First Nations Language Collection

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The classes regulated marriage in the following way:-

Taking the Kabi tribe for illustration, a man of the Barang class had to marry a woman of the Bonda class, if available, but, failing a Bondagan, he could marry a Dherwaingan. Similarly, a man of the Balkuin class had to marry a Dherwaingan, if available; but provided he could not obtain a Dherwaingan, it was permissible for him to marry a Bondagan.

Substituting Banjur for Balkuin, the same rule applies to the Wakka people.

The system may be put in tabular form, thus:-

Balkuin marries Dherwain-gan, children are Bonda, Bonda-gan. Barang marries Bonda-gan, children are Dherwain, Dherwain-gan. Dherwain marries Balkuin-gan, children are Barang, Barang-gan. Bonda marries Barang-gan, children are Balkuin, Balkuin-gan.

The classes are arranged in two pairs, those which form a pair being prohibited from inter-marrying.

Going only by such a table as that above, it is possible to arrange the classes in wrong pairs. The table shows that a Balkuin's son is Bonda, and a Barang's son Dherwain. With imperfect knowledge, one might conclude that descent is patrilincal, because, thinking of father and children, it runs Balkuin, Bonda, Balkuin, Bonda, ad lib., and so on with the other classes that are correspondingly related. But so to conclude is to misapprehend the system. The correct way, the aboriginal way, of apprehending the descent in these tribes is to have regard to the class of the mother. Reckoning through the mother the descent runs Bonda, Dherwain, Bonda, Derwain, ad lib., The classes, therefore, that were paired together and forbidden to intermarry were Barang and Balkuin, on the one hand, and Bonda and Dherwain on the other. Substituting Banjur for Balkuin, the same remark applied to the Wakka and the other tribes having the Wakka class-names.

The two large [moieties?] are conveniently called phratries. The classes are divided beween them thus,

Phratry I. Dilbai: Dherwain & Bonda

Phratry II. Kopaitthin: Barang & Balkuin

Dilbai is often spelt Dilbi and Dilebi, methods which do not make the terminal diphthong distinct. That descent is reckoned through the mother is absolutely certain from the following considerations: (1) the way the classes are paired: Dherwain is not paired with Barang nor Bonda with Balkuin, (2) the option to marry a member of the class paired with the proper marrying class, in case a regular partner is not available (3) the fact that the child's class has no reference to the father's class, but only to the mother's (4) the division of nature into two sections corresponding to the phratries in my arrangement.

Barang class married with Bonda class; if the female were Bondagan class the child was of the Dherwain class; if the female were Barang-gan, the child was of the Balkuin class. Similarly, Balkuin class intermarried with Dherwain class with corresponding descent of names. If a partner of the regular class was not available, it was lawful and common to mate with a member of the right phratry but of the other class. I have given the most exact information obtained from different sources as to the proper classes to intermarry. The children always belonged to the mother's phratry, and not to her own class paired with hers to form the phratry. Thus, I knew two men, Murudhalin and Bual, both belonging to the Barang class, whose children were respectively Bonda and Dherwain. Why? Because the wives were respectively Dherwain and Bonda. If descent had been partrilineal the children of these two families would have belonged to the one class. (over)