Roughly speaking it may be said that these totemic beliefs and theories of conception prevent the aboriginal mind from forming the idea of physiological paternity and even probably weaken the social importance of maternity. For the only cause of pregnancy is that a "spirit-child" entered the body of a woman. "The natives one and all in these tribes believe that the child is the direct result of the entrance into the mother of an ancestral spirit individual. They have no idea of procreation as being directly associated with sexual intercourse, and firmly believe that children can be born without this taking place. There are, for example, in the Arunta country certain stones which are supposed to be charged with spirit children, who can, by magic, be made to enter the bodies of women, or will do so on their own accord."[586] Accordingly no tie of blood can be supposed to exist between the father and his child; there is no room for any ideas of physiological paternity; in other words, using our terminology, social consanguinity between father and child does not exist.[587] This is the most general conclusion that can be drawn from the beliefs quoted. But in connection with this question there are still some details, some controversial points into which we must enter in order to dissipate any doubts as to the correctness of our general conclusions just mentioned, as well as of some subsequent reasonings.
(1) There seems to be some incertitude as to the complete absence among the natives of any knowledge regarding the physiology of procreation. We read in Strehlow,[588] "Übrigens wissen die alten Männer, wie mir versichert wurde, dass die cohabitatio als Grund der Kinderkonzeption anzusehen sei, sagen aber davon den jüngeren Männern und Frauen nichts." This phrase might evoke some doubts as to whether we should attribute so much importance to the alleged ignorance.[589] But according to subsequent information in the same publication,[590] we must not attach to this phrase too much weight. Possibly the knowledge of the old men comes from alien sources; at any rate we see from the explanation given below by Frhr. von Leonhardi that this phrase does not rest on any concrete facts, or any well-founded information. From the point of view of collective ideas it must always be remembered that it is in the social institutions of a given people and in the whole of their beliefs that we must look for the foundation and confirmation of a given creed. It would be a superfluous digression to point out how deeply the totemic theory of conception is connected with all the other beliefs and the whole social life of the Australian aborigines—as this has been done by so many students of the subject, and pre-eminently by Prof. Frazer in his recent work on Totemism and Exogamy. Some doubts might also arise from the fact that the natives apparently know the real process of propagation in the case of the animals. There is undoubtedly some difficulty here; and additional information on this point would be most valuable. Nevertheless the case is not quite hopeless: if we assume that this correct physiological knowledge is of a relatively late origin, it is quite natural that it would arise first in relation to the animal world, because the ideas about man, being the most important and elaborate, would be the most conservative. Anyhow this point requires further elucidation.[591]
(2) We must insist upon another point, which might at first sight cast some shadow of suspicion even on the foregoing one. We read in Spencer and Gillen[592] that sexual intercourse "prepares the mother for the reception and birth also of an already formed spirit-child who inhabits one of the local totem centres." And this belief of "preparation," although at first denied by Strehlow,[593] was substantiated by him after a more careful investigation and emphatically affirmed.[594] Although there might seem to be at first sight some room for doubt, whether this belief does not create some connection between copulation and pregnancy, and so a bridge for the formation of ideas of paternity, a moment's reflection dissipates these doubts. For in this belief there is absolutely nothing that would point to any individual male as the father of the child. We do not know whether, according to the native beliefs, there must be this preparation for each incarnation, or whether it means only that a female cannot conceive without being deflorated. Considering the emphasis with which, according to Spencer and Gillen, the natives deny any causal connection between copulation and birth, the second supposition seems to be the more probable. But even if the first supposition were the right one, it does not imply any knowledge that a given man has contributed to the body or soul of the child. The latter, already formed (although diminutive in form) enters the womb of a woman. We see therefore that our general conclusion of [page 209] is by no means contradicted by this detail in the aboriginal beliefs.
(3) In the third place I would like to deal with the question whether the totemic beliefs concerning conception contain the idea of any reincarnation of ancestors, as this point will be subsequently of importance to us. And on this important question there is controversy too. Spencer and Gillen emphatically state: "In the whole of this wide area, the belief that every living member of the tribe is the reincarnation of a spirit ancestor is universal. This belief is just as firmly held by the Urabunna people, who count descent in the female line, as in the Arunta and Warramunga, who count descent in the male line."[595]
On the other hand, the belief in reincarnation is expressly and explicitly denied by Strehlow and Leonhardi: "Den Glauben an eine immer wiederkehrende Reincarnation dieses altjirangamitjina (= alcheringa of Spencer and Gillen), den Spencer and Gillen gefunden haben wollen, hat Herr Strehlow nicht feststellen können."[596] In another passage of the same work the expression of Spencer and Gillen, "in every tribe without exception there exists a firm belief in the reincarnation of ancestors," is simply designated as misleading ("irreführend") by the editor (Frhr. v. Leonhardi).[597]
We seem here to be again at a loss. For behind the mere assertions of both parties there is a considerable amount of fact which seems to corroborate each of them. Spencer and Gillen do not give us bare statements. Such concrete and detailed accounts of beliefs as those quoted below[598] are very cogent. We see by them that Spencer and Gillen's assertion concerning the existence of reincarnation is the general expression of a series of positive facts; as there cannot be any doubt as to the authenticity of the latter, the general assertion of our authors is convincing! But if we inquire more precisely into the nature of this reincarnation we find certain "contradictions" and "inconsistencies" in these beliefs, and we can quite safely agree with Frhr. von Leonhardi that if we "take the expression exactly to the letter"[599] we are compelled to deny the existence of any ideas of reincarnation. The only objection is that any attempt to give "strict" or "exact" sense to aboriginal ideas is completely misplaced. The aborigines are not able to think exactly, and their beliefs do not possess any "exact meaning." And if an attempt be made to interpret them in this way, we shall always fail to understand them and to trace their social bearing. We must accept those beliefs as they stand in their quaint concreteness, full of contradictions and inconsistencies, and endeavour to mould our ideas upon the given folkloristic material, of which an adequate knowledge is indispensable for sociological purposes and gives us a very deep insight into the mechanism of different social groups. So, for instance, the aboriginal beliefs of reincarnation will be found to be of some importance as regards the idea of kinship.
But let us return to our analysis of this aboriginal idea of reincarnation. To define the word exactly the expression of Baron Leonhardi may be accepted; reincarnation means "that the given totemic ancestor himself continually undergoes rebirth." In other words the belief in reincarnation logically defined consists in a strict identification of a given man with a given ancestor. From this it is obvious that one would look in vain for such a belief amongst the Australian savages, who do not know anything of logic, and can neither affirm identity nor perceive contradictions.[600] Instead of identifying two things, they feel only a strong but mystical bond of union between them. In this sense the new-born child is obviously a reincarnation of a given ancestor. For it is "identical" with the spirit-child or ratapa of which it is the incarnation, and this again is "identical" with a given Alcheringa: obviously using the word "identity" in the sense indicated above, i. e. that there is some mystical tie between the Alcheringa and the spirit-child which has emanated from him or her.[601] That this tie exists, we know from the data,[602] from those given by Strehlow as well as from those of Spencer and Gillen.[603] And consequently it may be said that the Central Australians regard each man as the reincarnation of a given ancestor; this being, of course, understood with the restriction here laid down. Thus, any doubt as to this point—namely that all human beings are reincarnations of Alcheringa ancestors—may easily be set at rest.
There still remains, however, the question, much more important to us, whether there be amongst these tribes the belief in the reincarnation of human ancestors. Strehlow's information seems absolutely to deny any idea of repeated reincarnation;[604] a man after death goes to the ltjarilkna-ala, where after a certain time his ghost undergoes perfect and final destruction.[605] A man who has lived his life never returns. I confess that to assume amongst savages the existence of such a neatly defined and categorically-formulated belief in absolute destruction or annihilation seems to me rather suspicious; and there is perhaps some misunderstanding of a rather theoretical character on the part of the Rev. C. Strehlow. Moreover, we are informed by this latter author that besides this belief in annihilation there are ideas according to which the souls of "good" men go to heaven to Altjira,[606] and the souls of the "bad" people are eaten up by the atna ntjkantja.[607] Consequently not all souls perish after death, and reincarnation is from this standpoint not impossible. And even if there were some belief as to this annihilation, it might perfectly well be connected by the natives with the ideas of reincarnation. The primitive mind, as has often been urged, does not perceive contradictions. It is not to negative instances that we must look for an answer, but always to positive ones: if we do find indications of a belief, we are then sure that it exists, even if it were in contradiction with ever so many others. If we do not find it, we can say nothing, and especially we are not justified in proving its absence by showing that it stands in contradiction with any of the beliefs ascertained.
Now Spencer and Gillen adduce in several places concrete instances of beliefs which prove beyond doubt that the idea of the reincarnation of human beings actually exists in the Central tribes. As this point is of some importance in our present study, these instances must be brought forward. One of them is the belief that infants, who either die or are killed, soon undergo reincarnation. Such a belief exists among the Arunta,[608] among the Kaitish and Unmatjera.[609] And again, in another place, such a belief is reported to exist in all the tribes examined by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen.[610] That this belief is deeply rooted is shown by the fact that it serves as an excuse for the practice of infanticide; for the natives believe that the same child will soon undergo rebirth from the same mother. It might, nevertheless, be objected that here rebirth is undergone only by persons who died in infancy; and that this has little connection with the reincarnation of ancestors dead long ago. But, first, this belief is the proof of the existence of reincarnation ideas in general, and moreover there are better instances still. There has been found amongst the Urabunna the belief that a person at each reincarnation changes sex, class and totem.[611] The same belief in the alternation of sexes at each successive reincarnation is held amongst the Warramunga.[612] The knowledge of these concrete and detailed beliefs enables us to affirm without hesitation that the general idea of the reincarnation of human beings exists among the Central Australian tribes.[613] A mere assertion on the part of our informants might leave some doubts; but if they adduce these beliefs in detail, the doubts can be only as to their trustworthiness; and this is out of the question in the present case. There are yet other facts confirming the assumption we are dealing with. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen give a detailed account of the wanderings and doings of the ghost after death.[614] They say expressly that the ghost after a time goes to a certain place, where it awaits reincarnation. A similar belief in a land where the souls of the dead await reincarnation has been found in the Adelaide tribes.[615] So that, dividing the problem of reincarnation into two questions—Is there among the Central Australians (1) a belief in a reincarnation of the Alcheringa ancestors? (2) a belief in the reincarnation of human ancestors?—both must be answered in the affirmative.
To sum up our somewhat extensive discussion of the totemic beliefs of conception, we may say that the collective ideas of the Central and North Central Australian[616] aborigines ignore expressly and explicitly any connection of blood between a father and his child, and probably greatly reduce the importance of the maternal blood tie; that even allowing for the greatest amount of physiological knowledge amongst these aborigines, there cannot be any question of paternal consanguinity. We have seen further that in all these Central and North Central tribes (and possibly in many others too) there is an idea of reincarnation, not only of the Alcheringa, but also of the human ancestors; the word reincarnation being used in the sense indicated above, [page 214].