Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/172

90 brothers and sisters, and the tribes themselves are constituted in pairs, as follows:—

"The necessary connection of the children with a particular tribe is proven by the law of marriage and descent. Thus Iguana-Mata must marry Kumbo; her children are Kubbi and Kapota, and necessarily Iguana in tribe. Iguana-Kapota must marry Ippai; her children are Murri and Mata, and also Iguana in tribe. In like manner, Emu-Buta must marry Murri; her children are Ippai and Ippata, and Emu in tribe. Emu-Ippata must marry Kubbi; her children are Kumbo and Buta, and also of the Emu tribe. The same is true with respect to marriages in the two remaining pairs of tribes. It will also be seen that each tribe is made up, theoretically, of the descendants, in the female line, of two supposed female ancestors. Why Mata and Kapota are found in the Iguana, Kangaroo, and Opossum, and not in the other tribes, and why Buta and Ippata are found in the Emu, Bandicoot, and Blacksnake, and not in the first three tribes, is not explained, except that it is a part of the constitution of the tribal system as it now exists among the Kamilaroi. Moreover, as we find that the Iguana, Kangaroo, and Opossum tribes are counterparts of each other in the classes they contain, it follows that they are subdivisions of one original tribe. Precisely the same is true of Emu, Bandicoot, and Blacksnake, in both particulars; thus reducing the six to two original tribes, with marriage in the tribe interdicted. It is further shown by the fact that the first three tribes could not intermarry, nor the last three, with each other. The prohibition which prevented intermarriage when either three tribes was one would follow the subdivisions, who were of the same descent, though under different tribal names. Exactly the same thing is found among the Seneca-Iroquois."

Further very ingenious speculations, founded on the data he has obtained, are contained in Mr. Morgan's paper. He shows distinctly the effects of this division into classes, and how the tribal organization, permitting of marriage into every tribe but that of the individual, was defeated by it.

Before arriving at sure conclusions respecting the laws of marriage and the systems of consanguinity, as they exist in Australia, it will be necessary to institute careful enquiries in all parts of the continent, and to receive no statement from a black as correct until it has been verified. The natives are only too willing, when they are questioned, to seek to please; and if they catch a hint of what is desired—and they are quick in apprehension—they will frame their answers accordingly.

Mr. George Bridgman, the Superintendent of Aboriginal Stations near Mackay, in Queensland, says, in a letter to me, that he has carefully considered the