126 ON THE ORGANISATION OF AUSTRALIAN TRIBES. 
Hach man in time obtains a Noa, but it may be, perhaps, only the old wife of 
one of the older men. Hach woman becomes the Noa of some man at an early age. 
A woman can be the Noa of one man only at the same time, but she may be the 
Pirauru of several men at the same time. But a man may have several Noas and 
several Piraurus at the same time. A man’s Noa is his only, unless under certain 
circumstances, when she becomes the Pirauru of other men, but his Pirauru is at 
the command of any of her Piraurus who are older than he. It was the custom of 
the Dieri to send what may be called ‘‘embassies” to neighbouring tribes on 
important matters. On such occasions women were sent to negotiate the affair, and 
it was their Piraurus who accompanied them, and not their Noas. The reason given 
by the Dieri for this was that a man would, on such occasions, not object to the 
lavish distribution of favours, which was the custom on such missions, by his 
Piraurus, while he might do so by his Noas. On such occasions the Noas of the 
men remaining at home were in the position of Piraurus.* 
Group marriage, as shown in the Pirauru practice of the Dieri, extends through 
the neighbouring, and even more distant tribes in precisely the same form. Mr. 
Gason describes it in the South Australian mountains south of the Dieri country. 
Mr. Hogarth says that it runs in the tribes to the west of Lake Hyre, and I have seen 
it as far north as Sturt’s Desert, and as far east as the boundary of Queensland. 
T have no doubt that it extends much further, for I found it strongly marked in 
the Kunandaburi tribe, near Mount Howitt in Queensland. Mr. W. J. O'Donnell 
has described it thus in letters to me:—‘‘ In this tribe the relation is termed 
‘Dilpamali,’ while the individual wife is termed ‘ Nubaia.’”’ Mr. O'Donnell stated 
that the two classes in this tribe are Matara and Yungo, and that the ‘ Dilpamali,” 
or, as it is called there by the settlers, the ‘‘ paramour” relation, is such that a 
number of Matara men and Yungo women cohabit together, and vice versa. That is 
to say, they do so when a greater or less number of people collects, but when the 
tribe is dispersed over its hunting grounds the Nubaias are mostly together. ‘That is 
to say, when the tribe is gathered together for any special occasion group marriage 
arises ; while on ordinary occasions there is individual marriage. 
Mr. A. N. Hughes, writing to me from the Wilson River, still further to the 
eastward in Queensland, says of the Kungerduchi tribe :—‘‘ Married women are 
permitted to have paramours, subject to their husband’s consent, the rule being that 
a man of the same name as herself could not cohabit with her, but she might cohabit 
with paramours whom she might otherwise have married.” This, looked at by the 
hight of the Dieri and Kunandaburi practice, is evidently group marriage. 
* T may refer the reader to a full account of the Dieri and kindred tribes communicated to the Anthrop. Inst. 
