who are in that relation are born into the reciprocally marriageable groups.
The legal fiction referred to may be explained here to make the matter clearer. In a case where a Dieri man had no Noa available for betrothal to him, a wife might be, and was in certain cases, found for him in the following manner. Diagram IX. illustrates this practice. Say that the man in question was the brother of 3, and that the kindred wished to find a wife for him. The brothers own and tribal of the women 2 and 6 would alter their relationships from that of Kamari to Kami, that is from being "husband's sister" to "daughter of mother's brother." Thus these women being now placed in the relation of Kami, their children are Noa-mara, and may be therefore lawfully promised in marriage by their respective mothers, and come into the relation of Tippa-malku, or, as I have elsewhere called it, "specialised Noa."
This appears to be an old practice of the Dieri, and they have a special term for the relation of "mother-in-law" in the above case. Under the usual Dieri practice, shown in Diagram IX., No. 7 is the mother-in-law (Paiara) of 4, but under such an arrangement as that just spoken of, in which, say, the brother of 3 and the woman 7 would become marriageable, the woman 6 would be the Kami-paiara of the brother of 3.
When I say that this practice is an old one of the Dieri, I mean that it is, so far as the old men now living know. But antiquity or novelty as to a custom in a native tribe is a matter of comparison. The marriage rule of the Urabunna is certainly more ancient than the Noa rule of the Dieri, for this is evidently an innovation on the older rule. Yet, who can say how long either of these rules has been maintained? The newest may have been practised for hundreds of years.
In speaking of the restrictions on marriage created by the class-division, the totemic relationships, and local rules, I shall refer again to the evidence of the Urabunna and Dieri practice. But I desire to say here that there is clear evidence that these tribes have intentionally altered the class regulations to meet difficulties arising out of female
