122 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—SECTION F, 
growth of his beard, then he persuades an older man, who be- 
longs to a rat totem, to rub his chin with a Churinga, which 
represents the rat. The sacred object is painted with long lines 
of black and red, which indicate the long whiskers of the animal, 
and the rubbing results in some whisker-growing virtue passing 
from the Churinga into the chin. Again, if a native be suffer- 
ing from the complaint of “ bunged “eyes,” brought on by the 
bites of flies, which are a never-ending pest in Central Australia, 
then it is a very common thing for the eyes to be rubbed with a 
Churinga belonging to a fly totem. 
In addition to all the forms of magic already dealt with, the 
native is certain to come into contact with, and to avail himself 
of, magic in connection with the obtaining of his wife or wives, or 
in punishing some one who has run away with one of them. 
The methods of charming a wife are simple. In the first place 
a man accompanied by a few friends will steal away out of 
camp, and in some secluded spot the night will be spent in 
singing refrains, the burden of which is an invitation to the 
woman to come from some distant group. At daybreak the 
man will get up and swing round a little wooden Churinga, or 
bull-roarer. The sound is carried away to the distant woman, 
and it is said that sooner or later she is sure to comply with the 
summons. Or, again, when the woman is near at hand, it is 
customary to charm an ornament of some kind, such as a fore- 
head band or one of the pearlshells worn by the men. In the 
case of the latter an incantation is sung over it, inviting the 
lightning to come and dwell in it, then the man wears it at 
the corroboree ground, and the woman whom he wishes to 
attract alone sees the lightning flashing from it. Needless to 
say, these methods of obtaining wives, though recognised as 
lawful, always provided that the man and woman belong 
respectively to groups which may intermarry, are not in- 
frequently the cause of considerable trouble. That they are not 
more frequently practised is due to the fact that if the woman 
be caught, the chances are that if not put to death by her former 
husband, she will receive, and the man also, some very rough 
treatment. However, if the two get away to a place of safety 
it is still possible to deal with them by means of magic; and 
this is especially used when the man belongs to a group “which is 
too powerful to make it worth while having an open fight. To 
punish a man a small toy flake knife is made, and attached by 
resin to a little spear; then the former husband, accompanied 
by a friend, goes out into the bush and attaches the spear to a 
spear thrower, which is painted, and left in the sun for a few 
days, the men going every day and singing to it the words, 
“Go straight and kill him ; go straight.” Finally one man kneels 
down, huddling himself together, while the other, standing be- 
tween his legs, throws the magic object as far as he can in the 
