At present it can only be said that
in very few instances have we either in the four-class or the
eight-class areas any warrant for saying that we know the meaning of the
class names, much less that we know them to be derived from the names of
animals.

One piece of evidence on the subject we need mention only to reject. The
Rev. H. Kempe, of the Lutheran Mission among the southern Arunta, has on
two occasions stated that the classes in signalling to each other use as
their signs the gestures employed to designate animals[129]. On one
occasion however he assigns to the Bunanka class the eaglehawk gesture,
on another the lizard gesture; the remaining three, which he added only
on the second occasion, were ant, wallaby and eaglehawk. It may be noted
that the eaglehawk sign is attributed by him to the two classes which
would form the main part of the population of a local group; in the
second place all four animals are among the totems of the tribe; it
seems therefore probable that Mr Kempe has merely confused the sign made
to a man of the given kin with a sign which he supposed to be made to a
man of a certain class. If he paid little attention to the subject, and
especially if on the second occasion he gained his information at a
large tribal meeting, the large number of totems would render it
improbable that conflicting evidence would lead him to discover his
mistake. If he pursued his enquiries far enough he might, it is true,
get more than one sign for a given class; but if he contented himself
with asking four men, one of each class, the probability would be that
he would get four separate gestures. In any case we have no warrant for
arguing that the gesture in any way translates the class name.

FOOTNOTES:

[111] In practice they are eight-class.

[112] The numbers refer to those used in chapter IV.

[113] These are merely rough percentages based on arbitrary values for
partial resemblances.

[114] This table shows what percentage of names is completely different;
partial differences are not allowed for.

[115] Possibly a prefix also; cf. _Koocheebinga_, _Koorabunna_ and their
sister names.

[116] Curr, vocab. no. 37.

[117] ib. no. 39. Spencer and Gillen give "loud voiced" as the meaning.

[118] ib. nos. 34, 40, 49 _a_, 104.

[119] Moore, _Vocab._; Mathew, p. 226.

[120] Mathew, p. 232; Curr, nos. 164, 170, 178.

[121] ib. no. 143.

[122] ib. no. 110.

[123] Elsewhere muri means red