Page:Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales.djvu/6

4 and Murri. In each of these sections the names of the women are slightly different from those of the men, as will appear from the following synopsis, which also shows what sections can intermarry, and to what section the resulting offspring belongs:—

It will be observed that the children inherit the name of the other moiety of their mother's cycle. Thus, if a Ngurrawun man, of the section Ippai, marry a Mūmbun woman of the section Kubbitha, the offspring will be Mūmbun the same as their mother; they will not bear the name of her section, but will take the name of the other section in the Mūmbun cycle—the sons being called Murri and the daughters Matha. Again, the children inherit their mother's totem; for example, if the mother be a pelican, her sons and daughters will be pelicans also. In other words, the women of a cycle reproduce each other in continuous alternation. The totems remain constantly in the same cycle as the women, and are accordingly transmitted from a mother to her offspring.

Like the people themselves, everything in the universe, animate and inanimate, belongs to one or other of the two cycles, Ngurrawun and Mūmbun. And every individual in the community, male and female alike, claims some animal or plant or other object as his dhingga or totem. The totems of the Ngurrawun cycle are common to the two sections, Ippai and Kumbo, of which it is composed: and the Mūmbun totems are common to the sections Kulibi and Murri.

Among the dhingga or totems of the Ngurrawun cycle may be mentioned the following:—Emu with dark head, kangaroo, bandicoot, bilbai, pelican, opossum, swan, plain turkey, mosquito, musk duck, porcupine, bat, dog, kurrea, bulldog-ant, yellow-belly fish.

The undermentioned totemic names, or dhingga, may be enumerated as some of those belonging to the Mūmbun cycle:—Emu with grey head, house-fly, tree iguana, ground iguana, eagle-hawk, scrub-turkey, shingle-back, large fish-hawk, wanggal or small night-jar, black duck, padamellin, crow, carpet snake, codfish, bream.

Beside the cycles, sections, and totemic groups above illustrated, the whole community is further divided into what may, for convenience of reference, be called "castes." These castes regulate the camping or resting places of the people under the shades of large trees in the vicinity of water or elsewhere. The shadow thrown by the butt and lower portion of a tree is called Nhurrē, whilst the shade of the top of the tree, or outer margin of the shadow, is Winggu.

Again, the men, women, and children, whose prescribed sitting places are in the butt and middle shade of the tree are called Guai'mundhun, or sluggish blood, whilst those who sit in the top or outside shade are designated Guai'gulir, or active blood. This further bisection of the community into Guaimundhun and Guaigulir, which may be referred to as "blood" divisions, has happened so long ago that the natives have no explanation regarding it. The Guaigulir people—those who occupy the Winggu or shade of the branches—are supposed to keep a strict watch for any game which may appear in sight, the approach of friends or enemies, or anything which may require vigilance in a native camp.