Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/64

50 rau, and the aunt vev vuhe rau, (the Motlav forms of natui vus rawe and veve vus rawe).

In one of the Banks' Islands, Merlav, it was said that a man might marry his father's sister and that this was more frequent in the old days than in recent times. The same kind of marriage probably occurred also in the other islands, and it may be noted that it is also found in the Torres Islands to the north of the Banks' group.

Before I pass on to consider the meaning of these customs, I should like to give a brief account of the relation between a man and the husband of his father's sister, a relationship which has features even more bizarre than those which have just been related. There is a Banksian custom called poroporo, which may be translated most nearly by the word "chaffing." There are very definite regulations as to whom you may chaff, whom you may not chaff, and whom you may only chaff a little, and the whole custom has great significance in the eyes of the people, for, if a man chaffs a woman whom he should not, it affords legitimate grounds for inferences as to their moral relations. It will have been noticed that the father's sister is one who must on no account be the subject of poroporo, but on the other hand her husband is continually chaffed by his wife's nephew. I will give you some examples, for which I will take a concrete case, that of my informant, John, and his father's sister's husband, Virsal, whose names may be found in the Mota pedigree given by Dr. Codrington. If John and his sister see a pig wallowing in the mire, they will say as a joke,—"There is Virsal." If they hear a flying-fox in the night, and meet Virsal the next morning, they will say,—"We heard you last night." If they hear a kingfisher cry, they will say to it,—"The body of Virsal is your food," and anyone who heard this would know at once how they were related to Virsal. If they see Virsal going to the