Page:The sexual life of savages in north-western Melanesia.djvu/137

Rh family, that is to say, among To'uluwa's maternal kinswomen. Ibo'una and Nakaykwase were, by that time, almost marriageable and could not be affianced to a little child, and their daughters were yet unborn. And the pedigree shows no other female in the sub-clan of the Tabalu, To'uluwa's matrilineal lineage. But by the time a younger son, Kalogusa, was born to To'uluwa, his grand-niece, Ibo'una, had a small daughter, Dabugera; therefore the two were betrothed. In this case the cross-cousin marriage failed, for, as we have seen (see above, sec. i), the girl married another man during her fiance's absence abroad.

In the same pedigree we can take another example from the previous generation. Purayasi, the penultimate chief of Omarakana, had a son called Yowana, who belonged to the same sub-clan as Namwana Guya'u. Yowana was a man of great talent and strong personality; he was renowned for his mastery of several systems of important magic which he performed for his father, and for his skill as a gardener, sailor, and dancer. He married Kadubulami, Purayasi's grand-niece, and lived all his life in Omarakana in the enjoyment of his personal privileges. He instructed his son, Bagido'u, the present heir apparent, in all his magical and other accomplishments.

In his turn Bagido'u had a son by his first wife, but he died in infancy. This child, soon after birth, had been betrothed to an infant daughter of Bagido'u's youngest sister Nakaykwase. Thus, in one small pedigree, we see three cases of cross-cousin marriage arranged by infant betrothal. It must be remembered, however, that this Rh