Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/503

 Reviews. 47 1

arguable that the Wollunqua ceremonies on the one hand, and the Intichiuma on the other, have diverged from a common root of totemic ceremonies entirely free from economic inten- tion. If the magical and economic aspects of the ceremonies were equally prominent on all sides of the Warramunga, it might be reasonable to speak of the Wollunqua ceremonies as a modification of those of other totems. But this is not so. The further we go from the Arunta and their arid land, the fainter become the traces of the Intichiuma. Even among the Warra- munga the ceremonies are not identical with those of the Arunta, Unmatjera, and Kaitish tribes. One part of them — that which is the most important, the magical part — is, as we have seen, hardly ever present, or as our authors put it " has almost entirely dis- appeared," leaving the Thalajnmifita, as they are called by the Warramunga, simply a series of rites representing the Alcheringa history of the totemic ancestor, though it is true a magical purpose is attributed to them. Among the coastal tribes the Intichiuma can hardly be said to exist at all. " These tribes have the same totemic ceremonies as those of the interior so far as their fimda- mental significance [the italics are mine] is concerned — that is, they are one and all concerned with the Alcheringa history and doings of the old ancestors of the totems ; but none of them are performed, either as they are amongst the Kaitish or as amongst the Warramunga and Tjingilli, for the purpose of increasing the food supply. Further still, we do not find that it is in any way obligatory for the headman of the totem to perform ceremonies for the increase of the totemic animal or plant, the idea being that this will take place without the intervention of any magic on their part. At the same time they can, if they care to do so, secure the increase by means of magic." Two examples of magical ceremonies are given, with neither of which are the totem-kin, who would in the interior be charged with the office, solely concerned. This absence of Intichiuma, in the sense in which they are practised by the Arunta, is attributed, no doubt rightly, by the authors to the different and much more favourable conditions of life enjoyed by the coastal tribes, rendering efforts to increase the food supply needless. But this in effect to concede my contention.

The conclusion seems to me irresistible that, so far from the Intichiuma being any part of the original stock of customs of the Central Australian natives, they have really been evolved by the