All these examples show the importance that a mother's brother may play in the life of his nephew or niece. On the other hand, a great many men took very little day-to-day interest in their sisters' children. Apparent indifference is not inconsistent with the fulfilling of duties at a time of crisis. Yet the point remains that a large element of permissiveness and vagueness makes it impossible to describe even this role in precise terms.
Emme , father's brother, and dayi , mother's brother, may not be as sharply contrasted as they are in some societies. Yet they are distinct. The mother's brother represents the interest of the mother's kin in the child, and is usually more indulgent and more of a friend. The father's brother is perhaps felt to be closer, and to have more precise binding responsibilities, including that of defence. But no one sees any difficulty in combining the role of classificatory emme with dayi in those cases where a child's parents are agnatic cousins.
The terminology equally distinguishes between mother's sister and father's sister. I heard no formal statement of the difference between these roles; the relationship in both cases should be one of affection and helpfulness, but what actually happens depends primarily on physical and social distance. Other things being equal, as a woman is closer to her sister than her brother, sharing with her the paramount woman's interest in children, so a mother's sister is perhaps likely to be closer and more motherly than a father's sister.