Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/801

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XII
VARIOUS CUSTOMS
775

and close behind her the children ; nearest to them the little boy, if any, next to him the little girl. In the event of the man's father and mother being with them for a night, the grandfather would occupy the right-hand side, the grandmother behind him, farther back in the hut; and the son's wife and children would move to a corresponding position near their own "house-father."

It would be a rule that the wife's sister, although called wife by her brother-in-law, and also calling him husband, would not sleep in his hut, but somewhere near at hand. Different rules would apply to other persons visiting him. A Brogan, that is, a man who had been initiated the same time as the husband, and who therefore addresses the wife as "spouse," and is so addressed by her, would not stay at their camp, but would go and stop in the "young men's camp."

In the Wurunjerri tribe people formed their camps somewhat in the following manner, taking Berak's willam, or hut, as the starting-point.

The following diagram is from the positions he marked on the ground for me:—

Diagram XXXIII

1. Berak, his wife, and child.
2. Berak's brother, his wife, and child.
3. Berak's father and mother.
4. Berak's wife's father and mother.
5. Visitors from the Bunurong tribe.
6. Young men's camp.

The camp is supposed to be in Berak's country, say at Heidelberg. Each hut faces the east.


  NODES
Note 1