Many Praxian families in a clan (which is less permanent than a Heortling clan, but there is not better word) are primarily hunters. If the father takes the son out to hunt, then no one is left to help in the communal work of herding the beast herd. While the women can help herd, they cannot (usually) help fight off any serious threat. Further, they cannot do both the herding and the other things that must be done. If one of their few beasts turns up lame or becomes sick, they may not know about it until it is too late to do anything useful.
One of the ways that the Praxians resolve this problem is through something like the cattle loan. However, it is more of a safe deposit box than a loan. The hunter family loans its few non-riding beasts to a wealthier family. The wealthy family promises to return a beast of the same age and condition to the hunter family in the future. Generally, this must be after the season in which the beast would give birth. The wealthy family is entitled to keep all of the offspring of the beast. The hunter family is entitled to the milk (if any) that such a beast would produce, but only for either the summer or the winter. There is a customary scale for this. Some wealthy families will not take a cattle loan of less than a few years for an immature beast, since it has not yet entered its productive phase of life.
The wealthy family gives a knotted cord to the hunter family. This represents a debt. In modern terms, it is a negotiable debt, so the hunter family can transfer it. The most common transfer is that the family allows a son to present them to his proposed bride as part of the pseudo-bride-price practice of the Praxians (the bride keeps the beasts, not her father).
The wealthy family owes the hunter family regardless of what happens to the actual beast that changes hands. If a raid takes that beast, it is the wealthy family's problem. This can become a real problem if the wealthy family's number of beasts drops below the number it owes. It can cause a "run on the bank" at the end of calving season. For that reason, hunters usually look to just a few families in the clan to hold their wealth on the hoof: they are more likely to be able to repay in the future.
Socially, the obligation helps keep clans together as lesser families form ties with greater ones.
The Rhino tribe does not practice beast loans, because they herd so few animals.
Chris
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