Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/293

V facts which are suggestive. One family of Kubbi took their name from their father, and not from their mother. Another family consisted of an Ipai married to a Kubbitha. In another case Kubbi was married to Kubbitha, and again in another Kubbi married Kubbitha, and their child was Kumbo.

Two explanations may be suggested at least. These marriages and descents may indicate a complete breaking down of the old Kamilaroi organisation in a manner similar to that which I have noticed, for instance, in the Yuin. Or it may be the result of the breaking up of the tribe under our civilisation. The only point which seems to me to be worth much consideration is that the child's name was that of the father, or of a sub-class which, together with his, represented his class. There were also totems in these tribes, for instance, Black-snake, Black-crow, Eagle-hawk, and Stingaree.

Marriages were arranged by the parents and kindred, and a wife was chosen from a neighbouring tribe; for instance, a man living at Gresford obtained a wife from the Hunter River. The woman about to be married makes a camp and a fire to which the man is led by his father or any other old man; after they have camped together, the ceremony is complete. Capture of women from other tribes and marriages by elopement were common.

A man is not permitted to speak to his wife's mother, but can do so through a third party. In former days it was death to speak to her, but now a man doing so is only severely reprimanded and has to leave the camp for a certain time—that is, to camp away from the main camp, say one hundred yards or so.

It may be worth while, in the absence of more definite information as to these tribes, to quote from the work of R. Dawson, dating from the year 1830. In the Port Stephens tribe they generally took their wives from other tribes if they could find opportunities to steal them. The consent of the female was never made a question in the transaction. When the tribes appeared to be in a state of