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202

NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA

CH.

sometimes put it, are of "the same flesh." Looking at the diagrams of the Urabunna, the Dieri, and the Kamilaroi, the direction of their progressive development appears to me to be unmistakable.

If we compare the Kamilaroi class system with the foregoing table, it will be seen at once that Ipai and Kumbo are the complements of the class Kupathin, and that the children of Kupathin-Ipatha take the name of Kupathin-Butha. It shows also very clearly that, underneath all this, there lies the two-class system, for the children of Ipatha are as much Kupathin as she is. It has been the absence of the class-names in most of the Kamilaroi tribes, and the ignorance of their occurrence in others, that has made it so difficult to work out the principle's on which the four sub-class system rests.

The following table shows the marriages and descents of the Kamilaroi sub-classes and totems:[1]—

KAMILAROI TRIBE—MARRIAGES AND DESCENTS
MaleMarriesChildren are
(1) Ipai of any totem, when Ipai-Kumbo is emu, bandicoot, or black snakeKubbithakangarooMurri and Mathakangaroo
KubbithaopossumMurri and Mathaoppossum
KubbithaiguanaMurri and Mathaiguana
(2) Kumbo of any totem, when Ipai-Kumbo is emu, bandicoot, or black snakeMathakangarooKubbi and Kubbithakangaroo
MathaopossumKubbi and Kubbithaopossum
MathaiguanaKubbi and Kubbithaiguana
(3) Murri of any totem, when Murri-Kubbi is kangaroo, opossum, or IguanaButhaemuIpai and Ipathaemu
ButhabandicootIpai and Ipathabandicoot
ButhaiguanaIpai and Ipathaiguana
(4) Kubbi of any totem, when Murri-Kubbi is kangaroo, opossum, or IguanaIpathaemuKumbo and Buthaemu
IpathabandicootKumbo and Buthabandicoot
Ipathablack snakeKumbo and Buthablack snake

Where Ipai-Kumbo is emu, bandicoot, or black snake, then Ipai marries Kubbitha-kangaroo, and go on.

  1. ↑ Rev. W. Ridley, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. vol. ii. p. 263.
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