Australian Ethnography 澳大利亚民族志

Chapter 5 Religion and Worship¹The chapter “Religion and Worship,” corresponding to pages 47-53 of the original text, is the fifth chapter from Part I: “Indigenous History and Present Situation” of Australian Ethnography. This chapter provides an exhaustive analysis of the religious practices and spiritual beliefs of the indigenous populations in Australia, focusing on their spiritual traditions and the societal implications of these practices. —Trans.

In the Indigenous communities, everything is linked to religion. Strictly speaking, indigenous religions are still in a primitive stage, i.e. a variety of unstructured worship rituals. They believe in the Dreamtime²Dreamtime or Dreaming (梦幻时代) was term used for religio-cultural concepts attributed to Australian Aboriginal cultures. The words were first used by Francis Gillen and quickly adopted by other anthropologists in Australia. (See: Christine Judith Nicholls, “‘Dreamtime’ and ‘the Dreaming’ – an Introduction,” The Conversation, January 22, 2014, https://theconversation.com/dreamtime-and-the-dreaming-an-introduction-20833.) —Trans., i.e. the era of Creation. It is said that on the land of Australia there only lived ancestors of the Aborigines and evil spirits, who were characterized by both human and animal. They created lands, rivers, mountains, caves and special rocks with supernatural power wherever they went. The First Nations live on the lands created by their ancestors and they follow the unusual laws, customs and social organizations laid down by their ancestors. Indigenous religions thus came into being at that time. As mentioned by Engels, “Religion arose in very primitive times from men’s erroneous and primitive conceptions about their nature and the external nature surrounding them.”³① Selected Works of Marx and Engels vol. 4, 250. The quote was written by Engles and used by the author of the book, Ruan Xihu. Its English translation can be found in the translation of Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy published by Foreign Languages Press. (See: Friedrich Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1976), 55.)https://michaelharrison.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ludwig-Fuuerbach-and-the-end-of-Classical-German-Philiosophy-FLP.pdf.  ) —Trans.

土著社会的各个方面都与宗教联系着。严格说来，土著宗教还处在原始阶段，即松散的各种崇拜仪式。他们相信梦幻年代，即创世纪年代。据说当时在澳大利亚只居住着土著居民的祖先和凶恶的精灵，他们的祖先既象人又象动物。在他们漫游过的地方利用超人的自然力量创造了大地、河流、山脉、山洞和特殊的岩石。最早的土著人就在他们祖先创造的大地上生活，并按他们祖先所制定的特别法律、习惯和社会组织生活。这就是土著人宗教信仰的开始，正如恩格斯指出的：“宗教是在最原始的时代从人们关于自己本身的自然和周围的外部自然的错误的、最原始的观念中产生的。” ①

①  《马克思恩格斯选集》第四卷, 第250页。

Despite the primitive stage of their religious beliefs, the indigenous people have complex religious rituals. In the entire Australian continent, including the surrounding islands, the religious rituals vary greatly, with respective worship rituals. Different social organizations can be found in these indigenous societies, and they intertwine with each other closely, which facilitates the spread of various worship rituals. Based on the ritual content, they can be summarized into three aspects, namely the “Harvest and Fertility” worship, totem worship and magic and Clevermen⁴A Cleverman refers to a traditional healer in the cultures of the First Nations in Australia. The roles, terms for and abilities of the Clevermen vary in different communities. Some of them can heal physical injuries and some can cure spiritual ailments with magic powering from the Dreaming. They can be men or women depending on the cultures of different communities. (See: Daniel Suggit, “A Clever People: Indigenous healing traditions and Australian mental health futures” (Short Thesis, ANU, 2008), 3-5, https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/12051/1/Suggit_D_2008.pdf ) —Trans..

土著居民的宗教信仰虽然还停在原始阶段，宗教仪式却很复杂，整个澳大利亚大陆，包括周围各岛屿，土著居民的宗教仪式不尽相同，他们有各种不同的崇拜仪式。土著社会存在着不同的社会组织，而且各种不同的社会组织交织在一起。这种情况有利于各种崇拜仪式的传播。但按其内容可以归纳为三个方面，即“丰收与繁生”崇拜、图腾崇拜和巫术巫医。

I. The Harvest and Fertility worship

The “Harvest and Fertility” worship represents a primitive form of religion among the Australian aborigines. Other similar forms include the “Whale Hunting” worship of the Inuit in Alaska and the “Sun” worship in Africa and the Americas.

一  “丰收与繁生”崇拜

“丰收与繁生”崇拜是澳大利亚土著人的一种原始宗教形式，类似这种崇拜形式还有阿拉斯加因纽特人的“猎鲸崇拜”以及非洲和美洲等地的“太阳”崇拜，等等。

Throughout Australia, the “Harvest and Fertility” worship is one of the few most widespread forms. It spreads in the north-central regions and northwest regions of Australia, covering the Roper River region, including Arnhem Land⁵Arnhem Land (阿纳姆地): A region of Australia in the northern territory, large areas of which are reserved for native Australians. (See: D. M. J. S. Bowman, Angie Walsh, and L. D. Prior, “Landscape Analysis of Aboriginal Fire Management in Central Arnhem Land, North Australia,” Journal of Biogeography 31, no. 2 (February 2004): 207–23, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0305-0270.2003.00997.x.) —Trans., Port Essington⁶Port Essington (基特斯港): This article provides some information about this place in the north-central and northwest Australia, and Port Essington which is located in the north Australia, is the best suitable place and around this place there are a lot of First Nations and it’s near the Daly River. (See: Baldwin Spencer, Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia (Cambridge University Press, 1914), 7.) —Trans., Daly River, Victoria River and the Kimberley region. Despite differences in mythology and ritual in these regions, they have one thing in common, that is, the common content of harvest and fertility. There are other forms of worship based on “harvest and fertility”, like the desert-style form and different worship rituals in the west, as well as eastern forms of worship in the Yeddung Dhaura⁷Yeddung Dhaura (云杜鲁): This paper describes the place Yeddung Dhaura that is an Aboriginal campsite located on a flat‐topped rise on the eastern edge of a tributary stream of Ginninderra Creek. And it is an Aboriginal community. And its pronunciation is closest to its transliterated name. (See: “Background Information Yeddung Dhaura (Block 1 Section 111 Forde),” Trove (Canberra City, Australian Capital Territory: ACT Government, Published September 2021), https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2995362361/view.) —Trans. and Aranda regions, spreading in the southeast. Each worship ritual in the desert region presents its own characteristics and mysterious colours. During my visits to Yeddung Dhaura and Western Australia, I heard a lot about the different worship rituals of the Aborigines. They link production to all kinds of natural objects, thus turning many natural objects into the goals of their worship.

从整个澳大利亚来讲，“丰收与繁生”崇拜是流传最广的少数几种崇拜形式之一。它流传于澳大利亚的中北部地区和西北部地区，从罗泊河地区，包括阿纳姆地、基特斯港、戴利河、维多利亚河以及金伯利地区。尽管在神话和仪式方面有所不同，但都反映丰收与繁生这个共同的内容。以丰收与繁生为内容的崇拜，还有沙漠形式的崇拜和西部地区的不同崇拜仪式，东部崇拜形式包括云杜鲁和阿兰达地区，并流传在东南部地区。沙漠地区的每一种崇拜仪式都有其本身的特点和神秘色彩。我在访问云杜鲁和西澳大利亚时就听到许多关于土著居民的各种不同崇拜仪式。他们把生产与各种自然物联系起来。因此，许多自然物也就成为他们的崇拜对象了。

According to the report of J. C. Wisnell (威斯乃尔) 1901⁸The author of the book, Ruan Xihu translated the name as 威斯乃尔. In this translation process, failed to locate the report mentioned in the book under the name 威斯乃尔, taking Wisnell as the corresponding name of 威斯乃尔. —Trans., there is a place called Telfer⁹Telfer (塔尔劳): Failed to locate a place called “塔尔劳.” The author said the place is in Pilbara, so after searching all the places in Pilbara, still nothing. However, there is a place called Telfer that is located in the Pilbara, and it is also the Aboriginal community. —Trans. in the Pilbara region, where a pile of stones separates sacred places. This is exactly a place for Harvest and Fertility. Another similar site in Australia is Wickham¹⁰Wickham (威克姆坎): “Wickham” is a real name and a well-known Aboriginal community, and its pronunciation is much similar to its transliterated name “威克姆坎.” —Trans., which is also a site for harvest rituals. Spencer and Gillen have reported on the Arandas’ intichiuma¹¹The name Intichiuma is applied to certain sacred ceremonies associated with the totems, and the object of which is to secure the increase of the animal or plant which gives its name to the totem. (See: Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia (Cambridge University Press, 1898), 167–211.)  —Trans., i.e. the “Harvest or Fertility” worship. Their report gives us reason to believe that the “intichiuma” worship is the most primitive worship ritual of Australians and is also common to many primitive peoples.

根据J· C· 威斯乃尔在1901年的报告，在皮巴拉区有一个叫塔尔劳的地方，这里有一堆石头把圣地隔开，这是一个为丰收和繁生举行仪式的场所。类似这样的场所在澳大利亚还有威克姆坎，它也是一个为丰收而举行仪式的场所。斯宾塞和吉伦曾对阿兰达人的印泰柴尤马(intichiuma), 即 “丰收或繁生” 崇拜作了报道。他们的报告使我们有理由相信，“丰收与繁生”崇拜是澳大利亚人的最原始的崇拜仪式，也是许多原始民族共同的崇拜仪式。

However, situations vary in different parts of Australia. People don’t hold worship rituals for all animals or plants, and there are not always worship centres for all important species. Moreover, not everyone who attends worship rituals sincerely believes in them, since even aborigines themselves also sometimes hold worship rituals for those economically useless species. They tend to do so for the species involved with their survival.

但是，在澳大利亚各个不同地区，情况也不尽相同，不是对所有的动物或植物都有崇拜仪式，也不是所有的重要物种都有崇拜中心，更不是所有参加崇拜仪式的人都真诚相信。因为土著人有时也对那些在经济上无用的物种举行崇拜仪式。但通常是为对他们生存有关的物种举行崇拜仪式。

The Arandas¹²The Arandas can be also known as the Arrernte people or  Arunta, which are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the Arrernte lands, and surrounding areas of the Central Australia region of the Northern Territory. —Trans. hold an annual “Harvest and Fertility” ritual because of their flourished plants. According to Spencer and Gillen¹³Baldwin Spencer and F· J· Gillen were pioneering anthropologists who explored the link between ecological resources and totemic rituals among the Aranda. Their significant work, “The Native Tribes of Central Australia,” provides an in-depth examination of indigenous societies and cultures in central Australia, documenting their religious practices and beliefs and how these are intertwined with environmental and biological cycles. —Trans., Arandas’ “intichiuma” is closely related to the plant growth and animal reproduction of the corresponding totems. Therefore, some people believe that the “intichiuma worship” comes into being also for the harvest and multiplication of animal and plant totems, which thus links the worship of  “Harvest and Fertility” with the worship of totems. From where I stand, the worship of “Harvest and Fertility” and the one of totem are two different religious rituals, since the former generally means to enjoy flourishing plants and hunted animals, while the latter indicates abstinence from fasting and forbidden touching. This is an important distinction.

阿兰达人在当他们的植物生长茂盛的时候，每年举行一次“丰收与繁生”仪式，斯宾塞和吉伦认为，阿兰达人的“印泰柴尤马崇拜”与相应图腾的植物茂盛成长和动物繁殖密切联系着。有人根据斯宾塞和吉伦的观点，认为“印泰柴尤马崇拜”也是为动物图腾和植物图腾的丰收和繁生而崇拜。这就把“丰收与繁生”崇拜与图腾崇拜联系起来了。我认为“丰收与繁生”崇拜和图腾崇拜是两种不同的宗教仪式。因为图腾物种一般为禁食、禁触，而“丰收与繁生”崇拜食用生长茂盛的植物和猎获的动物。这是重要的区别。

The worship of “Harvest and Fertility” in northeast Arnhem Land can well explain the connotation of this religious ritual. Whenever the seasonal wind and rainy season arrive, the Aborigines will hold the “Harvest and Fertility” worship, praying for a good harvest and more food. In addition, stories of two Djankawu Sisters¹⁴Djankawu Sisters: The Djankawu Sisters are mythological creators and fertility figures in the mythology of Indigenous Australian peoples from the Arnhem Land region, responsible for the creation of many sites and life forms. (See: Edward Palmer, “Notes on Some Australian Tribes,” The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 13 (1884): 291, https://doi.org/10.2307/2841896.) —Trans. and their brother are famous in the Dhuwa moiety¹⁵The Dhuwa(also spelled Dua), one of two major moieties in Yolngu societies of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia. This social structure consists of a complex dualistic system, in which Australian Aboriginal communities are typically divided into two complementary “friction” or groups, Dhuwa and Yirritja. Key clans within the Dhuwa moiety, such as the Rirratjiŋu and Gälpu from the Dangu people, contrast with the Gumatj clan, which stands as the most notable in the Yirritja moiety. —Trans.. They are heroes in mythologies and symbols of the sun, who help humans, animals, and plants grow. The aborigines worship them precisely for the growth of plants and animals.

从阿纳姆地东北部的“丰收与繁生”崇拜就能更清楚地了解这宗教仪式的内涵。每当季节风和雨季到来时，当地土著人举行了“丰收与繁生”崇拜，祈求物种丰收，得到更多食物。此外，在杜尔氏族中，流传着两个德詹格加伍尔姐妹和一个哥哥的故事。他们是神话中的英雄，太阳的象征，并使人类、动物、植物生长。土著人崇拜他们正是为了动植物生长。

The above examples focus on the abundance of species, while the following give attention to the abundance of people. Kunapipi¹⁶Kunapipi also spelt Gunabibi, (womb) is a fertility goddess in Indigenous Australian cultures, symbolizing fertility and creativity, prevalent in the mythologies of many Aboriginal communities. —Trans., a mythical mother who creates man, is regarded as a spirit associated with the Rainbow Serpent¹⁷The Rainbow Serpent, a deity in Aboriginal Australian mythology, represents the interconnectedness of water, life, and creation. Known by various names and central in The Dreaming, it features prominently in Aboriginal art and religion. The Rainbow Serpent creates land, water and all other animals, plants for the Aboriginal peoples, yet sometimes when they are disturbed may create chaos and troubles. (See: Anthony S Mercatante and James R Dow, “Rainbow Snake,” The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, (New York: Facts On File, 2009), 817-818.) —Trans.. People endow her with many names, two of which are Galwadi and Djang’kawu¹⁸The Djang’kawu(also spelled Djanggawul or Djan’kawu), refers to the creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mythology and concerns the moiety known as Dhuwa. —Trans.. The Aborigines also worship the two sisters who live in the cave and are said to have been swallowed by a venomous python. The two sisters come back into the caves of Alungol later for multiplication.

上述例子着重为物种丰收，下面的例子着重为人丁兴旺，如库纳皮皮是一位神话式的繁生母亲，她创造了人。因此，她被看成与蛇虹有联系的精灵。她有许多名字，其中两个名字是加尔瓦迪和加德贾里。土著人还崇拜两位在岩洞里繁生的姐妹。据说这两个姐妹被无毒大蟒吞没，尔后又把她们放回到亚卢恩格古尔的岩洞里繁生。

In Western Arnhem, there is a festival similar to the worship of “Harvest and Fertility”, called “ubar”¹⁹Ubar is a specific ritual observed in certain parts of Arnhem Land, celebrating fertility and the cyclical nature of life, linked to maternal aspects of creation. —Trans.. It has to do with the mother’s multiplication. The mother is known as Waramurunggo²⁰Wollunqua, the Warumungu people’s version of the Rainbow Serpent, is a creator in many Aboriginal myths. —Trans.. She shares her name with the Ngalyod, the Rainbow Serpent²¹Ngalyod, the Rainbow Serpent is an all-powerful female ancestral creator of the Bininj people. Ngalyod represents a specific form of the Rainbow Serpent, depicted as female and symbolizing forces of creation and destruction. —Trans.. The “ubar” ritual involves a series of dances. When people dance, there is an empty and concave wooden drum, and the sound of the drum symbolizes the voice of the mother.

在西阿纳姆地，有与“丰收与繁生”崇拜相似的节日，称“尤巴尔”(ubar)。它与母亲的繁生有关。这位母亲被称为瓦拉穆兰戈(Waramurunggo)。她与女蛇虹恩加尔佐德齐名。“尤巴尔”仪式包括一系列舞蹈。人们在跳舞时，有一个内空而呈凹状的木鼓，鼓声就象征着母亲的声音。

II. Totem Worship

Totems were first found in the cultures of the North American Indians. The word “totem” comes from the Ojibwe²²Ojibwe (奥吉布瓦语), also known as Ojibwa, Ojibway, Otchipwe, Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian language family. The language is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems. (See: Michael D Palmer and Stanley M Burgess, Companion to Religion and Social Justice. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 425–37.) —Trans. language which means an object linked with the destiny of an individual or a group and protects them. Thus, totem worship became part of the original religion. In Australia, when most scholars use totemism, it’s a way to explain worship activities or group attributes as well as to use the term to symbolize similar objects in nature. Most importantly, these scholars use the totems to reflect the relationship between indigenous people and nature, as well as their fantasies about other things in the universe. It has something in common with the Ojibwe word for “totem”.

二 图腾崇拜

图腾最早在北美印第安人中发现。图腾一词来自奥吉布瓦语，意为个人或集体的命运与之相连系之物，并能保护他们。因此，图腾崇拜也就成了原始宗教的一部分。在澳大利亚，大部分学者，当他们在使用图腾主义一词时，是把它作为一种手段来解释崇拜活动，或集团的属性的，并用图腾一词来象征自然界的一些相似物体。最重要的是这些学者用图腾方法来反映土著人与自然界的关系，以及他们对这个宇宙中其他事物的幻想。这种用法与奥吉布瓦语“图腾”一词的涵义有相同之处。

Meanwhile, the Australian ethnographic community hold different opinions on the term totemism in Aboriginal religion, arguing that the term does not accurately reflect the religious beliefs of Aborigines. However, others consider the use of the term totem is inappropriate to describe their religious culture. From where I stand, the aborigines in the clan stage show their religious belief mainly in the form of worship. Thus, totemism counts as an integral part of the religion of the aboriginal Australians. Nevertheless, it is not “the main form of the unique religion of the Australians” as proposed by the Soviet scholars, since the religion of the Aborigines is a mixture of many kinds of worship that includes three parts, even animatism²³Animatism (泛生信仰, also can be translated as万物有灵论) is a form of religion in most of primitive or preliterate societies, which speaks about a belief in generalized, objective power over which actions of control can be imposed by the people. (See: Kasi Eswarappa and Gladis S. Mathew, “Animatism,” Springer- Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, January 1, 2019, 2, https://www.academia.edu/40366015/Animatism.) —Trans.. The content in this chapter is only one component of the complex worship.

与此同时，在澳大利亚民族学界，对在土著人的宗教中使用图腾主义一词存在着不同看法，认为使用图腾一词没有准确地反映土著居民的宗教信仰。也有人认为使用图腾一词不恰当。但我认为，处于氏族阶段的土著人，他们的宗教信仰主要表现在崇拜上。因此，图腾崇拜县澳大利亚土著人宗教信仰的一个组成部分，但不是象苏联学者所说的那样，“图腾崇拜是澳大利亚人的独特宗教的主要形式”，因为土著人的宗教是一个多种崇拜混合体，它包括三部分，甚至泛生信仰(animatism)。本节所介绍的，只是多种崇拜混合体的一个组成部分。

i. Personal Totem Worship

Personal totem worship refers to the relationship between an individual and a particular animal or plant in nature. The relationship is personal and usually does not share a totem with another person, nor is it hereditary. A person may be given a totem name at the Initiation ceremony²⁴The Initiation ceremony is a special ritual held for young male Aboriginal adolescents when they are at the age of 10-16. The ceremony symbolizes them becoming adult parts of the community and allows them to comprehend the mythology in the Dreamtime, as well as to share the embodiment of the ancestors. (See: Mbantua Gallery, “Aboriginal Culture and Ceremonies,” Mbantua.com.au, 2024, https://mbantua.com.au/aboriginal-culture. ) —Trans.. The name may be a plant, animal, insect, or mineral name, and sometimes the meaning of the totem name is hidden. After a person is given a totem, the person has to make it known to the whole clan. However, the person does not always feel any love for the totem object or be emotionally bound to it. The person does not need to have a special attitude towards it and can still eat it. This is the case with the Jigalongs²⁵The Jigalong community (吉加龙人) lives in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the population was 300 according to the ABS 2016 Census. (See: National Indigenous Australians Agency, “Jigalong,” Indigenous.gov.au, 2022, https://www.indigenous.gov.au/community/jigalong.) —Trans. of Western Australia.

(一) 个人图腾崇拜

个人图腾崇拜是指个人与自然界某一动物或植物之间的关系。这个关系是个人关系，通常不与别人共有一个图腾，也不是世袭的。一个人可能在成年礼时给他一个图腾名称。这个图腾名称可能是植物、动物、昆虫和矿物名称，有时图腾名称的含义是隐匿的。一个人在得到图腾之后，要让全氏族知道。但是，他并不总感到对图腾物有任何爱慕或在感情上受图腾的束缚。他并不需要对他的图腾物有特殊态度，他还可以吃图腾物。澳大利亚西部的吉加龙人就是这样。

Some individuals have two totems, such as the Wurundjeri²⁶The Wurundjeri people (乌拉德杰里人) are the Traditional Custodians of much of the metropolitan Melbourne region extending out in all directions. (See: Mandy Nicholson and Jones David, “Wurundjeri-al Narrm-u (Wurundjeri’s Melbourne) Aboriginal Living Heritage in Australia’s Urban Landscapes ,” in The Routledge Handbook on Historic Urban Landscapes in the Asia-Pacific, ed. Kapila D. Silva (New York: Routledge, 2019), https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429486470.) —Trans., whose second totem is called “assistant totem²⁷Assistant totem (辅助图腾) is termed as “Bala” in Aboriginal culture and sung into the child’s body when the child finishes his Initiation ceremony to serve as a spiritual apprenticeship to the Cleverman, which is normally used to pass the “cleverness” to the next generations. The paper gives more details about assistant totems in Aboriginal cultures and corresponds to the description provided by Ruan Xihu. (See: R M Berndt, “Wuradjeri Magic and ‘Clever Men’,” Oceania 17, no. 4 (June 1, 1947): 333, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1947.tb00157.x.) —Trans.”, which may be an animal or a human being. When a Cleverman takes a child of 10 or 12 years old away from the main camp in which the child lives and sings²⁸According to the paper published by Adolphus Peter Elkin 伊尔金, he stated that the “assistant totem” was sung to the children. However, Ruan Xihu translated it as “blow into the children’s body” (Literal translation) in the original book, Australian Ethnography. (See: A. P. Elkin, “The Secret Life of the Australian Aborigines,” Oceania 3, no. 2 (1932): 125, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40327402.) —Trans. the Cleverman’s assistant totem (called a Bala) into the child, it means that the totem or the “animal spirit²⁹The animal totems are believed to be animal spirits by different clans of indigenous people living across the world. They think that totem animals always stay with them for life both in the physical and spiritual world. (See: Manash Goswami, “Totemism and Tribes: A Study of the Concept and Practice” (Assistant Professor thesis, 2018), https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manash-Goswami-2/publication/326655380_Totemism_and_Tribes_A_Study_of_the_Concept_and_Practice/links/5c09dcac299bf139c7446bd5/Totemism-and-Tribes-A-Study-of-the-Concept-and-Practice.pdf.) —Trans.” has entered the child’s body. According to Howitt³⁰Alfred William Howitt 霍威特, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was famous for being the leader of the Victorian Relief Expedition (See:W. E. H. Stanner, “Alfred William Howitt,” Australian Dictionary of Biography (Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 1972), https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/howitt-alfred-william-510.) —Trans. and Elkin³¹Adolphus Peter Elkin 伊尔金 was a clergyman and influential Australian anthropologist during the mid-twentieth century. (See: Tigger Wise, “Adolphus Peter Elkin (1891–1979),” Australian Dictionary of Biography (Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 1996), https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elkin-adolphus-peter-10109.) —Trans., the assistant totem was so widespread that it was found throughout New South Wales. In central, northern and north-western Australia, the Clevermen had snake spirits. In mythology, the snake spirit is often associated with the Rainbow Serpent.

个别人有两个图腾，如乌拉德杰里人第二个图腾有“辅助图腾”之称，这种“辅助图腾”可能是动物，也可能是人。土著医生把一个10岁或12岁的小孩，从他住的帐篷中带走，并在他身上吹进医生的辅助图腾(称巴拉)，这就意味着图腾或“动物精灵”已进入他的身上。据霍威特和伊尔金的记载，这种辅助图腾传播很广，几乎整个新南威尔士都有。在澳大利亚中部、北部和西北部，土著医生都有蛇的精灵。在神话中，蛇精灵经常与虹联系在一起。