[338] Ibid., p. 138.
[339] Strehlow, I, Vorwort. in fine; II, pp. 76, 77 and 82. For the Arunta, it is the body of the ancestor itself; for the Loritja, it is only an image.
[340] When a child has just been born, the mother shows the father the spot where she believes that the soul of the ancestor entered her. The father, accompanied by a few relatives, goes to this spot and looks for the churinga which the ancestor is believed to have left at the moment that he reincarnated himself. If it is found there, some old man of the group undoubtedly put it there (this is the hypothesis of Spencer and Gillen). If they do not find it, a new churinga is made in a determined manner (Nat. Tr., p. 132. Cf. Strehlow, II, p. 80).
[341] This is the case among the Warramunga, the Urabunna, the Worgaia, the Umbaia, the Tjingilli and the Guangi (Nor. Tr., pp. 258, 275 f.). Then, say Spencer and Gillen, "they were regarded as of especial value because of their association with a totem" (ibid., p. 276). There are examples of the same fact among the Arunta (Nat. Tr., 156).
[342] Strehlow writes tnatanja (I, pp. 4-5).
[343] The Kaitish, the Ilpirra, the Unmatjera; but it is rare among the latter.
[344] The pole is sometimes replaced by very long churinga, placed end to end.
[345] Sometimes another smaller one is hung from the top of the nurtunja. In other cases, the nurtunja is in the form of a cross or a T. More rarely, the central support is lacking (Nat. Tr., pp. 298-300, 360-364, 627).
[346] Sometimes there are even three of these cross-bars.
[347] Nat. Tr,, pp. 231-234, 306-310, 627. In addition to the nurtunja and the waninga, Spencer and Gillen distinguish a third sort of sacred post or flag, called the kanana (Nat. Tr., pp. 364, 370, 629), whose functions they admit they have been unable to determine. They merely note that it "is regarded as something common to the members of all the totems." According to Strehlow (II, p. 23, n. 2) the kanana of which Spencer and Gillen speak, is merely the nurtunja of the Wild Cat totem. As this animal is the object of a tribal cult, the veneration of which it is the object might easily be common to all the clans.