ABSTRACT
Tiwi society is established on what a non-Tiwi might consider an absurdity. These north Australian Aborigines make no connection between intercourse and pregnancy. The mother is the sole biological source of the child. The mother’s husband controls his wives and his children and of these he particularly values his daughters. Women, like money with us, are the main means of exchange. It is not necessary to detail the system. The result is that old men have young wives and young men marry crones.
