ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 123 
He comes to an unmarried woman whom he fancies, and he says, ‘ Neaia Kulade 
Kura-mula yarala,’ that is to say ‘Myself wife will take (steal) by and by.’ This 
he says in the presence of the woman’s parents, and they cannot refuse his demands. 
They wait until he comes and takes her. If, however, her relations find that his 
hands are stained with the blood of her kindred, they object to the marriage. Then 
in such a case the Muri comes by stealth, and usually alone, and carries her off. 
Her relations ascertaining where he is camped, send a message to him, and demand 
that he shall meet their champion in single combat. This he must do if he wishes 
to retain his wife.’’ 
Practices simulating capture also obtain in the Kunandaburi and Kuinmurbura 
tribes. In the former, the promised husband, having obtained the consent of the 
oirl’s father to take her, waits until she is some distance away from the camp and 
then seizes her. He igs accompanied by some man who is ‘“‘abija’’ to the girl, that 
is to say, one who might lawfully have become her husband. The girl resists 
violently, but no one interferes. The other women only laugh. Being joined by 
other men who are “ abija,” the girl is kept away for several days, under the exercise 
of the jus prime noctis. On the return to the camp festivities are kept up for 
several days. Women boast of the resistance they offer before being taken. The word 
used for taking the bride away is ‘‘ mamera,” which means *‘ to steal.” 
In the Kuinmurbura tribe, when a girl who has been promised is considered to 
be old enough for marriage by her father, he sends the girl as usual with the other 
women to gather yams or other food, and he tells the man to whom he has promised 
her, who, then painting himself, takes his weapons and follows her, inviting all the 
unmarried men in the camp to assist him. When they come up with the women he 
goes forward alone, and telling the girl he has come for her he takes her by the 
wrist or hand. The women at once surround her and try to keep her from him. 
She tries to escape, and if she does not like him she bites his wrist, this being an 
understood sign that she refuses him. 
As simulating capture of women for wives, the following account, given by 
Mr. Aldridge, of the customs of the Maryborough tribes is valuable:—“‘A fight always 
terminates the Bora (Dora) ceremonies. After this the two parties who attended 
the Bora invite each other to a corroboree on a piece of neutral ground situated 
between their respective camps. At the termination of this corroboree all the people 
depart in divergent lines, and the young men who lie in wait in the dark rush the 
girls off. hat is to say, the young men of one tribe carry off the girls of the other. 
They must, however, be quick about it or their friends will rescue them. If the 
young men are followed, and the pursuers are stronger than the abductors and their 
friends, these run off and leave the girls, who otherwise become their Wives.” 
