Note 29 — Chapter I · THE SOCIAL ORGANISATION

The only regulation of marriage is on the basis of relationship. Marriage is forbidden between near consanguinei. The exact rules, in this matter, if indeed there be any exact rules, are difficult to discover. It is quite clear that a man would not be permitted to marry his sister or half-sister, nor his father’s or mother’s sister, nor his brother’s or sister’s daughter. The question is more difficult when it comes to the matter of cousins. In 1908 I only found one pair of first cousins who were married to one another, this being in the Aka-Bo tribe. The husband and wife were the son and daughter of two brothers. Mr E. H. Man writes that “marriage is only permissible between those who are known to be not even distantly connected, except by wedlock, with each other; so inexorable indeed is this rule, that it extends and applies equally to such as are related merely by the custom of adoption.” He adds that marriage between first cousins is forbidden. I was not able to satisfy myself on this point, but it seemed to me that while such a marriage as that of first cousins was not actually regarded as wrong, and therefore forbidden, it was regarded as preferable that a man should marry a woman not so nearly related to him. No distinction is made between different kinds of cousin29.