Best. — Maori Marriage Customs. 



25 



Deniker, in his " Eaces of Man," says that the " classifi- 

 catory system "* obtains among the Maori. To this, as de- 

 scribed by him in chapter vii. of the above work, a quahfied 

 assent may be given. He seems, however, to imply that 

 exogamy and group marriage obtained among the Maori, 

 which is quite erroneous. 



But this much is correct : In the Maori system of con- 

 sanguinity myself, my brothers, sisters, and cousins are all 

 termed "brothers" and "sisters." Also my father, with his 

 brothers, sisters, and cousins, are all termed "brother" and 

 "sister" to each other; and so on. My children and their 

 cousins form another such group. But the second group, 

 given above, does not include my mother, as Deniker states. 

 He is right, however, in stating that I, as a Maori, would 

 term the children of my brother or sister " my children," and 

 their grandchildren as " my grandchildren." 



We now submit an abbreviated list of terms of the con- 

 sanguineous and affinitative nomenclature of the Maori people, 

 which will illustrate the above remarks. 



System of Maori Nomenclature, Consanguineous and 

 Affinitative. 



(1) Matua means simply "parent." Becomes rndtua in plural. 



(2) Tungane simply = brother of a female, a generic term for brothers, not for 

 elder brother only. 



(3) Tiiahine simply = sister of a male, a generic term for sisters, not for elder 

 sister only. 



* See L. Morgan's " System 

 Society." 



Consangmnity " and " Ancient 



