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grandchildren by the female line enter every one of the
four castes. The original design of these rules can only
be conjectured. There seems to be something of a
[Real? Red?] Republican spirit about the equality engrafted
^with almost unique ingenuity
on pedigree. And the Marriage Law has certainly the
effect of forbidding a man to marry either his
sister, or his aunt, or such first cousins as are the
daughters either of his father's brother or of his
mother's sister*. Looking at these results we are
warranted in concluding that there was a time when
the race of Murri was swayed by a thoughtful
law giver: and the system of descent and marriage
may be regarded as a relic of
antiquity, one of the few monuments of early
intelligence which this decaying race has still
preserved.
The system of nomenclature and rules of
Marriage and descent extends far beyond the limits
of the Kamilaroi language. Many tribes
speaking diffeernt tongues use the 8 names
given above, Ippai, Ippata [symbol?]; and even