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position. A son may succeed at times to his father's office as ruler, but in such cases it is only by consent of the headman, because he possesses the necessary qualifications, and not because he happens to be the heir of the deceased chief.

The laws by which the members of the tribe are governed are the result of those traditions which embody the principles of the original stock. As one might expect, they favour the strong as against the weak, the old and influential as against the young, the man as against the woman. One of the remarkable points about the aboriginal laws is their general acceptance by the people and the ready submission offered by them to the punishments decreed upon violation. As an instance of this we may quote an occurrence mentioned by the Rev. C. G. Nicolay where two young persons in the Victoria district were so enamoured of each other that they willingly suffered severe punishment, three times repeated, in order that, the law being satisfied, they might live together. Marriage laws and regulations are so intricate and involved and form so integral a part of the social organization that they are treated fully under that section. The laws regarding hunting and the preservation of food are so strict that infringements of them are visited with serious results to the evildoer. Except by invitation no stranger is allowed to enter a family's booja or preserve, and poaching is often punished by death. No vegetable products used as food may be gathered at seed-time, and in cases where the totem is a vegetable that particular article is forbidden as food. In the matter of personal offences punishment is based upon the lex talionis, with the extension that a culprit's relatives are implicated in his guilt. As a general rule, when a man is killed the duty of avenging his death, whether caused by accident or design, falls upon his nearest relative, who must undertake the task or risk disgrace at the hands of the family. Where it is not possible to kill the actual culprit vicarious sacrifice in the person of some relative or member of his family is sufficient to wipe out the stain and fulfil the demands of the law. This explains to some extent the murder of innocent settlers by the natives. They have been made to suffer for the wrongs committed by their predecessors. For seduction, incest, and adultery the nominal punishment is death, but the law is frequently satisfied with a less penalty. Whenever a criminal runs away he is tracked with unrelenting tenacity, and when found the trouble of catching him does not detract from the punishment. The usual penalty short of death is the infliction of spear wounds in the fleshy portions of the body, the number and extent varying with the gravity of the crime. As an instance of inequality on the part of the law it may be mentioned that unfaithfulness of a wife is not only visited upon her, but often on the wife of her paramour as well, while the guilty man invariably escapes.

Crimes against property need scarcely be taken into account. Private ownership of land does not exist, the whole section being the common property of the family. On the other hand, the personalty of a native is not such as to give rise to temptation on the part of his fellow. It does occasionally happen that the area of land held by a family or group is rich in some commodity which is of value to the community. In that case it is protected from spoliation by outsiders, who can secure it only by giving some consideration in exchange. This establishes a rude system of barter, which, however, does not in any way modify the feelings of hostility that often prevail between neighbouring tribes.

This is one of the most important phases of aboriginal life, as it is really the framework upon which the elaborate and intricate system of marriage relationships is based. Each tribe, as we have seen—and this holds good for the whole of the continent—is divided into two divisions or phratries, each of which is again often subdivided into two and sometimes three or four