NAIR AND DIERl MARRTAGE CUSTOMS. 719 



males, or four, or jjerhaps more, and that they cohabit 

 according- to rules." Each man, however, " may be one in 

 several combinations of women — that is, he may have any 

 number of wives." — (Studies in Ancient History, p. 100, 

 new edition, 1886.) Now let us turn to the Pirauru custom, 

 found among the Dieri of Cooper's Creek, and see how it 

 looks beside that of the Nairs. 



Among- the Dieri every woman has a certain man who is 

 her special husband. He is her noa, and she is his noa. 

 But, in addition to him, she has a number of " accessory 

 husbands" (to use Mr. Howitt's convenient term), and these 

 are called her Piraurus. They Q,re piraui'u to her, and she is 

 pirauru to them. They must always be of a division which 

 is marriageable to hers — that is to say, as in the case of the 

 Nairs, the selection is " under certain restrictions as to caste." 



So far, we have a state of things which is shown by the 

 following diagram. To avoid crowding it, I give only two 

 " accessory husbands," but the woman may have more of 

 them. (M = male, P = female.) 



M,, ^ F, { ^''^^''' ^2 



Here we have a woman, Fj, with her Noa, Mj, and her 

 two Piraurus, M.^, M3. This woman, then, has three men, 

 any one of whom" may lawfully treat her as his wife. If her 

 Noa and her Piraurus are all in the camp together, the right 

 of the Noa overrides that of the Pirauru; but if the Noa be 

 absent, or if he choose to make other arrangements, one 

 of the Piraurus can take her. This looks like polyandry, 

 pure and simple, and no one could blame an observer for so 

 recording it. 



But now let us go a little further. M^ and M3 also have 

 Noas of their own, and each of these women may be Pirauru 

 to the other men. Our diagram now becomes enlarged, as 

 follows : — 



M, Noa F^ f F2 



M, F.,{fi 



■2 



M3- 



Here we have a group of males cohabiting, under certain 

 definite regulations, with a group of females; and, since 



