Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/764

738 The girl, who has participated in the ceremonies so far as the women are allowed to do, still lives with her parents until she is married.

The young man, having obtained a wife, is free of two divisions of the tribe, at least—that to which he belongs by birth, and that of his wife. He begins a partly independent life of his own, wandering over the hunting-grounds, which his fathers before him hunted over, and also over those of his wife's forefathers; indeed, there were cases in which the man joined the clan of his wife and abandoned his own.

The family duties are shared by the husband and the wife, both assisting to support their family, his share being to hunt for their support, and to fight for their protection. As one of them said to me, "A man hunts, spears fish, fights, and sits about" The woman formerly built the home of bent sticks thatched with grass tussocks, but since the blacks obtained iron tomahawks, the home is made of sheets of bark stripped by the men. It was the woman's duty to catch fish and to cook it, to gather the vegetables, fruit, or seeds which formed part of the food supply, and to make rush bags, baskets, and nets.

When a Kurnai has arrived at mature age, and when he may be supposed to have taken his place among the elders of the clan, and was designated Boldain or old man, he usually acquired a new name. As the child's name gave place to a new one at initiation, so did that name give place to a new one when he became Boldain, but the former did not become secret. This last name was often derived from some personal peculiarity or quality. It was usually composed of two names, of which one is constant, being Bunjil. It has no meaning as a word, and is only used as a prefix to another word indicating some quality or peculiarity. This name would probably be his last, and remained with him till his death.

Among the names of such men known to me are Bunjil-barlajan (platypus), from his skill in spearing that animal; Bunjil-tambun (Gippsland perch, Lates Colonorum), from his skill in catching that fish. A leading man in the Brayakaulung clan was Bunjil-kraura (west wind). Another of the