Conclusions

Abstract

Over the whole of the area described we find peculiarities of social structure which show that, in spite of the extreme unilateral character of the descent systems, both patrilineal and matrilineal descent are yet taken into account. One of the most striking facts is that in almost every one of the larger regions into which the area may be divided there is a people who are sharply distinguished from their patrilineal neighbours by their matrilineal descent groups: Kodi on Sumba, south Tétun in Timor, the Wemale of western Seran, and perhaps Wolo Wae in Endeh. Attempts to explain the points of difference between the Alune and the Wemale by postulating a later immigration of the former have been decisively refuted by Duyvendak.¹ Nor can much weight be attached to Grijzen’s opinion that the south Tétun are like-wise later immigrants. In spite of everything, the various cultures in question exhibit too great a homogeneity to make it necessary for us to resort to migration-hypotheses of this kind. Furthermore, the different rules of descent among the south Tétun can, as we shall see, readily be explained by factors inherent to the culture itself. A dual form of organisation, such as we have thought possible to infer from the marriage system, seems, to the extent that the defective evidence permits any definite judgement, not to survive anywhere in an intact state.