s subsequent to the elaboration of the phratriac system. For it
might well happen that an original Yungo local group divided, from
economic causes, but that each half retained its original name. Under
these circumstances the two portions formed connubial alliances with
other groups; and in the tribes as we see the names of these split
groups are found as phratry names, combined in each case with a
different sister phratry name. We find for example Wuthera-Yungo,
Yungo-Mattera, Matteri-Kiraru in the central area. The same theory will
explain the appearance of Wuthera beside three other sister names,
though here we must call in the borrowing and migration theories as
well, to explain the wide area over which the names are found. We have
seen that in the northern tribes one of the phratry names appears to be
in each case from the same root; if this is so, we can apply to them too
the split-group hypothesis.

The case of Eaglehawk-Crow is less simple. Separated from the Darling
area by a considerable space lie four systems of the same name in the
east of Victoria. Here it is hardly possible to assume that the latter
systems have migrated; on the other hand the area covered by the Darling
group suggests that it is unlikely to have been forced from its original
home by pressure from outside. Perhaps it is simplest to suppose that
the Wiradjeri have gradually forced their way in, wedge fashion, between
the different sections, and either swallowed up the intervening members
or driven them before them; this would account for the existence of the
anomalous groups to the south-west.

In this area, too, we seem to have a case of the split group; but the
identity of meaning of the other phratry names (Malian and Multa both
mean Eaglehawk) makes it clear that it is simply a case of
translation--a possibility which must be kept in mind in the other cases
also. It is a common phenomenon for two tribes to have the name of one
animal in common, while for that of another entirely different words are
in use. The four Victorian groups appear to have borrowed the phratry
names, but the centre from which they took them must remain uncertain.

It may be noted in passing that the view of Prof. Gregory, who holds
that the occupation of Victoria by the blacks dates back no more than
300 years, is hardly borne out by the distribution of the phratriac
systems. It is clearly improbable that they were developed _in situ_,
for this would make the or