social organization; as, for example, amongst the famous Arunta of central Australia, whom Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have so carefully described.  I have, again, refrained from pointing out that sometimes there are exogamous divisions—­some would call them moieties to distinguish them from phratries—­which have no clans grouped under them, and, on the other hand, have themselves little or no resemblance to totemic clans.  These, and ever so many other exceptional cases, I have simply passed by.

An even more serious kind of omission is the following.  I have throughout identified the social organization with the kinship organization—­namely, that into which a man is born in consequence of the marriage laws and the system of reckoning descent.  But there are other secondary features of what can only be classed as social organization, which have nothing to do with kinship.  Sex, for instance, has a direct bearing on social status.  The men and the women often form markedly distinct groups; so that we are almost reminded of the way in which the male and the female linnets go about in separate flocks as soon as the pairing season is over.  Of course, disparity of occupation has something to do with it.  But, for the native mind, the difference evidently goes far deeper than that.  In some parts of Australia there are actually sex-totems, signifying that each sex is all-one-flesh, a mystic corporation.  And, all the savage world over, there is a feeling that woman is uncanny, a thing apart, which feeling is probably responsible for most of the special disabilities—­and the special privileges—­that are the lot of woman at the present day.

Again, age likewise has considerable influence on social status.  It is not merely a case of being graded as a youth until once for all you legally “come of age,” and are enrolled, amongst the men.  The grading of ages is frequently most elaborate, and each batch mounts the social ladder step by step.  Just as, at the university, each year has apportioned to it by public opinion the things it may do and the things it may not do, whilst, later on, the bachelor, the master, and the doctor stand each a degree higher in respect of academic rank; so in darkest Australia, from youth up to middle age at least, a man will normally undergo a progressive initiation into the secrets of life, accompanied by a steady widening in the sphere of his social duties and rights.

Lastly, locality affects status, and increasingly as the wandering life gives way to stable occupation.  Amongst a few hundred people who are never out of touch with each other, the forms of natal association hold their own against any that local association is likely to suggest in their place.  According to natal grouping, therefore, in the broad sense that includes sex and age no less than kinship, the members of the tribe camp, fight, perform magical ceremonies, play games, are initiated, are married, and are buried.  But let the tribe increase in numbers, and spread