Howitt to Fison 20/9/1878

Transcription - Page 8

married to a Gippsland black. I hope to
get full information through him - although
he has no method and has no scientific
bent of mind which would perhaps help him
to see what is wanted. At any rate he is
near and I will write - as I have done before
and put him on the track when he "gets flushed"
I think we shall be able to shew that a man
1. cannot marry in his totem for instance
Bat of Eaglehawk cannot marry Lyrebird (Eaglehawk)
2 Must marry totem of opposite class for instance
Bat marries Myowr (Emu)
3 All the men of Bat and other totems of Eaglehawk
are his cousins
4 All the men of [Myowr - crossed out] Emu and other totems of Crow
are his brother
5 From this [it - crossed out] does it follow that the Emu women are
his sisters?
I have still to put this question.

I must thank you for your head which only
arrived and which greets us from our album. I thought
I had thanked you. You must excuse my oversight on account
of Black [??] of which in [??] and eclipsed many things
Why I abused the missionaries to you I don't know except that
to me you are a much valued colaborer in Ethnology and that
I always think of you in that light. Our friend Hagenauer on the other
hand told me that whenever he got a circular (such as ours for example) he
put it in the wastepaper basket! and a narrow little Moravian
at Hindmarsh told me when I asked why some graves which were close
to the station were utterly wretched and neglected while others had
nice white palings [that - crossed out] "Oh! those are heathens!" I thought that he might
extend his views a little in degree [and - crossed out] but not vary them in kind
if he were to say about other graves "Oh these are Roman Catholics, or
Wesleyan, or Independent +c - they are left untended- but those which
are Moravian - oh we tend them". Hence [?I'll be?] lachrymose
Believe me
yours very sincerely
A W Howitt