ule of
descent, this must have been based on a review of the changes that would
be brought about in the position of the son's and not the daughter's
offspring. But this is unlikely.

But on the other hand the father's disposal of the daughter's hand is
indirectly a means of increasing his influence both with his son and in
general. If the son gains his wife by an exchange of sisters, the
father's authority is obviously increased. But we do not know how far
this factor of the right of betrothal has operated.

Turning now to questions of inheritance, we find that properly speaking
the hereditary chief is unknown in Australia. There is a tendency for
the son of the tribal headman to succeed his father, but it is subject
to exceptions. Moreover, it is by no means a universal rule for the
tribe to have an over-headman; it may be ruled by the council of
district headmen. In any case the influence of the quasi-hereditary
character of the over-headmanship upon the rule of descent cannot but
have been comparatively slight.

It is, on the other hand, usual for the local group and the totem kin to
have headmen. In the case of the latter, age is often the qualification,
as among the Dieri[27]; in such cases there is no possible effect on the
rule of succession. But among some of the Victorian tribes with
matrilineal descent the rule is for the son to follow the father in the
headmanship[28]; and the same is the case, as we should expect, among
the patrilineal eight-class tribes[29]. The most important tribe in
which hereditary headmanship is combined with female descent is the
Wiradjeri[30]; their neighbours, the Kamilaroi, showed marked respect to
the son of a headman, if he possessed ability, though they did not,
apparently, make him his father's successor[31].

On the whole, then, we cannot assign much weight to this element in the
list of possible causes of the transition.

Of inheritance of chattels or land and fixtures we know little. From
Spencer and Gillen we learn that among the Warramunga the mother's
brother, or daughter's husband, succeeds to the boomerangs, and other
moveable property[32]. Among the Kulin and the Kurnai inheritance in the
male line seems to have been the rule. In the Adelaide district, as we
learn from Gerstaecker[33], individual property in land was known; it
descended in the male line. Among the Turribul there was individual
property in _bunya-bunya_ trees; these too devolved from father to
son