OBLIGATIONS OF RELATIONSHIP.  DIVISION OF FAMILY BRANCHES.

But a most remarkable law is that which obliges families connected by blood upon the female side to join for the purpose of defence and avenging crimes; and as the father marries several wives, and very often all of different families, his children are repeatedly all divided amongst themselves; no common bond of union exists between them, and this custom alone would be sufficient to prevent this people ever emerging from the savage state.

As their laws are principally made up of sets of obligations due from members of the same great family towards one another—­which obligations of family names are much stronger than those of blood—­it is evident that a vast influence upon the manners and state of this people must be brought about by this arrangement into classes.  I therefore devoted a great portion of my attention to this point, but the mass of materials I have collected is so large that it would occupy much more time to arrange it than I have been able to spare so as to do full justice to the subject; but in order to give an accurate idea of the nature of the enquiries I pursued I have given in the Appendix A a short genealogical list which will show the manner in which a native gives birth to a progeny of a totally different family name to himself; so that a district of country never remains for two successive generations in the same family.  These observations, as well as others made with regard to the natives, can be only considered to apply, as yet, to that portion of Western Australia lying between the 30th and 35th parallels of south latitude unless the contrary is expressly stated; though I think there is strong reason to suppose that they will, in general, be found to obtain throughout the continent.

DIFFICULTY OF PURSUING THE ENQUIRY.

It is impossible for any person not well acquainted with the language of the natives and who does not possess great personal influence over them to pursue an inquiry of this nature; for one of the customs most rigidly observed and enforced amongst them is never to mention the name of a deceased person, male or female.  In an inquiry therefore which principally turns upon the names of their ancestors this prejudice must be every moment violated, and a very great difficulty has thus to be encountered in the outset.  The only circumstance which at all enabled me to overcome this was that the longer a person has been dead the less repugnance do they evince in uttering his name.  I therefore in the first instance endeavoured to ascertain only the oldest names on record; and on subsequent occasions, when I found a native alone and in a loquacious humour, I succeeded in filling up some of the blanks.  Occasionally round their fires at night I managed to involve them in disputes regarding their ancestors, and on these occasions gleaned much of the information of which I was in want.

LAWS OF LANDED PROPERTY.  RIGHTS AND BOUNDARIES.  PROPERTY VESTED IN INDIVIDUALS.