Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/219

V marriage. In many tribes, e.g. those of Victoria, this, so far as the woman is concerned, is individual marriage.

Besides the Nubaia marriage, there is the Dilpa-malli, or group-marriage, which is the equivalent of the Pirrauru of the Dieri, in which, according to my informant, a group of men who are own or tribal brothers, and a group of women who are own or tribal sisters, cohabit when the tribe assembles, or indeed at any time when the Dilpa-malli group are all together.

When a betrothed girl is of a marriageable age, the man to whom she is promised, having received her father's consent, or even that of her mother, which would suffice, took her away when she was out from the camp with the other women. He was accompanied by a comrade, who was Abaija to her. Having seized her, they dragged her away, she screaming and biting as much as she was able. No one interfered, the other women looking on and laughing. Other men, who were also Abaija to her, then joined them, and the man returned to his camp.

The marriage was then consummated by the Abaijas, who remained with her for one or two days. On their return to the camp there were several days of ceremonial dancing, during which time there was between her and the men of the camp a period of unrestricted licence, not even excluding her father. After that she joined her Nubaia in his camp. The women used to boast of the resistance which they made before being Mammara, that is, stolen, which is the term for the ceremonial taking of a woman as a Nubaia.

When a man died, the widow and the brother of the deceased were no longer Kodi-molli, but became Nubaia.

Cases of elopement of betrothed girls were dealt with by the man to whom she was promised, who went after her with his tribal and own brothers, and if the couple were found, took the woman back. In one case reported to me he severely wounded the abductor.

Tribes with the same customs and social organisation extended south-easterly from the Kurnandaburi to the Wilson River, and most probably beyond the lower Bulloo