on, and this might readily become crystallised in the
kinship terms.

The eight-class system, as we have seen, resulted from the distinction
between elder and younger sister. What is the meaning of this and what
analogies do we find to it?

Widely extended also are the systems of age-grades. In all parts of the
world the men, and sometimes the women, are or have been divided into
associations, to which reference was made in Chapter I, which begin by
being co-extensive with the tribe for all practical purposes, since all
pass through the initiation ceremonies. The various initiation
ceremonies during what may be termed the involuntary stage of these
associations, no less than in their later form of secret societies,
determine the rights and duties of the individuals who undergo them. The
period at which they take place is determined, broadly speaking, by the
age of the individual. It is therefore clear that for the peoples in the
lower stage of culture considerations of age are of the highest
importance.

We find that in practice the elder brother has much authority, both over
the younger brother and the sister. In Victoria he decides whom they are
to marry. As we have seen in the tables of terms, the Wathi-Wathi man
distinguishes both elder and younger of either sex by special terms,
which points to their having special rights or duties[140].

If therefore we cannot see why primitive man should have enacted that
the elder rather than the younger, or the daughter of the elder rather
than the daughter of the younger, should be preferred, it is at any rate
of a piece with his other customs.

From the terms of kinship tabulated above various conclusions have been
drawn. It will be seen that a man applies to all the women in the other
phratry on the level of his generation the same term as he applies to
his actual wife. On this basis it has been argued that at one time all
the men in one phratry were united in marriage with all the women in the
other within the limits of the generation. Before this again a stage of
absolute promiscuity is supposed to have existed. This alternative
explanation of the kinship organisations demands to be considered.

FOOTNOTES:

[138] _J.A.I._ XIV, 354; _N. Queensl. Eth. Bull._ VI, 6; Spencer and
Gillen, _Northern Tribes_, p. 90.

[139] Morgan, in _Smithsonian Contr._ vol. XVII; _Globus_, LXIX, 3;
_Nat. Tribes_, pp. 88-9.

[140] For lists of tribes where this distinction is found s