164 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTIIKOPOLOG Y. 
in the absence of the husband {ertivaa). A Panunga woman may not visit at all, 
she being mura. 
A Kumarra husband and Pultarra wife are visited by Purula and Kumarra 
males only. Pultarra and Panunga women visit at any time ; Kumarra women 
only in the absence of the husband. A Purula woman may not visit at all, she 
being mura. 
The law with reference to the privilege of elder sisters applies to all classes. 
Muray 
No man may speak to, look at, or go anywhere near a woman of the class to 
which the mother of his wife, or wives, belongs. All women of this class are mura 
to him. The same law applies to the women—that is to say she must not speak 
to, look at, or go near any man of the class from which the husband of a daughter 
would be drawn. This law is strictly carried out even now. A man or woman 
mura to each other will make a detour of half a mile rather than risk getting 
within distinguishing distance of the features. 
Marriage Customs. 
There is no limit to the number of wives a man may have; I knew one to 
possess seven. Marriage by arrangement is the law, and the rule, in this section 
of the tribe, though infringements occasionally occur, as for instance by stealing or 
taking forcible possession, in which case the man has to take the consequences of 
his act. 
Occasionally wives are taken from their husbands by men of another group of 
the same tribe. AVhen this haj^pens a fight invariably ensues, and the woman 
remains with the victor. 
Young girls are sometimes handed over to their assigned husbands when not 
more than nine or ten years old, but this only occurs when the husband is a single 
man (Jcngunjipinna). The girl inhabits the same wurley [mirra) as the man, but 
does not cohabit until she has attained to puberty. As soon as the union has been 
consummated, the mother of the girl must be informed, and the young woman 
must no longer enjoy the privilege of speaking to her father. She is now uuawa 
unkathinna —a wife and married woman. A married man is known as dpmirunga. 
A man may, if he pleases, make a present of his wife to another man of his 
class. This is frequently done. 
