Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/354

 3i8 Australian Marriage Customs.

define them as I choose ; but insists on construing them in the sense in which he himself uses them ; and is then surprised that he cannot understand me or that I seem to contradict myself.

(6) He has not produced an individual term for mother, though he admits that individual mothers were known. Yet he still argues that individual marriage must have caused an individual term to arise. This is, " Heads I win, tails you lose."

I may remark in conclusion that I did not claim for myself any special power of interpretation, for my criticism of Dr. Howitt was purely negative. But I do claim that I say what I mean and mean what I say, that my terminology is adequate, and that my conclusions are drawn from my premisses.

I trust that Dr. Howitt will soon publish his corrections to N.T.S.E.A. At present we really do not know what to accept. It is strange that Dr. Howitt did not discern his mistake as to pirraurtt earlier, for, had he done so, he would surely have taken the first opportunity of putting things right.

NoRTHCOTE W. Thomas.