Spencer and Gillen say in this connection:
The method of capture which has so frequently been described
as characteristic of Australian tribes, is the very rarest way
in which the Central Australian secures a wife. It does not
often happen that a man forcibly takes a woman from someone
else within his own group, but it does sometimes happen, and
especially when the man from whom the woman is taken has
not shown his respect for his actual or tribal _Ikuntera_
(father-in-law) by cutting himself on the occasion of the
death of one or the other of the latter's relations. In this
case the aggressor will be aided by the members of his local
group, but in other cases of capture he will have to fight
for himself. At times, however, a woman may be captured from
another group, though this again is of rare occurrence, and is
usually associated with an avenging party, the women captured
by which, who are almost sure to be the wives of men killed,
are allotted to certain members of the avenging party.[227]
Curr reports to the same effect:
On rare occasions a wife is captured from a neighboring tribe
and carried off.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190