The Euahlayi Tribe: A Study of Aboriginal Life in Australia

of numeration and notation, which in their life were quite unneeded. Such as were needed were suppl

e A SOL

wah TW

ogle FO

i FIVE O

URTEEN OR F

ules were capable of workaday arithmetic if necessary, and few

owledge as to all his relations, animate and inanimate, the

this tribe is a blood dis

eeah LIG

hen DARK

tion of all tribes-folk into these 'phratries,' or 'exogamous moieties.' While in most Australian tribes the meanings of the names of phratries are lost, where the meanings are known they are usually names of animals-Eagle, Hawk, and Crow, White Cockatoo and Bla

al ancestors were, on the one side, a red race coming from the wes

ah; he or she must mate with a Gwaimudthen. This rule has no

burrah belongs to the Noongah-Kurrajong country; Ghurreeburrah to the orchid country; Mirriehburrah, poligonum country; Bibbilah, Bibbil country, and so on. This division, not of blood relationship

sons of one family of sisters. The daughters take the name from th

es, there are four for each sex, bearing the s

umbo BROTHE

ine,

urree BROTH

ine,

ippi BROTHE

ne, Hi

ubbee BROTH

ne, Ku

en of Boot

ippi BROTHE

ne, Hi

ren of Ma

ubbee BROTH

ne, Ku

en of Hipp

umbo BROTHE

ine,

n of Kubboo

urree BROTH

ine,

r's and her sisters' 'class' names in common; if boy

n only ma

only mar

an only ma

can only m

often addressed by thes

t night by the same name as in the daytime,

was called Dheala. Any incident happening at the time of birth may gain a child a name, such as a particula

g; such an one having been brought to the camp

r the Kumbo Bootha names, or others derived from place of birth, from some circumstance connected with it, a child's mispronunciation of

e daughters of her mother an

dee

ah FULL

e HALF

oghee

ee UNCL

SISTER

rdee

e MOTHER

ahdee

OTHER'S SIST

RANDMOTHER ON

DMOTHER ON

DFATHER ON M

LAW, OR ONE WHO CO

-IN-LAW, OR ONE WHO CO

OR WIFE, OR ONE

memories by being daily used as names. T

EMPORARY MATE

ND OF CHILDHOO

oothai

LDERLY MAN OF

N OF THE SAME TOTEM,

OT

of names used

POSSIBLE CH

e OLD

MOTHERL

ATHERLE

FATHERL

ONLY

intermarry. 'Boyjerh' relations, as those on the father's side are calle

em system, by some called Mah

, and has amongst its multi

o OR

l SILV

CRA

ol SH

WATER E

G BLACK-AND-

LITTLE

l BLAC

LITTLE N

BIRD LIK

HE MANNA-BR

yal

SACR

AN A

AN EU

i IRO

a QUA

roo RI

h POL

THE NORT

E-OWENIA

WILD

ah BIG S

Dinewan. For example, in a quarrel between, say, the Bohrah totem and the B

ltiplex totems

leel TOPK

gadah THE

NK-BREAS

W AND RED BREA

ln GREE

h SMALL GR

AND YELLOW CREST

yah

rool BIGGE

WATTL

AN A

SAND

ow AN

-EAST WIND, SAM

rain that is not blown up by the win

, numerically a very powerful t

ai CA

nquin BUT

gah LAUGHI

bi D

rroo SAND

oyah SOL

h BOW

Mooregoo

n WHIT

dul WHIST

rrai

eer PIN

ri

h NATIVE

ATIVE PAS

rr POI

y STOCKM

ondoo BI

oolbe

SHRUB WITH CR

rh SPRI

urderh W

It is the Beewees of the Gwaimudthen, or dark blood, who own Yarra

red from the Narran district, but the totem tribe is still str

totems o

nberh

hee M

illah P

h SMALL CA

ARGE CAR

ouie

doo

muggui

GREEN-H

o BEE

UCALYPTUS,

ingul N

nah S

eeger COLD

bon

on KIN

h brow

boo RE

rraywurray

ordinary

of a small rabbit, like which it burrows; almost died out now. The totem clan are very few here

LUE-TONG

n PLAINS TUR

gulla BIRD

n LARGE WHI

ck snake, t

URRAJONG-

AN EUC

rerh B

oolo

SUN (F

oo THE

ah CR

h SH

rrah EAR

ee WILL

ngeen

unnillee G

n CU

gah CE

rr BI

n SCRU

rgah

mul KIN

MALL

LL WATER-Y

ssum, another

OPULAR-L

PPARIS MI

WHIT

ELLOW FLOW

y HO

ILD CURR

SWAMP O

rlee LARG

WHITE

BLACK

WHITE N

goo M

hdar

loo

irrie

e WOO

RIMSON W

egin GRE

elon, claims as

THE

THE EA

othoo

alilee

ah BLA

ar WHI

ngar SMA

n MOS

gahgui MO

ullah BU

KIND O

h BONY

SHINGLEB

a ROS

ogah

h WILD

ah R

ilbaydilbay

or the rivers are a sub-totem of theirs; bu

has almost disappeared, only

hran

andhill rat, now ex

n D

rin A

en WIL

rhder

ouran NO

NATIVE C

native cat

a LEOP

n M

oey A LITTL

A VERY LARGE

l HAIRY C

re still plentiful. The Bralgah birds have a Boorah ground at the back of our old horse-paddock, a smooth, well-beaten circle, where they dance the grotesque dances peculiar to them, whi

rahs, and Gouyous. Further back in the country, they tell me, the crow, the

marriage law puzzles to state that Dinewans,

bo

a Hip

ou, Beewee, Maira

ee K

Kubb

mothers. They may, in fact, in any way use their totems, but never abuse them. A Beewee, for example, may kill, or see another kill, and eat or use a Beewee, or one

ares to mimic a totem, either by drawing one,

they will die. Any injury to his yunbeai hurts the man himself In danger he has the power to assume the shape of his yunbeai, which of course is a great assista

ing one of her bad attacks jumped out of her, and she lost her chance of witchery. One old fellow told me once that when he was going to a public-house he took a miniature form of his yunbeai, which was the Kurrea

rictions do not affect the totem, but marriage restrictions do; the yunbeai has no marriage restrictions; a man having an opossum for yunbeai may marry a wom

; a man's spirit is in his yunbeai

usually chosen from amongst a man's multiplex totems

overs about to part chose each a tree, and by the tree of the absent one was the one left to know of his wellbeing or the reverse.

it trees and stones always make me think, perhaps irrelevantly, of one of the restored sayings of t

kind of evolution aided by Byamee. I dare say, though, the missing link is somewhere in the legends. I rather think

irl here,-that all Beewees were originally changed from the Beewee form into human shape. The Beewee of the Gulf, originally, like the Beewee here, had the same animal shape, and s

with totems within the phratries. In their system of 'multiplex-totems' or 'sub-totems' they resemble the Wotjobaluk tribe. [Howitt, NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA, pp. 121, 125, 453, 455.] The essence

e the phratry names are not those of the Kamilaroi, and alone among phratry names in Australia which can be translated, are not names of animals. The phratries

of each individual to kill and eat his own totem-has been me

h Boorah, until at last they could eat what they pleased except their yunbeai, or

unbeai given to it, and may eat of it in ignoran

or taboo, he or she would lose his or her sight. Should they eat the eggs or flesh of

Fish is wunnarl for about four years after his Boorah to a boy, and

blood of that animal or bird, as the case might be, over the boy, and rubbed it into him. The boy, shaking a

s possible that there may have been a time in tribal history, now forgotten, when tot

ards a wirreenun (wizard) and the father rubbed the fat on the boy's joints, and put apiece of the flesh in his mouth. 'The boy chewed it, making a noise as he did

d for her. No ceremony of this sort would be gone through with the flesh, fat, or blood of any one's yun

h Soul' of West Africa; to the Nagual of South American tribes; and to the Nyarong of Borneo. The yunbeai has hitherto been scarcely remarked on among Australian tribes. Mr. Thomas declares it to be 'almost non-existent' in Australia,

animal familiar in Australia, or perhaps it i