1397] 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. 
i 
