Of the Coombangree tribe, New South Wales, it is said: "Each tribe kept its own belt of country and separated into small camps, and only collected on special occasions."[413] In this statement the words "local group" should be substituted for "tribe." [413] _Science of Man_, 1900, p. 116, article by A. C. McDougall. The Dieri, divided into five local hordes, are still subdivided into smaller "local groups, each having a definite tract of hunting and food ground."[414] These local groups cannot be very numerous. The whole tribe numbers about 250. There are at least ten local groups, since they include about twenty persons each. But we do not know whether such a local group lived in a body or scattered over its territory.[415] [414] Howitt, _Nat. Tr._, p. 46. [415] Gason, _loc. cit._, p. 258. We owe one of our best statements as to the nature of the local group to Spencer and Gillen. Its totemic character, its organization with the _alatunja_ at its head, the different functions of magico-religious character and many other social functions and characteristics define it perfectly well.[416] The territorial division seems to be much the same in all the tribes studied by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. "In all the tribes there is a division into local groups, which occupy certain well-defined areas within the tribal territory."[417] The possession of land is vested in them. "There is no such thing as one man being regarded as the owner of any tract of country. In every case the unit of division is the local totemic group."[418] This statement is quite clear. The local group owns a certain area, and all the individuals have the right to hunt and roam over it. They do not do it in one body, they live scattered in much smaller parties of one or two families. "The members of this (local group) wander, perhaps in small parties of one or two families, often, for example, two or more brothers with their wives and children, over the land which they own, camping at favourite spots, where the presence of water-holes, with their accompaniment of vegetable and animal food, enables them to supply their wants."[419] Here the picture is perfectly clear: the territorial unit is the local group; within its grounds all members have the right to hunt and roam; no other people may trespass over the boundaries. Such trespasses do not in reality frequently happen.[420] The area is not only economically the property of the local group, there are much stronger ties between the land, once the hunting and ceremonial ground of the Alcheringa ancestors, and their actual descendants.[421] But the local group does not form one body; division into single families seems to be, under ordinary circumstances, the normal status. We get here a good insight into the inner structure of a local group, the chief feature of which is the isolation of families. The local