As a man had power of life and death over his wife, so in the process of violent seizure he assumed the same power. The only risk he ran was from the rage of her relatives and friends.
In all cases it was absolutely necessary that a woman should be married according to tribal law. The contrary would be inconceivable to the Geawegal. For instance, were the question put, "Could not so-and-so marry?" mentioning some man or woman of forbidden class, the reply would invariably be, "It cannot be."
Occasionally saturnalia took place, at which wives were exchanged or lent to young men, so that intercourse was almost promiscuous, subject to the class laws. When they admitted this to my informant they did so as if they were ashamed of it. This occurred not in the daylight but at night. It might not happen for years.
I have not been able to ascertain more than the fact that the Wollaroi, Unghi, and Bigambul tribes have the same sub-class names as the Kamilaroi, and that their marriage laws are practically the same as those of the latter.
In the Wollaroi[1] it is the mother who promises her daughter to some man of her selection, but to this rule there is the exception that brothers also exchanged their sisters without the direct intervention of their mothers. Here we may perhaps see the transition from the older practice of the Lake Eyre tribes, where the two-class system still maintains, to that of tribes in which the father disposed of his daughter, or of the daughter of his younger brother.
In cases of elopement with the wife of another man, it was the Wollaroi practice for the abductor to stand out before a number of the woman's kindred, who were armed with spears, he having merely a spear for his protection, to turn them aside. If he passed through the ordeal safely he was allowed to keep the woman. Among the Wollaroi a widow went to the brother, own or tribal, of her deceased husband.
In the Unghi tribe it was the father who promised his daughter when she was a child, and she remained with her parents till she was marriageable, which was usually about the age of twelve or thirteen, when the man to whom she
- ↑ R. Crowthers.
