being" (p. 179), though the association seems to be permanent. May girls Tippa Malku – "sealed" to a man – have relations with other men before their actual marriage, and with what men? We are not told, but a girl cannot be a
Pirrauru before she is
Tippa Malku. If
Pirrauru "arises through the exchange by brothers of their
wives" (p. 181), how can an unmarried man who has no wife become a
Pirrauru? He does. When
Pirrauru people are "re-allotted" (p. 182), does the old connection persist, or is it broken, or is it merely in being for the festive occasion? How does the jealousy of the
Pirrauru, which is great, like the change? These questions, and many more, are asked by Mr. N. W. Thomas.
56
Will any one say, originally all Noa people were actual husbands and wives to each other? Then the Kandri ceremony and Pirrauru were devised to limit Tom, Dick, and Harry, &c., to Jane, Mary, and Susan, &c., all these men being Pirrauru to all these women, and vice versa. Next, Tippa Malku was devised, limiting Jane to Tom, but Pirrauru was retained, to modify that limitation. Anybody is welcome to this mode of making Pirrauru logically thinkable, without prior Tippa Malku: if he thinks that the arrangement is logically thinkable, which I do not.
57
Or his seniors would hare to ask it. But his kin could not possess the tight to betroth him before kinship was recognised, which, before marriage existed, it could not be.
58
I have here had the advantage of using a MS. note by Mr. N. W. Thomas.
59
Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 191.
