Marriage assignments were carefully controlled and regarded as part of the moral and human capital of clan and village elders, both men and women alike, but especially the patrikin of the bridegroom.

(8) The patronymics are not exogamous; indeed, marriages are commonly contacted between quite close patrikin. As my statistics from 1995-2000 show that either partner in a first marriage is quite likely to die before the other has reached middle age, levirate marriage, often merely a theoretical possibility in other parts of New Guinea, is very common where the husband dies first; if the wife dies, there is no obstacle to the husband finding a second wife among her sisters, or even marrying two sisters at once--a practice that is abhorrent to many highlanders, for structural reasons.

Since women were not allowed land rights as primary right holders, and acquired only temporary usufruct within the lineage system through their husbands or male patrikin, those trained in English law refused to recognize women's access at a formal level (Gopal and Salim 1998, p.