system, but it must be south of Rockhampton, for a new set of names comes in there with female descent, of which the Kuinmurbura tribe, which occupied the peninsula between Broad Sound and Shoalwater Bay, is the example.
The Kongulu tribe, south-westerly from the Kuinmurbura, also marks the limits of this system.
I am indebted to Dr. W. E. Roth for the following example of a tribe with male descent at the Annan River near Cooktown.
| Classes. | Sub-classes. | |||
| Walar | a bee | Wandi | eagle-hawk | |
| Walar | a bee | |||
| Murla | a bee | Jorro | a bee | |
| Kutchal | salt-water eagle-hawk | |||
This system is peculiar in that the classes and the sub-classes have animal names, and are apparently totems, which, as before mentioned, is a rare occurrence. In this tribe descent is in the male line, for instance the children of a man who is, say, Murla-Jorro are Murla-Kutchal.
Tribes with Eight Sub-Classes and Male Descent
The occurrence of tribes in Central Australia with four sub-classes and apparently male descent came under the notice of Dr. Lorimer Fison and myself before the year 1880, but in the absence of further information it was not made use of. It is due to the epoch-making work of Spencer and Gillen that a full knowledge of the organisation of the native tribes of that part of Australia has been obtained. They have pointed out that in the Arunta tribe descent runs in the male line, and we may regard the Arunta as typical of the large group of tribes inhabiting the centre of the continent, from Lake Eyre in the south to
