[324] _J.A.I._, xx. p. 56; _Nat. Tr._, p. 184; _Smith. Rep._, p. 807, under 5. 4. Another point of importance is that this relationship does not constitute a permanent status, and that it may be actualized only at intervals. In the first place, the sexual licence involved in this custom is exercised during the tribal gathering, for the night in which the assignation of _Pirraurus_ took place; the licence lasts for about four hours.[325] This relation is probably renewed during some of the next gatherings; during the husband's absence; when a man is sent on an embassy with his _Pirraurus_; in some cases where the husband gives his consent. But although none of our sources say so expressly, we may safely deny the assertion that the _Pirrauru_ relation had a permanent status. For, if it were actually valid and exercised permanently, we would not be informed, as we are, as to the special occasions on which it takes place, and of the conditions under which it may be exercised. Again, if the _Pirrauru_ involved a permanent status or, more explicitly, if groups of men and women who are _Pirraurus_ to each other respectively, normally and permanently live in marital relations, no one of our authorities, who plead so strongly for the character of group marriage in the relation in question, would omit to emphasize such an important feature, which would support their views in the highest degree. For this is a crucial question indeed: if the _Pirrauru_ right entitles, in the first place, only to a short licence and establishes permanently merely a facultative right, then, even in its sexual aspect, it does not approach the rights established by Tippa Malku marriage in these tribes. And, although the evidence on this point is not quite decisive, we are, as we saw, entitled to suppose that the sexual licence connected with the _Pirrauru_ is only an occasional one. [325] _J.A.I._, xx. p. 56.