Part 17 (1/2)

Inst._ XX, 62. General circ.u.mcision was a remedy in Fiji when the chief was ill.

[188] And among the Dieri, according to Gason, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ XX, 87.

[189] p. 219.

[190] pp. 205, 193. _J.A.I._ XII, 36.

[191] p. 245.

[192] p. 269.

[193] He also omits to mention the _Muni_ ceremony, described in _Journ.

Anthr. Inst._ XX, 62. If general licence is of magical efficacy in cases of sickness, it can hardly be argued that general licence at marriage has not, as Mr Crawley argues, a magical significance.

[194] p. 245.

[195] _C.T._ 556.

[196] _C.T._ 104.

[197] Commonly but erroneously termed ”rudimentary organs.” It is a natural and justifiable a.s.sumption for a zoologist that all vestigial organs have previously been more largely developed. It is also an a.s.sumption that a given custom is vestigial, but it is not a justifiable one.

APPENDIX.

ANOMALOUS MARRIAGES.

Decay of cla.s.s rules in South-East. Descent in Central Tribes. ”Bloods”

and ”Castes.”

A certain number of Australian tribes have ceased to adhere strictly to the regulations of their cla.s.s systems. Thus, in the Kamilaroi tribe a correspondent of Dr Howitt's found intra-cla.s.s marriage, the totem only being different; in determining the cla.s.s and totem of the children the ordinary rule held good[198]. The Wiradjeri on the Lachlan permit Ipai to marry Muri as well as k.u.mbo, the two cla.s.ses both belonging to Kupathin; in each case certain totems only, viz. emu, opossum, snake and bandicoot, have the privilege[199]. The same anomaly is found in the Wonghibon tribe[200].

Among the Warramunga and other northern tribes Spencer and Gillen find that the division of the cla.s.ses, explained in the last chapter, does not prevent marriages from taking place which this division ought to prevent, if the Arunta rule were followed[201]. A curious feature of these marriages is that the children of the anomalous union pa.s.s into the cla.s.s which would have been theirs if their mother had wedded her normal spouse. It is not easy to say whether this should be regarded as a survival of matrilineal descent; it is, however, clear that only the existence of phratriac names enables us to say definitely that the descent in this tribe is in the male line.