Messrs Spencer and Gillen could hardly assail Dr Westermarck for using
the term "pretended group marriage" which is quite accurate as a
description of group (=class) marriage or promiscuity. Even if there
were justification for assuming that group marriage (=polygamy) is a
lineal descendant of group marriage (=class promiscuity), nothing would
be gained by using the term group marriage of both. In the subsequent
discussion it will be made clear that whatever their causal connection,
there is hardly a single point of similarity between them beyond the
fact that the sexual relations are in neither case monogamous. It is
therefore to be hoped that the supporters of the hypothesis of group
marriage will in the future encourage clear thinking by not using the
same term for different forms of sexual union.

I now proceed to discuss the alleged survival of group marriage and
other Australian marriage customs.

Taking the Dieri tribe as our example the following state of things is
found to prevail. The tribe is divided into exogamous moieties, Matteri
and Kararu; subject to restrictions dependent on kinship, with which we
are not immediately concerned, any Matteri may marry any Kararu. A
reciprocal term, _noa_[156], is in use to denote the status of those who
may marry each other. This _noa_ relationship is sometimes cited as a
proof of the existence of group marriage. As a matter of fact it is no
more evidence of group marriage than the fact that a man is _noa_ to all
the unmarried women of England except a few, is proof of the existence
of group marriage in England; or the fact that _femme_ in French means
both wife and woman is an argument for the existence of promiscuity in
France in Roman or post-Roman times.

A ceremony, usually performed in infancy or childhood, changes the
relationship of a _noa_ male and female from _noa-mara_ to
_tippa-malku_. The step is taken by the mothers with the concurrence of
the girl's maternal uncles, and is in fact betrothal. Apparently no
further ceremony is necessary to constitute a marriage. At any rate
nothing is said as to that.

In connection with this form of marriage there are two points of
importance to be noted. The first is that whereas a man may have as many
_tippa-malku_ wives as he can get, a woman cannot have more than one
_tippa-malku_ husband, at any rate not at the same time. After the
husband's death she may again enter into the _tippa-malku_ relation. The
second poi