254 SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



flooded the entire material culture of the area, and has 

 thus become the most conspicuous factor in the cere- 

 monial as well as the daily life of the people. Nay, the 

 art of British Columbia is more than merely an impor- 

 tant factor of totemism, for it has become a self-perpetu- 

 ating source of totemistic suggestion. ' ' 35 



The phratry, which we found so characteristic of the 

 Iroquois organization, is a constant feature in the social 

 organization of Australian tribes. There are usually 

 two phratries which are exogamous. The Dieri tribe is 

 divided into two exogamous phratries, Kararu and Mat- 

 teri, each of which comprises a number of totemic clans. 

 Among the Arabana these two exogamous phratries are 

 known as the Kirarawa and Matthurie. In both these 

 tribes the mother's phratry and totem are inherited. 

 But the social system is not as simple as this among all 

 of the Australian tribes. The Kamilaroi are divided into 

 two exogamous phratries, but in addition, each phratry 

 comprises two classes, while each class contains parts of 

 all the clans of one phratry. In the Warramunga tribes 

 conditions are even more complex. 36 Thus the social or- 

 ganization of these most primitive peoples is quite com- 

 plicated. But the matrimonial classes, which constitute 

 the complicating factor, do not usually bear animal or 

 plant names; it is the clans which invariably derive 

 their names from their animal, plant, or inanimate 

 totems. 



The Australian natives have various traditions of de- 

 scent from the totem. The Arabana legends tell of small 

 companies of half -human, half-animal individuals of un- 



35 Goldenweiser, op. cit., p. 50. 



seHowitt, A. W. The Native Tribes of Southeast Australia, 1904, pp. 

 103-199. 



