e British civilisation of the
nineteenth century.

In the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries_ (Scot.) (1902-1903, p.
166 _et seq._) Mr. Graham Callander, already cited, devotes a very
careful essay to such perforated stones, circular or triangular, or
otherwise shaped, found in the Garioch. They are of slate, or "heather
stone," and of various shapes and sizes. Their original purpose is
unknown. The perforation, or cup not perforated, is sometimes in the
centre, in a few cases in "near the end." Mr. Graham Callander heard of
a recent old lady in Roxburghshire, who kept one of these stones, of
irregularly circular shape, behind the door for luck. {88} "It was
always spoken of as a charm," though its ancient maker may have intended
it for some prosaic practical use.

{ Fig. 8: p88.jpg}

I take the next example that comes to hand.

"Thin flat oolite stones, having a natural perforation, are found in
abundance on the Yorkshire coast. They are termed "witch stones," and
are tied to door keys, or suspended by a string behind the cottage door,
"to keep witches out." {89} "A thin flat perforated witch stone,"
answers to an uninscribed Arunta churinga; "a magic thing," and its use
survives in Britain, as in Yorkshire and Roxburghshire. We know no limit
to the persistence of survival of superstitious things, such as magic
stones. This is the familiar lesson of Anthropology and of Folk Lore,
and few will now deny the truth of the lesson.

XXIII--MODERN SURVIVAL OF MAGICAL WOOD CHURINGA

I take another example of modern survival in magic. Dr. Munro, perhaps,
would think wooden churinga, used for magical ends, "incongruous with the
earlier Scottish civilisation." But such objects have not proved to be
incongruous with the Scottish civilisation of the nineteenth century.

The term _churinga_, "sacred," is used by the Arunta to denote not only
the stone churinga nanja, a local peculiarity of the Arunta and Kaitish,
but also the decorated and widely diffused elongated wooden slats called
"Bull Roarers" by the English. These are swung at the end of a string,
and produce a whirring roar, supposed to be the voice of a supernormal
being, all over Australia and elsewhere.

I am speaking of _survivals_, and these wooden churinga, at least,
_survive_ in Scotland, and, in Aberdeenshire they are, or were lately
called "thunner spells" or "thunder bolts." "It was believed that the
use of this instrument duri