[358] To guard against misunderstanding I wish to emphasize that such words and expressions as "proprietor," "ownership," "landed property," "rights to a tract of country," etc., are not to be taken in the sense which they possess in application to higher societies, to our own society in particular. Their correct meaning will be gathered from the following discussion. For the sake of clearness and brevity it was sometimes needful, in the text, to use the above expressions, instead of the more correct ones like "possession," "claims to a country," etc. The term "property" has a definite legal meaning, which makes it impossible to apply it in its full sense to the low society with which we are concerned. Now let us review the statements, bearing in mind the exact meaning given to the words Tribe, Local Group and Family. We have agreed to call Local Group a unit owning in common a portion of country, and we are asking how big this unit is in different tribes; if it lives scattered or in a body; finally, what idea can we form of "land ownership" in Australia. _Statements._--The Kurnai were divided into five exogamous "clans."[359] These were divided and subdivided several times, "each subdivision having its own tract of hunting and food ground, until the unit was a small group of kindred, frequently an old man, his sons, married or unmarried, with their respective wives and children." The author gives an instance of a family claiming a certain island and the swans' eggs laid on it, as its property,[360] and living under the authority of the oldest male in the family. "Taking such a family[361] as the tribal unit of the Kurnai, it was the aggregation of such families that formed what may be called a division, inhabiting a large area, and the aggregate of the divisions formed the clan."[362] This, and the expression family as "tribal unit," shows that probably its members lived actually together. It is a pity that Howitt does not give even approximately the numbers. Again, in another place, he writes of a "natural spread of families over a tract of country," and of "elders as heads of families."[363] These "families" unite in cases of mutual need for aid and protection[364] and in cases of corroborees, initiations, etc.[365]--Here the local group was a small unit of related persons. It claimed a certain territory and exclusively used its products, and vested authority in its oldest male. These local groups usually must have lived isolated from each other, because of the exclusive right in using the given area. Howitt mentions also the beginnings of individual claims to some products (swan's eggs) being even transmitted by inheritance.[366] [359] According to Howitt's terminology. [360] Howitt, _Nat. Tr._, pp. 73, 74.