Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/204

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
178
NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA
CH.

Dieri, but it may possibly occur in others of the adjacent tribes. It is based upon the Nadada-noa relationship, which is fully described in the chapter on Relationships.

(3) It may happen, when a boy has been circumcised, that his mother arranges with some other woman, who is Kami-mara to her, and who has an unbetrothed daughter, to make the two children Tippa-malku, there being also the usual promise to exchange a sister of the boy. The girl's mother is then painted in a certain manner, which indicates to all and sundry that she is the Paiara (wife's mother) of that woman's son.

(4) There are certain exceptions to the otherwise strict observance of the Noa relation. Such an exception would be where a woman had only daughters, and another woman had only sons. Moved by the importunity of these women, their elder brothers (Neyi) and the brothers of these women's mothers (Kaka) might make them Kami-mara to each other, and thus alter their relationships, so that their children would be Noa to each other and therefore lawfully marriageable, and might be promised to each other and become Tippa-malku.

The following is an instance of an exception of a similar kind. A woman having four sons who were Kami-mara to two unmarried girls, it was arranged with her and her brethren that one of her sons should be placed in the Noa-mara relation with one of the girls, while still remaining in the Kami relation with the other. In the same manner the relation of the three other sons was altered to Noa-mara to the other girl while she remained Kami to the Noa of her sister. Thus the Tippa-malku relation became possible.

(5) If a man persuades a Pinya, when on its mission of revenge, to forgo it and return, the assembly of old men, or he who is the nearest of the kindred of the man marked out for vengeance, may give a woman as Tippa-malku wife to the peacemaker as a reward. It must be always understood that such a woman must be of that group which is Noa-mara to the group to which the man belongs, and who are therefore potentially husbands and wives of each other.

(6) A wife is promised to each of the men who hold