288 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. xi 



' beena ' marriages, and there is no very strict law of 

 exogamy. Unfortunately we have not at present very 

 much information concerning the laws regulating inherit- 

 ance of property, but we find in some places that the 

 children, when their parents are divorced, can choose the 

 family to which they will afterwards belong (35). 



We have good reasons then for believing that the mar- 

 riage institutions of these people are in a very similar state 

 to those of the Dyaks of Borneo. In Sangir we find a 

 modification in that the houses are smaller, and the rajahs 

 and some of the nobles do not marry on the ' beena ' principle, 

 but bring their wives to their own homes. The smaller 

 houses mean that the young married people start indepen- 

 dent establishments, and that the idea of the clan, bound 

 together by the ties of a common mother, is gradually 

 becoming weaker. 



The system we find in Minahassa which I have described 

 at the beginning of the chapter is, I believe, a direct out- 

 come of a system allied to that now found in some parts 

 of Borneo. In Minahassa it has exhibited a tendency to 

 become more patriarchal in character, in Borneo to become 

 more matriarchal. 



Some authorities believe that the patriarchal system of 

 Minahassa has been derived from a stricter patriarchy with 

 exogamy, such as we find among the Bataks, the Timorese, 

 and others. 



There can be little doubt that the change from a strict 

 matriarchy to a strict patriarchy has in many tribes taken 

 place by the introduction of the custom of capture mar- 

 riages. The change may be seen in operation in some of the 

 Malay tribes at the pi-esent day. ' In the Babar archi- 

 pelago the men follow the women and live in their houses. 

 The children also belong to the wife's family. If a man is 

 rich enough he may marry seven wives, all of whom remain 



