521 



of the Maduna (comp. ibid. J. Thus at feasts the individuality 

 of the subclans was not entirely merged in that of the clan. 



In the mainland villages the clan was the most important 

 social group in connection with land tenure (see chap, iv., 

 sec. 1), and the clan, as a whole, was the owner of the war 

 canoes (Bohore; see chap, iii., sec. 6). The unity of the 

 clan was expressed in its being an exogamous group (chap, iii., 

 sec. 3). 



4. The Household and the Family. — Kinship. 



Household and Family. — The household and family are 

 two very important units in the sociology of the Mailu. The 

 distinction between the family and the household corresponds 

 to that between family and what in comparative sociology is 

 sometimes called "greater family." The term "family" 

 usually denotes merely a married couple and their children, 

 such as are not independent. By "greater family" is meant 

 the group consisting of a married couple, all their children 

 and grandchildren. The house, among the Mailu, is usually 

 tenanted by as many generations as there are alive in the male 

 line, and if there are several married, grown-up brothers they 

 usually occupy the same house. Thus the "household" — the 

 group consisting of the occupants of a house — corresponds 

 broadly to the "greater family." 



I have made a genealogical census of the Mailu village, 

 drawing genealogies of the inmates of each house. The results 

 may be summed up as follows : — Every house is habited by 

 people related by blood on the agnatic side and by women 

 married to members of the family. The children always live 

 with their parents. Nowadays they continue to live in the 

 paternal house, the girls till marriage, the boys indefinitely. 

 In olden days the boys moved to the Bnhu, or clubhouse, after 

 puberty, and remained there until their marriage. After 

 marriage the man, in former times, lived in the same house with 

 his parents, his wife joining him. This is also the present 

 state of things. If there are several sons in the family, two 

 or three would live in the paternal house, the others building 

 a new home. 



Thus, as stated above, three generations, comprising 

 several families, may form a Mailu household. In a few cases 

 only a house is occupied by a single family — a married couple 

 and their children. Usually two or three, sometimes as many 

 as four or five, families live in one house. 



The ownership, or "mastership," of a house is hereditary 

 in the male line, the eldest male of the household being always 

 regarded as its "master" (Guhina). Of course, this title does 

 not confer any special economic privileges upon a man ; in 



