ABSTRACT
I must first apologize for the nature of these rather disconnected comments. They were originally made immediately after Mrs Korn's paper, which I had been able to read the day before, and the deadline for the invitation to write them out for inclusion in this book allows me no time for extra analysis or much in the way of documentation. What follows is best taken then as a few ideas about the quite frequently reported statements about preferential marriage in New Guinea, and their relationship to some of the themes that seem common to most or all of New Guinea social and economic organization. At a more specific level I shall also be concerned with the Iatmul material and with comparing it with the Abelam evidence, a society with which I have much more familiarity. 1 The Iatmul and the Abelam are closely related members of the Ndu language group, and although their ecologies and the outward appearance of their culture are very different the social and symbolic structures are very similar (Forge 1966) and many of the kinship terms are identical.
