MOTHERRIGHT 295 



betrothal : after marriage the husband keeps her in 

 subjection. Apart from the father however there is 

 little concentration of authority. Such as there is 

 tends to the hands of those members of the kin 

 who have a direct interest in its exercise. They are 

 as a rule the brothers of the girl or of her mother, 

 who would be entitled on her marriage to obtain a 

 bride in exchange. Among the Dieri the right of 

 betrothal is exercised by the mother with the con- 

 currence of her brothers. Betrothal often takes 

 place in earliest infancy. When the bridegroom is 

 also an infant it is entered into on his behalf by his 

 mother ; but in any case of difficulty it would seem 

 that her brothers are called in. 1 Among the Tatathi 

 and Keramin on the Murray River "girls are very 

 frequently promised when children, and when marriage- 

 able are taken to the future husband's camp by the 

 mother or mother's brother." 2 " In the Wollaroi 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 

 interventions of their mothers. . . In cases of elope- 

 ment 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." 3 Here we are reminded of the duty of 

 the woman's brothers among the Papuans of Blanche 

 Bay to avenge her adultery ; for the word kindred 

 probably means her brothers. The reason for the 

 interference of the brothers is given by Mr. Howitt in 

 his account of the customs of the Wakelbura tribe 

 1 Howitt, 177, 167. 2 Id. 195. 3 Id. 217. 



