[378] There is conflict of testimony on this point. Spencer and Gillen deny that the Arunta recognise the fact of paternity in any way (see _Northern Tribes_, pp. xiii, 145, 330), and yet talk of the "actual father" in ceremonial functions (p. 361). [379] Skeat and Blagden, _Malay Peninsula_, ii. 218. [380] Newbold, _Political and State Acc. of Malacca_, ii.; Skeat and Blagden, _op. cit._, ii. 56. [381] Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, _Central Tribes_, 36, give a useful note on this point. [382] In this they are exactly paralleled by the Khasi people of Assam, among whom we find a limited sort of male chiefship by succession through females, and an absolute succession to property by females by succession through females (Gurdon, _The Khasis_, 68, 88). Descent from the female is absolute in both cases, and all we get is male ascendancy. [383] _Secret of the Totem_, 73. [384] _Op. cit._, 79. [385] Lang, _Secret of the Totem_, 148. [386] _Central Tribes_, 72. Mrs. Langloh Parker's information as to the origin of the Euahlayi two-class division having arisen from an amalgamation of two distinct tribes, points to the same facts.--_Euahlayi Tribe_, 12. [387] Spencer and Gillen, _Tribes of Central Australia_, 96, 99, 106. [388] Lang's Introd. to Bolland's _Aristotle's Politics_ (1877), p. 104; Grant Allen's _Anglo-Saxon Britain_ (1888), pp. 79-83. [389] _Topography of Ireland_, lib. ii. cap. 19. [390] _Hist. of Ireland_, ii. 361. [391] _Irish Nennius_, p. 205; Lang, _Custom and Myth_, p. 265; _Revue Celtique_, ii. 202. [392] _View of the State of Ireland_, p. 99. [393] Moryson, _Hist. of Ireland_, ii. 367. [394] Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme_, 204. [395] Camden, _Britannia_, iii. 455; iv. 459. [396] The significance of the word "gossip" is worth noting. Halliwell says it "signified a _relation_ or sponsor in baptism, all of whom were to each other and to the parents _God-sibs_, that is, _sib_, or related by means of religion." This meaning does not seem to have died out in the days of Spenser, and his use of the word to describe the relationship of the men of Ossory to wolves is very significant. For the history of this important word see Hearn's _Aryan Household_, 290. [397] Otway, _Sketches in Erris_, 383-4. [398] _Folklore Record_, iv. 98. [399] _Ulster Journ. Arch._, ii. 161, 162. They have also another primitive trait. Their trade emblems are carved on their tombstones. _Roy. Irish Acad._, vii. 260. [400] This I gather from _Ulster Journ. Arch._, ii. 164, where it is stated that the hare is unpropitious. [401] _Folklore Journal_, ii. 259. [402] _Folklore Journal_, ii. 259; _Folklore Record_, iv. 104. Miss Ffennell kindly informed me at the meeting of the Folklore Society where I read a paper on the subject, that she had frequently heard the islanders of Achill, off the coast of Ireland, state their belief that they were descended from seals.