Meanwhile tribes with no matrimonial classes, and with female descent of the totem--tribes dwelling from five to seven hundred miles away from the southern sea--do possess the All Father belief as far north as Central Queensland, no less than did the almost or quite extinct tribes of the south coast, who had made what is (or is not) 'the great step in progress' of paternal descent of the totem.
Again, arid and barren as is the central region tenanted by the Arunta, it seems to permit or encourage philosophic reflection, for their theory of evolution is remarkably coherent and ingenious.

The theory of evolution implies as much reflection as that of creation! Their magic for the behoof of edible objects is attributed to the suddenness of their first rains,[IBID.

p.

465.] and the consequent outburst of life, which the natives attribute to their own magical success.

But rainmaking magic, as Mrs.Langloh Parker shows, is practised with sometimes amazing success among the Euahlayi, who work no magic at all for their totems.