Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/150

124 Each of these totems has the prefix burt, which means "dry," as burt-wereo, but the prefix has been omitted for clearness.

In this tribe, as in the Wotjobaluk, not only mankind but things in general are subject to these divisions, and Mr. Stewart's remarks as follows are worth quoting. "All this appears very arbitrary. I have tried in vain to find some reason for the arrangement. I asked, 'To what division does a bullock belong?' After a pause came the answer, 'It eats grass; it is Boort-wereo.' I then said, 'A cray-fish does not eat grass; why is it Boort-wereo?' Then came the reason for all puzzling questions, 'That is what our fathers said it was.'"

According to the Wotjobaluk, the tribes to the south were related to them, and, as I have said, may have formed another nation, which can be distinguished by the name for "man," in their language, namely Mara. My example is the Gournditch-mara.

The feminine form of the name, either of the class or the totem, is formed by the postfix Jarr, thus Krokitch and Krokitch-jarr.

This system evidently connects with the Wotjobaluk to the north, the Mt. Gambier tribe on the west, and with the tribes described by Mr. Dawson on the east. I again quote his work as to the tribes which are to the east of the Gournditch-mara, and to which the latter evidently belongs.

Mr. Dawson mentions no class names which might be