672 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
not of any kin to them. But it is requisite that they demand them of 
their fathers and mothers, and as soon as the father or mother hath 
granted their request, they are their wives, and they carry them to 
their own habitations (RO, 545). Fermin also speaks of the Suri- 
nam Indians commonly taking to wife their nearest relative—cousin 
or niece (FE, 79). 
875. It is doubtful whether the setae immediately concerned 
ever voluntarily entered into permanent sexual union without at least 
the consent of the woman’s parent or parents. With the Warrau, for 
instance, in the absence of betrothal by the elders, the young people 
follow their own inclination. If the parents’ wishes coincide with 
those of the suitor, the latter makes them either a present, or works 
for them, according to the accepted value of the bride, for a longer 
or shorter period. This period elapsed, the young married man clears 
a field and hands it over to his wife, who henceforth works in it (SR, 
1, 164). So among the Arawak, young men and women who are free, 
at a more advanced age, consult their inclinations without any cere- 
mony beyond the mere permission of the parent, which is never with- 
held but on account of family feuds (HiC, 228), or consanguinity. 
876. As to the degree of consanguinity discoverable in their sexual 
relationships, this appears to vary greatly in the different tribes. 
“Unlike our families,” says Brett, “these [Arawak] all descend in 
the female line, and no individual of either sex is allowed to marry 
another of the same family name. Thus, a woman of the Siwidi 
family bears the same name as her mother, but neither her father 
nor her husband can be of that family. Her children and the chil- 
dren of her daughters will also be called Siwidi, but both her sons 
and daughters are prohibited from an alliance with any individual 
bearing the same name, though they may marry into the family of 
their father if they choose” (Br, 98). That this arrangement 
neither checks nor prevents consanguinity is easy to recognize, for, 
according to it, a woman can cohabit with her father’s brother, but 
not with her mother’s brother, or she can live with her cousin on her 
father’s side, but not with the cousin on her mother’s. With the Ma- 
kusi, where descent was likewise claimed through the mother (SR, 
u, 314), almost the very opposite rules would seem to have been 
enforced. For here the uncle on the father’s side can not marry 
his niece, because she is regarded as a relation next in degree to his 
brothers and sisters; he is called “ father ” also. On the other hand, 
he is permitted to bind himself to the daughter of his sister, the wife 
of his dead brother, or his stepmother when the father is dead. 
A Taurepang (Arekuna) can not live with his mother’s sister’s 
daughter, but he can with his mother’s brother’s daughter; also with 
