For the Australians, as well as other primitive societies, the world is always" their own world," that is to say, the world in which they live and whose mythical history they know. Outside this familiar cosmos lie amorphous, unknown, dangerous lands, peopled by mysterious and inimical ghosts and magicians. The aborigines dread an adventure, even in numbers, into unknown territories. 1 These strange lands do not belong to their" world" and consequently still partake of the uncreated mode of being. Yet even the most arid and monotonous landscape can become a" home" for the tribe when it is believed to have been" created" or, more exactly, transformed by Supernatural Beings. Giving shape to the land, the Supernatural Beings at the same time made it" sacred." The present countryside is the result of their work, and they themselves belong to a realm of being different from that of men. These Primordial Beings, moreover, not only molded the landscape; they also inserted in some places" spirit children" and" spirits" of various animals, brought forth from their own bodies. The epoch when the Supernatural Beings appeared and began