Among the most pristine of all tribes, in the south by east, however, Pirrauru is not found. When we reach the Wiimbaio, the Geawe-gal, the Kuinmarbura, the Wakelbura, and the Narrang-ga, we find no Pirrauru. But Mr. Howitt notes other practices which are taken by him to be mere rudimentary survivals of "group marriage." They are (i.) exchange of wives at feasts of marriage, or in view of impending misfortune, as when shipwrecked mariners break into the stores, and are "working at the rum and the gin." These are feasts of license, not survivals of "group marriage" nor of Pirrauru. (ii.) The jus primae noctis, enjoyed by men of the bridegroom's totem. This is not marriage at all, nor is it a survival of Pirrauru. (iii.) Very rare "saturnalia," "almost promiscuous." This is neither "group marriage" (being almost promiscuous and very rare) nor Pirrauru. (iv.) Seven brothers have one wife. This is adelphic polyandry, Mr. Howitt calls it "group marriage." (v.) "A man had the right to exchange his wife for the wife of another man, but the practice was not looked upon favourably by the clan." If this is "group marriage" (there is no "group" concerned) there was group marriage in ancient Rome.[33] This, I think, is all that Mr. Howitt has to show for "group marriage" and Pirrauru among the tribes most retentive of primitive usages.
The manner in which Tippa Malku betrothals are arranged deserves attention. They who "give this woman away," and they who give away her bride-groom also, are the brothers of the mothers of the pair, or the mothers themselves may arrange the matter.[34]
Mr. Howitt, on this point, observes that, if the past can be judged of by the present, "I should say that the practice of betrothal, which is universal in Australia, must have produced a feeling of individual proprietary right over the women so promised." Manifestly Mr. Howitt is putting the plough before the oxen. It is because certain kinsfolk have an acknowledged "proprietary right" over the woman that they can betroth her to a man: it is not because they can betroth her to a man that they have "a feeling of individual proprietary right over her." I give my coppers away to a crossing-sweeper, or exchange them for commodities, because I have an individual proprietary right over these coins. I have not acquired the feeling of individual proprietary right over the pence by dint of observing that I do give them away or buy things with them.
The proprietary rights of mothers, maternal uncles, or any other kinsfolk over girls must, of course, have been existing and generally acknowledged before these kinsfolk could exercise the said rights of giving away. But, in a promiscuous horde, before marriage existed, how could anybody know what persons had proprietary rights over what other persons?[35]
Mr. Howitt here adds that the "practice of betrothal ..." (or perhaps he means that "the feeling of individual proprietary right"?) "when accentuated by the Tippa Malku marriage, must also tend to overthrow the Pirrauru marriage." Of course we see, on the other hand, and have proved, that if there were no Tippa Malku marriage there could be no Pirrauru to overthrow.
As to the Pirrauru or Piraungaru custom, moreover, Mr. Howitt has himself candidly observed that, on his theory, it "ought rather to have been perpetuated than abandoned" (so it is abandoned) "under conditions of environment" (such as more abundant food) "which permitted the Pirrauru group to remain together on one spot, instead of being compelled by the exigencies of existence to separate into lesser groups having the Noa" (or regular) "marriage."[36] So Pirrauru don't live in "groups"!
As a fact, the more that supplies, in some regions, as on the south coast, permit relatively large groups to coexist, the less is their marital license; while, on the other hand, the less favourable the conditions of supply (as in the Barkinji region), the less do we hear of Pirrauru, or anything of the kind, except among tribes of the Kiraru and Matteri phratries. For these reasons, Pirrauru unions appear to mark an isolated moment in culture, not to be a survival of universal pristine promiscuity. They are almost always associated, in their inception, with seasons of frolic and lust, and with large assemblages, rather than with the usual course of everyday existence.
For the reasons here stated, it does not seem that Australian institutions yield any evidence for primitive promiscuity.
[1] Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 89.
[2] Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 90.