Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/301

 MARRIAGE AND NOMENCLATURE. 223 or old, married or single, and as soon as she shows symptoms of puberty, she is bid to follow him without any further ceremony, and without consulting her own inclinations. Fortunately for the young females, it will not unfrequently happen, that a jealous old matron violently opposes her husband dividing his affections between herself and her young rival, and thus compels him to transfer his claim to some young fellow who will gladly relieve him of his burden. It sometimes occurs that a young man, desperately in love, or fancying that his pretensions are well founded, takes a woman from another man by force; often killing the latter without any compunction, if he cannot otherwise effect his purpose. The loose practices of the Aborigines, with regard to the sanctity of matrimony, form the worst trait in their character; although the men are capable of fierce jealousy, if their wives transgress unknown to them, yet they frequently send them out to other parties, or exchange with a friend for a night; and, as for near relatives, such as brothers, it may almost be said that they have their wives in common. While the sending out of the women for a night seems to be regarded as an impropriety by the natives themselves, the latter practice is a recognised custom, about which not the least shame is felt. A peculiar nomenclature has arisen from these singular connections; a woman honours the brothers of the man to whom she is married with the indiscriminate name of husbands; but the men make a distinction, calling their own individual spouses yungaras, and those to whom they have a secondary claim, by right of brotherhood, kartetis. Notwithstanding the early marriage of females, I have not observed that they have children at an earlier age than is common among Europeans. The number of children reared by each family is of course variable, but, in general, very limited, rarely exceeding four. If a mother have children in rapid succession, which, however, does not appear to be frequently the case, the young infant is killed by some other woman, who accompanies the mother on these occasions to a distance from the other natives. From the greater number of male children reared one may infer that not so many of them