The Northern Tribes of Central Australia

PREFACE

This work may be regarded as a sequel to the Native Tribes uof Central Australia, published by us in 1899. The interest which the results therein recorded aroused amongst anthropologists, and the desire to learn more of the customs and beliefs of the aborigines before it was too late to study them, led to a request being made to the authorities concerned to grant the authors leave of absence for a year in order to prosecute further studies amongst the tribes situated in that part of the Northern Territory which lies between the Macdonnell Ranges and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Govern- ment of South Australia and the Council of the Melbourne University at once acceded to the request, and the Governments of the former state and of Victoria rendered valuable assistance in providing substitutes to discharge the duties of the authors during their absence.

There still remained the difficulty of securing funds to defray the actual expenses of the expedition. Through the generosity of Mr. David Syme of Melbourne this difficulty was soon removed, and we were free to make all the necessary arrangements. In offering our warmest thanks to Mr. Syme, we can only express the hope that the results of our work are such as to justify his generosity.

Some months before our departure we sent up stores by camel team to the stations at Alice Springs, Barrow Creek, Tennant Creek, and Powell Creek on the overland telegraph vii viii NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

line, and the ability to use these as depots was of great assistance to us. The Government of South Australia, in whose territory we were working, rendered us every possible help. Our special thanks are due to Sir F. W. Holder, then Premier of the state. Sir C. Todd, the Postmaster-General, the Hon. R. W. Foster, Commissioner of Public Works, and Mr. T. Gill, for the great personal interest which they took in our work and for most valuable help in many ways.

Through the kindness of Sir C. Todd we were able to have all of our stores packed and despatched along the overland telegraph line under the supervision of Mr. F. H. Chance, to whose cordial assistance we are much indebted. At a later period we were much indebted to the kindness of Sir Alexander Peacock, the Premier of Victoria, and the Hon. R. Philp, Premier of Queensland, through whose kindness, in sending a pilot steamer to our assistance when we were stranded on the Macarthur River, we were able to cross the Gulf of Carpentaria into Queensland.

In view of the nature of the work which we desired to carry out, we determined to travel with as small a party as possible, and, from amongst very numerous applicants, had no hesitation in selecting Mounted Trooper Chance to take charge of our horses and impedimenta, and generally to supervise the work of the camp. His previous experience in Central Australia, his tact in dealing with natives, and his trustworthiness, were already well known to us. He rendered us the most loyal and valuable assistance, and our experience proved that we could not have made a better choice.

The only other permanent members of our party were two natives of the Arunta tribe, named Erlikiliakirra and Purunda. They accompanied us right through the whole journey. Their only remuneration, as they had no use for money, consisted of clothing, abundant food and tobacco. Shortly after our arrival on the shores of the Gulf of Car-

PREFACE

IX

pentaria they started on their return journey, mounted on horses and armed, in case they might meet with hostile natives before they reached friendly tribes. On the journey north we had arranged for their food supplies, and, some time after our return, were glad to hear that they had reached the south in safety.

Our work was much facilitated by the existence of the isolated telegraph stations on the overland line to Port Darwin. Without in any way disturbing the natives, who still, to the north of the Macdonnell Ranges, practise the customs and retain unchanged the beliefs of their fathers, the few widely scattered telegraph officials, by their consistent kindly treatment of the natives, have come to be regarded by the latter as their friends, and this fact served us in good stead. To Mr. P. M. Byrne of Charlotte Waters, Mr. M‘Feat, the officer in charge at Alice Springs during our visit, Mr. W. Scott at Barrow Creek, Mr. J. Field at Tennant Creek, and Mr. F. J. Kell at Powell Creek, we are indebted for every assistance which it lay in their power to render to us.

Some time after our return from the expedition, we paid a visit to the Peak Station, close to the north-west end of Lake Eyre, our object being to investigate certain special points amongst the Urabunna tribe. To our friend Mr. E. C. Kempe, the owner of the station, we are indebted for assistance which enabled us to accomplish, in a relatively short time, work which, without his friendly help, might have caused us much trouble and delay.

Through the kindness of the late Mr. J. Angas Johnson of Adelaide, we were provided with a phonograph, and so were able to secure records of native songs associated with both the ordinary corrobborees and sacred ceremonies. Our photographic apparatus consisted of a biograph and a half and a quarter plate camera. The first named was one of the Warwick Company’s instruments ; the second, v/ith a a 2

X

Goertz lens attached, was specially made for us in Melbourne by Mr. W. Gray, and fitted with metal dark slides ; the third was a Goertz- Anschutz folding camera. The biograph we only used during the first part of our journey, taking it with us as far north as the Macdonnell Ranges. It was not practicable to carry films further and retain them undeveloped for more than a year, especially as the last few months of our time were to be spent in the damp heat of the Gulf country. Both of the cameras, however, went through the whole expedition without any mishap, and, despite heat and dust interminable, served their purpose admirably. A certain number of the numerous photographs taken by us are used in the illustration of the following pages.

Up to the present time there has been no reliable and detailed account published of the organisation, customs, and beliefs of the tribes inhabiting the wide extent of country lying between the Macdonnell Ranges in the centre of the continent and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Practically nothing is known of their customs, and such accounts as are published of their organisation, apart from the brief outline which appeared in our previous work, are very misleading inasmuch as they represent these tribes as counting descent of the “ class ” in the female line. The present work is an attempt to fill this gap in our knowledge of the Australian aborigines.

In one or two instances friendly critics of our previous work were evidently perplexed in mind as to how it was that we had been allowed to see, and even photograph, ceremonies all knowledge of which is kept carefully hidden from any but initiated members of the tribe. The explanation of this is to be found in a sentence in the preface to the same work, wherein it is stated that one of the authors had spent the greater part of twenty years amongst the Arunta tribe, and that both of us are regarded as fidly initiated members of the same tribe.

PREFACE

XI

Those who have worked amongst savages will realise that this enabled us to see things and to gain information of a kind quite inaccessible to the uninitiated worker, however observant he may be. As an instance of what this means, we may say that on one occasion, when coming into contact with a strange tribe, in a camp nearly two hundred miles away from our last halting-place, we were a little surprised to find that the natives knew all about us. They were not only quite friendly, but seemed anxious to help us. Later on we found out that the tribe amongst whom we had last been working had actually, unknown to us, sent on two men to tell the strangers that we were friends, and that they were to show and tell us everything without fear. It ma)^ also be advisable to point out that all of our information has been collected at first hand.

Starting from the region of Lake Eyre in the south, we studied the tribes inhabiting the country crossed by the telegraph line as far north as Newcastle Waters. From this point we struck east, until, following down the Macarthur River, we reached the shores of the Gulf of Carpen- taria. We were thus able to .trace a gradual change amongst the tribes in regard to organisation and beliefs, and at the same time to demonstrate a fundamental agreement in regard to certain important matters. Perhaps the most interesting result of our work is the demonstration of the fact that, in the whole of this wide area, the belief that every living member of the tribe is the reincarnation of a spirit ancestor is universal. 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. We have also been able to extend widely the area over which the belief is held that the members of the totemic group are regarded as responsible for the increase of the animal or plant which gives its name to the group.

So long as these two beliefs were only known, with xii certainty, to exist amongst the Arunta and one or two closely allied tribes, it might perhaps be possible to regard them as “ sports,” but in the light of our further knowledge this idea is clearly untenable. As we pass northwards we find the Arunta beliefs and customs merging into those of the Kaitish, the latter into those of the Warramunga, Tjingilli, and Umbaia, and these again, in their turn, into those of the coastal tribes, the Gnanji, Binbinga, Anula, and Mara. Not only is this so, but in the south we find the beliefs of the Urabunna tribe agreeing fundamentally with those of the Arunta. We are thus able to demonstrate the fact that there is no radical difference, so far as important beliefs and customs are concerned, between tribes which count descent in the male line, and others which count it in the female line. In the matter of totemic names the curious system of the Arunta tribe in which they follow, of necessity, neither in the paternal nor in the maternal line merges on the one hand into that of the more northern tribes, in which the descent is strictly paternal, and on the other hand into that of the southern tribes, in which it is strictly maternal.

Taking every class of evidence into account, it appears to us to be very difficult to avoid the conclusion that the central tribes, which, for long ages, have been shielded by their geographical isolation from external influences, have retained the most primitive form of customs and beliefs. It is an easy matter to imagine the beliefs of the rnore northern tribes resulting as a modification of original ones, more or less similar to those now held by the central tribes, but the reverse process is not conceivable.

In view of certain statements made in regard to our previous work on the Arunta tribe, it may perhaps be advisable to point out that this tribe appeared, for the time being, to stand out in more or less strong contrast to other Australian tribes, simply because it was the one which had

PREFACE

xni been studied in greatest detail. Thanks especially to the work of Messrs. Howitt, Fison, and Roth, we already know a great deal about such matters as the organisation and initiation ceremonies of various Australian tribes, but, up to the time when we commenced our work upon the Arunta, it is only fair to say that, apart from initiation ceremonies, no serious attempt had been made to investigate other forms of sacred ceremonies — in fact the existence of such was not suspected. It is now too late to attempt the study of these amongst those tribes in regard to whose organisation and customs all our knowledge of Australian tribes was previously based. That ceremonies and beliefs, possibly in details different from, but probably in essential features akin to, those of the central tribes have not been described is no proof at all that they did not exist. It can scarcely be imagined that the idea of reincarnation of ancestral spirit individuals, and customs such as Intichiuma, should be confined even to the very wide area over which our investigations have been spread. Indeed Mr. Roth’s latest work in Queensland shows clearly that the idea of spirit children entering women, and that sexual intercourse has nothing of necessity to do with procreation, is a very widespread belief amongst the Australian aborigines, and is by no means confined to the tribes amongst whom its existence was first described by us.

In regard to matters of this kind negative evidence is of very little value. At the present time the natives in Central Australia carry on their ceremonies in secrecy, without the few white men who are scattered over the country knowing, as a general rule, anything about them. Only initiated members of the tribes are allowed to attend and take part in them, and, whilst the ordinary observer or traveller may learn much about their organisation, he will know nothing whatever about the more sacred or secret matters, and will have no reason to suppose that the natives perform.

XIV

what has been called an elaborate ritual, such as we have described in the Arunta tribe. Even an investigator sufficiently conversant with, and trusted by, the members of the tribe to be allowed to see the initiation ceremonies, might easily overlook the totemic ceremonies unless he happened to be present just at the particular time when they were being performed, or made special inquiries in regard to them.

A word of warning must, however, be written in regard to this “ elaborate ritual.” To a certain extent it is without doubt elaborate, but at the same time it is eminently crude and savage in all essential points. It must be remembered that these ceremonies are performed by naked, howling savages, who have no idea of permanent abodes, no clothing, no knowledge of any implements save those fashioned out of wood, bone, and stone, no idea whatever of the cultivation of crops, or of the laying in of a supply of food to tide over hard times, no word for any number beyond three, and no belief in anything like a supreme being. Apart from the simple but often decorative nature of the design drawn on the bodies of the performers, or on the ground during the performance of ceremonies, the latter are crude in the extreme. It is one thing to read of these ceremonies— it is quite another thing to see them prepared and performed. A number of naked savages assemble on the ceremonial ground. They bring with them a supply of down, plucked from birds which they have killed with boomerangs or gathered from plants, and this down they grind on flat stones, mixing it with pipe-clay or red ochre. Then, drawing blood from their own veins, they smear it over their bodies and use it as a gum, so that they can outline designs in white and red. While this is in progress they are chanting songs of which they do not know the meaning, and, when all is ready and the performers are decorated, a group of men stand at one side of the cere-

PREFACE

XV

monial ground, the decorated men perform a series of more or less grotesque evolutions, and then all is over. It is difficult, if not impossible, to write an account of the ceremonies of these tribes without conveying the impression that they have reached a higher stage of culture than is actually the case ; but in order to form a just idea the reader must always bear in mind that, though the ceremonies are very numerous, each one is in reality simple and often crude. It is only their number which causes them to appear highly developed.

We have endeavoured, as before, to set forth the results of our work so that the reader may see, on the one hand, the actual facts, and, on the other, the conclusion at which, in certain cases, we have arrived after a consideration of them.

In regard to the question of the terms of relationship, the more we know of the conditions existing in Australian tribes, the more strongly do we feel inclined to support the conclusions arrived at by Messrs. Howitt and Fison in regard to these matters. As we stated previously, it was these two workers who laid the true foundation of our knowledge of Australian anthropology, and we are glad to have the opportunity of again acknowledging not only our indebtedness to, and our admiration of, their work, but also pur appreciation of the generous’ interest which they have taken in our own.

The publication of Mr. Howitt’s work on the native tribes of South-eastern Australia, Mr. Roth’s work on the Northeastern tribes, and our own on the Central and North Central tribes will probably supply anthropologists with a very fair idea of the organisation, customs, and beliefs of the native inhabitants of the central and eastern parts of the continent. The western half is still, anthropologically, almost a terra incognita.

In conclusion, we have once more to acknowledge our xvi NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

indebtedness to the great interest which Dr. E. B. Tylor and Mr. J. G. Frazer have taken in our work. To Dr. Tylor one of us is indebted for his introduction to anthropological work at a time v/hen it seemed very improbable that he would have the opportunity of working amongst savage tribes. To Mr. Frazer we are indebted for help which we cannot adequately acknowledge. Not only has he devoted much valuable time to the reading and correction of our proof-sheets, as the work has been passing through the press, but we feel that we owe more than we can^express in words to his constant and generqus assistance and to his stimulating influence.

CONTENTS

Introduction

CHAPTER I

PAGE

I

Physical Features .

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER HI

Social Organisation of the Tribes . . 70

CHAPTER IV

Marriage Ceremonies and other Customs . . 133

1/ Totems

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

Sacred Ceremonies connected with the Totems . 177

CHAPTER VII

Ceremonies concerned with the Wollunqua Totem of the Warramunga Tribe . . . .226

xvii xviii NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

CHAPTER VIII

PAGE

Churinga and Allied Objects . . . .257

CHAPTER IX

iNTicHiuMA Ceremonies ..... 283

CHAPTER X

Eating the Totemic Animal or Plant . . . 320

CHAPTER XI

Initiation Ceremonies ..... 328

CHAPTER XII

The Nathagura or Fire Ceremony of the Warra-

CHAPTER XIII

Traditions relating to Totemic Ancestors . . 393

CHAPTER XIV

Magic . . . . . . .455

CHAPTER XV

The Making and Power of Medicine Men . . 479

CHAPTER XVI

Beliefs in Beings endowed with Superior Powers . 490

CONTENTS

XIX

CHAPTER XVII

PAGE

Customs relating to Burial and Mourning . . 505

CHAPTER XVIII

The Atninga or Avenging Party . . -5 56

Welcoming Dance

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

Names and Naming . . . . .580

CHAPTER XXI

Customs relating to the Knocking out of Teeth —

Giving of Blood — Hair — Childbirth — Food Restrictions— Nose -boring — Inheritance — Making

OF Fire .

CHAPTER XXII

Myths Relating to Sun, Moon, Stars, Comets, Rainbow,

Whirlwind . . . . . . , 623

CHAPTER XXIII

Weapons and Implements . . . . -633

CHAPTER XXIV

Clothing and Ornament .

XX

CHAPTER XXV

PAGE

Glossary of Native Terms used . . . .745

Appendix A . . . . . . . 766

Appendix B — Totem Names .... 767

INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

1. Young child. Arunta tribe . . . .36

2. Two children. Warramunga tribe . . >37

3. Child running, showing the toes turned outwards. Warra-

4. Two young girls. Kaitish tribe . . . >39

5. Young girl. Kaitish tribe . . . >39

6. Young woman, Tjingilli tribe, showing the method of plaiting the hair ...... 39

7. Young woman wearing head-bands. Warramunga tribe . 40

8. Young woman. Warramunga tribe . . .40

9. Young woman wearing head- and neck -bands. Kaitish

10. Young woman with hair plaited and wearing head-bands,

11. Young woman wearing apron. Warramunga tribe . . 41

12. Woman of Water Totem wearing euro bone ornaments and

Q-Axxywig pitchi. Full face. Kaitish tribe . .42

13. Woman carrying Side face. Kaitish tribe . 43

14. Young woman wearing arm-bands. Side face. Anula tribe 44

15. Young woman wearing arm-bands and showing cicatrices.

Full face. Anula tribe . . . .45

16. Elderly woman. Full face. Kaitish tribe . . 46

17. Elderly woman. Side face. Kaitish tribe . , 47

1 8. Old woman. Showing scar on the centre of the scalp.

19. Two young boys. Warramunga tribe . . .48

xxi b xxii NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG. I'AGE

20. Group of boys. Arunta tribe . . . .48

21. Youth passing through the initiation ceremonies. Warra-

22. Youth passing through the initiation ceremonies, showing the method of tying the hair up. Warramunga tribe . 49

23. Man of the Unmatjera tribe. Side face . . .50

24. Man of the Unmatjera tribe. Full face . . .50

25. Man of the Kaitish tribe, showing the curly nature of the hair . . . . . . .51

26. Man of the Unmatjera tribe . . . .51

27. Man of the Warramunga tribe, showing the hole in the nasal septum broken through . . . .52

28. Man of the Tjingilli tribe, with well-marked cicatrices. Full face . . . . . . .53

29. Man of the Tjingilli tribe. Side face . . .54

30. Man of the Tjingilli tribe, showing the curled nature of the hair. Full face . . . . -55

31. Man of the Tjingilli tribe. Side face . . .56

32. Man of the Worgaia tribe, showing the hairs pulled out on the lips. Side face . . . . -57

33. Man of the Worgaia tribe. Full face . . .58

34. Old man of the Kaitish tribe . . . .59

35. An old man lying down and a younger man pulling out the hairs on his cheek. Warramunga tribe . . 60

36. The back of a man of the Walpari tribe, showing scars resulting from cuts inflicted by stone knives . . 61

37. Side view of a man of the Gnanji tribe, showing the method of plaiting the hair . . . . .62

38. Karawa boy, showing method of plaiting hair . . 63

39. Medicine man, Binbinga tribe. Full face . . 64

40. Medicine man, Binbinga tribe, carrying a wallet on his back. Showing method of plaiting hair. Side face . 65

41. Young man of Anula tribe . . . .66

42. Elderly man of Wilingura tribe . . . .67

43. Elderly man of Wilingura tribe . . . .68

44. Group of Anula and Mara natives . . . .69

ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii

FIG. PAGE

45. Ceremony of Udniringita (a Grub) Totem. Arunta tribe . 181

46. Group of men discussing matters at the close of a ceremony of the Udniringita (a Grub) Totem. Arunta tribe . 183

47. Old men explaining totemic matters to a young man at the close of a totemic ceremony . . . .184

48. Performance of a sacred ceremony of the Sun Totem.

49. Ceremony of Atnitta Ulpailima . . . .186

50. Embracing after the performance of a sacred ceremony.

5 I. Decoration of performer in ceremony of a Grass-Seed Totem.

Kaitish tribe . . . . . .188

52. Performance of a ceremony of the Emu Totem. Kaitish tribe . . . . • • .189

53. Method of bringing a sacred ceremony to a close. Kaitish

54. Audience watching a ceremony of the Euro (a Kangaroo)

Totem. Kaitish tribe . . . . .192

55. Beginning to decorate the bodies of performers. Warra-

56. Ceremony of Wind Totem. Warramunga tribe . . 200

57. Men decorated for the performance of ceremonies connected with the Wild Cat and Itjilpi (an Ant) Totems. Warra-

58. Man performing a ceremony of the Thaballa or Laughing-

Boy Totem. Warramunga tribe . . . 202

59. Close of a ceremony connected with a Lizard Totem : knocking off the helmet. Warramunga tribe . . 203

60. Close of a ceremony connected with a Lizard Totem.

61. Close of a performance associated with the Uluuru moiety.

62. Ceremony of the Wind Totem. Warramunga tribe . 206

63. Ceremony of Wild Cat {Dasyiiriis sp.) Totem. Walpari

64. Ceremony of a Lizard Totem. Warramunga tribe . 208

xxiv NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG.

65. Ceremony of an Ant Totem. Warramunga tribe ,

66. Ceremony connected with a mischievous spirit called Ingwuna. Warramunga tribe ....

67. Ceremony connected with Wonna or cold. Warramunga tribe ......

68. Decoration of performers in a ceremony connected with the

Fire Totem. Tjingilli tribe . . . .

69. Close of a ceremony of the Yam Totem. Tjingilli tribe

70. Performers on the ceremonial ground. Ceremonies connected with the Fly, Lizard, and Wallaby Totems. Umbaia tribe ......

71. Performer projecting the stone called Unjulukuli in the

Umbaia tribe ......

72. Two men decorated for the performance of a ceremony connected with the Wollunqua Totem. Warramunga tribe

73. Ceremony connected with Wollunqua Totem. Warramunga tribe .......

74. Close of a ceremony connected with the Wollunqua Totem.

Warramunga tribe .....

75. Preparing the Wollonqua mound. Warramunga tribe

76. The Kingilli men showing the Wollunqua mound to the

Uluuru, who are walking round it. Warramunga tribe .

77. Stroking the base of the Wollunqua mound to appease the snake. Warramunga tribe ....

78. Preparation for a ground -drawing in connection with a ceremony of the Wollunqua Totem. Warramunga tribe ......

79. Group of men standing around a ground-drawing in connecwith a ceremony of the Wollunqua Totem

80. Ground-drawing in connection with a ceremony of the Wollunqua Totem, and five performers taking part in the ceremony. Warramunga tribe ....

81. Final ceremony in connection with the Wollunqua Totem.

Warramunga tribe .....

82. {a) Ground-plan of the valley in which Thapauerlu is situated.

{d) Section along the line a — b

PAGE

“33

24a

ILLUSTRATIONS

XXV

FIG. PAGE

83. Thapauerlu, a water-hole in the Murchison Range where the Wollunqua snake is supposed by the Warramunga tribe to live . . . . ; .252

84. Two younger men being rubbed by an older one with stones which are supposed to represent parts of the body of a euro (kangfaroo). Warramunga tribe . . • 254

85. Returning of Churinga. Arunta tribe . . .262

86. Ceremony of Atnitta Ulpailima in connection with the returning of Churinga. Arunta tribe . . .265

87. Stone Churinga representing the liver of a Panunga man of the Emu Totem. Arunta tribe . . . 268

88. Wooden Churinga of a Bukhara woman of Untjalka (a Grub)

Totem. Arunta tribe . . . . .268

89. Stone Churinga of the Wild-Cat {Dasyurus sp.) Totem.

Kaitish tribe . . . . . .269

90. Wooden Churinga Nanja of a Bukhara man of the Crane

Totem. Arunta tribe . . . . .269

91. Wooden Churinga. Kaitish tribe . . .270

92. Stone Churinga representing one of the yams carried by the Munga-Munga women in the Wingara times. Warra-

93. Wooden Churinga. Warramunga tribe . . . 276

94. Wooden Churinga of a Snake Totem. Umbaia tribe . 276

95. Wooden Churinga of a Snake Totem. Gnanji tribe . 277

96. Wooden Churinga of a Snake Totem. Gnanji tribe . 277

<)6a. Intichiuma ceremony of a Snake Totemic Group in the

Urabunna tribe . . . . .287

97. Tjinqurokora, a water-hole in the Tennant Creek where the ancestor of the Black Snake Totemic Group arose.

98. Ceremony of Irrimunta. Warramunga tribe . . 300

99. Ceremony of Purntu-Purntu. Warramunga tribe . . 302

100. Preparing a ground-drawing in connection with a ceremony of the Black-Snake Totem. Warramunga tribe . 303

10 1. Preparation for a ceremony in connection with the Black

Snake Totem. Warramunga tribe . . . 304

xxvi NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG. PAGE

102. Decorations of two men for a ceremony in connection with the Black-Snake Totem . . . . 305

103. The audience gathering round the performers at the close of a ceremony connected with the Black- Snake Totem.

104. Close of a ceremony connected with the Black-Snake Totem 307

105. Water Intichiuma ceremony. Mara tribe . . 314

I05<:^. Man of the Urabunna tribe, showing the cuts made on the back during the Wilyaru ceremony . . *336

106. Ceremony of Alkira-kiuma. Arunta tribe . . 337

107. Women dancing with shields on the Apulia ground on the day on which the ceremony of circumcision is performed on it. Arunta tribe . . . . -339

108. Women dancing around the Apullunpa. Arunta tribe . 340

109. Subincision ceremony. Warramunga tribe . . 356

no. Operation of subincision. Warramunga tribe . . 357

111. Tying fur-string round the arm of a novice. Warramunga

1 12. Operation of Kuntamara. Warramunga tribe . . 360

1 1 3. Recently initiated youth touching the head of an old man with a leafy twig in order to release himself from the ban of silence. Warramunga tribe . . . .362

1 1 4. Fire ceremony . . .... 379

1 1 5. Fire ceremony. Warramunga tribe . . .381

1 16. Fire ceremony. Warramunga tribe . . . 383

1 17. Fire ceremony ...... 385

1 1 8. Fire ceremony ...... 386

1 19. Fire ceremony ...... 387

120. Fire ceremony. Warramunga tribe . . . 390

1 2 1. Pointing the irna. Arunta tribe . . . .456

I'lia. Injilla or pointing-bone, with its case. Arunta tribe . 457

1211^. Irna or pointing-stick, covered mostly with birds’ down.

121C. Irna or pointing-stick, marked with a burnt design.

I2l<^. Injilla or pointing-bone. Arunta tribe . . . 457

ILLUSTRATIONS

122. Takula, a flattened pointing-stick ornamented with burnt designs and rings of birds’ down. Arunta tribe i2 2<3:. Takula, ornamented with burnt design. Arunta tribe

123. Tjinpila, a double pointing-stick. Arunta tribe

124. Ungakura, pointing apparatus. Arunta tribe

125. Losing the Ungakura pointing apparatus. Arunta ^be

126. Pointing-sticks. Kaitish tribe ....

127. Pointing-stick. Kaitish tribe ....

128. Pointing-stick. Kaitish tribe ....

129. Spear-head used as pointing apparatus and for evil magic, called Nakitja by the Kaitish tribe

1 30. Scene in the Illionpa corrobboree depicting a man giving

Mauia to another individual who is supposed to be lying asleep. Arunta tribe .....

1 3 1. Man wearing woman’s head-rings as a magic cure for headache. Warramunga tribe ....

132. Medicine man in the Warramunga tribe wearing the magic

Kupitja through the hole in the nasal septum

133. A child’s tree grave. Kaitish tribe

134. Death scene. Warramunga tribe

135. Tree grave of an adult .....

136. Man with gashed thigh, during mourning ceremonies.

Warramunga tribe .....

137. Two widows on the morning after a man’s death .

I37<3:. Group of women cutting their heads with yam-sticks during mourning ceremonies. Warramunga tribe

138. Women challenging one another to fight and cut their heads during mourning ceremonies. Warramunga. tribe ..... . .

139. Women embracing and wailing after cutting their heads during the mourning ceremonies. Warramunga tribe .

140. Visit to tree grave at sunrise, a few days after the death of a man, to try and discover some clue to the supposed murderer. Warramunga tribe ....

14 1. Climbing up to the tree grave in order to rake the bones out on to the ground. Warramunga tribe xxvii

458:

xxviii NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG. PAGE

142. Raking the bones into a bark dish . . -532

143. Burying the bones in an ant-hill. Warraniunga tribe . 533

144. Wrapping the arm-bone up in paper bark. Warramunga

144a. Group of old women waiting in camp until summoned to the ceremonial ground . . . . 534

145. Group of men and women awaiting the bringing in of the arm-bone of a dead person . . . -535

146. Bringing in the arm-bone . . . -536

147. Group of men and women sitting on the ground wailing and weeping over the bone . . . *537

148. Group of men and women after the arm-bone has been brought in . . . . . -538

149. Final burial ceremonies. Warramunga tribe . -539

150. Final burial ceremonies. Warramunga tribe . . 541

151. Final burial ceremonies. Warramunga tribe . . 542

152. Ftnal burial ceremonies ..... 543

153. Parcel of dead man’s bones wrapped in paper bark and placed in the fork of a branch standing upright in the ground . . . , . • 55°

154. Atninga party approaching the ceremonial ground. Arunta

155. Atninga party performing a boomerang dance. Arunta

156. Rubbing the thighs of the men who are taking part in the

Atninga. Arunta tribe . . . -559

157. Atninga party ...... 560

158. Atninga party dancing round the spears which are to be used . . . . . . .561

159. Atninga. Arunta tribe ..... 562

160. Atninga . . . . . . -563

1 6 1. Return of the Atninga. Arunta tribe . . .564

162. Atninga. Arunta tribe . . . . • 565

163. Atninga. Arunta tribe ..... 567

164. Welcoming dance, Arunta tribe . . .572

165. Men cutting shoulders in token of mourning. Arunta tribe 573

ILLUSTRATIONS

XXIX

FIG. ^ PAGE

1 66. Welcoming ceremonies. Beginningof a quarrel. Arunta tribe 575

167. Knocking out tooth. Kaitish tribe . . . 59°

168. Knocking out tooth. Kaitish tribe . . .591

169. Tooth-knocking-out ceremonies. Women drinking water.

170. Tooth-knocking-out ceremonies. Woman putting water over her head. Warramunga tribe . . . 594

1 7 1. Tooth-knocking-out ceremonies. Forcing the gum back.

172. Man using adze for making the grooves on the outside of

2i pitchi. Warramunga tribe . . . -637

173. Adze with large flint used for coarser work. Warramunga

174. Adze with small, very regularly shaped flint. Upper, under, and side views. Arunta tribe .... 639

175. Two ends of an adze. Upper and end views. Arunta tribe 639

176. Adze with large, irregular -shaped flint. Upper, under, and end views. Arunta tribe .... 640

Diagram A. ..... . 642

177. Stone knife of regular shape. Trigonal in section.

178. Stone knife with very regular shape, the blade made of opaline quartzite. Warramunga tribe . . . 644

179. Stone knife showing fourth facet for short distance down blade. Side view and section. Warramunga tribe . 645

180. Stone knife showing fourth facet running the whole length of the blade, which is thin everywhere ; tetragonal in section. Warramunga tribe . . . .645

1 8 1. Stone knife, broad and somewhat irregularly shaped, broad blade. Warramunga tribe .... 646

182. Stone knife with long, irregular -shaped blade. Warra-

183. Stone knife with irregular flaking and secondary chipping, but with a good cutting point. Tjingilli tribe . . 647

184. Stone knife with very flat blade, showing also secondary chipping near the tip. Warramunga tribe , . 647

XXX NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG. PAGE

185. Stone knife with irregular flakings and secondary chipping all round the top, Warramunga tribe . . .648

186. Stone knife with flint blade with four facets, the fourth forming a broad terminal cutting edge. Arunta tribe . 648

187. Woman’s stone knife. Warramunga tribe . . 649

188. Woman’s stone knife. Warramunga tribe . . 649

189. Woman’s stone knife. Warramunga tribe . . 650

190. Stone knife with very short wooden haft. Warramunga

1 91. Wooden hafted stone knife with very regularly flaked quartzite blade. Warramunga tribe . . .651

192. Wooden hafted stone knife. Warramunga tribe . .651

193. Wooden hafted stone knife. Warramunga tribe . . 652

194. Wooden hafted stone knife with irregular flaking and the blade small in comparison to the handle . . 652

195. Wooden hafted stone knife showing secondary chippings.

I9 5<3!. Pick with the stone head inserted in the cleft in the solid handle. Warramunga tribe . . . -653

196 and 197. Picks with the stone heads surrounded by a bent withy. Warramunga tribe . . , .654

198. Block of diorite, roughly chipped into shape, ready to be further chipped and then ground to form an axe-head.

199, Chipping a block of diorite prior to grinding it down to form an axe-head. Warramunga tribe . . .657

200, Man grinding an axe-head. Warramunga tribe . . 658

201. Fixing the axe-head on to the handle with resin. Warra-

202 and 7.02a. Method of hafting a ground axe. Warramunga

203 and 203a. Hafted ground axe. Gnanji tribe . . 660

204. Roughly \ri2ide pitchi, cut from the bark of a Eucalyptus . 661

205. Gum-tree from which a rough, bark pitchi has been cut.

206. H ard wood Arunta tribe . . .663

ILLUSTRATIONS

XXXI

FIG. PAGE

207. Hard wood pitchi. Arunta tribe . . .663

208. Hard wood pzYcM of very symmetrical form. Warramunga

209. Hard wood pitchi of very symmetrical form, with the sides high. Kaitish tribe . . . . . 664

210. Shallow, soft wood pitchi. Warramunga tribe • 664

21 1. Soft wood pitchi shield shaped in dorsal view. Warra-

212. Soft wood Warramunga tribe . . .665

213. Soft wood ^zVzr-^z. Warramunga tribe . . .665

214. Soft wood pitchi decorated with a geometrical design drawn in pipe-clay. Kaitish tribe . . .665

215. Soft wood pitchi decorated with lines and dots of pipe-clay and a conventionalised drawing of a dugong. Anula

216. Very deep, soft wood pitchi., used for carrying water in.

Kaitish tribe . . . . . . 666

217. Boat-shaped T^z/zT/^z. Warramunga tribe . . . 666

218. Boat-shaped /z^zr^z. Warramunga tribe . . . 666

219. Boat-shaped ^zVi;>^z. Warramunga tribe . . . 666

220. Spear-thrower. Arunta tribe . . . . 667

221. Spear -thrower, decorated for use during a ceremony.

222. Spear-thrower. Warramunga and Northern tribes . 669

223. Decorated spear-thrower. Warramunga tribe . . 669

224. Tassel spear-thrower. Anula tribe . . . 669

225. Spear-thrower with point formed of resin. Daly River natives ...... 670

226. Spear. Warramunga tribe . . . .672

227. Spear. Daly River natives . . . .672

228. Spear with uncut barbs. Anula tribe . . .672

229. Spear with long barbs. Natives of Daly River . . 673

230. Spear with barbs cut along two planes. Natives of Daly

River . . . . , . .674

231. Spear with a symmetrical arrangement of barbs . . 674

23IZZ. Three-pronged spear. Warramunga tribe . . 674

xxxii NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG. PAGE

232. Spear with wooden head shaped to imitate a stone head.

Natives of Alligator River . . . .674

233. Stone-headed spear. Warramunga tribe . . .675

234. Slate-headed spear . , . . . 675

235. Spear with head of finely chipped opaline quartzite.

Kaitish tribe . . . . , .675

236. Light fishing-spear. Arunta tribe . . .676

237. Gouge made of bone. Kaitish tribe . . . 676

238. Gouge made of bone. Kaitish tribe . . .676

239. Fish-hook made out of bone. Natives of Daly River . 677

240. Fish-hook made out of wood and resin. Natives of

Alligator River . . , . .678

241. Fish-hook made out of bone and resin. Natives of

Alligator River . . . . .678

242. Fish-hook made out of bone and resin. Natives of

Alligator River . . . . .678

243. Method of attachment of the line to a fish-hook . . 679

244. Bark canoe. Arunta tribe .... 680

245. Young man making twine out of long shreds of bark.

Anula tribe . . . . . .681

246. Bow end of canoe ..... 682

247. Canoe paddle ...... 682

248. Cross section of canoe ..... 682

249. Pubic tassel. Arunta tribe .... 684

250. Pubic tassel. Anula tribe .... 684

251. Pubic tassel. Anula tribe . . . .684

252. Girdle and tassel of exceptional form. Arunta tribe . 685

253. Woman’s apron. Anula tribe .... 686

254. Woman’s apron made of human hair -string. Anula

255. Armlet decorated with cockatoo feather and pendants.

Mara tribe . . . . . .687

256. Armlet made of plaited split cane. Mara tribe . . 687

257. Head-band and tassels of tail-tips of the rabbit bandicoot, worn by men and women. Arunta tribe . • 688

258. Head-band with attached ornament of resin and kangaroo

I LLU ST RAT IONS xxxiii

FIG. PAGE

teeth, worn hanging down over the forehead. Arunta

259. Head-band and attached tassel of fur-string, worn by men hanging down the back. Mara tribe . . ,688

260. Man’s forehead-band. Anula tribe . . . 689

261. Man’s forehead-band with attached pendants imitating flowers. Mara tribe . . — : .690

262. Neck-bands ornamented with pendants of wild-dog tails.

263. Neck-band with ornaments of small bones fixed in resin and rabbit bandicoot tail- tips worn by men. Arunta

264. Neck-band and attached tassel worn down the back by men. Anula tribe . . . . .692

265. Neck-band of single strand of human hair-string and ornaments of resin into which eagle-hawk claws are fixed.

266. Neck-band as worn by Anula and Mara natives . . 693

267. Neck-band. Anula tribe .... 693

268. Neck-band. The strings are surrounded at three places by bees’-wax. Arunta tribe . . . *693

269. Neck-band with incisor teeth pendants. Mara tribe . 694

270. Chest-band. Mara tribe . . . *695

271. Chest-band. Mara tribe . . . -695

272. Ornamented boomerang. Arunta tribe . . . 702

273. Ornamental boomerang. Arunta tribe . . . 702

274. Ornamented boomerang. Arunta tribe . . . 702

275. Ornamented boomerang. Arunta tribe . . . 703

276. Ornamental boomerang. Arunta tribe . . . 703

277. Ornamental boomerang. Arunta tribe . . . 704

278. Ornamented bamboo trumpet. Anula tribe. . . 705

279. Ornamented bamboo pipe. Anula tribe . . . 707

280. Ornamented pipe. Anula tribe .... 707

281. Stone axe decorated with line ornament . . . 709

282. Stone axe decorated with dot ornament . . . 709

283. Adze decorated with a simple line design. Tjingilli tribe , 710

xxxiv NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

FIG. . PAGE

284. Decorated spear-head. Tjingilli tribe . . .710

285. Beaked boomerang decorated with bands of dots, and grooves which follow the outline of the weapon. Warra-

286. Man mixing plant down with white pipe-clay in preparation for ceremonial decorations. Warramunga tribe. . 713

287. Boomerang decorated with line and dot ornament and grooves. Warramunga tribe . . . .714

288. Boomerang decorated with line and dot ornament and grooves. Warramunga tribe . . . .714

289. Preparation for the Tjitjingalla corrobboree. Arunta tribe 717

290. Dance in the Tjitjingalla corrobboree. Arunta tribe . 719

291. Final dance in the Tjitjingalla corrobboree. Arunta tribe 720

292. Women’s corrobboree. Arunta tribe . . .721

293-295. Decorated wooden slabs used during the performance of ceremonies connected with the Yam Totem. Tjingilli

296. Stone Churinga of Honey-Bee Totem. Kaitish tribe . 729

297. Churinga nanja of a man of the Emu Totem. Arunta

298. Churinga nanja of a Kumara woman of the Yam Totem.

Arunta tribe . . . . . • 73i

299. Stone Churinga. Warramunga tribe . . • 73i

300. Stone Churinga of the Rain or Water Totem. Arunta

301. Churinga nanja of a Kumara woman of a Yam Totem.

302. Churinga belonging to the Honey-Ant Totem. Arunta

303. Stone Churinga of the Yam Totem.. Kaitish tribe . 734

304. Churinga of the Mulla, a sand-hill Rat Totem, showing transition between series of circles and squares. Western

305. Churinga of the Bell-Bird Totem, showing series of concentric squares along with circles. Western Arunta tribe 735

306. Stone Churinga with the central part of the series of con-

ILLUSTRATIONS

XXXV

FIG. PAGE

centric circles filled with a few incised straight lines.

307. Wooden Churinga of the Udniringita Totem. Arunta

308. Wooden Churinga of the Udniringita Totem. Arunta

309. Ground-drawing associated with the Wollunqua totemic ceremony of a place called Tikomeri . . .737

310. Ground-drawing associated with the Wollunqua totemic ceremony of a place called Parapakini . . -738

31 1. Ground-drawing associated with the Wollunqua totemic ceremony of a place called Parapakini . . -739

312. Ground-drawing associated with the Wollunqua totemic ceremony of a place called Ununtumurra . . 740

313. Ground-drawing associated with the Black Snake totemic ceremony of a place called Pitimula . , . . 741

314. Ground-drawing associated with the Black Snake totemic ceremony of a place called Tjinqurokora . .742

315. Ground-drawing associated with the Black Snake totemic ceremony of a place called Tjinqurokora . , 743

PLATES AND MAP

Plate I. — Objects of Magic ..... 477

Plate II. — Ceremonial Objects . . . .722

, At e?td

Map .

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Distribution of the tribes dealt with — Nature of the country in which they live — Names of the tribes — Not derived from the words for yes or no — Identity or close agreement of the tribes in regard to important customs and beliefs, associated with the existence of very distinct dialects — An attempt to explain this — Isolation of the tribes brought about by changes in climatic conditions — The original rite of initiation probably that of knocking a tooth out — Changes in regard to customs have apparently passed down from north to south — Those of the Arunta and Kaitish tribes probably represent most nearly the original customs common to the ancestors of the central and north-central tribes — Tribal government — Five old men arranging all matters concerned with a long series of ceremonies in the Warramunga tribe — Headmen of the local groups — This position more important in the southern than the northern tribes — Succession of headship of local groups — Power enforcing custom in these tribes is not simply an impersonal one — Authority more concentrated in the Warramunga than in the Arunta tribe — Introduction of changes in customs rendered possible by meetings of the older men — Division of the tribes into local groups — Geographical distribution of the moieties in the Warramunga tribe — Names for local groups — ^Character of natives — Contiguous groups and tribes as a general rule live on friendly terms — Treatment of the women — Life of a native sharply marked off into two parts — one concerned with ordinary and the other with sacred matters.

In our previous work we dealt mainly with the native tribes inhabiting the centre of the continent. We were concerned more especially with the large and important Arunta tribe whose territory, before the white man made his appearance on the scene, extended from about the Macumba River in the south to seventy miles north of the Macdonnell Ranges. The Arunta may be looked upon, in regard to its organisation and customs, as typical of the important group of tribes occupying the very centre of the continent. The group includes the Arunta, Ilpirra, Unmatjera, and Kaitish

B

tribes, all of which have fundamentally the same organisation, customs, and beliefs, and may be spoken of, using the term first proposed by Mr. Howitt, as the Arunta nation. The northern limit of this nation is the Davenport Range. The accompanying map indicates approximately the distribution of the tribes in the area of the continent which we traversed.

We have previously described the nature of the country occupied by the Arunta. The lower steppe lands of the central area of the continent gradually rise until they merge into the plateau forming the higher steppes, the average altitude of which, where the Macdonnell Ranges rise above it, is 2000 feet. This plateau extends over a great area, dipping gradually away towards the north. Its highest part almost coincides in position with the Tropic of Capricorn, and forms what is called the Burt Plain, immediately to the north of the Macdonnell Ranges.

The following elevations will serve to give a general idea of the slope of the country. The Burt Plain is 2600 feet ; about one hundred and twenty miles to the north of this lies Central Mount Stuart, the top of which is also 2600 feet; the plain at its base is 1800 feet. The elevation of Barrow Creek, fifty-five miles to the north, is 1 700 feet ; that of Tennant Creek, one hundred and fifty-four miles further to the north, is 1300 feet ; and the height of the summit of the Murchison Range, which rises from the plateau some thirty miles to the south-east of the former, is 1700 feet. Powell Creek, one hundred and twenty miles to the north of Tennant Creek, is 1000 feet ; and Newcastle Waters, seventy miles further north, is 700 feet. Passing away towards the north-east, the plateau slightly rises as the watershed is approached. The elevation of Whanaluru, one hundred and fifteen miles to the east of the line, is 950 feet. Less than two miles to the east of this the actual line of watershed is crossed, the elevation being approximately 1000 feet. It will be seen that the rise on the western side of the so-called coast-range is only a slight one. This is followed by a more sudden dip down into the coastal country around the Gulf of Carpentaria,

I

ending finally in long stretches of mangrove swamp which fringe the shore-line.

From the southern part of the higher steppes rise the James and Macdonnell Ranges, with here and there bold bluffs reaching the height of 5000 feet. The most striking feature in the physiography of this part of the country is the fact that the main rivers all run southwards, taking their rise to the north of the ranges, and piercing them by means of wild picturesque gaps and gorges. Except at flood times most of the gorges are dry, and afford the only means of traversing the ranges.^

On the great northern plateau there are only a few streams, all of them draining inland. The most important is the large course represented, except during the actual rainy season, by the chain of holes known as the Newcastle Waters, swelling out southwards, at its termination, into the so-called Lake Woods — a most misleading title, as it is merely an overflow of flood waters. A few other water -courses meander over the plateau, descending from comparatively low hills such as the Foster, M‘Douall, Murchison, and Ashburton Ranges, but they are sooner or later lost in the scrub or grass lands which cover the whole of the plateau.

The plateau, in fact, really forms an inland basin with its edges slightly tilted up along the watershed line. In the south the latter runs parallel to the Macdonnell Range, and then turns northward, running roughly parallel to the telegraph line, away to the east of this for nearly three hundred miles. It then takes a great sweep out eastwards, reaching close to the Queensland border, somewhat to the north of Cammoweal. There it joins the coastal watershed, to the east and north of which the rivers run down to the Gulf of Carpentaria, or empty themselves into the sea along the north and north-east coast of the continent.

Standing on the northern edge of the Macdonnells you look out across the great Burt plains, thinly covered with mulga scrub, and traversed here and there by lines

1 For a description of the steppe lands, see Native Tribes of Central Australia (in all future references this work is indicated by the letters N. T.), pp. 1-7 ; also Narrative of the Horn Expedition^ 1896, pp. 11-102.

of gum-trees which mark the course of a few dry creeks. Away to the west the ranges run almost in a straight line, dipping abruptly under the southern margin of the plain, but to the east they curve round northwards to join the Strangways. After travelling on for about one hundred miles you pass through a broad gap in a low range of granitic hills, the highest points of which, Mounts Boothby, Wells, and Glaisher, rise to a height of from 300 to 600 feet above the plain. Away to the north the plain, with its monotonous covering of mulga scrub, stretches to the horizon, its level line broken only in the far distance by two lonely, domeshaped hills, one almost due north and the other away out to the north-east. The former marks the very central point of the continent, and has been appropriately called Central Mount Stuart, after its discoverer. In the distance it looks like a solitary rounded mass, but on near approach it is seen to be really a group of hills with one main central mass, the height of which is said to be 800 feet above the plain. This country is the home of a small tribe called the Unmatjera. Fifty miles further north the Foster Range runs roughly east and west across the plain, and marks the southern boundary of the Kaitish and the northern of the Unmatjera tribe. A few miles to the south of this range, along the banks of the Stirling Creek, we met for the first time with the bean -tree {Erythrina vespertilid), which is of the greatest service to the natives. Its soft wood is easily treated with their primitive stone implements, and manufactured into pitchis and shields. For the most part the bean-trees seemed to have suffered severely from the prolonged drought — in fact some of them were quite dead, and the majority looked far from flourishing. The Stirling Creek flows to the south in a broad valley which nearly cuts the Foster Range in two, leaving only a comparatively narrow saddle, about 300 feet in height, joining the western and the eastern portions. From the top of the saddle, looking southwards, the great plain stretches on every hand to the horizon, the line of which is broken only at one spot by the low dome of distant Central Mount Stuart. On the north side the same plain country extends as far as one can

I

see out westwards, but immediately to the north and east rises a succession of flat-topped hills with bold escarpments closely similar to those of the lower steppe lands. At the base of one of these is the lonely Barrow Creek station. These ranges and the plains around are the home of the Kaitish tribe. During recent years the drought has very seriously affected the natives. Fortunately, while we were there, two inches of rain fell, replenishing the water-holes, and in a very short time the country was green with fresh herbage. l

A few miles to the north of Barrow Creek the hills cease, and for about thirty-five miles the country is as desolate as possible. It is absolutely flat, with not a trace of even a dry water -course, and but little vegetation. Stunted gums, porcupine and spear grass thinly cover the sandy plains. It is quite a relief to come once more into mulga country, and then, some twenty miles further on, the low Davenport Range is crossed. The main part of it is formed of quartzite, but in the heart of the range, and extending roughly east and west, is a valley filled with granite, which has weathered into large boulder - shaped masses of such a striking form that the place is known as the Devil’s Marbles. Low ridges of granite run in various directions along and across the valley, and on some of these the huge boulders are poised like rocking stones. The valley is hemmed in by quartzite hills from 200 to 300 feet in height.

Following down the course of the Dixon Creek to the north for a distance of about six miles the open plain country is again met with, and a few miles further to the north the Bonney Creek, running east and west, is crossed. This lies in the country of the Warramunga tribe, the Davenport Range forming really the dividing line between the Warramunga and the Arunta nations. To the south we have the Kaitish, Unmatjera, Arunta, and Ilpirra tribes, and to the north a group of tribes closely allied to one another, the Warramunga, Wulmala, Walpari, Tjingilli, Bingongina, Umbaia, and Gnanji. From the Bonney there stretch some sixty odd miles of plain country to the northwards towards the M‘Douall Range. Out to the east, however, the big mass of the Murchison Range is not very far away, and a few little creeks meander out from it towards the west, fringed with gum-trees. Every now and then, especially on the flats near to the Gilbert Creek, there are fine specimens of Eucalyptus terminalis with its brilliantly white trunk, on which the natives rub their forehead bands to make them white.^

The M‘Douall Range is crossed by means of a gap, and immediately to the north of it, on a desolate plain thickly dotted over with ant-hills, is the Tennant Creek telegraph station. On the south and east side of the plain runs the creek — dry, of course, with the usual fringe of gumtrees ; to the north and west it merges into the miserable scrub of stunted gums and porcupine grass.

The McDouall Range, together with the Murchison, where, save in drought times, there is an abundant supply of water-holes, are the strongholds of the Warramunga tribe, or rather of the southern division of this, the northern groups roaming mostly over the more open country around the Phillips Creek, amongst the low ranges and broken country around Attack Creek, and as far north as Renner’s Springs.

From Tennant Creek north to Powell Creek, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, there is the usual class of country, loamy plains covered with mulga scrub or stunted gums or porcupine and spear grass, the latter sometimes reaching so great a height that it hides even horses from view. Creeks such as the Gibson, Hayward, Attack, and Morphett run out from low sandstone ranges and lose themselves on the plains to the east. At Renner’s Springs there is a series of the latter along a line about half a mile in length. The water, which is fresh and warm (about 90° F.), bubbles up in the middle of patches of blackcoloured soil and is soon lost on the surrounding plain, which is bordered by low, flat -topped hills of quartzite. Close by there is a special quarry from which the stone used for making the flaked knives and picks is obtained

1 When the trank of this tree is rubbed a white powder comes oft'.

I

by the natives. Renner’s Springs form approximately the northern boundary of the Warramunga and the southern of the Tjingilli tribe.

Out to the east there lies what is spoken of as the tableland country, or the Downs, on which, at long intervals, are outlying cattle-runs. In this part great, gently undulating downs extend away to the Queensland- borden^. Sometimes they are covered for scores of miles by grass with scarcely even a small shrub to be seen. In other parts belts of low timber run across, or there may be many weary miles of “ blue bush ” swamp. Here, during the dry season, the ground is scarred with great cracks. During the rainy season the lower-lying parts are absolutely impassable bogs. The fall of the land on the downs is so slight that the watercourses are but ill-defined, and during the rainy seasons the water spreads far and wide over the country, rendering travelling both difficult and dangerous.

As far north as Powell Creek the vegetation of the higher steppes is more or less uniform. The scrubs are mainly composed of mulga, stunted gums, and mallee gums, with patches of Hakeas and Grevilleas and small shrubs such as Cassias and Eremophilas. The river -courses are bordered with Eucalyptus rostrata^ and the flood gum {Eucalyptus microthecd) grows on the flats around them. Other gum-trees, such as E. terminalis and E. tesselaris^ are also not infrequently met with, and on the ranges pines (Callitris), fig-trees. (Ficus), and “ orange ” trees (Capparis) are often seen. Powell Creek marks the commencement of a change in the vegetation. Bauhenia trees appear here for the first time, and with their dense bright green foliage, red flowers, and long red pods, give a decided character to the scrub.

The telegraph station is placed on rising ground above a pretty little water -hole, and lies nearly at the southern end of the low Ashburton Range, which from this spot runs northwards for nearly seventy miles. A little to the west of the range lies the chain of water-holes to which the name of Newcastle Waters has been given. In times of flood they are united, and the surplus water finds its way southwards and forms Lake Woods. When we passed by them the water- pools, though still of fair size, were completely separated from one another. In all of them the water was of a milky colour, due apparently to fine particles of clay held in suspension.

This country is the home of the Tjingilli tribe.

At the north end of the Ashburton Range we turned away to the east, our intention being to strike Borroloola near to the mouth of the Macarthur River on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Newcastle Waters is 700 feet above sea level, and from here to the east the land rises very gradually. On the watershed, which, near to the headquarters of the Laila Creek, is roughly a hundred and fifty miles from the coast, it reaches an elevation of 1000 feet. Approaching from the west there is no indication of anything like a range, — the ascent is perfectly gradual, in fact almost imperceptible. The so-called coastal range in this part is merely the more or less abrupt edge of the plateau, which has been cut into by wide valleys that have been formed by the rivers flowing away to the gulf.

Leaving the Newcastle Waters we followed up a broad water-course, which in flood times is united with the former round the northern end of the Ashburton Range. The watercourse is very often so ill-defined as to be scarcely recognis- able as such, but the presence of the “india-rubber” or “ gutta - percha ” tree {Exc(2caria passiflord) is usually an indication that a creek, or at least land liable to flooding, is close by. At intervals “blue bush” swamp, .with its dangerously cracked ground, has to be crossed. In the rainy season matters are still worse. On the other hand, the so-called “ hedgewood ”-tree is an indication of somewhat higher land, and its sight is as pleasant to the traveller in this part of the continent as that of the “india-rubber” tree is the reverse. In the “ hedgewood ” scrub the ground is firm, and travelling is • not accompanied with the continual risk of a horse suddenly falling headlong as the result of slipping its foot into a great crack. Along the water-courses there were a few large pools of milky-white water, the largest fully half a mile in length. On these pelicans, ibis, ducks, and spoonbills were abundant, and at sunset, when the

I

cockatoos and pigeons came in to water, the pools were alive with birds. In these parts, except in very dry seasons, the natives have no difficulty in regard to food supply. This tract of country out to the east and north-east of the Ashburton Range is occupied by the Gnanji tribe, which is on friendly terms with its western neighbours the Tjingilli, and its southern the Umbaia. The Gnanji extend westwards to the watershed country. We met with them at Karabobba, a favourite camping ground of theirs, about twenty miles to the west of the actual line of the dividing of the waters. Whanaluru, a water-hole about two miles from the divide, is another favourite camp, where they come to feed upon the stems and roots of the water lilies, whose beautiful bright blue flowers deck the surface in countless thousands. On the eastern side they extend for at least twenty-five miles, as far as a permanent rock-hole called Pinda, where they came into contact with the Binbinga tribe. The latter is the most inland of the group of coastal tribes with whom we came into contact, and occupies the country drained by the upper waters of the Macarthur River and its tributaries, one of which, the Laila, we followed down. There is no lack of water in these parts, though, except just during the rainy seasons, even the Macarthur does not actually run.

From the watershed to the Macarthur station is a distance of about a hundred and ten miles. Our track led along by the side of the Laila Creek until it joined the main stream, and then along the broad valley of the latter. During the distance mentioned the total fall is 800 feet. From the station to Borroloola the distance is forty miles, and the track lies along the northern side of the valley, which is furrowed by a succession of creeks running in from the north-west to join the Macarthur, whose course is roughly from south-west to north-east.

Borroloola is now a remote and decaying, or rather decayed township, which has communication with Port Darwin by means of a small trading steamer which calls in at the mouth of the river four times a year. The river is not navigable for anything drawing more than five feet of water, and is affected by the tide for about five miles beyond the township, which is distant some fifty miles from the mouth. Further up than this there is no stream of water, but only a series of disconnected water-holes.

From Borroloola to the coast, and across into the Pellew Islands, which lie immediately opposite to the mouth of the Macarthur, the country is occupied by the Anula tribe, who navigate the river, and the sheltered sea between the mainland and the islands, in dug-out canoes, which they obtain from the Malays, and in bark canoes of their own making.

In regard to the names of the tribes these, so far as we could discover, have no reference to the words for “ yes ” or “ no ” in their respective dialects, as they frequently have in the case of the tribes inhabiting the south-eastern parts of the continent.^ Nor on the other hand have they any reference to the word for man. In the case of the Warramunga the word warrego, used for “ no,” naturally suggests a connection of this kind, but if it be so, the natives themselves have no idea whatever of the fact. The only instance in which we could get any explanation was in that of the Arunta, amongst whom the word is said to mean “ loud mouthed.” In the Arunta the word for mouth is arokita, in the Kaitish it is ara^ in the Warramunga and Walpari it is thalla^ and in the Tjingilli ara. The word for lips in the Arunta is arinbinba, in the Kaitish pirtnia, in the Warramunga nuru^ in the Tjingilli ara^ in the Walpari kurta. The word for yes in the Arunta is wa^ wabala, yakwi, and for no azztja or arongo ; in the Kaitish yes is yau or wakwia, no is appioka ; in the Warramunga yes is inyia^ no is warrego or warraginia ; in the Tjingilli yes is unthana^ no is pathu ; in the Umbaia yes is na-na or kaiinnia, no is quialla ; in the Binbinga yes is yor^ no is au. This will serve to show that the tribal names are not compounded in part of the words for “ yes ” or “ no.”

The names used are those by which the members of the tribes respectively call themselves, and which outsiders also apply to them.^ Thus, for example, the Arunta call them-

1 As, for example, in the case of the Woewurong. Mr. Howitt states that woe=-no, speech or lips.

2 The Luritja tribe possibly forms an exception to this, but we are not able to

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selves by this name, and it is used by the Kaitish in speaking of them. So again the latter call themselves Kaitish, and are called this by their neighbours the Arunta, Warramunga, etc. Warramunga is the name by which the members of this tribe speak of themselves, and is also that by which they are most often called by other tribes, but in this instance they are sometimes referred to under the name of “ Bata aurinnia,” which means “ the people who dwell on hard ground.” This term is applied to them by strangers, and is not in any way the equivalent of a tribal name. It is remarkable how difficult it often is to ascertain the latter with certainty.

Each tribe speaks a distinct dialect, with the result that an Arunta man, for example, unless he learns the dialect, cannot understand the talk of a Kaitish man, nor in the same way can the latter understand a Warramunga. Not only is this so, but in the case of a tribe like the Arunta, which occupies a very large extent of country, the words used may vary considerably in different districts. As a general rule the natives living on the borderland of two tribes can understand one another ; that is, each of them is usually acquainted with two dialects. Usually these are, in the main, quite distinct from one another, though the dialects of contiguous tribes will often have a certain number of words in common. This, however, depends not only on contiguity but also upon the amount of affinity between the tribes in question. For example, the Kaitish tribe is in touch on its northern border with the Warramunga and on its southern with the Unmatjera and Arunta. Though it has a distinct dialect and to a certain extent (such as the burial of the dead in trees) differences in customs and beliefs from those met with amongst the Arunta, yet it is undoubtedly more closely allied to the latter than to the Warramunga. Accordingly we find a considerable number of words and terms in common in the Arunta and Kaitish, but practically none in the latter and Warramunga. In just the same way the Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala speak positively. It is possible that the names of the tribes were originally applied to them by outsiders and were subsequently adopted by the members of the tribes themselves, but the evidence is scanty and inconclusive.

have many similar or closely similar words, and the same is true of the Tjingilli, Umbaia, and Gnanji tribes. Thus the Arunta term for the far past, during which their ancestors lived, is alcheringa^ so also is that of the Kaitish and Unmatjera. In the Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala it is wingara ; in the Tjingilli it is mungai ; and in the Umbaia and Gnanji it is poaradju. The Arunta term for a sacred ceremony is quabara undattha^ so is that of the Kaitish and Unmatjera. In the Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala it is thuthu ; in the Tjingilli it is turtu ; and in the Umbaia and Gnanji it \’^ yarumbatja.

Most words and terms in ordinary everyday use are, however, entirely distinct in the greater number of tribes. The word for boomerang in the Arunta is uramanja ; in the Kaitish it is kaila ; in the Warramunga kaiin ; in the Tjingilli kurnpatu ; and in the Umbaia and Gnanji it is tjukuli. So again a shield in Arunta is ulqurta^ in Kaitish katata^ in Warramunga it is mirri^ and in the Tjingilli, Umbaia, and Gnanji it is tharuma. These two important weapons are, so far as their form is concerned, precisely similar in all of the tribes mentioned. It would be absolutely impossible from the appearance of a boomerang or shield to tell in which special tribe it had been collected, and moreover they are constantly being traded from one part of the country to another and from one tribe to the other. Why the word should be the same in the Tjingilli, Umbaia, and Gnanji, and different in all of the other tribes it is impossible to say. In the case of an almost equally common implement, the stone knife, there is a distinct name in each of the three, — in the Tjingilli it is kira, in the Umbaia kola^ and in the Gnanji loago. As we have already pointed out, the words for yes and no are quite distinct in all of the tribes.

It is a matter of great difficulty to explain the fact that two tribes like the Kaitish and Arunta, with customs, organisation, and beliefs almost identical, — living, at all events at the present day, on perfectly friendly terms with one another and occasionally meeting at the performance of ceremonies on a big scale, — should have two markedly distinct dialects. We use the term dialect in preference to

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that of language, as employed by some authors, for the simple reason that, so far as the construction is concerned, these central tribes may all be regarded as having a common language of which each speaks a distinct variety. In the various tribes the sounds which are associated with the same ideas are, as a general rule, quite distinct ; so much so that an individual speaking one dialect will be totally unable to understand any one speaking another. An important feature in this respect is that the tribes are not, generally speaking, separated from one another by any natural physical barriers. The only really striking feature in the central area from this point of view may be said to be the Macdonnell Ranges, and, instead of intervening between two tribes, they lie in the centre of the northern area occupied by the Arunta tribe. The Luritja tribe inhabits partly the sterile desert country extending southwards around Lake Amadeus, but it also extends over the relatively well-watered country, including the western end of the James and Macdonnell Ranges. The Foster Range, which marks the southern limit of the Kaitish, is only low and insignificant, and the same again is true of the Davenport which marks their northern boundary. From time immemorial — that is, as far back as ever native traditions go — the boundaries of the tribes have been where they are now fixed. Within them their ancestors roamed about, hunting and performing their ceremonies just as their living descendants do at the present day. There has never apparently been the least attempt made by one tribe to encroach upon the territory of another. Now and again they may have intertribal quarrels and fights, but there is no such thir^ as the acquisition of fresh territory. No idea of this or of its advisability or otherwise ever enters the head of the Central Australian native. Very probably this is to be associated with the fundamental belief that his alcheringa ancestors occupied precisely the same country which he does now. The spirit parts of these ancestors are still there, and he has a vague kind of idea not only that the country is indubitably his by right of inheritance, but that it would be of no use to any one else, nor would any other people’s country be good for him. The spirit individuals would not permanently leave their old home, and where they are there must he stay.

There are certain facts of fundamental importance which must be taken into account in any attempt to form a theory to explain the present distribution of the tribes. The more important of them are the following : —

(1) In regard to customs of primary importance, such as those connected with initiation, there is a fundamental agreement amongst all of the tribes in the centre — that is, those who occupy the country from Lake Eyre to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

(2) In all of the tribes there is the belief in the existence of alcheringa (or its equivalent) ancestors, who made the country, and left behind numberless spirit individuals who are constantly undergoing reincarnation.

(3) In all of the tribes there are elaborate totemic ceremonies performed which are unmistakably similar to one another, and all of which have reference to totemic ancestors.

(4) In all of the tribes, except those of the Mara nation, there are, more or less clearly developed, ceremonies of the nature of intichiuma.

(5) In all, save those on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the social organisation and marriage customs are in fundamental agreement.

(6) In spite of fundamental agreement in the points detailed above, the tribes dealt with can be divided into four large “ nations,” distinguished from one another by certain special features : ^ {a) The Arunta nation, with its engivura and intichiuma ceremonies, and its beliefs with regard to the churinga ; in this nation also marriage with the father’s sister’s daughter is strictly prohibited, {b) The Warramunga nation, with its special class names for women ; its characteristic form of intichiuma^ and the equally characteristic way in which one moiety of the tribe takes charge of the totemic ceremonies of the other moiety ; in this group also marriage with the unkulla woman is permitted. {c) The Binbinga nation, with organisation similar to that

1 The geographical situation of these nations is indicated on the map.

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of the Warramunga, and important customs akin to those of the Mara nation. (d) The Mara nation, with direct male descent and the almost complete loss, or at all events absence, of intichiuma}

(7) The fact that each nation is comprised of a number of tribes, each of them occupying a very definite tract of country, and each speaking a dialect_so disdnct that a member of one tribe cannot possibly, without learning its dialect, understand a member of the next tribe.

We have, speaking generally, a most remarkable agreement, often indeed extending to details, in regard to some of the most important customs and beliefs, side by side with the equally marked divergence in regard to speech. The only way in which it seems possible to account for these facts is along the line of some such hypothesis as the following. Broadly speaking what we must postulate is, in the first instance, a very considerable amount of intercourse amongst the early inhabitants of the central area, during the period when the customs, as we now meet with them, were gradually being developed and were crystallising into their present form. It is impossible to believe that the faraway ancestors entered the continent provided with a highly complex set of customs and beliefs such as are now common to all of the tribes. These have undoubtedly been elaborated in course of the long ages during which the Australian savage has lived in his island continent, isolated from all external influence. In the second place, we must postulate a segregation of these ancestral groups in various parts, at a later time, associated with conditions which rendered intercommunication more difficult than at an earlier period.

In all probability the old ancestors of the present Australian natives entered by the far north. There have probably been two immigrations — an original one, represented till recent years by the Tasmanian aborigines, and subsequently a second one of a people at a higher level of culture than the first comers. The former presumably spread

1 To the south and south-east of the tribes dealt with by us lies the Dieri nation, clearly marked off from the central tribes by the fact that descent is counted in the maternal line.

over the whole continent, and in the south-eastern corner occupied what was then undoubtedly a promontory of the mainland. With the formation of Bass Strait this promontory was separated off and now forms the island of Tasmania. When, therefore, the vanguard of the second immigration reached the south-east corner of the mainland, their further progress was checked. They could not, or at least they did not, cross the strait — presumably because they had no adequate means of water conveyance, and were practically limited to land travel, just as the dingo ^ and the Diprotodon were.

We are probably correct in assuming that the second migration consisted of a race of people in a higher stage of culture than the earlier one, but what that earlier race was we shall, most unfortunately, never know, except in the most meagre fashion. As represented by the Tasmanian, he had only the simplest of weapons — a spear and a waddy ; spearthrower and shield were unknown to him. His stone implements were of so-called palaeolithic type. Of his beliefs and customs it may be said that we know nothing whatever of any real value.^

Whether the original inhabitants of the continent were exterminated by the new-comers, or whether the two races amalgamated and how far the lower culture of the earlier people affected that of the resultant race, can only be a matter of conjecture. If we knew anything about the initiation ceremonies or the beliefs of the lost Tasmanians, we might be able to determine the point. Probably what finally happened would be the extermination of the male part of the original population, the women being appropriated by the new-comers, as they migrated gradually further and further southwards. When two savage peoples at anything like a decided different level of culture come into contact, there is hardly likely to be any true amalgamation. The men of the lower grade have no chance of

1 Canis dingo, the wild dog indigenous to Australia, or, if not indigenous, probably brought in by the members of the second immigration.

2 Such knowledge as we have can be found in the work by E. Ling Roth, The Aborigines of Tasmania, 2nd ed. 1899.

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marrying into the higher grade, but on the other hand their women are lawful prey to the men of the stronger group.

Subsequently to this second migration the continent must have become separated off on the north by straits of water sufficiently broad to prevent further passage across on anything like an extensive scale. If there be one thing which, more than any other, is strikingly true in regard to the present inhabitants of the continent, it is that, except to a very slight extent on the north-east, they have been uninfluenced by outside peoples. Even along the western side of the Gulf coast, where they are regularly visited by Malays, intercourse with the latter seems to have had no effect whatever upon them, in the matter of their customs, beliefs, and personal appearance. Except, apparently, so far as securing, in return for tortoise-shell, etc., certain things which they want from the Malays, they hold aloof from the latter. One reads of Malay influence in these parts, but our experience was that practically no such thing exists.

However, the important matter is that gradually Australia came to be peopled by the more immediate ancestors of the present inhabitants. As we have previously suggested,^ it looks much as if there had been three lines of migration from the north — one along the eastern coast, one following down the rivers running in the main south-westwards from the eastern watershed, and a third down the centre of the continent.^

We are here concerned with this third line of migration. The old ancestors, when they came into the country, brought with them a series of customs and beliefs which were destined to undergo modiflcation in various ways as the migra- tory hordes wandered further and further away from the original part at which they entered the continent. We are of opinion, from the evidence to which we have already drawn attention, and which appears to us to be conclusive on this point, that, in regard to the matter of initiation, the

1 t: p. 113.

2 It is very probable that this third group spread far out westwards, where we meet with the initiation ceremonies of subincision and circumcision.

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rite common to all the ancestors was that of knocking out a tooth.^ Along the eastern line of migration (in the main) this rite has been maintained. Along the two central lines only vestigial traces of it now remain, but of the true significance of these we think there can be no doubt. In connection with these two lines there were either originated or, more probably still, introduced at a later time, and again from the north, the rites of circumcision and subincision.

It is a point of very considerable importance to note that the customs concerned with the knocking out of teeth in the Arunta are more closely allied to those of the eastern tribes than are those of the more northern central tribes. This again would seem to point to the fact that the most southern of the central tribes were the last to adopt the rites of circumcision and subincision and to part with the old one. Further still, it appears to indicate that the former rites originated somewhere in the north and gradually spread southwards, as indeed the natives believe that most of their customs have done.

During the time when the central area was gradually receiving its population, and whilst customs and beliefs were undergoing development, there could not possibly have been any isolation of groups of people corresponding to the tribes and tribal divisions as we know them now. On the contrary, the striking fundamental agreement in regard to all important points seems to indicate very clearly that for a very long time there must have been easy and constant communication existing between the various groups scattered over the whole central area. At the present day these are frequently shut off from all communication with one another by long stretches of absolutely impassable country. Now we know that in what were probably Pleistocene, even Late Pleistocene times, at all events Post-Tertiary, the climatic conditions of Central Australia were very different from those of the present day. At that time the coastal and central ranges were much loftier than they are now. The remains of a relatively rich fauna, including extinct birds and apparently great numbers of Diprotodon, the largest

1 N. T. p. 453.

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marsupial known, together with other animals, such as the crocodile, show that at that time there must have been plenty of water and vegetation. The great river -courses running down into the inland basin of Lake Eyre are clear indications of a time when the rainfall was ver)^ different from what it is now. It was during this time when, under more favourable conditions of food supply, the natives were probably more numerous than they are now, that they were able to be in constant and easy communication with one another from north to south. There thus arose a remarkable homogeneity in regard to the essential features of customs and beliefs. Doubtless any one suddenly transported from the very northern to the very southern extremity of the central area would have noticed minor variations in regard to these matters, and might have found it difficult to make himself understood, but to any one proceeding slowly from group to group the change would have been so gradual as to be almost imperceptible.

At a later period, with the setting in of the gradual dessication of the central area, which has continued until the present day, there took place a segregation of the groups, first into larger communities, outlining the nations. As the climate became still more unfavourable further segregation took place, within the limits of the larger communities, leading to the formation of the present tribes. With this gradual segregation, which really consisted of a drawing in towards certain centres where in time of drought physical conditions were more favourable than elsewhere, intercommunication between the various groups became less and less frequent on anything like an extensive scale, and thus in course of time the various dialects arose. While words can become modified and changed with more or less of ease in savage tribes, it is quite otherwise in the case of customs and beliefs, more especially those associated with sacred matters. When once these have become settled, then they are, of all things amongst savage people, the least liable to change.

The remarkable fundamental agreement in regard to the essential features of the beliefs of all of the tribes connected with their totemic ancestors can only have been brought about as the result, in far-past times, of easy and frequent intercommunication such as could not take place at the present day.

It is a curious feature in regard to such things as corrobborees, which are handed on from tribe to tribe, that they always pass from north to south and never vice versa. In all likelihood they still follow the original line of migration of the ancestors of the tribes. It is without doubt much more easy to derive the totemic beliefs of the Warramunga from those of the Arunta’, by way of the Kaitish, rather than vice versa, and it looks very much as if a series of changes had slowly crept down from the north. Despite the remarkable stability and persistence of customs and beliefs, changes are gradually introduced,^ and it appears to be almost certain that such changes in regard to totemic matters have been slowly passing down from north to south. The tide of change, rolling southwards from the Warramunga nation, has at length reached the northern limit of the Arunta nation. It has perceptibly affected the Kaitish tribe, the Unmatjera, to a slight extent ; but as yet the Arunta itself is untouched.

Furthest removed from the seat of change, the Arunta is the last of the central tribes to be affected. Apart from relatively slight modifications, it probably retains a series of customs and beliefs which were once held in common by the early inhabitants of the central and north central area of the continent, before they became segregated to form the tribes as we know them now. In regard to another question, viz. the introduction of eight, instead of four class names, we know, as a matter of fact, that this change has actually entered the Arunta from the north and at the present moment is spreading southwards.

In the case of the central tribes the question of government is very much as we described it in connection with the Arunta tribe.^ There is no one to whom the term “ chief,” or even head of the tribe, can be properly applied ; but, on the other hand, there are certain of the elder men, the heads ^ Cf. N.T. p. 12. 2 iiici. pp. 1 1- 1 5.

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of local groups, who, at any great ceremonial gathering such as the engwura, or during the performance of the long series of ceremonies which in the Warramunga tribe do duty for intichiuma, take the lead and superintend matters. They form, as it were, an inner council or cabinet and completely control everything. The younger men have absolutely no say whatever in the matter. We frequently had occasion to notice this. One or other of the younger men would tell us that some special ceremony was going to be performed, but we usually found that their information was incorrect. The old men take absolutely no notice of the younger men, preserving their own counsels in the most quiet and dignified way possible.

At the engwura ceremony of the Arunta tribe there was one old man who took the lead because that special ceremony was performed in the part of the country where he was the alatunja or headman .of the local totem group. As we described before, “ without apparently any trouble or the slighest hitch he governed the whole camp, comprising more than a hundred full-grown natives who were taking part in the ceremony. Whilst the final decision on all points lay in his hands, there was what we used to call the cabinet, consisting of the old man and three of the elders, who often met together to discuss matters. Frequently the leader would get up from the men amongst whom he was sitting, and apparently without a word being spoken or any sign made, the other men would rise and follow him one after the other, walking away to a secluded spot in the bed of the creek. Here they would gravely discuss matters concerned with the ceremonies to be performed, and then the leader would give his orders, and everything would work with perfect regularity and smoothness.” ^

So again we noticed the same thing in connection with the long series of totemic ceremonies, extending over three months, which we witnessed amongst the Warramunga tribe. In association with them there were also performed the final burial rites of two individuals, the initiation of three young men, and the fire ceremony. There was no single headman,'

1 N. T. p. 280.

because the ceremonies were not associated in any way with one particular locality, but there were five men amongst the elders who were in charge of the proceedings. One a Tjupilla man of the wind totem, the second a Tjupilla man of the Menadji (yam) totem, the third a Kabbidji mxan of the Wollunqua totem, the fourth a Thungalla man of the Thaballa (laughing boy) totem, and the fifth a very old Thakomara man of the white cockatoo totem. The lastnamed was actually a member of the party of natives whose hostility caused Stuart to turn back at Attack Creek in i860. These men formed a kind of informal council which used to meet and determine upon what should be done, and who should perform the various ceremonies ; in fact they had entire control of the proceedings. One of them, curiously enough, did not belong to the Warramunga tribe but was a Worgaia man. He frequently visits the tribe, however, and, being a very distinguished medicine man who has actually made a large number of medicine men in the Warramunga tribe, he is looked upon as one of the purntuku, a term which is the equivalent of that of oknirabata (great teacher) in the Arunta. This man actually took the lead in connection with the Wollunqua ceremonies.^ Every morning he would come down to the ceremonial ground, draw the design in outline, give his instructions as to what had to be done and how to do it, and then retire.

Not infrequently these leading men, all of whom are the headmen of their respective totem groups, are addressed as purntuku by the younger men, who treat them with the greatest deference. On one occasion, during a general quarrel, we saw one of the younger men, though he was, it must be remembered, quite mature and probably between thirty-five and forty years of age, attempt to strike one of the older men. The culprit was a medicine man, but, immediately he had committed this grave offence, his medical powers departed from him.

Before going any further we may make a few general

1 Wollunqua is the name of a huge, mythic snake, supposed to have been the ancestor of a totemic group. The ceremonies connected with it are described later.

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remarks with regard to these headmen of the various totemic groups in the different tribes. What we have already said of them in dealing with the Arunta tribe is strictly true of the equivalent individuals in all of the other tribes.^ The normal descent of the headship of the totemic group is from father to son. From certain points of view the importance of the office gradually diminishes as we pass from south to north. In the Arunta, Unmatjera, Kaitish, Ilpirra, and Iliaura tribes, not only is the headman responsible for the performance of intichiuma^ taking the leading part in the ceremonies connected with this, but he also has charge of the sacred storehouse or ertnatulungay where the churinga are hidden away. In the Warramunga group of tribes there is nothing corresponding to the ertnatulunga, but he and other men of the totem must perform a series of sacred ceremonies which serve as intichiuma^ though the part played by the headman is not so prominent a one as in the case of the southern tribes.

In the coastal tribes, such as the Binbinga, amongst whom the headman is called mingaringi, the importance of the position has diminished still more ; that is, looked at from the point of view of its holder being responsible for the performance of ceremonies destined to secure the increase of the totemic animal or plant. Of such intichiuma ceremonies we do find traces, but the headman is not of necessity associated with them as he is in both the Arunta and Warramunga nations. In the coastal tribes the social aspect of the totemic groups has become more strongly emphasised, and the economical and magical aspect almost obliterated.

It may perhaps happen that the headman of a totemic group has no son, or that the latter is not old enough to take charge of the ceremonies when his father dies. In this case the succession passes on to the son of a brother (blood or tribal) of the former holder of the office — provided of course that the individual belongs to the totem in question. Later on, when the new headman is dead, the office will

1 N. T. p. 10.

revert to the son of the former headman, if there be such an one who has, in the meantime, grown to years of maturity.

The young men in the normal condition of the tribe are very strongly inbued with the idea of the great importance of everything concerned with these totemic matters. Naturally a young man, of whom it is known that some day he must succeed his father in the headship of the totemic group, is most carefully instructed, so that when his time comes he may be worthy of the position by reason of his knowledge and general bearing. It is from amongst these men that those who form the inner councils of the tribes are mainly, though not exclusively, chosen. It may, for example, happen that there are two brothers, the elder of whom is head of the totem, but both of whom are old and learned in tribal customs. Under these circumstances both of them may be allowed to take part in the discussions of the elders.

We have never been able to discover the existence of anything like set council meetings at which the men sit round and regular speeches are made. Whenever a large number of natives are met together to perform ceremonies, there are always the heads of different local groups present. The elder and more important amongst these seem naturally to associate together as an informal but, at the same time, all-powerful council, whose orders are implicitly obeyed by the other men. The fact that any individual is the headman of his local group gives him, in itself, no claim what- ever to attendance upon these councils. If, however, he be at all a distinguished man, whose conduct has shown that he is to be trusted, and that he is deeply interested in tribal matters, then some day he will be honoured by one of the older men inviting him to come and consult over matters, after the advisibility of doing so has been agreed upon by the members of the council. He will probably be invited several times, and will then gradually take his place as a recognised member of the inner council of the tribe, his influence increasing as he gradually grows older and older.^

^ The only exception of which we know to the rule that the council consists of only a very few members occurs in connection with the appointment of

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Not only does this council of elder men determine matters concerned with various ceremonies, but in addition it deals with the punishment of the more serious crimes, such as that of “bone giving,” — that is, causing the death of another man by evil magic. Or again, if any native should break through the strict marriage laws, these older men will consult together, and will in either case arrange for an atninga or avenging party to go out and punish the culprit. It was stated by Mr. Curr that “ outside of the family, the power which enforces custom in our tribes is for the most part an impersonal one.” ^ In regard to the Arunta we have pointed out that, in the first place, the native is firmly convinced of the reality of the penalties which are supposed to inevitably follow any breach of tribal law ; that in the second place, public opinion and the fear of ridicule and opprobrium are also strong deterrents ; but that, in addition, the offending native is perfectly well aware that he will be dealt with by something much more real than an “ impersonal j) 9

power.

In regard to these headmen there is a point of some importance to be noted, in which, in this respect, the Warramunga and northern tribes differ from the Arunta. In the latter there may be, and in fact usually are, several alatunjas connected with one totem. Thus, for example, there are at least three important ones, each of whom is associated with one local group of the witchetty grub (Udniringita) people. In the more northern tribes each of the various totemic groups is supposed, with rare exceptions, to have had only one great ancestor, who gave rise to numerous other spirit individuals. In association with this idea we find that each totem group has only a single individual headman corresponding to the alatunja of the Arunta, and we find also a sharp line of distinction between the two moieties of the tribe. The headmen of one series of totemic groups always belong to one moiety, and those of the other series officials during the initiation ceremonies of the Arunta tribe. At this about ten or twelve men were present, all of them of mature age ; the younger men sat to one side chanting loudly the initiation song.

1 The Atistralian Race, vol. i. p. 52.

2 JV.T. p. 15.

to the other. In this way authority is more concentrated in the Warramunga than in the Arunta. Further still, in a vague way, the natives recognise one man as the most important in the Kingilli moiety and another in the Uluuru.^ They say that, at the present time, the old Thakomara man, the head of the white cockatoo totem, is the chief man in the Kingilli, and the Kabbidji man, the head of the Wollunqua, is the same in the other moiety. This depends to a very large extent on age, and is an expression of the respect accorded to a man who is at once old and learned in tribal matters. On the other hand, in anything having reference to fighting, neither of these men would take the lead. The counsel of the old Tjupilla, the head of the wind totem, would carry the greatest weight, simply because of his personal character in this respect.

It is undoubtedly by means of the meetings and consultations of leading m^n such as these that changes in regard to customs can be introduced. The savage is essentially a conservative. What was considered by his father and, more important still, by his grandfather and great-grandfather, to be the right and proper thing to do, is the only right and proper thing for him. But yet at the same time, despite this very strong feeling, changes are introduced. It is these old men, the heads of the totemic 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 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.

1 In the Warramunga tribe, unlike the Arunta, the original names of the two moieties still persist.

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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.

At the same time it must be clearly understood that, in the tribes with which we are dealing, there is nothing in the form of a definite “ meeting,” in our sense of the term, such as has been described in the case of various Australian tribes, at which different members of the tribe, one after another, address the assembled natives.

The councils of the elder men only comprise a few individuals, and they are marked by a total absence of loud haranguing or any form of excitement. On the contrary, the men usually speak in a subdued voice, and the demeanour of every one is as grave as possible.

In all of the tribes there is a division-into jocal groups, which occupy certain well-defined areas within the tribal territory. There is no such thing as one man being regarded as the owner of any tract of country. In every case the unit of division is the local totemic group. In the Arunta tribe groups of the same designation are to be found

1 N.T. p. 12.

scattered over the large area occupied by the tribe. We may have one Udnirringita group far out in the Western Macdonnells and another at the eastern extremity of the range. So again in the Achilpa (wild cat) totem we have the groups isolated and scattered north, south, east, and west. Each local group has its own alatunja, or headman, who takes charge of the ertnatulunga, the sacred storehouse. The same is true of the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes. These local groups, in a large tribe such as the Arunta, are again aggregated, very roughly, into geographical groups. Names are applied to these by individuals living in other localities. In the Arunta, if you ask a native whose camp is, say, at Henbury, on the Finke River, what he calls himself, he may say that he is an Arunta, using the name of the tribe ; or he may say that he is a Larapinta man, the latter being the name of the river by the side of which he lives ; or he may say that he is a Waingakam.a man, using the native name for his camp at Henbury. On the other hand, if you ask an Alice Springs native what he calls the same individual, he will probably reply Antikerinia, which simply means “ belonging to the south-west.” These terms are very confusing, and the latter is sometimes actually described as a tribal name, whereas in reality it is nothing of the kind.

In the Warramunga and northern tribes, the groups forming the two moieties of the tribe are very much more clearly marked off from one another, geographically, than they are in the Arunta and the southern tribes. Thus in the Warramunga, the totemic ancestors of the groups, which now form the Uluuru moiety, confined their wanderings almost entirely to the southern division of the tribal territory. Those forming the Kingilli moiety in like manner confined theirs to the north, and thus we got a more or less sharply marked -off division into two groups — a northern and a southern. Though this geographical separation is so sharply marked, yet there are no terms applied to these groups, meaning northern and southern men, such as one might have expected to find. Every one speaks of himself and of every other member of the tribe as a Warramunga man.

One result of this division of the moieties is that, in any

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southern camp for example, apart from visitors, all of the males will be Uluuru men who have been born in this part of the country. Of the females, the wives of these men will be Kingilli, whose original home and birthplace lie in the northern area ; their daughters will of course be Uluuru, just like the men, and, sooner or later, they will take up their permanent abode in the northern area. So again in the latter all the men are Kingilli. Of the females, the wives of these men are Uluuru who were born in the south, and the daughters are Kingilli girls who will, later on, be taken to the camps of their allotted husbands in the south. In this way, while the Kingilli men always live in the north and the Uluuru in the south, every Kingilli woman spends her childhood in the north where she is born, and her later years in the south. The Uluuru women, in exactly the reverse way, spend their early years in the south and their later ones in the north. This idea Of the separation of the ancestors geographically into 'two groups is intimately associated with the fact that, at the present time, the totemic groups are, in the same way, sharply divided up between the Kingilli and the Uluuru. It is also associated with the fact that in the Warramunga the descent of the totem is not absolutely but for the most part strictly paternal.

The division into northern and southern groups comes out very clearly in connection with such ceremonies as the formal reception of a visiting party. One day, while we were amongst the Warramunga tribe, the arrival of a party of Walpari men was announced. The country of the Walpari lies to the east and north-east of that of the Warramunea, and the most striking feature of the reception lay in the fact that, first of all, it was the Kingilli, the northern men amongst the Warramunga, who took the leading part in the reception ; and that, secondly, the women were divided into two groups, one containing the southern women, who stood to the left of the men, and the other the northern, who stood to the right. The former, except as onlookers, took no part in the reception. On the other hand, the northern women were decorated with spots and bands of white pipe -clay. As the visitors approached, these northern women extended their arms and moved their hands as if inviting the men to come up. Finally they took part in the last dance and then threw food to the visitors. Nothing could have more clearly indicated that, amongst these tribes, the feeling of locality relationship is very strong.

The question of distinct names for local divisions of the tribes is one which evidently depends very much upon the extent of country occupied by them. The territory of the Arunta is far larger than that of any other tribe with which we came into contact, and here we meet with local names. In all of the northern tribes, belonging to the Warramunga nation, we met with the same sharp division of the totems into two groups as described above, but we did not meet with any names applied regularly to local subdivisions of the tribes. A native would say that he belonged to a certain definite locality, but he would, if asked who he was, describe himself as a Walpari, Tjingilli, Umbaia,' Gnanji, or Binbinga man, as the case might be

We have previously described the character of the Central Australian native, and what we wrote with regard to the Arunta^ may be taken as generally true for all of the central tribes. The level of intelligence and culture is strikingly uniform. Every tribe has a complicated series of relationship terms according to which every individual stands in some definite relationship to every other individual, not only in his own tribe but in any tribe into which he may pass, either as a resident or as a visitor. The system is an intricate and comprehensive one, and shows wonderful ability of a certain kind. If it should happen that in two contiguous tribes descent is counted in different ways, then they will so arrange matters that the groups into which the parents and children fall are correct in whichever tribe they may happen to be. On the other hand, in some respects they are decidedly backwards — as, for example, in counting. There are no separate terms for any number higher than three. As we said before, their mental powers are simply developed along the lines which are of service to them in their daily life.

^ Cf. N. T. p. 46, etc.

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The different local groups within the one tribe and the members of contiguous tribes, where they are in contact, live for the most part in a state of mutual friendship. Every now and again, usually from one of two causes, either the abduction of a woman or the “ giving of a bone,” the members of two groups will be at enmity, but, sooner or later, after a fight, which may result in the killing of a man, but more usually does not, harmony will be restored. In the case of a savage it must be remembered that when once compensation in any form has been made by an offending party, the matter is supposed to be ended, and no ill feelings are cherished. Of course there are exceptions to this, but, on the whole, it is strikingly true of the Australian savage. To judge from ordinary accounts in popular works, one would imagine that the various tribes were in a state of constant hostility. Nothing could be further from the truth. ^ In almost every camp of any size you will find members of Strange tribes paying visits and often taking part in ceremonies. Among the Arunta we found Kaitish and, in the south, Urabunna people ; among the Kaitish were Unmatjera and Arunta ; with the Warramunga were Kaitish, Walpari, Wulmala, and Worgaia men ; with the Tjingilli were Warramunga and Umbaia ; with the Umbaia were Tjingilli and Gnanji ; and in the camps at Borroloola, on the Gulf coast, were Binbinga, Mara, Anula, Karawa and Willingura men, all being upon quite friendly terms. The members of one tribe will tell you that a distant tribe, with which they rarely or perhaps never come into contact, is very fierce and bloodthirsty and given to making raids. The same tribe will be living upon most friendly terms with its immediate neighbours, and some of the latter will be doing precisely the same thing with the tribe of which your informants are afraid and suspicious. At the same time it is quite true that, if a member of an unknown tribe made his appearance, except of course he came accredited as a sacred messenger, he would most probably be promptly speared. Anything strange is uncanny to the native, who has a

1 Of course we are only referring to the tribes in the central and northern area of the continent with whom we came into contact.

peculiar dread of evil magic from a distance. Our two “ boys,” who went with us right through the continent, were particularly careful to keep close to camp, unless well armed, when they got amongst absolutely strange tribes in the country out to the east of the telegraph line.

In the same class of works statements are frequently made to the effect that the women are brutally treated by their men. A wife — so it is repeated time after time — is commonly obtained by a man lying in wait near to a waterhole and clubbing some unfortunate lubra, who is then dragged away by the hair of her head. There are, of course, ceremonies performed in the case of both men and women which are to us of the most revolting nature. Apart from these, which are matters of ancient tribal custom, the natives on the whole are decidedly kind to one another. As we have pointed out previously, and again in this work, there is no such thing as allowing an old and infirm person to starve. It is the duty of every one to supply certain other older people with food, and this they do cheerfully and ungrudgingly. In this way and in accordance with the needs and conditions of the community, these savages have long ago settled the question of an old-age pension, or rather they have rendered any such thing quite unnecessary.

As to the capture of women — We have never in any of these central tribes met with any such thing, and the clubbing part of the story may be dismissed, so far as the central area of the continent is concerned. To the casual observer what looks like a capture (we are, of course, only speaking of these tribes) is in reality an elopement, in which the woman is an aiding and abetting party. There are several well-recognised methods of charming a woman living in a distant part, and, sooner or later, after the whole thing has been arranged by the parties concerned, the woman will join the man at some spot previously agreed upon. If the two should be caught before they reach the man’s camp, so much the worse for both of them. If they get safely away, then, sooner or later, the members of the local group to which the aggrieved man belongs will come up, and there will be a fight ; or the aggressor will

I

3^

have to submit to being cut about by the former husband, while the chances are that the woman will receive rough treatment. It is really a rough and ready method of securing a divorce. When once this punishment has been inflicted openly, then the aggrieved husband loses or rather gives up his right to the woman. As a general rule women are obtained quite peacefully by the system of betrothal.

The great majority of the scars which mark the bodies of the women are self-inflicted, and, as a matter of fact, they are proud of them. Now and again, if a husband thinks that his wife has been unfaithful to him, she will certainly meet with exceedingly cruel treatment. Taking everything into account, however, the life of one of these savage women,, judged from the point of view of her requirements in order to make life more or less comfortable, is far from being the miserable one that it is so often pictured. It must also be remembered that what would cause very serious pain to a civilised woman only results in trifling discomfort to a. savage.

In concluding these general remarks attention may be drawn to one striking feature of savage life, so far as the men are concerned. During his early years, up till perhaps the age of fourteen, the boy is perfectly free, wandering about in the bush, searching for food, playing with his companions during the daytime, and perhaps spending the evening watching the ordinary corrobborees. From the moment of his initiation, however, his life is sharply markedout into two parts. He has first of all what we may speak of as the ordinary life, common to all the men and women, and associated with the procuring of food and the performance of corrobborees, the peaceful monotony of this part of his life being broken every now and again by the excitement of a fight. On the other hand, he has what gradually becomes of greater and greater injportance to him, and that is the portion of his life devoted to matters of a sacred or secret nature. As he grows older he takes an increasing share in these, until finally this side of his life occupies by far the greater part of his thoughts. The sacred ceremonies, which appear very trivial matters to the white man, are most serious matters to him. They are all connected with the great ancestors of the tribe, and he is firmly convinced that when it comes to his turn to die his spirit part will finally return to his old alcheringa home, where he will be in communion with them until such time as it seems good to him to undergo reincarnation.

/

CHAPTER II

PHYSICAL FEATURES

Children — Change in personal appearance of the women at various ages — Nature of the hair — Cicatrices on women — Changes in personal appearance of the men at various ages — Withdrawal of the boys from the control of the women — Old men in the Warramunga pulling out their moustache — Curly nature of the hair — Plaiting the hair — Comparison of the nature of the hair in different tribes — Cicatrices on the men — Development of breasts in the men — Height of the natives — Chest measurements — Shape and measurements of the nose — Head measurements — No artificial deformation of the head — Measurements of the foot.

The illustrations will serve to give a good idea of the physical features of the natives at different periods of their lives. . There is, so far as general type of features and physical structure are concerned, a great uniformity amongst all Australian aborigines side by side with considerable variation in regard to such points as height and, in the case of the men, the growth of hair on the face.

--"'"^t birth the child is red and copper-colouredd but in the j course of a few days it darkens, and by the end of the first week it, has assumed the chocolate colour characteristic of j CU the adult.^ In the r^re southern tribes, especially the j
Arunta, the colour of the women is slightly lighter than that / \

of the men, but this is not noticeable in the northern tribes^ I

We have previously dealt in detail with the Arunta, and much of what we then said applies equally well to the tribes with whom we are now dealing,^ but at the same time there

1 Corresponding very closely to tint No. 5 on Plate HI., Notes and Queries ■on Anthropology. London, 3rd ed. 1899.

^ Corresponding to tint No. 3, loc. cit.

^ For an excellent account of the physical features of the Arunta tribe see also Stirling, Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, Part IV., 1896.

are features of some importance characteristic of the various tribes and groups of tribes.

To begin first of all with the children. For some time after birth it is customary to carry the child about in 2. pit chi or in a slab of bark cut from a gum-tree. After a few months it is usually carried sitting straddle-legged across the left hip of its mother, who thus has her right hand free for the use of her digging-stick. At the same time she will, when on the march, carry a pitchi on her head containing water or

FIG. I. — YOUNG CHILI). ARUNTA TRIBE.

food which she has been gathering. In anything like good seasons the children are healthy and plump enough, and in camp they can be seen toddling about and enjoying life thoroughly. A very characteristic feature of all the young children is the very protuberant stomach, which is well seen in Fig. 2, representing two Warramunga children, aged respectively two and four years, playing about in the bush. A still younger child walking on all fours, and too young to stand by itself for more than a few moments at a time, is seen in Fig. i. As soon as ever they can run about, the girls are busy with small digging - sticks imitating their

II

mother, whom they accompany in the bush in search of vegetable food and small animals. All of the children begin to learn the art of tracking at a very early age. They soon recognise the footprints of their playmates. Out in the bush with their mothers they learn the tracks of every animal, and at an age when civilised children would just be commencing to learn to read books, the savage child is busy, though he scarcely knows it himself, in learning to read Natur^_and in ac^uiring^Ehe knowledge which ^ w him mot only . to obtain his own supply of f^^ but tp guard himself against thp attacks of enemies.

in personal appearance there is a very marked change^ in the appearance of the women as they grow oM'ef:* A

FIG. 2. — TWO CHILDREN. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

typical series of stages is shown in Figs. 5-18. Childhood stops at a_CQmpar^iy^ early age. The girl represented in Fig. 7 has just begun to wear the head-bands, the sign of the fact that she has just been handed over to her allotted husband. It is difficult to ascertain anything like exact

FIG. 3. — CHILD RUNNING, SHOWING THPI TOKS TURNED OUTWARDS.

WARR.VMUNG.A TRIBE.

ages, but this particular girl cannot be more than fourteen years old. The only clothing which the women wear is a larger or smaller apron, made of strands of string, which hang down from a string passing round the waist (Fig. i i). This apron may only be worn by a married woman, and, together with the pubic tassel worn by the men, is of considerably greater size and efficiency as an article of clothing amongst

II

•FIG. 4. — TWO YOUNG GIRLS. KAITISH TRIBE.

FIG. 5.— YOUNG GIRL. KAITISH TRIBE. FIG. 6. YOUNG WOMAN. TJINGILLI TRIBE.

SHOWING THE METHOD OF PLAITING THE HAIR.

CHA1>.

FIG. 7. — YOUNG WOMAN WEARING HEAD- BANDS. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

FIG. 8. — YOUNG WOMAN. WARRAMUNGA

FIG. 9. — YOUNG WOMAN WEARING HEAD- AND NECK-BANDS. KAITISH TRIBE.

FIG. 10. — YOUNG WOMAN WITH HAIR I’EAITED AND WEARING HEAD -BANDS. WARRA-

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the more northern tribes than in the Arunta and Kaitish. We have already pointed out that it is somewhat remarkable,

FIG. II. — YOUNG WOMAN WEARING APRON W.VRRAMUNGA TRIBE.

in view of the fact that during the nights of winter the temperature falls considerably below freezing-point, that the natives have never learned to take any advantage of the fur of animals such as the kangaroo, which are by no means rare during good seasons. They rely exclusively upon small fires for warmth, and in winter mornings simply lie quiet until such time as the sun’s heat thaws them.

FIG. 12. — WOMAN OF WATER TOTEM WEARING EURO BONE ORNAMENTS AND CARRYING PITCHI. FULL FACE. KAITISH TRIBE.

As soon as ever a woman has been given to the man to whom she has been allotted, she has periodically to cut her hair ; in fact it is very seldom that a woman is seen with anything like long hair, which, owing to their fondness for grease and red ochre, is perhaps just as well. Without any covering of hair on head or face, the outline is more clearly seen than in the case of a man with well-developed beard

II

and moustache, and the older women are hideous beyond description. Up till perhaps about twenty-five th^ upper lip projects beyond the Imyer. InJ_ater years the lower one comes to project more and jnore. Figs. 1 7 and 1 8 give a good idea of the personal appearance of two women aged respectively about forty and fifty. In the Warramunga and

FIG. 13. — WOMAN CARRYING PITCH!. SIDE FACE. KAITISH TRIBE.

allied tribes, but not in the Arunta or coastal tribes, there is one special custom connected with the mourning rites which adds considerably to the hideousness of the old womeh. When a husband dies the widow has to gash her scalp right down the middle line of the head, and then sear the wound thus made with a fire-stick. The husband includes, of course, any man with whom it is lawful for her to have marital relations. A number of such women who have been cutting themselves in this way is seen in Fig. 139 ; of these women only two are the actual widows of the dead man. The result is that every woman from middle age upwards (the younger ones are not supposed to perform this rite) in the Warra-

FIG. 14. — YOUNG WOMAN WEARING ARM-BANDS. SIDE FACE. ANUL.Y TRIBE.

munga group of tribes has a more or less bare streak in the middle of the scalp marked by a hard scar.

There is very considerable difference In regard to the wavyT>r curly nature of the hair. The former is characteristic oLthe tribes forming the Arunta nation ^ and also of the southern and western members of the Warramunga nation — that is the Warramunga itself together with the Walpari

1 This comprises the Arunta, Ilpirra, Iliaura, Unmatjera, and Kaitish tribes.

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45>

and Wulmala tribes. In the Tjingilli the hair has a strong tendency to curl, and this feature beconie still more marked in the coastal tribes.^ Though it is very distinctly curled, yet it is never woolly.

As a general rule the hair, until it is cut, is allowed to hang in dishevelled locks, held down to a certain extent b}^

FIG. 15. YOUNG WOMAN WEARING ARM-BANDS AND SHOWING

CICATRICES. FULL FACE. ANULA TRIBE.

the head-bands ; but in the Warramunga tribe especially, and also the Tjingilli, the girls plait their hair and wind the plaits round the head, fur-string being usually added to the end of each, very much as a Chinaman adds silk-string to the end of his pigtail.

In every case the body of the woman is marked with more or less regularly arranged scars, which in many cases

1 Occasionally, however, as seen in one figure of a Kaitish woman, the hair is distinctly curly in the southern tribes, and the same is true of a few men.

stand out prominently. In part these are due to the desire to ornament the body, and in part to compliance with customs according to which a woman must cut herself when certain relations die. They have no connection whatever with any idea of indicating the tribe or group to which the individual belongs. Almost every woman has at least one or two scars, joining, as it were, the two breasts together. Also there are frequently transverse scars running across the chest, and longitudinal ones may run down below these on

FIG. l6. ELDERLY WOMAN. FULL FACE. KAITISH TRIBE.

to the breasts. The abdomen may be more or less scarred transversely, and most frequently the upper part of the arm, close to the shoulder, has longitudinal scars, below which may be a second series of the same or transverse ones. In some tribes, such as the Warramunga, their thighs also bear marks of wounds inflicted during the mourning ceremonies, more especially (Fig. 148) at the time when the arm-bone is brought into camp.

Owing partly to the nature of the hair and its relative abundance, and partly to the method of treatment of the

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same, the men of the various tribes differ more in^ personal appearance than the_ On the other hand, when~once^ they have arrived at maturity, the personal appearance-^f the men changes far less than does that of the.3^oniea.-.

The boys are much alike everywhere, and the two Warramungas in Fig. 19 will serve as types -of the young ones. They are approximately about eight and six years fig. 17. — ELDERLY WOMAN. SIDE FACE. FIG. l8. — OLD WOMAN, SHOWING SCAR ON KAITISH TRIBE. THE CENTRE OF THE SCALP. WARRA-

old. Up till the age of perhaps ten or twelve, they are under the charge of the women and are not allowed to go anywhere near to the men’s camp. They spend hour after hour aiming at one another with minute spears and spearthrowers, shouting and laughing the whole time. Every day they accompany their mothers out into the bush, learning to know the track of everything that lives and moves. After they have reached the age of ten or twelve the men begin to take them out with them, but until the^arrive at puberty they are

FIG. 19. — TWO YOUNG BOYS. VYAKRAMUNGA TRIBE.

ITG. 20. — GROUP OF BOYS. ARUNTA TRIBE.

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for the most part under the control of the women. Usually when they are about fourteen or fifteen the first initiation ceremony is performed, and after that they are completely withdrawn from the control of the women ; indeed there is always some special part of the ceremonies connected with initiation which is especially designed to emphasise this fact. They are not allowed after this to go. anywhere near

FIG. 21. — YOUTH PASSING THROUGH THE FIG. 22 — YOUTH PASSING THROUGH THE IN- INITIATION CEREMONIES. WARRAMUNGA ITIATION CEREMONIES, SHOWING THE

TRIBE. METHOD OF TYING THE HAIR UP.

to the women’s camp or to play about as they have hitherto done with the boys and girls. A youth at this age is represented in Fig. 22. As soon as he has undergone the initiation rite his hhir is tied up into a bunch, often so tightly as to cause serious discomfort. This, however, he willingly ' bears, as it is a sign that he is entering into the ranks of the men.

It will be noticed that, in comparison with .^runta .men of apprgxijiiately the same age, the whiskers, beard, and moustache are comparatively poorly developed ^ in the more ^ N.T. Fig. 10, p. 35.

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northern and north-eastern tribes. Further still, in the Warramunga and allied tribes the old men (Figs. 32 and 33) are allowed to pull the hairs of the moustache out, and also any that may be growing on the under lip immediately below the mouth. The effect naturally is to give them a very different appearance from that of the men in the Arunta and Kaitish tribes. Not infrequently we used to see one or other of the older men lying down on the ground while some younger man was busy pulling out all odd hairs

FIG. 23. — MAN OF THE UNMATJERA TRIBE. FIG. 24. — MAN OF THE UNMATJERA TRIBE. SIDE FACE. FULL FACE.

growing on the cheek or upper lip. The operation must be decidedly painful, but they do not seem to object to it

(Fig- 3 5)-

Owing to the way in which the hair is kept tied up with bands of string passing round over the forehead and under . the occiput, the scalp is thrown into folds, and, when the hair is cut short, has a regular corrugated appearance. It is far thicker .tham..in._the.. ordm^ man. It may be added, in passing, that we have never sperT^a^ bald native.

In extreme old age the hair becomes thin, but, even on the

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crown, it never completely disappears as in Europeans. As a general rule in the Warramunga and southern tribes the hair is arranged in wavy locks, though every now and again there may be a decided tendencyjto curliness. In the Tjingilli we meet sometimes with men whose hair is most decidedly curly (Fig. 30), but here and in their eastern neighbours it is more usually wavy (Fig. 28). In the Gnanji tribe the hair, under normal conditions, is also wavy, but when it has grown

FIG. 25. — MAN OF THE KAITISH TRIBE, FIG. 26. — MAN OF THE UNMATJERA TRIBE.

SHOWING THE CURLY NATURE OF THE HAIR.

to a considerable length it is made up into a number of plaits the ends of which are lengthened by the addition of string, and are then tied roughly together behind the head, producing the appearance represented in Fig. 37. When the plaits are undone the hair forms a mop, calling to mind the much more elaborate coiffure of the Papuan. Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity of securing a photograph of this, as we only came across men with this mop head when our cameras were not available. In the Gnanji and all the more eastern tribes the hair on the face is very scanty, and in the case of the older men is very largely pulled out.

In the Binbinga and Karawa tribes the hair is also plaited, but amongst them this is not apparently done with the idea of producing a great fuzzy mass. On the contrary, the plaits are very neatly wound round and round so as to produce the appearance of a closely fitting cap on the top of the head. This is particularly well seen in the case

FIG. 27. — MAN OF THE WARRAMUNGA TRIBE, SHOWING THE HOLE IN THE NASAL SEPTUM BROKEN THROUGH.

of a Karawa boy (Fig. 38) and also in that of a Binbinga man, this particular individual being a celebrated medicine man (Fig. 40). The hair, on the face is again very scanty.

The true coastal tribes are characterised by having very curly hair, which in some cases approximates closely to the woolly type, but is never really so, though the casual observer would be very likely to describe it as such. If allowed to grow to any length it will become neither exactly wavy nor curly, but half-way between the two (Fig. 41). A curious

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feature is that in the boys it is nothing like so curly as in the older males/

It will be seen that in the matter of hair there is a very interesting series of variations. In the Arunta it is always wavy and never truly curly, though occasionally the beard, which is always well developed, may be frizzled. In the

FIG. 28. — MAN OF THE TJINGILLI TRIBE, WITH WELL-MARKED CICATRICES. FULL FACE,

Kaitish it may occasionally be very curly. In the Warramunga it is normally wavy. In the Tjingilli it may be very curly. In the Gnanji it is normally wavy, sometimes inclined to be curly, and is artificially made into a frizzled mop. In the Binbinga it is sometimes wavy, at others curly, and is plaited to form a kind of close-fitting skull cap. In the Anula and Mara it is, in both men and women, decidedly curly, approaching in appearance more nearly to the woolly

1 Compare the two boys in the right-hand corner of Fig. 44.

type than in the case of any other tribe met with by us.^ It may perhaps be suggested that this indicates at some time, a mixture with Papuan blood, but if so the influence is apparently confined to this one feature. From the point of view of customs and beliefs all of the tribes are distinctly Australian and are closely allied. In all, with rare exceptions, the hair is jet black and the skin of the characteristic chocolate colour, there being no difference

FIG. 29. — MAN OF THF: TJINGILLI TRIBE. SIDE FACE.

whatever in this respect between the Arunta of the centre and the Anula natives who inhabit the Pellew Islands.

In regard to scars or cicatrices there is a considerable amount of variation. In the Arunta they are sometimes very prominent and at others scarcely distinguishable, and are cut on the chest, upper arms, and shoulders. In the Kaitish, Unmatjera, and Warramunga they are closely similar to those of the Arunta.

^ It is a rather remarkable fact, in view of the supposed Malay influence, that it is just the tribes in the coastal districts where the Malays do visit them that w'e find the most curly hair.

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In addition to these cicatrices, which are more or less regularly arranged, every man bears scars, usually on his thigh or on his shoulder. The latter will be the result of self-inflicted wounds, the former may be either of the same nature or may be, the mark of cuts inflicted upon him by some other man during a fight. On one man in the Warramunga tribe we counted no less than twenty-three scars, where he had cut his leg on different occasions in token of

FIG. 30. — MAN OF THE TJINGILLI TRIBE, SHOWING THE CURLED NATURE OF THE HAIR. FULL FACE.

mourning. The extreme case of scarring of the back which we saw is represented in the figure of a man belonging to the Walpari tribe, and we were assured that the scars represented wounds made by a stone knife during various fights. The scars in this case were large and smooth, without any raised ridge of keloid tissue characteristic of the ordinary cicatrices. Perhaps they indicate some specialty in the man’s flesh in regard to the healing of wounds.

The Tjingilli, Gnanji, and Umbaia tribes are normally considerably cicatrised, one of the best examples being represented in Fig. 28. In these tribes it is very frequent to have a series of cicatrices on the upper arm just where it joins the shoulder, forming a kind of epaulette. In Fig. 30 the Tjingilli man has them running right across the breast, and mainly transverse ones on the arm, where his -fellow tribesman, shown in Fig. 28, has them longitudinal. The natives say that they have nothing whatever to do with

FIG. 31. — MAN OF THE TJINGILLI TRIBE. SIDE FACE.

tribal or class or distinctive marks of any kind, and are simply ornaments.

[n the Gnanji the markings are closely similar, and in the Binbinga, Mara, and Anula they are usually, but not always, confined to the chest. The Tjingilli, Gnanji, and Umbaia tribes all show the characteristic scars on the thigh, though these were nowhere so prominent as in the Warramunga tribe.

We may here draw attention to one feature in regard to the men with which we were first struck in the Kaitish tribe, and were continually noticing amongst the tribes more to the north, and that is the remarkable development of the

II

breasts. This is perhaps best shown in the instance of the Unanji man, seen in profile in Fig. 37, in whom it was very prominent. It was also well seen in the Kaitish men ; indeed -We were continually struck with it when once we had passed to the north of the Macdonnell Ranges.

In regard to height there is very considerable variation. The natives of whom we have taken measurements belong

FIG. 32, — MAN OF THE WORGAIA TRIBE, SHOWING THE HAIRS PULLED OUT ON THE LIPS. SIDE FACE.

to the Arunta,^ Kaitish, Unmatjera, Warramunga, and Walpari tribes. They refer to 41 adult males, 26 adult females, 5 male children between the ages of 5 and 13, 2 youths about 16 years old, and 7 female children between the ages of 5 and 14.

The average height of the men is 169.4 cm. The greatest height, 182 cm., occurred in the case of a Warramunga man, and the next in that of a Worgaia man, 180

1 The raeasurements of the natives of this tribe, twenty males and ten females, are given in Appendix C, N. T. Full details in regard to the remainder are given in an Appendix to this woi'k.

cm. The least height, 158.2 cm., was that of an Arunta man, and, in addition, 3 Aruntas and i Unmatjera man measured as little as 160 cm.

There is, in respect of height, a decided difference between the Warramunga and Arunta nations in favour of the former. The average of i 5 men of the Warramunga

FIG. 33. — MAN OF THE VVOKGAIA TRIBE. FULL FACE.

nation, belonging to the Warramunga, Walpari, and Worgaia tribes, is 173.8 cm. There are only 3 men under 170 cm. On the other hand the average of 26 men of the Arunta nation, belonging to the Arunta, Kaitish, and Unmatjera tribes, is 166.8 cm., and amongst these 15 are less than 170 cm. The men of the Warramunga tribe especially strike one as having a good physique. This is rather difficult to

II

account for, as their country does not appear to be so good, from the point of view of food supply, as that of the Arunta, more especially of those living in the large area occupied by the Macdonnell Ranges, where there is very rarely any lack of food and water.

In regard to the women the general average of 26 individuals is i58.;7 crn. The greatest height is H73 cm. in the case of a Warramunga woman, and the least, I48'2 cm., in that of a Walpari woman, who was, however, very old

FIG. 34. — ^OLD MAN OF THE KAITISH TRIBE.

and shrunken. One middle-aged Kaitish woman and one Warramunga measured each of them 150 cm. Of the 26 women, 1 3 belonged to the Arunta and 1 3 also to the Warramunga nation. The average height of the former was 155.5 3.nd of the latter 162 cm. In the Arunta women only 2 measured over 160 cm., but in those of the Warramunga only 4 measured less than this.

It is of course very difficult to estimate the age of a child, and therefore the following are approximate only, but in all cases are probably correct within the margin of a year.

Of the boys the following are their ages and heights; — (i) 4 years, 93.5 cm. ; (2) 5 years, 108.5 cm. ; (3) 8 years, 125 cm.; (4) 9 years, 121 cm.; (5) 10 years, 128.5 cm.; (6) 15 years, 161.5 cm.; (7) 16 years, 16 1 cm.^

In the case of the girls the same remark with regard to age holds true. The ages and heights were as follows : —

FIG. 35. — AN OLD MAN LYING DOWN AND A YOUNGER MAN PULLING OUT THE HAIRS ON HIS CHEEK. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

(i) 5 years, iio cm.; (2) 6 years, 118 cm.; (3) 6 years,

I I I cm. ; (4) 7 years, i 18 cm. ; (5) 7 years, i 18 cm. ; (6)

II years, 136.5 cm.; (7) ii years, 137 cm.; (8) I4(?), 144 cm.^

^ The two last-mentioned youths passed through the rite of subincision while we were amongst the Warramunga.

^ This girl had recently passed through the rite of atna arilfha kuma.

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6i

The average chest measurement of the 41 men was 90.2 cm., varying Sefween a minimum of 83 and a maxi- 'ThumT 'of ' 97. In the Warramunga nation, out of the 15 measured, there was only i individual under 90 cm. ; in the Arunta, out of the 26 men, 14 were under this. The average of the former was 92.5 and of the latter 88.9, pointing once

FIG. 36. — THE BACK OF A MAN OF THE WALPAKI TRIBE, SHOWING SCARS RESULTING FROM CUTS INFLICTED BY STONE KNIVES.

more in the direction of the better physique of the northern tribes.

A very characteristic feature of the Australian aborigine is the shape of the nose. The root is very much depressed, the supraorbital ridges being always strongly marked, but. still more prominent is the great proportionate width of the nose, which, especially in the men, may sometimes be broader than long, with the end flattened to form a depressed hook. The wearing of a nose-bone through the septum — a practice commenced at a very early age — must tend to emphasise the spreading out of the lobes.

FK;. 37. — SIDE VIEW OF A MAN OF THE GNANJI TRIBE, SHOWING THE METHOD OF PLAITING THE HAIR.

In the 41 males the average length was 5 cm. and the width 4.9 cm. The greatest length was 6.2 cm. and the width of the same was 4.9, in the case of an Arunta man. The greatest width was 6 cm. and the length of the same 4.6 cm., in the case of a Warramunga man. Out of 26 men of the Arunta nation there were 8 in whom the width exceeded the length, while this was true of no fewer than

II

10 out of the 15 belonging to the Warramunga nation. The average length in the 26 women was 4.5 cm. and the width 4.4 cm. Out of the 13 belonging to the Arunta nation the width exceeded the length in 4 cases, and out of the 13 belonging to the Warramunga the same was true in 5 cases and in 3 others it was equal. The greatest length in a woman was 5.2 cm. in an Arunta, and the least was 4 cm. in both groups ; in one Warramunga woman the width was 5.1 cm. and the length 4 cm. In 7 female

FIG. 38. — KARAWA BOY, SHOWING METHOD OF PLAITING HAIR.

children the average length was 3.7 cm. and the width 3.4 cm. ; the width exceeded the length in two instances. In 5 male children the average length was 3.8 cm. and the width 3.6 cm., and in no case did the width exceed the length.

The measurement of the head, as we pointed out previously in the case of the Arunta tribe, varies to a considerable extent.^ The average cephalic index of 41 jnales is 73.2 and of 26 women is 73.3. If we allow the two units which, according to Broca, must be subtracted from the index of

^ In twenty men of the Arunta tribe the index was 74.5, and in ten women it was 75.7.

the living subject in order to obtain that of the cranium^ then we have an index of 71.2 for the men and one of 71.3 for the women, which is just slightly below the average Australian cephalTc index of 71.5. The indices in the males v"afy between 80.5 and 66.6, the former being that of an Arunta man, and the latter — a remarkably low one — that of a Warramunga man, the present head of a leading totemic

FIG. 39. — MEDICINE MAN, BINBINGA TRIBE. FULL FACE.

group, a very quiet reserved man, but an individual of considerable influence in the tribe.

In the case of the females the indices vary from 80.7 in an Arunta woman to 68.1 in a Warramunga woman. Out of 14 Warramunga women no fewer than 6 had indices below 70, and only i greater than 75.

Arranging the series of 67 measurements, including those of both men and women according to Broca’s divisions,^ we find that 58 are dolichocephalic, 5 are sub-doli- chocephalic, and 4 are mesaticephalic. With the exception of I woman all of the Warramunga — that is the northern

^ That is, after subtracting the two units.

II

FIG. 40. — MEDICINE MAN, BINBINGA TRIBE, CARRYING A WALLET ON HIS BACK. SHOWING METHOD OF PLAITING HAIR. SIDE FACE.

are dolichocephalic, 2 are sub - dolichocephalic, and i is mesaticephalic. In this case the greatest divergence from dolichocephaly is to be found amongst the 4 Warramunga children. Of 6 immature males the average is 71.9. The highest is 74.2 and the lowest 70.3, and they are all of them dolichocephalic. All of them belong to the Warramunga.

In connection with the form of the head we may not

F

group— are dolichocephalic, the deviations from this being thus practically confined to the southern group.

Taking the immature children, ranging in age from 5 to 16, we find that the average of 7 females is 75.5. The highest is 80.3 and the lowest 70.5 Out of the 7, 4

finally that in no instance have we ever met with any attempt to produce any artificial deformation.

The foot varies in size to a considerable extent, and is notably longer in the Warramunga than the Arunta. The

FIG. 41. — YOUNG MAN OF ANULA TRIBE.

average of the 41 men was 25.8 cm. The lowest measurement was 23.4 cm. in the Arunta, and the highest 27.5 cm. in the case of 2 Warramungas. In accordance with the greater size of the latter the average is higher amongst them than the Aruntas. That of 26 of the latter natives

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was 25.3 cm., and of 15 Warramungas 26.8 cm. There is no Warramunga measured with a foot as small as the average one in the Aruntas. The average length in the 26 women was 23.8 cm., in 1 3 Aruntas it was 23.3 cm., and in 13 Warramungas 24.3 cm., showing the same

FIG. 42. — ELDERLY MAN OF WILINGURA- TRIBE.

relationship of the two nations as in the case of the males.

The native is very nimble with his toes, and picks up articles quite naturally with them, if it be more convenient to use his toes rather than- his fingers for this purpose — as, for example, when he has both hands full of other things. The soles of his feet are wonderfully hard and cornified, and he will wafk with ease over stony ground which makes travelling decidedly uncomfortable for the well-shod white man. He always walks with his toes well turned out — a feature noticeable in the young children as well as in the

FIG. 43. — ELDERLY MAN OF WILINGURA TRIBE.

adults, as can be seen in the illi^tration of a young child running (Fig. 3). When also in his designs he has to draw the tracks of a man, he represents the alternate feet-marks turned in different directions.

X'r-

FIG. 44. —GROUP OF ANULA AND MARA NATIVES.

CHAPTER III

SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE TRIBES

Three types of social organisation amongst the tribes occupying the country extending from Lake Eyre in the south northwards through the centre to the Gulf of Carpentaria— Dieri and Urabunna system with maternal descent — No man has the exclusive right to one woman — Nupa women and Piraungaru — Group marriage actually in existence — Remaining tribes divided into two groups, in one of which there are eight subclasses, and descent is counted indirectly in the male line ; in the other there are four classes, and descent is counted in the direct male line — Grouping of tribes to form five nations — Relationship terms — These apply not to individuals but to groups — Separation of the two moieties of the tribes — The organisation of the Arunta nation — The organisation of the Warramunga nation — Marriage permitted in the Warramunga and northern tribes with the father’s sister’s daughter — The organisation of the Binbinga nation — The organisation of the Mara nation — Comparison of the Mara with the Binbinga subclasses, and the equivalence of the same in the two — Deliberate fitting-in of the subclasses so as to reconcile the two methods of counting descent — The more direct paternal descent in the Mara tribe.

In the great majority of Australian tribes, but not in all, there is a very definite social organisation, which term we use in connection only with the division of the tribe into two (or more) exogamous, intermarrying groups without reference to the presence or absence of a totemic system. The two systems have become associated together in various ways in different tribes, but are perfectly distinct from one another in origin and significance.

We can recognise three important types of social organisation in the tribes which occupy the country extending from Lake Eyre in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. In the first, which exists amongst the Dieri and Urabunna tribes, there are only two main exogamous groups called respectively, in the case of the latter, Mat-

I

j'

i:

Table -of Descent. Warraj^unga Tribe

5. Thapanunga, f.

6. Thapanung

7. Thapanunga, m. e. Thungalla, m. j

8. Thapanunga, m. 9. Thapanunga, f.

12. Tjupila, m.

13. Tjupilaj i

14. Tjupila, f. / Tjunguri, f. |

15. Tjupila,! 16. Tjupila, tn.'

1 1

19. Thakomara, m. | 20. Thakoniara, f.

21. Thapungarti, m. | 22.

Thapungarti,!. 23. Thapungarti, ni. 24. Thapungarti, f. 25. Thapungarti, in. | 26, Thapungarti, m. 27. Thapungarti, f.

36. Tjambin, f. 37. Tjambin, m. 38. Tjamhin, f. — ! 39. Tiambin, f. 40. Tjambin, m.

Thapungarti, m. | 39. Thapungarti, ! 30. Thakomara, m. | 31. Thakomara, !

. Thapanunga, ni. | 42. Thapanmiga, f. 43. Thungalla, m. j 44. Thungalla, f. 45. Thapanunga,

51. Tjupila, f. 52. Tjupila, i

46. Thapanunga, f. 47. Thapanunga, m. | 48. Thapanui^a, f. 49. Thungalla, 1

\Tcfaci p. 79.

‘■J-

CHAP. Ill SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE TRIBES

thurie and Kirarawa. We have, on a previous occasion, dealt more or less in detail with this, but, for the purpose of comparison, and of giving a general account of the central tribes, we will once more briefly refer to the Urabunna tribe as a typical example of a tribe in which descent is counted in the female line, and in which division has not proceeded beyond the formation of the two original exogamous moieties.^

In the Urabunna tribe a Matthurie man must marry a Kirarawa woman, and their children pass into the Kirarawa moiety. Vice versa a Kirarawa man must marry a Matthurie woman. A Matthurie man may not, however, marry any and every Kirarawa woman. In the first place, men of one totem can only marry women of another special totem.^ For example, a Matthurie who belongs to the dingo totem must marry a Kirarawa of the water-hen totem, so that we may represent the marriage and descent in the Urabunna by the following diagram, in which the letter m represents the man and f the woman.

Further still, a dingo man can only have assigned to him as wife a woman who belongs to one out of certain groups amongst the water-hens. The members of the latter group stand to him in one or other of the following relationships : (i) father’s sister; (2) Biaka, or brother’s children ; (3) Apillia, mother’s younger brother’s daughters ;

1 In this account we use the following terms : {a) moiety, indicating the two original exogamous divisions ; (b) class, the two divisions into which each moiety is usually divided ; [c) subclass, the two divisions into which in certain tribes each class is divided. We purposely avoid the terms phratry, gens, clan, etc., as liable to be misleading.

^ This appears to be the case in the northern part of the tribe.

m. Dingo Matthurie marries f. Water-hen Kirarawa m. Water-hen Kirarawa marries f. Dingo Matthurie f. Water-hen Kirarawa marries m. Dingo Matthurie m. or f. Dingo Matthurie.

m. or f. Water-hen Kirarawa.

(4) Nupa, mother’s elder brother’s daughter. It must be remembered of course that whilst, for the sake of convenience, we use the English terms there is no equivalence whatever between the terms nia, nuthi, and luka and those respectively of father, brother, mother, by which we translate them. The native terms all refer to groups of individuals and not to the individual. Amongst these individuals there are women of three different levels of generation — the nauilli belong to that of the father, the biaka to younger, and the apillia and nupa to the same generation as the individual concerned, and it is from amongst these that the woman must come with whom it is lawful for him to have marital relations. He can only marry women who stand to him in the relationship of nupa — that is, are the children of his mother’s elder brothers, blood or tribal. A simple genealogical tree will make the matter clear. The Kirarawa man numbered 8 can only marry a woman who stands to him in the relationship of the one numbered 7. She is his nupa ; the woman numbered 9 is his apillia, and he may not have marital relations with her.

I. Matthurie, f. 2. Matthurie, m. 3. Matthurie, f.

4. Kirarawa, m. 5. Kirarawa, f. 6. Kirarawa, m.

7. Matthurie, f. 8. Kirarawa, m. 9. Matthurie, f.

7. Matthurie, f.

The mother of a man’s wife is nauilli, and she is mura to him and he to her, and they • must not speak to one another. 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

Ill 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 have said before, “individual marriage does not exist either in name or in practice amongst the Urabunna tribe.” ^ In this tribe we have: — —

(1) 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 designation.

There is no evidence of any kind to show that the practice in the Dieri and Urabunna tribes is an abnormal development. The organisation of these tribes, amongst whom the two exogamous intermarrying groups still persist — groups which in other tribes of the central area have been split into four or eight — indicate 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

1 N. T. p. 63.

and for other men also to have such relations. In the tribes with the simplest and undoubtedly the most primitive organisation 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 whatever to do with polygamy any more than it has with polyandry. It is simply a question of a group of men and a group of women who may lawfully have what we call marital relations. There is nothing whatever abnormal about it, and in all probability this system of what has been called group marriage, serving as it does to bind more or less closely together groups of individuals who are mutually interested in one another’s welfare, has been one of the most powerful agents in the early stages of the upward development of the human race.

Passing northwards from the -Urabunna tribe we come to the Arunta, amongst whom we meet with the most southern of a series of tribes extending up to the Gulf of Carpentaria and occupying the whole of the great internal area of the continent, all of whom agree in the fact that the tribe is divided into four or eight intermarrying groups. In all of them also descent is counted in the paternal line. In the very southern part and in the most northern, along the coast of the gulf, there are four groups, but in all of the intermediate tribes there are eight.

We can divide the tribes, so far as their systems of social organisation are concerned, into two main groups, though it must be remembered that this is only a rough grouping, taking this one feature as its basis. On the whole, however, it agrees well with a grouping based upon identity or close similarity in custom, with the exception of the Gnanji and Binbinga tribes, of which the latter especially is very closely identified, except in this one particular matter of social organisation, with the second group. The Binbinga, however, is the only one of these tribes which is in contact on one border with a true coastal tribe and on the other with an interior tribe, and thus it naturally forms, as docs

Ill the Gnanji to a smaller extent, a transition from one group to another.

In one of the two main groups there are eight subclasses, except in the southern Arunta, and in the other there are four. In all descent is counted in the male line, but in the first group the descent is indirect ^d in the second direct (with the limitation described later). The first group includes the Arunta, Iliaura, Ilpirra, Unmatjera, Kaitish, Warramunga, Wulmala, Walpari, Tjingilli, Umbaia, Gnanji, Binbinga, and Allaua ; the second the Mara and Anula. The first may be divided again into three subgroups, one including the Arunta, Iliaura, Ilpirra, Unmatjera, and Kaitish ; the second the Warramunga, Wulmala, Walpari, Tjingilli, Umbaia, and Gnanji ; and the third the Binbinga and Allaua. Mr. Howitt was the first to point out the fact that it was possible to associate various tribes together in groups, for each of which he suggested the name of “ nation.”

It is not always possible to do this satisfactorily, as there must inevitably be a certain amount of cross division according to the standard which is adopted. Thus, for example, if we take the organisation and method of counting descent as a standard, the Binbinga fall into the Warramunga group, and yet, apart from this one feature and in respect of their customs and beliefs, they are without doubt most closely associated with the Mara group. Following the example of Mr. Howitt, we would suggest that, if some such grouping is to be adopted, the Central Australian tribes should be divided as follows, the name applied to the “ nation ” being that of the tribe of which, in each group, we have the fullest information with regard to both organisation and custom.

(1) The Dieri nation. This will include the Dieri, Urabunna, Yarrawonga and other tribes in the Lake Eyre basin, our knowledge of which is largely due to Mr. Howitt, who suggested the name.

(2) The Arunta nation, including the Arunta, Ilpirra, Iliaura, Unmatjera, and Kaitish tribes. The name of this nation is taken from that of the tribe with which we dealt most in our previous work, and of the organisation and customs in regard to which we have very full information.

(3) The Warramunga nation, including the Warramunga, Worgaia, Tjingilli, Umbaia, Bingongina, Walpari, Wulmala, and Gnanji tribes. Up to the present time only scattered and, in certain respects, incorrect information has been published about these tribes, but in the present work comparatively full details are given with regard to the Warramunga tribe which appl^ also, except as regards minor points, to the other tribes, and we therefore suggest for this group the name of Warramunga nation.

(4) The Binbinga nation, including the Binbinga, Allaua, and probably other tribes on the west side of the Gulf of Carpentaria. So far as the organisation is concerned, with the exception that the names of the moieties are lost, these tribes are very closely allied to the Warramunga group. In regard to certain important customs, such as that of eating the dead and the disposal of the bones, they are more closely allied to the next group.

(5) The Mara nation, including the Anula, Mara, and probably other tribes on the western coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. A fairly detailed account of these two tribes is given in this work, and in regard to their customs it will be seen that they are closely associated together.

Of these groups or nations we will take the Arunta as a type of the second, the Warramunga as a type of the third, the Binbinga as typical of the fourth, and the Mara as typical of the fifth.

The various tables are arranged so that the equivalent classes and subclasses in the different tribes can be seen at a glance. It is only by working gradually from one tribe to another that the equivalent groups can be ascertained with certainty, and in every case the information included in these tables was derived from natives who were intimately acquainted with the classificatory system of two adjacent tribes. In this way we were able to trace the equivalent groups existing in eighteen tribes which occupy the country from the Lake Eyre district, north across the centre to

Ill

Powell’s Creek, and thence eastwards out to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

I

Panunga

Purula

1 Appungerta 1

Kumara

Uknaria

Ungalla

1 Bukhara |

Umbitjana

Bukhara

Kumara

Uknaria

1 Purula

Appungerta

Umbitjana

Panunga

1 Ungalla

In each instance the subclasses are arranged in four tabular groups. Starting from the left side and proceeding towards the right, column No. i contains the names of the subclasses constituting one moiety of the tribe ; column No. 2 contains those constituting the other moiety. The intermarrying subclasses are arranged on the same horizontal level. Columns No. 3 and 4 represent the subclasses of the children. Thus to take an example which, mutatis mutandis, applies right through : In the Arunta tribe a

Panunga man (column i) marries a Purula woman (column 2), 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 Bukhara; an Ungalla man marries an Uknaria woman and the children are Umbitjana, and so on right through the whole series of tables.^

In the Mara and Anula tribes, where there are only four subclasses, we have repeated the names ; thus, for example in the Mara, Murungun and Mumbali each appear

1 In our previous work (cf. N~.T. pp. 554-560) we have dealt with the various methods in which any special woman is secured by, or allotted to, any special man. We have little to add to the account therein given. The method of allotting women in the Warramunga tribe is described at p. 603 of this work, as it is associated with a curious ceremony of cutting hair from a man’s whiskers. In the Mara tribe the father of the woman tells a man who stands in the relationship of father’s sister’s son to the individual to whom the former proposes to give his daughter. This telling another man who acts as intermediary is associated with the strongly marked avoidance of son-in-law and father-in-law in the Mara tribe. In the Binbinga tribe a woman is given away by her father. The latter calls up the man to whom he has determined to give her, and tells him that when the girl is grown up he can take her as a wife. At the same time, as an emblem of this betrothal, he places the child’s arm in the man’s hand. The man then presents his father-in-law with boomerangs, spears, tomahawks, and food, and after this they do not look at one another. At intervals the son-in-law gives things such as boomerangs to his future wife, telling her to take them to her father.

twice so as to indicate the fact that, comparing this tribe with the Arunta for example, one-half of the Murungun people are the equivalent of the Panunga and the other half of the Appungerta, and similarly one-half of the Mumbali are the equivalent of the Bukhara and the other of the Uknaria, and so on right through the various tribes.

The genealogical tables refer to the Warramunga and Mara tribes, taken as representative examples. They are drawn up in the ordinary way, and indicate the descent of the subclasses, and, taking a man and his allotted unawa (to use the Arunta term), we have indicated in tabular form the various terms which he applies to the different individuals whose subclass, as well as their relationship to him, are indicated in the tree.^ In addition to this we have drawn up tables which serve to show at a glance the arrangement of the various relationships under the heading of the four or eight subclasses, as well as the level of generation to which each belongs.

The following lists indicate the terms of relationship used in the eighteen tribes dealt with, and, as before, we have given three columns of names ; (i.) the native terms, (2) the equivalents of the native terms in English terms, (3) the English term included wholly or partly in the native term.

Table of Relationship Terms. Warramunga Tribe

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

English Tertns, inchided wholly or pa)'tly in the Native Terms.

Gambatja

Father

Father’s brother

Father.

Uncle.

Pinari

Father’s sister

Aunt.

Tapa-tapu

Father’s mother Father’s mother’s sister Mother’s father Mother’s father’s brother Wife’s father’s father Daughter’s children Daughter’s husband’s father Son’s wife’s father Husband’s father’s father

Grandmother.

Great-aunt.

Grandfather.

Grandchild.

^ The tables and numbers of the individuals indicated are similar to those used in our previous work referring to the Urabunna and Arunta tribes.

Ill

Native Term. Katununga

Kanquia

Kurnandi

Naniinni

Turtundi

Kulla-kulla

Auiniari

Tjurlalia

Katakitji

Kulu-kulu

Linia

Wankilli-

Papati

Kukaitja

Kabalu

Kulla-kulla

(woman speaking)

Actual Relationship in English Temns.

Wife

Wife’s sister

Father’s father Son’s son

Mother

Mother’s sister

Mother’s brother Daughter’s husband

Mother’s mother Wife’s mother’s father Daughter’s husband’s mother Son’s wife’s mother.

Husband’s mother’s father

Wife’s brother Sister’s husband

Wife’s father Sister’s son

Sister’s husband’s father Son’s wife Husband’s father Husband’s mother

Wife’s mother

Sister’s husband’s mother

Son

Daughter

Brother’s son and daughter Son’s son’s son

Sister’s children

Mother’s brother’s son Mother’s brother’s daughter

Father’s sister’s son Father’s sister’s daughter

Elder brother

Father’s elder brother’s son

Younger brother Younger sister

Father’s younger brother’s children Elder sister

Father’s elder brother’s daughter Husband

Husband’s brother Husband’s sister Brother’s wife

English Terms, inchided wholly or partly in the Native Te7'ms.

Wife.

Sister-in-law. Brother’s wife.

Grandfather.

Grandchild.

Mother.

Aunt.

Uncle.

Son-in-law.

Grandmother.

Brother-in-law.

Father-in-law.

Nephew.

Daughter-in-law.

Mother-in-law.

Mother-in-law.

Son.

Daughter. Nephew, niece. Great-grandchildren.

Nephew, niece. Cousin.

Cousin.

Brother.

Cousin.

Brother.

Sister.

Cousin.

Sister.

Cousin.

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

Sister-in-law.

English Terms,

4- 'T Actual Relationship in Enslish

Native J erms. ^ ^ *

I erms.

included wholly partly in the Native Terms.

Kulu-kulu Son

(woman speak- Daughter ing) Sister’s son

Sister’s daughter

Son.

Daughter.

Nephew.

Niece.

Tapa-tapu Son’s son

(woman speak- Son’s wife’s mother ing)

Grandson.

Nuralli (woman Daughter’s children speaking)

Grandchildren.

Billi-billi (woman Son’s son’s son speaking) Daughter’s daughter’s son

Great-grandson .

Naminni (woman Brother’s wife’s mother speaking)

Tjurtalia (woman Mother’s brother’s son speaking) Mother’s brother’s daughter

Daughter’s husband

Cousin.

Son-in-law.

Table

OF Relationship Terms.

WoRGAiA Tribe

Wakathua

Father

Father.

Father’s brother

Uncle.

Pinauara

Father’s sister

Aunt.

Mimimo

Father’s mother Father’s mother’s sister

Grandmother.

Mother’s father Wife’s father’s father

Grandfather.

Daughter’s son’s son Son’s wife’s father Daughter’s husband’s father

Great-grandson.

Munkara

Wife

Wife.

Wife’s sister

Sister-in-law.

Kathu-kuthu

Father’s father

Grandfather.

Son’s children

Grandson.

Wurtikia

Mother

Mother.

Lilikia

Elder sister

Sister.

Father’s elder brother’s daughter

Cousin.

Uranii

Younger sister

Sister.

Father’s younger brother’s daughter

Cousin.

Lain

Elder brother

Brother.

Father’s elder brother’s son

Cousin.

Uranathu

Younger brother

Brother.

Father’s younger brother’s son

Cousin.

Ill

8r

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

English Terms, included wholly or partly in the Native Terms.

Ipari

Mother’s mother Mother’s mother’s sister Wife’s mother’s father Daughter’s husband’s mother Son’s wife’s mother

Grandmother.

Great-aunt.

Illinathu

Wife’s brother Sister’s husband

Brother-in-law.

Murtha-munteri

Wife’s father

Sister’s husband’s father

Father-in-law.

Uquartinia

Wife’s mother

Sister’s husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

Ninenta

Son

Brother’s son Son’s son’s son

Son.

Nephew.

Great-grandson.

Ninianu

Daughter Brother’s daughter

Daughter.

Niece.

Nitharu

Sister’s children

Nephew, niece.

Bilaku

Mother’s brother’s son Father’s sister’s children

Cousin.

Watakia

Mother’s brother’s daughter Father’s sister’s daughter

Cousin.

Nithakuperu

Daughter’s husband

Son-in-law.

Illinathu (woman speaking)

Husband

Husband’s brother

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

Kiranino (woman speaking)

Husband’s father Husband’s father’s brother

Father-in-law.

Winara (woman Husband’s mother speaking) Husband’s mother’s sister

Mother-in-law.

Limparintha (woman speaking)

Daughter’s husband Daughter’s husband’s brother

Son-in-law.

Mirntera (woman Daughter’s children speaking)

Grandchildren.

Mimimo (woman speaking)

Son’s children

Grandchildren.

Winiaringinthi (woman speaking)

Son’s wife

Daughter-in-law.

Table of Relationship Terms.

Umbaia Tribe

Ita

Father

Father’s brother

Father.

Uncle.

Pappa

Elder brother

Father’s elder brother’s son

Brother.

Cousin.\

\ G

Native Terms.

Kakula

Itinnia

Naiitjinna

Kanka

Kutjina

Tjoko

Kukunia

Tjamintjilla

Karinnia

Kari

Kullina

Mimai-inna

Koko

Tjatjilla (man speaking)

Koalinna (woman speaking)

Thaminjillimma

Kari

Kula

Purnka

Purnkunna

Karina

Actual Relationship in English Terfus.

Younger brother

Father’s younger brother’s son

Father’s sister Father’s mother

Father’s father Son’s son

Mother

Mother’s sister

Mother’s brother Daughter’s husband

Mother’s mother Mother’s mother’s sister Daughter’s husband’s mother Son’s wife’s mother

Mother’s father Mother’s father’s brother Daughter’s husband’s father

Wife

Wife’s sister Husband

Husband’s brother Wife’s brother

Wife’s father Wife’s father’s brother

Wife’s mother Wife’s mother’s sister Wife’s mother’s brother Wife’s father’s father Sister’s husband’s mother Son’s wife’s father Sister’s husband’s father

Wife’s mother’s father Children

Brother’s children Son’s son’s children

Children Sister’s children

Daughter’s children Sister’s husband Sister’s children Mother’s brother’s son Mother’s brother’s daughter Son’s wife

English Terms^ included wholly or partly in the Native Terms.

Brother.

Cousin.

Aunt.

Grandmother.

Grandfather.

Grandson.

Mother.

Aunt.

Uncle.

Son-in-law.

Grandmother.

Great-aunt.

Grandfather.

Great-uncle.

Wife.

Sister-in-law.

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

Father-in-law.

Mother-in-law.

Children. Nephew, niece. Great-grandchild.

Children. Nephew, niece.

Grandchild. Brother-in-law. Nephew, niece. Cousin.

Cousin.

Daughter-in-law.

Ill

Native Terms.

Ita (woman speaking)

Koatjina (woman speaking)

Kaminjirilla (woman speaking)

Mininia (woman speaking)

Table of

Kita

Pauerla or pappa

Puttata

Linerni

Napitjuni

Kanquia

Thinkatini

Kana

Kukunai

Thamintha

Kalini

Nambia

Kulla

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

Husband’s father

English Te7’ms.^ included luholly or pa7’tly in the Native Terms.

Father-in-law.

Husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

Daughter’s husband

Son-in-law.

Son’s wife

Daughter-in-law.

Relationship Terms. Tjingilli Tribe

Father Father.

Father’s brother Uncle.

Elder brother Brother.

Father’s elder brother’s son Cousin.

Younger brother Brother.

Father’s younger brother’s son Cousin.

Father’s sister Aunt.

Father’s mother Grandmother.

Father’s mother’s sister ' Great-aunt.

Father’s father Son’s children Brother’s son’s children

Mother

Mother’s sister

Mother’s brother Daughter’s husband

Mother’s mother Mother’s mother’s sister Daughter’s husband’s niother Son’s wife’s mother

Mother’s father Mother’s father’s brother Daughter’s husband’s father

Wife

Wife’s sister

Grandfather. Grandchildren .

Mother.

Aunt.

Uncle.

Son-in-law.

Grandmother.

Great-aunt.

Grandfather.

Great-uncle.

Wife.

Sister-in-law.

Husband

Husband’s brother Wife’s brother Sister’s husband

Wife’s father Wife’s father’s brother Sister’s children

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

P'ather-in-law. Nephew, niece.

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English

English Terms^ included wholly or

Terms.

partly in the

Thani

Wife’s mother

Native Terms. Mother-in-law.

Winarra

Wife’s mother’s sister Wife’s father’s father

Kanungura

Sister’s husband’s father Wife’s mother’s brother

Pappa

Children

Children.

Brother’s children

Nephew, niece.

Son’s son’s children

Great-grand-

Thaminji

Daughter children.

Daughter.

Brother’s daughter

Niece.

Winarina

Daughter’s daughter’s children

Great-grand-

Son’s wife children.

Daughter-in-law.

Wankilli

Mother’s brother’s son

Cousin.

Wankillini

Mother’s brother’s daughter

Cousin.

Kana (woman

Husband’s father

Father-in-law.

speaking)

Thani (woman

Husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

speaking)

Thai-ula (woman

Daughter’s husband

Son-in-law.

speaking)

Kaminthua

Daughter’s children

Grandchild.

(woman speaking)

Aputka (woman

Son’s children

Grandchild.

speaking)

Thianlini (woman

Son’s wife

Daughter-in-law.

speaking)

Nambini (woman

Husband’s sister

Sister-in-law.

speaking)

Table of Relationship Terms.

Gnanji Tribe

Itipati

Father

Father.

Father’s brother

Uncle.

Kutjina

Mother

Mother.

Mother’s sister

Aunt.

Pappaii

Elder brother

Brother.

Father’s elder brother’s son

Cousin.

Kakula

Younger brother

Brother.

Father’s younger brother’s son

Cousin.

Pappana

Elder sister

Sister.

Father’s elder brother’s daughter

Cousin.

Ill SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE TRIBES 85

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

English Ternis^ included wholly or partly in the Native Terms.

KakalHna

Younger sister

Father’s younger brother’s daughter

Sister.

Cousin.

Itina

Father’s sister

Aunt.

Ukua

Mother’s brother

Uncle.

Kanku

Father’s father Son’s son

Grandfather.

Grandson.

Nappatjina

Father’s mother

Grandmother.

Yaminjilla

Mother’s father Daughter’s children

Grandfather.

Grandchild.

Kulua

Daughter’s husband Husband’s father

Father-in-law.

Son-in-law.

Kutjinnia

Son’s wife Wife’s mother

Daughter-in-law.

Mother-in-law.

Kukinnia

Husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

Karina

Wife

Wife’s sister

Wife.

Sister-in-law.

Kari

Husband

Husband’s brother

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

Unkai

Mother’s brother’s son Father’s sister’s son

Cousin.

Unkunna

Mother’s brother’s daughter Father’s sister’s daughter

Cousin.

Kokurnai

Mother’s father

Grandfather.

Table of

Relationship Terms.

Binbinga Tribe

Kuni

Father

Father.

Kuni puninjilla

Father’s elder brother

Uncle.

Kuni mopai

Father’s younger brother

Uncle.

Itinia

Father’s sister

Aunt.

Napitjina

Father’s mother Father’s mother’s sister

Grandmother.

Great-aunt.

Kanku

Father’s father Father’s father’s brother Son’s son

Grandfather.

Great-uncle.

Grandson.

Kutjina

Mother

Mother’s sister Son’s wife

Mother.

Aunt.

Daughter -in-law .

Tjungaraii

Mother’s brother Daughter’s husband

Uncle.

Son-in-law.

Thaminjilla

Mother’s father Daughter’s children

Grandfather.

Grandchild.

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

English Terms, included wholly or partly in the Native Terms.

Kukunia

Mother’s mother Daughter’s husband’s mother Son’s wife’s mother

Grandmother.

Karina

Wife

Wife’s sister

Wife.

Sister-in-law.

Kaii-kaii

Husband

Husband’s brother Wife’s father’s father Wife’s brother

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

Napitji

Wife’s father Sister’s husband’s father Husband’s father

Father-in-law.

Mimai-inna

Wife’s mother

Sister’s husband’s mother

Husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

Pappa

Elder brother

Father’s elder brother’s son

Brother.

Cousin.

Pappaia

Younger brother

Father’s younger brother’s son

Brother.

Cousin.

Kakarinnia

Elder sister

Father’s elder brother’s daughter .

Sister.

Cousin.

Tjuluna

Younger sister

Father’s younger brother’s daughter

Sister.

Cousin.

Mimaii

Mother’s brother

Uncle.

Katja-katja

Son

Daughter

Son.

Daughter.

Gnaritjauandatja

Son’s son’s children

Great-grandchildren.

Kukuku

Daughter’s daughter’s children

Great-grandchildren.

Narikari

Sister’s husband

Brother-in-law.

Tjalalai

Sister’s son

Nephew.

Tjallallina

Sister’s daughter

Purnka

Mother’s brother’s children Father’s sister’s children Son’s wife’s father

Cousin.

Niece.

Yai-ulu (woman speaking)

Daughter’s husband

Son-in-law.

Kukuku (woman speaking)

Daughter’s child

Grandchild.

Thaialu (woman speaking)

Son’s wife

Daughter-in-law.

Napitji (woman

Son’s children

Grandchild.

speaking)

Table of Descent. Mara Tribe,

2. Murungun ft f. Mumbali (3, m.

a. mrdai m. i. murungun /», m. g. iuuai ja, m.

b. Mumbali /3, f. 3. Kuial 8, f. A. Murungun 8, f.

\ 1 -

1 7. Murungun a, m. e. Kuial a, m.

■ 4. Kuial P, m. Purdal p,

8. Murungun », m. 9. Murunguir f. 10. Kuial u, m. j , ~ ^

19. Purdal /3, m. | 20. Purdal )3, f. 21. Murungun 22. Murungup

' 14. Purdal a, f. f. Mumbali a, f.

jS, f. 23. Murungun p, ni. 24. Murungun p, f. 25. Murunffun (3, m. | 26. Murungun p, ni. 27. Murungun j3, f. 2S. M

,5. Purdal «,f. 16. Puirial a, ,m. 17. Mumbali u, f. iS. Mump a, m.

urungun fi, m. | 29. Murungun f. 30. P>-dal ft ">■ l 31- ft '■ 3H- Kuial ft m. i 33- Kuial f. 34- Mumbali fi, m. 1 3S- Mumbali f.

36. Kuial p, f. 37. Kuial a, m. 38. Kuial P, f. ' 39- ^'^uial p, f. 40. Kuial p, m.

_ 1 ...... 1 1 1. 1 ;

41. Murungun a, m. | 42. Murungun a, f.

43. Kuial a, m. i 44. Kuial a, f. 45. Murungun a, m, j

46. Murungun a, f. 47. Murungun a, m. | 48. Murungun a, f. 41

J. Kuial a, m. | 50. Kuial a, f.

51. Purdal a, f. 52, Purdal a, in.

53. Murungun /3, m. | 54. Miirungun jS, f. ^5. Purdal j3, m. \ 56. Purdal f.

Kuial /3, f. Mumbali fJ, m.

57. Murungun a 58. Mumbali a

\To face p. 87.

Ill

Table of Relationship Terms. Mara Tribe

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

English Terfiis, included wholly or partly in the Native Te^'ins.

Naluru

Father

Father’s brother

Father.

Uncle.

Umburnana

Father’s sister

Aunt.

Namimi

Father’s mother Father’s mother’s sister

Grandmother.

Great-aunt.

Muri-muri

Father’s father Father’s father’s brother

Grandfather.

Great-uncle.

Katjirri

Mother

Mother’s sister

Mother.

Aunt.

Gnagun

Mother’s brother Daughter’s husband

Uncle.

Son-in-law.

Unkuku or Kuku

Mother’s mother Son’s wife’s mother

Grandmother.

Napitjatja

Mother’s father Daughter’s husband’s father Daughter’s children

Grandfather.

Grandchild.

Irrimakula

Wife

Wife’s sister Husband

Husband’s brother

Wife.

Sister-in-law'.

Husband.

Brother-in-law.

Mimerti

Wife’s brother Sister’s husband

Brother-in-law.

Nipari

Wife’s father Sister’s husband’s father Sister’s son

Father-in-law.

Nephew.

Gnungatjulunga

Wife’s mother Sister’s husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

Guauaii

Elder brother

Father’s elder brother’s son

Brother.

Cousin.

Niritja

Younger brother Father’s elder brother’s son

Brother.

Cousin.

U mburnati

Wife’s father’s father

Tjumalunga

Wife’s mother’s brother Wife’s mother’s father

Nitjari

Son

Brother’s son

Son.

Nephew.

Gnaiiati

Daughter Brother’s daughter

Daughter.

Niece.

Gambiriti

Son’s son’s children

Great - grand -

children.

English Terms^

Native Terms.

Actual Relationship in English included wholly or

Terms.

partly in the Native Terms.

Kanknlti

Daughter’s daughter’s children

Great - grand -

children.

Gnaiawati

Sister’s daughter

Niece.

Nirri-marara

Mother’s brother’s children

Nephew, niece.

Gnakaka

Daughter’s husband’s mother

Niri-lumpa-kar-

Son’s wife

Daughter-in-law.

unga

Kati-kati

Son’s wife’s father

Yallnali

Husband’s father

Father-in-law.

Niringwinia-

Husband’s mother

Mother-in-law.

arunga

Gnarali

Elder sister

Sister.

Father’s elder brother’s daughter

Cousin.

Gnanirritja

Younger sister

Sister.

Father’s younger brother’s daughter

Cousin.

Tjamerlunga (wo-

Daughter’s husband

Son-in-law.

man speaking)

Yillinga (woman Son’s children

Grandchildren.

speaking)

Naningurara

Son’s wife

Daughter-in-law.

(woman speaking)

Nirri-miunka-kar-

Husband’s sister

Sister-in-law.

unga (woman speaking)

Nakaka (woman Mother’s mother’s brother speaking)

Yallnali (woman Son’s son’s son

Great-grandchild.

speaking)

Table of Relationship Terms.

Anula Tribe

Winiati

Father

Father.

Winiati tjanama

Father’s elder brother

Uncle.

Winiati tjanama-

Father’s younger brother

Uncle.

ama

Nana

Father’s sister

Aunt.

Napurti

Father’s mother

Grandmother.

Meimi

Daughter’s children

Grandchildren.

Mother’s brother’s children Son’s wife’s father

Cousins.

Mother’s father Daughter’s husband’s father

Grandfather.

Ill

Native Terms.

Muri-muri ■

Parata

Tjakaka

Tjatiati

Ukuku

Arunguta

Mungathu-atunguntha

Limiata

Tjapapa

Winaka

Natjapapa

Muru-muru

Tjanokoko

Katja-katja

Nanama

Akara-marini

Kurna-atinia

Kaipandu-nurtungalu

At-thai-uru

Actual Relationship in English Terms.

Father’s father Son’s children

Mother

Mother’s sister Mother’s elder brother Mother’s younger brother

Mother’s mother Mother’s mother’s brother Daughter’s husband’s mother Son’s wife’s mother

Wife Husband Wife’s sister Husband’s brother

Wife’s father

Wife’s father’s brother

Sister’s husband’s father

Wife’s mother Wife’s mother’s sister Wife’s mother’s brother Sister’s husband’s mother

Elder brother

Father’s elder brother’s son

Younger brother

Father’s younger brother’s son

Younger sister

Father’s younger brother’s daughter Elder sister

Father’s elder brother’s daughter

Wife’s father’s father Sister’s husband Wife’s brother

Wife’s mother’s father Children

Brother’s children Son’s children’s children

Daughter’s daughter’s children

Sister’s children

Daughter’s husband Daughter’s husband’s brother

Son’s wife Son’s wife’s sister

English Terms^ included wholly or partly in the Native Terms.

Grandfather.

Grandchildren.

Mother.

Aunt.

Uncle.

Uncle.

Grandmother.

Wife.

Husband.

Sister-in-law.

Brother-in-law.

Father-in-law.

Mother-in-law.

Brother.

Cousin.

Brother.

Cousin.

Sister.

Cousin.

Sister.

Cousin.

Brother-in-law.

Children. Nephew, niece.

Great - grandchildren.

Great - grandchildren.

Nephew, niece. Son-in-law.

Daughter-in-law.

RUNTA TRIBE

Moiety B.

Umbitjana. j

A perla (father’s mother).

:

Unawa (wife, wife’s sisters). Umbirna (wife’s brother, sister’s husband).

1 Kumara.

Tjimmia

(mother’s father).

!

Unkulla (father’s sister’s so^s).

Tjimmia

(daughter’s child).

U ngalla.

Ikuntera (wife’s father).

U mba (sister’s children).

Purula.

Mia (mother, mother’s sisters).

Gammona

(mother’s brother).

Gammona (son’s wife).

j Moiety A.

Appungerta.

A runga (father’s father).

EGO (man).

Okilia (elder brothers).

Itia (younger brothers).

U ngaraitja (elder sisters).

Itia (younger sisters).

Arunga (son’s son).

Bukhara.

Ipinnnna (mother’s mother, wife’s mother’s father).

Ipmunna (father’s sister’s daughter’s husband, son’s wife’s mother).

Uknaria.

Mura (wife’s mother, wife’s mother’s brothers).

Panunga.

Oknia (father). U-winna (father’s sisters).

A llira (children, brother’s children).

j Subclass.

Grandparents’

generation.

Parents’ generation.

! Contemporary j generation. | 1 j i i

I

\ Children’s gener- ; ation.

: Grandchildren’s generation.

Tjambin.

Tapa-tapu (father’s mother, wife’s father’s father).

Katununga (wife, wife’s sisters).

Kulla-ktdla (wife’s brothers, sister’s husbands).

■

H

U

Thakomara.

Tapa-tapu

(mother’s father).

Tapa-tapu (daughter’s husband’s father).

Wankilli (father’s sister’s children).

—

Tapa-iapu

(daughter’s children).

J

Thungalla.

Auiniari (wife’s father).

Auiniari (sister’s sons).

Kulu-kulu

(sister’s daughters).

Tjupilla.

Namini (mother’s brothers).

Kurnandi (mother, mother’s sisters).

Namini

(daughter’s husband).

A uiniari (son’s wife).

Thapungarti,

Kanquia (father’s father, father’s father’s brother.s).

EGO (man).

Kabalu (elder sisters).

Kukaitja (younger sisters).

Papati brothers).

Kukaitja

(younger brothers).

Kanquia (son’s sons, brother’s son’s sons).

. ^

Tjapeltjeri.

Turtundi (wife’s mother’s father, mother’s mother).

Turtundi (father’s sister’s daughter’s husband, daughter’s husband’s mother, son’s wife’s mother).

M

C

&

K

P

P

P

Tjunguri.

Tjurtalia

(wife’s mother).

A uiniari (daughter’s daughter’s children).

Thapanunga.

Gambatja (father, father’s brothers). Pinari (father’s sisters).

Katakitji

(children, brother’s children).

Katakitji (son’s son’s children).

Subclass.

Grandparents’

generation.

Parents’ generation.

Contemporary generation.

Children’s generation.

Grandchildren’s generation.

Great-grandchildren’s generation.

Tjambin.

Tapa-tapu (father’s mother, husband’s father’s father).

Kulla-kulla (husband, husband’s sisters, brother’s wife).

Tapa-tapu (son’s children).

H

U

S

Thakomara.

Tapa-tapu (mother’s father).

Tjurtalia (mother’s brother’s sons).

Tapa-tapu

(daughter’s husband’s mother).

Wankili (father’s sister’s children).

C/5

z

Thungalla.

Auiniari

(husband’s father).

Navtini (brothe wife’s father).

Kulu-kulu (sor Sister’s sons).

Bili-bili (son’s son’s son).

Tjupilla. j

Kurnandi

(mother, mother’s sisters). 1 Nafnini (mother’s brother).

Bili-bili (daughter’s daughter’s sons).

Thapungarti.

Kanquia (father’s father).

EGO (woman).

Kabalu (elder sisters).

Kukaitja (younger sistens).

Papati (elder brothers).

Kukaitja

(younger brothers).

Tjapeltjeri.

Turtundi (mother’s motht husband’s mother’s father

Turtundi (daughter’s husband’s fathei

Nuralli

(daughter’s children).

Uluuru Moiei

Tjunguri

A uiniari (husband’s mother, brother’s wife’s mother).

Auiniari (son’s wife).

Tjurtalia

(daughter’s husband).

b/D

c c rt a a

H

Ganibatja (father, fa brother). Pinari (fa sister).

Katakitji

(brother’

children)

; Subclass.

Grandparents’

generation.

i

Parents’ generation.

Contemporary generation.

1 Children's generation.

Grandchildren’s generation.

Great-grandchildren’s generation.

BINBINGA TRIBE

HI SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE TRIBES 93

Yakomari.

Napitjina (father’s moth Kaii-kaii (wi: father’s fathe

Karina (wife) Nari-kari or kaii-kaii (wi brother, siste husband).

pd

•

Tjamerum.

Than^injilla (mother’s father).

Thaminjilla (daughter’s husband’s father).

Purnka (mother’s brother’s sons, son’s wife’s father).

Thaminjilla

(daughter’s children).

Thungallum.

Napitji (wife’s father).

Tjallallai (sister’s son.s).

Tjallallina

(sister’s daughters).

Tjurulum.

Kutjina (mother). Mimaii (mother’s brother).

Kutjina (son’s wife).

Tjungaraii

(daughter’s husband).

Pungarinji.

Kanku (father’s father).

EGO (man).

Pappa (elder brother).

Pappaia (younger brother),

Kakarinnia (elder sister).

Tjuluna (younger sister).

:

i

Kankti (son’s son).

Paliarinji.

Kuk^inia

(mother’s mother).

Kukunia (daughter’s husband’s mother, son’s wife s mother). _

Moiety A.

Tjulantjuka.

Mimdi inna (wife’s mother).

Kukuku

(daughter’s daughter’s children).

Tjuanaku.

Kuni (father, father’s brothers).

Ithiia (father’s, sisters).

Katja-katja (sons and daughters).

Gnaritjau - andatja (son’s son’s children).

Subclass.

Grandparents’

generation.

Parents’ generation.

Contemporary generation.

Children’s generation.

Grandchildren’s generation.

1 Great-grandchildren’s generation.

MARA TRIBE

53 C/5

CQ.

43 >-

».t3

p

Namhni mother) Umburn (wife’s f father).

Irrbtiaki (wife, w sisters).

Mhnerti brothers

‹L›

D lA

*5 ?

<xL

rt O >1

••

tig

iS| El

'Ssrt-'a u o

;j.w.3^w.3 ?

<

A

tj c/5

S ^ B

P

W

•fsj

■ill

).r .

■£ <u ,3

!A

. “3

ti o t;;

V

Katjirri (m mother’s si: Gnagun (m< brother).

^ ^ .

Murungun /3.

Muri-muri

(father’s father).

EGO.

Gnauaii (elder brother).

Niritja (younger brother).

Gnarali (elder sister).

Guaniritja (younger sister).

i

Muri-vturi (son’s children).

Gambiriti (son’s son’s children).

ed.

o -j”

.3 (u

O ?•£

S

o *5

cfl -tr u (A

S

Unkukui; mother). Tjumalu (wife’s m father).

Unktiku{ wife’s me Gnakaka (daughte husband mother).

Urku Moiet'

a

Gnunga ijulunga (wife’s mother).

Tju7nalunga (wife’s mother’s brother).

Kankulti

(daughter’s daughter’s children).

a j-T ^

<D

-s §.?

So c

Naluru (fa father’s brothers).

JJjnburnat (father’s s

Nttjari (s( brother’s < Gnai iati (daughter brother’s daughters

Subclass.

randparents’

generation.

irents’ generation.

ontemporary generation.

lildren’s generation.

randchildren’s generation.

reat-grandchildren’s generation.

O

CL,

U

U

O

O

Ill

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 convenienee,'"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 whatever 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. If he should pass out of his own tribe into another, the very fact that he is a member of a particular subclass causes him to stand in a definite relationship to the various groups of individuals in that tribe.

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.

As we have already said, 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 motherin-law, counts for nothing whatever more than any wrong which he may have 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 motherin-law.

We have elsewhere ^ described in detail the organisation of the Arunta, which will serve as a type of the second nation, so that we will only refer to it very briefly here for purposes of comparison. In the southern part of the tribe there are only four subclasses — Panunga, Bukhara, Purula, and Kumara, the first two forming one moiety of the tribe, the second two the other. This division is seen very clearly when a number of natives are camped together, the members of one moiety always camping close to one another, and usually in such a way that they are separated from the camp of the other moiety by some natural feature, such as a creek. Not seldom also the Kumara and Purula will camp on high ground amongst the rocks, if there happen to be any close at hand, while the Panunga and Bukhara will be down on the flats. It is, however, during the performance of sacred ceremonies that the division is seen most clearly. On these occasions only those who belong to the moiety of the tribe with which the ceremony is associated are allowed to come anywhere near to the ceremonial ground during the time of preparation. The Panunga and Bukhara speak of themselves as Nakrakia and of the Purula and Kumara as Mulyanuka, but vice versa the Purula and Kumara speak of themselves as Nakrakia and of the Panunga and Bukhara as Mulyanuka, the terms being strictly reciprocal. In none of this group of tribes can we find any trace of the original name given to each moiety.

The descent so far as the moiety is concerned is strictly paternal, and, in regard to the southern Arunta, where there are only the four subclasses above mentioned, a Panunga man marries a Purula woman, and the children pass into the Bukhara subclass. In the same way a Purula man marries a Panunga woman, and the children are Kumara.

1 N.T. pp. 69-88.

Ill

Further inquiry, however, reveals the fact that a Panunga man is not allowed to marry any and every Purula woman. The latter are divided into two groups, the members of one of whom he may marry, whereas the others are strictly forbidden to him. We can again represent this in the following diagram, where A and B represent the two groups into which the Panunga men and women are divided, C and D those into which the Bukhara are divided, E and F those into which the Purula are divided, and G and H those into which the Kumara are divided.

Panungaj:^ '

^ ^ •

Bulthara|j^ ^

Purula.

Kumara.

Panunga A stands in the relationship of unawa to Purula E, ipmunna to Panunga B, and unkulla to Purula F. The unawa women are eligible as wives to Panunga A, but the unkulla are not ; they are the unawa of Panunga B men, and to the latter Purula E are unkulla. If I belong to group A then again my unawa^ who belongs to group E, calls all of the women in that group (and her own level in generation) by the name of ungaraitcha^ if they be older than herself, and ilia if they be younger ; all of them are unawa to me. The women of group F, who are unkulla to me, are ipmunna to my unawa.

Whilst the descent is counted in the male line, — that is, the children come into the same moiety of the tribe as that to which the father belongs, — yet at the same time they pass into the half of that moiety to which he does not belong. This secures the result that the children of a brother and sister may not marry one another.^ For example, if there be a Panunga A man and woman, brother and sister, their children will be respectively Bukhara D and Kumara G, and in the group of tribes with which we are at present dealing they are not intermarriageable. We shall see shortly that

^ This is exactly the reverse of the Urabunna custom. In that tribe the rules ensure the marriage of the children of brothers and sisters, though of course it must be remembered that the relationship may be tribal and not blood.

H

in certain northern tribes the latter are allowed to many one another. It may, however, be pointed out that whilst these rules prevent individuals who are actually closely related in blood from intermarrying, they also equally prevent others between whom there is no such blood relationship at all, and it is at least extremely doubtful if the origin of the restriction has anything whatever to do with the deliberate intention of preventing the intermarriage of individuals whom we call cousins. So far as this restriction is concerned, the Arunta native draws no distinction between the children of actual blood brothers and sisters and those of men and women who belong to the same group but are in no way related to one another, in our sense of the term, and who may live hundreds of miles away from one another, and have never been in contact in any way whatever.

In the northern part of the Arunta tribe things are made more simple by the adoption of separate names for the eight divisions — four in each moiety. The four old names are retained and four new ones added, and from here right away to the far north, and then out eastwards until the coastal tribes are met with near to the Gulf of Carpentaria, there are eight equivalent divisions in each tribe. The northern Arunta, Ilpirra, and Iliaura agree in their names for the eight divisions, but in the Kaitish and Unmat jera, Bukhara is replaced by Kabbidji and Purula by Opila.

We have been quite unable to discover the meaning of these names in any of the central tribes, or to obtain the slighest 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.

When we have eight names then, as the natives say, the marriage rules become quite “ straight,” and if a native from the southern part of the tribe comes up to the north, he knows at once to which of the eight divisions he belongs.

In this group of tribes it will be noticed that there is no collective name for each moiety, and that there are no special names given to the subclasses into which the women fall.

We may now pass on to deal with the third nation.

Ill which includes the Warramunga, Walpari, Wulmala, Worgaia, Tjingilli, Umbaia, Bingongina, and Gnanji.

The organisation of the tribes may be seen from the following tables, in which the subclasses are arranged in exactly the same way as in the table dealing with the Arunta tribe. The equivalent subclasses in all of the tribes can thus be seen at a glance. For example, Thapanunga in the Warramunga tribe is the equivalent of Thamininja in the Tjingilli, Tjinum in the Umbaia, Uanaku in the Gnanji, Thama in the Bingongina, and Pungarinju in the Worgaia. So also men in column i marry women on the same horizontal level in column 2, and the children are shown in column 3 on the same level. Men in column 2 marry women on the same horizontal level in column i, and the children are shown in column 4.

[Table

Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala rt

■rsi S

S ^

•«N» ^

•S !2; ^ ^

^ ^ oi -

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H H H H

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S |.s,£-

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c3 .2 -S 2 bxi ^ a -p c 4S ’3 2

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H H H H

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1 1 5-5-t

.51, C 3 *3^ •So-2

^35 .S 3 .2 3 >3 :3,

'g I' 2 ^ A

H fH H E-i

^3 3

'3'’So ’So. 2

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r J ^ -

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2 3^2

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1 1 -2 “ 3 3 ci 3

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H H H H

HPhh

CHAP.

Illitji Liaritji Illitji Liaritji

Tjinum (Ninum) Tjurulum (Nurulum) Pungarinji (Pungarinia) Tjamerum (Niamaragun)

Tjulum (Nuluni) Thungallum (Nungallum) Paliarinji (Paliarina) Yakomari (Yakomarin)

Paliarinji (Paliarina) Tjamerum (Niamaragun) Tjulum (Nulum) Tjurulum (Nurulum)

Pungarinji (Pungarinia) Yakomari (Yakomarin) Tjinum (Ninum) Thungallum (Nungallum)

Ill SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE TRIBES

■5- .1^1

W

a B ^ ^

I s| 1o e o jS c H P H

X3 ^

^ cs c

^ § 3 rt ^

^ -:|li c'S .ti ' — '"ct s i'9 §

H H H H

d 3 c3

•q 'c’-xr =i go's

Ph H ^

bXi

'S § ^ e d3 3 , l^r 3

a's -S g

S ■'5 ’3 S

3 3 3 3 ^ r3 :3L,43

H H H H

—

^3 3

3 ^ 'S'-S

R S?. M }-i

§ s I

B ■—'z

3 3

^ 3 ^

^11 S

^ S S O

2 ^ .|'3

l:^ H H

;•S^

c. I

So”^ S

3 XP 1^ 3 3^

§ 3

H H

II

is

CCJ

^ *3

S .S

3 JS 3 ^

g

3 •XX>'3^-g « ^ 3 b/}

ID H Ph P-I

'-b— V 3

3 .3 b/) '^'3 3

ltt|

s| -S I

^ :3,-3 X!

H H H H

lOI

Pungarinju Ikamaru Wairgu Kingelu

Biliarinthu Tjamerameru Blaingu Warrithu

Blaingu Kingelu Biliarinthu Ikamaru

Wairgu Warrithu Pungarinju Tjamerameru

An important feature of these tribes, as compared with those of the first group, is that there are names for the two moieties. In the Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala they are identical, viz. Uluuru and Kingilli ; in the Worgaia they are Uluuru' and Biingaru ; in the Tjingilli they are Willitji and Liaritji, showing a very close approximation to those of their eastern neighbours, the Umbaia, in which they are Illitji and Liaritji, exactly as they are in the Gnanji, the most eastern of this group of tribes. Out to the west of the Walpari and Tjingilli lies the Bingongina tribe, whose raids are dreaded by the Walpari, and amongst them the names are Wiliuku and Liaraku.

Another feature of these tribes is that they have distinct names for the female groups equivalent to those of the males. This is not in reality a matter of any very great importance, but it serves to add to the complexity of names. Instead of, as in the Arunta, all men and woman of a particular group being called, for example, Panunga, the men are called Thapanunga and the women Napanunga. In many cases, as in this one, the female name is very clearly a derivative from the male name, but in some others there is no such relationship, as, for example, in the case of the group of men called Tjupila (the equivalent of the Purula amongst the Arunta), the name of the corresponding female group being Naralu. That is, a Tjupila man is the brother — blood or tribal of course — of a Naralu woman.

A glance at the tables wherein the various subclasses of these tribes are set forth will reveal the fact that there is very great variation in the names applied to them — a variation which by no means always corresponds to the degree of affinity between the tribes, as revealed by their customs, nor does it follow any more closely their geographical distribution. There is not one single name which can be followed right through the tribes, the nearest approach being in the case of Thungalla, which we could identify throughout were it not for the Worgaia, amongst whom the equivalent group is called Tjamerameru.

The Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala tribes are identical in the names applied to their groups. On the

Ill other hand, though their customs and organisation are very closely similar to those of the Warramunga, and the members of the two tribes mix together, yet we find that the Worgaia, who inhabit the country immediately out to the east of the Warramunga,. have a quite different series of names from those in use in the latter tribe. However, one of the names for the two moieties — Uluuru — is identical in the two tribes, and there is no doubt whatever as to the equivalence, so far as organisation is concerned, of the various groups, however different their names may be. Thus Pungarinju is equal to Thapanunga, Biliarinthu to Tjunguri, and so on right through.^

To the north, again, of the Warramunga lies the Tjingilli tribe, which, so far as its moiety names are concerned, is closely similar to the Umbaia and Gnanji, but differs in the names of its subclasses both from them and from the Warramunga, while on the other hand there is substantial agreement between it and its south-western neighbour, the Bingongina. Thama, Tjimita, Thalirri, etc., in the latter, are very clearly the equivalents of Thamininja, Tjimiminja, Thalaringinja, etc., in the Tjingilli. Lastly we have the Umbaia and Gnanji. So far as the subclass names are concerned, these two are closely allied, while the moiety names are identical.

The large Warramunga nation might, if attention were only paid to similarity or difference in the names, of the subclasses, be divided into four subsidiary groups, the first of these including the Warramunga, Walpari, and Wulmala, the second including the Worgaia, the third the Tjingilli and Bingongina, and the fourth the Umbaia and Gnanji. Fundamentally, however, all of these tribes are closely associated, and from the point of view of organisation may advantageously be grouped together. There is certainly a remarkable variation in the names of subclasses which are, without any doubt whatever, equivalent ones, so far as the tribal organisation is concerned. A southern Arunta man

^ The equivalence of the groups was ascertained in the joint company of Worgaia and Warramunga men who were well acquainted with the organisation of both tribes.

of the Bukhara subclass, for example, who accompanied us right through the continent, was regarded as a Kabbidji in the Kaitish, a Tjapeltjeri in the Warramunga, a Thalaringinja in the Tjingilli, a Paliarinji in the Binbinga, a Roumburia in the Anula, and a Mumbali in the Mara tribe.

We will now deal more in detail with the classificatory system of the Warramunga, following closely the method previously adopted in the case of the Arunta tribe.^

I 2 _ 3 4

Thapanunga (Napanunga) / Tjupila (Naralu) Thapungarti (Napungerta) Thakomara (Nakomara)

Tjunguri (Namigilli) ( Thungalla (Nungalla) Tjapeltjeri (Naltjeri) Tjambin (Nambin)

Tjapeltjeri (Naltjeri) / Thakomara (Nakomara) Tjunguri (Namigilli) Tjupila (Naralu)

Thapungarti(Napungerta) \ Tjambin (Nambin) Thapanunga (Napanunga) Thungalla (Nungalla)

The brackets signify groups, the members of which are mutually turtundi (mother’s mother or son’s wife’s mother) to one another.

Column 3 contains the children of men of column i and women of column 2. Thus a Thapanunga man has a Naralu woman, and their children are Thapungarti and Napungerta. In the same way column 4 contains the children of men of column 2 and women of column i.

A man of column i is kulla-kulla (husband) to a woman on the same horizontal level in column 2, and she is katununga (wife) to him. Thus a Thapanunga man is kulla-kulla to a Naralu woman, and she is katununga to him. (In the Arunta tribe the name unawa is applied to both of these groups.)

A man of column i is kulla-kulla (wife’s brother) to a man of column 2, and vice versa. That is, a woman applies the same term to her husband that he does to her brother or her brother to him.

A woman of column i is kulla-kulla (husband’s sister) to a woman of column 2, and vice versa.

Column I contains men who are naminni (daughters’ husbands) of men of column 4. Thus a Thakomara’s children are Tjupila and Naralu, and a Thapanunga man marries a Naralu woman, therefore the Thapanunga is naminni to Thakomara. Column i also contains men who are naminni (mothers’ brothers) of women of column 4.

1 N.T. pp. 69-88.

Ill

Thus a Nungalla is the daughter of a Napungerta woman and her brother is a Thapungarti man.

Column 4 contains men who are auiniari (wife’s father or sisters’ sons) and women who are kulu-kulu (sisters’ daughters) of men of column i.

Column 2 contains men who are naminni (daughters’ husbands) of men of column 3 ; column 2 also contains men who are naminni (mothers’ brothers) of women of column 3.

Column 3 contains men who are auiniari (father-in-law) and women who are kulu-kulu (father-in-law’s sisters or sisters’ daughters) of men of column 2.

Men and women of columns 3 and 4 stand mutually in the relationship of wankilli (the equivalent of unkulla in the Arunta tribe) or tapa-tapu (mother’s father).

I 2 3 4

Thapanunga (Napanunga) "I Tjupila (Naralu) Thapungarti (Napungerta) f Thakomara (Nakomara)

Tjunguri (Namigilli) \ I Thungalla (Nungalla) Tjapeltjeri (Naltjeri) ( Tjambin (Nambin) ( I

Tjapeltjeri (Naltjeri) ) j Thakomara (Nakomara) Tjunguri (Namigilli) t "j Tjupila (Naralu) I T

Thapungarti (Napungerta) j Tjambin (Nambin) Thapanunga (Napanunga) ( Thungalla (Nungalla) J

In column i the larger and smaller brackets on the right indicate the relationship of pinari (father’s sisters), the overlapping brackets on the left that of tjurtalia (wife’s mother, the equivalent of mura amongst the Arunta). In column 4 the reverse holds true ; the overlapping brackets on the left indicate the relationship of pinari^ the larger and smaller ones on the right that of tjurtalia.

Taking the case of an individual member of a particular subclass, we may describe as follows the various relationships in which he stands with regard to the other members of the tribe. We will suppose that this particular individual is a Thapungarti man, and will represent him as if he were speaking.

If I am a Thapungarti man, then my father is Thapanunga, and I call him gambatja.

All Tjunguri are turtundi to him and tjurtalia to me — that is, the women amongst them are the mothers of my lawful wives and I may not speak to them.^ The daughters

1 In the Warramunga there is no special name corresponding to that of tualcha-mura in the Arunta for the actual mother of a woman who is allotted to any man.

of these Namigilli women and Thungalla men are Nambin and kattifiunga to me — that is, they are women whom I may lawfully marry, and one or more of whom have probably been allotted to me as wives.

The sons of Namigilli women — that is, the brothers of my katununga women — are kulla-kulla to me and I to them, so that Tjambin men are kulla-kulla to Thapungarti men, and vice versa.

I call my father gambatja.

All men whom my father calls papati, elder brothers, and kukaitja^ younger brothers, are Thapanunga, and they are gambatja to me. I call his papati^ gambatja papati, and his kukaitja^ gambatja kukaitja.

My gambatja! s sisters are Napanunga, and they are pinari to me.^

All women whom my wife calls kabalu^ elder sisters, or kukaitja, younger sisters, are Nambin and are katununga to me.^

All women whom my wife calls turtundi are Nakomara, and they are wankilli to me (the equivalent of unkulla in the Arunta). These Nakomara women are the daughters of the sisters of my father. They marry Tjapeltjeri men, who are turtundi to me, and their children are Tjunguri and Namigilli and tjurtalia to me. That is, the important relationship of tjurtalia (wife’s mother, the equivalent of mura in the Arunta) arises from the marriage of female wankilli and male turtundi.

If I were an Arunta man, these Nakomara women, whom I call wankilli, would be strictly tabooed to me, but in the Warramunga tribe it is lawful for me to have as wife, in

1 Sometimes they are also called gambatja ; the natives appear to use these two terms indifferently as applied to women.

2 There is one exception to this : it may happen, but only very rarely in the Warramunga tribe, that a woman is born into a totem which belongs almost exclusively to the moiety of the tribe to which she does not belong. A Nambin woman might be born into a totem to which a Thapungarti man belonged. Under these circumstances she would not be eligible to him as katununga, though she would be thus eligible to another Thapungarti of another totem. By being born into his totem group she passes, ipso facto, out of the group of Nambin women who stand to the man in the relationship of katununga ; he calls her kuUa-kulal (the same term which he applies to his katiniungaks brothers), and she is thama or tabooed to him.

Ill addition to one or more women whom I call katununga^ and who are Nambin, one or more whom I call wankilli and who are Nakomara.

Thapungarti, m.

Nambin, f.

Nakomara, f.

Thapanunga, m.

Napanunga, f.

Tjunguri, m.

Namigilli, f.

I do not, however, as shown in the accompanying diagram, call my Nakomara wife’s children by the same narne which I apply to my normal Nambin wife’s children. The latter are Thapanunga and Napanunga, but the former are Tjunguri and Namigilli — that is, they pass into the subclass into which they would have gone had their mother married a Tjapeltjeri man in the normal way.

This marriage with the equivalent of an unkulla woman in the Arunta tribe — that is, a father’s sister’s daughter (one of the relationship which we call cousin) — ^is met with in the tribes north of the Kaitish, and though not of very frequent occurrence, is yet regarded as perfectly lawful. This custom is not met with in the tribes forming the Arunta nation. It results in the man having two sets of descendants belonging to distinct groups in the tribe. At first it is rather perplexing to find that one and the same man will have — if, for example, he be Thapungarti — some children who belong to the Thapanunga subclass and others who belong to the Tjunguri.^

My kulla-kulla are Tjambin men who are the sons of Tjunguri women — that is, of my female tjurtalia.

My kabalu^ elder sisters, and kukaitja^ younger sisters, are Napungerta and are the katununga (wives) of my kullakulla^ who are Tjambin men.

1 The following are four actual examples of marriages of this nature in the case of men who were in the Warramunga camp at Tennant’s Creek : —

(1) A Thapanunga man with one Naralu wife whose children are Thapungarti, and another Nungalla wife whose children are Tjapeltjeri.

(2) A Thapungarti man with a Nambin wife whose children are Thapanunga, and another wife, a Nakomara woman, whose children are Tjunguri.

(3) A Thapungarti man with one Nakomara wife whose children are Tjunguri. This wife had been inherited from a dead brother.

(4) A Tjupila man with one Thapanunga wife whose children are Thakomara, and two Namagilli wives whose children are Tjambin.

The children of my kabalu and kukaitja are Thungalla.

I call them kulu-kulu or auiniari, and they call me naminni. This is an important relationship, because the naminni has the disposal of his sister’s daughters. Thapungarti men are thus the naminni of Thungalla men and Nungalla women. The naminni of my wife, who is a Nambin woman, is a Tjunguri man. When he dies, his whiskers, which are cut off by a brother, are given to me and I am responsible for finally avenging his death.^ Also when my wife’s naminni dies it is my duty to cut my thighs in token of mourning.

My own and my brother’s children are Thapanunga ; I call them katakitji and they call me gambatja. My mother is a Naralu woman ; she calls her elder sisters kabalu and her younger ones kukaitja. I call all of these Naralu women kurnandi ; that is, Naralu women are kurnandi to Thapungarti men and Napungerta women. My mother’s elder sisters I call kurnandi bili-bili and her younger ones kurnandi bitjara?

The children of the papati of my gambatja — that is, my father’s elder brothers’ children — will be Thapungarti,^ just as I myself am, and they will be, according to sex, my papati^ elder brother, or kabalu, elder sister.

The children of my gambatjds sisters are Thakomara and I call them wankilli, and they are turtundi to my normal wife, who is a Nambin woman. Though it is not the usual condition, yet it is still law/ul for me to have one or more of these wankilli women as my wife or wives. The children of these wankilli women are Tjunguri.

The children of my gambatjds papati call me kukaitja, or younger brother, and the children of my gambatjds kukaitja call me papati and I call them kukaitja.

The children of my papati and kukaitja — that is, elder and younger Thapungarti men of my own level in the

^ In the Arunta, Unmatjera, and Kaitish tribes it is the gavwiona or son-inlaw who is responsible for avenging the death of the father-in-law.

2 In actual practice these women are usually addressed simply by the term kurnandi, just as in the Arunta and Kaitish tribe they are called niia.

^ If any of these men should happen to have Nungalla wives, then the children of the latter will be Tjapeltjeri, instead of Thapungarti, and I call them turtundi.

Ill generation — call me gambatja just as my own children do, and I call them katakitji.

The sons of my kabalu and kukaitja — that is, of my sisters — I call auiniari and the daughters kulu-kulu. The former are Thungalla and the latter Nungalla. That is, relations whom we class together as nephews and nieces are either katakitji — that is, brothers’ children, or auiniari^ listers’ sons, or kulu-kulu^ sisters’ daughters. The term auiniari is applied by Thapungarti men to Thungalla men of two different levels of generation ; one of them is the father of his wife and the other the son of his sister.

My male katakitjVs children are Thapungarti, just as I am, and I call them, and they call me, kanquia^ the term being a reciprocal one.

My katakitji (children) are Thapanunga and my auiniari and kulu-kulu (sisters’ children) are Thungalla, and they are wankilli to each other.

My katakitji call my kabalu and kukaitja (elder and younger sisters) pinari or gambatja. That is, Napungerta women are pinari or gambatja to Thapanunga men and women.

The children of my female katjirri — that is, of my daughters — are Thakomara ; they are tapa-tapu to me and I am the sam.e to them. That is, I apply the same name to my daughters’ children as I do to my mother’s father. The term tapa-tapu expresses the relationship of grandfather or grandchild on the female side, just as the term kanquia does on the male side.

My male kanquids (grandsons’) children — that is, my great-grandchildren — are Thapanunga and I call them katakitji.

The children of my tapa - tapu women (daughters’ daughters) are Tjunguri and I call them auiniari.

My mother’s mother is Naltjeri and turtundi to me.

My father’s mother is Tjambin and tapa-tapu to me.

There are certain differences in the terms used if a woman be speaking. Thus, if I am a Napungerta woman, I call my own and my sister’s children kulu-kulu^ but I call my brother’s children katakitji.

no NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap.

I call my husband kulla-kulla and apply the same name also to his sisters, whom my brothers call katununga.

My husband’s father’s father is Tjambin, and I call him tapa-tapu ; my husband’s mother’s father is Tjapeltjeri, and I call him turtundi.

My sons’ sons are Tjambin, and I call them tapa-tapu.

My daughters’ children are Tjapeltjeri, and I call them nuralli.

My sons’ sons’ sons areThungalla,and I call them billi-billi.

My mother’s brothers’ sons are Thakomara and I call them tjurtalia.

The man numbered 25 on the genealogical tree applies the following terms to the 1 genealogical tree : —

1 . Kanquia.

2. Kanquia.

5. Pinari (or Gambatja).

6. Gambatja (paperti).

7. Gambatja.

8. Gambatja (kukaitja).

9. Pinari (or Gambatja).

1 1 . Kulu-kulu.

12. Naminni.

13. Kurnandi (bili-bili).

14. Kurnandi.

15. Kurnandi (bitjara).

16. Naminni.

17. Tjurtalia.

18. Tjurtalia.

19. Wankilli.

20. Wankilli.

2 1 . Paperti.

22. Kabalu.

23. Paperti.

24. Kabalu.

25. Ego.

26. Kukaitja.

27. Kukaitja.

28. Kukaitja.

29. Kukaitja.

30. Wankilli.

31. Wankilli.

33. Katununga.

The woman numbered 3^

indicated in the

34-

Turtundi.

35-

Turtundi.

Katununga.

37-

Kulla-kulla.

Katununga.

39-

Katununga.

Kulla-kulla.

Katakitji.

Katakitji.

43*

Auiniari.

Kulu-kulu.

45-

Katakitji.

Katakitji.

47-

Katakitji.

Katakitji.

Auiniari.

Kulu-kulu.

SI-

Auiniari.

Naminni.

53-

Kanquia.

54-

Kanquia.

55-

Tapa-tapu.

Tapa-tapu.

57-

Katakitji.

Auiniari.

a.

Tapa-tapu.

b.

Turtundi.

c.

Turtundi.

d.

Tapa-tapu.

e.

Auiniari.

f

Tjurtalia.

S-

Tapa-tapu.

h.

Kanquia.

on the genealogical tree

Ill

III

applies the following terms to the individuals indicated in the genealogical tree : —

I.

Tapa-tapu.

34-

Tjurtalia.

Tapa-tapu.

35-

Tjurtalia.

3-

Kanquia.

Kabalu.

4-

Kanquia.

Paper ti.

5-

Kulu-kulu.

38. Ego.

Auiniari.

Kukaitja. —

Auiniari.

Kukaitja.

Auiniari.

Kulu-kulu.

9-

Kulu-kulu.

Kulu-kulu.

lO.

Gambatja.

43-

Katakitji.

II.

Pinari.

Katakitji.

Auiniari.

45-

Kulu-kulu.

13-

Auiniari.

Kulu-kulu.

Auiniari.

47-

Kulu-kulu.

15-

Auiniari.

Kulu-kulu.

Auiniari.

Katakitji.

Kurnandi.

50-

Katakitji.

Naminni.

SI-

Auiniari.

Turtundi.

Tjurtalia.

Turtundi.

S3-

Tapa-tapu.

Kulla-kulla.

54-

Tapa-tapu.

Kulla-kulla.

55-

Nuralli.

23-

Kulla-kulla.

Nuralli.

Kulla-kulla.

Billi-billi.

25-

Kulla-kulla.

Billi-billi.

Kulla-kulla.

a.

Turtundi.

Kulla-kulla.

b.

Tapa-tapu.

Kulla-kulla.

c.

Tapa-tapu.

Kulla-kulla.

d.

Turtundi.

Turtundi.

e.

Gambatja.

31-

Turtundi.

f Kurnandi.

Kukaitja.

Kanquia.

33-

Kukaitja.

h.

Tapa-tapu.

We will now take the Binbinga as a type of the fourth nation. The following table shows the subclass names and intermarrying groups in this tribe. The names of the moieties have been lost : —

Binbinga

^ .3 4 .

f Tjuanaku (Niriuma) / Tjurulum (Nurulum) Pungarinji (Pungarina) Tjamerum (Niamerum)

\Tjulantjuka (Nurlum) f Thungallum(Nungallum) Paliarinji (Paliarina) Yakomari (Yakomarina)

J Paliarinji (Paliarina) / Tjamerum (Niamerum) Tjulantjuka (Nurlum) Tjurulum (Nurulum)

( Pungarinji (Pungarina) \ Yakomari (Yakomarina) Tjuanaku (Niriuma) Thungallum (Nungallum)

The brackets signify groups, the members of which are mutually kukunia (mother’s mother) to each other.^

1 The names of the groups applied to women are placed in the smaller brackets. It will be noticed that two of these are remarkably similar to one another ; but there appears to be no mistake in regard to them.

Column 3 contains the children of men of column i and women of column 2. Thus a Tjuanaku man has a Nurulum woman and their children are Pungarinji and Pungarina.

In the same way column 4 contains the children of men of column 2 and women of column i.

A man of column i is kaii-kaii (husband) to a woman on the same horizontal level in column 2, and she is karina (wife) to him. Thus a Tjuanaku man is kaii-kaii to a Nurulum woman and she is karina to him.

Column I contains men who are tjungaraii (daughters’ husbands) of men of column 4. Thus a Tjamerum’s children are Tjurulum and Nurulum, and a Tjuanaku man marries a Nurulum woman and is therefore tjungaraii to the Tjamerum man. Column i also contains men who are tjungaraii (mothers’ brothers) of women of column 4. Thus a Niamerum is the daughter of a Niriuma and the brothers of the latter are Tjuanaku men.

Column 4 contains men who are napitji (wife’s father or sisters’ sons) and women who are tjalalai (sisters’ daughters) of men of column i.

Column 2 contains men who are tjungaraii (daughters’ husbands or mothers’ brothers, as the case may be) of men and women of column 3.

Column 3 contains men who are napitji (father-in-law) of men and women who are tjalalai (sisters’ daughters) of men of column 2.

Men and women of columns 3 and 4 stand mutually in the relationships of purnka (fathers’ sisters’ children) or thaminjilla (mothers’ fathers).

I .2 . .. 3 . 4

C Tjuanaku (Niriuma) 'j Tjurulum (Nurulum) Pungarinji (Pungarina) f Tjamerum (Niamerum)

•< ( Tjulantjuka (Nurlum) \ f Thungallum (Nungallum) Paliarinji (Paliarina) -J TYakomari (Yakomarina)

( ■( Paliarinji (Paliarina) / j Tjamerum (Niamerum) Tjulantjuka (Nurlum) 1 1 Hurulum (Nurulum) (

( Pungarinji (Pungarina) J Yakomari (Yakomarina) Tjuanaku (Niriuma) ( Thungallum (Nungallum)

In column i the larger and smaller brackets on the right indicate the relationship of itinia (fathers’ sisters) ; the overlapping brackets on the left indicate that of mimai-inna (wife’s mother, the equivalent of mura in the Arunta). In column 4 the reverse holds true. The brackets on the left indicate the relationship of itinia, and those on the right that of mimai-inna.

Ill

Taking now the case of an individual member of a particular subclass, we can describe as follojvs the various relationships in which he stands in regard to the other members of the tribe. We will suppose that this particular individual is a Pungarinji man and will again represent him as if he were speaking.

If I am a Pungarinji man then —

My father is a Tjuanaku man and I call him kuni.

All Tjulantjuka are kukunia to him and mimai-inna to me — that is, I may not speak to them if they be women, as they are the mothers of my lawful wives.^ The daughters of Thungallum men and Nurlum women are Yakomarina and karina to me — that is, they are women whom I may lawfully marry and one or more of whom have probably been allotted to me as wives.

The sons of Nurlum women — that is, the brothers of my karina — are kaii-kaii to me and I to them ; that is, Yakomari men are kaii-kaii to Pungarinji men and vice versa.

I call my father kuni.

All men whom my father calls pappa (elder brothers) or pappaia (younger brothers) are Tjuanaku men and are kuni to me. I call his elder brothers kuni purninj ilia and his younger brothers kuni mopai.

My kuni's sisters are Niriuma, and they are itinia to me.

All women whom my wife calls kakarinnia (elder sisters) or tjuluna (younger sisters) are Yakomarina, and they are also karina to me.

All women whom my wife calls kukunia are Niamerum, and they are purnka to me (the equivalent of unkulla in the Arunta). These Niamerum women are the daughters of the sisters of my father. They marry Paliarinji men who are kukunia to me. Their children are Tjulantjuka and Nurlum. The latter are mimai-inna (wife’s mother) to me. That is, the important relationship of mimai-inna (the equivalent of mura in the Arunta) arises from the marriage of female purnka and male kukunia.

1 In the Binbinga tribe there is no special name corresponding to that of tualcha-mura in the Arunta for the actual mother of a woman who has been allotted to any man.

I

If I were an Arunta man these Niamerum women, whom I call purnka^ would be strictly tabooed to me as wives. In the Binbinga tribe, however, as in the Warramunga, it is lawful for me, in addition to one or more women whom I call karina^ and who are Yakomarina, to have as wife one or more whom I call purnka^ and who are Niamerum.

Pungarinji, m.

I !

Yakomarina, f. Niamerum, f.

I , . 1 I , I

Tjuanaku, m. Niriuma, f. Tjulantjuka, m. Nurlum, f.

I do not, however, as indicated in the above diagram, call my Niamerum wife’s children by the same name which I apply to my normal Yakomarina wife’s children. The latter are Tjuanaku and Niriuma, but the former are Tjulantjuka and Nurlum — that is, they pass into the subclass into which they would have gone had their mother married a Tjamerum man in the normal way.

My kaii-kaii (wife’s brothers) are Yakomari men, who are the sons of Nurlum women — that is, of my female mimai-inna.

My kakarinnia (elder sisters) and tjuluna (younger sisters) are Pungarina, and are karina to my kaii-kaii, who are Yakomari men.

The children of my kakarinnia (elder sisters) and tjuluna (younger sisters) are Thungallum. I call them tjalalai and tjalalina, and they call me tjungaraii. That is, Pungarinji men are tjungaraii (mother’s brothers) to Thungallum men and women. This is an important relationship because, though the tjungaraii man has not the disposal in marriage of women who call him by this name, yet, as in the Kaitish tribe, the man to whom he is tjungaraii is finally responsible for avenging his death. When my wife’s tjungaraii dies it is my duty to cut myself in token of mourning.

My own and my brothers’ children are Tjuanaku and Niriuma. I call them katja-katja and they call me kuni. My mother is a Nurulum woman. She calls her elder

Ill sisters kakarinnia and her younger ones tjuluna. I call them all kutjina. That is, Nurulum women are kutjina to Pungarinji and Pungarina.

The children of the pappa ^ of my kuni — that is, my father’s elder brothers’ children — are Pungarinji, just as I am, or Pungarina like my sisters, and they will be, according to sex, pappa (elder brother) or kakarinnia (elder sisters).

The children of my kuni's kakarinnia (elder sisters) and of his tjuluna (younger sisters) are Tjamerum and Niamerum, and they are purnka to me and kukunia to my wife. Though it is not the normal thing, still it is lawful for me to have one or more of these Niamerum women as wife or wives. Their children are Tjulantjuka and Nurlum.

The children of my kunPs pappa call me pappaia (younger brother) and the children of my kuni 's pappaia call me pappa (elder brother).

The children of my pappa and pappaia call me kuni^ just as my own children do, and I call them katja-katja. They are Tjuanaku and Niriuma.

The children of my kakarinnia and tjuluna (sisters) I call tjalalai, and they call me tjungaraii. That is, once more, relations whom we class together as nephews and nieces are either katja-katja (brothers’ children) or tjalalai (sisters’ children).

My male katja - katja's children are Pungarinji and Pungarina, and are kanku to me and I to them. The term kanku (grandfather or grandchild) is reciprocal. My katjakatja are Tjuanaku (and Niriuma), and my tjalalai are Thungallum (and Nungallum), and these two are purnka to each other.

My katja-katja call my kakarinnia and tjuluna — that is, my elder and younger sisters, itinia. That is, Pungarina women are itinia to Tjuanaku men and Niriuma women.

The children of my female katja-katja — that is, of my daughters — are Tjamerum and Niamerum, and they are thaniinjilla to me and I to them. That is, the term thaminjilla expresses the relationship of grandfather or grandchild

^ If any of these men should happen to have Nungallum wives, then the children of the latter will be Paliarinji and Paliarina, and I call them kukunia.

on the mother’s side, just as the term kanku does on the father’s side.

My male thaminjilld s male children will be Tjurulum, and they are tjungaraii to me — that is, they are the blood and tribal brothers of my kutjina (mother).

My male thaminjilld s female children will be Nurulum — that is, they will be kutjina to me.

The children of my female thaminjilla will be Tjulantjuka. They are mimai-inna to me, and the women amongst them are the kutjina (mothers) of my karina.

My male kankds (grandson’s) children — that is, my great grandchildren — are Tjuanaku and Niriuma, and I call them katja-katja^ just as I call my own children.

The children of my female thaminjilla (daughters’ daughters) are Tjulantjuka and Nurulum, and I call them kukuku.

My mother’s mother is Paliarina, and she is kukunia to me.

My father’s mother is Yakomarina, and she is napitjina to me.

There are certain differences in the terms used if a woman be speaking. Thus, if I am a Pungarina woman, I call my own and my sisters’ children tjalalai^ but I call my brothers’ children katja-katja.

I call my husband, who is a Yakomari man, kaii~kaii. His sisters I call karina, just as my brothers do.

My husband’s father is Thungallum, and I call him napitji.

My sons’ sons are Yakomari, and I call them napitji.

My daughters’ children are Paliarinji and Paliarina, and I call them kukuku.

We may now pass to the last of the three main groups which comprises tribes inhabiting the coast district of the Gulf of Carpentaria on its western side. Those with which we came into contact were the Mara and Anula, and in the case of each of these, as in that of their southern neighbours, extending over into North-west and Central Queens- land, they are divided into four subclasses. In the Mara

Ill tribe, as in those described by Roth, the names for the two moieties still exist, but in the Anula they do not.

When comparing, with the assistance of men belonging to each tribe, the four names in both the Mara and Anula tribes with the eight in the Binbinga, we found out that, though there were only the four names for the subclasses, yet these really comprised groups of individuals who were regarded as the equivalent of the eight subclasses in the Binbinga, and in order to indicate this we have repeated each name twice in the tables, because each of the divisions is the equivalent of two in the Binbinga and southern tribes.

In all of the latter tribes descent is counted in the paternal line, the child passing into that half of the moiety to which the father does not belong. This is a very characteristic feature of, so far as we are aware, every one of the eight and four class tribes in which descent is counted in the male line, and its result, whatever its object may have been, is to prevent the marriage of the children of brothers and sisters, blood or tribal.

For the sake of comparison we may take the Binbinga table again, indicating marriage and descent of the children, remembering that men of column i marry women on the same horizontal level in column 2, and their children are' as shown in column 3. Men of column 2, on the other hand, marry women of column i, and their children are as shown in column 4}

I

Tjuanaku

Tjulantjuka

Paliarinji

Pungarinji

Tjurulum

Thungallum

Tjamerum

Yakomari

Pungarinji

Paliarinji

Tjulantjuka

Tjuanaku

Tjamerum

Yakomari

Tjurulum

Thungallum

If we take either moiety of the tribe we find that it is composed of two pairs of subclasses. Tjuanaku and Tjulantjuka are subdivisions of one original group, so ‘are Paliarinji and Pungarinji ; these again make up one moiety, just as

1 In the Binbinga, as in the Warramunga, Umbaia, and other southern tribes, it is, however, lawful for a man to marry a woman who stands to him in relationship of nirri-mai'ara (the equivalent of unkulla in the Arunta). The woman must, however, belong to a distant locality : if not there is much ill-feeling and “growling.” The children follow the class into which they would have gone had the mother married the right man.

Tjurulum and Thungallum, Tjamerum and Yakomari, make up the other moiety.

That Tjuanaku and Tjulantjuka form one pair, and not Tjuanaku and Paliarinji, for example, can be seen by reference to the terms of relationship and by working back from tribe to tribe, following out the equivalent groups until at length, in the southern Arunta, we find that our pairs fuse together, and that those which, right through, are the equivalents of Tjuanaku and Tjulantjuka, here form one group, the Panunga ; Paliarinji and Pungarinji form the Bulthara ; Tjurulum and Thungallum form the Purula ; Tjamerum and Yakomari form the Kumara. In the southern Arunta we can again express, the descent in the following table —

{Panunga Purula ^

^ I Moiety B.

Bulthara Kumara j

The horizontal lines indicate the marriages, the oblique lines the descent of the children.^ Thus Panunga a (man) marries Purula e, and the children are Bulthara d. Panunga b marries Purula f, and the children are Bulthara c. Purula e (man) marries Panunga a, and the children are Kumara g. Purula f marries Panunga and the children are Kumura h. That is, we have the children of a Panunga man passing into that half of the moiety to which the father does not belong, or, in other words, we have indirect paternal descent.

In contrast to this we find that, in both the Mara and Anula tribes, the child not only passes into the moiety to which the father belongs, but actually into the same half of it. Thus in the Mara the names of the moieties and subclasses are as follows : —

1 To represent the marriages and lines of descent completely more than one diagram is necessary, a marries e, h marries f, c marries g, and d marries h. Taking a man of each different group, the children of a are d ; of b they are c ; of c they are b ; oi d they are a ; of e they are g-; of f they are h ; of g they are e; of h they are f. This division of each subclass into two groups and the manner in which descent is counted prevents the marriage of children of brothers and sisters. Thus the children of Panunga a (man) are Bulthara d, those of Panunga a (woman) are Kumara^. Bulthara d marries Kumara //, not Kumara^''.

Ill SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE TRIBES 119

Urku f Mu run gun. \ Mumbali.

Purdal.

Kuial.

In the Anula they are as follows

Moiety A

Awukaria.

Roumburia.

Urtalia.

Wialia.

The contrast between what occurs in these t^ tribes and what we meet with in the southern Arunta, where there are only four subclasses, and where descent is also counted in the male line, is most striking. In the Mara the children of Murungun are Murungun ; of Purdal, Purdal ; of Mumbali, Mumbali ; of Kuial, Kuial. In the Anula precisely the same occurs, — the children of Awukaria are Awukaria ; of Urtalia, Urtalia, and so on. Descent is not only counted in the main line, but it is direct (with the limitation described below), and not indirect as in the Binbinga and other tribes.

Moiety A

Moiety

A

f

A<

Moiety

B

->D^

By means of a diagram such as No. i we can illustrate what takes place in the great majority of tribes in which we have paternal descent. The horizontal lines indicate the marriages, the oblique lines the subclasses into which the children fall. A man of subclass A marries a woman of C, and the children fall into B. C marries A, and the children fall into D, etc. In the Mara and Anula, A marries C and the children are A ; C marries A and the children are C. B marries D and the children are B ; D marries B and the children are D.

Further investigation, however, shows that in the Mara and Anula, just as in the southern Arunta, each of the four subclasses in reality consists of two groups. The division into groups and their intermarriage arrangements is, however, quite different from anything met with in the case of the other tribes. The following tables will show what takes place. While each moiety consists of two subclasses, each of these is again divided into two groups which, for the sake of clearness, we have designated respectively a and /3. A remarkable feature of both tribes is that, taking the Murungun men as an example of one special subclass, the men of one group of them marry women of one-half of the other moiety (Purdal), and the men of the other group marry women of the other half (Kuial).

Mara Tribe

Murungun a

Purdal a

Murungun

Purdal ^

Mumbali a

Kuial a

Mumbali jS

Kuial /3

Mumbali

Purdal 13

Mumbali a

Purdal a

Murungun ^

Kuial

Murungun a

Kuial a

Anula

Tribe

Awukaria a

Urtalia a

Awukaria (3

Urtalia (3

Roumburia a

Wialia a

Roumburia

Wialia j8

Roumburia ^

Urtalia /3

Roumburia a

Urtalia a

Awukaria ^

Wialia ^

Awukaria a

Wialia a

The above tables were drawn up from information derived independently from members of both of these tribes, and then corroborated by further investigations of the matter in the presence of members of the Binbinga, Anula, and Mara tribes, when we were able to find out the equivalence of the groups in the three tribes.

In the Murungun we have two groups, a and The men of Murungun a marry Purdal a women ; those of Murungun ^ marry not Purdal but Kuial ^ women. So again in the Anula the men of Awukaria a marry Urtalia a women, but those of Awukaria ^ marry Wialia 0 women. Conversely in the Mara, Purdal a men marry Murungun a women, but Purdal /3 men marry Mumbali ^ women. In the Anula, Urtalia a men marry Awukaria a women, but Urtalia ^ men marry Roumburia ^ women. In every case the children of any man fall into the father’s subclass, but into the group of it to which he does not belong. Thus the children of Murungun a are Murungun /3, those of Awukaria a are Awukaria In the other moiety the children of Purdal a are Purdal /?, those of Urtalia a are Urtalia yS, and so on right through the various groups.

We have previously described how, in the southern

Ill district, where the Arunta with its paternal descent comes into contact with the Urabunna tribe, which counts descent in the maternal line, the classes and subclasses are deliberately grouped so as to make them fit in with the paternal, or the maternal line, as the case may be. In the far north, where the tribes with indirect paternal descent come into contact with those in which there is the rnbre direct paternal descent, we find a correspondingly deliberate arrangement of the subclasses so as to make them fit in with one another.^

1 In his article entitled “ Sur le Totemisme,” printed in D Annie Sociologique, Cinquieme Annee (1900- 1901), M. Emile Durkheim has attempted, very ingeniously, to show that the curious arrangement of the Arunta subclasses, devised to make them fit in with maternal descent when the Arunta and Urabunna’ tribes come into ‘ contact with one another, is proof that the present arrangement is a modification of an older one, and that the latter is represented by the grouping of the Kumara and the Panunga to form one moiety and of the Bukhara and Purula to form the other. M. Durkheim (p. 106) says, “ Primitivement, I’arrangement intertribal etait le seul en vigueur ; il s’appliquait aux relations internes comme aux relations externes de la tribu, la filiation etant alors uterine chez les Aruntas comme chez les Urabunnas. Plus tard, quand elle devint masculine chez les premiers, la repartition des classes entre les deux phratries fut modifiee. ” We presume that this “repartition” must have been a deliberate one on the part of the natives. Curiously enough, when we suggest that such a deliberate arrangement has taken place in order to allow of counting descent in either the male or the female line, M. Durkheim protests against it, “ Les phratries sont choses trop etroitement liees a toute I’organisation morale de ces tribus pour pouvoir etre arrangees ou derangees de cette maniere ” (p. 105, footnote).

There are one or two points of considerable importance in regard to which, judging by M. Durkheim’s remarks, we did not state the facts with sufficient clearness. M. Durkheim (p. 104) says, “ Comme les deux tribus sont en relations constantes, des mariages se contractent souvent de I’une a I’autre.” The constant relations only exist, of course, on the immediate borderland of the tribes ; for the most part they have nothing whatever to do with one another. More important, M. Durkheim says (p. 105, the italics are his own), Noiis trouvons done chez les Aruntas deux sortes d’ organisation qui fonctionnent parallelement et dont Pune correspond a un itat social oil la filiation etait utirinei’’ We regret that what must have been a want of clearness on our part should have led M. Durkheim into drawing this conclusion, for which the real facts afford no warrant whatever. There is, in reality, no such thing as “ deux sortes d’organisation qui fonctionnent parallelement.” To say that the Arunta regard the Kirarawa as the equivalent of two of the Arunta subclasses, Kumara and Panunga, and the Matthurie as the equivalent of Bukhara and Purula, is a very different thing from saying, as M. Durkheim (p. 104) does, that “ Un Urabunna de la phratrie Kirarawa qui vient s’etablir chez les Aruntas est considiri comme appartenant a la phratrie Kumara- Panunga (the italics are ours) ; comme tel il ne peut prendre pour femme une Arunta que si elle appartient a la phratrie Bukhara- Purula.” The Arunta have no idea whatever of any such phratry as Kumara -Panunga. When a Kirarawa man comes into their tribe, the old men tell him that he is either a Kumara or a Panunga. If he be a Kumara, then, ipso facto, he belongs

In the Mara we have the two subclasses, Murungun and Mumbali, forming one moiety of the tribe, Purdal and Kuial forming the other.

In the Binbinga tribe the one moiety consists of two pairs of subclasses — (i) Tjuanaku and Tjulantjuka, (2) Paliarinji and Pungarinji ; the other moiety consists of (i) Tjurulum and Thungallum, (2) Tjamerum and Yakomari. Now Murungun in the Mara is regarded not as the equivalent of Tjuanaku and Tjulantjuka, but as that of Tjuanaku and Pungarinji ; Mumbali as the equivalent of Tjulantjuka and Paliarinji ; Purdal as the equivalent of Tjurulum and Tjamerum ; Kuial as that of Thungallum and Yakomari.

The simple explanation of this is that the two sets of terms have to be made to fit in to one another so as to fall into line with the two different methods in which descent is counted in the Mara and Binbinga tribes.

Now in the Mara, instead of the two subclasses, Tjuanaku and Tjulantjuka, forming one-half of the moiety, we have only one — Murungun. Further still, the child of to the phratry Kumara-Purula, and his wife must come from, or, if he has one, goes into the phratry Panunga-Bulthara. If, on the other hand, he be a Panunga, then, ipso facto, he belongs to the phratry Panunga-Bulthara, and his wife to the phratry Kumara-Purula. The difference between the actual state of affairs and the erroneous supposition of M. Durkheim is fundamental, and we regret that we did not apparently make the matter clear in our first work.

Further still, if we are to apply M. Durkheim’s reasoning to the state of’ affairs existing at the other extremity of the long line of tribes stretching northwards across the centre from the Urabunna in the ‘south to the Mara and Anula on the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, we must arrive at the conclusion that the Arunta organisation is derived from one in which descent was counted in the direct male line. At the northern end we have the Mara tribe deliberately arranging the subclasses of the Binbinga (which are equivalent precisely to those of the Arunta) so as to fit in with direct paternal descent, just as in the south the Urabunna arrange them so as to fit in with maternal descent. M. Durkheim’s reasoning, applied in the case of the northern tribes, would derive the Binbinga organisation from one in which descent was counted in the direct male line. Now the Binbinga and Arunta social organisations, save for mere differences in the names, are identical. It therefore follows that we have one and the same organisation derived in the south of the continent from an earlier one in w'hich descent was counted in the female line, and in the north from one in which it was counted in the male line. On the whole, it seems simpler to regard both cases as instances of deliberate rearrangement of the subclasses, so as to allow of descent being counted in the female, indirect male, or more direct male line. The rearrangement only takes place on the border-land of tribes w^hich count descent in different ways.

Ill a Murungun man is a Murungun, whereas the child of a Tjuanaku man is neither Tjuanaku nor Tjulantjuka, but, by deliberately grouping Tjuanaku and Pungarinji together, as the equivalent in the Binbinga of Murungun in the Mara, the difficulty is got over.

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.

Binbinga, Mara Aj-rangement. Antila Arrangement.

}Murungun|^j^i^(yJ j- Mumbali j ^

/'Tjurulum p Tjurulum i p q 1 \ TUrtalia /Tjurulum

Moiety) Thungallumj Tjamerum iMoietyJ \Tjamerum

" Urr “ } S3'r}xuia. J ® twia,ia

Suppose a Murungun man goes into the Binbinga tribe, then he is told by the old men of the local group into which he has gone that he is, say, a Tjuanaku (points such as this are continually decided upon by the elder men). Accordingly he marries a Tjurulum woman, or, if he has brought a woman with him, then she is regarded as such, and his children will be Pungarinji, or, in other words, will pass into that half of the moiety to which, in the Binbinga, the father does not belong. On the other hand, they pass into a group which is regarded by the Mara as included in the Murungun.

Or again, suppose a Tjuanaku from the Binbinga goes into the Mara tribe. He becomes a Murungun and must marry a Purdah If he has a wife, she is regarded as the latter, and his children are Murungun, which includes (according to the Mara arrangement) the subclass Pungarinji, into which they would have passed in the Binbinga tribe, and to which they will belong if ever they return to the latter.

As we have previously said, this deliberate changing of the method of grouping the subclasses so as to allow of descent being counted in the female, the indirect male, or, we can now add, the more direct male line, according to the necessity of the case, is of considerable interest as indicating

TTjuanaku ) Tjuanaku

Moiety | Tjulantjuka / Pungarinji

A I Paliarinji ) Paliarinji

(Pungarinji / Tjulantjuka

Awukaria /U^anakii t Pungarinji ^ , . f Paliarinji the fact that the natives are quite capable of thinking such matters out for themselves.

We will now deal more in detail with the Mara tribe. Apart from the difference in the names applied to various relationships, the Anula is in perfect accord with it.

Mara Tribe

Urkii.

Ua.

Urkic.

Ua.

I

f Murungun a f Purdal a

Murungun ^

Purdal ^

tMumbali a

(Kuial a

Mumbali /3

Kuial /3

rMumbali ^

( Purdal /3

Mumbali a

Purdal a t Murungun

(Kuial

Murungun a

Kuial a

The brackets indicate groups the members of which are m\Xxii‘d\Y unkuku (mother’s mother) to one another.

Column 3 contains the children of men of column i and women of column 2. Thus a Murungun a man has a Purdal a wife, and their children are Murungun /3. In the same way column 4 contains the children of men of column 2 and women of column i.

A man of column i is irrimakula (husband) to a woman on the same horizontal level in column 2, and vice versa. Thus a Murungun a man is irrimakula to a Purdal a woman, and she is the same to him, but a Murungun ^ man is irrimakula to a Kuial ^ woman, and vice versa. That is, the Murungun men are divided into two groups, the members of one of which are irrimakula to Purdal and those of the other to Kuial women.

A man of column i is mimerti (wife’s brother) to a man on the same horizontal level in column 2, and vice versa. That is, again, Murungun men are divided into two groups, the members of one of which are mimerti to Purdal and those of the other to Kuial men.

A woman of column i is nirri-miunka-karunga (husband’s sister) to a woman on the same horizontal level in column 2, and vice versa. Thus the Murungun women are divided into two groups, the members of one of which are nirrimiunka-karunga to Purdal, and those of the other to Kuial, women.

Ill

Column I contains men who are gnagun (daughters’ husband) of men of column 4. Thus the daughter of a Purdal yS man is Purdal a. A Murungun a man marries a Purdal a woman, and therefore he is gnagun to Purdal ^ men. Column i in the same way contains men who are gnagun (mothers’ brothers) of v/omen of column 4. Thus a Purdal /3 woman is the daughter of a Murungun a woman whose brother is of course Murungun a.

Column 4 contains men who are nipari (sisters’ sons) of men of column i, and women who are gnaiawati (sisters’ daughters) of men of column i. Purdal ^ men are nipari to Murungun a men, and Purdal a men are nipari to Mumbali ^ men.

Column 2 contains men who are gnagun (mothers’ brothers or daughters’ husbands) of men of column 3.

Column 3 contains men who are nipari (wife’s father) of men of column 2, and women who are gnaiawati (sisters’ daughters) of men of column 2.

Men and women of columns 3 and 4 stand mutually in the relationship of nirrimarara (mothers’ brothers’ sons) or napitjatja (mother’s father).

In column i the larger and smaller brackets on the right indicate the relationship between men and women of umburnana (father’s sister), the overlapping brackets on the left that oi gnunatjulunga (wife’s m.other). In column 4 the reverse holds true, the overlapping brackets on the left indicate the relationship of mnburnana, the larger and smaller ones on the right that oi gnunatjulunga.

Taking the case of an individual member of a particular group, we may describe as follows the various relationships in which he stands with regard to the other members of the tribe. We will suppose that this particular individual is a Murungun man belonging to the ^ division, and will represent him as if he were speaking.

Purdal a Kuial a Purdal /3 Kuial

Murungun /3 Mumbali /3 Mumbali a Murungun a

If I am a Murungun /3 man then^ —

My father is Murungun a, and I call him naluru.

All Mumbali a women are unkuku to him and gnunatjulunga to me — that is, they are the mothers of my lawful wives, and I may not speak to them. The daughters of these Mumbali a women and Kuial a men are Kuial and are irrimakula to me — that is, they are women whom I may lawfully marry, and one or more of whom have probably been allotted to me.

The sons of Mumbali a women — that is, the brothers of my irrimakula — are mimerti to me and I to them — that is, Kuial ^ men are mimerti to Murungun ^ men, and vice versa,

I call my father naluru.

All men whom my father calls gnauaii (elder brothers) and niritja (younger brothers) are Murungun <x, and they are naluru to me.

My nalurus' sisters are Murungun a, and they are umburnana to me.

i\ll women whom my wife calls gnarali (elder sisters) or gnanirritja (younger sisters), are Kuial /3, and are irrimakula to me and I to them.

All women whom my irrimakula calls unkuku are Purdal /3, and they are nirrunarara to me (mothers’ brothers’ daughters, the equivalent of unkulla in the Arunta). These nirrimarara women are the daughters of the sisters of my father or of the brothers of my mother. They marry Mumbali /3 men who are unkuku to me, and their children are Mumbali a and gnunatjulunga to me (the equivalent of mura in the Arunta). That is, the important relationship of gnunatjulunga (wife’s mother) arises from the marriage of female nirrimarara and male unkuku.

Whilst my wife as a general rule is one of the Kuial women whom I call irrimakula, it is also lawful for me — but only if she come from a distant locality — to have as wife, in addition, one or more of the Purdal ^ women whom I call nir^'imarara. I do not, however, as indicated in the accompanying table, call the children of the nirrimarara women by the same name which I apply to those of the irrimakula women.

Ill

Murungun m, marries

Kuial /3, f. Purdal /3, f.

Murungun a, m. Murungun a, f. Mumbali a, m. Mumbali a, f.

The children belong to different groups. Those of my normal wife or irrimakula, who is a Kuial /5 woman, are Murungun a, those of the nirrimarara women are Mumbali a.

My mimerti are Kuial ^ men, who are the sons of Mumbali a women — that is, of my gnunatjulunga women.

My gnarali (elder sisters) and gnanirritja (younger sisters) are Murungun /S, and are the irrimakula of my mimerti men who are Kuial

The children of my gnarali and gnanirritja are Kuial a. I call them nipari if they are men and gnaiawati if they be women, and they call me gnagun (mother’s brother).

My own and my brother’s children are nitjari (sons) and gnaiiati (daughters) to me, and they call me naluru.

My mother is a Purdal a woman. She calls her elder sisters gnarali and her younger ones gnanirritja. I call all of them katjirri (mother).

The children of the gnauaii ^ of my naluru — that is, my father’s elder brothers’ children — are Murungun yS, just as I am, and they will be according to sex my gnauaii (elder brother) or gnarali (elder sister).

The children of my nalurus' sisters are Purdal ,/3, and I call them nirrimarara^ and they are unkuku to my wife, who is a Kuial ^ woman. Though it is not the normal condition, yet it is lawful for me to have one or more of these nirrimarara women as my wife or wives. Their children are Mumbali a.

The children of my nalurus' gnauaii^ or elder brothers, call me nirritja (younger brother), and the childen of my nalurus' younger brothers call me gnauaii (elder brother).

1 If any of these men happen to have Kuial a wives, then the children of the latter will be Mumbali and I call them unkurku.

The children of my own gnauaii and nirritja — that is, of elder and younger Murungun ^ men of my own level in the generation — call me naluru just as my own children do. They are Murungun a, and I call them nitjari (sons) and gnaiiati (daughters).

The sons of my gnarali (elder sisters) and gnanirritja (younger sisters) I call nipajH; their daughters I C3.\ gnaiawati. That is, relations whom we class together as nephews and nieces are either nitjari and gnaiiati (sons and daughters), or nipari and gnaiazvati (sisters’ sons and daughters). The term nipari^ is applied by Murungun /3 men to Kuial a men of two different levels of generation ; the men of the one generation are the fathers of the women who are lawful to him as wives (that is, normal wives), the men of the other generation are the sons of his sisters.

My nitjaris' (sons) children are Murungun just as I am, and I call them and they call me muri-muri, the term being a reciprocal one.

My nitjari and gnaiiati (sons and daughters) are Murungun a, and my nipari and gnaiawati (sisters’ sons and daughters) are Kuial a, and are nirrimarara to each other.

My nitjari and gnaiiati call my gnarali and gnanirritja (elder and younger sisters) umburnana. That is, Murungun a women are umburnana to Murungun /3 women and men.

The children of my gnaiiati — that is, of my daughters’ and of my brothers’ daughters — are Purdal /3 ; I call them napitjatja^ and they call me by the same name. That is, I have a common name for my own and my brothers’ daughters’ children and for my mothers’ fathers. The term napitjatja expresses the relationship of grandfather or grandchild on the female side, just as the term muri-muri does on the male side.

My male muri-muri s (grandsons’) children — that is, my great-grandchildren — are Murungun <x, just as my children are, and I call them gambirti.

My napitjatjas' (daughter’s daughter) children are Mumbali a, and I call them kankulti.

^ The term auiniari is applied in precisely the same way in the Warramunga tribe.

Ill

My mother’s mother is Mumbali and I call her unkuku.

My father’s mother is Kuial yS, and I call her namimi.

There are, again, certain differences in the terms used if a woman be speaking. Thus if I am a Murungun ^ woman then — ^

I call my husband irrimakula, just as he calls me. His sisters, who are Murungun ^ women, I call niri-munkakarunga. They are irrimakula to my brother.

I call my children, not nitjari and gnaiiata (the names which my husband applies to them), but nipard and gnaiawati (the names which myhusband applies to his sister’s children).^

My husband’s father is a Kuial a man, and I call him yallnali, and he calls me nirri-lumpa-karunga.

My husband’s mother is a Mumbali a woman, and I call her niringwinia-arunga^ and she calls me naningurara ; and vice versa my son’s wife is a Mumbali a woman ; I call her naningurara^ and she calls me niringwinia-arunga.

My son’s children are Kuial yS, and I call them yillinga, and they call me naminii.

My son’s wife is a Mumbali a woman, and I call her Naningurara.

My daughter’s husband is a Mumbali a man. I call him tjamerlunga, and he calls me gnunatjulunga.

My daughter’s children are Mumbali yS, and I call them kankulti, and they call me unkuku.

My mother’s mother’s brother is a Mumbali y8 man, and I call him nakaka.

Arranging these in tabular form so as to show at a glance the subclasses into which they fall and the level of generation, we see that, first of all, whilst there is a general agreement with the Warramunga, there are certain important differences to be noticed. In the first place, the terms are more numerous ; the Warramunga man calls all of his children katakitji, the Mara man calls his sons and brothers’

1 Thus nitjari and gnaiiati do not stand for “ son ” and “ daughter ” as we understand these words. Whether used by a man or a woman they are merely classiticatory terms designating all the members of certain special subclasses who are in the next generation below him or her. The same remark applies to the terms ni'pari and gnaiawati.

K

sons nitjari^ and his daughters gnaiiati. So again the Warramunga applies the term tapa-tapu to daughters’ children, mother’s father, and son’s wife’s father ; the Mara man has two separate terms for these relationships, napitjatja and katikati'. Associated with this we find an important point of difference between the two tribes. In the Mara one and the same term is never applied by the same person to individuals belonging to different subclasses. The name nipari, for example, is applied by Murungun ^ men only to Kuial a men, and further still only to men who belong to the half of it which is equivalent to the subclass Thungalla in the Warramunga. If a Mara man refers to any individual as being his nipari^ then you know at once that the latter, if the speaker be a Murungun ^ man, is a Kuial a man. The corresponding term auiniari in the Warramunga has a much wider signification, and not only does it include individuals belonging to the Tjupila and Thungalla subclasses, but in one particular instance it includes individuals belonging to the other moiety of the tribe. Thus if a man be speaking, he calls his sisters’ sons and wife’s father by the name auiniari, these men belonging to the Thungalla subclass in the Kingilli moiety of the tribe; but he also applies the same term to certain Tjunguri men who stand to him in the relationship of daughters’ daughters’ children. In the same way a Warramunga woman applies the same term to certain Tjunguri women who stand to her in the relationship of husband’s mother and son’s wife, and also to certain Thungalla men who stand to her in the relationship of husband’s father.

The man numbered 25 on the genealogical tree applies the following names to the individuals indicated in the genealogical tree : —

1. Muri-muri.

2. Muri-muri.

3. Namimi.

10. Nipari.

11. Nipari.

12. Gnagun.

13. Katjirri.

14. Katjirri.

15. Katjirri.

16. Gnagun.

4. Umburnati.

5. Umburnana.

6. Nalaru.

7. Naluru.

8. Naluru.

17. Gnungatjulunga.

18. Tjunalunga.

9. Umburnana.

Ill

Nirriniarara.

43*

Nipari.

Nirrimarara.

Gnaiawati.

Gnauaii.

45-

Nitjari.

Gnarali.

Gnaiiati.

23-

Gnauaii.

Nitjari.

Gnarali.

Gnaiiati.

25-

Ego.

Nipari.

Nirritja.

Gnaiawati.

Gnanirritja.

SI-

N irri-lumpa-karunga.

Nirritja.

Gnagun.

Gnanirritja.

53-

Muri-muri.

30-

Nirrimarara.

54-

Muri-muri.

31-

Nirrimarara.

Napitjatja.

Mimeti.

Napitjatja.

33-

Irrimakula.

57-

Gambiriti.

34-

Kuku.

Kankulti.

35-

Unkuku.

a.

Napitjatja.

Irrimakula.

b.

Unkuku.

37-

Mimerti.

c.

Kuku.

Irrimakula.

d.

Napitjatja.

39-

Irrimakula.

e.

Nipari.

Mimerti.

/.

Gnungatj ulunga.

Nitjari.

S'

Umburnati.

Gnaiiati.

h.

Muri-muri.

The woman numbered 38 on the genealogical tree applies the following names to the individuals indicated in the genealogical tree : —

I.

Namimi.

Irrimakula.

Namimi.

Nirri-munka-karunga.

Muti-muri.

Irrimakula.

Muri-muri.

N irri-munka-karunga.

5-

Gnarali.

30-

Unkuku.

Yallnali.

Unkuku.

7-

Yallnali.

Nirritja.

Yallnali.

33-

Gnanirritja.

Gnarali.

Nirrimarara.

Naluru.

35-

Nirrimarara.

1 1.

Umburnana.

Gnarali.

Naningurara.

Gnauaii.

N iringwinia-arunga.

Ego.

N iringwinia-arunga.

39-

Gnanirritja.

N iringwinia-arunga.

Nirritja.

Naningurara.

Nipari.

Katjirri.

Gnaiawati.

Gnagun.

Nitjari.

Unkurku.

Gnaiiati.

Unkurku.

45-

Nipari.

Irrimakula.

Gnaiawati.

Nirri-munka-karunga.

Nipari.

Irrimakula.

Gnaiawati.

Nirri-munka-karunga.

49-

Nitjari.

Irrimakula.

50-

Gnaiiati.

Naningurara.

a.

Tjamerlunga.

b.

53-

Yillinga.

c.

54-

Yillinga.

d.

55-

Kankulti.

e.

Kankulti.

f

Yalnalli.

Katjirri.

h.

Nakaka.

Napitjatja.

Napitjatja.

Unkuku.

Naluru.

Katjirri.

Muri-muri.

Namimi f

CHAPTER IV

MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND OTHER CUSTOMS

Customs in the Arunta and Ilpirra tribes — In the Warramunga tribe the operation of atna-ariltha-ku7na is performed in the presence of all of the men and women in camp — Relationship of the men who have access — Lending of widows prior to handing them over to special men — License during ceremonies— Intercourse with a mura woman — Ceremonies in connection with the Wollunqua — Lending of lubras to messengers and to members of avenging parties — Irregular intercourse only in connection with ceremonies: — Three groups of marital relationships.

In every tribe examined by us, from the Urabunna in the south right through the centre of the continent to the western shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, subincision is practised upon the young men, and, apparently in close connection with this, the rite of cutting open the vagina is practised upon the young women. The latter, which is called atna-ariltha-kuma^ is probably to be regarded, strictly speaking, as an initiation ceremony, the equivalent of puraariltha-kuma amongst the men {atna^ vulva ; pura^ penis ; kuma^ to cut) ; ariltha is the name given to the ceremony. In all tribes also after the operation the woman is sooner or later handed over to certain definite men who have access to her before she becomes the property of one man, and even after this there are certain occasions upon which, according to tribal custom, he is bound to lend her to other men. In this matter everything is regulated by custom, and any infringement of this meets with punishment.

There is a substantial agreement amongst the various tribes in regard to the main features of the ceremony, and the following is an account of the more important details

*33

connected with the operation, which is usually conducted when the girl has reached the age of fourteen or fifteen. In the northern Arunta and Ilpirra the man to whom the girl has been allotted speaks to his unkulla men (father’s sister’s sons), and they, attended by other men who are unawa^ — that is, lawful husbands of the girl, and an old ipmtmna (mother’s mother’s 'brother), — take the girl out into the bush. The last-named then performs the operation with a stone knife, after having previously touched the lips of the vulva with a Churinga, so as to prevent excessive bleeding. Afterwards the ipmunna^ unkulla, and unawa, in the order here named, have intercourse with her. The ipmunna man then decorates her with fur -string, rat -tails, etc., and takes her to the camp of her allotted husband, to whom she then belongs, though he may most likely send her back again to the same men. In the Illiaura the operation is performed by the ipmunna, and the following have access to her : — ipmunna, unkulla, okilia (elder brothers), ilia (younger brothers), unawa. In the case of the brothers it is tribal okilia and ilia and not blood brothers who have access. In the Kaitish tribe the operation is performed by an arari (elder sister) of the girl, and the following men have access to her : — atninni (mother’s mother’s brothers), alkiria and atjiri (elder and younger brothers, but not in blood), auillia (mother’s brothers), and umbirnia (lawful husbands).

In the Warramunga tribe the girl is taken to the selected spot near to the camp by an elder sister, who says to her, “ Come with me, you and I walk along corrobboree.” Three tribal brothers who are kulla-kulla (lawful husbands) to her, the actual husband being in the middle, lie down full length, side by side on the ground. The elder sister places the girl across them and the operation is performed by an old man who is wankilli (father’s sister’s son) to the girl, in the presence of all of the men and women who are in camp,^

1 In connection with this it may be pointed out that the corresponding ceremony of pura-ariltha-kuina in connection with young men is carried out in the presence of all the men and women in camp. Though the latter are not standing close by they are still near enough to see what is being done. In regard to this the Warramunga differs from all the other tribes.

IV MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND OTHER CUSTOMS 135

except those who stand to her in the relation of auiniari (husband’s mother and husband’s mother’s brother). After the operation she is decorated with string, head-bands, armlets, and necklets, which, later on, she gives to her father and mother. The man to whom she has been allotted at once takes her to his camp, where she remains quietl^until the next morning, the two sleeping on opposite sides of the fire. For two or three mornings after this the man takes her out with him when he goes into the bush, — still having no intercourse with her, — and on each occasion he rubs her body with grease and red ochre. During all this time she is busy collecting vegetable food, — grass seed and yams, — and takes these to her mother and elder sister, who then tie round her waist the small string apron called matjulari^ the emblem of a married woman in this tribe. For two nights she is then lent to turtundi (mother’s mother’s brother), wankilli (father’s sister’s sons), kankwia (paternal grandfather), paperti and kukaitja (elder and younger brothers, but not in blood), and kulla-kulla (lawful husbands). After this she becomes the property of the man to whom she was assigned. In the Worgaia, Bingongina, Wulmalla, Tjingilli, Umbaia, and Walpari tribes there is substantial agreement with the Warramunga customs, save that as a general rule the husband’s father is the operator.

In the Binbinga, Anula, and Mara tribes the custom is closely similar. The girl is operated upon by a napitji man (husband’s father) while she lies down on the top of her future husband. This operation is usually conducted some time before she is fully developed, and until that time arrives there is no intercourse. When she is mature, the man to whom she has been allotted lends her to men who are her piLrnka (father’s sister’s sons), kaikai (lawful husbands), and kukuku (mother’s brother’s sons). In the Gnanji tribe the rite is similar to the above, except that the operation is performed by the mother’s father.

In the case of the sixteen tribes above named it will be seen that the man, or in one instance (Kaitish tribe) the woman, who operates belongs, in the majority (ten), to the same moiety of the tribe as that to which the young woman herself does ; while in the minority he belongs to the other moiety. In the case of the Arunta — perhaps the largest of the tribes — he belongs, in the northern part, to the woman’s own moiety, and in the southern part of the tribe to the other. If we take the special case of a Panunga woman (or her equivalent) in each tribe we find that in nine instances an Uknaria operates, in two a Pununga, and in six a Kumara. 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 afterwards, she is strictly tabooed. In fact intercourse with any of them, except on such rare occasions, would be immediately followed by punishment, and in the case of certain, such as her tribal brothers, by death. In the case again of a Panunga woman, these men are representative of the following subclasses : — Panunga, Uknaria, Purula, Ungalla, Kumara, Umbitjana ; the first two belong to her own moiety and the last four to the other one. It will be noticed that no Bukhara and Appungerta men are included ; they form that half of her own moiety to which she does not belong.

Not only are the above practices carried out on the first occasion on which a woman is handed over to her allotted husband, but if the latter dies, and, after the period of mourning is passed, she be handed on to one of her former husband’s younger brothers, he lends her for a day or two to other men. In the Kaitish, for example, she is lent in this way to atjualli (mother’s mother’s brothers), auillia (father’s sister’s sons), alkiria (elder brothers), atjiri (younger brothers), umbirnm (husbands).

There are further, in addition to this particular time, other occasions on which intercourse with women, other than those allotted to them, is allowed to the men. It is very usual amongst all of the tribes to allow considerable

IV MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND OTHER CUSTOMS 137

license during the performance of certain of their ceremonies when a large number of natives, some of them coming often from distant parts, are gathered together — in fact on such occasions all of the ordinary marital rules seem to be more or less set aside for the time being. Each day, in some tribes, one or more women are told off whose duty it is to attend at the corrobboree ground, — sometimes only during the day, sometimes only at night, — and all of the men, except those who are fathers, elder and younger brothers, and sons, have access to them. When an ordinary corrobboree is performed, which often occupies two or three weeks, the women are close to the ground, as there is usually nothing sacred which they may not see, but in the case of sacred ceremonies they are generally brought up during the evening. In the Arunta, when an ordinary corrobboree is in course of progress, an elder man will say to his son-in-law, “You go into the bush with my unawa and bring in some undattha altherta ” (ordinary corrobboree decorating material). The younger man then goes out with the woman who is his mura^ and to whom under ordinary circumstances he may neither go near nor speak, much less have marital relations with, as he does upon this occasion. The man and woman return to camp, the former carrying the down and the latter green twigs, which will be worn by the men who perform the dance in the evening. When all is ready the women who have spent the day with the men are painted with red ochre, and go to the lubras’ camp to summon the other women and the children. The idea is that the sexual intercourse assists in some way in the proper performance of the ceremony, causing everything to work smoothly and preventing the decorations from falling off. In some tribes this sexual intercourse is much more noticeable than in others. Amongst the Warramunga, for example, it is very frequently met with and is of common occurrence night after night during the performance of sacred ceremonies. On most occasions the lending of women is of a very general nature, but on certain special occasions it is confined to one or other moiety of the tribe. When this is so, it sometimes occurs that the men of one moiety lend their women to men of the other, or, on other occasions, they lend them to men of their own side. What happens in a case of this kind may be typified by the occurrences of one special evening during the performance of a long series of sacred ceremonies concerned with the Wollunqua (a big snake) totem in the Warramunga tribe. Two Thapungarti men brought their lubras up after it was dark, and whilst all of the men were engaged in singing on the ceremonial ground. The women were placed out of sight in the scrub, but quite close up. The two Thapungarti then exchanged lubras, each man having intercourse with the other man’s. Then one of them led a Tjapeltjeri up to his lubra and he had intercourse with her. After this the Thapungarti men came on to the ground and invited the Tjambin men who were present to go out to the lubras, taking hold of their arms as if to lift them up, but the Tjambin men would not accept the invitation and the two women were sent back to their own camps. In the Warramunga this offering of lubras to men who will not accept is not infrequent on occasions such as the one now described. In this instance the men to whom the offer was made were the brothers, blood and tribal, of the women. A little later on an old Tjapeltjeri man, the head of the totem, brought one of his lubras up, and, leaving her in the bush close by, went to a Tjupila man who belonged to the Worgaia tribe and was the woman’s tribal father. After whispering in his ear he led him up to where the woman was secreted, and then the Tjupila had intercourse with her. The Tjapeltjeri man returned meanwhile to the ceremonial ground and sat down singing amongst the other men. The Tjupila came back and embraced him from behind, and in return the Tjapeltjeri man rubbed the arms and legs of the former. Then the Tjapeltjeri came to a Thungalla man and took him to the lubra, and after this invited Tjupila men (the woman’s tribal fathers) and Thakomara men (the woman’s tribal brothers), but they all declined, remaining seated on the ground, though the old Tjapeltjeri man went to them, and in turn attempted to lift each man up. In this special instance, unlike what takes place in the case of an ordinary corrobboree, or in connection also with many sacred

IV MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND OTHER CUSTOMS 139

ceremonies when an interchange of lubras takes place, there was, to a certain extent, a special reason for the bringing up of particular women and the invitation to particillar men. A ceremonial mound had been made by Tjupila, Thakomara, Thungalla, and Tjambin men. The ceremony with which it was connected belonged to a group of Tjapeltjeri men, and was also associated with the Thapungarti men, and therefore they offered the use of their women to the men who had made the mound. All but one of the tribal fathers, the Tjupila men, and all of the Thakomaras declined the invitation, in the one instance, and all of the Tjambin men in the other. There is not, however, except on very special occasions such as this, any such reason for the offering of particular women, and on a subsequent occasion, when a very elaborate ceremonial object had been made by members of one half of the tribe, — on this occasion by the Thapanunga, Tjunguri, Tjapeltjeri, and Thapungarti, — the members of the other moiety were not present, and an interchange and lending of lubras amongst the above-named men took place. On other nights the lending was indiscriminate.

In the Warramunga tribe it is customary also to lend lubras to the men who are sent out to bring in the bones of a dead person prior to the final ceremony concerned with the burial rites. On this occasion it is the father of the dead person, or, in his absence, some tribal father, who lends the women. Thus on one occasion a Tjapeltjeri man lent his, a Thakomara woman, to two Thapungarti men and one Tjambin. Very often also a dead man’s bone is sent out with sacred messengers to summon other groups in to the performance of ceremonies of various kinds, and on this occasion not only are lubras lent to the messengers, but a general interchange takes place. In some tribes, again, such messengers will take women with them, and after having delivered the message will leave the women out in the bush, where they will be visited by the men of the local group, who will, irrespective of class, have intercourse with them, provided always that they accept the invitation or agree to the request of the messengers. It is also a frequent thing for a party of men who have gone out to kill some individual to have the offer of lubras made to them by the men of the strange group, one of whom they have come with the idea of killing. If they accept the offer, then it is a sign of the fact that the quarrel is over, and that they will not proceed further ; but on the other hand, if they do not, it is a sure sign that they intend to exact vengeance.

It is only, of course, in connection with the performance of ceremonies or the sending out of messengers that this kind of irregular intercourse is allowed ; under ordinary circumstances, for a man to have intercourse with a woman who does not belong to his group of lawful wives, would be a very grave offence and liable to punishment by death. When strangers visit a distant group they are usually offered the use of lubras, but these must belong to the group equivalent to the one from which, in each case, tiie man’s own lubra comes in his own tribe.^ In all tribes a very clear mark of distinction is drawn between the holding of intercourse between men and women who belong to intermarriageable groups and those who do not.

Except in the Urabunna tribe, where there is actually group marriage in existence, the system of individual wives prevails — modified, however, by the practice of customs according to which, at certain times, much wider marital relations are allowed. As we have pointed out before,^ the fundamental feature of the marital relations in all of these tribes is the existence of intermarrying groups of men and women. In the Urabunna tribe group marriage actually exists at the present day, a group of men of a certain designation having, not merely nominally but in actual reality, and under normal conditions, marital relations with a group of women of another special designation. In all other tribes we find that every man of a particular group is lawfully the

^ This not only takes place in the instance of tribes who live close to one another, but also in that of distant tribes. Our two “boys,” for example, were offered the use of lubras belonging to groups equivalent to those from which their lawful wives came in the southern Arunta, at places and amongst tribes hundreds of miles away from their own home and people.

2 N. T. p. 98 et seq.

IV MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND OTHER CUSTOMS 141

husband of every v.^onaan of another particular group, having no name whereby he distinguishes any one or more of the women of that group, who may have been specially allotted to him, from any of the others ; or, in the same way, any name by which he distinguishes the children of these women from those of all the other women of the group.

Whilst there is individual marriage from the Arunta tribe northwards across the continent to the Gulf of Carpentaria, there are, in actual practice, frequent occasions when the marital relations are of a much wider nature. There are indeed what may be regarded as three distinct grades of marital relationships. In the first instance there is the normal state of affairs when a woman is the property of one man, who however can, and does, lend her privately to other men, — provided, however, that they belong to her group of lawful husbands, to any one of whom, but to no one else, he may lend her under ordinary circumstances. In the second place we have the wider relations existing at the time of marriage, when men to whom, under ordinary circumstances, she is strictly tabooed have access to her. The particular men vary from tribe to tribe, but in every case, in addition to representatives of one or more forbidden groups, the men who belong to the group of her husbands always have intercourse with her. At this particular time, when the woman is being handed over to one man, there takes place very clearly the recognition of the group right, and probably the recognition of a wider right still. In the third place we have the very wide relations in connection with the performance of ceremonies and the sending out of messengers as described above. In a few special cases the lending of lubras on these occasions is very clearly in the nature of a return for some service rendered, but no such explanation is possible in the majority of cases. At some time or another every man has to send his wife for the use of other men of various classes who are performing ceremonies, and whose wives, in their turn, are offered to him. During the performance of some of these ceremonies there is the very greatest license, a man even having relations with his mura woman, who, under ordinary circumstances, is most strictly tabooed to him, and this without her husband being in any way indebted to him. Every one, at different times, is obliged to relinquish, for the time being, his sole right to the woman or women who have been allotted to him.

CHAPTER V

TOTEMS

'"'i

Difference between the central and southern-central tribes — Gradual change in the method of counting descent of the totem in passing from the south to the north amongst the central tribes — Universal belief in reincarnation^ — Origin of totemic groups in the Urabunna tribe — Change of moiety, totem, and sex at each successive reincarnation — Origin of totemic groups in the Arunta — Spirit individuals may change class, but not totem, when they undergo reincarnation — Change of totem in the Alcheringa- — Incomplete division of the totem groups between the two moieties in the Arunta nation — Transformation of incomplete human beings in the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes — Origin of other totemic ancestors in the form of human beings — Ancestor of the Unkurta totem and origin of men from his body — Origin of the Idnimita totem group in the Unmatjera tribe — Origin of the rain totem group in the Kaitish tribe — Relationship between a man and his totemic animal or plant in the Kaitish and Unmatjera — Members of totemic groups are responsible for ensuring the supply of the totemic animal or plant — The origin of the totemic ancestors in the Warramunga nation — Members of each totemic group are the direct offspring of one ancestral being — Ancestor changing totem in the Warramunga tribe — Loss of association between the individual and the Churinga in the northern tribes — Clear division of totemic groups between the two moieties of the tribe in the Warramunga — Members of one moiety taking charge of ceremonies connected with the totemic groups of the other — Paternal descent of the totem in the Warramunga — Eating of the totemic animal or plant — Relation between the individual and his totem as indicated by the final burial ceremony in the Warramunga tribe — Descent of the totem in the Umbaia and Gnanji tribes — In the Gnanji tribe a woman has no spirit part which can undergo reincarnation — Descent of the totem in the Binbinga — Distribution of the totemic groups in the Mara and Anula tribes— Descent of the totem in the same — Eating of the totemic animal and plant — Relationship between a man and his totemic animal or plant as indicated during the final burial ceremonies in the Mara and Anula — Review of the main features concerned with the totems in the various tribes.

We have already pointed out “that there is a very great difference, so far as matters connected with the totems are concerned, between the true central and the southern-central tribes who come into contact with one another a little to the north-west of Lake Eyre,” and that it looks very much as if in the latter locality “ we had a meeting-place of two sets of tribes, which migrated southwards, following roughly parallel courses — one across the centre of the continent, while the other followed down the course of the main streams on the east and then turned slightly northward on the west side of Lake Eyre ; or possibly in their southern wanderings part of this eastern group spread round the north and part round the south end of the lake.” ^ These two very distinct series of tribes, which may be typified respectively by the Arunta and Urabunna, differ very markedly from one another in the fact that in one we have descent counted in the paternal and in the other in the maternal line. In the northern Urabunna, for example, there are a number of totems belonging exclusively to the Matthurie moiety and others to the Kirarawa, and it therefore follows that a Matthurie man of one totem may only marry a woman of another. Thus a dingo Matthurie man marries a water-hen Kirarawa woman, and the children, following the mother, are all water-hens. Descent in this tribe is strictly maternal both as regards class and totem. In the Arunta, on the other hand, — and this is equally true of all the other tribes northwards to the gulf, — the line of descent, so far as class is concerned, is paternal.^ That of the totem changes gradually as we pass northwards, from the curious system met with in the Arunta, where there is no necessary relationship of any kind between that of children and parents, to that of the Binbinga, Anula, and Mara tribes, where the descent of the totem is as strictly paternal as it is in the case of the class.

This change in the descent of the totem is one of very considerable interest, as it shows that there is by no means the radical difference which, on the surface, there would appear to be, between two tribes in one of which, for example, a man and a woman might both of them be witchetty grubs and their children wild cats, witchetty grubs, evening stars, yams, kangaroos, or indeed members of any

1 N.T. p. 1 1 3.

2 In most cases indirectly paternal, but in some more directly paternal.

V

totemic group, and another tribe in which the parents must belong to distinct totemic groups, and their children always follow that of the father. Taking actual examples from tribes situated, one in the south and one in the far north, we find that in the former (Arunta) the man is a little hawk ; wife No. i is rat ; daughter, witchetty grub ; wife No. 2 is kangaroo ; no children ; wife No. 3 is lizard ; two daughters, one emu, the other water. In the second tribe (Binbinga), the father is a snake ; his father was a snake ; wife No. I is a big lizard ; one son, snake ; one daughter, snake ; wife No. 2, emu ; one son, snake ; two daughters, snakes.

In every tribe without exception there exists a firm belief in the reincarnation of ancestors.^ Emphasis must be laid on the fact that this belief is not confined to tribes such as the Arunta, Warramunga, Binbinga, Anula, and others, amongst whom descent is counted in the male line, but is found just as strongly developed in the Urabunna tribe, in which descent, both of class and totem, is strictly maternal.

In certain respects the beliefs of the Urabunna tribe, which inhabits the country to the south of the Arunta, bear the same relationship to those of the Arunta nation as do the beliefs of the Warramunga tribe in the far north. Briefly stated, the Urabunna belief is as follows ; — In the Alcheringa (the Urabunna term for this is Ularaka) there existed at first a comparatively small number of individuals who were half- human, half-animal or plant. How they arose no one knows. They lived in the Alcheringa, and behind this it is useless to attempt to pry. They are the exact equivalents of the Alcheringa ancestors of the Arunta. These semi-human creatures were endowed with far greater powers than any living men or women possess, They could walk about either on the earth or beneath it, or could fly through the air. They were the ancestors of the different totemic groups. A great carpet snake individual gave rise to the carpet snake group, two jew lizards gave rise to the jew

^ Roth has shown that the idea of conception not being necessarily due to sexual intercourse exists amongst certain tribes in Queensland. See North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5, p. 22.

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lizard group, one or two rain creatures gave rise to the rain group, and so on. The belief differs from that of the Arunta, and is in agreement with that of the Warramunga in the fact that the ancestors of each group are few in number, and that we hear nothing of the carrying of Churinga with which their spirit parts were associated.

These old semi -human ancestors wandered about all over the country now occupied by the Urabunna tribe, performing sacred ceremonies, and, when they did this, they deposited in the ground, or in some natural feature such as a rock or a 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 groups. Thus some of the mai-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 various totemic groups. Since that early time, when the various totem groups were thus instituted, the mai-aurli have been continually undergoing reincarnation.

The tradition concerned with two snakes called Kurnmara, who belonged to the Kirarawa moiety, will serve to illustrate the Urabunna belief. In the Alcheringa a green and a brown snake arose. At first they “ sat down,” as the natives say, inside a water-hole called Yanidi, making furstring. Coming out they started away on their wanderings and came to Mura-murara, where they made string, eat grass seed, and left mai-aurli or spirit children behind them. These mai-aurli came out from their bodies. Looking back they saw smoke in the direction of the Macumba River, where the country was all on fire. As they travelled along the brown snake took the lead, the green following behind. It was these two snakes who, during their wanderings, made all of the mound springs which are now so characteristic of this part of the country. Amongst others they made those of Kaltikaltinga, the so-called Thirty Mile Spring, the Fountain Spring, where they again made furstring and eat grass seed, bushes arising to mark the spot

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where they threw the stalks away. Wandering on they made Akundunda Spring, and at what is now called Mount Margaret Hill they built two stone shelters, one snake sitting down in each. As they walked along they hollowed out the course of the Umbinga Creek, and made the springs called by white men Brinkley, Loddon,_ and Strangways. After making some more they retraced their steps, and the green snake said to the brown one, “ I am Kirarawa, you are Matthurie.” They left spirits or mai-aurli at all of their camping places. Finally, at a place called Kirri-katjirina, the green snake caught sight of a yellow one and gave chase to it. It dived down into the ground, the green snake went down close by, and the brown one in another spot. Three springs arose to mark the place where they finally disappeared.

It is the mai-aurli or spirit children left behind by animal or semi-human ancestors such as these snakes, who are now continually undergoing reincarnation. In certain cases one particular spot is supposed to be inhabited by spirits of one special totem, but in other cases those of two or more totems may inhabit the same place.^ Thus, close by our camp, there was a large group of granite boulders which arose in the Alcheringa to mark the place where the ancestors of the pigeon group danced and played about. Of these boulders one represents an old male and another a female ancestor. The rocks are supposed to be inhabited solely by pigeon spirits which emanated from the bodies of the two ancestors. On the other hand there was a waterpool, a quarter of a mile away, inhabited by spirits left there by emu, rain, and a grub ancestor. Sometimes there appears to be a special relationship between totem groups thus associated with one spot — as, for example, in the case of one water-pool where there are spirits belonging to the following totemic groups : — larwinnia (mosquito), Momo (blow fly), Murilla (march fly), and Kudnapintjinara (sand fly).

^ These local totem centres are called paltinta by the Urabunna. This term is the equivalent of oknanikilla in the Arunta. The spot at which the great ancestor finally went down into the earth is called bara-koptiqtia.

It will thus be evident that in the Urabunna tribe, which is a typical example of those Australian tribes in which there are names for only the two moieties (Kirarawa and Matthurie, or Kararu and Matteri) and no subclasses, and in which descent is counted in the female line, we have a very definite belief in the existence of spirit individuals who are derived from ancestral totemic ancestors and are constantly undergoing reincarnation. Every living individual is the reincarnation of a mai-aurli or spirit who emanated from the body of an Alcheringa ancestor.

In the Urabunna, just as in the tribes north of the Arunta nation, the totems are strictly divided between the two moieties of the tribe. In these northern tribes descent both of class and totem is strictly paternal, and, as we shall describe shortly, a spirit child is not supposed to go into any woman unless she be the wife of a man of the same moiety and totem as the spirit. In the Urabunna the ideas of the natives in regard to this point are very different. The child must belong to the same moiety and totem as its mother, but they have the curious belief that in each successive reincarnation the child changes its sex, moiety, and totem.

Suppose, for example, a Kirarawa man of the emu totem dies. His spirit, which in the case of a dead man they call kumpira^ goes back to the place at which it was left by the ancestor in the Alcheringa. Here it remains for some time, but sooner or later it is reincarnated. This spirit of the former emu Kirarawa man will not go, so they say, into a Kirarawa woman ; if it were to do so it would either be born prematurely and die, or would cause the death of the mother.^ When undergoing reincarnation it can only enter the body of a Matthurie woman who, of necessity, belongs to another totem, and thus at each reincarnation the individual changes both his or her moiety and totem. Not only is this so, but it also changes its sex — a belief which is also met with in the Warramunga tribe. Every individual goes back after death in spirit form to the spot at which it

1 Premature births or accidents during child-birth are always attributed to the fact that the spirit has entered the body of the wrong woman.

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was left in the Alcheringa by the ancestor of the totem. If, for example, it were originally a pigeon spirit, then it will go back into the rocks at the spot where the pigeon ancestors performed ceremonies in the Alcheringa and left spirits behind. In the course of ages any single individual can run the whole gamut of the totems, alternating from side to side of the tribe, but always returning at death to its original home.^

The change of sex may possibly be associated with that of the moiety. At all events the result is that the children of the successive reincarnations of any one spirit always belong to the one moiety of the tribe. If we start with a Kirarawa man, then his children are Matthurie ; he is reincarnated as a Matthurie woman and her children are Matthurie ; after death she is reincarnated in the form of a Kirarawa man and his children are Matthurie, and so on without ceasing.

In a closely allied tribe, called Wonkgongaru ^ by the Urabunna, inhabiting country away out to the north-west of Lake Eyre, and having the same two moieties, Kiraru and Matthurie,^ the beliefs are identical with those of the Urabunna. In this tribe, but not in the Urabunna, there is a belief in the former existence of imperfectly formed human beings similar to the inapertwa or incomplete men of the Arunta tribe.

Just as in the Arunta and southern tribes so in the Urabunna, the members of the totem groups are supposed to be responsible for the production of the animal or plant after which the group is named, and to this end they perform Intichiuma ceremonies. No member of any totemic group eats the totem animal or plant, but there is no objection to his killing it and handing it over to be eaten by men who do not belong to the totemic group.

^ The Urabunna calls this gmiru ularaka, the exact equivalent of mira alcheringa^ or Alcheringa camp, of the Arunta.

2 The real name of this tribe is Gongaru. The prefix Wonk means speech. The Dieri call the Urabunna Wonkurabunna, and vice versa the Urabunna call the Dieri Wonkadieri, but they call themselves Urabunna.

^ In some parts of the Urabunna the names are Kirarawa and Matthurie, in others Kiraru and Matteri.

We have previously dealt at length with the ideas of the Arunta natives in regard to their totemic ancestors, and for purposes of comparison need only briefly recapitulate the main facts. The origin of the first -formed human beings is ascribed to two individuals named ungambikula who lived in the western sky, and, seeing far away to the east a mob of inapertwa creatures, who were the incomplete transformations of animals and plants, came down to earth, and with their knives released their half-formed arms and legs, cut open their mouths, bored holes for nostrils, slit the eyelids apart, and thus out of the inapertwa made men and women. After having circumcised the men the two ungambikula changed themselves into little lizards called amunga-quinia-quinia} The totemic ancestors who originated in this way marched in groups across the country, every one of them carrying with him, or her, not only a personal Churinga, but often many others also. Every one of these Churinga was associated with the spirit part of an individual, and at various spots these Alcheringa ancestors went into the ground, the Churinga with the associated spirit remaining behind, above ground. There are thus at the present day, dotted about all over the Arunta country, a very large number of places associated with these Alcheringa spirits, one group of whom will be kangaroo, another emu, another Hakea plant, and so on. When a woman conceives it simply means that one of these spirits has gone inside her,, and, knowing where she first became aware that she was pregnant, the child, when born, is regarded as the reincarnation of one of the spirit ancestors associated with that spot, and therefore it belongs to that particular totemic group. Every one of their ancestors is also believed to have been a member of one of the four classes or eight subclasses into which the tribe is now divided. As a general rule the spirit is supposed to enter a woman whose children are born into the class to which it, the spirit, itself belongs, but every now and again they go into the wrong mother, with the result that they are born into the wrong class. The individual can thus in successive reincarnations change his or her class,

^ For complete tradition see N. T. p. 387.

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though this is a matter of rare occurrence, but the totem is unchangeable in the Arunta tribe. Every man belongs to one special totemic group, but he may be more or less closely associated with one or more other groups, owing to special reasons. In some cases the members of two Alcheringa totemic groups may have camped near to one another and have performed sacred cererhbnies at two spots very close together. In this event the spirit individuals of those ancestors have, to a certain extent, a mutual interest in the two totems, and their descendants will regard each other as closely associated, so far as totemic matters are concerned. Thus, for example, at Imanda on the Hugh River, the ancestors of the frog, little bat, big white bat, and wild-cat totemic groups foregathered in the Alcheringa, and therefore their descendants are mutually interested in one another’s performances. At Alice Springs, after the performance of a ceremony of the lizard totem, one of the leading men in this totemic group told us that he was in reality a lizard, but was, as he said, “ close up ” an Auadaua (grassseed) man. On further questioning him we found out that in the Alcheringa a number of Auadaua men had come to the place where he lived, and had there performed a series of ceremonies, trying to change him into an Auadaua man. In consequence of this, though he declined to be changed, he was very closely associated with that totem, and was, as he told us, really a lizard but “ close up ” an Auadaua man. Though Auadaua is not forbidden to him as food in the same way in which it is to the men of the totemic group, yet he indicates the fact of his association with the latter by abstaining from eating the plant while it is fresh and green. Occasionally an individual was thus in the Alcheringa actually transformed from one totem to another, as in the case of an Unjiamba (Hakea flower) woman who, by means of the performance of sacred ceremonies belonging to the bandicoot, was changed into a woman of that totem.

In the Arunta, as a general rule, the great majority of the members of any one totemic group belong to one moiety of the tribe, but this is by no means universal, and in different totemic groups certain of the ancestors are supposed to have belonged to one moiety and others to the other, with the result that of course their living descendants also follow their example. In this respect the Unmatjera, Ilpirra, and Iliaura are in 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 Warramunga. 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 regard to 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 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.

The Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes have traditions dealing with incomplete human beings whom the former call inmintera, and who are similar to the inapertwa of the Arunta. They say that in the Alcheringa an old crow lived at Ungurla, a place on what is now called the Woodford River. One day he saw afar off a large number of inmintera whom he determined to go and make into men and women. Accordingly he did so, separating their limbs, etc., with his bill. Having completed this part of his work he returned to his camp to get his stone knife with which to initiate them. However, while he was away, two Parenthie (large lizard) men, who came from the south, appeared upon the scene and with their teeth circumcised and subincised the men, and performed the operation of atna-ariltha-kuma upon the women, after which they returned to their home again. When the old crow had got his knife ready and was preparing to start off, he looked out and saw that the two Parenthies had been before him, so he stayed at his home

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at Ungurla, and a big black stone arose to mark the spot at which he died.

According to one Kaitish tradition there were, in the Alcheringa, no human beings, only indefinitely shaped creatures, sometimes called inter-intera and at others atnathera-thera — the latter name in allusion to the fact that they are commonly supposed to have had two anal openings, one on each wrist in the hollow between the ends of the ulna and the radius. Two Ullakuppera (little hawk) boys, who were respectively Thungalla and Umbitjana, came up from the other side of the Ilpirra country. They were the same boys to whom Atnatu sent down the sacred stone knives ^ when he saw them vainly trying to circumcise themselves. The Kaitish people say that the boys started far away to the south, and as they travelled along they transformed numbers of incomplete creatures into men and women, carving out the various parts of their bodies, just as the ungambikula did amongst the Arunta. After having done this they circumcised and subincised the men and performed atna-ariltha-kuma upon the women. They went as far north as the Bonny River — the southern boundary of the Warramunga tribe — and then turned south-west and came to a place called Atnungara, where they lay down on ' the top of their Churinga and so died, a big hill and waterhole arising to mark the spot. By thus lying down on the top of the Churinga, instead of placing them by their side, the Kaitish people say that they cannot possibly undergo reincarnation.

In addition, however, to these traditions relating to the origin of human beings as the transformations of animals and plants, both the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes have traditions relating to other totemic ancestors who originated directly in the form of human beings. A creek, which runs on the north side of the Harts Range, and flows across the Unmatjera country from north-east to south-west, marks the boundary between the groups of totemic ancestors who were formed first as inter-intera on the southern, and those formed as men or ertwa on the northern side. Amongst

1 For tradition see later.

the former are the ancestors of the following totems : — Idnimita (a grub), Erlia (emu), Okira (kangaroo), Wongara (crow), Quatcha (water), Achilpa (wild cat), lllunja (galah cockatoo). Amongst those formed first as ertwa^ and who did not pass through the intermediate incomplete stage, are the following: — Unkurta (jew lizard), Qualpa (long-tailed rat), Iwuta (nail-tailed wallaby), Atnungara (pig -footed bandicoot), Thakwia (a species of jumping mouse), Arawa (a wallaby), and the big Parenthie lizard ( Varanus giganteus).

In regard to the ancestors who originated in human form there is, just as in the case of the others, a very close relationship between them and the animals whose names they bear, and they are regarded by the natives in the light of, at first, semi-human beings. At the same time the natives are very clear upon the point that they were really ertwa — that is, men, and not incomplete human beings who underwent a transformation with the assistance of other creatures.

In the Kaitish tribe we almost lose sight of what is so prominent a feature of the Alcheringa traditions of the Arunta, and that is the walking across the country of companies of individuals belonging to the same totem. In fact so far as men are concerned, we have only, as it were, relics of traditions which relate to any company of individuals ; as a general rule two persons, often an elder and a younger brother, and not seldom a single individual, being concerned. In the Arunta it was, to a large extent, the members of the totemic companies who went into the earth at various spots, forming thus oknanikillas , though at the same time they also carried Churinga with them, each of which was associated with a spirit. In the Kaitish and Unmatjera, while we have still persisting the old tradition about the transformation of incomplete human beings into men and women, we find that the peopling of various spots is due to one or two old totemic ancestors, who in some cases carried Churinga with them, just as the Arunta ancestors did, though in other cases the spirits are reported to have emanated from their bodies. We have elsewhere dealt

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in detail with these traditions.^ Here it will suffice to refer briefly to a few which will serve as typical illustrations of the Kaitish and Unmatjera beliefs.

The first relates to a celebrated Alcheringa individual of the Unkurta totem. He is reported to have arisen first of all in the form of an amunga-quinia-quinia man (the lizard into which the ungambikula are supposed to'^have been changed in the Arunta tribe). After a time he looked at himself and said, “ Oh, I have got prickles just like a porcupine ” ; then he grew a little larger and became Unkurta, a jew lizard man. When he arose first of all he was very stiff and could not walk, but had to lie down all day long in the sunshine and stretch his legs. Later on he looked, and to his surprise saw another Unkurta, a small one, on the ground beside him, and said, “ Hullo, that is me ” ; and then he looked again and again, and saw others, and said each time, “ Hullo, that is me.” These Unkurta sprang from his body. Then he continued to look at himself, and gradually he increased and became great in the flesh, and grew into an Oknirabata.^ After he had thus grown and given origin to a large number of Unkurta beings, he left his camp and travelled away to a place called Unqurtunga, where he saw a Kumara man of the Iwuta (nail-tailed wallaby) totem, whose name was Ariokara. He told the latter that if he looked he also would see another Iwuta beside him on the ground, all the same as himself, and then another and another, and so on until there was a big mob of Iwuta. Then if he continued to look at himself he would increase in the flesh and become great and an Oknirabata. In succession Unkurta visited a Qualpa (long-tailed rat), an Arawa (wallaby), and an Atnunga (rabbit bandicoot), telling each of them the same thing. Finally he returned to his own camp, and sent out his offspring in various directions that they might give rise to Unkurta people in different parts of the country. All of them finally went into the ground, leaving their spirit parts

^ See later.

^ The name applied by the Arunta to a man old and learned in tribal customs. It means a great teacher.

behind them, and they are now constantly undergoing reincarnation as Unkurta men and women, the spirit children entering the women just as they do in the Arunta tribe. The old Unkurta himself had a lot of Churinga which remained behind at his camp when he himself died. It will be noticed that this origin of a large number of individuals from one great ancestor is very different from anything with which we have come into contact amongst the Arunta, but at the same time the Churinga are still in evidence, though the old man’s offspring are not especially associated with them. Both Unkurta and his children arose also in the form of men, or rather of beings who were neither exactly human nor yet animal, but who possessed far greater powers than any living members of the tribe.

The tradition in the Unmatjera tribe with regard to the origin of the ancestors of the Idnimita (a grub) totem will serve to illustrate the beliefs with regard to the inmintera creatures, the equivalents of the inter-intera of the Kaitish and the inapertwa of the Arunta.

In the Alcheringa the Idnimita were first of all what is called ignitha^ small hairy caterpillars, who walked about on the Idnimita bushes, eating the leaves. By and by, after they had gone down into the ground, there came a big rain which soaked them all and washed their hairs off, and in this way they were changed into Idnimita grubs and bored their way into the roots of the shrubs. Then there came a second rain, and with this a great wind which carried a little Idnimita grub from the sea country, far away. When first it came down with the rain it had little spots, then it grew bigger and red in colour, then still bigger and white, and then it went down into the ground. When it was carried across by the wind it was only very little and was called atthithika. It came down to earth at India, which is now the central spot of the Idnimita totem. Like all of the other grubs, it bored its way into the roots of the tree and there lay quiet in its irtnia — that is, its chrysalis case. After a time it came out of this, changed into an inmintera creature. Gradually he grew bigger and bigger. He could

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not see but felt his chin and said, “ Hullo, my whiskers are growing.” He slept all day and was stiff, and tried to get up, but could not undouble himself. An old crow came along and perched on a tree watching him. Then it flew away to another tree close by, still keeping its eye on the Idnimita. Then coming still closer it said, “ I think I will make him into a man,” and, setting to "work with its bill, first of all made a slash across the creature’s middle, so that he could sit up ; then cut across the elbow joint, so that the arms could be straightened out ; then freed the fingers, making first two cuts on the palm, which are now represented by the two long lines running one across the palm and the other around the base of the thumb. This done it cut the eyelids open, slashed across the face with its bill, making the mouth, and finally pushed its bill up either side of the nose, thereby opening the two nostrils. Thus the crow transformed the imperfect creature into the first fully formed Idnimita man. The latter lay down all day with his chrysalis case iirtnia), out of which he had come, by his side. This was his Churinga and was coloured red. From it there also issued many kurna^ or spirit individuals, which later on gave rise to Idnimita men and women. He said, “ I am Kumara.” He used to paint himself and make Intichiuma, and when he performed ceremonies spirits emanated from his body.^ Two of these were lubras, called Araltjilina, and were Purula ; a third was called Unduda and was also Purula. Two others were named respectively Kulpaitja and Ungakakakurta. They were both Kumara, and the younger sisters of the old Idnimita who gave rise to them. These two women have since undergone reincarnation, and are alive in human form at the present day.

Every Alcheringa ancestor had his class as well as totem, and, just as in the Arunta, the totem, in successive reincarnations, is supposed never to change, but, in rare instances, the class may. Thus at the present day the son of Ilpailurkna, the head of the Idnimita totem, is the

1 In some cases these ancestors are reported to have performed Intichiuma for the purpose of producing animals or plants, and in others for the purpose of producing spirit individuals.

reincarnation of an emu Panunga man, but he went into a Panunga woman and so was born a Kumara.

In a third tradition relating to the ancestors of the rain or water totem, we meet first of all with an old man, a Purula, who arose in the form of a man at a water-hole called Anira, which is now the great centre of the rain people. At sunset he slept, and when the sun arose he split into two, one of whom was a Purula and the other a Kumara (z.e. father and son). At sunset the two joined together to form a Purula, who went down into the waterhole out of which at sunrise he emerged and divided into two again. After this they remained separate. In the morning they were red coloured, but they sat out in the sunlight all day and turned black. They grew into Oknirabata and went up a hill and stroked their beards, out of which, finally, streams of water flowed. Before this, however, they had left spirit children behind at various spots where they performed sacred ceremonies, the spirits on these occasions emanating from their bodies. At a place called Arumba two euro men came out of their whiskers, and for this reason there is at the present day a close relationship between the men of the euro and those of the rain totem.

In addition to numerous traditions, all more or less like the above, which deal with one or two individuals from whom the ancestors of the totemic group arose, we meet with a few isolated cases in which groups of individuals originated in much the same way as that in which they are supposed to have done in the Arunta tribe. To the southwest of Barrow Creek, for example, a number of Purula and Kumara men arose who all belonged to the Wutta, a little rat totem. Then again we have a tradition relating to groups of women who were called ertwaininga and walked across the Unmatjera country, leaving individuals behind at various spots and thus forming oknanikillas ^ exactly as the Alcheringa ancestors of the totems did in the Arunta country. One of these groups consisted of Purula women of the Namungiyera (a little bird) totem ; another of Panunga women of the Impi-impi (a little bird) totem ; and a third of Bulthara and Appungerta women of the Iralla (a beetle) totem.

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One further feature in which the Kaitish and Unmatjera people differ from the Arunta is, that in the former we have two clearly marked series of totemic ancestors, one of whom is supposed to have originated in the form of fully developed men, and the other in that of incomplete human beings who were called inter-inter a and had to be transformed into men and women by means of some Alcheringa being, such as a crow, just as, amongst the Arunta, the inapertwa were transformed by the ungambikula.

In the Unmatjera and Kaitish tribes we find that there is a very definite relationship supposed to exist between a man and his totem in regard not only to his own eating of it, but in regard also to other people eating it, such as is not so clearly seen in the Arunta customs. When the headman of the totemic group in the latter tribe has performed the ceremony of Intichiuma, and has thereby secured the increase of the totemic animal or plant, his special interest in it, so to speak, ceases for the time being ; he does not eat it himself, or only very sparingly, and, if it be an animal, he will not kill it, but any one else who does not belong to the totemic group may do -so without further reference to him. In the Kaitish and Unmatjera tribes, how- ever, things are very different An emu man, for example, coming into the locality of a grass-seed totem group, will gather some of this seed and take it to the headman of the group, saying, “ I have been getting grass seed in your country.” The grass-seed man will say, “ That is right ; you eat it” If the emu man were to eat it without first of all asking permission, he would be very ill and probably die. Further still, while no one may eat any animal or plant without the permission of the headman of the group which is called by its name, and to whom the special animal or plant is regarded as belonging, the customs of the Kaitish and Unmatjera make it perfectly evident that they believe that the members of each totemic group are responsible for providing other individuals with a supply of their totemic animal or plant. When any animal is killed by an individual who does not belong to that totem, it is first brought into camp and cooked, and then, if any man of that totem should happen to be in camp, it is taken to him ; he eats a little bit, and then, but not until then, the other men may eat it. Again, if a man, say of the emu totem, be out hunting in the scrub by himself and sees an emu, he will not touch it ; but, on the contrary, if he be out in the company of men of other totems, then it is quite permissible for him to kill the emu himself, but he must hand it over to the other men. In the case of men of the water totem the restrictions are very definite and serve to indicate in an unmistakable fashion what are the ideas of these tribes at the present day in regard to the totems. If a water totem man be quite alone, then there is no objection to his drinking water with which he provides himself, but, so long as he is in the company of other men belonging to other totems, he must not obtain it for himself, but receives it from some individual who belongs to the moiety of the tribe of which he, the water man, is not a member. As a general rule a man of the water totem receives this, when in camp, from his umbirna — that is, a man who belongs to the same class as his wife does ; but if such an one be not present, then any member of the moiety of the tribe to which he does not belong may give it to him.

From what has been said above it will be seen that the members of the totem are regarded as responsible for the ensuring of a supply of the totemic animal or plant, and that, further, the individuals of the tribe who do not belong to the totem expect those who do to maintain this supply for their benefit. At the same time they fully recognise the fact that they may not eat any animal or plant without obtaining the permission of the men to whose totemic group it belongs to do so. In the Arunta tribe this feature of totemism is only seen at the close of the Intichiuma ceremonies, but in the Kaitish and Unmatjera tribes it is more fully developed and enters, in fact, into the daily life of the natives.

In all of the tribes there are certain totemic groups in connection with which it is difficult to understand the performance of Intichiuma ceremonies. Such totems are the sun, evening star, and stone in the Arunta, or Quinnia (darkness) in the Unmatjera. Flies and mosquitos also are

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i6i such pests that, at first sight, it is not easy to understand why ceremonies to increase their number should be performed. In the latter two instances, however, it must be remembered that flies and mosquitos, though themselves intensely objectionable, are very intimately associated with what the native above all things desires to see . at certain times of the year, and that is a heavy rainfall. The only answer to any inquiry as to why Intichiuma ceremonies are performed in connection with such totems as that of the evening star is that their fathers did it, and so they must. It is possible that this and certain other totemic groups are of relatively late origin. At all events they always consist of very few individuals and are numerically unimportant. Possibly also the idea of Intichiuma may have been, as it were, carried over to them from other totemic groups named after animals and plants, in connection with which the holding of Intichiuma is understandable.

Passing northwards from the Kaitish we come to a group of tribes, including the Warramunga, Walpari, Wulmala, Worgaia, and Tjingilli, in which the ideas with regard to totems agree in essential features with those of the Kaitish and Unmatjera people, but at the same time differ in certain important details. In the first place every individual is, once more, the reincarnation of an Alcheringa spirit who belonged to some particular totem, or, as the Warramunga call it, mungai. In the Kaitish and Unmatjera we have seen that some of the totemic ancestors arose as men, others as incomplete human beings, as all of them did in the Arunta. Here, in the Warramunga and allied tribes, we completely lose sight of the latter feature, and in the instance of every totem with which we are acquainted, save one or two exceptional cases, there is merely one great ancestor, half human, half beast, or plant, who wandered about the country performing ceremonies at spots where he left behind him spirit children who emanated from his body.^ In essential features this belief is very closely similar to that of the Urabunna tribe, in which descent is counted in the female line. All of the members of a totemic group

^ For details in regard to this see later.

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are the direct offspring of one ancestor — a feature which we meet with from the Warramunga tribe right through to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The ancestor of the black-snake totem, for example, arose in a water-hole on the Tennant Creek ; he wandered over the country performing ceremonies, making creeks and hills, and leaving all along his tracks plenty of spirit black-snake children who are now resident in the rocks around the water-holes and in the gum-trees which border the creek. No woman at the present day will venture to strike one of these trees with a tomahawk, as she is firmly convinced that this would have the effect of releasing one of these spirit children, who would immediately enter her body.

In the case of another snake-totem ancestor, we meet with other points of interest which will serve to show at once the agreement in the main essential point, and the very considerable differences which exist in regard to details between the Arunta tribe on the one hand and the Warramunga on the other — differences, however, which are bridged over by the intervening Kaitish tribe. Tradition relates that in the Wingara — the Alcheringa of the Warramunga — a Tjunguri man of the Nappa-undattha, a green -coloured, harmless snake totem, arose at Nai-irini in Binbinga country, sitting down — so the natives say — at first below the ground. In many of the Warramunga traditions we meet with this feature, that at first the old ancestor walks about under the ground, only coming out at a later stage. This coming out is spoken of as meltjinta, the final going down is palpala. The snake came out from a native well, — as yet he was a snake and not a human being, — and there found a Tjapeltjeri boy whom he took on with him. He stopped at various spots, leaving spirit children behind him where he performed sacred ceremonies. He changed into a Panunkulla, another kind of snake, travelled on, making ceremonies ; changed into a Nathakura snake, travelled on and made more ceremonies, leaving children behind at various viungai spots.^ Every time that he changed his totem that of the Tjapeltjeri

^ These mungai are exactly equivalent to the oknanikillas of the Arunta tribe or \\q paltinia of the Urabunna.

boy changed also. He himself was a Tjunguri, and therefore all of his offspring were Tjapeltjeri, and they came out from his muscles when he shook himself. After a time he took a lot of his children with him as he travelled along, and, coming into Warramunga country, changed into a Kundatjeri snake, and still later on into a Kutnakitji snake. In this way the one individual was the ancestor of a number of different snake totemic groups. He himself had no Churinga, but he stole a small one which belonged to the ancestor of the Wollunqua snake totem.

We have now passed almost completely beyond the tribes in which there is the association between the individual and the Churinga, which is such a striking feature in the Arunta, Unmatjera, and Kaitish tribes, though it is not so strongly developed in the last as in the first two. The Warramunga have indeed a certain number of Churinga, but very few as compared with the. Arunta, and, practically, they do not figure in their totemic ceremonies, though in certain of their traditions their ancestors are described as possessing and swinging them as bull-roarers.

We have stated above that there are rare exceptions tothe usual traditional origin of the totem from a single indi- vidual. The most noticeable of them relate to some women called munga - munga, who belonged to the yam totem. They seem to have sprung into existence close to the home of the great black snake at Tjinqurokora, and, in obedience to him, went away out towards the east into the country of the Worgaia tribe, carrying their yams with them and depositing them in Worgaia country, each one, just like the Churinga of the Arunta, being associated with a spirit child. These yams are now represented by stone Churinga, and in this respect serve to link these tribes on to the more southern ones. They form indeed the last instance with which we came in contact, whilst travelling northwards from the Arunta tribe, of the association of a spirit child with a Churinga.

In the Warramunga group the descent of the totem, almost without exception, follows in the paternal line, and the totems are markedly divided into two groups, one belonging to the Kingilli half of the tribe and the other to the Uluuru. In consequence of the ideas relating to the origin of each totemic group from one individual ancestor, we have no original — that is, no Alcheringa mixture, in the case of any totem, of individuals belonging to both moieties of the tribe, and therefore at the present day we have a corresponding separation of the totems into two groups, one associated with the Kingilli and one with the Uluuru. At the same time, in very rare instances we do meet with a man whose totem is not the same as that of his father ; but it would be quite possible, amongst a camp containing a hundred or more individuals, not to find a single one whose totem was not the same as that of his or her father. It follows also that, in the Warramunga group, a man must marry a woman of a different totem to his own ; in fact, if by chance a woman should be born into his own totemic group, although she belonged to a class into which he might lawfully marry, then that woman, despite the latter fact, would be strictly tabooed to him as a wife.

Just as in the southern tribes, so here the men of the totem are regarded as responsible for the securing of the increase of the animal or plant from which they take their totemic name. Amongst the Warramunga we find a further development of the idea — the first indication of which is met with amongst the Kaitish — that the members of one moiety of the tribe take charge, as it were, of the ceremonies of the other moiety, which are destined to secure the increase of their own food supply. The idea is carried to such an extent that neither moiety actually performs any of its totemic ceremonies without being requested to do so by the members of the other side. In the Arunta, on the contrary, no member of one moiety may come anywhere near to the spot at which men of the other are preparing a ceremony save by special invitation, which is only very rarely given. In the Warramunga, on the contrary, with the exception of the men who are actually performing, no member of the moiety with which the totem is connected may come anywhere near to the place of preparation. In the Arunta and the Warramunga conditions are exactly reversed, but, as in other matters, so here we find an intermediate state in the Kaitish,

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amongst whom the members of one totemic group act, so to speak, on their own initiative, as they do in the Arunta ; but, as in the Warramunga, they are actually decorated by men of the other moiety, who also provide everything that is necessary for the purpose — ochre, blood, bird’s down, etc. __ ^

Amongst the Warramunga we -did not meet with a single instance of an individual who was a member of a totemic group belonging to the moiety of the tribe to which he himself did not belong, and, further, we only met with rare cases in which a child was not of the totem of his or her father. In one of these the father was a Wollunqua snake, and the son belorjged to the water totem, and in the other the father was a lizard and the son hailstone.

The following will serve as typical instances of the arrangement in the Warramunga and allied tribes : —

(1) Warramunga tribe. A Tjupila man of the Winithonguru or wild -cat totem. Father, wild cat ; father’s father, wild cat. Mother, emu. Brother and sister, wild cat.

(2) Warramunga tribe. A Thakomara man of the hailstone totem. Father, Lirripitji or lizard ; father’s father, Lirripitji. Mother, Woruquarri, a little rat. Children, two sons and one daughter, Lirripitji. Wife, Wollunqua.

(3) Warramunga tribe. A Thungalla man of the whitehawk totem. Father, white hawk ; father’s father, Nappa, water. Mother, Lunkulungu, white ant’s eggs. Son, white hawk. Wife, Wollunqua.

(4) Warramunga tribe. A Tjambin man of the Unkurthurta totem, a little snake. Father and father’s father, Unkurthurta. Mother, Nappa, water.

(5) Walpari tribe. A Tjupila man of the Gnungapuna (honey bag) totem. Father and father’s father, honey bag. Children, son and daughter, honey bag.

(6) Worgaia tribe. An Ikamaru man of the Menadji (yam) totem. Father and father’s father, Menadji. Brother, Menadji. Mother, Napukuntatjera, a little snake. Children, Menadji.

(7) Wulmala tribe. Two Tjunguri men (brothers) of the Tjudia (deaf adder) totem. Father, Tjudia ; father’s father, Tjudia.^

(8) Walpari tribe. A Tjunguri man of the Wintaku (curlew) totem. Father and father’s father, Wintaku. Brother, Wintaku. Mother, Gnungapuna, honey bag. Wife, snake. Children, Wintaku.

These examples could be multiplied indefinitely. The striking features are (i) that the descent of the totem is almost without exception in the paternal line, and (2) that a man never marries a woman of his own totem.

The relationship between a man and his totem, so far as eating restrictions are concerned, is very simple but at the same time strict. He may neither kill nor eat it, and the same applies to the totem of his father and father’s father, whether these be, one or both of them, identical with, or different from, his own. Of course as a general rule they are identical, but if not the same restriction still applies. There is some difference in regard to the relationship between a man and his mother’s totem. In the Walpari this may be eaten if given to a man by a member of the moiety with which the totem is associated. Thus the Tjunguri (curlew) man will eat honey bag — his mother’s totem — if it be given to him by a Kingilli man. In the case of a Walpari man whose mother belonged to the fire totem, he obtains a fire-stick, when he wants one, from a man who belongs to the half of the tribe with which the fire totem is associated. In the Worgaia — at all events in the western section of the tribe — the mother’s totem is strictly tabooed and must not be eaten ; in the Warramunga a man will not kill it himself, and will only partake of it if it be given to him by a member of the other moiety of the tribe — that is, by a man who belongs to the half of the tribe to which that particular totem is regarded as belonging. For example, a Tjupila man of the wild-cat totem, whose mother was an emu, will

1 These two men both entered their mother at a water-hole called Thali-ippi, where in the Wingara the ancestor of the Tjudia totem left them behind in spirit form. They may not drink water from the pool at Thali-ippi. Close by there are spots inhabited by opossum and witchetty grub spirits, and therefore these two men regard themselves as having a special association with these two totemic groups. This locality association is characteristic of all the tribes.

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not kill the bird, and will only eat it if it be given to him by a member of the Uluuru moiety to which the totem belongs. In the case of a Tjambin, whose mother’s totem was water, water is given to him by any man of the Uluuru half, though, in this particular instance, if he happens to be out alone and thirsty, there is no objection to his obtaining it for himself, but by preference he will receive it at the hands of another individual.

The general relationship existing in the Warramunga tribe between the various members of the tribal groups and any particular totem may be clearly seen by reference to the black-snake totem. This belongs to Thapanunga and Thapungarti men, and has its centre at a water-hole called Tjinqurokora on the Tennant Creek. The men and women of the totem, and those whose fathers or father’s fathers belonged to it, are forbidden to eat the animal at all. Those whose mother’s totem it was only eat if it be given to them by Uluuru men. The Tjunguri and Tjapeltjeri men amongst the Uluuru, and the Thapanunga and Thapungarti men who do not belong to the totem, only eat it if it be given to them by Kingilli men, who may eat it freely at all times. No woman may go anywhere near to Tjinqurokora to draw water ; all initiated men may go there, but the men of the totem may not drink at the spot ; the Kingilli drink freely there, but the Tjunguri, Tjapeltjeri, Thapanunga, and Thapungarti men who do not belong to the totem, only drink the water if it be given to them by the Kingilli. Here we find restrictions which not only apply to the totemic animal itself, but, in addition, are concerned with the waterhole where the animal arose.^ In the case of all totems the restrictions seem to be done away with in the instance of very old men ; they may eat everything, but this only

1 It will be seen from this account that there is a fundamental difference between the relationship supposed to exist in the case of a man’s own totem and that of the totems associated with his own moiety and, on the other hand, the totem of his mother. The latter he will eat if it be given to him by a member of the moiety with %vhich it is associated. If it be his own, or his father’s or father’s father, then he will not eat it at all ; but if this restriction does not apply, then a man will only eat a particular animal or plant which is associated with a totemic group belonging to his own moiety of the tribe if it be given to him by a man belonging to the other moiety of the b'ibc.

when they are really very old and their hair is turning white.

Certain totemic groups in the southern section of the Warramunga have a very interesting ceremony which serves as the conclusion of the burial rites, and is very suggestive in regard to the totems. This is described elsewhere in detail ; here it will be sufficient to say that some twelve months, or even more, after the body has been laid on the platform of boughs, which serve as the first burial-place, the bones are taken down and buried in the ground, with the exception of one arm -bone. This is very carefully wrapped up in bark, wound round and round with furstring. If it be that of a woman a tuft of emu feathers, and if it be that of a man, one of owl feathers, is added. This final rite 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 two which we witnessed these drawings had reference to snake totems belonging to the moiety of the tribe to which, in each instance, the dead person had belonged — in one instance to the individual’s own totem, though there is no necessity for this to be the case. The totem must, however, always be one of those associated with the moiety of the tribe to which the dead person belonged. A small pit was dug beside the totemic design drawn on the ground ; the men who had performed the ceremony — their bodies still decorated with the totemic designs — stood straddle - legged, one behind the other, across a small trench fifteen feet long. The women, one of whom carried the bone, were summoned to attend, and, forming in single file, they all passed along the trench, creeping on hands and knees beneath the bodies of the men. The last one carried the bone, and as she emerged from the trench it was snatched from her and at once carried across to where a man stood ready beside the little pit with a stone axe uplifted. With one blow the bone was broken, and immediately thrust into the ground beside the totemic design, and the mouth of the pit closed with a small flat stone. After this ceremony has been performed the

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spirit is supposed to return to its mungai spot, and finally it undergoes reincarnation.

Passing away towards the east we meet with two tribes, the Umbaia and Gnanji, which in general features agree very closely with the Warramunga. The totems are strictly divided up between the two moieties of the tribe. ^ It therefore follows that a woman of the same totenf'as himself is forbidden as wife to a man of that totem. With only the very rarest exceptions the children follow the father. The Umbaia are in contact on their western border with the Tjingilli, and on their eastern with the Gnanji. The following will serve as examples of what takes place in these tribes: — (i) A Paliarinji man of a snake totem; father, father’s father, sisters, children, all of the same snake totem. (2) A Tjamerum man of another snake totem ; father, father’s father, sisters, brothers, and children all snake. (3) A Tjameraku man of the wallaby totem ; wife, snake ; father, father’s father, and children all wallaby. (4) A Tjameraku man of the kangaroo totem ; wife, snake ; father, father’s father, and children all kangaroo. The restrictions with regard to eating are the same as those in the Warramunga and Tjingilli.

In these tribes there is a belief, which is of some interest as indicating a transition from the curiously irregular descent of the totem, as we find it arranged amongst the Arunta tribe, to the strictly paternal descent of the totem which is met with amongst the coastal tribes. 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 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 totem 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.

The ideas of the Umbaia and Gnanji in regard to their totemic ancestors are practically identical with those of the Warramunga. Each totemic group of individuals originated as the offspring of one ancestral, eponymous creature who walked about the country making ranges, creeks, waterholes, and other natural features. Wherever he performed sacred ceremonies, there he left behind him spirit individuals, who emanated from his body. A curious feature, however, in connection with the Gnanji tribe, and one in which it stands by itself, is the idea that a woman has no moidna or spirit part. They were quite definite on this point. There are large numbers of spirit female-children, but they never undergo reincarnation. The Gnanji to whom we spoke were quite aware of the fact that this is not the belief of either the Umbaia or the Binbinga tribe, with both of whom they come into contact, and it is rather strange to find so curious and isolated a belief in this one tribe, which, in all other respects, is so closely similar to those by which it is surrounded.^

To the east of the Gnanji we come to the Binbinga tribe, which inhabits the country from the head waters of the Macarthur River down to within about fifty miles of the coast. In this tribe the descent of the totem is strictly paternal. Exactly as was the case in the Warramunga, Tjingilli, etc., so in the Binbinga, the totems are divided between the two moieties, with the result that a man must marry a woman of some other totem than his own. The two following will serve as examples : —

1 It may be noted that the Gnanji do not appear to associate much with other tribes. They are a wild, .savage-looking people, and form a kind of buffer between the coastal and the inland tribes.

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(1) A Paliarinji man of the Ulanji (a snake) totem. Father, father’s father, Ulanji. Mother, dingo. Wife No. i, kangaroo ; wife No. 2, kangaroo. Brothers, sisters, and children all Ulanji.

(2) A Tjurulum man of the dingo totem. Father, father’s father, dingo. Mother, snake. Wife, snak^^ Sisters, brothers, and children all dingo.

In this tribe, again, the individual does not eat his own totemic animal or plant, and only very sparingly of that of his mother. Thus, for example, the Paliarinji man does not touch the snake Ulanji, and only eats sparingly of the dingo, his mother’s totem.

The Binbinga have also the characteristic belief in the descent of the members of the totemic group from a single Alcheringa ancestor. Thus the snake Ulanji arose, according to tradition, at a place called Markumundana, where he came out of the ground.^ He walked along to a big sandhill, Windilumba, where he made a spring, and also a moun- tain close by. He crossed what is now known as the Limmen Creek, and made a range of hills and a valley, with a large number of water-holes and plenty of lilies in them. He left behind numbers of Ulanji spirits wherever he performed ceremonies. These spirits emanated from his body. After travelling over a great extent of country, and making many mungai spots, he finally went into the ground at a big water-hole called Uminiwura. The Binbinga believe that both men and women can see the spirit children at the mungai spots.

Each totem has its headman called Mungaringi, and the headship descends from father to son, though, if there be no son, or if he be too young to act, then it passes to the father’s eldest surviving brother.

To the east of the Binbinga, again, are the Mara and Anula tribes, the latter occupying the country round about the mouth of the Macarthur River and extending across into the Pellew Islands. The organisation of these tribes differs from that of those previously dealt with, as there are only two classes in each moiety, and the totems are

^ For a full account of this tradition see later.

divided up amongst them. In the Mara the classes are named Murungun and Mumbali, forming one moiety of the tribe, and Purdal and Kuial forming the other, and the totems are distributed as follows : —

Murungun has eagle-hawk, yellow snake, hill kangaroo, large crocodile, parrot, galah, stone, salt water.

Mumbali has whirlwind, a poisonous snake, white hawk, crow, opossum, salt-water mullet, stingaree.

Purdal has blue - headed snake, big kangaroo, crane, wallaby, little fish-hawk, dingo, barramunda, rain, sand-hill snake, little crocodile.

Kuial has emu, turkey, goanna, white cockatoo, grasshopper, water snake, kite, jabiru, groper, turtle.

In the Anula the classes are named Awukaria and Roumburia, forming one moiety, and Urtalia and Wialia forming the other ; and the totems are distributed as follows : —

Awukaria has dugong, two salt - water turtles, called respectively Murulanka and Thuriutu, a snake called Gnurwa, native companion, euro, ground sugar-bag, large eagle-hawk, pearl oyster, small crocodile, and small shark.

Roumburia has large shark, snake called Napintipinti, large crane, small crane, dollar bird, curlew, stingaree, mullet, whirlwind, opossum.

Wialia has fish called Runutji, sugar-bag, cold weather, wild fowl called Talulthalpuna, emu, and a hawk called Mularakaka.

Urtalia has 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 Gnoalia.

It follows from the distribution of the totems indicated above that in the Anula and Mara tribes a man cannot marry a woman of his own totem ; he can only marry one belonging to the right subclass, and the descent of the totem is strictly paternal. The following cases will serve as examples ; —

(i) An Urtalia man of the Tjutjutju (fish-hawk) totem.

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Father and father’s father, Tjutjutju. Wife, small shark. Children, Tjutjutju. Mother, small shark.

(2) A Roumburia man of the whirlwind totem. Father and father’s father, whirlwind. Wife, lizard. Children, whirlwind.

(3) An Awukaria man of the pearl-oysjter totem. Father and father’s father, pearl oyster. Mother, fish-hawk. Wife, lightning. Brother, sister, and children all pearl oyster.

(4) A Mumbali man of the whirlwind totem. Father and father’s father, whirlwind. Wife, kangaroo. Brothers, sisters, and children all whirlwind.

(5) A Purdal man of the kangaroo totem. Father and father’s father, kangaroo. Wife, eagle - hawk. Children, kangaroo.

In these tribes a man does not eat his own totem, and, as in the Gnanji, he only eats very sparingly that of his mother. Thus, for example, the Urtalia man above mentioned told us that he did not eat the fish- hawk called Tjutjutju at all, and only very small shark, which was his mother’s totem. The latter is a very common feature — that is, a man will not usually eat the fully grown specimens of the animals after which his mother’s totemic group takes its name ; but there is no objection to his eating half-grown ones, or sometimes, perhaps, he will eat just a little of a fully grown one.

As we have said elsewhere, though unmistakable traces of them are to be found, the Intichiuma ceremonies are very slightly developed amongst these coastal tribes, a feature which is doubtless to be associated with the fact that they inhabit country where the food supply and general conditions of life are more favourable than in the central area of the continent, which is the home of these ceremonies.

That there is, however, a very close association between the man and his totem is shown most unmistakably at the time of the performance of the final burial rites, which are fully described elsewhere.^ On this occasion the natives from various localities assemble together, and ceremonies relating to the ancestor of the totemic group to which the

1 Cf. chapter on burial and mourning ceremonies.

dead man or woman belonged 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 then deposited, the totemic coffin being afterwards placed by the side of a water-hole, where it is left untouched. In this way every individual of the tribe is thus, as it were, gathered finally unto his totem. The spirit part, which the Binbinga people call kutulu^ goes back to its mungai spot, and sooner or later undergoes reincarnation. In the case of the Binbinga, Anula, and Mara tribes it may be noted, in conclusion, that the natives are very clear upon the point that the spirit children know which are the right lubras for them respectively to enter, and each one deliberately chooses his or her own mother.

To review briefly the main features concerned with the totems from the Urabunna tribe northwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria. In every tribe without exception the belief in reincarnation is universal. In the Urabunna and allied tribes the descent of the totem follows in the mother’s line ; in the Arunta nation it follows of necessity neither in that of the mother nor in that of the father ; almost always in the Warramunga nation, and without exception in the Binbinga and Mara nations, it follows in that of the father.

Every individual is the reincarnation of a spirit left behind by totemic ancestors in a far past time. The method of determining the totem of the individual varies in different tribes, the idea of the Arunta and Kaitish tribes, who inhabit the central area, being probably the simplest and most primitive in this respect. Various spots are inhabited by spirit ^individuals of a particular totem, and a child conceived at any spot is naturally regarded as the reincarnation of one of those spirit ancestors, and thus, of course, belongs to that special totemic group. Nothing could be simpler than this. On the other hand, the most complicated ideas are those of the Urabunna tribe, in which we have maternal descent and division of the tribe into two moieties without names for classes and subclasses. Here we have just the same fundamental idea of spirits left

V

behind by totemic ancestors who were few in number, but the spirit is supposed to choose deliberately its own mother, and to decline to enter a women belonging to the same moiety as that to which its last mother belonged. The result is that at each successive reincarnation the moiety and totem of the individual change, and, furthpj^ still, the sex is supposed to be changed. When born, the child follows the totem of its mother, and when the individual dies the spirit returns to its ancestral home, there to await reincarnation. In the Urabunna tribe the members of each totemic group arose as the direct offspring of one or two eponymous ancestors.

In the Arunta, Iliaura, Ilpirra, and Unmatjera tribes we meet with companies of Alcheringa ancestors who arose at first in the form of incomplete human beings and were the direct transformations of eponymous, totemic animals. In the Kaitish tribe we have, in some instances, traditions *of similar companies of Alcheringa ancestors, but in other cases there were, to begin with, only one or two individuals who gave rise to numbers of others. In some instances the Alcheringa ancestors arose, first of all, in the form of incomplete men and women, exactly as they all did in the Arunta ; but in others they arose from the beginning as complete men and women, and in some cases even they arose as the offspring of one great, eponymous ancestor. In the Kaitish also 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.

In the Warramunga, Wulmala, Walpari, Tjingilli, and Umbaia tribes the division of the totems between the two moieties is complete, and, with very few exceptions 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. He never eats i;6 NORTHERN TRIBES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA chap. v.

his own totemic animal or plant nor that of his father, even if this be different from his own, and only eats a little of that of his mother. In most cases, but not in all, the totemic groups arose as the direct offspring of one great, eponymous ancestor.

In the Gnanji tribe we have fundamentally the same beliefs, with the addition that the natives think that some of the spirits of his totemic ancestors, or at least of the ancestors of the local group of which he is a member, follow a man up as he travels about from one place to another, and that only spirits of certain totems will actually go into women of certain other totems. In regard, again, to eating, the individual will not eat either his own or his father’s totem, and only sparingly of that of his mother.

In the Binbinga, Mara, and Anula tribes 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, and the eating of a man’s own totem, and usually also that of his mother, is forbidden. These tribes are further characterised by the fact that a dead person’s bones are finally buried in a log coffin decorated with a design of his or her totem — an earlier indication of a somewhat similar custom being met with amongst the Warramunga, where, in certain cases, an arm-bone is buried in the ground by the side of a totemic design.

CHAPTER VI

SACRED CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS

Ceremonies in the Arunta tribe — Use of Churinga in connection with them — Performance of ceremonies of the witchetty grub and sun totems — Ceremonies of the Kaitish and Unmatjera tribes — Ceremony of the Erlipinna, Erlia, and water totems in the Kaitish — Ceremonies of the Warramunga tribe — Performance of a continuous series, and not of isolated ones, as in the Arunta — List of ceremonies witnessed in the Warramunga tribe — Men of one moiety asked to perform their ceremonies by men of the other — Wearing of Tjintilli — Ceremonies of an ant totem — Method of conclusion of ceremony distinctive of different tribes — Thaballa totem ceremonies — Ceremony of the Pau-wa, a mythic mischievous beast, and of the Ingwuna, a mischievous spirit — Tappin or Wonna (cold) ceremony — Making of the Miniurka and showing it to the Kingilli men — Driving two recently initiated youths out of the lubras’ camp — Tjingilli ceremonies — Method of performance — Strangers witnessing ceremonies and the subsequent presentation of food — Umbaia ceremonies and the method of their performance — Use of the stone Anjulukuli — Breaking a decorated slab at the close of a snake ceremony — Gnanji ceremony — Anula ceremony of the Ulanji totem — Wide distribution of totemic ceremonies — Collins’ account.

The various ceremonies performed by Australian aborigines may be divided into two groups, which are sharply marked off from one another. The one series comprises those which may be witnessed, and perhaps taken part in by women or even children, the other includes those which only initiated men may see and take part in.

The great majority of the latter are connected with the totems, and refer to episodes in the lives of totemic ancestors. Ceremonies such as these are met with in all of the tribes studied by us.

It is astonishing how large a part of a native’s life is occupied with the performance of these ceremonies, the enacting of which extends sometimes over the whole of two

177 N

or three months, during which time one or more will be performed daily. They are often, though by no means always, associated with the performance of the ceremonies attendant upon initiation of young men, or are connected with Intichiuma, and, so far as general features are concerned, there is a wonderful agreement amongst them in all of the central and northern tribes.

In the Arunta tribe, when a boy is circumcised or subincised, he is always shown a few of these ceremonies, which he then sees and learns the meaning of for the first time. At a later period he passes through the Engwura, when a considerable number of natives from different localities are gathered together and a very large number of ceremonies are performed. The Engwura which we witnessed, and have elsewhere described,^ began in the middle of September and continued until the middle of the succeeding January. During the months of October, November, and nearly the whole of December there was a constant succession of ceremonies, not a day passing without one, and occasionally there were as many as five or six performed within the twenty-four hours. In the Arunta very favourite times for the performance of these ceremonies are just at sunrise and sunset.

As a general rule the number of performers is very small, — very rarely exceeding two or three, — and in the northern part of the tribe there is frequently a sacred pole or nurtunja used, and in the southern part a waninga^ These sacred objects usually represent the totemic animal or plant, and to the first named a number of Churinga are very often attached which belong to individual members of the totem. In the Arunta tribe Churinga are very largely used in connection with sacred ceremonies. When a series of these is going to be performed, the first thing that is done is for one or two of the old men to go to the sacred storehouse and bring thence a large number of Churinga. They place these on a special platform built on the ceremonial ground, the spot being regarded as sacred so long as the Churinga remain there.

^ iV. 7". p. 27 1. 2 p. 253. 3 p_ 207.

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 179

Sometimes also other objects, such as a shield, or pitchi, will be used in connection with the ceremonies. A most characteristic feature of the latter is that the bodies of the performers, as well as any object used during the ceremony, are always decorated with designs done in bird’s down, which is called undattha — the ceremonies themselves being spoken of as quabara undattha} There is not, in the Arunta tribe: any definite order in which the ceremonies are performed, their nature and the time and order of their performance being settled by a few of the leading old men who are present. Men who have had much experience and are looked upon as authorities in these matters are called oknirabata^ or great teachers.

We have previously described a large number of the Arunta ceremonies, and will here only briefly refer to three which we witnessed during our last visit to the Macdonnell Ranges, which will serve as types of those met with amongst this tribe. Two were concerned with the witchetty grub totem and one with the sun totem. The two first were performed without a break, one after the other, at spots separated by a distance of about two hundred yards. In each case there was only one performer, the headman of the local witchetty grub group. Throughout the whole performance the greatest solemnity was observed ; indeed,, the solemn behaviour of the members of the Arunta and Kaitish tribes during the performance of ceremonies such as these is most marked — much more so than in the case of the more northern tribes.

The first performance was connected with the Unchalka grub of a place called Adnuringa, and as usual, during the preparation for the ceremony, no one was allowed to be present except the members of the totem. The upper part of the performer’s body was decorated with lines of white and red down, and a shield was ornamented with a number of larger and smaller series of concentric circles of down. The former, according to the natives, represented the Unchalka bush on which the grub lives first of all, and the

^ Similar ceremonies are enacted by the Urabunna tribe, who call them wadni wandattha, the ordinary dancing corrobboree being called wartmdi.

latter the Udniringa bush, on which the adult insect lays its eggs. This shield is spoken of as churinga alkurta.

When the decoration of the shield and performers was complete, the men in camp were called up and seated themselves on the ground in silence, forming a semicircle in front of the performer, who alternately bent his body double upon the ground and lifted himself up on his knees ; as he did so he quivered his extended arms, which were supposed to represent the wings of the insect. Every now and again he bent forward, swaying up and down and from side to side over the shield, in imitation of the insect hovering over the bushes on which it lays its eggs (Fig. 45). As soon as this ceremony was over the audience arose and silently walked across to the spot at which the performer of the second sat on the ground with two decorated shields beside him. He represented a celebrated ancestor of the Udniringita (witchetty grub) totem called Urangara. Of the two shields, a Smaller one was ornamented with zigzag lines of white pipe-clay which were supposed to indicate the tracks of the Udniringita grub, while a bigger one was covered with larger and smaller series of concentric circles of down, the former representing the seeds of an Eremophila bush on which the grub feeds, and the latter the eggs of the adult insect (Fig. 46). As in the first ceremony the men sat down silently while the performer wriggled, imitating the fluttering of the insect when first it leaves its chrysalis case in the ground and attempts to fly. There was no singing or dancing about, and when all was over the men sat for some time in silence, and then, as they gathered more closely together, the larger shield was taken and pressed in turn against the stomach of each of them, whilst one of the oldest members of the totem group brought a recently initiated youth on to the ground and explained to him the meaning of the ceremony ; while this was being done the shield was held against his stomach for some little time (Fig. 47). This touching of the body with some sacred object used during the performance of a ceremony is a very characteristic feature of all sacred ceremonies in the Arunta tribe. It is called atnitta ulpailiina, which means, literally, softening the stomach. The natives

FIG. 45 — CEREMONY OF UDNIRINGITA (A GRUB) TOTEM. ARUNTA TRIBE.

say that their inward parts get tied up in knots, owing to the emotions which they experience when witnessing the ceremonies concerned with their dead ancestors, and that the only way to soften and untie them is to touch them with some sacred object out of which, in a vague kind of way, they imagine some virtue to pass. Very often also the performer will go up to the old men, when the ceremony is over, and embrace them one after the other.

The ceremony concerned with the sun totem was performed in a slightly different manner from those described above, but in a way very characteristic of many Arunta ceremonies. There were two performers — one representing an Unjiamba and the other a sun ancestor. The reason for this was that, in the Alcheringa the sun, who was a woman named Okerka, arose first of all at a spot called Urapaila, in the country of the Unjiamba (Hakea flower) people. The Unjiamba man carried a small nurtunja (sacred pole) representing the plant and having the form of a bar about four feet long and four inches in diameter, made of grass stalks tied round with human hair-string and decorated with longitudinal lines of white down. This was carried horizontally, attached to a head-dress made in the usual way and ornamented with a design of down continued below on to the man’s face. The second man carried a small disc about one foot jn diameter, made of grass stalks and hair-string and entirely covered with down. A central patch represented the navel of the original sun ancestor, and radiating out from this were alternating lines of red and white down representing the sun’s rays (Fig. 48). The performer, like the first man, belonged to the Hakea plant totem, his sacred name being Alej-me-akka, the name given to the head of the flowers of the Hakea, from which a very favourite drink of the natives is made by steeping them in water. Both performers knelt close together on the ground, as shown in the illustration, and then the other men who had been summoned came running up and circled round and round them, shouting Wah ! wah ! as they did so. Gradually they drew in closer and closer towards the performers, who swayed their bodies about from side to side, until at length the ceremony came

FIG. 46, — GROUP OF MKN DISCUSSING MATTERS AT THE CLOSE OF A CEREMONY OF THE UDNIRINGITA (A GRUB) TOTEM.

to an end in a way very characteristic of the Arunta tribe, two men laying their hands upon the shoulders of the performers, whose movements then ceased.

This method of closing the sacred ceremony, together with the subsequent touching the bodies of the older men with something which has been used in the performance, and is therefore, for the time being, Churinga, or sacred, are two

FIG, 47, — OLD MEN EXPLAINING TOTEMIC MATTERS TO A YOUNG MAN AT THE CLOSE OF A TOTEMIC CEREMONY.

At the same time a decorated shield used during the ceremony is pressed against his stomach.

features which distinguish the ceremonies of the Arunta from those of all other tribes (Figs. 49 and 50).

In the Kaitish and Unmatjera the sacred ceremonies are, in all essential features, similar to those of the Arunta, but the waninga ^ is never, and the nurtunja (sacred pole) only seldom, met with. We may take the three following ceremonies as illustrative of these tribes. They were per-

1 The waninga is a sacred ceremonial object varying much in size and form, but often resembling a banner.

VI

CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 185

formed one after the other in a secluded spot in the scrub, a mile away from the usual camping ground near to Barrow Creek.

The first was concerned with the Erlipinna or grass-seed totem, and in this there was only one performer, who was the head of the totem. He was an old Thungalla man. Years ago, when only a young man, he had taken part"in an attack upon the isolated Barrow Creek telegraph station on the

FIG. 48. — PERFORMANCE OF A SACRED CEREMONY OF THE SUN TOTEM.

overland line, when two white men were murdered by the natives. He told us one day how that, after this had taken place, and when the few white men who could be mustered came in from north and south along the lonely line to avenge the death of their comrades, he had been caught sight of and pursued and had only saved himself by hiding in the crevice of some rocks under the friendly shelter of a bush, behind which he crouched in fear and trembling until his pursuers, little thinking that they were so close to him, had passed by. It was fortunate for us that he was not seen, as he turned out to be a perfect repository of native lore.

During the performance of the first ceremony his body was ornamented with a broad band of red down edged with white, extending up the middle line of his chest, over his head, and down his back. On either side of this he had two discs of red down edged with white on his chest, one on each shoulder, and three on his back. The median band

FIG. 49. — CEREMONY OF ATNITTA ULPAILIMA.

Touching the stomachs of the men with some object used during the performance.

represented the unground and uncooked grass seed, and the discs the same after it had been ground and cooked (Fig. 5 i).

A space of a few yards square was cleared, and on this he knelt down, swaying his body from side to side as he moved along holding bunches of green mulga twigs ^ in his hands. The men who formed the audience stood grouped to one side of him, and after a short time one or two of them came up and pressed his head down, thus bringing the ceremony to a close.

^ Mulga is a species of acacia (A. aneura) very common in Central Australia.

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 187

The second ceremony was connected with the Erlia or emu totem. In this there were four performers, who knelt down in a line one in front of the other on a cleared space, and swayed their bodies in the usual way from side to side, while they wriggled backwards and forwards on their knees. These men represented certain Alcheringa ancestors who lived at a spot called Alalkera, and half of whose Churinga

FIG. 50.^ — ^EMBRACING AFTER THE PERFORMANCE OF A SACRED CEREMONY.

were stolen by another Erlia man who had none (Figs. 52 and 53).

The third ceremony was of a somewhat different character. It was associated with the water totem group of a place called Anira, and was performed by five men, two of whom were Purula and three Kumara. The audience stood in line, shouting and beating boomerangs together, while the performers, who had secreted themselves behind bushes a hundred yards away, ran in towards them in a zigzag line, pausing every now and then to shake their bodies (Fig. 54.) The five performers were supposed to represent individuals associated with the tradition of the euro who was brought up by the lubra of an ertua (wild turkey) mand Owing to their origin from the whiskers of the two Alcheringa ancestors of the water totem group, the euros are closely associated with the latter. One of the men represented this euro and the other four iguanas. In the tradition the euro is reported

FIG. 51. — DECORATION OF PERFORMER IN CEREMONY OF A GRASS-SEED TOTEM. KAITISH TRIBE.

to have run away from the woman who had brought him up, and during the course of his travels he met with a number of iguana people, who tried to kill him with their lightning but were unsuccessful ; in fact the euro completely turned the tables upon them and killed them with his

^ For details of this see later chapter dealing with Traditions.

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 189

lightning. During the performance of this ceremony the euro man first of all ran in from the spot where he had been concealed in the scrub, and took up a position a little way in front of the audience. Here he stood still waiting and watching for the other four men, who ran in towards him one after the other. Each man in turn was supposed to attempt to kill and finally to be killed by the^ euro, tumbling down on to the ground and then retiring to one side.

FIG. 52. — PERFORMANCE OF A CEREMONY OF THE EMU TOTEM. KAITISH TRIBE.

When all four men had thus performed and were seated together on the ground, the audience, which had been particularly excited and demonstrative, came up and danced and shouted around them, their heads being finally pressed down in the usual way.

In the case of the Kaitish tribe ceremonies concerned with various totems are performed following closely upon one another, and each one is carried out on a separate spot. On one afternoon we saw six ceremonies enacted one after

FIG. 53. — METHOD OF BRINGING A SACRED CEREMONY TO'A CLOSE. KAITISH TRIBE.

CH. VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 191

the other in as rapid succession as it was possible for the audience to move from one ceremonial ground to the next^ which was perhaps only twenty or thirty yards away. The performers in each case were squatted down on the ground^ always in single file, waiting for the audience to come up. There was none of the running round and round and yelling of Wha I wha I which forms so striking a feature of many Arunta ceremonies and is called wahkutnimma. In the one instance of the euro ceremony above described, there took place the preliminary hiding of the performers out in the bush, and their subsequent running in to the ceremonial ground. This is a very characteristic feature of the ceremonies of the Warramunga and other northern tribes, but is rarely met with in the Arunta and southern tribes.

The ceremonies of the Warramunga tribe differ to a certain extent from those of the Arunta, Kaitish, and Unmatjera. For one thing there is no such thing as a nurtunja or waninga used — in fact the Warramunga do not make them or indeed anything which can be regarded as their equivalents, nor do they use Churinga in their ceremonies. As we have pointed out elsewhere, the very centre of the continent occupied by the Arunta and Kaitish tribes is, par excellence, the home of the Churinga.

On the other hand the ceremonies are identical with those of the southern tribes so far as their significance is concerned — that is, they deal with and describe episodes in the lives of Alcheringa, or, as the Warramunga call them,. Wingara ancestors. The decorations on the body are decidedly better executed than those of the Arunta, consisting usually of more definite and symmetrically drawn designs than in the case of the latter tribe. Further still the Warramunga do not, like the Arunta, perform odd ceremonies connected with various totems. At the Engwura,. for example, among the Arunta, there was no set order of any kind regulating the performance of ceremonies connected with any given totem. On one day an Achilpa or wild-cat ceremony would be performed, and on a subsequent occasion another referring to the same would be enacted, but without the slightest reference to those either preceding or about to-

FIG. 54. — AUDIENCE WATCHING A CEREMONY OF THE EURO (A KANGAROO) TOTEM. KAITISH TRIBE.

'rhe men are singing and beating time.

CH. VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 193

follow. On the other hand, in the Warramunga all of the ceremonies connected 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 in succession to spots B, C, D, E, F, etc., halting and performing ceremonies as these ancestors always did, then, wEen his descendants perform these ceremonies at the present day, it is incumbent upon them to begin at the beginning and go steadily through the series. Thus, for example, in the case of the black snake and the Wollunqua, the series which we saw enacted began right at the beginning of the recorded history of the ancestral snake and went steadily through to the end of his wanderings. To a Warramunga the performance of ceremony F without the previous performance in regular order of those connected with A, B, C, D, and E would appear to be a very strange proceeding, whilst in the Arunta tribe one or all of them would be performed in any order.

This difference is perhaps largely to be accounted for by the fact that in the Arunta each separate ceremony is the property of some special individual who alone has the right of performing it, or of requesting some one else to do so, whilst in the Warramunga they are each and all of them the property, not of an individual, but of the whole totem group, and are under the charge of the headman of the group. They are not strictly his property, but he acts, as it were, in. a vague kind of way, as the representative of the totemic group. As we have previously stated, however, even he cannot enact them of his own initiative, but only does so when requested by members of the half of the tribe to which he himself does not belong. In the Warramunga also the series of totemic ceremonies are intimately associated with, and performed at certain times as, Intichiuma ceremonies.

The following list will serve to give some idea of the extensive nature of the various performances as we saw them enacted by the Warramunga. We have also included in the list ceremonies connected with initiation, bone- breaking, burial, etc., indicating the order in which they occurred, as certain of them had reference to the totems.

O

The totemic ceremonies proper are divided into two groups — one associated with the Uluuru moiety of the tribe, and the other with the Kingilli. In the following table they are separated into two columns. In each case only the name of the totem with which the ceremony was connected is given, but it must be remembered that, just as in the southern tribes, each ceremony was associated with a special spot at which the Alcheringa ancestor of the totemic group halted and performed.

In the Warramunga these ceremonies, which the Arunta people call quabara undattha^ are known by the name of thuthu, and may only be witnessed by fully initiated men.

Date.

Uluuru Ceremonies.

Kingilli Ceremonies. !

; July 27.

Wollunqua.

„ 28.

Thalaualla (black snake). Tjudia (deaf adder).

Utu (wind). 1

„ 29. 1

Kulpu (honey bag). Thalaualla.

,, 30. 1

Thalaualla.

„ 31-

Karinji (jabiru).i

August I.

Muntikera (carpet snake).

Thaballa (laughing boy). Utu (wind).

Tjalikippa (white cockatoo).

Thalaualla.

Thaballa.

,, 2.

Tjudia.

Fire.

55 3-

Wollunqua.

Wollunqua.

,, 4-

Wollunqua.

,, 5-

Utu.

„ 6.

Bringing in the bone of a dead

Thaballa.

Tjunguri woman and hand-

Utu.

„ 7-

ing it over to her father.

Itjilpi (ant).

„ 8.

Wollunqua. Ceremony of i

Mini-imburu. Building and destruction of the mound.

„ 9-

1 Ceremony of subincision per-

„ 10.

formed upon three youths at

' sunrise.

Lirripitji (lizard).

„ II.

Itjilpi.

Itjilpi.

1 Common name of Mycteria australis, a large, handsome bird of the stork tribe.

VI

CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 195

Date.

Uluuru Ceremonies.

Kingilli Ceremonies.

August 12.

Utu.

,, 13-

Wollunqua.

Itjilpi.

Pau-wa (a mythical animal).

Winithonguru (wild cat). Two ceremonies, one belonging- to the Worgaia and the other to the Walpari tribe.

,, 14-

Kai-in (boomerang). Wollunqua.

„ 15-

Katakitji (lizard). Wollunqua.

Tjudia.

Mourning ceremonies attendan'

t upon the death, on the previous day, of a Tjunguri man.

,, 17-

Wollunqua.

„ 18.

Wollunqua.

,, 19-

Wollunqua.

i

„ 20.

Wollunqua.

,, 21.

Wollunqua.

,, 22.

Ungwuna {Kurdaitcha). Wollunqua.

„ 23.

Emu.

Tjudia.

Watjinga (Echidna).

Tjudia.

Lunku-lungu (white ant eggs).

, Ceremony of bone-breaking and

1 the final burial rite in the case of the Tjunguri woman (see Aug. 6).

During the evening the men who had to take part in the fire ceremony camped apart from the others, and early next morning the women and children gathered together not far from them, and the men approached in single file, alternately walking upright and kneeling down. After reaching the spot at which the women stood they wheeled round, ran away, and immediately started off to spend several days in

September 4.

the scrub. Thalaualla.

» 5-

Erection of the pole called Tjirilpi in connection with the fire ceremony. The lubras danced round the pole, and the men, decorated with designs in ochre, approached the pole in single file, marched round it, and returned to their camp. The bone -arm of a

. dead Thungalla man was brought into camp prior to 1

the performance of the final burial rites.

Date.

Uluuru Ceremonies.

Kingilli Ceremonies.

September 6.

The Tjapeltjeri and Tjunguri men were shut up in a bough wurley in which they had to remain all day. Five men were decorated for the performance of a Tjudia ceremony. All day spent in dancing and singing. In the afternoon the women were “rounded up” and fled into a wurley, at which the men hurled bark and sticks. The fire ceremony was enacted late at night and continued until daybreak.

„ 8.

Thalaualla.

,, 9-

Thalaualla.

,, 10.

Thalaualla (2).

,, II.

Thalaualla.

Final burial ceremony in connection with the bone of the

Thungalla man.

,, 12.

Muntikera (carpet snake). Thankathatwa (snake).

Tappin or Wonna (cold).

,, 13-

Tappin or Wonna. Itjilpi_(2).

Tjalikippa (white cockatoo). Lirripitji.

Thaballa.

Naminpatunga (little bird). Utu.

Kati (full-grown men).

,, 14-

Tappin or Wonna. Utu.

Itjilpi.

„ 15-

Tappin or Wonna (2). Itjilpi (2).

Utu.

Thaballa.

Naminpatunga.

Kati.

,, 16.

Utu.

Lirripitji.

Itjilpi.

„ 17-

Miniurka made and brought

Kati (2).

on to the ground by the

Utu.

Uluuru men who “sang” it

Itjilpi.

all night.

Lirripitji.

„ 18.

Miniurka ceremony was performed at daybreak, when the

Uluuru summoned the Kingilli to come and see the

Miniurka.

During the course of our stay amongst the Warramunga tribe we saw no fewer than eighty-eight of these sacred totemic ceremonies performed. They began on July 27, and when, owing to the necessity of having to reach the far north before the season of the monsoonal rains set in, we

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 197

were obliged to leave them on September 18, the series was by no means complete — in fact those connected with most of the totems had only just begun. They were distributed as follows: — Wollunqua, 16; Thalaualla (black snake), 10 ; Tjudia (deaf adder), 5 ; Kulpu (honey bag), i ; Muntikera (large Varanus lizard), 2 ; Emu, i ; Watjinga (Echidna), i ; Lunkulungu (white ant eggs),' i ; Thankathatwa (carpet snake), i ; Utu (wind), 10 ; Itjilpi (lizard), 1 1 ; Thaballa (laughing boy), 5 ; Naminpatunga (little bird), 2 ; Lirripitji (lizard), 5 ; Kati (men), 4 ; Karinji (jabiru), i ; Tjalikippa (white cockatoo), 2 ; Katnakitji (lizard), i ; Fire, I ; Kaiin (boomerang), 1 ; Pau-wa (a mythical animal), i ; Tappin (cold), 5 ; Ungwuna, i.

Ceremonies such as these occupy, as may easily be supposed, a very considerable length of time ; it must also be remembered that their proper performance is a matter of very great importance in the eyes of the natives, because, not only do they serve to keep alive and hand down from generation to generation the traditions of the tribe, but they are, at least amongst the Warramunga, intimately associated with the most important object of maintaining the food supply, as every totemic group is held responsible for the maintenance of the material object the name of which it bears.

We have elsewhere described the ceremonies connected with the Thalaualla and Wollunqua totems, each of which is associated with the Uluuru moiety of the tribe. We have also described those attendant upon initiation, the ceremonies concerned with the bringing into camp and final breaking and burial of the arm-bone of a dead person, and the fire ceremony or Nathagura. As illustrative of the ceremonies connected with the Kingilli, we will now describe a selection of those belonging to the Utu, Kati, Thaballa, and Itjilpi totems, and will then deal with the ceremonies called Wonna and Miniurka, which, though not of the same nature as the former, are yet intimately associated with the totems and are performed in conjunction with the ordinary totemic ceremonies.

In every case the men of the Kingilli moiety were requested to perform their ceremonies by Uluuru men. The normal thing is for the man who is the head of the totem group to be asked to do so by men who are wankilli to him (the equivalent of the unkulla in the Arunta). Thus, in the case of the Itjilpi (ant) totem, the headman, who was a Thakomara, was asked by Thapungarti men to perform, and, when consenting to do so, he asked the latter to decorate him, in return for which he subsequently made them a present of “ honey bag.” This special offering of food to the men who decorate others is called litjingara. In the same way a Tjunguri man is the head of the Muntikera (a carpet snake) totem, and he is asked to perform his ceremonies by Tjupila men, who provide all of the materials necessary for the decorations and actually paint him. This feature, which stands in marked contrast to what occurs in the Arunta tribe, is very characteristic of the totemic ceremonies of the northern central tribes.

A feature which is common to all of the Kingilli ceremonies and distinguishes any one of them at once from all those of the Uluuru, is the fact that, so far as we are aware, without any exception, every performer in a Kingilli ceremony carries on either thigh what is called a tjintilli. Each of these consists of a central stick about a yard long, to which are attached a number of leafy, green gum-twigs. The free end of the stick is passed on either side through the waist girdle, and the tjintilli is held in the middle by the hand and pressed down on the thigh when the performer dances and runs about with the usual exaggerated high-knee action (Figs. 55, 56, 58, 64).

The tradition in regard to these is only a very vague one, and their significance is unknown. The natives say that in the Alcheringa there lived a lizard man in the country of the Kaitish people. He was a Tjintilli lizard — a Tjupila with a Napanunga lubra. He remained for a long time at a hill lying between what are now called the Bonny and Dixon Creeks, but after a time he travelled north into Warramunga country and reached Kulpara, where he remained performing ceremonies. It was here that he made the first tjintilli^ employing for the purpose the Barkala bushes which were used by the two Itjilpi women for the purpose of making the shades under which they sheltered themselves from the heat of the sun.

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 199

As a general rule, in all sacred ceremonies the same object is never used twice ; the tjintilli form, however, an exception to this. Some ten or twelve of them were made by the Uluuru men at the beginning of the ceremonies and were continuously used until they were quite spoilt by handling, for in this excessively dry climate the leaves very soon wither up and become brittle and broken off. When first they were made, and when new ones were made, the

FIG. 55. — BEGINNING TO DECORATE THE BODIES OF PERFORMERS.

The outline of a band is being indicated in grease.

Uluuru men who had charge of the work brought them up to the older men amongst the Kingilli when they were seated on the ground, preparatory to being decorated for a ceremony. They placed them on the knees of the men, saying as they did so, “ We have made these for you, the tjintilli belong to you.”

The ceremonies of the Itjilpi (an ant) totem of which, at the present day, a Thakomara man has charge, are concerned with the doings of two Alcheringa women who were the ancestors of the totemic group. In all, eleven were performed.

though the series was not complete when we left for the north. Of the two women, who arose at a water-hole called

FIG. 56. — CFREMONY OF WIND TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

The head-dress worn by the left-hand man is supposed to represent a whirlwind.

Tjuldu, one was called Lantjingalli and belonged to the Nungalla, the other was named Tjuangalli and belonged to

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 201

the Naralu subclass. Tradition relates that they caught and fed upon Itjilpi (ants) all day long when they were not performing ceremonies, and that they also made bough shades out of trees called Barkala, which are now represented by heaps of stones at the; various spots where they performed.

As a general rule only one man was decorated, and he usually wore a helmet made out of a flattened cylinder of

FIG. 57. — MEN DECORATED FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE WILD CAT AND ITJILPI (AN ANT) TOTEMS. WARRAMUNGA

The central figure represents the Pau-wa, a mythic, mischievous beast. The sticks through the helmet are its lumuru or pointing-sticks.

paper bark {Melaleuca leucodendron). The designs were of a very simple nature ; often the whole of the upper part of the body, including his face and the helmet, would be covered with a dense mass of little specks of red down with perhaps a few bands of white. The red down represented sometimes the ants alive, sometimes the insects mixed up in a pitchi, preparatory to being eaten by the women, and at other times stones and trees, marking spots where the women camped and performed. The illustration will serve to give an idea of the somewhat monotonous decorations connected with this totem (Fig. 65).

In one ceremony, performed one morning just at sunrise, two men represented the women, who were each supposed to be, unknown to the other, out in the scrub collecting the insects. The performers first of all went out from the ceremonial ground on which they had been decorated by

FIG. 58. — MAN PERFORMING A CEREMONY OF THE THABALLA OR LAUGHING- BOY TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

the light of small fires, and, just at sunrise, came out from behind two bushes separated from one another by a distance of about thirty yards. Each of them gradually approached the group of men who were standing to one side of the ground watching them as they stooped down every now and then to turn over the ground and fill the pitchis which they carried with small stones, which were supposed to represent little masses of ants that they were in search of.

FIG. 59. — CLOSE OF A CEREMONY CONNECTED WITH A LIZARD TOTEM ; KNOCKING OFF THE HELMET. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE

To their mutual surprise they discovered each other, and, after having embraced, much to the amusement of the audience, they advanced towards and then ran round and round the spectators. The idea of this was that, after their meeting, they performed sacred ceremonies, dancing round trees which were supposed to be represented by the men in the audience.

Tradition relates that finally the Naralu woman said to

FIG. 6o. — CLOSE OF A CEREMONY CONNECTED WITH A LIZARD TOTEM.

The performer is tumbling down on to the. ground. The knocked-off helmet lies on the ground to the left of the two hgures.

the other, “ You and myself are both of us Naralu,” but the Nungalla woman said, “ No, you are Naralu ; I am Nungalla.” As they could not settle the point amicably, they fought, with the result that both of them died and went down into the ground, leaving behind them many spirit children at spots such as Umberia, Lunku-lunkalki, Munkattheria, and Utjurutju, with which the various ceremonies performed are connected.

A very characteristic feature in connection with all of

VI

CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 205

the Kingilli ceremonies is the nature of their concluding act. In the Arunta, as we have seen, one or two men from amongst the audience walk up to and lay their hands on the performers’ shoulders ; in the Kaitish and Unmatjera the heads of the performers are pressed down ; and in the Warramunga the head-dress, which is invariably worn in connection with Kingilli ceremonies, is roughly knocked off by an Uluuru man. In each instance the performers run in

FIG. 61. — CLOSE OF A PERFORMANCE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ULUURU MOIETY.

on to the ground where the audience is standing. One or two of the men beat time, always holding for this purpose a fighting club in the left hand, at the level of the face, and striking it with a smaller bar of wood held in the right. One man, always a member of the Uluuru moiety, stands by himself in the very centre of the ground, and the performer finally circles round and round, quite close to him, with his body bent and the usual high-knee action, while all of the time he stares up into his face. The man takes not the slightest notice of the performer until, all of a sudden, the former lifts his right arm and, with what is often a smart, rough blow, knocks the helmet flying. At the same time the performer tumbles down on to the ground, and the ceremony is at an end (Figs. 58, 59, and 60). There is nothing comparable to the invariable custom amongst the Arunta of embracing the old men and touching them with some sacred

FIG. 62. — CEREMONY OF THE WIND TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE. Men shaking themselves in imitation of ancestors.

object used during the ceremony. In the Uluuru performances there is no running round and round a Kingilli man, but the performers simply come on to the ground, and perhaps once or twice run round a few green boughs which have been placed in the centre, and immediately sit down on them. The audience, singing and beating clubs and boomerangs, crowd round them as they sway their bodies about from side to side ; suddenly their head-dresses.

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 207

if they wear any, are caught hold of and pulled off, or their heads may be pressed down, somewhat as in the Kaitish fashion, though this feature is nothing like so strongly marked as in the latter tribe (Fig. 61). There would indeed be no difficulty of any kind, if only just the terminal scene in any sacred ceremony were witnessed, in stating whether it belonged to the Arunta, Kaitish, Warramunga, or, as we shall see later, to the Tjingilli and Umbaia tribes.

The Thaballa, or laughing boy, is one of two or

FIG. 63. — CEREMONY OF WILD-CAT (dASYURUS SP. ) TOTEM. WALPARI TRIBE.

The long, trailing pendant is supposed to represent the animal’s tail.

three curious totems which are met with amongst the Warramunga, — another is that of Kati, or full-grown men, — which, in the nature of the material object from which they take their name, differ somewhat from what we may call the more normal totems. In the Arunta and Kaitish there are no totems equivalent to those of laughing boy and fullgrown man, but in the Warramunga these are regarded as being strictly the equivalent, in all essential characters, of any other totemic group, such as a snake or emu or Hakea plant. They have their mungai spots where their ancestors left spirit children behind in the early days, and the ceremonies performed in connection with them are in no way to be distinguished from those of the other totems in conjunction with which they are carried out.

The Thaballa totem group at the present day is represented by one solitary old man. The ancestor of the group

FIG. 64. — CEREMONY OF A LIZARD TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

The man in front is making a track on the sand with a boomerang. The performer is following the track.

originally came out of a rock at Yappakulinia, where he apparently spent all of his time laughing and playing with little pieces of bark. At a later period he saw some more laughing boys coming up from the country where the sun sets, and when they came close to his camp they began playing with bark.^ He sang out to them, “ Are you Thaballa ? ” and

1 It will be noticed that in this tradition we have an account of a number of ancestors walking across the country, thus calling to mind the characteristic Arunta traditions.

VI

CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 209

they said, “ Yes, we are ” Then he said, “ I am Thaballa also ; come on, my mates, we will all play together ; where have you come from and where are you going to ? come and stay with me altogether.” The boys laughed loudly, and

FIG. 65. — CEREMONY OF AN ANT TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

The performer is supposed to represent one of two women ancestors of the totem searching for and gathering ants on which she fed.

said that they would stay with him, and he took them into the rock, where they all spent that night. Next morning they came out, laughed and played with bark, and went back again at night, and so on day after day. The Thaballa men left plenty of spirit children at this and other spots where

P

they halted and played, but the old Thaballa himself never died, and can now be heard laughing by any one who happens to go near to the place at which he lives.

There were five ceremonies performed in connection with this totem, all of them by its solitary representative, the old Thungalla man, who was decorated in the usual way and carried tjintilli on his thighs. The ceremonies were all of them closely similar to one another ; the performer emerged from behind a bush and came slowly on towards the ceremonial ground, gazing aimlessly about him ; every now and then he stopped, looked about first to one side and then to the other, and gave vent to a kind of whining giggle. As he came close up to the audience one of the latter threw bits of bark at him, which he paused to look at, giggling as he did so, much to the amusement of the onlookers. Finally, in the usual way, he walked round and round one of the Uluuru men, his head-dress was knocked off, and he sank down on to the ground (Fig. 58).

. In the Warramunga tribe, just as in the Arunta, it is customary, when totemic ceremonies are being performed on any great scale, to perform at the same time a few which are not totemic in their nature, but are concerned with more or less mythic creatures. Thus, for example, during the course of the Engwura amongst the Arunta, ceremonies connected with the Oruntja, a mischievous spirit, and others representing Kurdaitchas ^ were performed ; and in the same way, while the long series of totemic ceremonies was being enacted by the Warramunga, we saw two of a very similar nature.

The first of these, which was associated with the Kingilli ceremonies, represented a mythic, semi-human creature called a Pau-wa^ which in shape was said to resemble somewhat a dog. This animal had pointing -sticks, called lumuru^ by means of which it used to kill other animals. They were represented by curved sticks projecting from the head-dress of the performer, the upper half of whose body was covered with a very elaborate design of curved bands of red and

^ Kurdaitcha is the name given to a man who goes out secretly wearing special feather shoes, his object being to kill some enemy. — See N.T. p. 476.

VI

CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 21 r white down (Fig. 57). There was one noticeable feature about the performance — it was not held on the ground where the true totemic ceremonies were performed, but to one side of this, though, so far as the decorations were concerned, and the fact that only initiated men were allowed to witness it, it was not distinguishable from the totemic ceremonies. The performer first of all danced about, running in the usual way, and then went out to an open space round which he circled, gradually approaching a small pit, about three feet in diameter and depth, in which a native crouched,, his body being invisible. After a time the performer came to the edge of the pit, when his legs were seized by the hidden man, who dragged him down and roughly tore off his head-dress and pointing-sticks.

The second of these ceremonies was connected with a man called an Ingwuna, the equivalent of the Kurdaitcha amongst the Arunta, and was associated with the Uluuru ceremonies. Like the Pau-wa it was performed to one side of the usual ceremonial ground. The performer had the upper part of his body daubed over with red ochre. On his forehead and each shoulder was a circle of white down enclosing a patch of red down, and each cheek was ornamented with a white star. On his head he wore an un- decorated helmet of paper bark. The white circles with red centres indicated heads of natives whom he had killed. In each hand he had a boomerang, which he carried as shown; in the illustration. This was the same Kurdaitcha whom the two Alcheringa Winithonguru (wild cat) men met and carefully avoided in the course of their wanderings. He is reported to have spent most of his time in whistling (Fig. 66).

The performance was quite simple and quite unlike SLuy others. One afternoon, after a Wollunqua ceremony had been enacted, the men, instead of as usual retiring directly to their camps, went away to a spot about a hundred yards from the ceremonial ground. The Kurdaitcha emerged from behind a bush, and, bending his body forward, darted about from side to side all over the open space, at the head of the other men who had just been acting as performers and audience in the Wollunqua ceremony. There was continuous laughter and jeering at the antics of the Kurdaitcha^ and every one appeared thoroughly to enjoy the simple performance.

In connection with the Kingilli ceremonies there were performed four which were called Tappin or Wonna. Though not in reality totemic ceremonies, yet they were performed

FIG. 66. — CEREMONY CONNECTED WITH A MISCHIEVOUS SPIRIT CALLED INGWUNA. WARKAMUNGA TRIBE.

in conjunction with the latter, and were supposed to be symbolic of the giving of fire by the Uluuru to the Kingilli, who, previous to that, had no means of warming themselves. Amongst the Warramunga the word Wonninga signifies cold ; Wonna is applied to the cool of the early morning or of the evening after the sun has set. The performers were exclusively Kingilli men — Tjupila, Thungalla, Thakomara,

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 213

and Tjambin. The association of the ceremony with this moiety of the tribe was indicated very clearly by the fact that the men carried tjintilli. Their bodies were never decorated with any of the designs characteristic of totemic ceremonies ; the upper half of each man was daubed all over with red ochre, and their lower half with charcoal. In each case the ceremony consisted in the men, usually about

FIG. 67. — CEREMONY CONNECTED WITH WONNA OR COLD. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

six in number, running round and round an Uluuru man and finally falling down on the ground, when they were supposed to represent creatures who were cold and were huddling themselves together in order to obtain some warmth (Fig. 67). After this the Uluuru men spent the whole of one day in making what was called the Miniurka^ the exact significance of which we could not ascertain, but it was in some way associated with the giving of fire and warmth to the Kingilli men, and the ceremony connected with it came as a sequel to the Wonna series. It had the form of a torpedo-shaped object about twelve feet in length and three in greatest diameter, tapering off towards each end.^

The whole structure consisted of some forty tjintilli wrapped up in great sheets of paper bark, the whole being tied round with yards upon yards of human hair-string. It was made out in the scrub, and after nightfall was carried to a cleared space close to the ceremonial ground. As the Uluuru men lifted it up on their shoulders they shouted loudly “ Wu ! wu ! ” repeating the same cry when they deposited it on the spot where it was to remain all night. Here the Uluuru spent the time clanging boomerangs and singing loudly, and, as usual, when any important ceremony was performed, an interchange of lubras took place. On this occasion it was only within the limits of the Uluuru moiety — the men who were in charge of the performance.

The Kingilli men all left their own camps and spent the night in the bed of the creek close at hand. Just at dawn they were summoned to the ceremonial ground, and came up in a body, led on by an old Tjupila man. Behind the Miniurka stood the Uluuru men, some striking clubs, others singing, and all of them very excitedly waving their arms, alternately pointing to the Miniurka and then beckoning to the men to come on. The latter on their part affected the keenest surprise, opening their eyes wide and extending their arms, while they bent their bodies backwards as if in a state of the greatest astonishment. First of all the old Tjupila man approached, prancing about ; he tried, but unsuccessfully, to lift up one end of the Miniurka^ his efforts being very evidently only pretence. Then one of the Uluuru handed him a bunch of eagle-hawk feathers with which he stroked the object from end to end, and having done this, threw the feathers back again to their owner, who placed them in his waist girdle. Then an old Thungalla man came up ; he tried to lift the object without being able

1 It is also called Burumhuru, the latter being the name given to a column of stone in the Phillips Creek which represents the spot where, in the Alcheringa, the lalkh-a, a grub, changed its skin and so turned into a white cockatoo. What this had to do with the giving of fire we could not understand, and the ideas of the natives in regard to the matter were very hazy.

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CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 215

to do so ; the feathers were thrown to him and he stroked it all over. One after the other all of the Kingilli men came up and repeated this performance, the Uluuru meanwhile prancing about backwards and forwards, singing and shouting, one man in his excitement tumbling backwards over the Miniurka, much to the amusement of the others.

When the performance was over the ceremony of driving two newly initiated boys away from the lubras’ camp was enacted, and after the youths had run on to the ceremonial ground they were shown the Miniurka by the old men, who explained to them that it signified the giving of fire and warmth to the Kingilli.

In the Tjingilli tribe, which inhabits the country immediately to the north of the Warramunga, the sacred totemic ceremonies are fundamentally similar to those of the Warramunga, and are sharply marked off into series connected with the two moieties of the tribe, the Willitji (equivalent of the Uluuru) and the Liaritji (equivalent of Kingilli). The Willitji men undertake the preparation of everything concerned with the Liaritji ceremonies, and vice versa.

Just as in the Warramunga, a whole series of ceremonies is performed in proper sequence, but there are certain minor features by means of which a Tjingilli ceremony can always be distinguished from that of any other tribe. Those which we witnessed were concerned with the Thaballa (laughing boy), which occurs in this as well as in the Warramunga tribe, Purpa (fire), Papitin (the equivalent of the Warramunga menadji or yam), eagle-hawk, Pitja-wina-wina (a little bird), and white cockatoo totems (Figs. 68, 69).

The decorations in essential features were similar to those of the Warramunga ; but in some cases there was an attempt to indicate the totem object itself more clearly than is usual in the latter tribe. Thus, for example, in the first of the ceremonies connected with the yam totem there was no rhistaking the meaning of the white band which passed over the shoulder region, and from which four vertical lines ran down, — two on to the front of the body and one on to each arm, ending in swollen masses of white down. The latter indicated the yams and the former the roots on which they grow.

As soon as all of the performers had been decorated a few armfuls of grass stalks were cut and placed on the ground. The audience gathered together behind this spot, and then the performers, representing different totems, all came and stood in single file with their backs to the audience, amongst whom one or two men held clubs, which they struck

FIG. 68. — DECORATION OF PERFORMERS IN A CEREMONY ‘CONNECTED WITH THE FIRE TOTEM. TJINGILLI TRIBE.

with short staves ; and then, to the accompaniment ot this clanging noise, the performers marched out one by one, each of them usually holding a boomerang upright behind his back, and crouched down behind a bush.

After a short time the clanging was resumed, and one by one each man emerged from his hiding-place, and, with exaggerated high-knee action, walked back to the audience and stood upon the grass with his back turned to the other

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 217

men. As he did so he moved his body from side to side with a jerk, keeping time to the clanging of the clubs, and then some one in the audience suddenly pulled his head backwards and the ceremony came to an end (Fig. 69). This was repeated time after time until each man had walked in.

In the case of the white-cockatoo and eagle-hawk totems the performers marched out imitating the cry of the bird.

FIG. 69. — CLOSE OF A CEREMONY OF THE YAM TOTEM. TJINGILLI TRIBE.

and continued doing so all the time that they were hidden behind the bush and while they walked in again.

During one of the Menadji ceremonies we were surprised to hear a loud wailing suddenly commence, and found that one of the audience had retired to one side and, sitting down on the ground, was howling aloud. No one appeared to take the slightest notice of him, and it was evident that his grief was not proportionate to the noise which he was making. On inquiry we found that years ago his brother used to perform one of these ceremonies, and that, according to

•custom, he was supposed to be so overcome at the recollection of this that he had to retire and give vent to his feelings.

There were at the time three Warramunga men visiting the Tjingilli, and, when all was ready, they were invited to come and witness the ceremonies. On the second day they again came, bringing with them a pitchi on which was placed a large damper made of grass seed. After having been allowed to see the sacred ceremonies, these strangers were under a ban of silence until they had made a present of food to the men in charge of the performance. Accordingly they handed over the damper to the headman of the Thaballa ceremony which they had witnessed, and then all of the Tjingilli men in turn struck their heads lightly Vvdth a green gum twig and thus released them from the ban of silence.

Travelling eastwards from the Tjingilli country across towards the Gulf of Carpentaria we met with members of the Umbaia tribe, the eastern neighbours of the Tjingilli, though apparently they have more intercourse with the Gnanji than with the former.

Amongst the Umbaia the sacred totemic ceremonies, which they call arrambatja^ are somewhat different in regard to the detail of the method of their performance from those of either the Warramunga or the Tjingilli, though in essential features they are in accord. The ceremonies which we witnessed were associated with the lollowing totems : — Tjilkupati (Varanus lizard), Ungunji (fly), Kalammi (wallaby), Tjitjitarra (a small lizard), Thinmi (a little bird), and a snake. There was nothing special in regard to the decorations, which could not have been distinguished from those of * the Tjingilli and Warramunga, with which again they agree in regard to the entire absence of Churinga. The Umbaia have some of the latter, which, in common with the Tjingilli, they call putuli, but they have not the same association with totemic ancestors that they have in the Arunta, and therefore are not used in connection with the totemic ceremonies.

In each case ceremonies of three or four totems were

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 219

enacted together. A space, measuring about thirty feet in length by five in width, was cleared of grass and debris to form a definite ceremonial ground, such as we had not met with in other tribes. It was of course some distance away from the main camp, just over the brow of a slight rise, so that the performers, although the scrub was thin, could not be seen by women and children who might be in the camp. At one end of this space the performers squatted in single

FIG. 70. — PERFOKMEKS ON THE CEREMONIAL GROUND. CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE FLY, LIZARD, AND WALLABY TOTEMS. UMBAIA TRIBE.

file on their haunches, while the men forming the audience arranged themselves in two lines, one on either side of the space, with perhaps a few men squatting in the rear, immediately behind the performers, as represented in the illustration (Fig. 70). On this occasion there were two strangers present from the Gnanji tribe, and they were thus placed in the background. The first man carried a curious oval, red-ochred stone which he held in both hands. It is called anjulukuli, and is regarded as sacred, women and children never being allowed to see it. What exactly was its significance the natives did not appear to know, but their ancestors had always used it, and so did they. Possibly it may be — though, apart from its shape and evidently sacred nature there is no evidence to prove this — a relic of a time when sacred stone Churinga were used in the ceremonies. However, whatever its meaning may be, it forms now an essential part of the paraphernalia of the sacred ceremonies

FIG, 71. — PERFORMER PROJECTING THE STONE CALLED UNJULUKULI IN THE UMBAIA TRIBE.

which we saw. When all was ready the audience began to beat their boomerangs together, and the first man, rising to his feet, ran along to the end of the cleared space with the usual high-knee action, turning his body from side to side as he pushed the stone outwards at arm’s length (Fig. 71). At the end of the cleared space this action was continued for some little time, the performer turning his body first in one direction and then in another. After this he ran back, still pushing the stone out at intervals, until he reached

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 221

the line of men, when he squatted down close in front of the leading man,' placed the stone in his hands, and then retired to the rear, where he sat down. This performance was repeated in the case of every man, no matter what totemic ceremony he was performing. No one went beyond the limits of the cleared space, nor, apart fro^ the handing over of the stone, was there any very definite ending to the ceremonies such as occurs in all of the tribes previously dealt with. During the performance of one of the lizardtotem ceremonies two men retired to one side, sat down on the ground, and began wailing loudly, just as the individual in the Tjingilli ceremony had done, and for precisely the same reason.

On the second occasion on which the Gnanji were present they stood up when all was over, and the older men amongst the Umbaia held out their hands for the Gnanji to bite their fingers. The two strangers were thus released from the ban of silence which had been imposed upon them when they saw the ceremonies performed.

There was also one curious little ceremony unlike anything else which we had seen before. In a performance connected with a snake totem a stick, made for the occasion and decorated with spots of down enclosing a central sinuous line, had been used as a head decoration, as shown in the illustration. When all of the men had performed, this was taken from the man’s head and broken by bending it across the back of one of the men — not the actual man who had worn it. The natives said that this was done so as to prevent it from ever being used again. Just as in all of the other tribes, so here the same object may never be used twice. That is, for example, if two ceremonies be performed immediately one after the other, representing some incident in connection with, say, the Achilpa totem, and in each of them a nurtunja (sacred pole) is used, the same nurtunja is never by any chance used for both ceremonies. The one first used is taken completely to pieces and a new one made for the second ceremony.

The ceremonies of the Gnanji tribe are performed on a specially cleared space of ground similar to that of the

Umbaia tribe. The former is a tribe of which very little is known, and it has a bad reputation for being treacherous and bloodthirsty. Whether this be a true or a false account of them, certainly the Gnanji natives whom we met included about the most villainous-looking specimens of Australian aborigines whom we encountered. We were fortunate enough, when camped by the side of a water -hole called Karabobba, to fall in with a small mob of Gnanji natives. The scrub in this part was so thick that, had they not made their presence known to us, we should not have suspected that any natives were so close at hand.

The ceremonial ground was a small cleared space in the scrub, with an ant-hill at one end of it. They were then engaged in the performance of a series of ceremonies called yapuluru. Like the Warramunga, Tjingilli, and Umbaia tribes, the Gnanji perform their ceremonies in sequence. The one which we witnessed was connected with a snake totem called Putjatta, and was associated with a place known as Liaritji, where the snake ancestor performed in the Poaradju, the equivalent of the Alcheringa of the Arunta. First of all four men, each of whom had his face daubed over with red ochre, and his chest and each arm decorated with a patch of the same, edged with a circle of white, marched up and down the ceremonial ground with the usual high-knee action, holding tjintilli on their thighs, just as in the ca.se of the Kingilli ceremonies in the Warramunga tribe. The audience stood at one end clanging boomerangs. Suddenly the four men knelt down in front of them, and as soon as they had risen to their feet and joined the audience, the last performer, decorated with a design in down, came out from behind the ant-hill. He also had tjintilli, and after prancing up and down the cleared space, the ceremony came to an end by one of the audience striking a long wand on the ground.

It is a curious fact that, as we have already mentioned, in all of the tribes there is some characteristic way of terminating the ceremonies which otherwise are fundamentally similar to one another. It is only, however, in the Arunta that we meet with anything like the little

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 223, ceremony called atnitta ulpailima^ and with this may alsa be associated the fact that in these more northern tribes there is never the great solemnity observed which is such a striking feature of the Arunta ceremonies.

The time which we spent amongst the Binbinga, Anula,. and Mara tribes was not suitable for the performance of ceremonies, nor for the expenditure of more energy than was necessary. Their ceremonies are, however, essentially similar to those of the other tribes. In fact while watching them it was difficult to see any clear mark of distinction, between them and those of the Warramunga tribe. The performers, who were decorated in just the same way as in the southern tribe, go out from the ceremonial ground when all is complete, and, after hiding behind bushes, each one of them runs in to the spot where the spectators stand beating boomerangs together, and finally sits down on the ground in front of them. The ceremonies refer also to their totemic ancestors who lived in the Alcheringa, to which the Mara tribe give the name of Intjitja, the Binbinga that of Mungaii,. and the Anula that of Raraku. The Binbinga term, it will be noticed, is very closely similar to the word mungai^, which, in the Warramunga, is applied to the totem. The Mara call the sacred ceremonies yabuturawa^ and the Anula kunapipi^ the name for the ordinary corrobboree in the latter tribe being walappa.

As an example of them and of their significance we can take a ceremony of the Ulanji, a snake totem of the Anula tribe, associated with a place called Karrimurra. There were three performers, each of whom was decorated in the usual way with designs in red and white down, though these were much simpler than in the case of the Warramunga tribe. Each man came dancing in from behind a bush with, the customary high-knee action, and then simply sat down,, and the ceremony was at an end. Before it began a man went out and swung a bull-roarer to warn off the women and children, of whom there were a considerable number in the camps, about half a mile away from the ceremonial ground.

This particular snake is reported to have come first of all to a place called Marawa, where he stayed for a time and performed ceremonies. Here he met a kangaroo man who was an Urtalia, and had come up because he had heard the snake performing. The kangaroo asked the snake what he was, and the latter replied, “ I am Roumburia.” He next inquired which way the snake was going, and asked him if he had a lubra. The snake replied, “ No,” and the kangaroo said, “ I think I will give you my daughter.” Finally the kangaroo went on to the country of the salt water.

It will be seen from the above general account that sacred ceremonies, all of which are essentially similar in nature and associated with totemic ancestors, are performed by the initiated members of the various tribes extending right through the centre of the continent and out on to the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. There can be no doubt but that they exist, or did exist, in many other tribes ; in fact it is perhaps safe to say that they are characteristic of all Australian tribes which possess a well- developed totemic system. The earliest account which we have of them, though naturally their significance was not understood by the writer, is that of Collins, first published in 1798, who describes and figures, under the title of “ Yoolong-erah-badiang,” a series of ceremonies shown to the youths who were being initiated. Amongst the ceremonies he describes one in which the performers were seen “ running upon their hands and feet, and imitating the dogs of the country ” ; in another he describes “ a stout, robust native, carrying on his shoulders a pat-ta-go-rang, or kangaroo, made of grass ; the second is carrying a load of brushwood ... by this offering of the dead kangaroo was meant the power that was now given of killing that animal ; the brushwood might present its haunt.” Of the latter two statements the second may be a correct, but the first is probably an incorrect, conjecture. In the third scene he shows a number of men who, equipped with long tails made of grass, “ put themselves in motion as a herd of kangaroos, now jumping along, then lying down and scratching themselves, as those animals do when basking in the sun. One man beat time to them with a club on a shield, while two others, armed.

VI CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEMS 225

attended them all the way, pretending to steal upon them unobserved and spear them.”

There can be little doubt but that these ceremonies, so closely similar in their nature to those now performed by the central natives, were totemic in their origin. In essential features, so far as the actual performanc^is concerned, they recall many of the undoubted totemic ceremonies which are shown to the youth during initiation in the central tribes. The wonder is that Collins himself was allowed to see any of them, though, as he himself says, there were certain parts which he was not allowed to witness, and he makes no reference to the sacred bull-roarer, which would certainly be shown to the youth, most probably at night-time, when he was absent, and when it is also customary to perform some of the more important ceremonies. The one point of importance, however, lies in the fact that, thanks to Collins’ account,^ we have what may be regarded as clear evidence of the existence of these totemic ceremonies, which the women of course were not allowed to see, in a tribe living right on the eastern coast. At the present day all of the coastal tribes are either extinct or their descendants much too civilised to know anything reliable about such matters, but it is almost certain that such ceremonies must at one time have existed over a very large part of the continent. It is only in the far inland parts, away from the vicinity of townships, and in the wilder districts such as the far north-west and north-east portions of the continent, that the old customs are preserved. Even here they can be and are carried on without the few scattered white men, who live dotted about over the great area of the centre, knowing, as a general rule, anything about them.

^ Collins, A71 Account of the English Colony in Netv South Wales, 2nd ed., 1804, p. 367.

Q

CHAPTER VII

CEREMONIES CONCERNED WITH THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM OF THE WARRAMUNGA TRIBE

The Wollunqua, a mythic beast — Unlike most other totemic ancestors it has persisted to the present day — Resemblance of the ceremonies concerned with the Wollunqua to those connected with other totemic groups — Name Wollunqua very seldom actually used — ^Wanderings of the animal — Decorations for the performances — Building of the mound called Mini-imburu and ceremonies in connection with it — Drawing of ground designs and performance of ceremonies concerned with them — Idea of sometimes propitiating and at others coercing the animal — Description of Thapauerlu and surrounding spots — The old men asking the Wollunqua to do us no harm.

Amongst the very many series of totemic ceremonies which we witnessed in the Warramunga tribe, the most remarkable was one associated with a mythic snake called the Wollunqua, and, as there were certain peculiar and interesting features connected with it, we have thought it advisable to describe it fully and deal with it by itself. In some respects there was no essential difference between this Wollunqua and any other totem — as, for example, in regard to the way in which the old totemic ancestor wandered about the country in the Wingara, leaving supplies of spirit individuals at various spots — individuals who are continually undergoing reincarnation. On the other hand, it is peculiar in the fact that the natives have no idea that any Wollunqua animal really exists, except the old ancestor of the totem, who, unlike what happens in the case of almost all other totems,^ has

^ The only other example of this with which we are acquainted is that of the Thaballa or laughing boy, who is supposed never to have died, but to be still alive in the rocks at Yappakulimna, where he can be still heard laughing by men of the totem. The Wollunqua, however, is a very different kind of individual from the Thaballa

CH. VII CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM 227

actually persisted from the Wingara to the present day. In the case of every other totem in the Warramunga tribe, the natives perform a long series of ceremonies which, so far as their object is concerned, are strictly the equivalent of the Intichiuma ceremonies of the Arunta and Kaitish tribes. They are supposed to ensure the increase of the material object, animal, or plant, or whatever it may be, after which the totemic group is named. The Wollunqua men at the same time, and side by side with these ceremonies for multiplying the totems, perform what, so far as their form is concerned, is a strictly similar series of ceremonies, but there is no idea associated with them of securing the increase of the Wollunqua, nor apparently have they any desire to do so.

The Wollunqua is regarded as a huge beast, so large that, if it were to stand up on its tail, its head would reach far away into the heavens. It lives now in a large waterhole called Thapauerlu, hidden away in a lonely valley amongst the Murchison Range, and there is always the fear that it may take it into its head to come out of its hidingplace and do some damage. It has already been known, apparently for no particular reason, to destroy a number of natives, though on one occasion, when attacked, the men were able to drive it off. Some idea of what the natives feel in regard to the mythic animal— though it must be remembered that it is anything but mythic in the eyes of the native — may be gathered from the fact that, instead of using the name Wollunqua, when speaking of it amongst themselves, they call it urkulu nappaurinnia^ because, so they told us, if they were to call it too often by its real name they would lose their control over it and it would come out and eat them all up.^

The idea of performing the series of ceremonies, which in their scope and nature are precisely similar to those connected with other totems, is most probably that of propitiat- ing the mythic beast, though at the same time it must be remembered that the natives have no very definite idea in

^ Urkulu is the generic name applied to snakes; nappaurinnia means “ living in water,” evidently in allusion to the fact that its home is the water-hole at Thapauerlu.

regard to this, merely saying that it pleases the Wollunqua when they are performed and displeases him when they are not. However, there are one or two features connected with them which appear to show clearly that we are dealing with what are, in reality, a primitive form of propitiatory ceremonies. These are the only ones of this nature with which we have come into contact, and a comparison of them with those connected with other totems, side by side with which they are, as a matter of fact, performed, will serve to show clearly that they are simply a special modification of the latter.

Like every other totemic ancestor the Wollunqua arose at a certain spot in the Wingara time, and wandered about over the country. He started from a place where there is now an enormous kind of pot-hole in the upper part of a rocky gorge in the Murchison Range, and travelled thence away out to the west. At different spots tradition says that he stood up and tried to go down into the earth so as to return to Thapauerlu, but could not do so until he reached a place called Ununtumurra, where at last he succeeded, and, diving down, travelled back underground to Thapauerlu, where he has lived ever since.

The series of ceremonies enacted dealt with this wandering of the Wollunqua, and it must be remembered that they were carried out in conjunction with those of other totems, the sole object of which was to increase the supply of the animal, plant, or other object after which the totemic group takes its name. On several occasions, for example, they were enacted side by side with those of the emu, black snake, echidna, and deaf-adder totems.

The Wollunqua totem belongs to the Uluuru moiety of the tribe, and at the present time the men who have charge of the ceremonies are two old Tjapeltjeris, though, as in the case of all the other totems amongst the Warramunga tribe, while the men of the totem actually performed the ceremonies, every preparation of every kind in connection with them was made by men of the Kingilli moiety.

The original home of the Wollunqua was the deep rockhole called Kadjinara (Fig. 82). Setting out thence upon his

VII

CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNOUA TOTEM

wanderings towards the east, he travelled at first underground, coming up, however, at various spots where he performed ceremonies and left behind him large numbers of spirit children who came out from his body and remained behind, forming local totemic centres when he passed on. There are eleven spots which are more especially associated with him in connection with his wanderings. The first is called Pitingari. Here there is a water - hole where the old Wollunqua is reported to have come out of the earth and looked around. When performing the ceremony connected with this spot, two men were decorated with a broad, curved band of red down running across both the back and front, the whole of the upper half of the body, with the exception of this, being completely covered with a mass of white down. Each man also wore a tall, conical helmet decorated with a curved band of red down. These bands all represented the Wollunqua. The two performers were both Thapungarti men, though neither of them actually belonged to the Wollunqua totem, one being a black snake and the other a crow man. They were decorated by Tjupila, Thungalla, and Thakomara men — that is, by individuals who belonged to the other moiety of the tribe. When they were ready each of them went and hid himself behind a bush, and then, while the audience, which consisted of adult men representing all subclasses, sang and beat boomerangs and sticks together on the ceremonial ground, they ran in, stopping every now and then to shake themselves, in imitation of the snake, and finally sat down close together with their heads bowed down on a few green gum-tree branches. Their head-dresses were immediately knocked off by a Kingilli man and the performance came to an end.

Still travelling on underground the Wollunqua reached and halted at a place called Antipataringa. The ceremony connected with this was performed by the same two men as on the first occasion, one of them carrying on his head a curious curved bundle shaped somewhat like an enormous rounded boomerang. This had been made during the course of the day in a secluded part of the bed of the creek by three old Kingilli men, one of whom, a Tjupila man of the Worgaia tribe, took the lead in the preparation for the ceremonies of this totem, as he was one of the very few men who had seen them enacted in their entirety before. No men of the totemic group, or indeed of the Uluuru moiety, were allowed to see the sacred object until it was brought up on to the ceremonial ground just before the performance. It was made of grass stalks bound round with human hairstring, and then decorated with white down, and was supposed

FIG. 72. — TWO MEN DECORATED FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF A CEREMONY CONNECTED WITH THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

to represent the Wollunqua itself. During the ceremony one of the Thapungarti men carried it upon his head in the way shown in the illustrations (Figs, 72, 73, 74).

From Antipataringa the Wollunqua, still travelling underground, went on to Tjunguniari, and there he came out and walked about amongst the sand-hills, or rather, to speak more correctly, the head end of the body came out, for the beast was of such an enormous length that, though he had travelled very many miles away from his home at Kadjinara, his tail end still remained there. Once more the same two men

VII

CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM

performed the ceremony, being decorated, back and front, with the same characteristic broad band of red down enclosed in a mass of white. Tjunguniari is a native well amongst the sand-hills, and of the two performers one represented a

FIG. 73. CEREMONY CONNECTED WITH WOLLUNQUA TOTEM.

The curved bundle represents the Wollunqua snake.

large sand-hill, called Mindala, and the other personated the snake itself.

The above three ceremonies were performed on three consecutive days, and after that there was an interval of three more days, during which ceremonies in connection with the Kingilli moiety of the tribe were performed, the Uluuru men of course taking charge of them. On the fourth day the Kingilii men, under the guidance of the old Tjupila man of the Worgaia tribe, spent the whole day in building up, out of sandy earth, a curious mound called Mini-imburu. The Uluuru men were not allowed to come anywhere near to the place at which the Kingilii were at work on the mound, and the latter was enclosed and completely hidden from view by two brakes of boughs. First of all a trench.

FIG. 74.— CLOSE OF A CERExVONY CONNECTED WITH THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM.

The youth in the background with his hair tied up has been recently initiated, and is witnessing the series of sacred ceremonies for the first time.

fifteen feet in length and two in width, running north and south, was dug out and then filled again with sand mixed with water, every handful being carefully patted down until finally a keel-shaped mound was made, about two feet high and tapering off towards either end, its length corresponding to that of the original trench. On the smooth surface a long wavy band, about four inches in width, was outlined on each side, the two bands meeting at both ends. At the

FIG. 75. — PREPARING THE WOLLUNQHA MOUND. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

northern end a small round swelling indicated the head, and at the southern a short median prolongation represented the tail (Fig. 75). The whole double band indicated the body of the Wollunqua, and was finally covered with dots of red down ; the rest of the surface of the mound was one mass of little dots of white down. The mound itself was emblematic of the sand-hill by the side of which the snake stood up and looked around. The Kingilli were hard at work upon it all day long, singing chants referring to the Wollunqua, its wanderings and its going down into the ground. Every now and again they broke out into refrains such as “ Yunga le deba ; le deba ; yunga le deba ” ; or “ Waiu h'ri ; we gar dudu ; waiu zvanga wanga ; waiu wri ; irri wanga ; du du du ; zvanga du du dul' all of which have no recent meaning and belong to the Wingara. The words were repeated time after time with wearisome repetition, the singing as usual beginning on a high note, very loudly, and gradually dying away, falling lower and lower as it did so.

The mound was completed between five and six in the late afternoon, and then word was sent out to the elder men of the Uluuru moiety that all was ready. It must be remembered that the mound really belonged to these Uluuru men, but that, in accordance with the customs of the Warramunga tribe, they had not been allowed to come anywhere near to the sacred ground while the mound was being constructed. Escorted by an old Tjupila man, they approached in single file. The Kingilli stood round about while the Uluuru, led by the old Tjapeltjeri man who was the head of the Wollunqua totem, walked round and round the mound, after which one of them, taking a gum bough in his hand, stroked the ground all around its base (Figs. 76, 77). Meanwhile the Tjupila man of the Worgaia tribe, who knew most about the matter, was busy explaining what it meant to the Uluuru, and then, joining together the hands of the two oldest Tjapeltjeri men, he told them that the Wollunqua and the mound which they, the Kingilli, had made belonged to them. All of the men then sat down quietly examining the mound and talking in low tones about the Wollunqua, after which the Uluuru arose and went silently back to their

VII

CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM

camps, leaving the Kingilli seated by the mound. Nothing more took place till dark, when three old Kingilli men — two Tjupila and a Thungalla — lighted fires on the ceremonial

FIG. 76. THE KINGII.LI MEN SHOWING THE WOLLUNQUA MOUND TO THE

ULUURU, WHO ARE WALKING ROUND IT. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

ground, and began to sing aloud so that the Uluuru men in their camps could hear them : —

Da dun burri wurri a Da dun burri wurri a Da iwun ma Da dun burri wurri a Da iwun ma :

alternating this refrain with that of

Yamana yanti andi, repeated time after time, all of which, as usual, has no meaning at the present day, but has been handed down from the Wingara. At intervals they shouted out, telling the Uluuru that they were “ singing their Wingara,” — that is, they were singing songs referring to the Wingara ancestors of the Uluuru — in this case the Wollunqua.

1-IG. 77. — STROKING Tllli BASE OF THE VVOLLUNQUA MOUND TO APPEASE THE SNAKE. VVARKAMUNGA TRIBE.

CH. VII CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM 237

Later on, towards nine or ten o’clock, the Uluuru and other Kingilli men came on to the ground, more fires were lighted, and all of the men sat round the mound singing refrains such as those above. Every one was evidently very excited. Late on in the evening the leading Uluuru men brought their lubras up and, as described^ elsewhere, invited the older Kingilli men to have intercourse with them. The women were not of course allowed to see the mound. Still later on, three recently initiated youths were brought up under the charge of their guardians, and everything was carefully explained to them. After this, and until three o’clock in the early morning, singing went on without a pause. Then, amidst a scene of the wildest excitement, fires were lighted all around the ceremonial ground, making the white trunks of the gum-trees and the surrounding scrub stand out in strong contrast to the darkness beyond. The Uluuru men ranged themselves in single file, kneeling beside the mound, and with their hands upon their thighs surged round and round it, every man in unison bending over first to one side and then to the other, each successive movement being accompanied by a loud and simultaneous shout. The Kingilli men were standing all around in a state of the greatest excitement, the oldest man amongst them swaying his body about as, with exaggerated high-knee action, he walked backwards at the head of the kneeling procession of Uluuru men. As the Kingilli clanged their boomerangs together, the Uluuru swayed about wildly from side to side, shouting, or rather yelling, at each movement, “ Yrrsh I yrrsh ! yrrsh ! ” until they had passed twice completely round the mound. Then, as the fires died away, they arose from their knees, and for another hour every one sat round the mound singing incessantly. Every now and again the singing would flag and almost die away, and then suddenly break out afresh, until at four o’clock, when the earliest streak of dawn appeared in the east, every man jumped to his feet. Fires were once more lighted, shining brilliantly on the bodies of the men and throwing into strong relief the white mass of down upon the mound, round which the Uluuru ranged themselves. Urged on by the Kingilli, the Uluuru men fiercely attacked the mound with spears, boomerangs, clubs, and spear-throwers, until, in a few minutes, it was hacked to pieces, and all that remained was a rough heap of sandy earth. The fires died down, and for a short time there was silence. Very soon, however, the whole camp was astir, and, just at sunrise, the ceremony of parra^ or subincision, was performed upon the three youths who had recently passed through the earlier stages of initiation.

This ceremony connected with the Mini-imburu is supposed in some way to be associated with the idea of persuading, or almost forcing, the Wollunqua to remain quietly in his home under the water-hole at Thapauerlu, and to do no harm to any of the natives. They say that when he sees the mound with his representation drawn upon it he is gratified, and wriggles about underneath with pleasure. The savage attack upon the mound is associated with the idea of driving him down, and, taken altogether, the ceremony indicates their belief that, at one and the same time, they can both please and coerce the mythic beast. It is necessary to do things to please him, or else he might grow sulky and come out and do them harm, but at the same time they occasionally use force to make him do what they want. They have, amongst others, a tradition of one special occasion on which he came out and destroyed a number of men and women, but was finally compelled to go underground, after having been pelted with stones. On the even- ing of the day succeeding that on which the Mini-imburu was performed, the old men who had made the mound said that they had heard the Wollunqua talking, and that he was pleased with what had been done and was sending rain, the explanation of which doubtless was that they, like ourselves, had heard thunder in the distance. No rain fell, but a few days later the distant rumble of thunder was again heard at night-time, and this, the old men now said, was the Wollunqua growling because the remains of the mound had been left uncovered. They also told the younger men that a heavy bank of clouds which lay on the western horizon had been placed there as a warning by the Wollunqua, and at once cut down boughs and hid the ruins of the mound

VII

CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM 239

from view, after which the Wollunqua ceased from growling, and all went on peacefully until the end of the series.

During the next four days no Wollunqua ceremonies were performed, nor indeed any concerned with the Uluuru moiety, the time being occupied with Kingilli ceremonies belonging to the ant, lizard, fire and wild-cat totems. On the fifth day an entirely new phase of the Wollunqua series was entered upon, which in its most noticeable feature was quite different from anything which we had met with before, except in the single instance of the emu Intichiuma ceremony in the Arunta tribe, though even this differed in important respects from that of the Wollunqua. We have previously described ^ how, in connection with the emu totem, the natives clear and smooth down a patch of ground, and then, after covering it over with blood, so as to obtain a level surface, draw upon it a design called churinga ilpintira which represents, by means of circles and lines of yellow, white, and black, the eggs in various stages of development, together with the intestines, feathers, and excreta of the bird. In the Arunta tribe this is the only ground drawing of this kind with which we are acquainted, and it was the only one used in connection with the emu Intichiuma, this latter ceremony only occupying one day. In the case of the Wollunqua, however, a series of eight distinct drawings were made upon the ground, during as many successive days. Each one represented, or rather was associated with, the various spots at which the animal stood up, performed ceremonies, and left spirit children behind him in the Wingara time. The drawing was made, day after day, on the same spot on the ceremonial ground, and was either rubbed out the morning after the ceremony had been performed or was restored and added to (Figs. 309-312). When making the design, the sandy ground was first of all smoothed down and then sprinkled over with water and rubbed so as to afford a more or less compact surface. After this it was covered with a coat of red or yellow ochre, and when this was dry the design, which in all cases consisted of concentric circles and curved lines, was outlined by means of a series of

^ N.T. p. 179.

white dots, and then the whole surrounding surface was covered with these (Fig. 78). The material used for the white dots is a kind of kaolin, of which there is a deposit close to Tennant Creek. Small lumps of this are taken into the mouth, and after being ground down by the teeth — a somewhat gritty proceeding — the semi-fluid material is spat out into a receptacle and mixed with water. The dots are then made upon the ground with the aid of a little wooden

FIG. 78. — PREPARATION FOR A GROUND DRAWING IN CONNECTION WITH A CEREMONY OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM. WARRAMUNGA TRIBE.

twig, one end of which is frayed out by the teeth so as to form a kind of brush. This is first of all dabbed into the white emulsion, and then on to the smoothed ground, where of course it makes a little white dot. The old man in charge used to draw the circles and lines in red or black as the case might be, and then, after giving directions, the mass of dots was filled in by other men, the whole work often occupying the best part of the day. Whilst it was in progress the artists, all of them of course being Kingilli men, — no member of the Wollunqua totem being allowed anywhere near, —

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CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM

continually sang refrains relating to the marching of the Wollunqua in the Wingara.

The first ceremony of this series was connected with a place called Gnuratitji. The ground design consisted of four series of concentric circles to the side of one of which a half-circle was attached. One series of circles represented an ant-hill, the second a native well called Purtjatji, the third a gum-tree, and the fourth, with the half-circle by its side, a rock-hole called Meilkura, where, according to tradition, the Wollunqua tried to go down into the ground but could not succeed in doing so. To the whole design the name of meltjinta was given, indicating the fact that the snake came up out of the ground at the spot which it represents. The previous ceremonies had been concerned with a tract of country in traversing which it had journeyed underground. At Gnuratitji it came out and afterwards remained above ground until the time when it returned to its home at Thapauerlu. The same term meltjinta is used in connection with the first coming out of the ground of all of the totemic ancestors of the tribe.

After the drawing on the ground had been made it was shown and explained to the Uluuru men and then covered up with boughs. Two of the Uluuru men were decorated and one of the usual ceremonies enacted, the men running in on to the ceremonial ground, and after finally circling round the concealed drawing they sat down on the boughs above it.

The second ceremony was concerned with a spot called Upitingnari. The drawing of the previous day was obliterated and a new one made, consisting of five series of concentric circles ; three of these represented ant-hills, and to one of these two half-circles were attached. This indicated a specially large ant-hill, but all of them were mungai spots, as also was a big tree, represented by the largest series of these concentric circles. The fifth series had a wavy band attached to it which was supposed to indicate the tail of the Wollunqua, who tried to go down at this spot but could not succeed, as the earth was too hard, so he journeyed on to Tikomeri, with which spot the third ceremony was connected

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(Fig. 79). For this ceremony five men were decorated, two of whom were Tjapeltjeri, one Thapanunga, and one Thapungarti. The new design on the ground consisted of four series of concentric circles. Three of them represented gum-trees, where the Wollunqua left spirit individuals behind him, whilst the central one represented Tikomeri itself, the spot at which he again tried to go down into the earth, but once more could not do so because it was too hard and stony. From this series of circles five wavy bands radiated; three of them represented his shed skin, while two others were supposed to represent the way in which he moved about, wondering as to the direction in which he should travel.

In the next ceremony the same design was retained, and by the side of it a new one was drawn consisting of three series of concentric circles, one representing a special gumtree and the others two native wells at a spot called Untjeri. On this occasion no fewer than seven performers were decorated, some of whom wore head-dresses in which a broad wavy band represented the Wollunqua.

In connection with the four remaining ceremonies the ground colour on the earth was changed from red to yellow. In the first of these there were five performers. It was associated with a locality called Parrapakina, and represented an episode in the wanderings of the Wollunqua when he met with the two hawks who, according to tradition, were the first individuals amongst the Warramunga people to make fire by means of twirling two sticks together.

The Wollunqua and the hawks met at this spot, the former looking about him meditating which way he should go, and the latter searching for and eating white ants. The design consisted of three distinct parts. On one side there was a large set of three concentric circles, with two broad wavy bands running out from them. The circles and bands were done in black, and represented respectively a native well called Tjikaringia, and the snake itself standing up and gazing about in various directions. The second part of the design had a centre of three concentric circles, out from which six wavy lines radiated more or less symmetrically. All of these were drawn in red, and were supposed

FIG. 79. — GROUP OF MEN STANDING AROUND A GROUND-DRAWING IN CONNECTION WITH A CEREMONY OF THE WOLLUNQUA

to represent the fire which was made by the hawks at Mintilli. The third part was joined on to the second, and like the latter it was associated with the hawks and consisted of three sets of yellow circles outlined by white dots. Two of the circles indicated native wells, which arose to mark the spot where the birds searched for white ants, while

FIG. 8o. — GROUND -DRAWING IN CONNECTION WITH A CEREMONY OF THE WOL- LUNQUA TOTEM, AND FIVE PERFORMERS TAKING PART IN THE CEREMONY.

the third represented a gum-tree, which arose where the hawks threw out the inedible parts of the ants.

The next two ceremonies were connected with a place called Thakankalitjimeri. There were three performers, each of whom wore a snake head-dress and a broad curved band on back and front emblematic of the Wollunqua. The drawing on the ground was painted in black, outlined as usual by a mass of white dots. To one side were three concentric circles, and running out from these towards the south was a broad wavy band representing the Wollunqua

VII

CEREMONIES OF THE WOLLUNQUA TOTEM

cracking its tail where it tried to go down, A second band curved round, and then ran parallel to the first, enclosing a space about three feet long, the whole drawing being about ten feet in length. This band represented the track of the snake coming up from Tikomeri towards the spot where he made a well trying once again to go down into the ground. Between the two bands were three series of circles, each of which represented a tree close to the well where the Wollunqua left spirit children behind. The second ceremony, in connection with which there was only one performer, was a very simple one, as was also the design on the ground, consisting of only two sets of circles, one representing a tree and the other a well close to Thakankalitjimeri, where the Wollunqua paused for a time in his travels and again left spirit children behind.