TRANSFORMATION 239 



the members of a totemic group to be reincarnations of 

 a number of spirits, the emanations from the body of 

 a single ancestor half-human, half-beast or plant. This 

 belief, which is similar to that of the Urabunna, though 

 not held by the Arunta, is found among the more 

 northerly tribes, with one exception, right through to 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria. The, exception is that of the 

 Gnanji, a wild and somewhat isolated people. For 

 them this doctrine of reincarnation (in other respects 

 identical) is limited by the denial of a spirit-part to 

 women. " They were quite definite," we are told, 

 " On this point. There are large numbers of spirit 

 female-children, but they never undergo reincarnation." 1 

 Whence come the baby-girls we are not informed. 

 The Warramunga and Urabunna on the other hand, 

 believe that the sexes alternate with each successive 

 incarnation. 2 



In. the territory of all these tribes, therefore, there 

 are certain spots where disembodied spirits were 

 originally deposited, and where they congregate 

 during the intervals of incarnation, ready to pounce 

 on any suitable woman who may come near. Among 

 the Arunta these spirits are associated with churinga, 

 which they leave behind when they enter the womb. 

 Search is made for the churinga ; by it the spirit thus 

 reincarnated is identified, and the child, is named 

 accordingly. The totem of the child is thus not 

 reckoned by natural descent. The totems have 

 become localised, and the totemic group to which the 

 child belongs is determined by the place at which the 

 mother first becomes aware of her condition, and by 

 the churinga found there. In some of the more 

 1 S. and G, op. tit. 161, 170. 2 Ibid. 358 note, 530. 



