"One of the most remarkable facts connected with the natives, is that
they are divided into certain great families, all the members of which
bear the same names, as a family or second name: the principal branches
of these families, so far as I have been able to ascertain, are the
Ballaroke
Tdondarup
Ngotak
Nagarnook
Nogonyuk
Mongalung
Narrangur.
"But in different districts the members of these families give a local
name to the one to which they belong, which is understood in that
district, to indicate some particular branch of the principal family. The
most common local names are,
Didaroke
Gwerrinjoke
Maleoke
Waddaroke
Djekoke
Kotejumeno
Namyungo
Yungaree.
"These family names are common over a great portion of the continent; for
instance, on the Western coast, in a tract of country extending between
four and five hundred miles in latitude, members of all these families
are found. In South Australia, I met a man who said that he belonged to
one of them, and Captain Flinders mentions Yungaree, as the name of a
native in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
"These family names are perpetuated, and spread through the country, by
the operation of two remarkable laws: -
"1st. That children of either sex, always take the family name of their
mother.
"2nd. That a man cannot marry a woman of his own family name."
From this it appears that the natives of that part of the country have in
addition to their other ordinary names a family or surname, which is
perpetuated through successive generations on the mother's side. This is
not the case as far as my observations and inquiries have enabled me to
ascertain among the numerous tribes frequenting the Murray river, and Mr.
Moorhouse assures me that he has been equally unable to detect any
coincidence of the kind among the tribes frequenting the district of
Adelaide.
The division, numbers, and names of the various tribes are also subjects
of difficulty and uncertainty. As far as my researches have yet extended
upon this point, it appears to me, first, that groups of natives have a
distinctive or a local appellation, derived from the particular place
they belong to, as Barmerara maru, the natives frequenting the lake
called Barmera: Moolyoolpero maru, the natives frequenting the lagoon
called Moolyoolko, and so on. Secondly, a general or tribal name, as
Narwijjerook, a native of the tribe so called, which includes the natives
of Barmera and various others in that neighbourhood. Karn-brickolenbola,
a native of the tribe so called, and which includes various groups around
Mooroonde. Thirdly, it appears that wherever a change occurs in the name
of the tribes to which contiguous groups of natives may belong, there is
a corresponding change in the dialect or language spoken; thus the
Narwij-jerook speak a dialect called Narwijjong, the Karn-brickolenbola
tribe the Aiawong dialect, and so on.
In many of these dialects there appears to be little more difference than
exists among the counties in England. Such is the case up the course of
the Murray from Lake Alexandrina to the Darling; and such Captain Grey
found to be the case throughout a great part of Western Australia. In
others the dialects are so totally unlike one another, that natives,
meeting upon opposite sides of a river, cannot speak to or understand a
word of what each other say, except through the medium of a third
language, namely that spoken by the natives of the river itself, and
which is totally unlike either of the other two.
This is the case at Moorunde, where three different dialects meet, the
Yakkumban, or dialect spoken by the Paritke tribe, or natives inhabiting
the scrub to the west and north-west of the Murray. The
Boraipar or language of the Arkatko tribe, who
inhabit the scrub to the east of the Murray, and the Aiawong or river
dialect, extending, with slight variations, from the junction of the
Murray and Lake Alexandrina to the Darling.
Chapter V.
CEREMONIES AND SUPERSTITIONS - FORMS OF BURIAL - MOURNING CUSTOMS - RELIGIOUS
IDEAS - EMPIRICS, ETC.
The ceremonies and superstitions of the natives are both numerous and
involved in much obscurity; indeed it is very questionable if any of them
are understood even by themselves. Almost all the tribes impose
initiatory rites upon the young, through which they must pass from one
stage of life to another, until admitted to the privileges and rights of
manhood. These observances differ greatly in different parts of the
continent, independently of local or distinctive variations indicative of
the tribe to which a native may belong.
Thus at the Gulf of Carpentaria, the rite of circumcision is performed;
at Swan River, King George's Sound, and nearly three hundred miles to the
eastward of the latter place, no such rite exists. Round the head of the
Great Australian Bight, and throughout the Port Lincoln Peninsula, not
only is this rite performed, but a still more extraordinary one conjoined
with it. [Note 78: "Finditur usque ad urethram a parte inferaa penis."]
Descending the east side of Spencer's and St. Vincent's Gulf, and
around the district of Adelaide, the simple rite of circumcision is
retained. Proceeding but a little farther to the banks of the Murray, and
its neighbourhood, no such ceremony exists, nor have I ever heard of its
having been observed any where on the southeastern, or eastern parts of
the continent.
So also with respect to tattooing; in one part of the continent it is
adopted, in another it is rejected; when it is practised, there are many
varieties in the form, number, or arrangement of the scars,
distinguishing the different tribes, so that one stranger meeting with
another any where in the woods, can at once tell, from the manner in
which he is tattooed, the country and tribe to which he belongs, if not
very remote.
