Fire Ceremoiiy of Central Australian Tribes. 21 



In their curious totem regulations the Arunta, Luritcha 

 and Ilparra tribes agree, as the authoi's know from personal 

 observation, whilst they have sti'ong reason to believe that large 

 and important tribes living to the north are in accord with them 

 on all important points. These tribes are the Warramunga, 

 Waagai, Illeowra, and Wickliffe. 



It was whilst watching and questioning closely the natives 

 during the performance of the Engwurra ceremony that the 

 authors were able to find out the way in which the totem names 

 of the individuals originate. 



The total period occupied by the Engwurra was more than 

 four months. It was held near to Alice Springs and was 

 attended by representatives from various parts of the tribe, some 

 of whom travelled a distance of about two hundred miles to be 

 present. The men were summoned by messengers bearing the 

 sacred churiiiga, and about the middle of September they began 

 to assemble. A special level piece of ground, somewhat trian- 

 gular in shape, bounded on one side by a river with its belt of 

 timber, and on another by a range of rugged quartzite hills, and 

 on a third by low scrub, was selected as the spot for the 

 Engwurra ground. The main encampment to which the women 

 and children went was hxed on the opposite side of the river so 

 that no females or uninitiated males could see what was taking 

 place in the Engwurra ground. The component groups of the 

 camp could be distinguished by the spots on which they built 

 their wurlies, those who came from the south erecting them on 

 the south of the ground, those from the north on the north side 

 and so on. Each party which came in brought with it a larger 

 or smaller number of the sacred sticks and stones which are 

 called churinga. 



We have already referred to the division of the tribe into two 

 moieties, one consisting of the Panunga and Bultharra men, and 

 the other of the Purula and Kumarra, and in connection with 

 the storing of the churinga on the Engwurra ground this fact 

 was brought out very prominently. All those belonging to the 

 Panunga and Bulthurra were placed on a special platform made 

 in the branches of a mulga tree on the range bounding the 

 southern end of the ground, while those of the Kumarra and 

 Purula were placed on a small platform at the northern end of 

 the around. 



