800 REPORT— 1901. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 



The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1." On the Functions of the Maternal Uncle in Torres Straits. 

 By W. H. R. Rivers, M.D. 



In the western tribes of Torres Straits descent is at the present time strictly 

 paternal, and yet customs exist amonp: these people which show that in some respects 

 the relationship between maternal uncle and nephew is regarded as nearer than that 

 between father and son. The system of kinship is of the kind known as 'classiti- 

 catory,' and the customs to be described apply not only to the brothers of the 

 mother, in the strict sense, but to all those males of the clan of the same genera- 

 tion as the mother whom the latter would call brother. 



A man will cease fighting at once when told to do so by his maternal uncle. 

 The power of the uncle is so great that a fight between the natives of two hostile 

 islands (Mabuiag and Moa) might be stopped if a man on one side saw his sister's 

 son among his enemies. 



This power of stopping a fight is not possessed to the same extent by the father 

 or mother, and a man may continue to fight even after the father or mother has 

 given certain indications of the nearness of the bond between them .and the son. 

 The maternal uncle, on the other hand, stops a fight by a mere word. 



The brother-in-law (imi) has also the power of stopping a tight, but in this 

 case it is the dutj' of the man who has been stopped to make a present to the 

 brother-in-law. No such present is made to the uncle. 



Another indication of the closeness of the relationship between maternal uncle 

 and nephew is that the latter may take, lose, spoil, or destroy anything belonging 

 to his uncle (even a new canoe, probably the most valuable possession a man can 

 have) without a word of reproach from the latter. I was told that, even if the 

 nephew was quite a small boy, he could do what he liked in his uncle's house — 

 could break or .spoil any of his uncle's property and the uncle would say nothing. 



As a boy grew up he went about more with his uncle than with his father, 

 and I was told that he cared more for his uncle. At the ceremonies connected 

 with the initiation of the boy into manhood, it was the maternal uncles who had 

 es])ecial care and complete control of the boy, and imparted to him the traditions 

 and institutions of the tribe. When the boy married, the father provided the 

 necessary presents ; but the actual payment was made by the maternal uncle, to 

 whom the presents were given by the boy's father. 



One point of interest in these customs is that they are found in a tribe in 

 which descent is now paternal, and must probabh' be regarded as vestiges of a 

 previous condition in which descent was maternal, and the brothers of the mother 

 were regarded as nearer kin than the father. 



Another point of more special interest is to be found in the similarity between 

 one of these customs and the ' vasu ' institution of Fiji. This institution, which 

 has been spoken of as the ' keynote of Fijian despotism,' may be regarded as au 

 extreme development of the custom which in Torres Straits permits a nephew to 

 take anything belonging to his maternal uncle. In Fiji this custom has grown to 

 such an extent that the nephew of a king may be ' vasu ' to all his uncle's subjects, 

 and may, with impunity, despoil his uncle's subjects of all their moat valued 

 possessions. 



2. On the Functions of the Son-in-Law and Brother-in-Laio in 

 Torres Straits. By W. H. R. Rivers, M.D. 



In both the eastern and western tribes of Torres Straits, as in so many parts 

 of the world, a man is not allowed to utter the names of bis wife's relatives. He 

 does not speak to his father-in-law, and carries out any necessary communication 



