is then, under cover of 
 night, deposited by the lad in a 
 hollow tree ; he tells no one but a 
 cousin (his father's sister's son) where 
 he has put it. Again, among the 
 Warramunga the severed foreskin is 
 placed in a hole made by a witchetty 
 grub in a tree, and it is supposed to 
 cause a plentiful supply of the grub. 
 See Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, 
 Northern Tribes of Central Australia, 
 PP- 341. 353 ■!?• 
 
 1 Herbert Basedow, Anthropological 
 Notes 071 the Western Coastal Tribes 
 of the Northern Territory of Sovih 
 Australia, pp. 4 sq. (separate reprint 
 from the Transactions of the Royal 
 
 Society of South Australia, vol. xxxi. 
 1907). The tribes described by Mr. 
 Basedow are not in West Australia, 
 but in the extreme north of the 
 Northern Territory of South Australia. 
 Mr. Basedow gives no information as 
 to the social organisation of these 
 tribes. The Wogait tribe practises 
 circumcision, but the Larrekiya tribe 
 does not. Among the Wogait the 
 severed foreskin is shewn by the 
 novice to his mother and then to his 
 future wife. Afterwards it is worn in 
 a bag round the neck of the operator 
 till the wound which he has made in 
 the novice is healed, when it is thrown 
 into the fire. The operation is per- 
 formed with a flint knife. See H. 
 Basedow, op. cit. p. 12. 
 ^ See above, p. 159. 
 
IV 
 
 TOTEM ISM IN NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 
 
 577 
 
 and Northern Australia. In point of fact I am informed by 
 the Bishop of North Queensland (Dr. Frodsham) that the 
 opinion is held by all the tribes with which he is acquainted 
 both in North Queensland and in Central Australia, including 
 the Arunta ; not only are the natives in their savage state 
 ignorant of the true cause of conception, but they do not 
 readily believe it even after their admission into mission 
 stations, and their incredulity has to be reckoned with in 
 the efforts of the clergy to introduce a higher standard 
 of sexual morality among them.^ Among the tribes around The 
 the Cairns district in North Queensland " the acceptance of ^"^P'f"'=<= 
 food from a man by a woman was not merely regarded as a from a 
 marriage ceremony but as the actual cause of conception." ^ JJ'oman is 
 Such a belief confirms the suggestion I have made that a regarded 
 child's totem may often have been determined by the last tdbes'as 
 food which a mother ate before she felt her womb quickened ; ' the cause of 
 for when the true cause of conception was unknown a woman ™"'^^p '°"" 
 might very naturally attribute the strange stirring within her 
 to the last food she had partaken of ; she might fancy that 
 the animal or the plant, of which she had certainly received a 
 
 ' This information was given to me 
 in conversation by the Bishop of 
 North Queensland (Dr. Frodsham) at 
 Liverpool, i8th May igo8. His 
 lordship told me that amongst the 
 tribes with whom he is personally 
 acquainted are the Arunta. He also 
 referred to a form of communal or 
 group marriage, which he believes to 
 be practised among aboriginal tribes 
 whom he has visited on the western 
 side of the Gulf of Carpentaria ; but 
 unfortunately I had not time to obtain 
 particulars from him on the subject. 
 I urged on him the importance or 
 publishing his information, and he 
 assented to my proposal that he 
 should do so ; but he has not yet 
 found leisure to carry out his intention. 
 Meantime he has kindly authorised 
 me by letter (dated Bishop's Lodge, 
 Townsville, Queensland, gth July 
 1909) to publish this statement. The 
 information was voluntarily given, not 
 elicited by questions, at the close of a 
 public lecture of mine, which his lord- 
 ship did me the honour 01 attending. 
 
 VOL. I 
 
 In his letter to me the Bishop speaks 
 of " the belief, practically universal 
 among the Northern tribes, that copula- 
 tion is not the cause of conception." 
 See Folk-lore, xx. (1909) pp. 350-352 ; 
 Man, ix. (1909) pp. 145-147. 
 
 2 Extract from a letter of the Bishop 
 of Queensland (Dr. Frodsham) to me, 
 dated 9th July 1909. See the pre- 
 ceding note. The Bishop's authority 
 for the statement in the text is the Rev. 
 C. W. Morrison, M.A., of Emmanuel 
 College, Cambridge, Acting Head of 
 the Yarrubah Mission. Mr. Morrison 
 further told the Bishop that "mono- 
 gamy was the custom in these tribes, 
 except in the case of sisters " ; and the 
 Bishop writes to me that this latter 
 statement agrees with his own observa- 
 tion, for he knows an aboriginal who 
 married four sisters. The custom of 
 marrying several sisters at once or 
 successively is widespread. Many in- 
 stances of it will meet us in the sequel. 
 It was particularly common among the 
 North American Indians. 
 
 3 See above, pp. 1 58 sqq. 
 
 2 P 
 
578 TOTEMISM IN WEST AUSTRALIA chap. 
 
 portion into her body, was growing up within her, and that 
 the child, when it came forth from her womb, was nothing 
 but that animal or that plant in a slightly disguised form. 
 Further, with the Australian evidence before us, we may 
 surmise that a common marriage ceremony, which consists 
 in husband and wife eating together,^ may originally have 
 had a deeper meaning than that of a mere covenant ; it 
 may have been supposed actually to impregnate the woman. 
 
 Reported Lastly, to complete our survey of the exogamous systems 
 
 endo- Qf Australia, it may be mentioned that at Raffles Bay and 
 
 gamous ' 1 r 1 • 1 
 
 classes at Port Essmgton at the extreme north of the contment the 
 Raffles natives are said to be " divided into three distinct classes. 
 
 Bay and 
 
 Port who do not intermarry. The first and highest is named 
 
 Essmgton. j^jandro- gillie, the second, Manbur-ge, and the third Mandro- 
 willie. The first class assumes a superiority over the others, 
 which is submitted to without reluctance ; and those who 
 believe in real difference of blood amongst civilized nations, 
 might find here some apparent grourid for such opinion, 
 as the Mandro-gillies were observed to be more polite, and 
 unaffectedly easy in their manners, than the others, who, 
 it was supposed, were neither so shrewd nor so refined : 
 this, however, might be only imaginary." ^ Similary Com- 
 mander J. L. Stokes of the Beagle reports that the natives 
 of this district were " divided in three distinct classes, 
 which do not intermarry. The first is known as Maudrojilly 
 \sic\ the second as Mamburgy, the third as Mandrouilly. 
 They are very particular about the distinction of classes, 
 but we could never discover which was the superior and 
 which the inferior class, though it is supposed by most of 
 those who have inquired into the subject, that Madrojilly 
 \_sic\, or first class, head the others in war, and govern the 
 affairs of the tribe." ^ 
 The report These accounts clearly imply that the natives were 
 may be divided into three endogamous classes or castes, the members 
 
 mistaken, ^ ^ ' 
 
 of each of which married among themselves and refused 
 
 ' For examples of the ceremony, see Voyage round the World (London, 
 
 E. S. Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, 1S35), p. 163. 
 li. (London, 1895) pp. 343 sqq. See 
 
 below, pp. 262 sq. 3 j_ L^jf Stokes, Discoveries in 
 
 2 T. B. Wilson, Narrative of a Atisti-alia (London, 1S46), i. 393. 
 
IV TO TEMISM IN NORTH- WEST A USTRALIA 579 
 
 to marry members of another class or caste. But endo- 
 gamous divisions of this sort are so contrary to all we 
 know of the marriage systems of the Australian aborigines 
 that we cannot but suspect that the writers misunderstood 
 their informants, and that the classes which they describe 
 were exogamous rather than endogamous. The mistake 
 might the more easily arise if one of the three exogamous 
 classes, as might well happen, married into only one of 
 the other two classes and refused to marry into the third. 
 But with such meagre information it is impossible to reach 
 any definite conclusion on the subject. 
 
 END OF VOL. I 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.