seem to me to weigh heavily against the survival
theory, and we may add to them the fact that the _tippa-malku_ husband,
so far from having to gain the consent of his fellows before he obtains
his wife, gets her by arrangement with her mother and her mother's
brothers, all of whom belong to the other moiety, and consequently are
not among those whose supposed group rights are infringed by the
introduction of individual marriage. When we consider that the _jus
primae noctis_ is explained as an expiation for individual marriage the
position of the _tippa-malku_ husband and the method in which he obtains
his wife are exceedingly instructive.

Supporters of the theory of group marriage will naturally ask in what
other way the facts can be explained. The unfortunate lack of detail to
which I have alluded does not make it easier to make any
counter-suggestion; but the explanation may, I think, be inferred from
the facts already at our disposal. We have seen that in the Wakelbura
tribe, so far from the condition being one of "group marriage," it is
one of dissimilar adelphic polyandry. Now it is by no means easy to see
how this could arise from the Dieri custom, the essence of which,
according to one of the statements I have quoted, is reciprocity. On the
other hand we can readily see how polyandry of this type, which is found
in other parts of the world also, may be in Australia, as in other
regions, the result of a scarcity of women[178], or, what is the same
thing, of polygyny on the part of the notables of the tribe and of the
independent custom of postponing the age of marriage in the male till 28
or 30.

With this view agree the facts that in some cases the brother is
required to purchase his _pirrauru_ rights, that the young man without
_pirrauru_ wife can purchase from another man the temporary use of one
of his _pirrauru_ spouses, and that the _tippa-malku_ marriage always
precedes the _pirrauru_ relation in the female. It may indeed be urged
against the view that the purchase of a temporary _pirrauru_ is in fact
not a case of _pirrauru_ at all, but simply the ordinary purchase of
hospitality among savage nations. This is no doubt the case and we might
merely cite this fact in order to show that the purchase of sexual
rights is a recognised proceeding in Australia. Looked at from another
point of view however the case is seen to be singularly instructive. So
far as Dr Howitt's statements go, the husband of the _pirr