[151] Or better, what was called above the tribal government.
[152] Reasons have been already advanced to support our belief that such betrothal ceremonies were in fact more frequent than our informants report. Considering now the force attached by the natives to what is called infant betrothal, we perhaps have another reason to justify this supposition.
[153] There is no room here to discuss this general assertion at length. But it may be made plausible by pointing out that a certain status must be quite fundamental in a society to get the religious sanction (for instance monogamy in our country), and that it requires undoubtedly a long process in order to transform this sanction into a formal act and put into a material form the accumulated action of many social forces.
[154] In what these individual rights consist will be discussed in detail below. Evidently it is erroneous, though a frequent error, to understand here exclusively the sexual rights.
[155] Howitt, S.E. Tr., pp. 193, 224, 227, 236, 248, Kulin tribe, p. 255; Yuin tribe, p. 266; Kurnai tribe, Kam. and Kurn., p. 204; Trans. R.S.V., p. 118; Wotjobaluk, Wakelbura, Turribul, Trans. R.S.V., p. 118; J. Dawson, p. 27; J.A.I., xxiv. p. 170 (Gason on the Dieri); Ibid., p. 194 (Inspector Foelsche on the Pt. Darwin tribes); Lumholtz, pp. 160, 161; Salvado, p. 278.
[156] Howitt, Kam. and Kurn., p. 206.
[157] See below on [economic side of family life].
[158] Nat. Tr., p. 766.
[159] Curr, Recollections, p. 259.
[160] A.R., i. pp. 60, 110. Curr knew personally only the Bangerang tribe, and some others in North Victoria (Glenbourn and Murray tribes), and his general observations must be taken as framed on this material, as he does not seem to be sufficiently aware of how many and deep differences there might be between different tribes.