The section on the churinga is no less noteworthy than that on totems. It is interesting to learn that the female churinga found by Klaatsch on the north-west coast is not an isolated example in Australia. Strehlow denies emphatically that the churinga is to be regarded as a "soul-box"; the churinga is regarded as a second body; but here we come to the question of definitions; the churinga may have nothing to do with the ltana or soul that goes to the island of the dead; but we are familiar with multiple souls; further enquiry may show that the "second body" has a very different function from the body of flesh and blood; in fact we learn (p. 76) that the churinga unites a man with his totemic ancestors and with his totem, and ensures him the protection of the former and magical control over the latter. It would be well to enquire what would happen (1) to the owner, (2) to the ancestor, and (3) to the totem, if a churinga were destroyed.
Strehlow writes with full knowledge of the language, and we cannot but feel the enormous advantage which this knowledge gives him over all other enquirers. Further memoirs are to appear, and they will be eagerly awaited, for the two already published are masterly.
Short Notices.
Personal friends of the late founder and secretary of the American Folklore Society will be glad to know of this volume, which in a sense may be regarded as a memorial. The first part of the book contains an original poem telling in part, in outline, the story of Tristan and Iseult, and the last 47 pages are occupied by an essay on the story completed from a manuscript which the author had not finally revised.
