The Aborigines of Victoria/Volume 2/Appendix B
APPENDIX B.
TRADITIONS OF THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES ON THE NAMOI, BARWAN, AND OTHER TRIBUTARIES OF THE DARLING.
(Communicated by the Rev. William Ridley, M.A., etc.)
I.—Baiame.
"Baiame" (pronounced like the three words "By-a-me," and in the Wellington district south of the Namoi "By-a-my") is the name by which tribes scattered over a great portion of the north-west and west of New South Wales designate the Supreme Being. The blacks there who are acquainted with English, if asked what "Baiame" is, reply, "Carbon-massa" i.e., the Great Master; and to further enquiry as to what they and their fathers know of Baiame, they reply that He made earth, and water, and sky, animals and men; that He makes the rain come down, and the grass grow; that He has delivered heir fathers from evil demons; that He welcomes good people to the great "Warrambool" (watercourse and grove) in the sky—the Milky Way—a paradise of peace and plenty; and that He destroys the bad.
The Rev. James Günther, of Mudgee, long a Missionary in the Wellington district, has recorded in his grammar of the "Wiradhurri" language that the thoughtful blackfellows ascribe to "Baiamai" these three attributes—immortality, power, and goodness. They say that Baiame is present at their Cora—the periodical assembly at which young men are initiated into the privileges of manhood. Among the ceremonies of the Cora is the exhibition of a sacred wand, which they say was given to their people by Baiame, the sight of which is essential to impart manhood.
"Baiame" is derived (as the Rev. C. C. Greenway has shown) from "baia" to make, cut out, or build. Like many other words, it is variously pronounced—sometimes aspirated, sometimes sharpened. The "b" which is generally heard at the beginning of words sometimes becomes "bh," or almost "v," sometimes "p."
For ages unknown this race has handed down the word signifying "Maker" as the name of the Supreme. II.—Ideas of the Stars.
King "Rory," an old chief of the Wailwun (Wile-one) tribe, on the Barwan, near the junction of the Namoi, gave me the following account of stars:—
Thee Northern Crown is "Mullion wollai," the eagle's-nest ("wollai" means "camp"). The several stars in the Crown are the young eagles. When this constellation is on the meridian, Vega rises, and shortly before it Altair. These are the two old eagles springing up to watch their nest. It was a startling word of the old chief when Altair (in Aquila) appeared, to hear the name "Mullion."
Arcturus they call "Guembila" (red); Canopus is "Wumba" (deaf); Benemasch, and the next star in the tail of the Great Bear—the only bright stars of that constellation visible in this latitude, which rise about N.N.E., and set N.N.W., never rising high, but moving, as it were, under the branches of the high trees—they call "Ngūng-gū" (white owls).
The Milky Way they call Warrambool, that is a strip of land abounding in fine trees and shrubs, with a stream of water running through it—the home or promenade of the blessed dead. The Pleiades are Worrul (bees'-nest); Bungula and Agenor, Murrai (cockatoos); the Southern Cross, Ngūǔ (tea-tree); the dark space under the Cross, Gao-ergi (emu); Magellan Clouds, Bǔralga (native companions); Antares, Guddar (lizard); two stars across the Milky Way, near Scorpio, Gijeri-gā (small green parrots); a dark space near them, Wurrawilbǔrū (demon, or ghost); the "S"-shaped line of stars in Serpentarius between the Northern Crown and Scorpio, Mundēwur (notches cut on a tree to climb up); Spica Virginis, Gūriē (small crested parrot); Fomalhaut, Gānī (small iguana); Corvus (4), Bundar (kangaroo); star in Peacock's Head, Murgu (night cuckoo); Venus, Ngindigindōer (you are laughing); Mars, Gumba (fat); Saturn, Wungal (a small bird).
III.—Laws of Descent and Marriage.
A social classification, carried out by means of family names, and embracing every human being of the race, is known to exist all over the tributaries of the Darling, including the Balonne and the Maranoa, and over the Wide Bay district of Queensland. This classification is the basis of strict laws of marriage and descent. The same class-names are in use among tribes speaking different dialects, and the system is known to be established even beyond the extent over which the same names are used. Among the Kamilaroi, Wolaroi, Wiradhurri, Wailwun, and Pickumbul tribes, the class-names are, for men, Ippai, Murri, Kubbi, and Kumbo; for women, their sisters, Ippāthā, Mātka, Kubbothā, and Būta (or Būdha). Besides these, they have other class-names, derived from animals, which also come by inheritance. The mother's name determines that of the child, and generally, not always, the child's class-name may be known from the father's. This will be seen by the subjoined rules. Besides the names that come to them by birth, the Aborigines have other distinctive names, commonly taken from some personal characteristic, as longarm, short-leg, sharp-eye. Murri (Murry) is the name of the race—meaning Australian Aboriginal. Murri (Murree) is the most important of the four classes.
Rules of Descent.
Rules of Marriage.
A man may have many wives of the names that are legally open to him, if he has the art or force to get them. But if he attempts to take one whose name is not allowed to one bearing his name in these rules, the tribe will kill him, or at least attack him with deadly purpose. The law is sacred; curses and spears fall upon him who dares to violate it.
From the above rules, it follows that generally the children of Kumbo are Kubbi and Kubbotha; those of Murri are Ippai and Ippatha; those of Kubbi are Kumbo and Budha; those of Ippai are Murri and Matha. But if Kumbo, instead of marrying a Matha, takes a Budha (with a different totem), his children are Ippai and Ippatha; and if Murri, instead of marrying a Budha, takes a Matha (with a different totem), his children are Kubbi and Kubbotha. So, in all cases, the mother's name determines that of the children.
Among the Kogai tribes, west of the Balonne, and also at Wide Bay, Queensland, the feminine names are derived from those of the brothers, by affixing -un or -gun. Thus, among the Kogai, the names (answering to Ippai, &c.) are these:—Obūr, Wungō, Urgilla, Unburri; and their sisters, Oburugun, Wungogun, Urgillagun, Unburrigun. And at Wide Bay the names are Derwun, Bārāng, Bundar, Tandor, Balkoin; and their sisters, Derwungun, Barangun, Bundarun, Tandorun, Balkoingun—the only case I have heard of where there are five names to each sex.
Brothers and Sisters.
Daiādi is elder brother; Gullami, younger brother. Boadi is elder sister; Buri, younger sister.
Among eight brothers, the first-born has no daiadi, seven gullami; the youngest has seven daiadi and no gullami; the fourth has three daiadi and four gullami.
So the eldest sister among eight has no boadi and seven buri; the third has two boadi, five buri.
Father is Bŭbā, sometimes "Papa."
Mother is Ngumba. But its appellative, used by children in calling on their mothers, is Gunii (pronounced just as γυνμ is pronounced at Oxford).
IV.—Names of Languages.
Most of the languages are named from their negative. Thus in Kamilaroi, "kamil" means "no" or "not;" in Wolaroi, "wol" is "no;" in Wailwun, "wail" is "no;" in Wiradhurri, "wira" is "no." But in Pikumbul "pika" means "yes."