This explains the seeming absurdity of the answer one receives from natives to questions concerning their relationships to others. An old man, for instance, may point out a young girl and say, “That one my mother,” for the girl belongs to the same class as his actual father or mother.
5. All the progeny of classes A and B are brothers and sisters; similarly C and D.
Thus taking Dp2 to represent the progeny of an Ap and a Bp
| Af + Bm | Ap + Bp | |
| ------- | ------- | |
| Dp | Dp2 |
All of class Dp recognise class Dp2 (though of another generation) as brothers and sisters. For this reason there is no absurdity in a small boy pointing out a very aged woman as his sister.
6. A man may have as many wives as he can get, so long as these laws are adhered to.
Let us now see what degrees of kindred are prohibited by these laws.
Let us take the case of a man of class A. He can only marry a woman of class B, whose parents must therefore have belonged to classes C and D her mother being a C and her father a D.
Therefore his wife's mother and father belong to classes with which he may not intermarry.
Therefore a man may not marry—