group acts as a body chiefly on ceremonial occasions. To sum up: the local group is the joint land-owner; proprietorship means exclusive rights to hunt and roam over the country; but in the native's mind it has much deeper roots, and the connection between the local group and its hunting-grounds is based upon all their traditions and creeds. Their mode of living is scattered; they hang usually round favourite spots (see below). [416] _Nat. Tr._, pp. 9, 16 and _passim_ throughout both works, especially in connection with the description of totemism and totemic cult. [417] _Nor. Tr._, p. 27. [418] _Ibid._ [419] _Nat. Tr._, p. 16. [420] _Nor. Tr._, p. 31. [421] The ties between a totemic local group and its hunting-grounds are based on the whole cycle of totemic ideas on reincarnation, supernatural conception; on the Oknanikilla and Ertnatulunga. The reader must be referred to the works of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen and Strehlow and to what is said about these points below in connection with the native ideas on conception (Chap. VI.). Speaking of the totemic myths of the Northern tribes Mr. Mathews says: "In those olden days, as at present, the totemic ancestors consisted of families or groups of families, who had their recognized grounds in some part of the tribal territory."[422] [422] _J. and Pr. R.S.N.S.W._, xl. p. 108. Among the natives of Queensland[423] the territory is parcelled out completely amongst the different local groups; the boundaries are well known and mutually respected. This district is again subdivided amongst the members of the local group; the proprietor "has the exclusive right to direct when it should be hunted over, and the grass burned and the wild animals destroyed." If other men aggregate and use the products of his land he is regarded as the master of ceremonies. This statement gives us at least a clear and consistent definition of private proprietorship, which seems to be of a formal, ceremonial character. But it is not complete. We do not know if normally each family enjoys its district alone, with the head of the family always master of ceremonies, or whether the whole local group, or parts of it, hunt and roam usually in bodies. This statement is, therefore, not very useful. [423] Moreton Bay. J.D. Lang, p. 335, 336. We read about the Kabi and Wakka tribes of Queensland: "A few families claiming the same territory usually camped and travelled together, sometimes in smaller, sometimes in larger numbers. I characterize such family groups as communities."[424] And again: "Such communities were constituted by a few families occupying the same small area in common."[425] This is a clear definition of what we called local group, and agrees perfectly well with the general picture already outlined. [424] J. Mathew, i. p. 128. [425] J. Mathew, i. p. 129.