Let us now gather information about the first point, _i. e._ the size of the groups in which the natives live. Our statements are at first sight contradictory on this point; but this is largely due to the total lack of fixed terminology. It will be well to settle the latter beforehand and determine more exactly what we are to look for in the statements. For that purpose we must forestall the results of our research and broadly outline the state of things; it will give us a guiding thread through the statements. Roughly speaking, in Australia the tribe as a social unit is characterized by name, common speech, custom and territory.[356] It is divided (and sometimes subdivided again) into smaller groups; these consist of individuals closely related, possess a sort of government, and are connected with a portion of the tribal territory which they practically use in common.[357] For the social division of the tribes is connected with and complicated by a parallel territorial partition. And there is always a certain territory allotted to the exclusive possession of a certain group. The tribe (as defined above) cannot be considered as proprietor[358] of the territory, for its different divisions may not encroach upon each other's grounds. We shall call (by way of definition) a _Local Group_, such a division of the tribe as possesses the exclusive right to use a given territory and to dwell within its limits. In the following statements we will give a series of examples of these local units, and the different forms they assume in different tribes. It will be possible, too, to give a more precise meaning to the word "proprietorship"; and to see in what sense land may be possessed or claimed by the Australian blacks. The authors seldom try to give to these terms any clear meaning, or to discern all the existing differences; but these will be evident enough from the facts contained in the statements. The problem of territorial division is only the basis for our main question, viz. the mode of living. The Local Group, which is the joint owner of its territory, is, so to say, only the upper limit of aggregation; _i. e._ the body of persons actually and normally living together cannot be larger than that group, for only its members are (in normal conditions) admitted to its grounds. But this Local Group may also live scattered over its district. There will be several data in our information which would rather confirm us in this supposition. [356] See Wheeler, _loc. cit._, pp. 15 _sqq._, and the references given there. [357] _Ibid._, pp. 45, 46.