128 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



would be SO unusual that they would be talked about, and we would 

 eventually hear about them. I have never heard of a single case." 



Promiscuity rarely occurs today. Also, according to Cooper's 

 sources there were only sporadic cases in former times (1946, p. 722). 

 A promiscuous woman is called fiuadomo. A non-Araucanian man 

 who spent many years among the Araucanians knew that promiscuity 

 on the part of an unmarried woman was a rare thing ; on the part of a 

 married woman it never occurred. He was certain, however, that 

 homosexuality among young men was common. 



CROSS-COUSIN MARRIAGE, PREFERENTIAL MARRIAGES, MARRIAGE 

 PROHIBITIONS, SORORATE, LEVIRATE 



Cross-cousin marriage was institutional, preferably so between a 

 woman's son and her brother's daughter. Such marriages existed in 

 all areas covered by the present study. "In fact it is the best way to 

 marry: a woman's children and her brother's children are really 

 expected to marry, and that is the way it is generally done." The 

 children of brothers and sisters of a man's wives may marry the 

 children of any other wife, provided the wives are not sisters — "after 

 all, those children are not related." 



Cross-cousin marriages were being discouraged, however, by non- 

 Araucanians in all areas. Stutterers and children less alert mentally 

 than others were pointed out as offspring of such unions. 



Marriage between parallel cousins is forbidden. "Children of two 

 brothers and of two sisters, also, look upon themselves as brothers 

 and sisters, and call each other that. They are so regarded by others 

 also." Children call a father's brothers "father" ; and a mother's 

 sisters "mother." Also forbidden is a marriage between a man and 

 one of the wives of his deceased father — "obviously he cannot marry 

 such women ; they are his 'mothers.' " Nor can a man marry the 

 daughter of his wife's brother. Hallowell's informant reported the 

 same (1943, p. 490). "Two men in this area (Alepiie) are so married, 

 but the people criticize them for it." According to one of my best 

 informants, a man, however, may marry his wife's sister's daughter, 

 a statement which needs verification. 



No informant had heard of a sib system. The oldest informants — 

 one of whom at least was more than 100 years old — did not know the 

 meaning of the words kuga and elpa, terms found in the literature 

 which might lead one to suspect a sib system. (Cf. pp. 38-40.) 

 Cooper's more recent sources, too, noted that they found no recollec- 

 tion of a sib system among their Araucanian informants (1946, 

 pp. 722-723). 



