Page:Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales.djvu/7

Rh Each cycle, and consequently every section and every totemic group, contains men, women, and children belonging to the Guaimundhun and Guaigulir bloods, with their respective shades. A Guaimundhun man of the Nhurrē shade marries a Guaigulir woman of the branch shade. A Guaigulir man of the Winggu shade can marry a Guaimundhun woman of the butt or middle shade. A Guaimunudhun mother produces Guaimundhun children, who, moreover, take their mother's shade. A Guaigulir mother produces Guaigulir children, belonging to the Winggu shade.

Taking an example from the foregoing table, we see that Murri marries Butha, who is his tabular or "No. 1" wife. But he has the right, in certain cases, of taking a Matha maiden instead, whom we shall call "No. 2." He could, subject to prescribed restrictions, have an Ippatha allotted to him as "No. 3." Or he might, instead of any of these women, espouse a Kubbitha, whom we shall distinguish as " No. 4."

Another custom of wide prevalence is that a man of a given totem must espouse a woman whose totem is not the same as his. This law, like that of the cycles, sections, bloods, and shades, is subject to departures; for example, a man who is a Kangaroo might be allowed to take a Kangaroo wife. There is no such thing as a cast-iron partition of the community into two exogamous moieties. The only law of the Ngēumba sociology which admits of no variation is that the cycles and other divisions just enumerated are irrevocably transmitted through the mothers.

All that has been said in the preceding pages respecting the Ngēumba is equally descriptive of the sociology of the Wongaibon, Kūrnū, Kamilaroi, Pikumbil, Yuāleai, and kindred tribes. The nomenclature of some of the divisions may be more or less different, but the fundamental principles are identical in them all. Those readers who may be desirous of studying this interesting subject further are requested to peruse my "Sociology of some Australian Tribes," and "Ethnological Notes on the Aboriginal Tribes of Queensland."

2. The Bora of the Kaimilaroi Tribes.

The Bora is a great educational institution for the admission of the youths of the tribe to the privileges, duties, and obligations of manhood. The ceremonies are apparently intended to strengthen the authority of the elder men over the younger, and to impress in an indelible manner those rules of conduct which form the moral and civil law of the tribe.

When it has been determined to call the people together for the purpose of celebrating the rites connected with the Bora, messengers are despatched to the different sections of the community informing them of the time and place of the intended gathering. It is the duty of the headmen, who thus muster the people, to prepare the Bora-ground, and get everything ready prior to the arrival of the several contingents who have been invited to be present at the meeting. A suitable camping ground is accordingly selected near some river, creek, or waterhole in a part of the tribe's domain in which there is sufficient game and vegetable products to furnish food for all the people during the continuance of the ceremonies.