1897] INITIATION RITES OF THE ARUNTA TRIBE 121 



results which Messrs Spencer and Gillen have obtained. Closely 

 interwoven with the idea of the totem is the significance of the 

 churinya, or sacred stones and sticks. These objects are flat, oval, or 

 elongate pieces of stone or wood, carved all over with incised lines 

 which, in the Central Australian tribes, are circles or segments of 

 circles, while in Western Australia they take the form of zig-zag 

 lines. Each man has his own churinya, which is apparently looked 

 on as another embodiment of himself, and yet at the same time 

 it possesses a mysterious sacred significance. The women and the 

 uninitiated are not allowed to look at it. The carvings on the 

 churinyas of persons of the same totem are very similar. The 

 churinyas are not kept by the blacks to whom they belong, but they 

 are carefully hidden in some definite locality by one or two of the old 

 men, each totem having its own particular set of such stations. The 

 blacks state that in the ' dream-times ' of the far distant past, when 

 their ancestors came into the country, those of each totem kept 

 strictly by themselves. At this time they are not quite clear as to 

 whether those whose totem was, say the wild duck, were really 

 human beings, or partly the animals or plants the names of which 

 they bear. 



The lines of these migrations are related in great detail in 

 their traditions, and each camping ground is exactly located, so that 

 the whole country is interlaced with lines of route, and dotted over 

 with innumerable camps. When one of these ' dream-time ' an- 

 cestors died, he was turned into a spirit-child, and as such dwells 

 near one of the camping grounds, always carrying in his hand one 

 of the churinyas. Conception is believed to take place by the 

 entry of one of these spirit-children into the mother, the spirit- 

 child dropping his churinya on the ground at the time. On the 

 birth of the child the place is searched for the lost churinya, and 

 by the kindly offices of one of the old men the search is usually 

 successful. If it be not, a wooden one is made of hardwood, such 

 as mulga. The stone churinyas are the more ancient form, and do 

 not appear to be made at the present day. This then fixes the 

 totem for the individual, and explains why in the Arunta tribe the 

 child is not of the same totem as one of the parents, as is the case 

 in some of the neighbouring tribes of Central Australia. 



The members of each totem have a ceremony connected with 

 their totem, which they alone are allowed to perform, and which 

 has for one of its objects the increase of the animal or plant from 

 which the totem takes its name. The eating of this animal is not 

 tabooed to those who bear its name, as is frequently the case in 

 other parts of the world ; in -fact, it is considered necessary for the 

 chief performer to eat a portion of his totem, or the ceremony will 

 fail. 



