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NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA
CH.

and an advance upon the Dieri murdu, the members of which are found distributed through all the local divisions (hordes).

The country of the Narrinyeri commences at Cape Jervis, on the opposite side of St. Vincent Gulf. An account of this tribe was given by the Rev. George Taplin,[1] in addition to which I have been able to obtain other explanatory facts through communications from him and also from the late Mr. T. W. Taplin. In order to bring this additional evidence into place I shall incorporate such particulars from the Rev. George Taplin's work as are necessary to show the local, and in the second part of this chapter, also the social organisation of the tribe. The Narrinyeri was essentially a coast tribe, and its country extended from Cape Jervis to Lacepede Bay, and inland up the Murray for about 30 miles above Lake Alexandrina. It was divided into eighteen local groups or clans, with male descent, each clan inhabiting a definite part of the tribal territory. As with the Narrang-ga the totems are localised in the divisions of the country held by the clans, showing that the local organisation existed in a more developed form than in the two-class tribes of which I have already spoken.

Somewhat west of Lacepede Bay the Narrinyeri were joined by tribes allied to the Buandik.[2] So far as I am aware, no particulars have been preserved of the local divisions of these tribes. In the absence of such information I am not able to say what were the local clans or hordes, but in the account given, it is said that the Buandik was one of the five following tribes, each occupying its own territory, and using different dialects of the same language.

The country of the Buandik was on the coast between the Glenelg River and Rivoli Bay. Between Rivoli Bay and Lacepede Bay was the Moatatunga tribe. From Lacepede Bay to the boundary of the Narrinyeri was the Taloinjunga

  1. The Narrinyeri. An account of the tribe of Australian aborigines inhabiting the country around the Lakes Alexandrina, Albert, and Coorong. Adelaide, 1847.
  2. The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines by Mrs. James S. Smith. Adelaide Government Printer, 1880.