We have hitherto spoken of the Alcheringa in general terms, using the word to denote the whole period during which the mythical ancestors of the present Arunta tribe existed. In reality the traditions of the tribe recognise four more or less distinct periods in the Alcheringa. During the first of these men and women were created; in the second the rite of circumcision by means of a stone knife, in place of a fire-stick, was introduced; in the third the rite of Ariltha or sub-incision was introduced, and in the fourth the present organisation and marriage system of the tribe were established. The second and third periods are, however, by no means sharply defined, and to a certain extent they are contemporaneous, or rather they overlap one another.

We may speak of these periods as the early, the middle (comprising the second and third), and the later Alcheringa.

The earliest tradition with which we are acquainted is as follows. In the early Alcheringa the country was covered with salt water (Kwatcha alia). This was gradually withdrawn towards the north by the people of that country who always wanted to get it and to keep it for themselves. At last they succeeded in doing so, and the salt water has remained with them ever since. At this time there dwelt in the Alkira aldorla, that is the western sky, two beings of whom it is said that they were Ungambikula, a word which means “out of nothing,” or “self-existing.”