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KINSHIP ORGANIZATION IN SOUTH-WESIT 77
both relatives are described as a kind of mother, which to some
extent they are; that is to say, they are both women of the
same generation as the mother, though of different clans. This
grouping together of women of the mother's generation on both
sides of the family as “ a kind of mother " may be compared with
the classing together of the wife’s mother, wife’s father-’s brother's
wife, and wife's father's sister, all of whom are addressed as
mama, women of a generation above with whom one is connected
by marriage.
(2) Another peculiar feature of the Seniang-Wilemp system is
the classing of the fa.ther’s father’s father’s father with the elder
brother, and probably, though of this the informant was rather
doubtful, the son’s son’s son's son with the younger brother.
That this is not due to a misunderstanding on Deacon's part is
certain, for working with the genealogical method, he received
this information from two independent witnesses, both of whom
said that the father’s father's father's father was “ all same
brother he born pastime â€ù, that is, the elder brother.‘
(3) A third characteristic of this kinship nomenclature is the
classing of the husband's mother's brother’s wife with the
husband's elder brother's wife as tuan or luau milamp (milamgï¬Å =
woman). This is also the term used by a woman for her elder
sister. The reason for such an anomalous grouping is probably
to be found in the customary remarriage of widows. In Seniang
and Wilemp it is common for a widow to be taken either by her
deceased husband's sister's son, or by her deceased husband's
younger brother. This being so, the husband's mother's brother's
wife and the husband's elder brother’s wife may well he one and
the same person, and, further, they are both women who, should
their own husbands die, may beoome co-wives of the woman
who calls them tuan m/¢'lam_1‘>.
(4) Another result of the customary remarriage of a widow
with her husband's sister's son is to be found in the terms used
for cross—cousins. It will be seen on the one hand, that the
father's sister's children are classed with kindred in the genera-
tion above; the father's sister’s son is called " father "; the
‘ This classing of the great-greabgrandfaflxer in the male line with the elder
brother would seem to be a variant of the practice, found ID parts of Australia,
Africa, and Melanesia, of using the same term for the elder brother and grand-
father, and conversely for the grandchild and younger brother.-~C. H. W.