Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/173

III in the class systems of the coast tribes and the development of local exogamy in them.

Among the Yuin a man might not kill or eat his Jimbir, also called Budjan. In addition to the group totem, the novice receives an individual totem at the initiation ceremonies from some one of the Gommeras. In one instance which came under my notice, this individual totem was Wombat, and the medicine-man who gave it said to the novice, "You must not eat it." The novice was of the Kaualgar or Kangaroo totem by inheritance from his father. Another man of the Kangaroo Jimbir believed that animal gave him warnings of danger, by hopping towards him, and he said that it would not be right for a Kaualgar man to kill a kangaroo. This was the group totem of that man.

That in this tribe the totem is thought to be in some way part of a man is seen clearly by the case of Umbara, before mentioned, who told me that, many years ago, some one of the Burnagga budjan (Lace-lizard totem) sent it while he was asleep, and that it went down his throat, and almost ate his Budjan, which was in his breast, so that he nearly died. This man could not eat his Budjan, Black Duck, which in its corporeal form gave him warnings against enemies or other dangers.

The Narrinyeri totem passes from father to child, who might not kill or eat it, although another person might do so. In the Wonghibon tribe a man would not kill or eat his totem unless under great pressure of hunger. In the tribes within fifty miles of Maryborough (Queensland), each boy has a totem called Pincha, which is given to him by his father, and which he calls Norn, that is, "brother." For instance, say that a man's Pincha is Fish-eagle (kunka), he gives to each of his sons a Pincha; for instance, to one a kangaroo (guruman), to another a large white grub (pu-yung) which is found in gum-trees, and so on. A man does not kill or eat his Pincha. Moreover, he is supposed to have .some particular affinity to his father's Pincha, and is not permitted to eat it.

In the Wakelbura tribe the totem animal is spoken of as "father." For example, a man of the Binnung-urra