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TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA•

MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK • BOSTON CHICAGO
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

TORONTO
Totemism and Exogamy

A Treatise on Certain Early Forms

of Superstition and Society

BY

J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D., F.B.A.

FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
PROFESSOR OF SOCIAI, ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOL. IV

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON
1910
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2015

https://archive.org/details/totemismexogamyt04fraz
 CONTENTS
Summary and Conclusion . Pp. 1-169
^ g I. Totemism and Exogamy, pp. 3-40.

2. The i} rigin of Totemism, pp. 40-71.

§ 3. The Origin of Exogamy, pp. 71-169.

Notes and Corrections • Pp 17^-319

-

Index .... • Pp- 321-379

MAPS
1 . The World. 5. North-East Australia.
2. Central Australia. 6. Melanesia.

3. Southern Australia. 7. Central Africa.

4. Victoria and New South Wales. 8. North America.

 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

VOL. IV B
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

^
I. Totemism and Exogamy

The main facts of totemism, so far as they have been

reported on trustworthy authority and are known to me,
have now been laid before the reader.^ It remains briefly
to review them and to consider the general conclusions to
which they point.
No one who has followed the preceding survey attentively General
can fail to be struck by the general similarity of the beliefs
and customs which it has revealed in tribe after tribe of all over the
men belonging to different races and speaking different
languages in many widely distant parts of the world.
Differences, sometimes considerable differences, of detail do
certainly occur, but on the whole the resemblances decidedly
preponderate and are so many and so close that they deserve
to be classed together under a common name. The name
which students of the subject have bestowed on these beliefs
and customs is totemism, a word borrowed from the language
of one of the tribes which practises the institution and ;

while the introduction of new words from barbarous languages

is in general to be deprecated, there is some excuse for
designating by a barbarous name a barbarous institution to
which the institutions of civilised nations offer no analogy.
If now, reviewing all the facts, we attempt to frame a general Totemism
definition of totemism, we may perhaps say that totemism is
an intimate relation which is supposed to exist between a
group of kindred people on the one side and a species of
' Some facts which came to my corded in the “Notes and Corrections”
knowledge too lateto be inserted in at the end of this volume,
their proper places will be found re-
 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

natural or artificial objects on the other side, which objects

are called the totems of the human group. To this general
definition, whichprobably applies to all totemic purely
peoples, it should be added that the species of things which
constitutes a totem is far oftener natural than artificial, and
that amongst the natural species which are reckoned totems
the great majority are either animals or plants.
Totemism To define exactly the relation in which totemic people
a crude
stand to their totems is hardly possible ;
for exact definitions
supersti-
tion, not imply exact thoughts, and the thoughts of savages in the
a philo-
sophical
totemic stage are essentially vague, confused, and contradictory.
system. As soon therefore as we attempt to give a precise and detailed
account of totemism we almost inevitably fall into contradic-
tions, since what we may say of the totemic system of one
tribe may not apply without serious modifications and re-
strictions to the totemic system of another. We must con-
stantly bear in mind that totemism is not a consistent
philosophical system, the product of exact knowledge and
high intelligence, rigorous in its definitions and logical in its
deductions from them. On the contrary it is a crude super-
stition, the offspring of undeveloped minds, indefinite, illogical,

The inconsistent. Remembering this, and renouncing any attempt

relation
to give logical precision to a subject which does not admit of
of a man
to his totem it, we may say that on the whole the relation in which a
is one of
friendship
man stands to his totem appears to be one of friendship and
and kinship. He regards the animals or plants or whatever the
kinship
totems may be as his friends and relations, his fathers, his
;

as far as
possible he brothers, and so forth. He puts them as far as he can on
identifies
himself a footing of equality with himself and with his fellows, the
with his
totem.
members of the same totemic clan. He considers them as
essentially his peers, as beings of the same sort as himself
and his human kinsmen. In short, so far as it is possible to
do so, he identifies himself and his fellow-clansmen with his
totem. Accordingly, if the totem is a species of animals he
looks upon himself and his fellows as animals of the same
species and on the other hand he regards the animals as in
;

a sense human. Speaking of the Central Australian tribes

Messrs. Spencer and Gillen observe “ The totem of any man
:

is regarded, just as it is elsewhere, as the same thing as him-

self ;
as a native once said to us when we were discussing
SECT. I TOTE M/S M AND EXOGAMY 5

the matter with him, that one,’ pointing to his photograph

‘

which we had taken, is just the same as me ‘

so is a ;

kangaroo (his totem).” ^ ’

In these brief sentences the whole
essence of totemism is summed up totemism is an identifica- :

tion of a man with his totem, whether his totem be an animal,

a plant, or what not.
Thus a serious, though apparently a common,
it is it is a

mistake to speak of a totem as a god and to say that it is

worshipped by the clan. In pure totemism, such as we find totem as

it among the Australian aborigines, the totem is never a onotem-'^

god and is never worshipped. A man no more worships 'sm as a

his totem and regards it as his god than he worships his

father and mother, his brother and his sister, and regards
them as his gods. He certainly respects his totem and treats
it with consideration, but the respect and consideration which

he pays to it are the same that he pays to his friends and

relations hence when his totem is an edible animal or
;

plant, he commonly, but not always, abstains from killing

and eating it, just as he commonly, but not always, abstains
from killing and eating his friends and relations. But to
call this decent respect for his equals the worship of a god
is entirely to misapprehend and misrepresent the essence of

totemism. If religion implies, as it seems to do, an acknow-

ledgment on the part of the worshipper that the object of
his worship is superior to himself, then pure totemism can^,
not properly be called a religion at all, since a man looks
upon his totem as his equal and friend, not at all as his
superior, as his god.
still The s ystem is thoroughly
less
democratic simply an imaginary brotherhood estab-
;
it is

lished on a footing of perfect equality between a group of

people on the one side and a group of things (generally a
species of animals and plants) on the other side. No doubt
it may under favourable circumstances develop into a
worship of animals or plants, of the sun or the moon, of the
sea or the rivers, or whatever the particular totem may have
been but such worship is never found amongst the lowest
;

savages, who have totemism in its purest form it occurs ;

only among peoples who have made a considerable advance

in culture, and accordingly we are justified in considering it

' Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Attstralia, p. 202.

 6 5 UMMA RV AND CONCL USION SECT. I

as a later phase of religious evolution, as a product of the

disruption and decay of totemism proper.^ Hence it is
^
error to speak of true totemism as a religion. As I fell into
that error when I first wrote on the subject,^ and as I fear
that my example may have drawn many others after me
into the same error, it is incumbent on me to confess my
mistake, and to warn my readers against repeating it.
The respect The respect which a man owes to his totem as a kinsman
which a
man owes and friend usually prevents him from killing and eating it,
to his whenever the totem is an edible animal or plant. But the
totem as a
kinsman rule is by no means invariable. Indeed the identification
and friend of a man with his totem, which appears to be the essence of
usually
prevents totemism, may lead the savage to adopt a precisely opposite
him from line of conduct towards his totemic animal or plant. He
killing and
eating it,
may kill and eat the animal or plant for the very purpose of
when it is
identifying himself with it more completely. For the savage
an edible
animal or thinks, not without some show of reason, that his bodily
plant but
;
substance partakes of the nature of the food that he eats,
sometimes
he kills and that accordingly he becomes in a very real sense the
and eats
it for the
animal whose flesh he consumes or the plant whose roots or
purpose of fruits he masticates and swallows. Hence if his totem is,
identifying
himself
let us say, a kangaroo, it may become his bounden duty to
with it eat kangaroo flesh in order to identify himself physically
more com-
pletely. with the animal. This obligation is recognised and carried
out in practice by the natives of Central Australia for they ;

think that unless they thus convert themselves into their

totems by occasionally eating a little of them, they will be
unable magically to multiply the totemic animals and plants
for the benefit of the rest of the community.® Further, their
traditions point back to a time when their ancestors ate their
totems, not only in small quantities and on rare occasions
for the sake of acquiring magical power over them, but freely
and habitually as if it were the most natural thing in the
world for them to do so.'* Such a custom differs from the

’ At the same time even in Australia, restrictions in particular cases.

land of totemism, some
the classical ^ In my Totemism, published in
germs of a totemic religion may be
1887. See above, vol. i. pp. 4 sqq.
detected. See above, vol. i. pp. 14 1-
3 See above,
153. So difficult is it to lay down vol. i. pp. 109 sqq.,
any general propositions as to totemism 230 sqq.

which are not liable to exceptions and *

See above, vol. i. pp. 238 sqq.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 7

normal practice of totemic tribes, which is to abstain from

killing and eating their totems and we have seen reason to
;

believe that among the Australian aborigines it was the older

custom, since it has been partially retained by the more
primitive tribes in the centre of the continent, while
it has

been completely abandoned by the more advanced tribes

nearer to the sea, who strictly abstain from eating their
totems.^
These differences of custom in regard to eating the Perhaps
the original
totem exemplify the inconsistencies of totemism. Which of custom was
the two customs is absolutely the more primitive, it might to eat the
totem, and
be difficult to determine. One tribe may have adopted the the later
one practice and another tribe the other. Some people, custom was
to abstain
thinking chiefly of their corporeal relationship to their totems, from it.

may have deemed it necessary to eat the totemic animals or Similarly

people used
plants in order to maintain and strengthen the physical tie to eat their

between them, just as many people eat their dead human dead rela-
tions as a
relations for a similar purpose. This was perhaps the mark of
respect and
original theory and practice of the Australian aborigines,
affection,
and the inference is confirmed by the observation that in but in later
times they
Australia the custom of eating the bodies of dead rela- ceased to
tions as a mark of respect and affection seems to have do so.
been very widely spread.^ On this view a tribe originally
ate its totemic animals and its human dead from precisely
the same motive, namely, from a wish to absorb the life of
the animals or of the men, and so to identify the eater either
with his totem or with his kinsfolk, between whom indeed
he did not clearly distinguish. Other totemic peoples,
however, fixing their attention rather on their social than
on their corporeal relation to their totems, may from the first
have refused to kill and eat the totemic animals, just as many
savages refuse to kill and eat their relations. In Australia
this custom of abstaining from the totem is common, but
for the reasons I have given we may infer that it is more
recent than the custom of freely eating the totem. The
motive which led people to abandon the older practice was
probably a growing regard for the social, and a growing
disregard for the corporeal, side of the totemic bond. They
thought less of themselves as animals and more of the
' See above, vol. i. pp. 230 sqq. 2 5gg below, pp. 260 sqq.
 .

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

animals as men. The result was a more humane and

considerate treatment of their totems, which manifested
itself chiefly in the refusal to kill and eat the totemic
animals or plants.^ On the whole the new attitude to the
totem is kindlier, less crude and savage, than the old one ;

it shews some consideration for the feelings, or supposed

feelings, of others, and such consideration is invariably a
mark of a certain refinement of nature. So far, therefore,
the adoption of the rule that a man may not kill, eat, or
otherwise injure his totem probably indicates an advance
in culture it is a step towards civilisation and religion.
;

Similarly the abandonment of the old custom of devouring

dead relations is unquestionably a change for the better.
In some communities the two changes may have proceeded
side by side.

Differences Among
the differences which exist between the totemic
between
systems of different tribes one of the most important is
totem ic
peoples in that which concerns the custom of marriage. It is a
respect of
common, indeed general, rule that members of a totemic
marriage ;

in most clan may not marry each other but are bound to seek their
tribes the
totemic
wives and husbands in another clan. This rule is called
clans are exogamy, and the proposition which has just been stated
exogamous,
but in some may be put in a briefer form by saying that a totemic clan
they are is usually also exogamous. But to this rule there are very
not so.
considerable exceptions. Among the tribes in the heart of
Australia, particularly the Arunta, Unmatjera, Ilpirra, and
Iliaura, the totemic clans are not exogamous ;
in other words,
a man is marry a woman who has the same totem as
free to
himself*^ The same holds true of the Kworafi tribe in British
New Guinea,^ of the Kacharis in Assam,‘‘ and of some African
tribes, such as the Wahehe, Taveta, and Nandi ® and in regard ;

to the numerous nation of the Bechuanas, who are subdivided

into many totemic clans, there is, so far as I am aware,
no clear evidence that these totemic clans are exogamous.®
However, in such matters little reliance can be placed on
merely negative evidence, since our information as to most
totemic tribes is miserably defective. A people whose
See above, vol. ^ See above,
* i. pp. 121-123. vol. ii. pp. 404 sq.,
^ See above, vol. i. pp. 242 sq. 418 sq.,
433.
^
See above, vol. ii. p. 55. See above, vol. ii. p. 378, and
^ See below, p. 297. below, p. 304.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 9

totemic clans, if we may call them so, were certainly not

exogamous are the Samoans. Their families or clans
revered each its own species of things, generally a species
of animals or of plants, which the clan carefully abstained
from killing and eating. Such a practice falls strictly under
the general definition of totemism which have given above,
I

but it differs from the common variety of totemism in not

being exogamous. Further, the traditions of the Central
Australian tribes, which I have shewn reasons for regarding

as on the whole the most primitive of all the Australian

aborigines,^ represent their ancestors as habitually marrying
women of their own totems in other words, they point ;

back to a time when totemism existed but exogamy of

the totemic groups as yet did not.^ Indeed, the tradition
of another of these Central Australian tribes, the Dieri,
relates that the rule of exogamy was introduced for the
express purpose of preventing men from marrying women
of their own
totems, as they had done before.® Taking the Totemism
practice and the traditions of the Central Australian tribes
together we may with some probability conclude that the older than

institution of exogamy is distinct in kind and in origin

from the institution of totemism, and that among the
most primitive totemic tribes totemism preceded exogamy.
Accordingly the totemic system of tribes which do not
practise exogamy may be called pure totemism, and the
totemic system of tribes which practise exogamy may be
calledexogamous totemism.
Another people who possess totemism in a pure form The Banks’
without the admixture of exogamy are the Melanesians of
the Banks’ Islands, and their case is particularly instructive totemism

because it presents an almost exact parallel to that of the e.vogamy

Arunta and other kindred tribes of Central Australia. These t^eir
islanders practise both totemism and exogamy in their purest anTmost
and most primitive forms, but like the Arunta and their con- primitive
forms, but
geners in Central Australia they keep the two institutions uke the

^ See above, vol. i. pp. 242 sq., and the Rev. Otto Siebert respectively,
251 sq., 337 sqq. the version of Mr. Siebert is to be pre-
^ See above, vol. i. pp. 251 sq. ferred, because he is a better authority
^ See above, vol. ii.
pp. 350-352. than Gason, whose error on an im-
Of the two versions of this tradition portant point he corrected. See above,
which have been recorded by S. Gason vol. i. p. 148.
 -

lO SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

Arunta and perfectly distinct from each other. Their totemism is of the
other tribes
of Central
most primitive pattern, because their totems are not hereditary
Australia but are determined for each individual simply and solely by
they keep
the two
the fancy of his or her mother during pregnancy their :

institu- exogamy is of the most primitive pattern, because the com-

tions quite
distinct
munity is bisected into two and only two exogamous classes,
from each which we have good reason to believe to be the original and
other.
primary type of exogamy, the mother of all other exogamous
systems.^ But while the Banks’ Islanders have pure totemism
and pure exogamy, they do not mix the two institutions
together ;
in exogamous classes are not
other words, their
totemic, and on the other hand their totemic clans, if we
may so designate the groups of persons who have the same
conceptional totem, are not exogamous, that is to say, a
man is quite free to marry a woman who has the same con-
ceptional totem as himself.^ In their general principles,
therefore, the totemicand exogamous systems of the Banks’
Islanders and of the Central Australian aborigines are in
fundamental agreement; and taken together they strongly
confirm the view that totemism and exogamy, even when
they are both practised by the same people, are nevertheless
institutions wholly distinct from and independent of each
other, though in many tribes they have crossed and blended.
How the fusion has apparently been effected, in other words,
how totemic clans have so often come to be exogamous, will
be shewn in the sequel.^
Another Another reason for inferring the radical distinction of
reason for
i nferri ng
totemism and exogamy is that, just as totemism may exist
the radical without exogamy, so on the other hand exogamy may exist
dist incti on
of totem
without totemism. For example, a number of tribes in
ism and Sumatra and other parts of the Indian Archipelago, the
exogamy is

that man}'
Todas of India, and the Masai of Africa, are divided
peoples are into exogamous clans which are not, so far as appears,
exogamous
without totemic. In India especially the institution of exogamy
being disjoined from the institution of totemism appears to be
totemic.

1
See above, vol. i. pp. 272 sqq., 85-101) had been printed off. The
and below, pp. 105 sqq. new information entirely confirms my
^ This very important information conjecture on the subject. See also
was obtained by Dr. W. H. R. Rivers below, pp. 286 sq.
after my
account of his discoveries in
the Banks’ Islands (above, vol. ii. pp. ^ See below, pp. 127 sqq.
 1

SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 1

very widespread and is shared even by the pure Aryan

peoples, including the Brahmans, Rajputs, and other high
castes. As the primary subject of the present investigation
is totemism, and I am
concerned with exogamy only so far
as it is I have made no attempt
bound up with totemism,
to enumerate all the peoples of the world who practise exo-
gamy apart from totemism, although I have not abstained
from noticing a few such peoples who happen to be asso-
ciated, whether by racial affinity or geographical situation,
with totemictribes. But pure exogamy, that is, exogamy
unaccompanied by totemism, might furnish a theme for a
separate treatise.
If now we turn to the geographical diffusion of totemism, Geo-
whether in its pure or its exogamous form, we may observe |[ffusion'of
that the institution appears to occur universally among the totemism.

aborigines of Australia, the western islanders of Torres

Straits,and the coast tribes of British New Guinea. It is traik, New
common in one shape or another among the Melanesians Melanesia,
from the Admiralty Islands on the north-west to Fiji on Pobnesia,

the south-east. In Polynesia it occurs among the Pelew and India!

Islanders and in a developed or decayed form among the

Samoans, and indications of it have been recorded in Rotuma,
Tikopia, and other islands of the vast archipelago or rather
cluster of archipelagoes which stud the Pacific. It is
found in a typical form among the Battas of Sumatra and
less clearly defined among other tribes of Indonesia. In
India it is widespread, and may well have been at one time
universal, among the Dravidian races who probably form the
aboriginal population of Hindoostan appears to be ;
and it

shared by some of the Mongoloid tribes of Assam.^ But on

the frontiers of British India the institution, or at all events
the record of it, stops abruptly. In Africa it has been found Totemism
among so many Bantu tribes both of the south and of the
centre that we may reasonably suppose it to be a characteristic
institution of theBantu stock. Beyond the vast region occu-
pied by the pure Bantus totemism has been discovered among
those tribes of mixed Hamitic blood, as well as among some
of those tribes of Nilotic negroes, who border on the Bantu

For the evidence of totemism in Assam, see above vol. ii. pp. 318 sqq., and
below, pp. 295-300.
 12 6-
UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. I

peoples in Eastern and Central Africa. Among the pure

negroes of Western Africa the totemic system is practised
in more orless normal forms by many tribes of the Slave
Coast, the Gold Coast, the Ivory Coast, and Senegambia,
as well as by some scattered communities of heathen
Hausas, which still appear like islets above the rising flood
of Mohammedanism which threatens to swamp the whole
Totemism of aboriginal Africa. In North America totemism seems to
in North
have been universal among the settled and agricultural tribes
:

and South
America. of the East and South to have occurred among some of
;

the hunting tribes of the great central prairies ;

and to have
been wholly unknown to the much ruder savages who
occupied the rich and beautiful country, the garden of the
United States, which stretches from the Rocky Mountains
to the waters of the Pacific. Eurther to the north totemism
reappears among some of the fishing and hunting tribes of
British Columbia and Alaska, who are either hemmed in
between the rainy, densely wooded mountains and the sea
or roam the dreary steppes of the interior. But it vanishes
again among their neighbours, the Eskimo, on the icy shores
of the Arctic Ocean. In tropical South America totemism
has been detected among the Goajiros of Colombia and the
Arawaks of Guiana and perhaps it exists among the
;

Araucanians or Moluches of Southern Chili. Judging by

the analogy of their kinsmen in North America we may
surmise that the institution is or has been practised by
many more tribes of South America, though the traces of it
among them are few and faint.
Totemism On the other hand, totemism has not been found as a
has not
been found living institution in any part of Northern Africa, Europe, or
in Europe Asia, with the single exception of India in other words, it
;
and North
Africa, nor appears to be absent, either wholly or for the most part,
in Asia, from two of the three continents which together make up
except in
India, nor the land surface of the Old World, as well as from the
has it been
proved to
adjacent portion of the third. Nor has it been demonstrated
have been beyond the reach of reasonable doubt that the institution
practised by
ever obtained among any of the three great families of
the Aryan,
and
Semitic, mankind which have played the most conspicuous parts in
Turanian
families of
history —
the Aryan, the Semitic, and the Turanian. It is
mankind. true that learned and able writers have sought to prove the
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 13

former existence of totemism both among the Semites ^ and

among the Aryans, notably among the ancient Greeks and
Celts ;
^ but so far as I have studied the evidence adduced
to support these conclusions I have to confess that it
leaves me doubtful or unconvinced. To a great extent it

consists of myths, legends, and superstitions about plants

and animals which, though they bear a certain resemblance
to totemism, may have originated quite independently of
it. Accordingly I have preferred not to discuss the difficult
and intricate question of Semitic and Aryan totemism.
In the body of facts which I have collected and presented
to the reader future enquirers may find materials for institut-
ing a comparison between the actual totemism of savages
and the supposed vestiges of it among the civilised races of
ancient or modern times. It is possible that their researches
may yet shed light on this obscure problem and perhaps
finally solve it. I shall be content if I have helped to
smooth the way towards a solution.
At the same time I am bound to point out a serious The system
obstacle which the theory of Semitic and Aryan totemism
has to encounter, and with which its advocates appear not employed

That obstacle is the classificatory system

to have reckoned.
of relationship.
111
to be without a single
° exception
^
-11
So far as the systems of relationship
employed by totemic peoples are known to us, they appear
classificatory, not descriptive
^
1

;
mtemic
peoples
appears to
be ciassifi-
but
’
the system
and accordingly we may reasonably infer that wherever the of reiation-

^ system of relationship is absent, as it is among

classificatory
^ Aryan and
the Semites and the Aryans, there totemism is absent also. Semitic

It is true that the classificatory system has apparently in

^es^jp^^e
itself no necessary connection with totemism, and that the

' The case for totemism among the believes to be relics of totemism in the
Semites been argued with his
has British Islands. .See his articles “Tot-
usual acumen and learning by W. emism in Britain,” The Archaological
Robertson Smith, in his book Kinship Review, iii. (1889) pp. 217-242, 350-
and Marriage in Early Arabia (Cam- 375 ;
id.. Folklore as an Historical
bridge, 1885 Second Edition, London,
;
Science (London, 1908), pp. 276 sqq.
1903)- Mr. N. W. Thomas has done the
2 Among advocates of Greek
the same for Wales. See his article “La
and Celtic totemism is my learned and Survivance du culte totemique des
ingenious friend M. Solomon Reinach. animaux et les rites agraires dans le
See his Cultes, Mythes, et Religions, i. pays de Galles,” Revue de PHistoire
(Paris, 1905) pp. 9 sqq., 30 sqq. Mr. des Religions, xxxviii. (1898) pp. 295-
G. L. Gomme has collected what he 347.
 14 5 UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. I

two things might, so far as we see, quite well exist apart.

The necessary connection of the classificatory system, as
I shall point out presently, is not with totemism but with
exogamy. But to say this is only to raise the difficulty
of Aryan and Semitic totemism in another form. For no
Semitic people and no Aryan people, except the Hindoos,
is known for certain to have been exogamous. Thus if the
theory of Aryan and Semitic totemism is to be established,
its advocates must shew, not only how the Aryans and the

Semites have lost that institution, but how they have lost
the institutions of exogamy and the classificatory system of
relationship as well.
Toteniisni If we exclude hypotheses and confine ourselves to facts,
is peculiar

to the dark-
we may say broadly that totemism is practised by many
skinned savage and barbarous peoples, the lower races as we call
and least
civilised
them, who occupy the continents and islands of the tropics
races of and the Southern Hemisphere, together with a large part of
mankind,
who North America, and whose complexion shades off from coal
occupy the black through dark brown to red. With the somewhat
Tropics,
the doubtful exception of a few Mongoloid tribes in Assam, no
Southern yellow and no white race is totemic. Thus if civilisation
Hemi-
sphere and varies on the whole, as it seems to do, directly with com-
North
plexion, increasing or diminishing with the blanching or
America.
darkening of the skin, we may lay it down as a general
proposition that totemism is an institution peculiar to the
dark-complexioned and least civilised races of mankind
who are spread over the Tropics and the Southern Hemi-
sphere, but have also overflowed into North America.
Totemism The question naturally suggests itself. How has totemism
appears
to have
been diffused through so large a part of the human race and
originated over so vast an area of the world? Two answers at least
independ-
ently in are possible. On the one hand, it may have originated in
several a single centre and spread thence either through peaceful
centres.
intercourse between neighbouring peoples or through the
migrations and conquests of the people with whom the
institution took its rise. Or, on the other hand, it may
have sprung up independently in many different tribes as

a product of certain general laws of intellectual and social

development common to all races of men who are descended
from the same stock. However, these two solutions of the
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY IS

problem are not mutually exclusive ;

for totemism may
have arisen independently in a number of tribes and have
spread from them to others. There is some indication of
such a diffusion of totemism from tribe to tribe on the
North-West coast of America. But a glance at a totemic
map of the world may convince us of the difficulty of
accounting for the spread of totemism on the theory of a
single origin. Such a theory might have been plausible
enough if the totemic peoples had been congregated together
in the huge compact mass of land which under the names
of Europe, Asia, and Africa makes up the greater part
of the habitable globe. But on the contrary the tribes
which practise totemism are scattered far apart from each
other over that portion of the world in which the ocean
greatly predominates in area over the land. Seas which to
the savage might well seem boundless and impassable roll
between the totemic peoples of Australia, India, Africa, and
America. What communication was possible, for instance,
between the savage aborigines of Southern India and the
savage aborigines of North-Eastern America, between the
Dravidians and the Iroquois ? or again between the tribes
of New South Wales and the tribes of Southern Africa,
between the Kamilaroi and the Herero ? So far as the
systems of totemism and kinship among these widely
sundered peoples agree with each other, it seems easier to
explain their agreement, on the theory of independent origin,
as the result of similar minds acting alike to meet the
pressure of similar needs. And the immense seas which 'Why
divide the totemic tribes from each other may suggest a
reason why savagery in general and totemism in particular lingered
have lingered so long in this portion of the world. The
physical barriers which divide mankind, by preventing the Oceanic
free interchange of ideas, are so many impediments to on'he^
intellectual and moral progress, so many clogs on the world,
advance of civilisation. We need not wonder, therefore,
that savagery has kept its seat longest in the Southern Hemi-
sphere and in the New World, which may be called the
Oceanic regions of the globe ;
while on the contrary
civilisation had its earliest homes in the great continental
area of Europe, Asia, and North Africa, where primitive
 i6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

men, as yet unable to battle with the ocean, could com-

municate freely with each other by land.
The The history of totemism is unknown. Our earliest
history of
totem ism is
notices of it date only from the seventeenth century and
unknown ; consist of a few scanty references in the reports written from
but though
it has only
North America by Jesuit missionaries among the Indians.
been The eighteenth century added but little to our information
discovered
in modern on the subject. It was not until the great scientific Renais-
times it is
sance of the nineteenth century that men awoke to the need
probably
very of studying savagery, and among the additions which the
ancient.
new study made to knowledge not the least important were
the discoveries of totemism, exogamy, and the classificatory
system of relationship. The discoveries of totemism and
exogamy were the work above all of the Scotchman
J. F. McLennan the discovery of the classificatory system
;

of relationship was due to the American L. H. Morgan

alone. Unfortunately neither of these great students appreci-
ated the work of the other, and they engaged in bitter and
barren conti'oversy over it. We who profit by their genius
and labours can now see how the work of each fits into and
supplements that of the other. The history of the classifi-
catory system, like that of totemism, is quite unknown ;

civilised men seem

have had no inkling of its existence
to
till the nineteenth century.^ Yet we cannot doubt that
despite the shortness of their historical record both totemism
and the classificatory system of relationship are exceedingly
ancient. Of the two it is probable that totemism is much
the older. For the classificatory system, as we shall see
presently, is founded on exogamy, and there are good
grounds for thinking that exogamy is later than totemism."
Yet ancient A strong argument in favour of the antiquity both of
as totemism
appears totemism and of the classificatory system is their occurrence
to be, among some of the most savage and least progressive races
there is no
reason to of men for as these rude tribes cannot have borrowed the
;

1
The it appears to
earliest notice of suspect that the system was widely
be the one which the Indian agent. spread among the Indian tribes, much
Major John Dougherty, supplied to less that it is diffused over a great part
Major Long’s exploring expedition in of the world. That discovery was re-
1819 or 1820. See above, vol. iii. served for L. H. Morgan.
pp. 114^^. But this account was re-
stricted to the Omaha form of the ^ See above, pp. 8-10, and below,
system Dougherty apparently did not
; pp. 1 12 sqq.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 17

institutions from more civilised peoples, we are obliged to suppose

conclude that they evolved them at a level of culture even
lower than that at which we find them. Yet it would absolutely

doubtless be a mistake to imagine that even totemism is

a product of absolutely primitive man. As I have pointed
out elsewhere,^ all existing savages are probably far indeed
removed from the condition in which our remote ancestors

were when they ceased to be bestial and began to be human.

The embryonic age of humanity lies many thousands,
perhaps millions, of years behind us, and no means of
research at present known to us hold out the least prospect
that we shall ever be able to fill up this enormous gap in
the historical record. It is, therefore, only in a relative
sense, by comparison with civilised men, that we may
legitimately describe any living race of savages as primitive.
If we could compare these primitive savages with their
oldest human ancestors we should find no doubt that in
the interval the progress of intelligence, morality,, and the
arts of life has been prodigious ;
indeed in all these respects
the chasm which divides the modern from the ancient savage
may very well be much deeper and wider than that which
divides the lowest modern savage from a Shakespeare or a
Newton. Hence, even if we could carry ourselves back in
time to the very beginnings of totemism, there is no reason
to suppose that we should find its authors to be truly
primaeval men. The cradle of totemism was not, so far as
we can conjecture, the cradle of humanity.
At the present time the institution of totemism exists At the
and flourishes among races at very different levels of culture.
In Australia it is practised by the rudest of savages, who totemism
subsist purely by hunting and by the wild fruits of the
earth, and who have never learned to till the ground or to races

domesticate any animal but the dog. In Torres Straits,

^If^e^ent
New Guinea, Melanesia, and Polynesia the totemic tribes stages of

live chieflyby agriculture or horticulture. In North America

some maintained themselves almost wholly by the chase hunting
^
or by fishing many others eked out their subsistence by
; ^dbes^up
and some, such as the Pueblo Indians, to pastoral,
cultivating the soil
1 111 ;

were and are husbandmen pure and simple.

T A
In Africa
1 • 1 .
agricultural,
commercial,
t
The Scope of Social Anthropology (London, 1908), pp. 7 sqq.
VOL. IV C
 i8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

and in- certain totemic tribes, such as the Herero, the Bahima, and
dustrial
peoples.
some of the Banyoro, are purely pastoral, on the
living
products of their flocks and herds with very little admixture
of vegetable food. Others unite the occupations of the
herdsman and the farmer, or live chiefly, like the Baganda,
on the fruits of the ground which they cultivate. In India
the range of occupations followed by totemic tribes or castes
is still greater;
for it extends from hunting and the herding
of cattle to agriculture, commerce, and the mechanical arts,
such as weaving, leather-making, stone-cutting, and so forth.
From this we may gather that, while totemism no doubt
originated in the purely hunting stage of society, there is
nothing in the institutionitself incompatible with the
pastoral, agricultural, even the commercial and industrial
modes of life, since in point of fact it remains to this day

in vogue among hunters, fishers, farmers, traders, weavers,

leather-makers, and stone-masons, not to mention the less
reputable professions of quackery, fortune-telling, and robbery.
In some A remarkable feature in the social system of some totemic
totemic
tribes is an elementary division of labour between the clans
tribes
there is which together compose the tribe. Each clan is believed
an element-
ary division to possess a magical control over its totem, and this magical
of labour power it is bound to exercise for the good of the community.
between
the clans ;
As totems most commonly consist of edible animals and
but this plants, the ceremonies performed by the totemic clans often,
division,
being if not generally, aim at multiplying these animals and plants
based on in order that they may be eaten by the people in other
;
magic, is
economic- words, the purpose of the ceremonies is to ensure a supply
ally barren.
of food for the tribe. Not, however, that they are limited
to this function. Other ceremonies are performed to make
the rain to fall, the sun to shine, and the wind to blow.
In short the various totemic clans perform their magical
rites and chant their spells for the purpose of regulat-
ing the course of nature and accommodating it to the
needs of man. Thus a totemic tribe organised on these
principles may be described as a co-operative supply associa-
tion composed of groups of magicians, each group charged
with the management of a particular department of nature.
Communities of this sort are best known to us among the
tribes of Central Australia, but they have probably existed
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 19

in a more or less developed form wherever totemism has

flourished.^ The principle on which they are implicitly based
is the division of labour, a sound economic principle which
properly applied cannot fail to be fruitful of good results ;

but misapplied by totemism to magic it is necessarily barren.

It is true that in Uganda, that remarkable African kingdom

where the Bantu race has touched its high-water level of

culture, the totemic clans have made some progress towards
a system of hereditary professional castes or occupations
based on a division of economic and fruitful labour between
them.^ But we have only to examine the tasks assigned to
the various Baganda clans to perceive that these tasks
have nothing to do with their totems. For example, the
members of one clan have been from time immemorial
hunters of elephants. But their totem is not the elephant,
it is the reed-buck.® The members of another clan have
been, father and son, smiths and workers of iron for genera-
tions. But their totem is not iron, it is a tailless cow.^ The
hereditary duty of another clan is to make bark-cloths for
the king. But their totem is not bark-cloth, it is the otter.®
And so with the rest. Thus the superficial resemblance
which the totemic system of the Baganda presents to a true
economic division of labour is in fact deceptive the division ;

of labour indeed exists but it is not totemic.

But if totemism as such has not fostered economic Theory
progress directly, it may have done so indirectly. In fact
itmight perhaps be argued that accidentally totemism has have led

led the way to agriculture and the domestication of animals, a^jcui^

possibly even to the use of the metals. Its claims to these hire, the
. , . . , . ,
. . , , , , domestica-
great discoveries and inventions are indeed very slender, (ion of
but perhaps they are not quite beneath notice. In regard animals,

to agriculture I have already pointed out how the magical perhaps

ceremonies performed by the Grass-seed clan of the Kaitish
might easily lead to a rational cultivation of grass.® The metals.

Kaitish, like all the aborigines of Australia, are in their a rational

native state totally ignorant of the simple truth that a seed agHcuUure
planted in the ground will grow and multiply. Hence it may pos=
^ See above, vol. i. pp. 104-138. * Above, vol. ii. p. 497.
^ See above, vol. ii. 505.
p. ® Above, vol. ii. p. 481.
® Above, vol. ii. p. 496. ® See above, vol. i. pp. 214-218.
 20 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. 1

sibly have has never occurred to them to sow seed in order to obtain
originated
in magical a crop. But though they do not adopt this rational mode
ceremonies of accomplishing their end, they have recourse to many
intended
to make irrational and absurd ceremonies for making the grass to
seeds grow. grow and bear seed. Amongst other things the headman of
the Grass-seed clan takes a quantity of grass-seed in his
mouth and blows the seeds about in all directions. So far
as the Grass-seed man’s mind is concerned, this ceremony of
blowing seeds about is precisely on a level with the ceremony
of pouring his own blood on stones, which a man of the
kangaroo totem performs with great solemnity for the
purpose of multiplying kangaroos. But in the eyes of
nature and in our eyes the two ceremonies have very
different values. We know that we may pour our blood on
stones till we die without producing a single kangaroo from
the stones but we also know that if we blow seeds about
;

in the air some of them are very likely to sink into the
ground, germinate, and bear fruit after their kind. Even
the savage might in time learn to perceive that though
grass certainly springs from the ground where the Grass-
seed man blew the seed about, no kangaroos ever spring
from the stones which have been fertilised with the blood
of a Kangaroo man and if this simple truth had once
;

firmly impressed itself on a blank page of his mind, the

Grass-seed man might continue to scatter grass-seed with
very good effect long after the Kangaroo man had ceased to
bedabble rocks with his gore in the vain expectation of
producing a crop of kangaroos. Thus with the advance of
knowledge the magic of the Grass-seed man would rise in
public esteem, while that of the Kangaroo man would fall into
disrepute. From such humble beginnings a rational system
of agriculture might in the course of ages be developed.
Totemism On the other hand it is possible that people who have
may per-
haps have
animals for their totems may sometimes accidentally resort
led men to to more effective modes of multiplying them than pouring
tame and
breed their
blood on stones. They may in fact capture and tame the
totemic animals and breed them in captivity. Totemism may thus
animals,
and so have led to the domestication of cattle.^ Unfortunately
The suggestion that totemism may
' of animals and plants was first, so far
perhaps have led to the domestication as I know, put forward by me in
 ,

SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 21

some of the principal totemic areas of the world, such as may have
Australia, Melanesia, and North America, have been very ab°uf^the
scantily furnished by nature with useful animals which are domestica-

capable of domestication. In Australia the only animal cattle.^

which the aborigines commonly succeeded in domesticating Tame
was the dog, and the wild dog is a totem in many tribes.^ ‘!°ss m
But there is nothing to shew or to suggest that the and Torres
domestication of the dog is due to the exertions of Wild
Dog men. It is true that ceremonies for the multiplication
of wild dogs were performed by people who had wild dogs
for their totems, but these ceremonies appear to have been
but little calculated to produce the desired result : at the
best they were characterised by absurdity and at the worst
by obscenity.^ Similarly in the western islands of Torres
Straits there was a Dog
clan, the members of which were
supposed to understand the habits of dogs and to exercise
special control over them ® but in what these endowments ;

consisted does not appear, and there is nothing to indicate

that they included the art of taming and breeding the
animals.
Again, we hear of an Australian medicine-man who Tame
had lace-lizards for his personal totem or guardian spirit
and who accordingly kept a tame lizard and we read of Australia, ;

another medicine-man who had a tame brown snake for his

familiar.'* Both snakes and lizards of many kinds are
common totems of Australian clans ^ both animals are ;

eaten, and ceremonies are performed for the multiplication

of snakes ® but the natives seem never to have thought of
;

keeping and breeding them for food. One cause which may
have operated to prevent such an idea from crossing their
minds might be sheer ignorance of the way in which
animals are propagated for ignorant as many of the
;

Totemism (see above, vol. i. p. 87). tended to multiply dogs is expressly

It has since been developed by Dr. F. affirmed ;
was so
that the absurd one
B. Jevons [Introduction to the History of designed is not expressly affirmed but
Religion, London, 1 896, pp. 1
1 3 sqq. is highly probable.
210 sqq.) and M. Salomon Reinach ^ See above, vol. ii. p. 9.
(Cultes, Mythes et Religion, i. Paris,
* Above, vol. i. p. 497.
1905. PP- 86 sqq.).
* Spencer and Gillen, Northern ® Spencer and Gillen, Northern
Tribes of Central Australia, p. 768. Tribes of Central Australia, pp. ‘jqo sq.

^ See above, vol. i.

pp. 209, 359 sq. ® See above, vol. i. pp. 222 sqq.,
That the obscene ceremony was in- 359 sg-
 22 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

Australian tribes are of the mechanism of propagation in

the human species they could hardly understand it better
in But the childish improvidence of
the lower animals.
these low savages might suffice, without any deeper cause,
to exclude from their thoughts the notion of rearing animals
and cultivating plants for food. A race which has never, so
far as appears, laidup stores of food in a time of plenty to
serve as a resource in a time of dearth was not likely to
provide for a comparatively distant future by the domestica-
tion of animals and the cultivation of plants, two processes
which require not only foresight but self-abnegation in those
who practise them, since necessary to sacrifice an
it is

immediate gain, whether shape of seed or of breeding

in the
animals, for the sake of a remoter profit in the future. Of
that foresight and that self-abnegation savages at the level
of the Australian aborigines appear to be incapable.
Tame In North America, as in Australia, the only animal
dogs in
North
which the aborigines before the coming of the whites
America. regularly tamed was the dog. The animal was occasionally
one of their totems;^ and the annual burnt-sacrifice of
a white dog at the New Year was the most solemn
religious rite of the Iroquois.^ But the sacrifice had nothing
to do with totemism, for the dog was not an Iroquois
totem, and the animal appears to have played but an
insignificant part in the life and religious beliefs of the
American Indians. They sometimes ate dog’s flesh at a
banquet, but they reared the animals only for the purpose
of the chase.® The enormous herds of buffaloes which
roamed the great prairies furnished the wandering Indian
tribes with a great part of their subsistence, but the animal
was never tamed by them.
Tame In Africa nature was far more bounteous to man than
cattle in
Africa,
in the arid steppes of Australia or even in the plains and
especially forests of North America. Besides the profusion of vege-
among the
Bantu table food with which she spread a table for him in the
peoples. wilderness, she provided him with an abundant supply of
' For some examples see vol. iii. ^ Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle

pp. 44, 78, 79. France, v. 176 ; Th. Waitz, Anthro-

2 L. H. Morgan, League of the pologie der Nalia-v'dlker, iii. (Leipsic,
Iroquois (Rochester, 1851), pp. 207 1862) p. 87.
sq., 215 sqq.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 23

animals capable of being broken in to his service, nor did he

fail to take advantage of his opportunities. The Bantu
peoples are pre-eminently breeders of cattle with many ;

of them the care of their herds is an absorbing pursuit and

they lavish their affection on the animals. Accordingly
some totemic tribes in Africa, such as the Herero, Wahehe,
Bahima, and Banyoro, are mainly or exclusively herdsmen,
and their totemic taboos refer in great measure to the
different kinds or the different parts of their cattle.^ But
these pastoral peoples appear to have owned their herds from
time immemorial, and the mode in which their forefathers
acquired them is totally forgotten. At least I do not
remember to have met with any tradition to the effect that
a totemic regard for wild cattle was the motive which led
them to capture and domesticate the ancestors of their
present herds. Be that as it may, we can hardly doubt that
the extraordinary richness of the African fauna and flora,
as contrasted with the comparative meagreness of animal and
plant life in Australia and North America, has been one
of the chief factors in raising some of the totemic tribes
of Africa to a higher level of culture, both material and
political,than was ever reached by the Australian aborigines
or the North American Indians. In these respects totemic
society touched its highest points in the despotic kingdoms
of Ashantee, Dahomey, and Uganda.
When we turn to the useful metals the advantage is The
again found to be with the natives of Africa as compared
with their totemic brethren of Australia and North America.
The Australian aborigines knew nothing of the metals ;
the Copper
North American Indians were indeed acquainted with
copper, which occurs abundantly in a virgin state about
Lake Superior and in some parts of North-West America,
but they made little use of it except for ornament, unless
we reckon among its uses the employment of large copper
plates or shields as a species of currency.^ In Africa on
the other hand iron has been worked by the natives both

1 See above, vol. ii. pp. 358, 362 copper in Alaska compare W. H.
sq., 404 r^., ^16 sqq., 536. Dali, Alaska and its Resources
2 See above, vol. iii. pp. 48, 262, (London, 1870), p. 477.
with the note on p. 263. As to
 24 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

of the negro and of the Bantu stock time out of mind ^ ;

indeed a competent authority has lately argued that tropical

Africa is the land from which the art of working the metal
spread in the course of ages to Egypt, Western Asia, and
Iron in Europe.^ Iron is the totem of a Bechuana tribe but far ;
Africa and
India.
from being smiths by profession the members of the
tribe are actually forbidden work the metal.® Further,to
we have seen that among the Baganda the hereditary
smiths belong to a clan which has for its totem not iron
but a tailless animal of which the relation to
cow,^ an
smithcraft from obvious.
is far In India iron is a totem of
an Oraon clan, and members of the clan may never touch
Gold and iron with their tongue or lips.® Again, gold and silver
silver in
India.
are common totems in India members of a Gold ;

clan are sometimes forbidden to wear certain golden

ornaments, and similarly members of a Silver clan are
sometimes forbidden to wear certain silver ornaments.®
These things do not suggest that mankind is in any way
indebted to totemism for the discovery either of the
useful or of the precious metals. Indeed they rather
indicate a religious awe, approaching to positive aversion,
for iron, gold, and silver and such a feeling is hardly
;

compatible with the business of an ironsmith, a goldsmith,

or a silversmith.
Iftotemism On the whole, then, there is little to shew that totemism
has done
little
has contributed anything to the economic progress of man-
to foster kind. Still from the nature of the case evidence would be
economic
progress, hard to obtain, and from its absence we cannot safely con-
ithas done clude that the institution has been as economically barren as
something
to stimu- it seems to be. With the possible exception of the Battas
late art.
of Sumatra, no totemic people has ever independently
invented a system of writing,’^ and without written documents

1
Th. Waitz, Anthropologie der 245, 270, 271, 272, 277, 280, 295,
Naturvolker, ii. (Leipsic, i860) pp. 296.
97 W-> 385 U - ^ It is true that a Cherokee Indian

^ F. von Luschan, “ Eisentechnik invented an alphabet or syllabary of

in Afrika,” Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, his native language, but he naturally
xli. (1909) pp. 22 sqq. borrowed the idea of it from the whites.
^ See above, vol. ii. p. 374. See above, vol. iii. p. 184. As to the
^ See above, vol. ii. p. 497. written language of the Battas, see
® See above, vol. ii. p. 289. above, vol. ii. p. 185. The origin of
® See above, vol. ii. pp. 231, 232, their alphabet appears to be unknown.
 ;

SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 25

what accurate records could there be of events so remote in

the past as the discovery of the metals, the domestication of
animals, and the invention of agriculture ? But while totem-
ism has not demonstrably enlarged the material resources
or increased the wealth of its votaries, it seems unquestion-
ably to have done something to stir in them a sense of art
and improve the manual dexterity which is requisite to
to
embody artistic ideals. If it was not the mother, it has been
the foster-mother of painting and sculpture. The rude draw- The
ings on the ground, in which the natives of Central Australia
depict with a few simple colours their totems and the scenes drawings
of their native land,^ may be said to represent the germ of central
that long development which under happier skies blossomed Australians,
out into the frescoes of Michael Angelo, the cartoons of
Raphael, the glowing canvasses of Titian, and the unearthly
splendours of Turner’s divine creations. And among these
same primitive savages totemism has suggested a beginning
of plastic as well as of pictorial art for in the magical cere-
monies which they perform for the multiplication or the
control of their totems they occasionally fashion great images
of the totemic animals, sometimes constructing out of boughs
the effigy of a witchetty grub in its chrysalis state, sometimes
moulding a long tortuous mound of wet sand into the like-
ness of a wriggling water-snake.^ Now it is to be observed
that the motive which leads the Australian aborigines to
represent their totems in pictorial or in plastic forms is not a
purely aesthetic one it is not a delight in art for art’s sake.
;

Their aim is thoroughly practical it is either to multiply

;

magically the creatures that they may be eaten, or to repress

them magically that they may not harm their votaries. In
short in all such merely the handmaid of
cases art is

magic it is employed as an instrument by the totemic

;

magicians to ensure a supply of food or to accomplish some

other desirable object. Thus in Australia as in many other Magic the

parts of the world magic may with some show of reason

be called the nursing mother of art. of art.

’ See above, vol. i. pp. 106, 223. Mythes, et Religions, i. (Paris, 1905)
On the relation of such magical pictures pp. 125 sqq.
to the origin of art, see M. Salomon ^ See above, vol. i. pp. 106,
Reinach, “ L’Art et la Magie,” Cultes, 144 sq.
 26 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. P

The We may suspect that the use which magicians make

Hebrew
prohibition
of images in order compel the beings represented by
to
of images them, whether animals, or men, or gods, to work their
was
probably will, was the real practice which the Hebrew legislator
directed had in view when he penned the commandment “ Thou :

against
their use shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
in magic. likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them.” ^ The theory of Renan, that this command-
ment had no deeper foundation than the reluctance which a
tribe of nomadic herdsmen would naturally feel to encumber
themselves and their beasts with a useless load of images on
their wanderings,^ seems scarcely a sufficient explanation.
Why solemnly forbid men to do what a simple regard for
their own
personal comfort and convenience would of itself
prevent them from doing ? On the other hand magicians
of old really believed that by their magical images, their
ceremonies and incantations, they could compel the gods
to obey them and in ancient Egypt, for example, this
;

belief did not remain a mere theological dogma, it was

logically carried out in practice for the purpose of wringing
from a deity boons which he would only stand and deliver
on compulsion.® These black arts of their powerful
neighbours were doubtless familiar to the Hebrews, and
may have found many imitators among them. But to
deeply religious minds, imbued with a profound sense of
the divine majesty and goodness, these attempts to take
heaven by storm must have appeared the rankest blasphemy
and impiety we need not wonder therefore that a severe
;

prohibition of all such nefarious practices should have found

a prominent place in the earliest Hebrew code.
Totemic If totemic art exists at its lowest stage among the
art reached
itshighest
aborigines of Australia may be it said to have attained
develop- its highest development among the Indians of North-West
ment
among the
America, notably in the gigantic carved and painted totem-
Indians posts, of which specimens may be seen in our museums and

Exodu.s, XX. 4 sq. ^ For some

'
evidence, see The Golden
2 Renan, Histoire
E. du peiiple Bough, Second Edition, i. i6 sq., 66
d' Israel, i. 45 sq. sq., 443-446.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 27

private collections. Among these Indians the Haidas of of North-

the Queen Charlotte Islands appear to have surpassed their

fellows both in the profusion and in the skill with which especially
^
they depicted their totems on their houses and furniture, their ^°das.
tools and wearing apparel, as well as on their own persons.^
No noble family of the Middle Ages perhaps ever blazoned
its crest more freely on its castles, its equipages, and its
liveries than these savages blazoned their totemic animals
in crude colours and grotesque forms on their multifarious
belongings. Yet for all this gay fantastic display it would
seem that the spirit which first animated totemic art was
dead among the Haidas. There is no hint that their
blazonry served any other purpose than that of decoration,
or at most of family or legendary history. So far as we
know, these Indians never turned totemic art to the account
of totemic magic, never carved or painted images of their
totems for the purpose of multiplying or controlling the
creatures in the interest of man.
On the growth of religion the influence exercised by influenceof
totemism appears in some societies to have been consider-
able, but in others, perhaps in most, to have been insignificant, growth of
In the first place, as I have already observed, pure totemism
is not in itself a religion at all for the totems as such are not totemism
;

worshipped, they are in no sense deities, they are not pro-

pitiated with prayer and sacrifice. To speak therefore of a in its
worship of totems pure and simple, as some writers do, is to
betray a serious misapprehension of the facts. Amongst the being a
aborigines of Australia, who have totemism in its oldest and jjfendship
purest form, there are indeed some faint approaches to a and
propitiation, and hence to a worship of the totems.^ But on equal
the process of evolution has been cut short by the advent of
the whites, and the tendency towards a totemic religion in ^ clan and
Australia accordingly remains abortive. Religion always ^ species
. , . . , . ,
of animals , . 1 1
implies an inequality between the worshippers and the or things,
worshipped it involves an acknowledgment, whether tacit or
;

express, of inferiority on the part of the worshippers they ;

look up to the objects of their worship as to a superior order

of beings, whose favour they woo and whose anger they
deprecate. But in pure totemism, as I have already pointed
1 See above, vol. iii. pp. 288 2 3gg above, vol. i. pp. 144 s^.
 28 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

out, no such inequality exists. On the whole the attitude

of a man to his totem is that of a man to his peers the ;

relationship between them is one of brotherhood rather than

of homage on the man’s side and of suzerainty on the
side of the totem. In short, pure totemism is essentially
democratic it is, so to say, a treaty of alliance and friend-
;

ship concluded on equal terms between a clan and a species

of animals or things the allies respect but do not adore each
;

other. Accordingly the institution flourishes best in demo-

cratic communities, where the attitude of men to their
totems reflects that of men to their fellows. It may survive,
indeed, even under despotic governments, such as Ashantee,
Dahomey, and Uganda, but it is not at home under them.
It breathes freely, so to say, only in the desert.
In practice And as in practice the institution of totemism is most
totemism
is naturally
compatible with democracy, not despotism, so in theory it is
allied with most compatible with magic, not religion since the mental ;
democracy,
and in attitude of the magician towards the natural and super-
theory with natural beings about him is that of a freeman to his equals,
magic.
not that of a subject or a slave to his lords and masters.
Hence three characteristic institutions of totemic society, of
which aboriginal Australian society may be taken as a type,
are totemism, democracy, and magic. The decay of any
one of these three institutions seems to involve the decay of
Primitive the other two. Primitive society advances simultaneously
society
advances
from democracy and magic towards despotism and religion,
simultane- and just in proportion as despotism and religion wax, so
ously from
democracy totemism wanes. Though to many civilised men the
and magic personal and intellectual freedom implied by democracy
to despot-
ism and and magic may seem preferable to the personal and in-
religion.
tellectual subordination implied by despotism and religion,
Temporary
advantages and though they may accordingly incline to regard the
of despot-
ism as a
exchange of the former for the latter as rather a retro-
discipline gression than an advance, yet a broad view of history will
in social
subordina-
probably satisfy us that both despotism and religion have
tion. been necessary stages in the education of humanity and that
for analogous reasons. Men are not born equal and never
can be made so a political constitution which professes
;

their natural equality is a sham. Subordination of some

kind is essential to the very existence of society ;
there
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 29

must be a government of some kind, the inferior must obey

the superior and the best form of government is that in
;

which folly and weakness are subordinated to wisdom and

strength. Despotism seldom or never fully satisfies these
conditions and therefore it is seldom or never a really good
government. But it fosters the essential habit of subordina-
tion to authority, of obedience to the laws ;
the laws may be
bad, but any law is better than none, the worst government
is infinitely preferable to anarchy. Thus at an early period
of social evolution a certain measure of despotism may serve
as a wholesome discipline by training men to submit their
personal passions and interests to those of another, even
though that other be a tyrant for a habit of submission and ;

of self-sacrifice, once formed, may more easily be diverted

from an ignoble to a noble object than a nature un-
accustomed to brook restraints of any kind can be broken
in to make those concessions without which human society
cannot hold together. Reluctant submission to a bad
government will readily be exchanged for willing submission
to a good one but he who cannot subordinate his own
;

wishes to the wishes of his fellows cannot live either under a

good government or under a bad he is an enemy to society :

and deserves to be exterminated by it.

Reasons like those which justify the existence of despot- Temporary
advantages
ism at a certain point in the history of man’s relations to his of religion
fellows may be adduced to justify the existence of religion
^
as a recog-
nition of
at a certain point in the history of man’s relations to the man's
world at large. The imperious attitude of the magician insignifi-
cance in the
towards nature is merely a result of his gross ignorance universe.

both of it and of himself he knows neither the immeasur-

;

able power of nature nor his own relative weakness. When

at last he gets an inkling of the truth, his attitude necessarily
changes his crest droops, he ceases to be a magician and
;

becomes a priest. Magic has given place to religion. The

change marks a real intellectual and moral advance, since it
rests on a recognition, tardy and incomplete though it be,
of a great truth, to wit, the insignificance of man’s place in
the universe. The mighty beings whom the magician had
1 By religion I here mean not an the abstract, but merely religion as it

ideal religion as it may be conceived in has actually existed in history.

 30 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

treated with lordly disdain the priest adores with the deepest
humiliation. Thus the fostered by
intellectual attitude
religion is one of submission powers and isto higher
analogous to the political attitude of obedience to an absolute
ruler which is fostered by despotism. The two great changes,
therefore, from democracy to despotism and from magic to
religion, naturally proceed side by side in the same society.
Develop- The conclusions thus reached on general grounds are
ment of
totemism
confirmed by an examination of totemic society in different
into re- parts of the world. At its lowest level in Australia totemic
ligion in
Melanesia society is democratical and magical. At higher levels in
and Melanesia, Polynesia, America, and Africa becomes more it
Polynesia.
and more monarchical and religious, till it culminates in the
absolute monarchies and bloody religious ritual of Ashantee,
Dahomey, and Uganda. In India its natural development
has been in large measure checked and obscured by contact
with races which are not totemic hence it is hardly safe to
;

take Dravidian totemism into account in an attempt to

arrange the totemic societies of the world in a series
corresponding to their natural order of evolution. If now
we look about for a stage of religion which may reasonably
be regarded as evolved from totemism we shall perhaps find
it most clearly marked in Melanesia and Polynesia, where
answering to the religious evolution of gods there has been
a political evolution of chiefs. The family and village gods
of Samoa embodied in the shape of animals, plants, and
other species of natural objects are most probably nothing
but somewhat developed totems, which are on the point of
sloughing off their old shapes and developing into anthro-
pomorphic deities.’^ A more advanced phase of the same
metamorphosis is exhibited by the village gods of Rewa in
Fiji, who have definitely slipped off their animal envelopes

but still possess the power of resuming them at pleasure, in

other words, of transforming themselves back into the birds
or beasts out of which they have been evolved.^ Similarly
in the island of Yam, between Australia and New Guinea,
two totemic animals, the hammer-headed shark and the
crocodile, had blossomed out into heroes named Sigai and
Maiau, and their animal origin was kept a profound secret
1 ^
See above, vol. ii. pp. i66 sq. See above, vol. ii. pp. 139 sg.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 31

from women and uninitiated men, though in their sacred

shrines the two worshipful beings were still represented by

the images of a hammer-headed shark and a crocodile

respectively. To these heroes prayers were put up and
offerings of food were made, dances were danced, and songs
sung in their honour. In short, in the island of Yam
totemism had definitely passed into a rudimentary religion.^
In other parts of the world the evolution of religion on in North
totemic lines is less apparent indeed for the most part the
;

evidence of such an evolution is almost wholly wanting. In very little

North-West America the Raven hero, who plays a great part that^totem
in the mythology of the Indian tribes, may very well have ism has
been originally a raven totem, since the bird is certainly one
of the chief totems of this region. But apart from this religion,
instance it might be hard to mention a single North
American Indian god or hero for whom a totemic pedigree
could be made out with any high degree of probability.
Indeed if we except the disputable and disputed figure of
the Great Spirit, the theology of the American Indians north
of Mexico is almost as meagre as that of the Australian
aborigines or, at a higher level of culture, the nomadic
Semites.^ Yet to this general rule there is a significant
exception. The
Pueblo Indians, who unlike all other
Indian tribes North America subsist exclusively by
of
agriculture and dwell in what may be called fortified towns,
possess a copious mythology and an elaborate ritual. Thus
they used to be to the wild Apaches and Navahoes who
prowled in their neighbourhood what the agricultural
Semites of the Babylonian cities were to their wandering
kinsmen the Bedouins of the desert. In both cases we see,
on the one side the godly well-to-do denizens of walled
towns leading a settled comfortable life through the cultivation
of the soil, with a comparatively developed art, a good
larder, a well -stocked pantheon, and a regular cycle of
religious ceremonies and on the other side, roving bands of
;

lean, hungry, empty-handed barbarians, with little art and

less religion, who look up from afar with mixed feelings of

I
See above, vol. ii. pp. 18-21. Histoire du peuple d' Israel, i. 30 sqq.,
^
Onthe poverty of the theology of 43 sq.
the nomadic Semites, see E. Renan,
 32 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

disgust, wonder, and envy, at the high-piled masonry of the

fortresses and at the well-fed burghers pacing the ramparts,
their portly figures sharply cut against the sky. A vagrant
lifeseems to be very unfavourable to the creation of deities.
But while the Pueblo Indians believe in many gods and
goddesses and celebrate their pompous rites in harlequin
masquerades and solemn processions, there is little evidence
that these tribal deities and their rituals have been
evolved out of the totems and totemic ceremonies of the
clans.^
In Africa In Africa also the links which might connect a developed
also
the links
pantheon with a rudimentary totemism are almost wholly
between a wanting. The theology of the Bantu tribes, especially of
rudiment-
ary totem- such of them as have remained in the purely pastoral stage,
ism and a appears generally to be of the most meagre nature its ;
developed
pantheon principal element, so far as we can judge from the scanty
are almost accounts of it which we possess, is the fear or worship
wholly
wanting. of dead ancestors, and though these ancestral spirits
Among are commonly supposed to manifest themselves to their
the Bantu
tribes the descendants in the shape of snakes of various kinds,^ there
principal
is no sufficient ground for assuming these snakes to have
element of
religion been originally totems.^ Of all Bantu tribes the Baganda of
appears
to be the
Central Africa have made the greatest progress in material
worship of and mental culture, and fortunately we possess a full account
the dead.
1
See above, vol. iii. pp. 227 sqq. their chiefs are men of temporary and
It is true that the Navahoes now have ill - defined authority, whose power
a somewhat elaborate with
religion depends largely on their personal in-
gods and ceremonies resembling in and their reputa-
fluence, their oratory,
some respects those of the Pueblo wisdom. It is difficult for such
tion for
Indians. But good authorities are of a people to conceive of a Supreme
opinion that the worship has been at God. Their gods, like their men,
least partly borrowed by them from stand much on a level of equality.”
more civi ised and settled tribes. See ^ One of the chief documents on
Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends this subject is Dr. Henry Callaway’s
(Boston and New York, 1897), pp. Religious System of the Atnazulu, Part
33 sqq. Amongst the Navahoes, as II. Amatongo, or Ancestor Worship
,

amongst so many peoples, religion is as existingamong the A?nazulu (Natal,

a reflection of social life, the gods are Capetown, and London, 1869). See
the gigantic shadows cast by men. also J. Shooter, The Kafirs of Natal
On this subject the observations of and the Zulu Country (London, 1857),
Dr. Washington Matthews {Navaho pp. 161 sqq. G. M‘Call Theal,
;

Legends, p. 33) may be quoted. He Records of South-Eastern Africa, vii.

says: “The religion of this people (London, 1901) pp. 399 sqq. ;
reflects their social condition. Their Dudley Kidd, The Essetitial Kafir
government is democratic. There is (London, 1904), pp. 85-95.
no highest chief of the tribe, and all ^ See above, vol. ii.
pp. 388 sqq.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 33

both of their totemism and of their theology derived from

by a highly competent
the lips of the best-informed natives
scientific investigator.^ Now it is highly significant that not Noneofthe
one of the numerous gods and goddesses of the Baganda gof^"een,
pantheon appears to have been developed out of a totem, to have been

Almost all the Baganda totems are animals or plants, but out
chiefly animals.^ But the national Baganda gods {balubare) totems,

are not animals or plants, nor do they exhibit any affinity

with animals or plants in myth and ritual. The legends
told of these divine beings represent them as human in
character ;
they marry wives and beget children and act in
other ways like men and women, though they are supposed
to be endowed with superhuman powers. One of them, for
example, named Musoke is the god of the rainbow, thunder,
lightning, and rain. Another, named Dungu, is the god of
the chase and aids the huntsman who worships him.
Another, called Kaumpuli, is the god of plague and ;

another, named Kawari, is the god of small-pox. The

goddess Nagawonya, wife of Musoke, has power over the
grain and the crops and the god Kagera bestows offspring
;

on women. All the national gods and goddesses had their

temples, where they received offerings and gave oracles by the
mouth of inspired mediums, who in their fine frenzy were
believed to be actually possessed by the deities and to speak
with their voices. In like manner the spirits of all the dead Baganda
kings of Uganda were worshipped at their tombs. Each o°dea*|*
king inlifetime prepared a stately house in which
his kings,

his spirit was to reside eternally after death. The house

was larger and more commodious than any which he
occupied in life for what after all are the few short years
;

which he might pass, a living man among the living, to the

eternity which he must spend among the dead ? Accordingly,
like many other people in many countries and in many ages
of the world, the kings of Uganda took more thought for

^ The detailed account of Baganda a preliminary notice of them, see his

totemism which we owe to the re- “Further Notes on the Manners and
searches of the Rev. John Roscoe has Customs of the Baganda,” of
already been laid before the reader. the Anthropological Institute, xxxii.
See above, vol. ii. pp. 472 sqq. His (1902) pp. 74 jyy.
account of the gods (balubare) of the
Baganda remains in manuscript. For 2 See above, vol. ii. pp. 477 sq.

VOL. IV D
 34 5 UMMA RY A ND CONCL USION SECT. I

the long, long to-morrow than for the brief and fleeting
to-day. If they didnot lay up for themselves treasure in
heaven, at least they laid it up in places where they thought
it would be reasonably safe upon earth, and where they
hoped to benefit by when they had shuffled off the burden
it

of the body. In the temple-tomb of a Baganda king were

regularly deposited, not indeed his body, but his lower jaw-
bone and his navel-string and there on a throne, screened
;

by a canopy and fenced off from the approach of the vulgar

by a railing of glittering spears, these mortal relics were laid
in state, whenever his subjects came to hold an audience with
their departed monarch. There he communed with them
through his inspired medium, the priest and there, sur-
;

rounded by his wives and nobles, who dwelt either in the

tomb or in adjoining houses, he maintained a shadowy court,
a faint reflection of the regal pomp which had surrounded
him in life. When his widows died they were replaced by
women from the same clans, and thus the dead king con-
tinued to be ministered to and to be consulted as an oracle
at his tomb from generation to generation.^
The Now these temple-tombs of the kings of Uganda appear
worship^of ^)e nothing more than greatly enlarged and glorified
dead kings examples of the little huts (inasabo) which the Baganda
havegrown regularly erect near the graves of their relatives for the
out accommodation of the ghosts. At these small shrines, some
dead com- two or three feet high by two feet wide, offerings of food,
moners.
clothing, and firewood are made by the survivors, and beer
probable is poured on the ground to slake the thirst of the poor souls

if'no™aii^’
grave.^ But if the temple-tombs of Baganda kings
of the great are merely enlarged editions of the ghost-huts of Baganda
national
Baganda commoners, is it not possible that the temples of some of
gods are the national Baganda gods {balubare) have the same origin ?
merely
dead men in other words, may not some of these national gods be, like
deified.
' See above, vol. ii. pp. 469 sqq. on the Manners and Customs of the
I have also drawn on the manuscript Baganda,” Journal of the Anthropo-
materials of the Rev. J. Roscoe, which logical Listitute, xxxii. (1902) p. 76.
he has placed at my disposal. For a These masabo curiously remind us of
similar worship of dead kings among the mastaba of the ancient Egyptians,
another Bantu people, the Barotse, see which were sepulchral chambers built in
below, pp. 306 sq. graveyards for the service of the dead.
2 From the Rev. See A. Erman, Aegypten und Aegyp-
J. Roscoe’s papers.
Compare his article, “Further Notes tisches Leben im Altertum, pp. 419 sqq.
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 35

the worshipful spirits of departed kings, nothing but dead

men deified ? In point of fact we have the best of evidence
that the great war-god Kibuka, one of the chief deities of
the Baganda, was once a man of flesh and blood ;
for his
mortal remains, consisting of his jawbone, his navel-string,
and his genital organs, were obtained a few years ago from
the priest who had carefully buried them when the god’s
temple was burned by the Mohammedans, and they are now
preserved in the Ethnological Museum at Cambridge,^
When this instance is considered along with the worship
of the deceased kings, about whose humanity there can be
no doubt, it becomes highly probable that many, if not all, of
the great national gods of the Baganda are simply men who
have been raised to the rank of deities after their death or
possibly even in their life. The inference is confirmed by
the tradition that the greatest of all the Baganda gods,
Mukasa, was a brother of the war-god Kibuka, and that
two other powerful deities, Nende and Musoke, were sons of
Mukasa for if one of the divine brothers, Mukasa and
;

Kibuka, was once a man, as we know him for certain to

have been, a presumption is raised that the other brother
and his two sons were originally men also.^ In short, it
would seem that the principal element in the religion of the
Baganda, as perhaps of all other Bantu tribes, is not
totemism but the worship of the dead. At the same time
it is to be remembered that besides the gods of the Baganda

nation there are gods of the clans, and it is possible that

some of these clan gods may once have been totems. Yet
no positive evidence of their totemic origin appears to be
forthcoming. For example, there is a python god, but he
is worshipped, not by members of the Python clan, but by

members of the Heart clan which seems to shew that the

;

worship of the serpent has originated quite independently of

* Rev. J. Roscoe, “ Kibuka, the where we are told that “ Kibuka and
War God of the Baganda,” Man^ vii. his brother Mukasa are thetwo principal
<1907) pp. 161-166. Compare above, gods of the Baganda ;
their home was
vol. ii. p. 487. on one of the islands of the Lake
Victoria.” That the two national
^ For the relationship of Mukasa deities Nende and Musoke are tradi-
and Musoke, see the Rev. J. Roscoe, tionally said to have been sons of
“Kibuka, the War God of the Mukasa, I learn from Mr. Roscoe’s
Baganda,” Man, vii. (1907) p. 161, unpublished papers.
 36 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

totemism.^ Hence, as I have already pointed out,^ the

example of the Baganda should warn us against the
assumption that totemism normally and almost necessarily
develops into a worship of anthropomorphic deities with
sacred animals and plants for their attributes. In Uganda
we find both totems and anthropomorphic deities but the ;

anthropomorphic deities have not, apparently, grown out of

the totems, they are simply deified dead men. At least, this
is quite certain for the kings and equally certain for one of

the greatest of the national gods.

Again, The true negroes of the coast of Guinea have in like
among the
totemic
manner a system of totemism and a highly developed
tribes of pantheon but there is little to shew that the deities of the
;
Guinea
there is
pantheon have been evolved out of totems. Thus among
little to the Tshi-speaking negroes of the Gold Coast each town,
shew that
the gods village, or district has its local spirits or gods, generally
have grown malignant in character, who appear
be personifications of to
out of
totems. the chief natural features of the neighbourhood, especially
such as excite the curiosity or awe of man, impress his
imagination, and threaten his existence. Such are the rivers
and streams, the hills and valleys, the rocks and the forests,
the giant trees which fall and crush the passer-by, and not
least of all the roaring surf and the stormy sea, which
swamp the frail canoe of the mariner and drown him in the
depths. The deities of these natural objects are ordinarily
conceived in human shape, some male, some female, some
black, some and many of gigantic size.
white, Offerings of
food and drink are made to them priests and priestesses ;

have charge of their worship and sometimes profess to have

seen the divine beings in person.® Besides these local
deities, who may be numbered by tens of thousands,^ a few
general deities are worshipped by whole tribes or groups of
tribes in common ;
but they also are imagined to be of
human shape, and there is nothing to indicate that they
were formerly totems.® It is true that some of these Tshi
*
' See above, vol. ii.
pp. 500 sgg. A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking
Peoples of the Slave Coast (London,
- Above
ove, VO
vol . u.
ii 5
p. So 4.
5
1890), p. 25.
^ A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking ® A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking
Peoples of the Gold Coast (London, Peoples of the Gold Coast, pp. 17,
1887), pp. 12, 17, 34 sqq., 39-78. 22-33.
SECT. 1 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 37

gods and goddesses, whether local or general, have certain

species of sacred animals or birds associated with them.
Thus crocodiles are sacred to the river gods Prah and Ahah
and to the river goddess Katarwiri.^ Driver ants, which
march in armies, are sacred to Tando, the chief god of the
Ashantees and of the northern Tshi-speaking tribes and ;

these insects may not be molested by their worshippers.^

Water-wagtails are sacred to the god Adzi-anim and point
out to his adorers where to dig in order to find good water,
of which the deity himself is the local provider.® And
antelopes are sacred to Brahfo, a popular god who dwells in
a gloomy hollow of the forest near the town of Mankassim ;

hence no worshipper of Brahfo may harm an antelope or

eat its flesh.^ But none of these sacred animals appear
to be totems. On the other hand it might plausibly be
held that among the Ewe-speaking tribes of the adjoining
Slave Coast the local worship of leopards, crocodiles, and
pythons has been evolved out of totemism, since all three
of these animals are totems of Ewe clans.® However, it
is quite possible that the worship has had an independent

origin. For the most part the gods of the Ewe-speaking

peoples appear to be either local deities like those of the
Tshi-speaking tribes, that is, personifications of particular
natural features of the country, or else general deities, that
is, personifications of certain great aspects or forces of
nature, such as the sky, the lightning, the rainbow, the
sun, the ocean, small-pox, and the reproductive principle
in mankind.® But these deities are to all appearance
independent of totemism.
On the whole, if we may judge by the accounts which Thus in

we possess of totemic tribes in Africa and America, we can

hardly help concluding that their religion or at least their totemism

'
A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking 1890), pp. 31 sqq., (>l sqq., 77 sqq.
Peoples of the Gold Coast, pp. 33, 65, Much valuable information as to the
67. religion of the Ewe tribes is contained
^ A. B. Ellis, op. cit. p. 32. in the work of the German missionary
^ A. B. Ellis, op. cit. p. J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stdmme (Berlin,
40.
* 1906), but totems and totemism are
A. B. Ellis, op. cit. pp. 55 sq., 64. not so much as mentioned in it, a
® See above, vol. pp. 583-587. .significant omission which shews how
ii.

® A. B. Ellis, The Eive-speaking small a part the institution plays in the

Peoples of the Slave Coast (London, religious life of the people.
 ;

38 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. I

seems to theology has been little affected by their totemism ;

totemic
have had
little
animals and plants shew few signs of blossoming out into
influence gods and goddesses in short, totemism in these regions
;
on the
growth of has been nearly as barren theologically as economically.
religion.
This conclusion agrees with the result of our study of the
Australian aborigines, who along with the most fully developed
system of totemism known to us exhibit only a few rudi-
mentary germs of a theology.^
But if If totemism has apparently done little to foster the
totemism
has done
growth of higher forms of religion, it has probably done
little to much to strengthen the social ties and thereby to serve
foster the
growth of the cause of civilisation, which depends for its progress on
religion, the cordial co-operation of men in society, on their mutual
it has
probably trust and good-will, and on their readiness to subordinate
done much their personal interests to the interests of the community.
to knit men
A
together in society thus united in itself is strong and may survive a ;

society,
society rent by discord and dissension is weak and likely to
and has
thus served perish either through internal disruption or by the impact of
a useful
other societies, themselves perhaps individually weaker, yet
purpose
since in the The tendenc y o f
collectively stronger, because they act as one.
struggle for
existence
totemism to knit men together in social groups is noticed again
union is and again by the writers who have described the institution
strength
and victory, from personal observation. They tell us that persons who have
disunion is the same totem regard each other as kinsmen and are ready
weakness
and defeat. to befriend and stand by one another in difficulty and
Totemism danger. Indeed the totemic tie is sometimes deemed more
has stood
for the binding than that of blood. A sense of common obligations
principle of
collective
and common responsibility pervades the totem clan. Each
responsi- member of it is answerable even with his life for the deeds
bility,
of every other member each of them resents and is prompt
which ;

though to avenge a wrong done to his fellows as a wrong done to

theoretic-
ally unjust
himself In nothing does this solidarity of the clan come
has been out more strikingly than in the law of the blood feud. The
practically
beneficial.
common rule is that the whole of a clan is responsible for a
homicide committed by any of its members, and that if the
manslayer himself is for any reason beyond the reach of
' .Seeabove, vol. i. pp. 141-153. his article, “Remarks on Totemism,”
Professor E. B. Tylor protested long Journal of the Anthropological Institute,
ago against the exaggerated estimate xxviii. (1899) p. 144. With that
which some writers have formed of the protest I entirely agree,
religious importance of totemi.sm. .See
SECT. I TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY 39

vengeance, his crime may and

should be visited by the clan
of his victim on any member
of the murderer’s clan, even
though the person to be punished may have had no hand
whatever in the murder.^ To civilised men it seems unjust
that the innocent should thus be made to suffer for the
guilty, and no doubt, if we regard the matter from a purely
abstract point of view, we must affirm that the infliction of
vicarious suffering is morally wrong and indefensible no ;

man, we and say rightly, ought to be punished except

say,
for his own act and deed. Yet if we look at the facts of
life as they are and not as they ought to be, we can hardly
help concluding that the princijple of collective responsibility,
with its necessary corollary of vic^ious suffering, has been
of the greatest utility, perhaps absolutely essential, to the
preservation and well-being of society. Nothing else, prob-
ably, could have availed to keep primitive men together in
groups large enough to make headway against the opposition
of hostile communities in the struggle for existence a tribe
;

which attempted to deal out even-handed justice between

man and man on the principle of individual responsibility
would probably have succumbed before a tribe which acted
as one man on the principle of collective responsibility.
Before the champions of abstract justice could have ascer-
tained the facts, laid the blame on the real culprit, and
punished him as he deserved, they must have run a serious
risk of being exterminated by their more impetuous and less
scrupulous neighbours.
However much, therefore, the principle of collective The
responsibility may be condemned in theory, there can hardly coih;ctWe°*^
be a doubt that it has been very useful in practice. If it responsi

has done great injustice to individuals, it has done great favours

service to the community ;
the many have benefited by the the growth

sufferings of a few. Men are far readier to repress wrong- virtue,

doing they think that they themselves stand a

in others if
chance of being punished for it than if they know that the
punishment will only fall on the actual offender. Thus a
habit is begotten of regarding all misdemeanours with severe

1
See, for example, above, vol. iii. stated by Sir George Grey, Journals
p. 563. The collective responsibility of Two Expeditions of Disccwery^ ii.
of the family in West Australia is well 239 sq.
 40 5 UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. I

disapprobation as injuries done to the whole society ;

and
this habit of mind may grow into an instinctive condemna-
tion and abhorrence of wrong-doing, apart from the selfish
consideration of any harm which the wrong may possibly
entail on the person who condemns and abhors it. In
short, the principle of collective responsibility not only
checks crime but tends to reform the criminal by fostering a
disinterested love of virtue and so enabling society to adopt
in time a standard of justice which approaches more nearly
to the ideal.
Totemism So far, therefore, as totemism has drawn closer the bonds
may be
forgiven its
which unite men in society it has directly promoted the
speculative growth of a purer and higher morality. An institution
errors for
the sake which has done this has deserved well of humanity. Its
of its speculative absurdities may be forgiven for the sake of its
practical
goMi practical good, and in summing up judgment we may
perhaps pronounce that sentence of acquittal which was
pronounced long ago on another poor sinner Remittunttir :

ei peccatn midta^ quoniam dilexit multum.

I
2. The Origin of Totemism

The Since the institutions of totemism and exogamy are

problem
of the
found to prevail so widely among mankind, the question of
origins of their origins has naturally attracted the attention of students,
totemism
and and various theories have been put forward to account for
exogamy, them. The enquiry is for both the
beset with difficulties ;
in the
absence of customs are very foreign to our civilised modes of thinking
historical
and acting, they have all the appearance of being very
records,
can only be ancient, and the savage and barbarous peoples who practise
solved by
them have no accurate record of their origin. Hence in
general
considera- default of positive testimony we are obliged to have recourse
tionsand
to general considerations and to arguments drawn from
arguments
drawn probability. As it is almost certain that both totemism
from
probability.
and exogamy must have originated at a very low level
Both of savagery, the causes which gave rise to them must be
institutions
originated sought in the conditions of savage life and in the beliefs,
in savagery prejudices, and superstitions of the savage mind, It is only
and cannot
be under- within recent years that savagery has been made a subject
stood with- of scientific study, and we are still far from understanding it
 SFXT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISAI 41

fully. But we have learned enough about it to perceive out a long

the wide interval which separates the thought of the savage
from our own, and accordingly to be distrustful of savage
rationalistic theories which explain the customs of un-
civilised peoples on the assumption that primitive man custom,
thinks and acts precisely in the way in which we should
think and act if we were placed in his circumstances. No
doubt it is hard for us to put ourselves at the point of view
of the savage, to strip ourselves, not merely of the opinions
imprinted on us by education, but also of the innate
tendencies which we have inherited from many generations
of civilised ancestors, and having thus divested ourselves of
what has become a part of our nature to consider what we
should do under conditions of life very different from those
by which from Infancy we have been surrounded. None of
us can ever do this perfectly at the most we can only do
;

it approximately. But it cannot be done at all by deductive

reasoning the only hope of success lies in the inductive
;

method. If we are to penetrate into the mind of the savage

and understand its working, we must impartially consider
the actual beliefs and customs of the lower races, we must
survey them as widely and study them as minutely as
possible, and just in so far as we have satisfied these
conditions are we justified in forming and expressing an
opinion as to how uncivilised man would think and act
under certain circumstances, what he would be likely to do
and what he could not possibly think of doing in such and
s uch a situation. Many people, indeed, seem to be unaware
of the long course of study which must be undertaken, the
wide range of comparisons which must be drawn, before we
are fitted to pass a judgment on theories of the origin of
ancient institutions. They think that anybody may do so
on the strength of what is called common sense, which
generally means little more than the personal prejudices of
the speaker. The problems of totemism and exogamy can
never be solved by such methods.
Three different theories of the origin of totemism have The writer

at different times occurred to me as possible or probable, various

Two of them have seen reason to abandon the third I
I ;
pro-

still regard as probably true. I might content myself with |h°ree'^'^'^

 42 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. IS

several referring the reader to the passages in this and my other

theories of
totemism, writings in which these theories have been explained but ;

two of it may
be well to restate them, if possible, more clearly,
which
he has together with the reasons which have led me to reject two
since
abandoned.
of them and to adhere to the third. And in order to allow
my readers to judge for themselves of the relative value
of these hypotheses I shall briefly state and discuss a few
of the principal theories which have been broached by others
on the .subject, lest, misled by the partiality of an author for
his own views, I should unwittingly overlook and suppress
elements of truth which my fellow-workers in this difficult
branch of knowledge have brought to light. And in like
manner with regard to exogamy I shall state some of the
more notable opinions which have been held, giving my
reasons for agreeing with or dissenting from them, and finally
indicating what seem to me the most probable conclusions.
It is At the outset we shall do well to bear in mind that
possible
that both
both totemism and exogamy may possibly have originated
totemism in very different ways among different peoples, and that
and exo-
gamy have the external resemblances between the institutions in
originated different places may accordingly be deceptive. Instances
in different
ways of such might easily be multiplied in other
deception
among fields Nothing can externallj^ resemble the
of science.
different
peoples, leaves or branches of certain trees more exactly than
but it is
certain insects yet the things which bear such an extra-
more ;

probable ordinary resemblance to each other are not even different

that each of
them has
species of the same genus ;
they belong to totally different
everywhere natural orders, for the one is an animal and the other is
had a
similar
a plant.^ So it may possibly be both with totemism and
origin. with exogamy. What we call totemism or exogamy
one people may perhaps be quite different in its origin
and nature from totemism or exogamy in another people.
This is possible. Yet on the other hand the resemblances
between all systems of totemism and all systems of exogamy
are so great and so numerous that the presumption is
certainly in favour of the view that each of them has
1
A. R. Wallace, Contribu/ions fa Sixth Edition (London, 1878), pp.
the Theory of Naftiral Selection {'Lo'a- 181 sq.\ A. R. Wallace, Darwinism
don, 1871), pp. 56 sgq. As to what (London, 1889), pp. 239 sgq.\ En-
is mimicry in insects, see further
called cyclopaedia Brifannica, Ninth Edition,
Charles Darwin, The Origm of Species, xvi. 341 sqq.
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 43

everywhere originated in substantially the same way, and

that therefore a theory which satisfactorily explains the origin
of these institutions in any one race will probably explain
itsorigin in all races. The burden of proof therefore lies
on those who contend that there are many different kinds of
totemism and exogamy rather than on those who hold that
there is substantially only one of each. In point of fact
most writers who have set themselves to explain the rise
of the two institutions appear to have assumed, and in
my judgment rightly assumed, that the solution of each
problem is singular.
With these preliminary cautions we will now take up
some theories of the origin of totemism.
The man who more than any other is entitled to rank Herbert
as the discoverer both of totemism and of exogamy, J. F.
McLennan, never published any theory of the origin of totemism
totemism, though he did publish and strongly held a theory
of the origin of exogamy. But if he did not himself '"terpreta-
speculate on the causes which led to the institution of nid^names.
totemism his remarkable essays on “ The Worship of Animals
and Plants ” ^ soon set others speculating on the subject.
Amongst the first to enter the field was Herbert Spencer.
His view was that totemism originated in a misinterpreta-
tion of nicknames. He thought that the imperfections of
primitive speech prevented savages from clearly distinguish-
ing between things and their names, and that accordingly
ancestors who had been nicknamed after animals, plants,
or other natural objects on the ground of some imaginary
resemblance to them, were confused in the minds of their
descendants with the things after which they had been
named hence from revering his human progenitors the
;

savage came to revere the species of animals or plants or

other natural objects with which through an ambiguity of
speech he had been led to identify them.^ A similar, though
not identical, explanation of totemism was independently

' Published in The Fortnightly 2 This theory was put forward first

Review for October and November and most clearly by Plerbert Spencer
1869 and February 1870. The papers in an essay entitled “ The Origin of
are reprinted in McLennan’s posthum- Animal Worship,” which was published
ous book, Studies in Ancient History in The Fortnightly Review for May
(London, 1896), pp. 491 sqq. 1870. The essay, suggested by J. F.
 44 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

Similar suggested by Lord Avebury. He regards totemism as a

theory
proposed worship of natural objects, and thinks it may have arisen
by Lord through the practice of naming, first individuals, and then
Avebury.
their families, after particular animals, plants or other natural
objects ;
for from naming themselves
thus people might
gradually come to look upon
namesakes, whether
their
animal s plan-ts, or what not, with interest, respect, and awe.^
,

The The fundamental objection to both these theories has

objection been already stated.^ They attribute, to verbal misunder-
to such
theories is standings far more influence than verbal misunderstandings
that they
ever seem to have exercised. It is true that names are to
attribute
too great the savage more and vital things than they are
substantial
influence
to purely
to us. Yet even when we have allowed for the difference
verbal the alleged cause seems totally inadequate to account for
misunder-
standings.
the actual effects. At the time when, many years ago, these
theories were propounded, speculation as to the origins of
religion was unduly biassed by the teaching of a brilliant
school of philologers, of whom in this country Max Muller
was the leader. These scholars, starting with a natural and
excusable partiality for words, discovered in them the
principal source of mythology, which they imagined to flow
from the turbid spring of verbal misapprehension. That
many blunders and many superstitions have originated in

this wa}q it would be vain to deny

but that a great social ;

institution such as totemism, spread over a large part of

the globe, had no deeper root seems very improbable. It
is true that neither Herbert Spencer nor Lord Avebury
so far yielded to the seductions of the philological school

McLennaii’s recent papers on “ The theory was first briefly indicated by

Worship of Animals and Plants,” was Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock) in
afterwards republished by Spencer in an Appendix to the Second Edition
his Essays, Scientific, Political, and of his Pre-histoj'ic Times, published in
Speculative, vol. iii. Third
Edition 1869. The passage, reprinted in the
(I.ondon, 1878), pp. 101-124. The Fifth Edition of that work (London,
substance of the theory was afterwards 1890, p. 610), runs thus: “In en-
embodied by the author in his large deavouring to account for the worship
work The Prmciples of Sociology, vol. of animals, we must remember that
i. 169-176, 180-183 (pp. 331-346,
§§ names are very frequently taken from
354-359, Third Edition, 1904). them. The children and followers of a
man called the Bear or the Lion would
^ Lord Avebury, The Origin of make that a tribal name, lienee the
Civilisationand the Primitive Con- animal itself would be first respected,
dition of Man, Si-xth Edition (Lon- at last worshipped.”
don, 1902), pp. 217, 275 sqq. The See above, vol. i. p. 87.
 :

SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 45

as to follow it in all its exaggerations both these eminent ;

thinkers had too firm a grasp on the realities of life to

be thus duped by words. Yet we may surmise that their
views of totemism were unduly tinged by the colours
of the fashionable mythological theory of the day. These
colours have long faded. Even the rosy pink of dawn,
which the leading artist of the school applied with a too
liberal brush to the face of nature, has mostly weathered
away and we are left to contemplate the grim realities of
;

savage life in duller, Sadder hues.

A different explanation of totemism was suggested by G. a.
the eminent Dutch scholar G. A. Wilken, who possessed an ^eo^y^that
unrivalled acquaintance with the extensive literature in totemism
which the ethnology of the East Indian Archipelago has
been described by his fellow-countrymen. After giving an doctrine of

account of the doctrine of the trans m igration of human souls migration

into ^imal bodies, as that doctrine is held in Indonesia, he souls,

proceeds aTToIIbws :
“ Thus we see that amongst the peoples
of the Indian Archipelago th e^ doctrine of th e t rans migration

q£ souls has generally led to an idea of the relationship of the

man with, or his descent from certain animals, which animals,
thus raised to the rank of ancestors, are revered just as other
ancestors are revered. In a certain sense we have here what
in the science of religion we are accustomed to call totemism.
The word is, as we know, derived from the North American
Indians. Every tribe here has, under the name totem, one
or other animal which is revered as a fetish, after which the
tribe is named and from which its members trace their
descent. The Redskin who, for example, recognises the
wolf as his totem, has also the wolf for his guardian spirit,
bears its name, and regards himself as related to the whole
species. What we have found among the peoples of the
Indian Archipelago answers to this completely. Only they
have not come to the pitch of naming themselves after the
animals which they thus revere as their ancestors.” Then
after quoting Herbert Spencer’s theory of totemism, which
has already been laid before the reader,^ Wilken adds
“ Without controverting Spencer’s theory, for which this is

not the place, we only wish to observe that in our opinion

* See above, p. 43.
 46 5 UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. II

totemism among the North American Indians, or wherever

it may be found, may have sprung from the transmigration

of souls in the same way in which we have indicated among

the peoples of the Indian Archipelago the animal in which
:

the souls of the dead are thought by preference to be incar-

nate becomes a kinsman, an ancestor and as such is revered.
Thus it is not, as Spencer supposes, a misinterpretation of ‘

nicknames,’ but the transmigration of souls which forms the

connecting link between totemism on the one side and the
worship of the dead on the other, which link, while it has
dropped out among many peoples, is still for the most part
^
clearly observable in the Archipelago.”
It is true This theory of totemism is not, like the theories of
that the
Herbert Spencer and Lord Avebury, open to the objection
doctrine
of trans- that
1
the alleged cause appears inadequate to produce the
migration
effect. If people really believe the souls of their dead to be
has led
various lodged in certain species of animals and plants, the belief
peoples to
respect
would be a quite sufficient reason why they should respect
certain these animals and plants and refrain from killing, eating, and
species of
animals ;
injuring them. But on this point we are not left to balance
but this mere speculative possibilities. We know as a matter of fact
respect
seems to that many peoples in many parts of the world have respected
differfrom animals for this very reason.^ Such respect certainly re-
totemism,
for the sembles the attitude of totemic peoples towards their totems,
doctrine
yet it seems to differ from it. For on the one hand the
of trans-
migration theory of the transmigration of human souls into animals is
is not held
by the
held by many peoples who do not, or at all events who are
totemic not known to practise totemism and on the other hand
;

tribes with
which we the theory in question is not held by those totemic peoples
are best as to whose systems we possess the fullest information such
acquainted.
as the Australian aborigines, the Baganda of Central Africa,
and most, if not all, of the North American Indians.^ This

G. A. Wilken, “ Het Animisme xxviii. (1899) pp. 146-148. For Mr.

bij de Volken van den Indischen Sleigh’s evidence, see above, vol. ii.
Archipel,” De Indische Gids, June p. 81.
1884, pp. 997-999. Wilken’s theory 2 For examples, see The Golden
of totemism was afterwards taken up Bough, Second Edition, ii. 430 sqq.
by Professor E. B. Tylor, who sup- Many more instances will be cited in
ported it by Mr. Sleigh’s evidence as the Third Edition of that book.
See 3 An early authority on the Hopi or
to certain Melanesian beliefs.
E. B. Tylor, “ Remarks on Totemism,” Moqui Indians, Dr. P. G. S.TenBroeck,
Jotirnal of the Anthropological Institute, informs us that their totemic clans are
SECT. I THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 47

seems to shew that the two things, totemism and the doctrine
of metempsychosis, are distinct and independent. If a belief

in the transmigration of souls had been the origin of totemism,

surely that belief would have been found lingering among the
Australian aborigines, the most primitive totemic race with
which we are acquainted. Why should it have vanished
from among them, leaving its supposed product totemism in
full bloom behind, and should have reappeared among higher

races which know nothing of totemism } The natural infer-

ence seems to be that metempsychosis is a later product of
social evolution than totemism, of which indeed it may
sometimes be an effect rather than the cause.
On the other hand it is to be observed that the However,
hypothesis which derives totemism from mete mpsychosis is
supported by the accounts of certain totemic tribes in Africa, derives
We have seen that the historian of South Africa, Dr. Theal,
bases the totemism of the Bantu tribes not as a theory but metem-
as a fact on their belief in the reincarnation of their dead in supported'^
the form of animals,^ and similar statements have been made by the
• • 1
reported
as to various tribes m the west and centre of the continent." beliefs of
r 1 1 .9
But all these statements are somewhat loose and vague“ our certain ;
totemic '

information as to the totemic system of the tribes in question tribes in

is for the most part very meagre, and till it is much fuller

and more precise we shall do well not to draw inferences

from it. Even if it should turn out that many Bantu tribes,
unlike the Baganda, do actually explain their totemism by
a belief that the souls of theirdead are incarnate in their
totems, I should still, for the reasons I have given, incline
to regard that belief as a later development rather than as
the source of totemism.
supposed to be descended from ancestors and Customs of the Moqui and Navajo
who had been transformed by the great Tribes of New Mexico,” in H. R.
Mother into human shape after having Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes of the
been up to that time identical with Utiited States, iv. 86. This im-
their totems, namely, the deer, the portant statement seems not to have
bear, the hare, the prairie-wolf, the been confirmed or noticed by later
rattle -snake, the tobacco -plant, the authorities on the Hopi Indians, but it
reed-grass, sand, and water. The well deserves attention. I regret that
-writer then proceeds as follows : “They it was overlooked by me in my account
are firm believers in metempsychosis, of the totemic system of these tribes
and say that when they die, they will (above, vol. iii. pp. 195 sqg.).
resolve into their original forms, and 1 See above, vol. li. pp. 388 sqg.
[become bears, deer, etc., again.” See 2 See above, vol. ii. pp. 398, 551
Dr. P. G. S. Ten Broeck, “Manners sq., 560, 626, 629.
 48 5 UMMAR Y AND CONCL USION SECT. II

Theory Another theory of the origin of totemism is that the

that the
totems of
institution grew out of the personal guardian spirits of
clans are individuals. On this view the totem of a clan is simply
merely the
guardian the guardian spirit or personal totem of an ancestor, who
spirits of acquired it for himself in a dream at puberty and through
ancestors
transmitted his influence and credit succeeded in transmitting it by
by in-
inheritance to his descendants. These descendants form
heritance
to their a clan, and revere as their totem the species of animals or
descend-
plants or other objects in which the guardian spirit of their
ants. This
theory is ancestor manifested itself. This theory is held by some
held by
some
eminent American anthropologists, including Dr. Franz Boas,
American Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Mr. C. Hill-Tout, and Father A. G.
anthro-
Morice.^ It has the advantage of explaining very simply
pologists.
how a whole clan came to possess a common totem, for
nothing seems more natural than that the totem should
have spread to a kindred group by inheritance from a
common ancestor. Indeed, whatever theory we adopt of
the origin of totemism we can hardly help supposing that
the totem, guardian spirit, or whatever we may call it, of
the individual preceded the hereditary totem of a group or
clan and was in some way its original.
This Further, this American theory, as we may call it, of the
American
theory
origin of totemism flows very naturally from the American
flows facts. For amongst the North American Indians the two
naturally
from the institutions of clan totemism and personal guardian spirits
American are both widely prevalent, and the attitude of men to their
facts, since
both clan clan totems on the one side and to their guardian spirits or
totems and What there-
personal totems on the other is very similar.
personal
guardian fore can seem more obvious than that the two institutions
spirits are
are in origin identical, and that the clan totem is simply the
common in
North guardian spirit or personal totem become hereditary ?
America.
1
F. Boas, “ The Social Organiza- “ The Origin of Totemism among the
tion and the Secret Societies of the Aborigines of British Columbia,”
Kwakiutl Indians,” Report of the Transactions of the Royal Society of
United States Natiojial Musetan for Canada, Second Series, 1901 -1902,
iSgs (Washington, 1897), pp. 336, vol. vii. Section ii. pp. 6 sqq. ; id.

393, 662; id. in “Twelfth Report of “Some Features of the Language and
the Committee on the North-Western Culture of the Salish,” American
Tribes of Canada,” Report of the British Anthropologist, New Series, vii.

Association, Bristol, 1898, pp. 674- (1905) pp. 681 sqq. ; Father A. G.
677 Miss Alice C. Fletcher, The
;
Morice, “The Canadian Denes,”
Import of the Totem (Salem, Mass., Annual Arckcrological Report, igoy
1897), pp. 8 sqq. ; C. Hill-Tout, (Toronto, 1906), p. 205.
 SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 49

Yet there are serious difficulties in the way of accepting But is it

not borne
a theory which at first sight has so much to commend it. out by the
So long as we confine our view to American totemism, the evidence of
totemic
hypothesis is plausible, and if we knew nothing about tribes else-
totemism except what we can learn about it in America where, with
whom
we might well be disposed to acquiesce in it as satisfactory personal
and sufficient. But when we turn to the totemic systems guardian
spirits
of tribes in other parts of the world, doubts inevitably arise. appear
For the custom of possessing individual guardian spirits, for the
most part
apart from the totems of the clans, is very rare in Australia,^ to be
unknown and almost unknown among the Bantu wanting.
in India,
tribes of Africa ^ unless we except the taboos imposed on
;

individuals among some Bantu tribes of the lower Congo,^

who may, however, have borrowed them from their negro
neighbours. On the other hand the guardian spirits of the
American Indians have to a certain extent their analogies
in the individual fetishes and bush-souls, which are common
among the true negroes of West Africa."^ But unlike the
guardian spirits of the American Indians these African
fetishes and bush-souls appear not to be acquired by indi-
viduals for themselves in dreams at puberty. Hence surveying
the facts of totemism as a whole we seem driven to conclude
that the system of personal guardian spirits obtained by
dreams at puberty is almost confined to America,® and that
therefore it cannot have been the general source of totemism.
Even if we confine ourselves to the American facts we Even in
shall find a difficulty in the way of the theory which derives ^h'e theory
the totem of the clan from the guardian spirit of the encounters
individual. For it is to be observed that amongst the North difficulty in
American Indians, while we hear a great deal about the
1
•
r • • 1-11 parative in-
guardian spirits of men, we hear very little about the guardian significance
1 •

spirits of women.® This seems to shew that the guardian

° guardian _

spirits of women were of little importance by comparison spirits of

with those of men. Hence it appears to follow that if the
' Amongst the Australian aborigines 3 See above, vol. ii. pp. 615 sqq.
personal guardian spirits in animal form ^ See above, vol. ii. pp. 572 sqq.,
seem to be chiefly confined to medicine- 593 sqq-
men. See above, vol. i. pp. 412 sq., ® However, Kurnai medicine -men
448 sq., 482 sq., 489 sq., 497 sq. acquired their guardian spirits in
^ For some evidence of guardian dreams. See vol. i. pp. 497 sq.
spirits among the Bantus see above, ® For the evidence see above, vol. iii.

vol. pp. 453, 627. PP- 370-456-

ii.

VOL. IV E
 50 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

which is clan totem nothing but the guardian spirit become

is
hard to
reconcile
hereditary, ought to be inherited generally, perhaps always
it

with from the father and not from the mother. How then are
descent of
the clan we to explain the large number of totemic clans in North
totem in America which are hereditary in the maternal, not in the
the female
line. paternal line? If the theory which we are discussing is
correct we must assume that amongst all the many Indian
tribes which retain female descent of the totem far more
importance was formerly attributed to the guardian spirits
of women than of men. But such an assumption is not
supported by any evidence and is in itself improbable.
On the whole then we conclude that the totems of clans
are not to be identified with the guardian spirits acquired by
individuals in dreams at puberty.
Theory of Another explanation of the origin of totemism has been
Dr. A. C.
Haddon suggested by Dr. A. C. Haddon. He supposes that each
that totems primitive local group subsisted chiefly on some one species
were
originally of animal or plant, and that after satisfying their own wants
the the members of the group exchanged their superfluity for the
animals or
plants on superfluities of other neighbouring groups. In this way each
which local group might come to be named by its neighbours after the
groups of
people particular kind of food which formed its staple article of diet
chiefly
subsisted,
and of exchange. Thus “ among the shore-folk the group
and after that lived mainly on crabs and occasionally traded in crabs
which they
were
might well be spoken of as the crab-men by all the groups
‘ ’

named by with whom they came in direct or indirect contact. The

their neigh-
bours.
same would hold good for the group that dealt in clams or
in turtle, and reciprocally there might be sago-men, bamboo-
men, and so forth. It is obvious that men who persistently
collected or hunted a particular group of animals would
understand the habits of those animals better than other
people, and a personal regard for these animals would
naturally arise. Thus from the very beginning there would
be a distinct relationship between a group of individuals and
a group of animals or plants, a relationship that primitively
was based, not on even the most elementary of psychic
concepts, but on the most deeply seated and urgent of
human claims, hunger.” ^

* A. C. Haddon, “Address to the British Association, Belfast, 1902, pp.

Anthropological Section,” Me 8-1 1 (separate reprint).
 ;

SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTE MI SM 51

To this theory it has been objected by Professor Baldwin But the

Spencer that if we may judge by the Australian aborigines, tioTof Tiet

who have totemism in the most primitive form known to us, assumed

there is no such specialisation of diet between the local

groups as Dr. Haddon assumes. The district occupied by a not exist

local totemic group is small the animals and plants in it do

; i^^°most
not as a rule differ from those of neighbouring districts and primitive
;

the natives of each district do not confine themselves ex- tribes

clusively or principally to any one article of diet, but eat

indifferently anything edible that they can lay hands on. that nick-

Hence in every district we find totemic groups bearing the

names of all the edible animals and plants that live and accepted as

grow in it.^ Thus the state of things postulated by Dr.

Haddon’s theory does not exist in Australia, which may be and should
regarded as the most typically totemic country in the world. to"the^^^^
And the view that the names of the totem clans were evolution

originally nicknames applied to them by their neighbours, religion,

which the persons so nicknamed adopted as honourable

distinctions, appears to be very unlikely. Strong evidence
would be needed to convince us that any group of men had
complacently accepted a nickname bestowed on them, perhaps
in derision, by their often hostile neighbours nay, that they ;

had not only adopted the nickname as their distinctive title

and badge of honour, but had actually developed a religion,
or something like a religion, out of it, contracting such a
passionate love and admiration for the animals or plants
after which they were nicknamed that they henceforth
refused, at the risk of dying of hunger, to kill and eat them.

1 Baldwin Spencer, “ Totemism in edible objects which were to be found

Australia,” Transactions of the Austral- in district.
its Kangaroos and emus
asian Association for the Advancement are met with everywhere in Australia,
of Science, Dunedin, 1904, p. 417 ; but they have never been the exclusive
“At thepresent day, except that, or even chief food of any one group of
of course, sea -fish do not exist in Natives. We may feel certain that the
the interior, and so the interior tribes origin of totemic names not associated
is

do not have totemic groups of this in the first instance with the staple food
name, nor vice versa do the coastal of local groups of individuals, because
tribeshave groups named after certain the Native —
and the more primitive he
grass-seeds which only grow in the is the more likely is this to be the case

centre, in every part we find that there — feeds upon everything edible which
are totemic groups bearing the names grows in his country.” Compare
of all edible animals and plants, and, Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes
so far as we can judge, every group of of Central Australia (London, 1904),
Natives has simply used as food all the pp. 767 sq.
 52 6-
VMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. It

though formerly these same animals or plants had been the

very food on which they chiefly subsisted. The theory that
nicknames are the root of totemism is, as I have already
pointed out,^ improbable enough in itself, but the improba-
bility is multiplied tenfold when it is assumed that these
nicknames did not originate with the persons themselves but
have been borrowed by them from their neighbours. In
point of fact no single instance of such an adoption of nick-
names from neighbours was known to Dr. Howitt, the most
experienced of Australian anthropologists, in the whole of
Australia.®
The thr.ee WhenI first published my small work on totemism in
theories of
totemism 1887 had no theory of totemism to suggest and confined
I

proposed myself to collecting and stating the facts. Since then the
by the
author. subject has continued to engage my attention, many new
facts have come to light, and after prolonged study I have
proposed three several explanations of totemism, of which,
on mature reflection, I have discarded two as inadequate.
The third, to which I still adhere, has been already stated
in this book and I shall revert to it presently. But it may
be worth while here to notice the two discarded hypotheses,
as both of them, if they do not go to the root of totemism,
may serve to illustrate some of its aspects.
The My first suggestion was that the key to totemism might
author's
first theory,
be found in the theory of the external soul, that is, in the
that totem- belief that living people may deposit their souls for safe
ism origin-
ated in the
keeping outside of themselves in some secure place, where
doctrine of the precious deposit will be less exposed to the risks and
the ex-
ternal soul vicissitudes of life than while it remained in the body of its
or the sup- owner. Persons who have thus stowed away their souls
posed pos-
sibility of apart from their bodies are supposed to be immortal and

1 See above, p. 44. instance in which such nicknames have

been adopted.” It is true that in
2 A. W. Howitt, The NativeTrihes of West Australia some totemic groups
South-East Australia (London, 1904), are said to have been named after the
p. 154: “To me, judging of the possible animals or plants on which they at
feelings of the pristine ancestors of the one time chiefly subsisted. See above,
Australians by their descendants of the vol. pp. 547 sij., 555 sq.
i. But
present time, it seems most improbable these explanations of the names are
that any such nicknames would have probably afterthoughts, and it is not
been adopted and have given rise to suggested that the names were adopted
totemism, nor do I know of a single from other people.
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 53

invulnerable so long as the souls remain intact in the places depositing

where they have been deposited for how can you kill a ;

man by attacking his body if his life is not in it? The first people for

in England to collect evidence of this widespread belief in g^terna"

external souls was my friend Mr. Edward Clodd, who read objects,

a paper on the subject before the Folk - lore Society in afomais or

1884.^ Simultaneously or nearly simultaneously the same plants,

belief was illustrated, to some extent with the same evidence,

by the learned Dutch ethnologist Professor G. A. Wilken
in Holland.^ But neither Mr. Clodd nor Professor Wilken
associated the belief in the external soul with totemism.
Each of them discussed the two subjects independently,
without so much as mentioning the one in their discussion
of the other.® Arguing from the facts collected by these
* Edward Clodd, “ The Philosophy (“The Philosophy of Punchkin,” The
of Punchkin,” The Folk-lore Journal, Folk-lore Journal, ii. (1884) p. 302).
ii. (1884) pp. 289-303. The substance “
^ G. A. Wilken, De betrekking
was afterwards republished
of this essay
tusschen menschen-dieren- en plantleven
by Mr. Clodd in his Myths and Dreams
naar het volksgeloof,” De Indische Gids,
(London, 1885), pp. 188-198. Mr.
November 1884, pp. 595-612. Wilken,
Clodd illustrates the belief by folk-
likeMr. Clodd, starts from the story
tales,beginning with the story of
of Punchkin in Miss Frere’s Old Deccan
Punchkin in Miss Deccan’s Old Deccan
Days, and adds the Russian tale of
Days and citing as further examples “ Koshchei the Deathless,” the ancient
the Norse tale of “ The giant who had
Egyptian story of “The Two Brothers,”
no heart in his body ” ; the Russian
etc. The same evidence was afterwards
tale of “ Koshchei the Deathless ” ; the
reproduced by Wilken, with fresh matter,
Celtic tale, from Mr. J. F. Campbell’s
in his essay “ De Simsonsage,” which
collection, of the king whose soul was
was published in De Gids, 1888, No. 5.
in a duck’s egg the ancient Egyptian
;

story of “The Two Brothers”; the

A copy of the latter paper was sent on
publication to me by the author, with
tale in the Arabian Nights of the jinnee
whose soul was in the crop of a sparrow
whom I had been in friendly cor-
;

“ The central idea of respondence since 1885 or 1886, and

and many more.
I used it with advantage in my dis-
the Punchkin group of stories,” says Mr.
cussion of the external soul in The
Clodd, “is the dwelling apart of the
Golden Bough
(London, 1890), ii.
soul or heart, as the seat of life, apart
from the body, in some secret place in
296 sqq. But Wilken’s earlier paper
on the same subject was unknown to
some animate or inanimate thing, often
an egg or a bird, sometimes a tree,
me until Professor E. B. Tylor drew
flower, or necklace, the fate of the one
my attention to it in 1898.

involving the fate of the other. Now, 3

We
bave seen that Wilken ex-
stripped of all local additions and detail, plained totemism by the doctrine of
this notion of the soul existing apart from metempsychosis (above, pp. 45 sq.).
the body and determining its fortunes is Mr. Clodd seems to have inclined to
the survival of primitive belief in one the view that totemism was rather the
or more entities in the body, yet not of cause than the effect of a belief in
it, which may leave that body at will the transmigration of souls. See his
during life, and which perchance leaves Myths and Dreams (London, 1885),
it finally, to return not, at death ” pp. 99 sqq.
 ,

54 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

writers and from others which I cited, I conjectured that the

relation of a man to his totem is explicable on the supposi-
tion that he supposes his soul to be lodged for safety in
some external object, such as an animal or plant, but that
not knowing which individual of the species is the receptacle
of his soul he spares the whole species from a fear of
unwittingly injuring the particular one with which his fate
is bound up.^ suggested that a widespread rite of
Further, I

initiation at puberty, which consists

in a pretence of killing
the novice and bringing him to life again, may have been
the ceremony by which his soul is definitely transferred for
safety to his totem, the notion perhaps being that an inter-
change of life is effected such that the man dies as a man
and comes to life again as an animal, a plant, or whatever
his totem may be. This transference was, on my theory,
accomplished at puberty for the sake of guarding the
individual against the mysterious dangers which the savage
mind associates with sexual relations.^
On the On the whole the results of subsequent research and
whole this
theory has
increased knowledge of totemism have not confirmed this
not been theory. It is true that amongst the most primitive totemic
confirmed
by sub- tribes known to us, the aborigines of Central Australia,
sequent there are traces of a doctrine of external souls associated
research
though the with totemism ;
for there is some evidence that the ancestors
doctrine of of the present totemic clans are supposed to have transferred
external
souls implements of wood and stone
their souls to certain sacred
appears to But the evidence
which they call diuringa and nurtunjas?
be com-
bined with is ambiguous and the connection of these sacred implements
totemism
with totems is far from clear. Again, in West Africa
by some
tribes in totemism appears to be combined or entangled with the
Central
Australia
among the Siena of the Ivory
doctrine of the external soul
and West Coast and the Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast.^
Africa.
Further, the same doctrine seems to be widely spread,
whether with or without totemism is uncertain, among the
tribes of Southern Nigeria and Cameroon for we read ;

again and again of a belief entertained by these peoples

that the souls of living men and women are lodged in the

1
The Golden Bough (London, ® See above, vol. i. pp. 124-128.
*
1890), ii. 332 sgq. See above, vol. ii. pp. 551, 552,
Op. cit. ii. 242-359.
'•*
560.
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 55

bodies of animals, and that when the animals are killed the
men and women die simultaneously.^ Such beliefs would
certainly furnish an adequate motive for sparing the species
of animals with which a man believed his own life to be
indissolubly they would therefore explain the
linked ;

common attitude of people towards their totems. Yet the

evidence which connects this theory of external human
souls in animal bodies with totemism appears to be in-
sufficient to justify us in regarding it as the source of the
whole institution.
My second theory of totemism was suggested by the The
epoch-making discoveries of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in
Central Australia, which threw a flood of new and unex- theory,
pected light on the subject. For the first time totemism js^ origin-
was presented to us as a system essentially rational and as a
systcrn of
practical in its aims, though certainly not in the means magic
which it takes to compass them. For as totemism is fit^signed to
^
. . .
supply a
worked at present by the tribes of Central Australia, its community
main business appears
^
to be to supply
i
the community with 1
^ ^
necessaries
an abundance of food and of all the other necessaries of life,

and comforts of life, so far as these can be wrung from the

penurious hand of nature in the desert. The object is and drink,

excellent, but the measures which the natives have adopted

to attain it are lamentably and absurdly inadequate. Each
tribe is subdivided into a large number of totemic clans,
and each clan is charged with the duty of manipulating for
the general good of the community a particular department
of nature which we call its totem. Nothing could be better
in theory or worse in practice. A tribe so organised
presents indeed a superficial resemblance to a modern
industrial community organised on the sound economic
principle of the division of labour. But the resemblance is
deceptive. In reality the workers in the totemic hive are
busily engaged in doing nothing. The bees are industrious,
and there is a loud buzz, but unfortunately there is no honey.
They spend their labour in vain. Rigged out in motley
costumes of paint and birds’ down, they weary themselves
in the performance of elaborate mummeries which come to
nothing ;
they waste their breath in the utterance of spells
' .See above, vol. ii. pp. 593-600.
 56 5 UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. II

which die away ineffectually on the wind. In short they

seek to accomplish their ends by means of magic, and
magic has always deceived those who trusted in it. All its
reasonings are fallacious, all its high-sounding promises
false and hollow. Yet nature in a manner conspires to
maintain the delusion for sooner or later she always works
;

the effect which the magician commands her to perform,

and so he mistakes her for his servant. If we compare the
face of nature to an illuminated screen on which figures pass
to and fro, we may liken magicians to men gesticulating
and shouting at the figures and imagining that they come
and go at their bidding while all the time the phantas-
;

magoria is worked by a Master of the Show smiling invisible

behind the screen.
This This remarkable revelation of totemism existing at the
theory was
suggested
present day in Central Australia as an organised system of
to the co-operative magic naturally suggested the thought. Do
author by
the dis- not these magical ceremonies for the multiplication of the
coveries of totems furnish the clue to the origin of the institution ?
Messrs.
Spencer May not totemism simply be a system of magic designed
and Gillen to supply a community with all the necessaries of life and
in Central
Australia. especially with the chief necessary of all, with food ? The
thought occurred to me in reading the proofs of Spencer
and Gillen’s first great book. The Native Tribes of Central
Australia, and I communicated it by letter to my friend
Professor Baldwin Spencer. From him I learned that he
had been coming independently to a similar conclusion,
and accordingly when he visited England soon afterwards
he read at my suggestion a paper to the Anthropological
Institute in which he set forth the views of himself and his
colleague Mr. F. J. Gillen on the subject.^ On the same
occasion I sketched briefly the theory as it presented itself
to me at the time,^ and I afterwards published it more at
length in two papers which are reprinted in the first volume
of this book.® It would be superfluous, therefore, to repeat
here the arguments by which I supported the hypothesis.
Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen,
'
J. G. Frazer,
“ Observations on
“Some Remarks on Totemism as Central Australian Totemism,
applied to Australian Journal of the Anthropological Institute, .xxviii.
of the Anthropological Institute, .xxviii. (1899) pp. 281-286.
(i899)pp. 275-280. ^ Above, vol. i.
pp. 91-138.
 SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 57

Rather it is incumbent on me to state the reasons which

have since led me, on mature reflection, to abandon it as
unsatisfactory.
Briefly stated, these reasons are two. The motive which But the

the theory assigns for the origin of the institution is too

rational, and the social organisation which it implies is too theory

complex, to be primitive. It is unlikely that a community

of savages should deliberately parcel out the realm of nature oftotem-
into provinces, assign each province to a particular band of rational,
magicians, and bid all the bands to work their magic and
weave common good. Communities of organisa-
their spells for the
which
do certainly exist among
° the Australian assumes
this general pattern
y ,

aborigines, and so far the theory rests not on a flimsy is too com-
.It
structure of hypotheses
^ ^
but on a solid basis of fact.
.
But primitive.tie
probably these co-operative communities of totemic magicians
...
are developments of totemism rather than its germ. It may

be possible to go behind them and to discover the elements

out of which they have been evolved. We must seek for
some simpler idea, some primitive superstition, and for some
correspondingly simpler form of society, which together may
have developed into the comparatively elaborate totemic
system of the Central Australian tribes.
After long reflection it occurred to me that the The
®
simple idea, the primitive superstition at the root of
totemism, may perhaps be found in the mode by which the theory,
Central Australian aborigines still determine the totems of
every man, woman, and child of the tribe. That mode rests originated
. ...
-
on a primitive theory of concept on
T r . in a primi-
Ignorant ot the true tive ex-
i .
1

causes of childbirth, they imagine that a child only enters pianation

into a woman
at the moment wmen she first feels it stirring ception
in womb, and accordingly they have to explain to
her
themselves why it should enter her body at that particular The theory

moment. Necessarily ^ it has come from outside and therefore gested by

from something which the woman herself may have seen or the beliefs

felt immediately before she knew herself to be with child.

The theory of the Central Australians is that a spirit child Australian

ha.s made its way into her from the nearest of those trees,
rocks, water-pools, or other natural features at which the
spirits of the dead are waiting to be born again and since ;

only the spirits of people of one particular totem are believed

 58 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

to congregate at any one spot, and the natives well know

what toteinic spirits haunt each hallowed plot of ground, a
woman has no difficulty in determining the totem of her
unborn child. If the child entered her, that is, if she felt
her v/omb quickened, near a tree haunted by spirits of
Kangaroo people, then her child will be of the kangaroo
totem if she felt the first premonitions of maternity near a
;

rock tenanted by spirits of Emu people, then her child will

be of the emu totem and so on throughout the whole
;

length of the totemic gamut. This is not a matter of

speculation. It is the belief held universally by all the
tribes of Central and Northern Australia, so far as these
beliefs are known to us.^
But the Obviously, however, this theory of conception does not
beliefs of
the Central by itself explain totemism, thatis, the relation in which
Australian groups of people stand to species of things. It stops short
aborigines
as to child- of doing so by a single step. What a woman imagines to
birth ap- enter her body at conception is not an animal, a plant, a
pear to be
one stage stone or what not it is only the spirit of a_ human child
;

removed which has an animal, a plant, a stone, or what not for its
from
absolutely totem. Had the woman supposed that what passed into
primitive.
her at the critical moment was an animal, a plant, a stone,
or what not, and that when her child was born it would be
that animal, plant, or stone, in human form, then we should
have a complete explanation of totemism. For the essence
of totemism, as I have repeatedly pointed out, consists in
the identification of a man with a thing, whether an animal,
a plant, or what not and that identification would be
;

complete if a man believed himself to be the very thing,

whether animal, plant, or what not, which had entered his
mother’s womb at conception and had issued from it at
childbirth. Accordingly I conjectured ^ that the Central
Australian beliefs as to conception are but one remove from
absolutely primitive totemism, which, on my theory, ought
to consist in nothing more or less than in a belief that
women are impregnated without the help of men by some-
thing which enters their womb at the moment when they

' See above, vol. i. pp. 155 sqq., essay there reprinted was first published
188 sqq., 576 sqq. in 1905.
“ Above, vol. i. pp. 157 sqq. The
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 59

first feel it quickened ;

for such a belief would perfectly
explain the essence of totemism, that is, the identification of
groups of people with groups of things. Thus, if I was
right, the clue to totemism was found just where we might
most reasonably expect to find it, namely, in the beliefs and
customs of the most primitive totemic people known to us,
the Australian aborigines. In fact the clue had been staring
us in the face for years, though we did not recognise it.
But a link in the chain of evidence was wanting for. The ;

as I have just pointed out, the Australian beliefs cannot be

regarded as absolutely primitive.^ Three years after I pro- beliefs as
pounded my theory, the missing link was found, the broken g°p't°on
chain was completed, by the researches of Dr. W. H. R. and chiid-
Rivers ;
for in the Banks’ Islands he discovered a series of been
beliefs and customs which fulfil exactly my theoreticaDo""*^ t>y

definition of absolutely primitive totemism. The factshave among the

already been fully laid before the reader ^ here I need only Banks'
^ ;
^ Islanders,
briefly recapitulate them. In some of these islands many whose
people
* ^ identify themselves with certain animals or fruits and
^ _
_
totemism
believe that they themselves partake of the qu aliti es and accord-

character of these animals or fruits. Consistently with this

belief thejArefuse to eat animals or fruits of these sorts on to be that

the ground that to do so would be a kind of cannibalism ;

they would manner be eating themselves. The reason

in a sysrnm

they give for holding this belief and observing this conduct author had
is that their mothers were impregnated by the entrance into theoretic-

their wombs of spirit animals or spirit fruits, and that they Lted.°^*^
themselves are nothing but the particular animal or plant
which effected a lodgment in their mother and in due time
' However, according to the German them'may feel unwell-; in that case the
missionary Mr. C. Strehlow absolutely ratapa (germ) of a lalitja has entered
primitive totemism does occur in the into her through her hips, not through
Loritja (Luritcha) tribe of Central the mouth. Both cases accordingly
Australia. He says “When a woman
: belong to the first mode in which
on her wanderings catches sight of a children originate, namely, by the
kangaroo, which suddenly vanishes from entrance of a ratapa (germ) into a
her sight, and she at the same moment woman who passes by a totem place.”
feels the first symptoms of pregnancy, See the passage quoted by von
then a kangaroo ratapa (germ) has Leonhardi in his Preface (the pages
entered into her, not indeed the very of which are not numbered) to Mr.
kangaroo itself, for that was surely C. Die Aranda- itnd Loritja-
rather a kangaroo ancestor in animal Stdm?ne hi Z.entral Australien, i.
form. Or a woman may find lalitja (Frankfurt am Main, 1907).
fruits and after a copious repast on ' See above, vol. ii. pp. 89 sgq.
 6o SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

was born into the world with a superficial and

deceptive
resemblance to a human being. Thatthey partake
is why
of the character of the animal or plant that is why they
;

refuse to eat animals or plants of that species. This is not

called totemism, but nevertheless appears to be totemism
it

in all its pristine simplicity. it is an explana-

Theoretically
tion of childbirth resting on a belief that conception can take
place without cohabitation practically it is respect paid to
;

species of animals, plants, or other natural objects on the

ground of assumed identity with human beings.
their The
practice has long been known as totemism the theory which ;

explains the practice has now been disclosed by the dis-

coveries of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in Central Australia
and of Dr. W. H, R. Rivers in the Banks’ Islands.
The Here at last we seem to find a complete and adequate
concep-
tional
explanation of the origin of totemism. The conceptional
theory of theory, as I have called my third and so far as I can see
totemism
seems to my final theory of totemism, accounts for all the facts in
explain all a simple and natural manner. It explains why people
the facts of
totemism commonly abstain from killing and eating their totemic
in an easy animals and plants or otherwise injuring their totems. The
and natural
way. reason is that identifying themselves with their totems they
are naturally careful not to hurt or destroy them. It
explains why some people on the other hand consider them-
selves bound occasionally to eat a portion of the totemic
animal or plant. The reason again is that identifying
themselves with totem they desire to maintain and
their
strengthen that identity by assimilating from time
to time its flesh and blood or vegetable tissues. It
explains why people are often supposed to partake of the
qualities and character of their totems. The reason again
is that identifying themselves with their totems they
necessarily partake of the totemic qualities and character.
It explains why men often claim to exercise a magical
control over their totems, in particular a power of multiplying
them. The reason again is that identifying themselves with
their totems they naturally suppose themselves invested
with the like powers for the multiplication or control of the
species. It explains why people commonly believe them-

selves to be descended from their totemic animals and plants.

SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 6i

and why women are sometimes said have given birth to

to
these animals or plants. The reason
that these animals is

or plants or their spirits are supposed to have actually

entered into the mothers of the clan and to have been born
from them in human form. It explains the whole of the
immense range of totems from animals and plants upwards
or downwards to the greatest works of nature on the one side
and to the meanest handiwork of man on the other. The
reason is that there is nothing from the light of the sun or the
moon or the stars down to the humblest implement of domestic
utility which may not have impressed a woman’s fancy at
the critical season and have been by her identified with the
child in her womb. Lastly, it explains why totemic peoples
often confuse their ancestors with their totems. The reason
is that regarding their ancestors as animals or plants in
essence, though human in form, they find it hard to
distinguish even in thought between their outward human
appearance and their inward bestial or vegetable nature ;

they think of them vaguely both as men and as animals or

plants the contradiction between the two things does not
;

perplex them, though they cannot picture it clearly to their

minds. Haziness is characteristic of the mental vision of
the savage. Like the blind man of Bethsaida he sees men
like trees and animals walking in a thick intellectual fog.
Thus in the conceptional theory we seem to find a sufficient
explanation of all the facts and fancies of totemism.
We conclude, then, that the ultimate source of totemism Thus the
is a savage ignorance of the physical process by which men

and animals reproduce their kinds in particular it is an totemism

;

ignorance of the part played by the male in the generation jgnorancf^

of offspring. Surprising as such ignorance may seem to the of pater-
^
civilised mind, a little reflection will probably convince us "g|,^j.^nce
that, if mankind has indeed been evolved from lower forms must at
of animal life, there must have been a period in the history have been
of our race when ignorance of paternity was universal among umversai
men. The part played by the mother in the production ofmeu;^and
offspring is obvious to the senses and cannot but be perceived
even by the animals but the part played by the father is conception
;

far less obvious and is indeed a matter of inference ouly,

not of perception. How could the infantine intelligence of one which
 62 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

would the primitive savage perceive that the child which comes
naturally
suggest
forth from the womb is the fruit of the seed which was
itself to sowed there nine long months before ? He is ignorant, as
the mind
of the we know from the example of the Australian aborigines, of
savage ;
in the simple truth that a seed sowed in the earth will spring
particular
it would up and bear fruit. How then could he infer that children
find sup-
are the result of a similar process ? His ignorance is
port in the
common therefore a natural and necessary phase in the intellectual
fancies of
pregnant
development of our race.^ But while he could not for long
women. ages divine the truth as to the way in which children come
into the world, it was inevitable that so soon as he began
to think at all he should turn his thoughts to this most
important and most mysterious event, so constantly repeated
before his eyes, so essential to the continuance of the species.
If he formed a theory about anything it would naturally be
about this. And what theory could seem to him more
obviously suggested by the facts than that the child only
enters into the mother’s womb at the moment when she
first feels it stirring within her ? How could he think that the
child was there long before she felt it? From the stand-
point of his ignorance such a supposition might well appear
unreasonable and absurd. And if the child enters the
woman only at the first quickening of her womb, what more
natural than to identify it with something that simultane-
ously struck her fancy and perhaps mysteriously vanished ?

It might be a kangaroo that hopped before her and dis-

appeared in a thicket it might be a gay butterfly that
;

flickered past in the sunshine with the metallic brilliancy

of its glittering wings, or a gorgeous parrot flapping by
resplendent in soft plumage of purple, crimson, and orange.
It might be the sunbeams streaming down on her through an
opening in a forest glade, or the moonbeams sparkling and
dancing on the water, till a driving cloud suddenly blotted
out the silvery orb. It might be the sighing of the wind in

the trees, or the surf on some stormy shore, its hollow roar

* Since this was written I have not published, at least it did not reach
received Mr. E. S. Hartland’s book me, February 1910. So far as I have
till

Primitive Pater/iiiy [Condon, 1909), in as yet re.ad it I have found no reason

which the view expressed in the text is to alter anything which I had written
supported by a large array of evidence. on the subject.
Though the book bears date 1909 it was
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 6.3

sounding in her ears like the voice of a spirit borne to her

from across the sea. Anything indeed that struck^a woman
at that mysterious moment of her life when she first knows
herself to be a mother might easily be identified by her with
the child in her womb. Such maternal fancies, so natural and
seemingly so universal, appear to be the root of totemism.
Thus the present diffusion of totemism over a large part But while
of the world is explained by causes which at a very remote totemism
may have
time probably operated equally among all races of men, to wit, originated
ignor-
an ignorance of the true source of childbirth combined with in ance of
a natural curiosity on the subject. We need not suppose paternity,
has it
that the institution has been borrowed to any great extent survived
by one race from another. It may have everywhere sprung among
many
independently from the same simple root in the mental peoples to
constitution of man. But it would be a great mistake to whom the
fact of
imagine that the cause which originated the institution has paternity
survived wherever the institution itself still lingers, in other is well
known,
words, that all totemic peoples are totally ignorant of though
paternity. In the history of society it constantly happens some of
them still
that a custom, once started, continues to be practised long continue
believe
after the motive which originated it has been forgotten by to that ;

the mere force of inertia an institution goes sliding along women

may
the old well-worn groove though the impetus which first set occasion-
it in motion may have died out ages ago. So it has been ally con-
ceive
with totemism. The institution is still observed by many children

tribes who are perfectly familiar with the part which the without
the help
father plays in the begetting of children. Still even among of the
them the new knowledge has not always entirely dispelled other sex.
the ancient ignorance. Some of them still think that the
father’s help, though usual, is not indispensable for the pro-
duction of offspring. Thus we have seen that the Baganda
firmly believe that a woman may
be impregnated by the
purple flower of the banana falling on her shoulders or by
the spirits of suicides and misborn infants which dart into
her from their dishonoured graves at the cross-roads.^ Even
among civilised races which have long sloughed off totemism,
if they ever had it, traces of the same primaeval ignorance
survive in certain marriage customs which are still observed
in England, in certain rites which barren women still perform
1
See above, vol. ii.
pp 507 sq.
 64 5 UMMA RV AND CONCL DSION SECT. II

in the hope of obtaining a mother’s joys, and in a multitude

of popular tales, which set forth how a virgin conceived and
brought forth a child without contact with the other sex.^
Ages after such stories cease to be told of common people
they continue to be related with childlike faith of heroes and
demigods. The virgin birth of these worshipful personages
is now spoken of as supernatural, but to the truly primitive

savage it seems perfectly natural indeed he knows of no

;

other way in which people are born into the world. In

short a belief that a virgin can conceive and bring forth a
son is one of the last lingering relics of primitive savagery.
Thus the If we ask what in particular may have suggested the
fancies and
theory of conception which appears to be the tap-root of
longings of
pregnant totemism, it seems probable that, as I have already indicated,
women
may have a preponderant influence is to be ascribed to the sick fancies
had a pre- of pregnant women, and that so far, therefore, totemism may
ponderant
influence be described as a creation of the feminine rather than of the
in the masculine mind. It is well known that the minds of women
creation of
totemism. are in an abnormal state during pregnancy, nor is this strange;
Such the presence of a living being within them, drawing its
fancies and
longings nourishment from their blood and growing day by day,
are not
must necessarily affect their whole bodily organism and
confined
to savages disorder in some measure the mental processes which
but are
commonly
depend on it. One of the commonest symptoms of
shared by this partial mental derangement is a longing for a special
civilised
women. and sometimes unusual kind of food. At such times a
woman will feel a craving for some particular viand for
which in her normal state she has no decided liking.
She will consume large quantities of the food, if she can
get it, and many people deem it a duty to supply her
with that for which she craves. In Chili, for example, if a
woman with child looks longingly at some dainty which
tempts her fancy in a shop window, the shopman, perceiving
her condition, will give it to her for nothing.^ And it very

* See above, vol. ii. pp. 25S-263. Bartels’s book Das Weib^ (Leipsic,
Many superstitious rites practised by 1908)^.772-791. On the whole subject
women in all parts of the
world for the I may now refer readers to Mr. E. S.
purpose of obtaining offspring clearly Hartland’s book Primitive Paternity.
imply an ignorance of the necessity of ^ This touching civility was corn-
male co-operation. A
large collection municated to me by my wife, who lived
of examples will be found in Floss and for several years in Chili. Similarly in
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 65

often happens that after her child isborn a woman associates

it in some way with the food for which she had longed,
and which had supported and solaced her in the weary,
hazardous months of pregnancy. For example, to take an Examples
actual case which happened not very long ago, Mrs. H. told
a friend of mine, Mr. Walter Heape, F.R.S., that when her Walter
sister, who is many years younger than herself, was born, she
rasp
had marked, in clear outline on the back of her neck, a berry

raspberry this mark still persists and the lady is about

:

thirty years of age. The mother explained the mark by

saying that she ate largely of raspberries during her pregnancy.
As a matter of fact Mr.Heape was assured that she did so,
that she had an extraordinary longing for the fruit and ate
them continuously for many weeks for her husband and she ;

being rich, she was provided with raspberries as long as it

was possible to obtain them.^ Similar cases, I am told, are The lizard

very common among women. To take another and some-

what different case. Captain W. told Mr. Walter Heape
that while he was in China his wife was sleeping lightly in
bed one hot night without bedclothes and with her nightgown
open and her chest exposed. A lizard fell from the roof on
her chest between the breasts she woke with a start and
;

saw the animal running away. She foretold that the child
she was with would be marked on the chest, and Captain
W. assured Mr. Heape that when the child was born it bore
the mark of a lizard, with long body, four outstretched legs,
and on the very part corresponding to the part of its
tail,

mother’s chest on which the lizard had fallen. He added

that the mark was red and that it persisted, though for how
long it persisted Mr. Heape does not know.
Cases of both sorts could be multiplied without difficulty. Such
I have cited these two merely as typical and as reported,
though not at first hand, by an entirely trustworthy witness, might

The first case illustrates the belief that a child may resemble
the Black Forest it is said that preg- F.R. S. M. A., of Trinity College, Cam-
,

nant women are allowed to gather fruit bridge, dated 20th January 1910.
from other people’s gardens provided Mr. Heape is now resident at Greyfriars,
that they eat it on the spot. See Floss Southwold. He has paid special atten-
und Bartels, Das Weib^ i. 918, where tion both to gynaecology and to cattle-
more evidence on the subject will be breeding and is an acknowledged
found (pp. 916-920). authority on both subjects.
1 Letter of Mr. Walter Heape,
VOL. IV F
 66 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

people a fruit which the mother partook of freely during her preg-
determine
a child’s nancy ;
the other case illustrates the belief that a child may
totem. resemble an animal which fell on the mother while she was
big. Such fancies, whether well or ill founded, are exactly
analogous to the fancies by which in the Banks’ Islands
women determine what may be called the conceptional
totems of their children.^ Can we doubt that, if totemism
had not gone out of fashion in England, Mrs. H.’s child
would have had a raspberry for its totem and Captain W.’s
child a lizard ? Thus while totemism either never existed
among the civilised races or has long been extinct, the causes
which in the remote past probably gave rise to the institution
persist in the midst of our civilisation to this day.
Breeders The belief that the unborn young is affected by impres-
of cattle,
horses, sions of sight made on the pregnant mother is not confined
and fowls to women ;
is commonly shared by breeders of cattle,
it
are also
firmly con- horses, and fowls. On this subject Mr. Walter Heape writes
vinced that
the off-
to me :
“ Many breeders of prize fowls, I am told, will not
spring of allow their breeding hens to mix with badly marked fowls,
animals is
even take care to remove any of the latter from a
will
affected by
impres- neighbouring pen which is in sight of their perfect birds.
sions made
on the
Breeders of horses, too, when breeding for pure colour, will
mother not allow their pregnant mares to mix with white -faced
animal at
conception horses or even allow a white-faced horse to run in the next
and preg- fieldwhere it can be seen over the fence. They assert that
nancy.
ifthey do so they run great risk of getting foals with white
faces or otherwise badly marked. I may quote, as a further

modern example of this firmly established view, the well

known breeder of black polled cattle who would not have
any white or coloured article on his farm, but who had
all his fences, gates, etc., all painted black. The influence of
surroundings in this respect is of course a very ancient belief,

it existed in the time of Jacob. But another perhaps even

still more remarkable belief among many breeders is ex-
emplified in the following. A well known breeder in the
North of England told me, he set himself the task of im-
proving his stud many years ago, and for that purpose
employed as sires certain horses very markedly superior in
looks to his breeding mares. Eor two or three years he was
* See above, vol. ii. pp. 89 sqij.
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 67

greatly disappointed in the result ;

the foals, he said, invari-
ably took after their mothers. He
spoke especially of their
outward appearance, which was of particular importance to
him as he was breeding good class carriage horses, and
stylish looking horses command a high price in this business.
It occurred to him that it was the custom in his stables to

have his mares covered in a loose-box which was rather dark,

and that possibly this fact affected the result. He therefore
arranged that the mares should be daily led about a yard,
from whence they could see the stallion, for some days before
they were covered, and further that they should be covered
in the open yard after being near to the stallion for some
time previously. The result he told me was extraordinary :

the foals so produced almost invariably took after the sires.

This belief in the transmission of maternal mental impressions
to the young is not confined to stock, and is gravely referred
to in medical books of about a hundred years ago and
possibly later than that. You will understand that so far
as the truth of these stories is concerned I can give you no
assurance, indeed so far as is actually known there is no
evidence in favour of their truth, and much evidence to
induce one to believe they may all be otherwise explained.
But I understand you are not concerned with the truth of
these matters but only with the belief in their truth, and I
have no hesitation in saying that both as regards women and
as regards stock-breeders it is very widely and very firmly
^
believed.”
The difficulty in the way of accepting such widespread Difficulty

beliefs as true is no known means of com- gtandfn^

this. There is

munication by which sensations, ideas, or emotions can be how

conveyed from a woman either to the unfertilised ova in her impres-
ovary or to a fertilised ovum, that is, to an embryo in her sions made
womb. For so far as we are aware the only channel by mother
which sensations, ideas, and emotions can be transmitted is
conveyed
.

a nerve, and there is no nerve connecting the nervous system to her

of a woman either with the ova or with the embryo. An young.
.

ovum IS an isolated cell enclosed by a specially thick mem-

brane and lying in a specially produced cavity or follicule
in the ovary. It absorbs nourishment from the surrounding
1
Letter of Mr. Walter Heape to me, dated 20th January 1910.
 68 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

cells ;
for processes of these communica-
cells are in direct
tion with the ovum, being projected
protoplasm of the
through minute pores in its thick enclosing membrane. The
mother’s blood nourishes directly the cells and through them
indirectly the ovum but there is no nervous connection
;

between the ovum and her. When the ovum has been
fertilised by union with the male germ and has passed from
the ovary into the uterus, the resulting embryo continues to
be at least as much isolated from the mother’s body as the
unfertilised ovum in the ovary had been. No nerve connects
the embryo with the mother, and the blood of the mother
does not circulate in the blood-vessels of the child. But its

constituents pass indirectly into the blood of the embryo

through the walls of the blood-vessels. That, so far as we
know, is the only communication which takes place between
a mother and her unborn infant.^
If such Thus it is difficult to understand how any mental impres-
mental im-
pressions
sions made on a woman either before or after conception
are really- can be transmitted by her to her offspring, since the physical
conveyed
to the
mechanism by which alone, so far as we know, the trans-
embryo it mission could take place is wholly wanting. Yet the wide-
must be
by some spread belief of women, and still more perhaps the almost
agency of universal belief of experienced breeders, in the frequent
which at
present we occurrence of such transmission is certainly deserving of
know attention. If the belief is indeed well founded, it would
nothing.
seem necessary to conclude that mind can act on mind
through a channel other than that of the nervous system.
“ So far as I Mr. Walter Heape, “ if there is
can see,” writes
such a thing as the transference of mental impressions from
mother to ovum in ovary or from mother to embryo in
uterus, brought about by means of some force or agency
it is

of which we know
nothing. I think we may say that most

scientific men are

inclined to deny that such transference
really occurs. Personally I am not prepared to deny it,
^
but if it is true I cannot explain how it is done.”

1
These physiological details I derive me dated 24th January 1910. Mr.
from explanations given me by Mr. F. H. A. Marshall, of Christ’s College,
Walter Heape in conversation and in Cambridge, who has made a special
two letters dated 20th and 24th January study of sexual physiology, informed
1910. me in conversation that he agrees with
2 Letter of Mr. Walter Heape to Mr. Heape.
SECT. II THE ORIGIN OF TOTEMISM 69

It is to be hoped that science may yet enlighten us as if the

to the dark border line which divides what we call mind

from what we and may inform us how the pressions
call matter,
mysterious transition is made from
the one to the other, out'to'be"'
If it should turn out that mind may communicate with well
mind by means of which we as little dream now as we would

11 11-
lately dreamed of the existence of radium, it may follow supply a
II physical
as a corollary that the impressions made on a mother s basis for
• ,

mind are really imprinted, as so many people firmly believe,

on the mind and body of her unborn offspring. To de- explain the
monstrate this would in a sense be to supply a physical
basis for totemism for it would shew that the resemblances distinct
;

which women often trace between their children and the

things which struck their fancy during pregnancy may be exogamous
real, not merely fanciful
that the figure of a raspberry or a
;

lizard, forexample, may actually be printed on the body of

an infant whose mother ate raspberries or was visited by a
lizard while she had the child in her womb. Thus what
appears to be the essence of totemism, namely, the identi-
fication of human beings with species of animals, plants, or
other things, would be intelligible and to a certain extent
excusable, since it might often rest on a real, not merely an
imaginary, similarity between the two. Further, we should
then understand why each totemic clan, while it is compelled
to draw all its wives from other clans, may nevertheless
preserve a distinct physical type of its own, unaffected by
the stream of alien blood which is constantly pouring into
itsveins. This remarkable preservation of the clan type
under a rigorous rule of clan exogamy is exemplified by the
Baganda in Central Africa and is reported of some Tinneh
clans in North-West America.’^ On the hypothesis which
I have indicated we may suppose that the children of each
clan take after their mothers or their fathers, as the case
may be, according as the mental impressions made on
pregnant women are derived mainly from their own clan or
from the clan of their husband. Where husbands live with
the families of their wives, impressions made on a
the
mother would naturally be derived chiefly from her own
family and clan, and consequently the children would
* See above, vol. ii.
pp. 505 sq., vol. iii. pp. 355, 356.
 — ;

70 UMMAR Y AND CONCL USJON SECT. II

resemble their mothers ;

where the wives live with their
husbands’ families, the impressionsmade on a mother would
naturally be derived chiefly from her husband’s family and
clan, and consequently children would resemble their
fathers. But where the husband lives with his wife’s family,
descent is usually, perhaps invariably traced in the maternal

line ;
where the wife lives with the husband’s family there is
a tendency, by no means invariably carried out, to trace
descent in the paternal line. Thus it would often, though
certainly not always, happen that with maternal descent the
children would resemble their mothers, and that with
paternal descent they would resemble their fathers. But
all this must remain a matter of speculation until the
fundamental question of the possible influence of a mother on
her unborn child has been definitely answered by biology.
Even if
the belief
—
Even if the answer should be negative that is, even
should
though it should be demonstrated that the supposed in-
prove to fluence is a pure superstition, and that all the numerous
be base-
less, it may
instances which have been alleged of it are apocryphal
still have the theory which derives totemism from a belief in such
been the
source of influence would not be affected thereby. That belief may
totemism
;
be utterly false, yet still it has been held by a great part
since many
great of mankind, and may therefore, like many other false
institutions
beliefs, have served as the base of a great institution. If
have been
founded human institutions were built only on truth, no doubt
on super-
they would be better and more durable ;
but taking the
stition.
world as it is we must acknowledge that many showy
structures have been piled high on rotten foundations
that error dies hard, and that systems founded on it have
too often a very long lease of life. Amongst such systems
the institution of totemism has been one. For even if
it could be proved to have a physical basis in certain real

resemblances between people and things, the theoretical

inferences which it has drawn from these resemblances are
always false, and the practical rules which it has deduced
from them are generally absurd.
But while On the whole, then, the conceptional theory of totemism
the con-
appears to satisfy all the conditions of a reasonable hypo-
ceptional
theory thesis, and we may acquiesce in it till a better shall have
seems to
e-xplain
been suggested. But the theory throws no light on the
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 71

origin of the other great social institution which is generally totemism,

associated with totemism, I mean the custom of exogamy, explain

In order to complete our view of the two institutions it only exogamy,

remains to enquire how exogamy arose and how it has so

often become almost inextricably entangled with totemism.

3. The Origin of Exogamy

The same acute m ind

which discovered totemism dis- J. F.
McLennan
covered exoga my. was the Scotchman John Ferguson the
It
dis-
McLennan who first perceived and proclaimed the historical coverer
both of
importance of these two great institutions. The discoveries exogamy
reflect all the greater credit on his acumen because the and of
totemism.
evidence by which he supported them was both scanty in
amount and for the most part indifferent in quality. But
the defect has been amply supplied by subsequent researches,
which his far-seeing genius did more than anything else to
stimulate and direct. An immense body of evidence, of
which a large part has been placed before the reader in the
preceding volumes, establishes the widespread existence and
the powerful influence of the two institutions beyond the
reach of doubt and cavil. Later writers may indeed,
dazzled by the novelty and the range of the vista thus
opened up into the human past, have exaggerated the
impulse which the institutions in question, and particularly
totemism, have given to the growth of society and religion ;

but that they have both, and particularly exogamy, been

factors of great moment in the moral and social evolution of
humanity can hardly be disputed by any candid enquirer
who is acquainted with the facts. Therefore among the
pioneers who have explored that dark region of primitive
human thought and custom which lies beyond the pale of

written history, and which but for him and a few like him
might have seemed a limbo never to be lighted by the
student’s lamp, a foremost place must always be assigned to
John Ferguson McLennan.
His discovery of exogamy preceded his discovery of He was led
totemism and was first given to the world in his book to his dis-
covery of
Primitive Marriage. He was led to the discovery by a exogamy
by an
study of the curious marriage ceremony which consists
 72 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. HI

attempt to in a pretence of carrying off the bride by violence even

explain the
form of when the families on both sides have consented to the
capture as wedding and have indeed arranged it between them. This
a marriage
ceremony. ceremony, which he called the form of capture at marriage,
he found to be practised by many different peoples in
many parts of the world and searching for a cause which
;

might explain he came to the conclusion that the form

it

or pretence of capturing wives must everywhere have been

preceded by the reality of it, in other words, that at some
time in the history of society there must have been a wide-
spread custom of capturing women from other and hostile
tribes in order to serve as wives to their captors. Pursuing
this line of enquiry he next asked why men should carry
off wives from other communities instead of marrying those
whom they had at home. It was at this point that he made
the discovery of exogamy. He found, that is to say, that
it is a common rule with savage and barbarous peoples
never to marry a woman of their own tribal subdivision
or group but always to marry a woman of a subdivision
or group different from their own. This newly discovered
rule he called by the name of exogamy or “ marrying out,”
an excellent and appropriate word which is now practically
indispensable in this branch of study.^

' McLennan’-s first book. Primitive been anticipated by the acute Cam-
Marriage, in which the discovery of exo- bridge ethnologist, R. G. Latham, in
gamy was announced, and of which the a passage which for the sake of its
preface was dated January 1865, was historical interest I will transcribe.
afterwards reprinted with other essays Speaking of the Magars, a tribe of
in a volume called Studies in Ancient Nepaul, Latham says “ Imperfect as
:

History, of which the first edition is our information for the early history
appeared in 1876 and the second in and social constitution of the Magar,
1886 (Macmillan and Co., London). we know that a trace of a tribual
I have used the second edition of the division (why not say an actual division
Studies, and my references will be to into tribes ?) is to be found. There
it. For the account which I have are twelve thunis. All individuals
given of the way in which McLennan belonging to the same thmn are
was led to the discovery of exogamy, supposed to be descended from the
see his Studies in Ancient History same male ancestor descent from the
;

(London, 1886), pp. xvi. sq., 9 sqq., same great mother being by no means
22 sqq., 31 sqq. The adoption of the necessary. So husband and wife must
terms exogamy and endogamy ( marry- ‘
‘
belong to different thums. Within
ing out” and “marrying in”) is men- one and the same there is no marriage.
tioned and justified on p. 25 of that Do you wish for a wife ? If so, look
work. It is fair to add, and McLennan to the thu 7>i of your neighbour ; at any
himself pointed it out {op. cit. p. 56), rate look beyond your own. This is
that the discovery of exogamy had the first time I have found occasion to
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 73

McLennan did more than reveal the existence of while

exogamy as an institution which has deeply affected the
evolution of marriage and of the family. He also put forward

forward a carefully considered exp lain its

hypothesi s to to^gxpiain
origin and as he was a
;
man of a cautious temper and a exogamy,

singularly clear and penetrating mind, his theory of the rise ^rward
of the great institution which he discovered deserves respect- no theory

ful attention. But while he believed that he could explain totendsm'!

exogamy he renounced the attempt to explain totemism,
and contented himself with collecting facts and tracing,
as far as he could, the influence of totemism on religion
and society without lifting the veil which shrouded its
origin. On this subject his brother writes :
“ It may here
be said had for a time a hypothesis as to the
that he
origin of Totemism, but that he afterwards came to see that
there were conclusive reasons against it. At last, as far
as I know, he had none which should be easily intelligible —
to any one who knows the subject and knows what, on
his view, was involved in Totemism. To show its prevalence,
to establish some leading points in its history, to exhibit
it in connection with kinship and with Exogamy, and to
make out its connection with worship appeared to him
^
to be the matters primarily important.”
McLennan’s cautionin refusing to speculate on the Both
origin totemism at a time when the evidence at his
of
disposal did not admit of a correct solution of the problem Robertson

can only be commended. It was not his fault if many others hdd'that
rushed in where he feared to tread. Thick darkness con- totemism is

tinned to cover the beginning of totemism till the epoch- exogamy,

making discoveries of Spencer and Gillen threw a flood
of light upon it though, as I have pointed out, their light
;

shone steadily on totemism for years before any one

mention It will not be

this practice. Latham, Descriptive Ethnology, Lon-
the last ;
on the contrary, the principle don, 1859, vol. i. p. 80.) But the
it suggests is so common as to be brief flash of Latham’s somewhat
almost universal. We shall find it in meteoric genius cannot eclipse the star
Australia ;
we shall find it in North of McLennan.
and South America ; we shall find it

in Africa ; we shall find it in Europe ;

1 Donald McLennan, The Patri-
we shall suspect and infer it in many archal Theory, based on the Papers of
places where the actual evidence of the late John Ferguson McLennan
its existence is incomplete.” (R. G. (London, 1885), pp. vi. sq.
 —

74 6 -
UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

perceived, lying full within its radiant circle, the missing clue,
the scarlet thread, which was to guide us to the heart of
the labyrinth.^ But while the discoverer of totemism was
content to confess his ignorance of its origin, he formed
a clear and definite opinion as to its relation to exogamy.
To quote his brother again “ As the theory of the Origin :

of Exogamy took shape, and the facts connected with

it reduced themselves to form in his mind, the conclusion

was reached that the system conveniently called Totemism

from which his essay on the Worship of Animals and Plants
took its departure — must have been established in rude
societies prior to the origin of Exogamy. This carried back
the origin of Totemism to a state of man in which no idea
of incest existed.” ^ Similarly McLennan’s equally acute
and far more learned disciple, W. Robertson Smith, wrote :

“ Totemism is generally found in connection with exogamy,

but must, as J. F. McLennan concluded, be older than
exogamy in all cases easy to see that exogamy
;
indeed it is

necessarily presupposes the existence of a system of kinship

which took no account of degrees but only of participation
in a common stock. Such an idea as this could not be
conceived by savages in an abstract form it must necessarily ;

have had a concrete expression, or rather must have been

thought under a concrete and tangible form, and that form
seems to have been always supplied by totemism. The
origin of this curious system, lying as it does behind
exogamy, is yet more obscure than the origin of the latter.” ^

' See above, pp. 57-59. the same stock-group, but living in
^ Donald McLennan, The Patri- different local tribes, or even the same
archal Theory (London, 1885), p. vi. persons living in the same local tribe.
Compare J. F. McLennan, Studies in We have, then, the inference that the
Ancient History, Second Series (Lon- religious regard for the totem, the
don, 1896), pp. 58 sq. “Unless the
; blood-feud, and of course the system
totem bond had been fully established of female kinship —
without which no
in the stock-groups before they became commencement of the transfusion could
to any great extent interfused in local —
have taken place were firmly estab-
tribes, it could not have been established lished in the original stock -groups,
at all. It is the test, and apart from before the appearance of the system of
the memory of individuals, the only capture or exogamy.”
test, of blood-relationship among the
lower races and without it, as far as ^ W. Robertson Smith, Kinship and
;

we know, there is absolutely nothing Marriage in Early Arabia (Cam-

which could hold together, as a body bridge, 1885), p. 187 (pp. 218 sq. of
of kindred, persons descended from the Second Edition, London, 1903).
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 75

The course of subsequent research, which has immensely Subsequent

enlarged the evidence for the practice both of totemism and haTcon-
of exogamy, has strongly confirmed the conclusion reached firmed the
by these eminent scholars and thinkers as to the priority ofpriorityor
totemism to exogamy. Any theory based on the assumption totemism
that the two things have from the first existed together as gamy,
different sides of the same institution, or that totemism is
derived from exogamy, is founded on misapprehension and
can only end in confusion and error. If we are to under-
stand the rise and history of totemism and exogamy, we
must clearly apprehend that totemism existed in all its
essential features before exogamy was thought of, in other
words, that exogamy was an innovation imposed on com-
munities which were already divided into totemic clans.
The totemic clan is a totally different social organism
from the exogamous class, and we have good grounds for
thinking that it is far older.
The theory by which J. F. McLennan attempted to McLennan
explain the origin of exogamy is very simple and at first
sight very persuasive. The general cause of exogamy, gamy arose

according to him, was a scarcity of women, which obliged a*^s°arcky

men to go outside of their own group for wives and so of women
gradually established a prejudice in favour of foreign women female
so strong that in time men were strictly forbidden to marry infanticide,
0-1 r » which
women of their ownhe scarcity of women, he obliged
group. 1
1

says, “ within the group led to a practice of stealing the

women of other groups, and in time it came to be considered from other
improper, because it was unusual, for a man to marry a
woman of his own group.” ^ Further, he explained this gradually
assumed scarcity of women by a general practice of female ^^j^j-ejudice
infanticide. He supposed that savages, unable to support in favour
all the children that were born, systematically murdered a

large number of female infants, because they foresaw that foreign

both in the search for food and in fights with hostile groups
females would be far less useful than males. Accordingly
by commonly killing female children and sparing male
children they produced such a want of balance between the
sexes and such a numerical preponderance of males over
1
J. F. McLennan, Studies in l6o; compare zV. 'pp. 75 sq., 90 sq..
Ancient Hist 07-y (London, 1886), p. 115, 124.
 76 5 UMMA RV AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

females that there were not women enough in the group to

supply all the men with wives. Hence in order to obtain
wives it was necessary to go to other groups, and as the
relations between neighbouring groups were, on McLennan’s
hypothesis, uniformly hostile, the men could only obtain the
women they needed by forcible capture. Thus a regular
system of capturing wives was established men came to ;

think that marriage by capture was the only true marriage ;

and in time the practice of marrying women of their own

group not only went out of fashion but was rigorously
prohibited. This was, according to McLennan, the origin
of exogamy. And after peaceful relations had been estab-
lished between neighbouring groups, men had become so
innured to the habit of stealing wives from their enemies
that they continued to regard robbery as the only legitimate
title to marriage hence even when a marriage had been
;

arranged between two families with the consent and approval

of all the parties concerned, it was still, for the sake of
decency and propriety, deemed necessary for the bridegroom’s
family to make a great show of carrying off the bride by
violence and for the bride’s family to make a corresponding
show of desperate resistance. This was, according to
McLennan, the origin of the form of capture at marriage. ^
The theory Plausible as McLennan’s theory of the origin of exogamy
is open to
grave
may seem at first sight to be, it is open to grave objections.
objections. I propose to shew briefly, first, that the facts which it
assumes are not suffici ently attested to make them a sound
basis for a theoryand, second, that even if they were well
;

would n ot exp lain exogamy.

attested they
It turns First, as to the supposed facts, McLennan’s whole theory
entirely
on the
turns on an assumption that in primitive society there is
assumption a serious want of balance between the sexes and that the
that in
primitive
numerical preponderance is generally, if not invariably, on
society the side of the males. This is an essential point in the
there are
commonly theory. If it is not established, the whole theory remains a
more men mere hypothesis suspended in the air without any solid
than
women. foundation in fact. For it was just this numerical pre-
ponderance of males, in other words, the scarcity of women,
1
J. F. McLennan, Studies in g 22 st/ij., 50 72 syt/.,

Ancient History (London, 1886), pp. go sq„ 115, 124, 160.

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 77

which according to McLennan led or compelled men to go

abroad for their wives and so gave rise to the practice of
exogamy. Hence it is of the first importance to enquire,
Does this assumed numerical superiority of males over females
commonly exist in primitive communities ? are men gener-
ally much more numerous than women in savage tribes ?
The proposition that they are so, which is the crucial McLennan
point in his hypothesis, was not proved by McLennan. Exact
statistics as to the proportions of the sexes in primitive numerical

communities are indeed almost wholly wanting, and in their

absence it is to prove directly that males was

necessarily impossible
caused by
men usually exceed women m number
far among savage ^ practice
1 . ,

tribes. Accordingly McLennan endeavoured to establish itoffemaie

infanticide.
indirectly by adducing evidence that m savage society the
. . . .
, , , , , , ,

balance of the sexes is artificially disturbed and the number

of women greatly reduced by a widespread practice of female
infanticide.^ this cause has in some cases produced
That This cause

the assumed effect appears to be well attested. Infanticide have^pro°

is known, for example, to have been exceedingly prevalent duced the

in Polynesia, where the smallness of the islands and the effecH^*

impossibility of finding room for an expanding population Polynesia,

probably furnished the chief motive for murdering children

at birth. Indeed this motive was alleged by the natives
themselves as an excuse for the crime. They have been
heard to say that if all the children born were allowed to
live, there would not be food enough produced in the islands
to support them.^ Now with regard to the choice of
victims we are told that “ during the whole of their lives, the
females were subject to the most abasing degradation ;
and
their sex was often, at their birth, the cause of their destruc-
tion : if the purpose of the unnatural parents had not been

fully matured before, the circumstance of its being a female

child was often sufficient to fix their determination on its

death. Whenever we have asked them, what could induce

them to make a distinction so invidious, they have generally
1
J. F. McLennan, Sttidies in E. Westermaick, The Origin and
Ancient History (London, i886), pp. Develop 7iient of the Moi-al Ideas, i.
75 sq., 90 sq. id.. Studies in Ancient
;
(London, 1906) pp. 394 sqq.
Second Series (London, 1896), ^ w. Ellis, Polynesian Researches,

pp. 74-1 1 1. For a large collection of Second Edition, i. (London 1832)

evidence on infanticide in general, see p. 257.
 78 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

answered, that the fisheries, the service of the temple, and

especially war, were the only purposes for which they thought
it desirable to rear children ;
that in these pursuits women
were comparatively useless and therefore female children ;

were frequently not suffered to live. Facts fully confirm

^
these statements.”
In other In Vanua Levu, one of the two greatest of the Fijian
parts of the
world also Islands, a large proportion, nearer two-thirds than half, of
female the children born are said to have been murdered within
infanticide
seems to two days of birth. Infanticide was reduced to a system.
have There were professional practitioners of it in every village.
resulted in
“ All destroyed after birth are females, becausethey are
a numerical
superiority
useless in war, or, as some say, because they give so
of men
over much trouble. But that the former is the prevailing
women.
opinion appears from such questions as these, put to per-
sons who may plead for the little one’s life :
‘
Why live ?
’ ” ^
Will she wield a club ? Will she poise a spear ?

Again, among the Guanas of Paraguay the number of

women is said to be much less than that of the men, and

the disproportion is attributed to female infanticide, the

women murdering most of their female children in order,
on the principle of supply and demand, to enhance the
value of those that remain.® Again, female infanticide has
been and perhaps still is commonly practised by the Todas
of Southern India, with the result that the men considerably
exceed the women in number.^ Again, among the Loucheux
of North-West America women are said to be fewer than men,
and in this tribe also female infanticide appears to be one
cause of the disproportion between the sexes.® Again,
female infanticide used to be practised among several of the
Naga tribes in Assam, and there was consequently a great
deficiency of women.®

' W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, African tribes, including the Baganda,

Second Edition, i. (London, 1832) shews that there is nothing improbable
p. 257. in this supposition. See below, pp.
2 Fiji and the
Thomas Williams, 86 sq.
Fijians, Second
Edition (London, ® F. de Azara, Voyages dans FAm-
i860), i. 180 sq.
If the estimate of Mque M'eridionale (Paris, 1809), ii.
the number of children slain is correct, 93 sq.
we must suppose that girls were born ^ See above, vol. ii. p. 263.
in much larger numbers than boys in ^ See above, vol. iii. p. 358.
Vanua Levu. The example of some ® Censtis of India, iSgi, Assam, by
SKCT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 79

Thus there can be little doubt that in some savage or On the

barbarous communities female infanticide has actually pro- other
hand, in
duced the effect assumed by McLennan. On the other some com-
hand, it is communities a con- amunities
to be observed that in other practice
trary practice of male infanticide has produced the contrary of male
infanticide
result, namely, a numerical preponderance of women over seems to
men. Thus among the Abipones of South America the liave
resulted
custom of infanticide was very common. The motive as- in a
signed for the custom by the acute and observant missionary, numerical
superiority
Dobrizhoffer. was not any provident Malthusian fear of the of women
over men.
population exceeding the means of subsistence. It was a
Custom
rule, he tells us, with these savages that women suckled of the
Abipones.
their children for three years, and that during this long period
of lactation they might have no commerce with their
husbands. The result was that the men, impatient of so
long an abstention from the marriage bed, took to themselves
other women in the interval. This excited the jealousy of
their first wives, and accordingly in order to avoid a pro-
longed separation from their husbands they commonly
murdered their infants at birth. The same customs of lacta-
tion prolonged for years and of chastity compulsory on
nursing mothers are exceedingly common among savages ^
and are indeed one of the most frequent causes of poly-
gamy ’ hence it is probable that these customs, rather than
;

a prudent calculation of the ratio between the population and

the means of subsistence, often furnish the real motive for
infanticide. Be that as it may, among the Abipones the
mothers more usually spared their female than their male
infants, not because daughters were dearer to them than sons,
but because they were much more profitable in the marriage
market for whereas a wife had to be bought for a son,
;

daughters could always be sold for a good price to husbands.

Hence Dobrizhoffer conjectured, though he did not affirm,
that in this tribe the women outnumbered the men. How-
ever, he did not attribute their assumed numerical superiority
purely to male infanticide he set it down partly to the death
;

E. A. Gait, vol. i. (Shillong,

1892) Ras {heipsic, 1908),!. 9035-^^.,
p. 120, note*. But the writer adds ii. 478
that polyandry never resulted from ^ Compare E. Westermarck, T/ie
these causes. History of Human Marriage (London,
1 Forexamples see Floss und Bartels, 1891), pp. 483^7.
 8o SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

of men in the skirmishes which were constantly taking place

with hostile tribes.^ And it is obvious that this latter cause
must tend to diminish the number of males by comparison
with females in all tribes which live in a perpetual state of
warfare with their neighbours.
Custom of Amongst the Banks’ Islanders a similar cold calculation
the Banks’
Islanders.
of profit induced women to spare their infant daughters
oftener than their infant sons. Male children were killed,” “

says Dr. Codrington, “ rather than female in that group if ;

there were female children already, another would not be

desired but the females were
;
rather preserved, as it is

important to observe, because of the family passing through

the female side, as well as with the prospect of gain when
^
the girl should be betrothed and married.”
Even It may be said that tribes like the Abipones and the
among low
savages Banks’ Islanders, among whom women rank as a marketable
who do commodity, so that it becomes worth their parents’ while
not sell
their to rear them have made some progress
like turkeys for sale,
daughters on at economic side of civilisation, and that
least the strictly
to hus-
bands therefore their example proves nothing for savages lower in
women the scale of culture, who have no property which they can
are still
valuable, exchange for wives. Hence it might be inferred that where
because
the purchase of wives is not in vogue, one of the best
they can be
exchanged guarantees for the preservation of female infants is absent,
for wives
hence in
;
and that accordingly such communities the practice of
in
such com- female infanticide may rage unchecked. But this is by
munities
by
it is
no means true of the lowest savages whom we know well,
no means the Australian aborigines. Among them the women are
clear that
more girls certainly not sold, for the simple reason that men have no
than boys property which would be accepted as a commercial equivalent
would be
killed at for a wife. But if wives are not bought they are bartered.
birth.
The commonest of all modes of obtaining a wife in aboriginal
Australia appears to be to give a sister, daughter, or other
female relative in exchange. A man who has not a sister,

daughter, or other female relative to give away stands little

chance of getting a wife at all. On the other hand if a man

is well provided with sisters and other womenkind he can

acquire many wives by barter, and since this is an object of

' M. Dobrizhoffer, Historia de - R. H. Codrington, The Mclan-
Abiponibtis (Vienna, 1784), ii. 107. esians (Oy.{oxA, 1891), p. 229.
SECT. HI THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 8i

ambition with the Australians, as with most savages, every

man has a powerful motive for rearing as rnany daughters
as he can with a view to swelling his harem or providing
his sons with mates.^ Thus even among the lowest savages
it is by no means clear that a practice of infanticide would
tell more heavily against females than against males.
In point of fact, though infanticide is common among Among the
Australian
the Australian aborigines there is very little evidence that
more girls than boys are murdered at birth. On the there is

contrary, if we may judge by the evidence of the best evidence

authorities, no distinction is made between the sexes in this that more

and that because the practice is not resorted to, as

respect,
McLennan supposed, from a provident desire to keep down murdered

the population within the limits of the food supply, but simply according
under the ^pressure of immediate need, such as famine or the
the best
difficulty a mother finds in carrying and providing for two authorities
infants at the same time. Hence it is usually a mere chance ‘^1®'
.

whether a male child or a female child will be destroyed, made

For example, if a woman’s first child is a female and she has
afterwards a male child before the first is weaned and able to
shift for itself, then the male child will probably be killed and
the female child spared.. But if the elder child was a boy and
the younger a girl, then it is the girl who must go to the wall.^

1
See P. Beveridge, “Of the Abori- 26, 28 sq., 40.
gines inhabiting the Great Lacustrine E. J.
^ Journals of Expeditions
and Riverine Depression of the Lower of Discovery Central Australia
into
Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower (London, 1845), ii. 324: “Infanticide
Lachlan, and Lower Darling,” is very common, and appears to be
and Proceedings of the Royal Society of practised solely to get rid of the trouble
New Sotith M^ales for i 88g, xvii. (1884) of rearing children, and to enable the
p. 23 “ Polygamy is allowed to any
: woman to follow her husband about
extent, and this law is generally taken in his wanderings, which she fre-
advantage of by those who chance to quently could not do if encumbered
be rich in sisters, daughters, or female with a child. The first three or four-
wards, to give in exchange for wives. are often killed ;
no distinction ap-
No man can get a wife unless he has a pears to be made in this casebetween
sister, ward, or daughter, whom he can male or female children ” A. W. ;

give in exchange. Fathers of grown- How'itt, Native Tribes of South-East

up sons frequently exchange their Australia, p. 749: “In the Wotjo-
daughters for wives, not for their sons, baluk tribe infants were killed in the
however, but for themselves, even old times, no difference being made
although they already have two or between boys and girls. If a couple
three.” As to the practice of exchang- had a child, either boy or girl, say ten
ing sisters or other female relatives for years old, and a baby was then born to
wives, see above, vol. i. pp. 409, 460, them, it might be killed and cooked
463, 483, 491, 540, vol. ii. pp. 18, for its elder brother or sister to eat ” ;

VOL. IV G
82 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

Again, in times of famine it seems to have been a frequent

practice with the Australian savages not only to kill but to
eat their children ;
^
but we are not told that they killed or
spared either sex by preference at such a pinch. All this is

in harmony with the improvident nature of low savages, who

think that sufficient unto the day is the evil therefore and
take no thought for the morrow. The long-headed, cold-
hearted calculation, which spares boys because in years to
come they will grow up to fight and hunt, or girls because
they will fetch a round price in the marriage market, belongs
to a higher stage of intellectual, if not of moral, evolution
than the rude savagery to which the origin of exogamy must
be referred. “ An Australian native,” we are told, “ never

looks far enough ahead to consider what will be the effect on

the food supply in future years if he allows a particular
child to live ;
him is simply the question of how
what affects
it will interfere with the work of his wife so far as their

own camp is concerned while from the woman’s side the

;

question is, can she provide food enough for the new-born
”
infant and for the next youngest ? ^ Indeed when we
remember that no Australian tribe is known ever to have
stored food for use at a time of dearth, we may dismiss as
improbable the supposition that they commonly killed their

Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of average six children, or did before the
Central Australia, p. 264 “ It is
: advent of the Whites, and whilst living in
infanticide which is resorted to for the tlieir natural state; and that they reared
purpose of keeping down the number two boys and one girl, as a rule ; the

of a family. And here we may say maximum being about ten. The rest
that the number is kept down, not with were destroyed immediately after birth ”
any idea at all of regulating the food (E. M. Curr, The Australian Race,
supply, so far as the adults are con- i. 70).
cerned, but simply from the point of ’
See below, pp. 261 sq.
view that, if the mother is suckling one
child, she cannot properly provide food Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes
2

for another, quite apart from the ques- of Central Australia, p. 264. However,
tion of the of carrying two
trouble the Mining tribe, which practised in-
children about” ; id.. Northern Tribes fanticide to a certain extent, alleged as
“ In all a reason “that if their numbers in-
of Central Australia, p. 608 :

of the tribes infanticide is practised. creased too rapidly there would not be
There is no difference made in respect enough food for everybody ” (A. W.
of either sex. The usual reason given Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East
for killing the child is that there is Australia, p. 748)- But this may be
another one still being suckled by the only a white man’s way of saying what
On the other hand Mr. is said more exactly by Messrs. Spencer
mother.”
E. M. Curr gave it as his opinion
“ that and Gillen from the native point of
the Australian females bear on an view.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 83

female children lest in years to come they should imperil

the means of subsistence of the family or tribe.
Thus, in ascribing the origin of exogamy to a system of On the
female infanticide conceived and executed on the politic
^ prin-
^ theory that
ciples of Malthus by rude savages,^ McLennan appears to have exogamy
greatly overrated the intelligent foresight of primitive man.
The practice of female infanticide has unquestionably been scarcity of

common among many races, but there is great force in Mr. Caused by
bison’s contention that it has prevailed chiefly among more female

advanced and not among the very low savages, to

tribes jg unproved
whom exogamy must be referred. It is not
the origin of
, , , , , - ,
probable.
merely that the advanced tribes are in general more pro-
vident and therefore more capable of carrying out a far-
seeing, if cruel, policy which aims at adjusting the population
to the means of subsistence they have often special motives ;

for killing their female children which do not apply to

peoples at a lower grade of culture.^ On the whole, then,
we may set aside as unproved and improbable the theory
which finds the origin of exogamy in a scarcity of women
caused by female infanticide.
But the proportion of the sexes in any community may But
vary from many causes besides a systematic destruction of s

infant girls and if it should appear that from any cause would
;
still

whatever there are generally many more men than women

in savage tribes, McLennan’s hypothesis would still be tenable if
theoretically tenable, since it depends simply on a general appear
disproportion between the sexes in favour of males, and ‘itat for
not at all on any particular cause 01 that disproportion, whatever
Unfortunately exact information as to the proportions
1 .11 generally
the sexes m the lower races is for the most part wanting, more men
r • 1 •

and the causes which determine the relative numbers

1
Compare what McLennan says expression. We may believe that no
on this subject {Studies in Ancient animal below the rank of man in the
Histoiy, Second Series, p. 83) : full possession of his reasoning powers
“ Put in this point of view, a could have thought out such a policy,
system of infanticide appears as em- and for the credit of human nature
bodying a policy of despair, developed that such a policy would never have
from point to point, through trials and been thought out or acted upon except
errors that no doubt were sometimes in the most desperate circumstances.”
fatal to the groups making them, but ^ See Mr. L. Fison’s criticisms of
which contributed to forward the think- McLennan’s theory in Fison and
ing out by them of what was the best Howitt’s Kamilaroi and Kcirnai, pp.
form of the policy, its best practical 134-138-
 84 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

women in men and women in any community are to a great extent

savage
tribes. In
obscured These causes are of two sorts, according as they
point of operate before birth to settle the sex of the offspring or
fact, in
some during life to preserve members of one sex
rather than of
savage Causes of the latter kind are by far the more
the other.
tribes
there are obvious, and on the whole they appear in all communities,
commonly whether savage or civilised, to tell against the survival of
more
women men and in favour of the survival of women, that is, they
than men. tend to make the adult women outnumber the adult men.

“ The normal state of every population,” says Darwin, “ is

an excess of women, at least in all civilised countries, chiefly

owing to the greater mortality of the male sex during youth,
and partly to accidents of all kinds later in life.” ^ Thus in
most European countries the females outnumber the males,®
although the male births exceed the female births by five or
six per cent.'^ The reasons why nevertheless women consider-
ably preponderate over men are, as Darwin has pointed out,
first, more male than female children die at birth or
that far
in the few years of life, and, second, that in after-life
first

men are exposed to more dangers and hardships than women.®

Thus the greater mortality of the males during life more than
counterbalances their numerical preponderance at birth, and
leaves the adult women more numerous than the adult men.
But if this is so in Europe, where life is most secure, it
seems clear that in a state of savagery the mortality of the
men is likely to be still greater through their exposure to
the manifold risks of war and of the chase by land and sea.
Amongst the American Indians, for example, females used
to be more numerous than males on account of the destruc-
tion of the men in war. In some fighting tribes, such as
the Blackfeet and Cheyennes, the women are said to have
outnumbered the men by two to one.® Hence we may lay

1
For a discussion of this subject, The Imperial Gazetteer of Iiidia,
•*

witli the evidence, see E. Wester- The Indian Empire, i. (Oxford, 1909)
marck, History of Human Marriage p. 479.
(London, 1891), pp. 460 sgq. Com- Ch. Darwin, The Descent of Man
*

pare Charles Darwin, The Descent of p. 243 ; E. Westermarck, History of

Man, Second Edition (London, 1879), Human Marriage, p. 469.
pp. 215 sq., 242 sqq. Ch. Darwin, op. cit. pp. 243 sq.,
2 Ch. Darwin, The Descent of Man, 257 E. Westermarck, op. cit. p. 465.
;

^ L. H. Morgan, Systerns
Second Edition, p. 257 ;
compare id. of Con-
p. 244. sanguinity and Affinity of the Human
 ,

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 85

it down as probable that the causes which affect the pro-

portion of the sexes during life are even more unfavourable
to an excess of males over females among savage than
among civilisedand that accordingly they tell
peoples ;

heavily against the theory which assumes a numerical

superiority of men to women as the basis of exogamy.
It is otherwise, however, with the causes which deter- However,

mine the proportion of the sexes at birth. For Dlising

“ brings overwhelming evidence to show that while want that the

and privation are constantly correlated with an increase of

male births, prosperity is associated with an increase of'ifefavour
female births; that while starvation and an unfavourable
climatic condition are inimical to the development of females, rather than
a plentiful supply of nutritious food and specially favourable
physical conditions result in the survival of an increased
proportion of that sex.” ^
If this conclusion is correct, it

seems clear that the scarcity of food, the hardships and

privations of all sorts to which savages are much more ex-
posed than civilised men must tend to prevent the birth of
females and to favour the birth of males. Now although
we have little exact information as to the birth-rate in
savage communities, there is a certain amount of evidence
that in point of fact the men are more numerous than the
women insome of the rudest tribes known to us. Thus we
are told that among the Tasmanians the men greatly ex-
ceeded the women in number.^ Similarly, among the
Australian aborigines the males are said by several authorities
to preponderate considerably over the females one writer ;

even puts the proportion at three to one.® However, one

Family, p. 477 {Smithsonian Contribu- Curr, The Australian Race, ii. 424
tions toKnowledge, vol. xvii.). (“the common proportion in our tribes
1 Walter Heape, M.A. F. R. S.,
being about three males to one
“The Proportion of the Sexes pro- female”); P. Beveridge, “Of the
duced by Whites and Coloured Peoples Aborigines inhabiting the Great Lacus-
in Cuba,” Philosophical Transactions of trine and Riverine Depression of the
the Royal Society of London, Series B, Lower Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee,
vol. 200, p. 275. Diising’s conclusions Lower Lachlan, and Lower Darling,”
are on the whole accepted by Dr. E. fozimal and Proceedings of the Royal
Westermarck [History of Human Society of New South Wales for i 88j,
Marriage, pp. 470 sqq.). xvii. (Sydney, 1884) p. 21 ; A. Old-
^ E. Westermarck, History of field, “ The Aborigines of Australia,”
Human Marriage, p. 462. Transactions of the Ethnological Society
^
J. Cassady, quoted by E. M. of London, New Series, iii. (1865)
 86 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

of these authorities tells us that this excess of males is not

due to a paucity of female children born, for at birth the
sexes are about equal ;
the cause, according to him, is the
far greater mortality of females after puberty, which in turn
he attributes some measure to their too early maternity.^
in
Statistics are shew an excess of male over female
said to
births among the Todas and the Maoris, and an excess of
living males over living females among the Hawaiians.^
Apart from But there are grounds for thinking that the proportion
favourable
or un-
of males and females at birth varies not merely with favour-
favourable able or unfavourable conditions in respect to climate, food,
conditions
of life, and so forth, but that it is in some measure predetermined
some races by a racial tendency to produce either an excess of males or
seem to
ha\e a an excess of females. We have seen that European races
tendency to
produce more males than females by about five or six per
produce
more cent. In India women are distinctly more numerous among
males than
females,
the black aborigines, the Dravidians, than among the castes
and others of Aryan semi - Aryan descent.®
or Similarly, in Cuba
to produce
more the black race tends to produce an excess of females
females and the white race an excess of males,'* which seems to prove
than
males. that the result is not determined merely by local and
climatic conditions, but that a racial predisposition must also
be reckoned with. In Africa also it appears that among the
black races women considerably outnumber men, and that
thisdisproportion is due in some measure to the greater
number of female children which are born.® Mr. C. W.
Hobley formerly estimated that in the Bantu tribes of

p. 250 ; C. Wilhelnii, quoted by R. pp. 107 sqq., where it is said (p. 107)
Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of that “the dearth of women is greatest

Victoria, i. 51. and gradually

in the north-west of India,
1 Beveridge, l.c.
P. “I have seen : becomes less noticeable towards the
girls frequently, of not more than eleven east and south, where it is eventually
or twelve years old, becoming mothers ; replaced by a deficiency of males.
and child-bearing at these tender years Women are also in a clear minority in
entails future infirmities, which materi- the —
extreme east in North Bengal,
ally assist in carrying them off ere they Assam, and Burma.”
have well reached maturity.” W. Heape, M.A., F.R.S., “The
2 Chas. Darwin, Descent of Man, Proportion of the Sexes produced by
Second Edition (London, 1879), pp. Whites and Coloured Peoples in Cuba,”
256-258. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
^ The Imperial Gazetteer Society of London, Series B, vol. 200,
of India,
The Ijidian Empire (Oxford, 1909), pp. 318 sq., 321.
i. 480. Compare the Census of India, ® E. Westermarck, History of Human
igoi, vol. i. Part i. (Calcutta, 1903) Marriage, pp. 464, 468 sq.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 87

Kavirondo there were three or four times as many women

as men.^ But he afterwards saw reason to reduce this
estimate of their numerical superiority ;
indeed, statistics
collectedby him shewed a higher birth-rate for males among
the Bantu tribes, but on the other hand a higher birth-rate
for females among the Nilotic negroes of Kavirondo.^
Among Baganda the number of females born in former
the
days is said to have exceeded the number of males born by
at least two to one but recent statistics shew that the
;

numbers are now about equal.^ If this apparent fall in the

birth-rate of females could be proved, it would confirm the
view that polygamy leads to the production of a greater
number of female births ^ since in the old days the Baganda
;

were polygamous but have now under the influence of

Christian teaching become monogamous.
On the whole we may conclude that the evidence as to The
the proportions of the sexes in savage tribes is too uncertain to'thr'pr<>
and conflicting to allow any far-reaching conclusions to portions of
be safely built upon it and that accordingly the general amo^ng*^
;

scarcity of women in primitive communities, on which savages

McLennan rested his whole theory of the origin of exogamy, conflicting
has not been proved to exist.
... the base of
rurther, it may be doubted whether primitive groups a theory,
are always, as McLennan assumed, mutually hostile and McLennan
ready to carry off each other’s women by force whenever
an opportunity offers. Certainly this assumption does not primitive
hold good at present of some savages who rank low in the g^ups are
scale of culture. Thus in regard to the aborigines of always
Central Australia we are told that “ the different local
groups within the one tribe and the members of contiguous

' C. W. Hobley, Eastern Uganda and on taking the groups of children

(London, 1902), p. 18. playing by the roadside there will
always be found to be more girls than
^ C. W. Hobley, “Anthropological
boys ” Ugattda and the Egyptian
Studies in Kavirondo and Nandi,” (

Soudan, i. 150 sq.). These writers

Journal of the Anthropological Institute,
estimated the proportion of women to
xxxiii. (1903) pp. 353 sq.
men in Uganda at three and a half to
® I owe
this information to the Rev. one ;
but this great numerical pre-
J. Roscoe. Speaking of the Baganda ponderance they traced in part to the
in the past, Messrs. Felkin and Wilson influx of female captives taken in war.
say: “Careful observation has estab- ^ Ch. Da.rw'm, The Eescent of Afan,'^

lished the fact that there are a good p. 245 ; E. Westermarck, History of
many more female births than male. Human Marriage, p. 470-
 ,

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

assumption tribes, where they are in contact, live for the most part in

hold good
^ state of mutual friendship. judge from ordinary
. . . To
of some accounts in popular works, one would imagine that the
rudest various tribes were in a state of constant hostility. Nothing
savages at could be further from the truth.” ^ Again, no race of men
lives Under such hard conditions as the Eskimo and the
Fuegians nowhere is the struggle for existence sharper
;

than in the frozen regions of the Arctic circle or on the

desolate snow-beaten, rain-drenched coasts of Tierra del
Fuego. Nowhere, accordingly, should we expect to find
more fierce and relentless warfare waged than between
neighbouring groups of the miserable inhabitants of these
inhospitable lands. But on the contrary both of these races
are reported to be ignorant of war.^
The pacific It is probably no mere accident that two of the most
character
pacific races of the world, the Eskimo of the Arctic regions
low races and the Todas of Southern India, neither of whom are
flw'from known to have ever engaged in war, should at the same
the time be also two of the most immoral races on record, as
se.xuai we count immorality matters. The reason is
in sexual
jealousy simple. Both these
appear to be almost free from
tribes
the^.^ that passion of sexual jealousy which has always been one
t
Spencer and Gillen, Norlhern in Australia,” Transactions of the
Tribes of Central Australia, p. 31. Aust7'alasian Association for the Ad-
Compare id.. Native Tribes of Central vance7ue7it of Scie7ice, Dunedin, 1904,
Australia, p. 32 “ As a general rule
:
p. 419.
the natives are kindly disposed to one
another, that is of course within the ^ As to the Eskimo see J. Deniker,
limits of their own and, where
tribe, The Races of Ma7t, 521. Speaking p.
two tribes come into contact with one of the A''aghans of Tierra del Fuego
another on the border land of their Mr. Bridges, quoted by Dr. E. Wester-
respective territories, there the same marck. History of H2ii7ia7t Marriage,
amicable feelings are maintained be- p. 466, says: “War was unknown,
tween the members of the two. There though fightings were frequent, but
is no such thing as one tribe being in women took part in them as energetic-
a constant state of enmity with one ally as the men, and suffered equally
another so far as these central tribes are with them —
if anything more.” Simi-
concerned.” Elsewhere Prof. Baldwin larly the members of the French ex-
Spencer observes “ Curiously enough,
: pedition to Cape Horn report that
we find, judging by such accounts as “there are never expeditions of war
we have of them, that there was much among the Yaghans, but they are very
more hostility amongst the much-modi- touchy and therefore inclined to quarrels
fied groups of
tribes in the south- and brawls.” See Missio7i scie7itifique
eastern part of the continent than there du Cap Hoi-n, 1882 - i88g, vii.
is to-day amongst the much more A/ttiwopologie, Eth7iographie, par P.
primitive tribes of the centre.” See Hyades, J. Deniker (Paris, 1891),
his Presidential Address, “ Totemism P. 374 -
 SECT, in THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 89

of the most fruitful causes of dissension and quarrelling, of

secret murder and open war among mankind. While we
gratefully acknowledge the domestic happiness of which the
love of the sexes is a principal source, we must not blind
ourselves to the heavy price of sorrow, tears, and blood by
which that domestic happiness has been bought.^
Thus neither a general preponderance of the female Thus
M<^Lennan
sex over the male nor a general state of hostility between
neighbouring groups can be assumed to be characteristic rests on
of primitive human society. Now McLennan’s theory of
exogamy was based on these assumptions, and if they are tions.
unproved the theory must rank as an hypothesis insufficiently
supported by the facts.
But even if for the sake of argument we suppose with Even if
McLennan that primitive savage communities regularly com.'^
suffer from a scarcity of women and are constantly at war munities
with each other, it may still be maintained that under these
assumed conditions the rise of exogamy would be neither scarcity of
necessary nor probable. It would not be necessary for if does not ;

women were scarce in any group, some of the men of that that
1 . ,
they • , , .

group might prefer to do without wives rather than incur would

ca.pture
the risk of extermination by ^
capturing^ them from their Wives from
neighbours. In point of fact this is what happened among their
many tribes of the Australian aborigines, who, as we have tteighbours
seen, lived on friendly terms with each other. Speaking of might

t
As to the Todas, their moral laxity to exchange wives for a day or two,
and their freedom from jealousy, see and the request is sometimes made by
above, vol. ii. pp. 256, 264 sq. As to the women themselves. . . . When
the Eskimo it may suffice to quote a parties are out fishing, such young
passage from Captain G. F. Lyon’s men as are at home make no scruple
Private Jotinial (London, 1824), pp. of intriguing with others’ wives, yet if
353 ‘ 355 “Even those men and
= the injured husband hears of it, it gives
women who seem most fond of each him little or no uneasiness. Divorced
other, have no scruples on the score of women and widows, and even young
mutual infidelity, and the husband is and well - looking girls, are equally
willingly a pander to his own shame. liberal of their persons. There is one
A woman details her intrigues to her very remarkable fact attached to this
husband with the most perfect uncon- general depravity, which is that we
cern, and will also answer to any charge never heard of any quarrels arising
of the kind made before a numerous respecting women, and this may be
assemblage of people. Husbands attributed to the men being totally
prostitute wives, brothers sisters, and unacquainted with such a passion
parents daughters, without showing as love, or its frequent attendant,
the least signs of shame. It is con- jealousy.”
sidered extremely friendly for two men
 90 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

prefer to the natives who inhabited the great lacustrine and riverine
do without
wives depression of the Lower Murray, Lower Lachlan, and Lower
rather than Darling a well-informed writer, who knew the
Rivers,
incur the
risks of aborigines before they were contaminated by contact with
war by “
the whites, tells us that fathers of grown-up sons frequently
abducting
women exchange their daughters not for their sons,
for wives,
from other
however, but for themselves, evenalthough they already
tribes.
have two or three. Cases of this kind are indeed very hard
for the sons, but being aboriginal law they must bear it as
best they can, and that too without murmur and to make ;

the matter harder still to bear, the elders of a tribe will not
allow the young men
to go off to other tribes to steal wives
for themselves, as such measures would be the certain means
of entailing endless feuds with their accompanying bloodshed,
in the attempts that would surely be made with the view of
recovering the abducted women.” ^ To the same effect
another writer on the Australian aborigines tells us that
“ at present, as the stealing of a woman from a neighbouring

tribe would involve the whole tribe of the thief in war for
his sole benefit, and as the possession of the woman would
lead to constant attacks, tribes set themselves very generally
^
against the practice.”
Or again, Again, when women are scarce an obvious expedient
if women
were scarce for remedying the deficiency without incurring the enmity
in a tribe, of neighbouring groups by the capture of wives is for several
several
men might men to share one wife. Hence with tribes of pacific temper
share one the natural outcome of a numerical preponderance of males
wife
between is not exogamy but polyandry indeed McLennan himself
;

them.
admitted that polyandry may thus retard or even prevent
In this
way the establishment of exogamy.® In point of fact the Todas,
polyandry
might
who suffer from a deficiency of women, practise polyandry, but
prevent the being an eminently peaceful people they seem never to have
rise of
exogamy. made war on their neighbours or to have captured women
* P. Beveridge, “Of the Aborigines i. 108.
inhabiting the Great Lacustrine and
3 “ Polyandry
Riverine Depression of the Lower supplied a method
Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower whereby the want of balance might be
Lachlan, and Lower Darling,” the less felt, and may thus have
and Proceedingsof the Royal Society of retarded, and in some cases prevented,
New South IVales for i 88g, xvii. the establishment of exogamy” (J. F.
(Sydney, 1884) p. 23. McLennan, Studies in Ancient History,
^ E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, London, 1886, p. 124).
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 91

from them. The same observation applies to the Tibetans.

The severe climate and barren nature of the country in which
they live render a large increase of population undesirable
if not impossible, and the prudent inhabitants have taken
measures to prevent it by consigning many of their women to
nunneries and by sharing the remainder among polyandrous
groups of husbands. Apart from the scarcity of women
thus artificially created it is said that in every Tibetan
family there are more males than females.^ Yet being a
peaceful people they have never sought to furnish themselves
with wives and booty by preying on their neighbours with ;

them, as with the Todas, a dearth of women has not given

rise to a systematic capture of women and hence to
exogamy. Indeed the evidence adduced by McLennan ^
seems quite inadequate to support his inference, that a
systematic capture of women has been common among
mankind and that it has exercised a momentous influence
on the development of marriage. Even in Australia, the
classical land of exogamy as well as of totemism, though
the practice exists, it is a rare and exceptional mode of
obtaining a wife.^
But the fatal objection to McLennan’s theory is that, And if

women are
even if we grant him all his premises, the conclusion does scarce in
not follow from it. Let us suppose that a tribe has many a tribe,
is that any
males and few females, that the tribesmen are of a warlike reason for
and predatory character and surrounded by hostile tribes, refusing to
make use
whom they systematically plunder of their women. Still of them ?
this does not explain why, because their own women are .Vs a rule,
the scarcity
few in number, the men should abdicate the use of them of an
article
entirely. As a rule the scarcity of an article enhances
enhances
its value ;
why should it be different with women ? On its value.

McLennan’s theory the scarcity of an article ought.

Why
should it
be different
1 P. Du Halde, The General History 3 E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, with
of Chi7ia (London, 1741), iv. 444. i. 108 ;
Spencer and Gillen, Native women ?

^
J. F. McLennan, Studies in Tribes of CeJitral Australia, pp. 104,
Ancietit History (London, 1886), pp. 554 sq. The latter writers speak here
31-49. No doubt the evidence could of the Central tribes, but their observa-
be much enlarged. See, for example, tions probably apply to the Australian
E. Westermarck, History of Htutian aborigines in general. For some cases
Marriage, pp. 383 sqq. But even of wife-capture in Australia, see above,
so it appears insufficient to justify vol. i. pp. 426 sq., 450, 475, 476,
McLennan’s conclusion. 541 -
 92 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

instead of enhancing its value, to deprive it of all value

whatever and decide the people who
from the suffer
scarcity to make no use of what they have, but to beg,
borrow, or steal the article from their neighbours. But it
is absurd to suppose that men will renounce the use of the

little they have got merely because it is little and because

other people have more of it. In the British Islands at the

present day the supply of home-grown corn and meat is
totally inadequate to feed the existing population and
immense quantities of foreign corn and meat have to be im-
ported to make good the deficiency. But the importation of
American wheat and Australian mutton shews no tendency
to induce such a decided preference for these articles that
the consumption of English wheat and English mutton by
the English people is likely in time to be prohibited under
pain of death. Yet that is what on McLennan’s theory of
exogamy we ought to expect. An hypothesis which logically
leads to such a conclusion may safely be dismissed as
unsatisfactory.
Thus McLennan’s theory of the origin of exogamy
assumes the existence of conditions which have not been
proved to exist and even if we grant all its assumptions
;

it fails to give a reasonable and probable solution of the

problem.

Dr. An entirely different theory has been proposed by Dr.

Wester-
marck's
Edward Westermarck. He finds the origin of exogamy in
theory an instinctive or innate marriage and sexual
aversion to
of the
origin of i ntercourse jn general who hav^ lived
between persons
exogamy. closely together from early youth, and he supposes that
since the persons who thus live closely together are com-
monly blood relations, the instinct in question finally took
the form of an aversion to marriage with near kin. To
quote his latest exposition of his view :

He holds “ I pointed out that there is an innate aversion to

that
exogamy sexual intercourse between persons living very closely
originated together from early youth, and
that, as such persons are
in a natural
aversion to in most
cases related by
blood, this feeling naturally would
sexual display itself in custom and
law as a horror of intercourse
intercourse
between between near kin. Indeed, an abundance of ethnographical
 ECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 93

facts seem to indicate that it is not in the first place by persons

who have
the degrees of consanguinity, but by the close living together,
been
that prohibitory laws against intermarriage are determined. brought up
together,
Thus many peoples have a rule of ‘
exogamy which does’

and that
not depend on kinship at all, but on purely local considera- as such
persons are
tions, all the members of a horde or village, though not commonly
related by blood, being forbidden to intermarry. The blood
relations
prohibited degrees are very differently defined in the the
instinct
customs or laws of different nations, and it appears that
finally took
the extent to which relatives are prohibited from inter- the form
of an
marrying is nearly connected with their close living together.
aversion to
Very often the prohibitions against incest are more or less marriage
with near
one-sided, applying more extensively either to the relatives kin.
on the father’s side or to those on the mother’s, according
as descent is reckoned through men or women. Now,
since the line of descent is largely connected with local
relationships, we may reasonably infer that the same local
relationships exercise a considerable influence on the table
of prohibited degrees. However, in a large number of
cases prohibitions of intermarriage are only indirectly
influenced by the close living together. Aversion to the
intermarriage of persons who live in intimate connection
with one another has called forth prohibitions of the inter-
marriage of relations ;
and, as kinship is traced by means
of a system of names, the name comes to be considered
identical with relationship. This system is necessarily one-
sided. Though keep up the record of descent either
it will
on the male or female side, it cannot do both at once and ;

the line which has not been kept up by such means of record,
even where it is recognised as a line of relationship, is natur-
ally more or less neglected and soon forgotten. Hence the
prohibited degrees frequently extend very far on the one
side — to the whole clan —
but not on the other. . . .

“ The question arises — How has

:
this instinctive aversion According
to him, the
to marriage and sexual intercourse in general between instinct in
persons living closely together from early youth originated ? question
resulted
I have suggested that it may be the result of natural from
selection. Darwin’s careful studies of the effects of cross- natural
selection,
and self-fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, the consensus since
of opinion among eminent breeders, and experiments made marriages
 94 5 UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

with near with and other animals, have proved that self-
rats, rabbits,
kin appear
to be and close interbreeding of animals are
fertilisation of plants
injurious more or less injurious to the species and it seems highly
;
to the
species.
probable that the evil chiefly results from the fact that the
uniting sexual elements were not sufficiently differentiated.
Now it is impossible to believe that a physiological law
which holds good of the rest of the animal kingdom, as
also of plants, would not apply to man as well. But it is
difficult to adduce direct evidence for the evil effects of
consanguineous marriages. We cannot expect very con-
spicuous results from other alliances than those between
the nearest relatives —
between brothers and sisters, parents
—
and children, and the injurious results even of such unions
would not necessarily appear at once. The closest kind of
intermarriage which we have opportunities of studying is
that between first cousins. Unfortunately, the observations
hitherto made on the subject are far from decisive. Yet
it is noteworthy that of all the writers who have dis-
cussed it the majority, and certainly not the least able of
them, have expressed their belief in marriages between
first cousins being more or less unfavourable to the offspring ;

and no evidence which can stand the test of scientific

investigation has hitherto been adduced against this view.
Moreover, we have reason to believe that consanguineous
marriages are much more injurious in savage regions, where
the struggle for existence is often very severe, than they have
proved to be in civilised societies, especially as it is among
the well-to-do classes that such marriages occur most
,

frequently.
Hence the “Taking all these facts into consideration, I am inclined
common
horror of
to think that consanguineous marriages are in some way or
incest is other detrimental to the species. And here I find a quite
an effect
of the
sufficient explanation of the horror of incest ;
not because
survival man at an early stage recognised the injurious influence of
of the
fittest.
close intermarriage, but because the law of natural selection
Races must inevitably have operated. Among the ancestors of
which had
the instinct man, as among other animals, there was no doubt a time
survived,
when blood-relationship was no bar to sexual intercourse.
races which
had it not But variations, here as elsewhere, would naturally present
perished
themselves —
we know how extremely liable to variations the
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAM V 95

sexual instinct is and those of our ancestors who avoided

;
in the

in-and-in breeding° would survive, while the others would existence.

gradually decay and ultimately perish. Thus a sentiment
would be developed which would be powerful enough, as a
rule, to prevent injurious unions. Of course it would display
itself, not as an innate aversion to sexual connections with

near relatives as such, but as an aversion on the part of

individuals to union with others with whom they lived ;
but
these, as a matter of fact, would be blood-relations, so that
the result would be the survival of the fittest. Whether man
inherited this sentiment from the predecessors from whom he
sprang, or whether it was developed after the evolution of
distinctly human qualities we cannot know. It must have
arisen at a stage when family ties became comparatively
strong, and children remained with their parents until the
age of puberty or even longer. And exogamy, resulting
from a natural extension of this sentiment to a larger group,
would arise when single families united into hordes.” ^
To complete this statement of Dr. Westermarck’s theory Dr.
Wester-
it should be added that by marriage he means monogamy,
marck
that is, “ a more or less durable connection between male and holds that
from the
female, lasting beyond the mere act of propagation till after earliest
the birth of the offspring ”
;
^ that “ monogamy prevailed times the
normal
almost exclusively among our earliest human ancestors”;® type of
and that “ in all probability there has been no stage of human
marriage
human development when marriage has not existed, and that has been
the father has always been, as a rule, the protector of his the mono-
gamous
patriarchal
' Edward Westermarck, TAe Origin more excited by strange females than family.
and Development of the Moral Ideas, by those with whom they habitually
ii. (London, 1908), pp. 368-371. The lived in the same manner as, according
;

theory is set forth in detail by the to Mr. Cupples, male deerhounds are
writer in his History of Human inclined towards strange females, while
Alarria^e ^{hondon, 1891), ch. xv. pp. the females prefer dogs with whom they
320-355, 544-546. In his views on have associated. If any such feeling
this subject Dr. Westermarck seems formerly existed in man, this would
to agree substantially with Darwin, have led to a preference for marriages
who in his book The Variation of beyond the nearest kin, and might
Animals and Plants under Domestica- have been strengthened by the off-
London, 1905),
tion (Popular Edition, spring of such marriages surviving in
vol. ii. p. 1 28, writes as follow's : greater numbers, as analogy would lead
“ Although there seems to be no strong us to believe would have occurred.’’
inherited feeling in mankind against ^ E. Westermarck, History of
incest, it seems possible that men Human Marriage, pp. 19 sq.
^
during primeval times may have been E. Westermarck, op. cit. p. 549.
 96 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT, in

family. Human marriage appears, then, to be an inheritance

from some ape-like progenitor.”^
Thus in Dr. Westermarck’s opinion the monogamous
patriarchal family has always been the normal type of
married life from the very beginning of human history,
though with the progress of civilisation the marriage bond
has generally become more durable than it was amongst
our earliest ancestors.^
The chief The fundamental difficulty in the way of accepting
objection
Dr. Westermarck’s theory appears to be analogous to the one
to Dr.
Wester- which besets the theory of McLennan. Even if we grant
marck’s
all the premises, the conclusion does not seem to follow
theory is

that it does necessarily from them. Suppose we admit, as there seems

not explain
how an to be some ground for doing, that there is a natural aversion
aversion to to, or at least a want of inclination for, sexual intercourse
marriage
between between persons who have been brought up closely together
housemates from early youth, it remains difficult to understand how this
changed
into an could have been changed into something very different,
aversion to
namely an aversion to sexual intercourse with persons near
marriage
between of kin. This change from local exo gamy to Mnshjp
blood-
relations
exogamy is clearly the crucial point of the whole the ory.
;

in other Yet Dr. Westermarck does not attempt to demonstrate it.

words,
how local
He takes it for granted as a transition that would be made
exogamy naturally and perhaps unconsciously. Yet if the natural
changed
into and instinctive aversion, as Dr. Westermarck admits, is not
kinship to marriage with persons of the same blood but only to
exogamy.
marriage with persons who have long lived together in the
same place, why should this aversion have so entirely changed
its character that it is now directed far more strongly against
consanguineous marriages than against marriages with house-
mates ? If the root of the whole matter is a horror of marriage
between persons who have always lived with each other, how
comes it that at the present day that horror has been weakened
into a mere general preference for marriage with persons whose
1
E. Westermarck, History of . . . The tie that kept together hus-
Human Marriage, p. 50. Compare band and wife, parents and children,
id. p. 538: “All the evidence we was, if not the only, at least the
possess tends to show that among principal factor in the earliest forms of
our earliest human ancestors the family, man’s social life. Human marriage, in
not the tribe, formed the nucleus of all probability, is an inheritance from
every social group, and, in many cases, some ape-like progenitor.”
was itself perhaps the only social group. ^ E. Westermarck, op. cit. p. 549.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 97

attractions have not been blunted by long familiarity ? For

we may safely affirm that if the deep horror which
Dr. Westermarck assumes as the ultimate origin of exogamy
ever existed, it no longer exists at the present day. Neither
sentiment nor law forbids the marriage of persons who have
been brought up from childhood together, and such marriages
are probably not uncommon. Why then should the parent
sentiment have grown so feeble while its bastard offspring
has grown so strong ? Why should the marriage of a
brother with a sister, or of a mother with a son, excite the
deepest detestation, furnish the theme for the most moving
tragedy, and be most sternly forbidden by the law, while the
origin of it all, between housemates, should
the marriage
excite at most a mild surprise too slight probably to suggest
even a subject for a farce, and should be as legitimate in the
eye of the law among all civilised nations as any other
marriage ? This Dr. Westermarck has yet to explain, and
till he does so satisfactorily we must pronounce that the
chain of reasoning by which he supports his theory breaks
down entirely at the crucial point.
Quite apart from this fundamental difficulty, it is not Moreover,

easy to see why any deep human instinct should need to be

reinforced by law. no law commanding men to
There is from a

eat and drink or forbidding them to put their hands in the "tTsdnct,

fire. Men eat and drink and keep their hands out of the what need

fire instinctively for fear of natural not legal penalties, to reinforce

which would be entailed by violence done to these instincts.

.1-
, . . . instinct
1 he law only forbids men to do what their instincts incline by legal

them to do what nature itself prohibits and punishes, it

;
^
\
penalties ?
would be superfluous for the law to prohibit and punish.
Accordingly we may always safely assume that crimes for-
bidden by law are crimes which many men have a natural
propensity to commit. If there was no such propensity
there would be no such crimes, and if no such crimes were
committed what need to forbid them ? Instead of assuming,
therefore, from the legal prohibition of incest that there is a
natural aversion to incest, we ought rather to assume that
there is a natural instinct in favour of it, and that if the law
represses it, as it represses other natural instincts, it does
so because civilised men have come to the conclusion that
VOL. IV H
 98 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

the satisfaction of these natural instincts is detrimental to

the general interests of society.
Dr. Lastly it may be observed that Dr. Westermarck’s
Wester-
marck's
theory of the origin of exogamy appears to suffer from a
theory weakness which has of late years vitiated other speculations
does not
sufficiently
as to the growth of human It attempts to
institutions.
take explain that growth too from physical and
exclusively
account of
the factors biological causes without taking into account the factors of
of intelli- intelligence, deliberation, and will. It is too much under
gence,
delibera- the influence of Darwin, or rather it has extended Darwin’s
tion, and methods to subjects which only partially admit of such
will.
treatment. Because, in treating of the physical evolution of
man’s body and his place in the animal creation, Darwin
rightly reckoned only with physical and biological causes, it
has seemed to some enquirers into the history of man’s
social evolution that they will best follow his principles and
proceed most scientifically if they also reckon with nothing
else. They forget the part that human thought and will
have played in moulding human destiny. They would
write the history of man without taking into account the
things that make him a man and discriminate him from the
lower animals. To do this is, to adopt a common compari-
son, to write the play of Hamlet without the Prince of
Denmark. It is to attempt the solution of a complex
problem while ignoring the principal factor which ought to
enter into the calculations. It is, as I have already said,

not science but a bastard imitation of it.^ For true science

reckons with all the elements of the problem which it sets
itself to solve, and it remembers that these elements may
differ widely with the particular nature of the subject under
investigation. It does not insist on reducing the hetero-

geneous at all costs to the homogeneous, the multiformity

of fact to the uniformity of theory. It is cautious of trans-
ferring to one study the principles and methods which are
appropriate to another. In particular the science which
deals with human society will not, if it is truly scientific,
omit to reckon with the qualities which distinguish man
from the beasts.
Besides the particular difficulties which encumber Dr.
1
See above, vol. i. p. 281.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 99

Westermarck’s theory of exogamy his general view of the Further,

j^hj^yheory
history of marriage is open to very serious objections,

the normal human family from the earliest times down to primitive
the present day has been the monogamous patriarchal family fonhiy fails
with the father as guardian of his own children, how comes explain

it that throughout a large part of mankind, especially among of mother-

savages, descent has been traced through the mother and

not through the father; that property, where it exists, has of the
been inherited from her and not from him and that the ;
uncle in '
^

guardian of the children has not been their father but early
their mother’s brother ? To Westermarck
these questions Dr.
makes no and I do not see how on his
satisfactory answer,^
hypothesis a satisfactory answer is possible. The system of
mother-kin and the position of the mother’s brother in
savage and barbarous society are formidable obstacles to a
theory which represents patriarchal monogamy as the primi-
tive and generally persistent form of the family for the
whole human race. Further, it is to be remembered that
Dr. Westermarck’s theory was formulated at a time when it
was still possible to affirm that “ there does not seem to be
a single people which has not made the discovery of father-
hood.”^ Now, however, we know that many tribes of
Central and Northern Australia, who practise exogamy in
its most rigid form, are still wholly ignorant of the fact of

physical paternity ;
® from which we may safely infer that
physical paternity was equally unknown to the still more
primitive savages with whom the system of exogamy origi-
nated. Such ignorance is not indeed fatal tomere
the
existence of a monogamous family of the type supposed by
Dr. Westermarck ;
for the connubial relations of the husband
to his wife need not be affected by
it, and even the social

bond which unites him to his children is not necessarily

dissolved because he happens to be unaware of the bodily
relation in which he stands to them. But surely the social
tie must at least be sensibly weakened when its physical

basis is unknown.

^ E. Westermarck, History of Human Marriage (London, 1891), p.

Human Race, pp. 41, 539 sq. 105.
® See above, vol. i. pp. 93 sq.,
^
E. Westermarck, History of 155 sqq., 188-193, 57 ^ sqq.
 ; ; "

lOO SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. II

Prof. E, A theory of exogamy entirely different from the pre-

Durkheim’s
theory of
ceding theories has been put forward by Professor Emile
exogamy. Durkheim. He would derive exogamy from a religious
He holds
that sentiment based on certain occult or magical virtues which
exogamy the savage attributes to blood, above all to the menstruous
originated
in a blood of women.^ This religious reverence awe or for
religious
blood is in its turn traced by Professor Durkheim to
respect for
the blood totemism, which is, on his view, the ultimate source of
of the
exogamy.^ According to him, the totem is not only the
totemic
clan, ancestor but the god of every true totemic clan all the ;

especially
for the
members of the clan are derived from him and share his
menstruous divine substance. “ The totemic being is immanent in the
blood of
women, clan,
1 he is incarnate in every individual, and it is in the
which blood that he resides. He is himself the blood. But while
prevents
men from he is an ancestor, he born the protector of
is also a god ;

having the group, he is the object of a veritable worship he is the ;

any sexual
relations centre of the religion peculiar to the clan. It is on him
with them. that depend the destinies of individuals as well as of the
whole. Consequently there is a god in each individual
organism (for he is wholly and entirely in each), and it is in
the blood that the god resides from which it follows that ;

the blood is a thing divine. When it flows, it is the god

who is spilled. The religious respect which it inspires
. . .

forbids all idea of contact, and, since woman passes, so to

say, a part of her same feeling extends to
life in blood, the
her, stamps her with its impress, and isolates her.”® But a
totem is only sacred to the members of one totemic clan ;

the prohibitions which hedge it round are observed by them

E. Durkheim, “La Prohibition de doit tetiir ttroitemetit aux idtes que le

I’inceste et ses origines,” L'AnMe primitif se fait de la menstruation et

sociologique, i. 1898) pp. 1-70.
(Paris, du sang tnenstruel.”
See particularly p. 40, “la nature re-
E. Durkheim, op. cit. p. 51, “ Mais
2
Kgieuse des sentunents qui sont li la
si vertus magiques attributes au
les
base de Pexoganiie'” also p. 5L “ les
sang expliquent Pexogamie, d'ou vien-
vertus magiques attributes au sang ex-
nent elles-memes ? Qu’est-ce qui a pu
pliqu 67 it Texogamie” ; also p. 65, “les
dtterminer les socittts primitives a preter
prijugis relatifs au sang eurent ament
au liquide sanguin de si ttranges pro-
les honimes a s'interdire toute union entre
prittts ? La rtponse h cette question se
parents''’also.p. 47, “settle, qtielque
trouve dans le principe mime stir lequel
vertu attribute a Vorganisme
occulte,
repose tout le systhne religieux dont
ftminin en gtntral, pcut avoir dtter-
Vexogamie dtpend, a savoir le tottm-
mint cette mise en quarantaine rtci-
isme.
proque. Un premier fait est certain :
3 E. Durkheim, op.
c'est que tout ce systhne de prohibitions cit. pp. 52 sq^
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY lor

alone. Other people may violate these prohibitions with

impunity, since the totem is not their totem ;
to them there
is nothing divine in it, they may therefore deal with it as
they please. That
why, according to Professor Durkheim,
is

a man is forbidden to eat his own totem and to marry a

woman of his own totemic clan the god of the clan is in ;

her, especially in her blood hence no man of the clan may ;

come into profane contact with a woman of the clan above ;

all, he may not enter into sexual relations with her, because

in doing so he would be trespassing on the very spot where

the divine manifestations of the sacred blood periodically
occur. But on the other hand a man is free to marry or
have intercourse with a woman of any totem other than his
own, since her god is not his god, and he is therefore not
bound to respect the divine life which resides in her blood.^
Thus Professor Durkheim finds the origin of exogamy This

in totemism, which he regards as a religion or worship of gxog7m°y

the totem. I have already pointed out that such a con- rests on an

ception of totemism rests on a fundamental misapprehension conc"ep°Uon

of the nature of the institution as it exists in its purity, °f

particularly among the Australian aborigines and I am a

the more concerned to emphasise the mistake because I mystical

formerly committed it myself and have drawn Professor

Durkheim after me astray.® Since my original treatise on
totemism, to which Professor Durkheim refers for proof ot
the worship of the totem, was published, the evidence as
to the system has been greatly enlarged, especially by the
researches of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, and when we
consider all the facts and allow for the inevitable haziness
and confusion of savage thought on the subject, the con-
clusion to which the facts point is that the relation between
a man and his totem is one of simple friendly equality and
brotherhood, and by no means one of religious adoration of
a deity mysteriously incarnate not only in the whole totemic
species of animals or plants, but also in the flesh and above

^ E. Durkheim, “ La Prohibition de religion totem, which I have

of the
I’inceste et ses origines,” EAnnie quoted (above, p. loo), Prof. Durk-
sociologique, i. (Paris, 1898) pp. 50, heim refers his readers for evidence to
53 -S'?- my original treatise Totemism, which
^ See above, pp. 4-6, 27 sq. is reprinted in the first volume of this
^ After giving his account of the work.
 ;

102 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

all in the blood of every man, woman, and child of the clan.
A mystical religion of this abstract sort might be appro-
priate enough to sects like the Gnostics, the heirs of an
ancient civilisation and of a long train of subtle philosophies
it wholly foreign and indeed incomprehensible to the
is

simple, concrete modes of thought of a savage, and to

attribute it to the extremely rude savages with whom the
system of exogamy must unquestionably have originated
is to commit the serious mistake of interpreting primitive

thought in terms of advanced thought it is to invert the ;

order of development. A theory of exogamy which rests

on such a basis is wholly untenable.
In Apart from the fundamental error which vitiates Pro-
particular,
Prof. fessor Durkheim’s ingenious speculations on this subject he
Durkheini has, as it seems to me, fallen into others hardly less serious.
exaggerates
the im- The importance which he assigns to menstruation as a
portance of principal factor in determining exogamy appears altogether
menstrua-
tion, which exaggerated. Indeed it is very hard to see how the awe or
appears
horror which savages unquestionably entertain for menstru-
to have
nothing to ous blood ^ can have had anything whatever to do with
do with
exogamy.
exogamy. The essence of exogamy is a discrimination
between women who are marriageable and women who are
not marriageable ;
but all women menstruate how then
;

can the fact of menstruation serve to discriminate marriage-

able from non-marriageable women, in other words, how can
it explain exogamy ? We cannot explain a specific differ-
ence by means of a generic attribute menstruation is a :

generic attribute of all women how then can it be invoked ;

to explain the which exogamy makes

specific difference
between marriageable and non-marriageable women? If
the awe or horror of menstruous blood is a reason for avoid-
ing marriage with any woman, it is a reason for avoiding
marriage with all women, since all women menstruate. The
logical conclusion from such premises is not exogamy but
1
I am not likely to nnder-estimate Indeed, just as in the case of the sup-
the force and influence of this horror, posed totemic religion, Professor Durk-
as I was, I believe, among the first to heim himself appeals to my evidence
draw attention to it, and to illustrate on the subject of menstruation (E.
it by a large array of facts drawn from Durkheim, op. cit. p. 42), but I can-
many parts of the world (The Golden not think him judicious in the infer-
Bough, First Edition, 1890, vol. i. ences he has drawn from it.
pp. 169 sq., vol. ii. pp. 225-242).
 A

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 103

celibacy. In short, menstruation appears to be wholly

irrelevant to the question of exogamy.^
Again, Professor Durkheim errs in confusing exogamous Further,

classes he is of opinion durkheim

or phratries with totemic clans ;

that the exogamous class or phratry is nothing but an confuses

original or primary totemic clan which has become sub- exogamous
divided into a number of secondary totemic clans.^ It is ^'ass with
- the totemic .

the more incumbent on me to correct this confusion because clan, which

. , . ,

I fear I am again at least partly responsible for it. In my

original maintained the view of social
treatise, Toteinism, I

exogamous classes or phratries which was adopted some

ten years later by Professor Durkheim. But the new
evidence given to the world by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen
in the year after Professor Durkheim had published his
theory induced me to abandon that view convinced me
;
it

that, so far as Australia at least is concerned, exogamous

classes or phratries are a totally different social organisation
from totemic clans, that they are later in origin than the
totemic clans, and have been superposed upon them and ;

that we shall never understand the relation of totemism to

exogamy so long as we identify these two disparate institu-
tions, the totemic clan and the exogamous class, in other
words, so long as we suppose that totemic clans have been
from the outset exogamous.® As Professor Durkheim
adheres to the old view after the publication of the new
evidence,^ I am compelled to dissent from him on this as
well as on the other points which I have indicated.

A theory of the origin of exogamy different from all the L. H.

preceding theories was suggested by the eminent American theory

ethnologist, L. H. Morgan, to whom we owe the discovery of
^

' The same objection does not lie strangers to deflower their wives. See exogamy,
against the theory that exogamy was the references in my Ado 7 iis, Attis,
based on an aversion to shedding the Osiris, Second Edition, p. 52, note
blood of a woman of the same clan at 2 E. Durkheim, “ La Prohibition de
defloration. See S. Reinach, Cultes, I’inceste et ses origines,” 7 iti^e UA
Mythes, et Religions, i. (Paris, 1905)
sociologique, i. (Paris, 1898) pp. ^sqq.
p. 166. But though such an aversion
might be a good reason for not de- ® See above, pp. 8-10, and above,
flowering a woman, itwould be no vol. i. pp. 162 sq., 257 sqq.
reason for refusing to marry her after- E. Durkheim, “ Sur le totem-
wards. We
know that many peoples isme,” E 7177^0 sociologique, v. (Paris,
have been in the habit of engaging 1902) pp. 90 sqq.
 104 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

the classificatory system of relationship. Unlike the other

writers, whose hypotheses have been set forth, Morgan lived
for many years on intimate terms with savages who still
practised both totemism and exogamy and in approaching
;

the problem his practical familiarity with exogamous com-

munities gave him a decided advantage over enquirers who
had no such first-hand knowledge of the institution they dis-
cussed. It is significant that while Morgan’s conclusions
have been commonly rejected by anthropologists of the
study, they have been accepted by men who have personally
investigated totemism and exogamy among those tribes in
which the two institutions still exist in the greatest perfec-
tion. No men have done more to advance our knowledge
of exogamy than Messrs. Howitt, Fison, Spencer, and Gillen
have done by their researches among the Australian
aborigines and their agreement with Morgan’s opinion on
;

the origin of the institution furnishes at least a certain pre-

sumption in favour of its truth.

Morgan Morgan held that sexual promiscuity prevailed univers-

held that
exogamy
ally at a very early period of human history, and that
was exogamy was instituted to prevent the marriage or cohabita-
intro-
duced to
tion of blood relations, especially of brothers
with sisters,
prevent the which had been common under the preceding conditions.^
marriage
“ It is explainable,” he says, “ and only explainable in its
or cohabi-
tation of origin, as a reformatory movement to break up the inter-
blood
relations, marriage of blood relatives, and particularly of brothers and
especially
sisters, by compelling them to marry out of the tribe who
of brothers
with were constituted such as a band of consanguinei. It will be
sisters,
seen at once that with the prohibition of intermarriage in
which had
been the tribe this result was finally and permanently effected.
common
By this organization the cohabitation of brothers and sisters

1 exceedingly vague and unsatisfactory,

L. H. Morgan, Systems of Con-
sanguinity and Affinity of the Huniati and it is much to be regretted that
Family, pp. 484 sq., 487-490 {Smith- Morgan rejected the perfectly ap- ,

sojiian ContribtUions to Knowledge, propriate and indeed necessary term

vol. xvii.) ; id.. Ancient Society (Lon- exogamy (A ncie7it Society, pp. 5 1 1 sqq ).
.

don, 1877), pp. 58, 425, 426, 498- Morgan was often unfortunate in his
503. Morgan did not use the word choice of words, and his inappropriate
exogamy, but described the institution and pedantic terminology has probably
in his earlier work by the phrase done much to repel readers from a sub-
“tribal organization,” and in his later ject which is sufficiently unattractive
work by the phrase “gentile organiza- in itself without the aid of gratuitous
tion.” Both these expressions are disfigurements.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 105

was permanently abolished, since they were necessarily of in a

the same tribe, whether descent was in the male or the
female line. ... It struck at the roots of promiscuous sexual pro-
intercourse by abolishing its worst features, and thus became
a powerful movement towards the ultimate realization of
marriage between single pairs, and the true family state.” ^
This view furnishes, I believe, the true key to the whole This view
system of exogamy. It was suggested to Morgan by his

study of the classificatory system of relationship in its has

various forms, particularly by a comparison of the Polynesian strongly

form with the Asiatic and American forms.® It is true that confirmed

he appears to have erred in treating the Polynesian form as knowledge

primitive and as evidence of the former cohabitation
^ ^
exogamous ^ ^

brothers with sisters, whereas there are grounds for thinking systems
that the Polynesian form is on the contrary decadent, and ^ystraija^
that the former cohabitation of brothers with sisters cannot aborigines,

be inferred from it.® But while his theory has certainly

been weakened at an important point by the correction of
it has on the other hand been greatly strengthened
this error,
by the additional knowledge which we have since acquired
of the social organisation of the Australian aborigines.
These very primitive savages have carried out the principle
of exogamy with a practical ingenuity and a logical
thoroughness and precision such as no other known race of
men exhibit in their marriage system and accordingly a ;

study of their matrimonial institutions, which have been

accurately described by highly competent observers, affords
a better insight into the meaning of exogamy than can be
obtained elsewhere. It is accordingly to Australia that we
must look for a solution of the enigma of exogamy as well
as of totemism.
Full details as to the Australian systems of marriage The
have already been laid before the reader, and I have ex- fo°r?ciass,
hibited their general principles in outline so as to bring out and
clearly their aim and purpose.^ We have seen that these systems^**
marriage systems fall into a series of varying complexity “f

' L. H. Morgan, Systems of Con- uses instead of Polynesian, Asiatic,

sanguinity and Affinity, pp. 484 and American.
sq. 3 ggg above, vol. ii. pp. 169-172.
Malayan, Turanian, and Gano-
^ See vol. i. pp. 271-288, 399-402,
wanian are the terms which Morgan 445 sq.
 io6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION sect, iii

Australian from the two-class system, which is the simplest, to the

aborigines
appear eight-class system, which is the most complex, with a four-
to have class system occupying an intermediate position between the
originated
in a —
two extremes. All three systems the two-class system, the
series of
successive
four-class system, and the eight-class system are compatible —
bisections either with male or with female descent and in fact the;

of the
two-class system and the four-class system are actually found
community
for the sometimes with male and sometimes with female descent,
purpose of
preventing
while on the other hand the eight-class system has hitherto
the been discovered with male descent only. Further, I pointed
marriage
of near kin.
out that these three systems appear to have been produced
by a series of successive bisections of the community, the
two-class system resulting from the first bisection, the four-
class system resulting from the second bisection, and the
eight-class system resulting from the third bisection. Further,
we saw that the effect of these successive bisections of the
community into exogamous classes, with their characteristic
rules of descent, was to bar the marriage of persons
whom the natives regard as too near of kin, each new
bisection striking out a fresh list of kinsfolk from the
number of those with whom marriage might be lawfully
contracted and as the effect produced by these means is in
;

accordance with the deeply-rooted opinions and feelings of

the natives on the subject of marriage, we appear to be
justified in inferring that each successive bisection of the
community was deliberately instituted for the purpose
of preventing the marriage of near kin. In no other w av
does it seem possible to explain in all its details a system
at once so complex and so regular. It is hardly too__much
to affirm that no other human institution bears the impress
of deliberate design stamped on it more clearly than the
exogamous classes of the Australian aborigines. To suppose
that they have originated through a series of undesigned
coincidences,and that they only subserve by accident the
purpose which they actually fulfil and which is cordially
approved of by the natives themselves, is to tax our
credulity almost as heavily as it would be to suppose
that the complex machinery of a watch has come to-
gether without human design by a mere fortuitous con-
course of atoms, and that the purpose which it serves of
SECT, in THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 107

marking time on the dial, and for the sake of which the
owner of the watch carries it about with him, is simply an
accidental result of its atomic configuration. The attempt
in the name of science to eliminate and purpose human will
from the history of early human institutions fails disastrously
when the attempt is made upon the marriage system of the
Australian aborigines.^
We have seen, first, that the effect of the two-class Effects
of the
system is to bar the marriage of brothers with sisters in
two-class,
every case, but not in all cases the marriage of parents with four-class,
and
children, nor the marriage of certain first cousins, namely, eight-class
the children of a brother and of a sister respectively ;
second, systems.

that the effect of the four-class system is to bar the marriage

of brothers with sisters and of parents with children in every
case, but not the marriage of first cousins, the children of a
brother and of a sister respectively ;
thirdly, that the effect
of the eight-class system is to bar the marriage of brothers
with sisters, of parents with children, and of first cousins, the
children of a brother and of a sister respectively.^
Hence if we are right in assuming that these three Thus the
exogamous
marriage systems were instituted successively and in this systems
order for the purpose of effecting just what they do effect, it of the
Australians
follows that the two-class system was instituted to prevent seem to

the marriage of brothers with sisters ;

that the four-class have
originated
system was instituted to prevent the marriage of parents in an
with children and that the eight-class system was instituted attempt to
;
prevent the
to prevent the marriage of certain first cousins, the children marriage
of brothers
of a brother and a sister respectively, the marriage of all
with sisters.
other first cousins (the children of two brothers or of two The
aversion to
sisters) having been already prevented by the institution of
these and
the two-class system.® If this inference is correct, we see similar
marriages
that in Australia exogamy originated, just as Morgan of near kin
supposed, in an attempt to prevent the marriage of brothers must have
existed
with sisters, and that the prohibitions of marriage with

1 We have seen (vol. i. p. 514) win Spencer. See his Presidential

that as a result of a lifetime of observa- Address, “ Totemism in Australia,”
tion and reflection the shrewd and Transactions of the Australasian Associ-
cautious Dr. A. W. Howitt firmly be- ationfor the Advancement of Science,
lieved in the deliberate institution of Dunedin, 1904, pp. 419 sq.
the Australian marriage system ; and 2 See above, vol. i. pp. 274-279.

the belief is shared by Professor Bald- ^ See above, vol. i. p. 18 1.

 io8 5 UMMA RV AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

before parents and with certain first cousins followed later. Thus
itwas
embodied
the primary prohibition is that of marriage between brothers
in an and sisters and not, as might perhaps have been expected,
exogamous
rule.
between parents and children. From this it does not
necessarily follow that the Australian aborigines entertain a
deeper horror of incest between brothers and sisters than of
incest between parents and children. All that we can fairly
infer is that before the two-class system was instituted incest

between brothers and sisters had been commoner than incest

between parents and children, and that accordingly the first
necessity was to prevent it. The aversion to incest between
parents and children appears to be universal among the
Australian aborigines, as well among tribes with two classes
as among tribes with four classes, although the two-class
system itself is not a bar to certain cases of that incest.
Thus we perceive, what it is important to bear steadily in
mind, that the dislike of certain manages must always have
existed in thT” minds oTTEe people, or at least in the minds
of their leaders, before that dislike, so to say, received legal
sanction by being embodied in an exogamous rule. In
democratic societies, like those of the Australian savages, law
only gives practical effect to thoughts that have been long
simmering in the minds of many. This is well exemplified
in the prohibition of marriage between certain first cousins
as well as in. the prohibition of marriage between parents
and children. For many Australian tribes dislike and pro-
hibit all marriages between first cousins,^ even though they
have not incorporated that dislike and prohibition in their
exogamous organisation by adopting the eight-class system,
which effectually prevents all such marriages.
That The aversion, whether instinctive or acquired, to the for-
aversion
shews itself
bidden marriages shews itself markedly in the customs of
in the social avoidance which in many savage communities persons
widespread
customs of who stand in the prohibited degrees of kinship or affinity
avoidance observe towards each other for the only reasonable
;
which are
observed explanation of such customs, which we have now traced
by certain throughout most of the exogamous and totemic tribes of the
marriage-
able world,^ is that they are precautions against unions which the
* See above, vol. i.
pp. 346, 439, ^ See the references in the Index,
449 i-y., 459, 474 483. s.v. “Avoidance.”
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 109

people regard as incestuous. In some Australian tribes persons

this custom of avoidance is observed between brothers and

each other,
sisters/although brothers and sisters are universally barred
to each other in marriage by all the exogamous systems, the
two-class system, the four-class system, and the eight-class
system alike. No doubt it is possible theoretically to Such
^''°"^ances
explain this avoidance as merely an effect of the
^
exogamous
® seem to be
^ ^ ^

prohibition. But this explanation becomes improbable when rather the

we observe that similar customs of mutual avoidance are

frequently observed towards each other by persons who are exogamy,
not barred to each other by the exogamous rules of the they^are
classes. For example, the custom that a man must avoid sometimes

his wife’s mother is observed in Australia by tribes which persons

have female descent ^ as well as by tribes which have male
descent ® yet in tribes which have two classes with female
; to each

descent a woman always belongs to the same exogamous

class as her daughter, and is therefore theoretically marriage- exogamous
able with her daughter’s husband. Similarly with first

cousins, the children of a brother and a sister respectively,

they are sometimes bound to avoid each other even although
the exogamous system of the tribe interposes no barrier to
their union.^ Hence it is a legitimate inference that in all

such customs of mutual avoidance between persons who are

sexually marriageable, but socially unmarriageable, with
each other, we see rather the cause than the effect of
exogamy, the germ of the institution rather than its fruit.
That germ, if I am right, is a feeling of dread or aversion to
sexual union with certain persons, a feeling which has found
legal or rather customary expression in the exogamous pro-
hibitions. The remarkable fact that the custom of mutual
avoidance is often observed between adult brothers and
sisters and between parents and their adult children ® seems

' See above, vol. i. pp. 542, 565 2 See above,

vol. i. pp. 395, 404
sq. Compare E. M. Curr, The sq., 416 sq.,
541, 565.
Australian Race, i. 109. “The laws ^ See above, vol. i.
pp. 440, 451.
with respect to women are very strin- ^ This is the case in Central New

gent. A woman in most tribes, for Ireland and Uganda. See above, vol.
instance, not allowed to converse or
is ii. pp. 130 sq., 508. Compare above,
have any relations whatever with any vol. pp. 629, 637 sq.
ii.

adult male, save her husband. Even °

For instances of the mutual avoid-
with a grown-up brother she. is almost ance of brothers and sisters, see the
forbidden to exchange a word.” references in the Index, s.v. “Avoid-
 I lO 5U MMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

to tell strongly against the view of Dr. Westermarck, that

sexual desire is not naturally excited between persons who
have long lived together no classes of persons usually
;
for
live longer together than brothers with their sisters and
parents with their children none, therefore, should be more
;

perfectly exempt from the temptation to incest, none should

be freer in their social intercourse with each other than
brothers with sisters and parents with children. That
freedom indeed exists among all civilised nations, but it
does not exist among all savages, and the difference in this
respect between the liberty granted to the nearest relations
by civilisation and the restrictions imposed on them by
savagery certainly suggests that the impulse to incest, which
is almost extinct in a higher state of society, is so far from

being inoperative in a lower state of society that very

stringent precautions are needed to repress it.
The rise of Thus the exogamous system of the Australian aborigines,
exogamy
was
forming a graduated series of restrictions on marriage which
probably increase progressively with the complexity of the system as
preceded
it advances from two through four to eight classes, appears to
by a period
of sexual have been deliberately devised for ^e purpose of preventing
promiscuity.
sexual unions which the natives regarded as incestuo us.
The natural and almost inevitable inference is that before
the first bisection of a community into two exogamous
classes such incestuous unions between persons near of kin,
especially between blood brothers and sisters, were common ;

in short, that at some period before the rise of exogamy

barriers between the sexes did not exist, or in other words
there was sexual promiscuity. Under the influence of
exogamy, which in one form or another is and probably has
been for ages dominant in Australia, the age of sexual pro-
miscuity belongs to a more or less distant past, but clear
traces of it survive in the right of intercourse which in many

ance.” For instances of the mutual Ceylon, among whom “a father will
avoidance of father and daughter, see not see hisdaughter after she has
above, vol. ii. pp. 189, 424. For attained the age of puberty, and a
instances of the mutual avoidance of mother will not see her son after he
mother and son, see above, vol. ii. pp. has grown a beard.” See “ On the
77, 78, 189, 638. To the instances Weddas, by a Tamil native of
cited of mutual avoidance between Ceylon,” Transactions of the Ethno-
parents and their adult children may logical Society of London, New Series,
be added the case of the Veddas of iii. (1865) p. 71.
 1

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 1 1

Australian tribes the men exercise over unmarried girls

before these are handed over to their husbands.^ That the
licence granted to men on these occasions is no mere out-
burst of savage lust but a relic of an ancient custom is
strongly suggested by the methodical way in which the right
is exercised by certain, not all, of the men of the tribe, who

take their turn in a prescribed and strictly regulated order.

Thus even these customs are by no means cases of absolutely
unrestricted promiscuity, but taken together with the con-
verging evidence of the series of exogamous classes they
point decidedly to the former prevalence of far looser
relations between the sexes than are now to be found among
any of the Australian aborigines.
But it must always be borne in mind than in postulating But though

sexual promiscuity, or something like it, as the starting-point pon^iscuity

of the present Australian marriage system we affirm nothing seems
as to the absolutely primitive relations of the sexes among preceded
mankind. All that we can say is that the existing marriage exogamy,

customs of the Australian aborigines appear to have sprung have been

from an immediately preceding stage of social evolution in Chirac-
^
which marriage, understood as a lasting union between single absolutely

pairs, was either unknown or rare and exceptional, and in Primitive

which even the nearest relations were allowed to cohabit

with each other. But as I have already pointed out,^ though
the Australian savages are primitive in a relative sense by
comparison with ourselves, they are almost certainly very
fac indeed from being primitive in the absolute sense of the
word on the contrary, there is every reason to think that
;

by comparison with truly primaeval man they have made

immense progress in and the arts of
intelligence, morality,
life. Hence even could be proved that before they
if it

attained to their present level of culture they had passed

through a lower stage in which marriage as we understand
it hardly existed, we should have no right to infer that their

still more remote ancestors had continued in a state of sexual

promiscuity ever since man became man by a gradual evolu-

tion from a lower form of animal life. It is no doubt

interesting to speculate on what may have been the relations

^ See above, vol. i. pp. 311-313, ^ See above, p. 17, and above, vol.
419. 499 , 545 - i-
PP- 342 sq.
 1 12 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

of the human sexes to each other frorri the earliest times

down to the period when savage man emerges on the stage
of history ;
but such speculations are apparently destined to
remain speculations for ever, incapable of demonstration or
even of being raised to a high degree of probability.
The three From the darkness of the absolutely unknown and the
typical
marriage quicksands of the purely conjectural we emerge to something
systems like daylight and firm ground when we reach the well-defined
of the
Australian exogamous system of the Australian aborigines in its three
aborigines forms of the two-class system, the four-class system, and the
considered
as a series eight-class system. Let us accordingly consider these systems
of reforma- as a series of reformations designed successively to remedy a
tions
designed previous state of more or less unrestricted sexual promiscuity ;

remedy
to
and let us see in detail how the actual rules of the three systems
sexual
promiscuity. square with this hypothesis. The attempt may at least help
to clarify our ideas on a somewhat abstruse subject, and to
illustrate the mode in which a system of exogamy leads to its
regular attendant, the classificatory system of relationship.
We will take up the three typical marriage systems of
the Australian aborigines, the two-class system, the four-class
system, and the eight-class system, in this order, beginning
with the simplest and ending with the most complex.
Itwould We start then by hypothesis with a state of society in
seem that
the division
which men and women had been allowed freely to cohabit
of a com- with each other, but in which nevertheless in the minds of
munity
into two many, and especially of the most intelligent members of the
exogamous community, there had, for some reason unknown to us,
classes
was devised been long growing up a strong aversion to consanguineous
as a means unions, particularly to the cohabitation of brothers with
of enabling
people the sisters and of mothers with sons. For we may safely assume
more easily
that the recognition of these simplest and most obvious
to avoid
those relationships preceded the rise of exogamy in any form. On
marriages
to which a
the other hand, there can at the outset have been no scruple
strong felt on the ground of consanguinity to the cohabitation of a
aversion
had already
father with his daughter, if we are right in assuming that
grown up when exogamy was instituted the physical relationship of
in the com-
munity, fatherhood had not yet been recognised. Accordingly the
especially aim of the more thoughtful part of the social group, prob-
the
marriages ably consisting chiefly of the older men, was to devise some
of brothers
means of putting a stop to those sexual unions which
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY •13

had come to be regarded as evil and detrimental to the with sisters

community, especially the unions of brothers with sisters and f^oj^ers

of mothers with sons. To us the obvious thing might with sons,

appear to be simply to prohibit the unions in question.

But for some reasons which we can only conjecture, there
would seem to have been difficulties in the way of taking
this course. With the undeveloped intelligence of the low
savages, with whom exogamy must certainly have originated,
it may well have been difficult for everybody to remember

his individual relationships to everybody else, and accordingly

to know whether he might or might not cohabit with any
particular woman with whom he might chance to be thrown
into contact for where the sexual relations were of so loose,
;

vague, and temporary a character, it is likely enough that in

later life mothers and sons, brothers and sisters would often
drift apart and fail to remember or recognise each other when
they met. To obviate the difficulty and to prevent the
danger of incest, whether accidental or otherwise, it may
accordingly have occurred to some primitive sages, of whom
there must always have been at least a few, that instead of
asking everybody to carry about in his head his own partic-
ular family tree, to be produced and consulted at sight
whenever he fell in with an attractive woman, it would be
much simpler to divide the whole community, probably a
very small one, into two groups and two only, and to say
that everybody in the one group might cohabit with every-
body in the other group but with nobody in his own. And
to prevent the consanguineous unions which had probably
been the most frequent and were now the most disapproved
of, to wit, the cohabitation of brothers with sisters and of

mothers with sons, it was only necessary to enact that a

mother with her children should always be arranged together
in one group. VVe may suppose, then, that the proposal to
divide the community into two exogamous and intermarrying
groups, with each mother and her children arranged together
in one group, was approved by the community and put into
practice. Henceforth the question with whom a man might
cohabit and with whom he might not was greatly simplified.
He had only to ascertain from any particular woman whether
she belonged to his group or to the other group, and his
VOL. IV I
 —

II4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

course was clear. The mental relief thus afforded to the

scrupulous and superstitious savage was
but dull-witted
probably very considerable.
The Let us suppose that the two newly-created exogamous
two-class
system
groups were called A
and B, and let us now see the
with its effects of this simplest of all forms of exogamy, the
classifica-
tory
division of a community into two exogamous groups
relation- or classes with a rule that any man in one class may
ships and
rules of cohabit with any woman in the other class but with no
marriage. woman in his own. As the children are, on our hypo-
thesis, arranged in the same class with their mothers, the
system which we are about to examine is a two -class
system with female descent. We will first consider the
relations of a man A to all the women of the community,
and for the sake of simplicity we will suppose that there are
only three generations alive, namely, A’s own generation, the
generation above him, and the generation below him. Then
we obtain the following group or classificatory relationships
and the following rules of marriage :

The {a) All the A women in the generation above the man
classifica-
tory
A are his group mothers or his mother’s sisters, and one
relation- of them is his actual mother, but he calls them all his
ships of
an A man
mothers, not because he thinks he was born of them all, but
to the because they are collectively the mothers of all the men and
A women.
women of his class and generation. All the A women in

his own generation are his sisters or cousins, the daughters

either of his mother’s sisters (for his mother’s sisters are A
and their daughters are A) or of his father’s brothers (for his
father’s brothers are B and their children are A) ;
but he
calls them all his sisters. All the A women in the genera-
tion below own
are his sisters’ daughters (for his sisters
his
are A and daughters are A) or his daughters-in-law
their
(for his sons are B and their wives are A). All these A
women belong to A’s own class hence by the rule of ;

Prohibited exogamy he may not marry nor cohabit with them. Thus
degrees of
marriage. he is forbidden to marry his group mothers (including his
actual mother and her sisters), his group sisters (includ-
ing his actual sisters and his cousins, the daughters
either of his, mother’s sisters or of his father’s brothers),
the daughters of his group sisters, and his group daughters-
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 115

in-law (including his actual daughters-in-law, the wives of

his sons).

{J})
All the B women in the generation above A’s own The
are his group mothers-in-law and one of them is his actual
mother-in-law (since his wife is a B and her mother is a B), reiation-
but he calls them all his mothers-in-law, because by the a man
rule he is free to marry or cohabit with the daughters of to the
any of them. All the B women in his own generation are
his cousins, thedaughters either of his father’s sisters (for his
father’s are B and their daughters are B) or of his
sisters
mother’s brothers (for his mother’s brothers are A and their
daughters are B). All the B women in the generation below
his own are his daughters or the daughters of his brothers
(for his brotherslike himself are A and marry B women
and daughters are B)
their but he calls them all his
;

daughters. The reason why he calls his brother’s daughters

his daughters may have been, as we shall see afterwards,
because at this stage of social evolution a group of brothers
commonly cohabited with a group of sisters and the in-
dividual fatherhood of the children was uncertain, though
the group fatherhood was certain or probable. All these B I’ermitted

women belong to the other class from A ;

hence by the rule
of exogamy he may marry or cohabit with any of them.
Thus he is allowed to marry his mother-in-law, his cousins
(the daughters either of his father’s sisters or of his mother’s
brothers), his daughters, and his brothers’ daughters. But
of these women it is natural that he should marry or cohabit
chiefly with the women of his own generation, and as these
are his cousins (the daughters either of his father’s sisters
or of his mother’s brothers), it follows that his cousins (the
daughters either of his father’s brothers or of his mother’s
brothers) are his proper wives or mates, and consequently
he calls them all his wives, because by the fundamental law
of the classes he may marry any of them. That is why
among the Urabunna, who have this simplest of all forms of
exogamy, the two-class system with female descent, a man’s
proper marriage is always with his cousin, the daughter
either of his father’s sister or of his mother’s brother, but
never with his cousin the daughter either of his father’s
brother or of his mother’s sister, since marriage with the
 ii6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION sect, iii

daughter either of a father’s brother or of a mother’s sister

is barred by the system of exogamy, and that
two-class
whether descent is traced in the male or in the female line.^
The same reason doubtless explains the widespread prefer-
ence for marriage with a cousin, the daughter either of a
father’s sister or of a mother’s brother, combined with the
strict prohibition of marriage with a cousin, the daughter
either of a father’s brother or of a mother’s sister. Accord-
ingly, wherever we find that preference combined with that
prohibition we may reasonably infer that a two-class system
of exogamy was once in force.'
The effect What then were the results of this first attempt to bar
of the
sexual unions which had come to be viewed with general
two-class
system disapprobation as incestuous ? Regarded from the stand-
is to
point of this growing moral sentiment, the results were
regulate
satisfac- partly satisfactory and partly unsatisfactory. They were
torily all
marriages satisfactory so far as they prevented cohabitation with
between mothers, sisters, and daughters-in-law they were unsatis- ;

men anrl
women of factory so far as they permitted cohabitation with the wife’s
the same mother and with a man’s own daughters for with regard ;
generation,
but not all to father and daughter it seems probable that an aversion
marriages to their sexual union had grown up long before the physical
between
men and relationship between the two was recognised, and while he
women of still stood to her only in the position of her mother’s consort
different
genera- and the guardian of the family. Thus in regard to the
tions ;

women of a man’s own generation, amongst whom his

since with
female wives or mates are most naturally sought, the system at
descent the
first succeeded perfectly, since it assigned to him as his
two-class
system wives or mates his cousins, the daughters either of his father’s
allows a
man to sisters or of his mother’s brothers ;
for the early popularity
cohabit of this particular marriage may be safely inferred from the
with his
mother-in- preference accorded to it by so many races down to the
law and present day. But while the new matrimonial machinery
his own
daughter, worked smoothly and without a hitch in regard to the cohabita-
tion of all men and women of the same generation, it jolted
while with
male
descent badly or even broke down at the cohabitation of men and
it allows

him to
women of different generations, since it allowed a man to
cohabit cohabit with his mother-in-law in the generation above his
* See above, vol. ii. pp. 177 S(]q., 180 sqq.
2 Compare vol. ii. pp. 224-22S.
si-xr. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 1 17

own, and with his daughters in the generation below his own. with his

And if the rule of male descent had been adopted instead of

^ mother
^ ^

female descent, the difficulty of regulating the cohabitation anri his

’
of men and women in different generations would not have
been evaded, it would only have been changed for with a
;

two-class system and male descent it can easily be shewn,

by a similar demonstration, that while a man is prevented

from cohabiting with his mother-in-law in the generation

above his own, and with his own daughter in the generation
below his own, since they both belong to his own exogamous
class, he is on the other hand free to cohabit with his

own mother in the generation above his own, and with his
daughter-in-law in the generation below his own, since they
both belong to the other exogamous class into which he
marries. Thus the result of adopting a two-class system
with male descent would be if anything rather worse than
it would substitute leave to marry a mother for
better, since
leave tomarry a daughter, and it is probable that ever since
the notion of incest arose sexual union with a mother has
been deemed a graver offence than sexual union with a
daughter, if for no other reason than that the relationship
between a mother and her son must from the first have
been seen to be consanguineous, whereas the relationship
between a father and his daughter was for long supposed to
be only social.
Thus whichever way the founders of the two -class How wei-e
system of exogamy arranged descents, they were dis-
concerted by finding that under it, though the sexual two-class
relations between men and women of the same generation
were now, so far as they conformed to the system, entirely remedied?

satisfactory (since either with male or female descent men

regularly cohabited with their cousins, the daughters of their
father’s sisters or of their mother’s brothers), the sexual rela-
tions between men and women of different generations were
still very unsatisfactory on some important points, inasmuch
as with female descent a man might marryhis daughter or
his mother-in-law, while with male descent he might marry
his mother or his daughter-in-law. What was to be done ?
The object was to prevent certain persons of one
generation from cohabiting with certain persons of another
 8

1 1 C/MMA RY A ND CON CL USION sect, i i i

The generation, and it appears to have struck some inventive

object was
attained by
genius that this could readily be effected by subdividing
subdivid- each of the two exogamous classes into two companion sub-
ing each
exogamous classes according to generations, and by ordaining that
class into henceforth each of the four resulting subclasses should
two sub-
classes, marry into only one other subclass, and that two
and successive generations belong to the same
should never
ordaining
that two subclass, or, to be more children should
precise, that
successive
never belong to the subclass of either parent, but always
genera-
tions to the companion subclass of their father or of their
should
never
mother according as descent was reckoned in the male or
belong to in the female line. If this expedient were adopted, all
the same
subclass.
the most objectionable permissions granted by the old
Thus the two-class system would be cancelled, all the loopholes left
creation
of the
for incest would be closed. For whereas under the two-
four-class class system with female descent a man was free to marry
system
effectually his daughter because she belonged to the other exogamous
cured the class, under the new four-class system with female descent
worst evils
which the he would no longer be free to do so, since, although she
two-class
still belonged to the other exogamous class, and was there-
system had
failed to fore so far marriageable, she had now been transferred to a
remedy.
different subclass into which he was forbidden to marry.
Similarly, whereas under the two-class system with male
descent a man was free to marry his mother because she
belonged to the other exogamous class, under the new four-
class system with male descent he was no longer free to do
so, since, although she still belonged to the other exogamous
class, and was therefore so far marriageable, she had now
been transferred to a different subclass into which he was
forbidden to marry. Again, whereas under the old two-class
system with female descent a man was free to marry his
mother-in-law since she belonged to the same exogamous
class as her daughter, his wife, under the new four-class
system with female descent he was no longer free to do so,
since, although she still belonged to the same exogamous
class as her daughter, his wife, and was therefore so far
marriageable, she had now been transferred to a different
subclass into which he was forbidden to marry. Similarly,
whereas under the old two-class system with male descent a
man was free to marry his daughter-in-law because she
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 119

belonged to the other exogamous class, under the new four-

cla.sssystem with male descent he was no longer free to do
so, since, although she still belonged to the other exogamous

class and was therefore so far marriageable, she had now

been transferred to another subclass into which he was
forbidden to marry. Thus all the evils which have been
indicated as incidental to the two-class system are remedied
by the four-class system, whether descent be traced in the
male or in the female line. If the rules of the new system
are only observed, the possibility of incest with a sister, a
mother, a mother-in-law, and a daughter-in-law is absolutely
prevented. Hence many Australian tribes have acquiesced
in the four-class system as adequate to all their require-
ments and have never pushed the exogamous subdivision
further.^
The reason why a large group of tribes in Central and
Northern Australia has carried the subdivision one step

1 An entirely different explanation would have been refuted by the facts

of the four - cla.ss system has been adduced by Dr. Howitt himself a few
suggested by Professor E. Durkheim. pages further on, where he records (pp.
See E. Durkheim, “La Prohibition 48-50) the existence of a considerable
de I’inceste,” E
Annie sociologique, i. group of tribes with a four-class system
(1898) pp. 11-22. But his explana- and male descent. Moreover, since
tion suffersfrom the fatal defect that it Prof. Durkheim published his theory
explains only the four-class system with of the four-class system, the researches
female descent and not the four-class of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen have
system with male descent. Yet the four- revealed the existence of a very large
class system with male descent exists body of tribes in Central and Northern
in tribes which occupy a considerable Australia, which have an eight-class
range of country in South - eastern system with male descent. Hence,
Queensland, as Dr. A. W. Plowitt whereas Prof. Durkheim had ventured
pointed out long before Prof. Durkheim to conjecture [op. cit. p. 21) that the
published his theory. .See A. W. subclasses would disappear with male
Howitt, “ P’urther Notes on the Aus- descent, they are found on the contrary
tralian Class Systems,” _/o?r;w£z/ 5/ to multiply with it. Professor Durk-
Anthropological Institute, xviii. (1889) heim’s theory of the four-class system
pp. 48-50 ; compare his Native Tribes may therefore be dismissed as inade-
of South-East Australia, pp. 114-118. quate to account for the facts, .since it
Thus Prof. Durkheim is mistaken in offers no explanation of the numerous
affirming [op. cit. p. 21) that Hovoitt cases of tribes with four or eight
lui-nihne a remarque que par tout on le classes and male descent. The ex-
clan se masculis et per
rccrute ex planation which I have adopted has
masculos, la classe n'existe pas.” No the advantage of explaining all the
such statement is made by Dr. Howitt facts of the four-class and eight-class
in the passage ( loumal of the Aiithi'o- systems alike, whether descent be
pological Institute, xviii. 40) to which reckoned in the male or in the female
Prof.Durkheim refers, and even if Dr. line.
Howitt had made such a statement it
 120 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SF.CT. Ill

The further by splitting each exogamous subclass into two and

subsequent
creation
so producing the eight-class system, appears to have been a
of the growing aversion to the marriage of first cousins, the children
eight-class
system in of a brother and of a sister respectively. For we know that
some tribes many Australian tribes forbid such marriages, even though
seems to
have been they have not adopted the eight - class system, which
designed
effectually prevents them.^ Indeed some tribes which dis-
to prevent
the mar- countenance the marriage of first cousins, such as the Dieri
riage of
certain first
and the Kulin, never advanced beyond the stage of the two-
cousins, class system. This shews, as I have already pointed out.'^
viz. the
children of
how even an exogamous community may by a simple
a brother prohibition bar marriages which it disapproves of without
and a sister
respect-
needing to extend its exogamous system by further sub-
ively. divisions. The incest line has most commonly wavered at
first cousins, the children of a brother and of a sister
respectively, opinion sometimes inclining decidedly in favour
of, and sometimes decidedly against, these unions. So it
has been in Australia and so it has been elsewhere ^ down
to our own time in our own country. In Australia some,
but not all, of the tribes which disapproved of the marriages
of first cousins expressed their disapproval by extending
their exogamous system so as to include such unions in its
ban. Others contented themselves with keeping the old
exogamous system in its simpler forms of two or four classes
and merely forbidding the marriages in question.
Thus the Thus the whole complex exogamous system of the
exogamous Australian aborigines is explicable in a simple and natural
system ^ay if we suppose that it sprang from a growing aversion
Australian to the marriage of near kin, beginning with the marriage of
aborigines
brothers with sisters and of parents with children, and ending
able on the at the marriage of cousins, who sometimes fell within and
hypothesis
sometimes without the table of forbidden degrees. To
sprang prevent these marriages the tribes deliberately subdivided
from an
themselves into two, four, or eight exogamous classes, the
^ See above, vol.
pp. 346, 439,
i. castes in India prefer these marriages
449 -f?-! 4S9 > 483-
474 As to the to all others. Other peoples, such as
prevention of the marriage of first the Southern Melanesians, the Masai,
cousins by means of the eight-class the Baganda, and the Indians of Costa
system, see above, vol. i. pp. 277 sq. Rica forbid tliem altogether. See vol.
ii.pp. 75 ry., 14 1 sqq., 224 sqq., 409,
Vol. i.
pp. 346, 439.
508 ; iii. 552 ; and the references in
^ For example, the Fijians and many the Index, s.v. “Cousins.”
SECT. Ill 7 'HE ORIGIN OF E.YOGAI/V 121

three systems succeeding each other in a series of growing aversion

complexity as each was found inadequate to meet the

increasing demands of public opinion and morality. The near kin,
''
scheme no doubt took shape in the minds of a few men of a
sagacity and practical ability above the ordinary, who by duced by

their influence and authority persuaded their fellows to put de^^beraie

it in practice but at the same time the plan must have

;
bisections
, • C 1 • , • , ,
of the
answered to certain general sentiments ot what was right and community
proper, which had been springing up in the community long
before a definite social organisation was adopted to enforce such mar-

them. And what is true of the origination of the system in

its simplest form is doubtless true of each successive step
which added at once to the complexity and to the efficiency of
the curious machinery which savage wit had devised for the
preservation of sexual morality. Thus, and thus only, does
it seem possible to explain a social system at once so
intricate, so regular, and so perfectly adapted to the needs
and the opinions of the people who practise it. In the
whole of history, as I have already remarked, it would
hardly be possible to find another human institution on
which the impress of deliberate thought and purpose has
been stamped more plainly than on the exogamous systems
of the Australian aborigines.
Thus we may suppose that exogamy replaced a previous what
state of practically unrestricted sexual promiscuity. What
the new system introduced was not individual marriage but was not
group marriage; that is, it took away from all the men of
the community the unlimited right of intercourse with all but group
the women and obliged a certain group of men to confine and^"the*^

themselves to a certain group of women. At first these size of the

groups were large, but they were reduced in size by each jng*^g"oupl
successive bisection of the tribe. The two-class system left

every man free to cohabit, roughly speaking, with half the with each
successive
women of the community '' ;
’
the four-class system forbade him
•'
bisection 01
to have sexual relations with more than one fourth of the the tribe.

women and the eight-class system restricted him to one

;

eighth of the women. Thus each successive step in the group mar-
exogamous progression erected a fresh barrier between the
sexes it was an advance from
;
promiscuity through group ficatory

marriage towards monogamy. Of this practice of group reiaUou-

ship.
 122 5 UMMA RY A ND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

marriage, intermediate between the two terms of the series,

promiscuity on the one side and monogamy on the other,
the most complete record is furnished by the classificatory
system of relationship, which defines the relations of men
and women to each other according to the particular genera-
tion and the particular exogamous class to which they
belong. The cardinal relationship of the whole system is
the marriageability of a group of men with a group of
women. All the other relationships of the system hinge on
this central one.
Classi- We have seen how with the institution of the primary
ficatory
relation-
two-class system all the men at once fall into classifica-
ships of tory relationships to all the women according to genera-
men to
each other tions and classes, these relationships being an extension of
in the the simplest and most obvious of human relationships, the
two-class
system. relationship of husband to wife in the largest sense of the
word, the relationship of a mother to her children, and the rela-
tionship of these children, as brothers and sisters, to each other.
Simultaneously, of course, the classificatory relationships of
the men to each other are determined by the same means.
For example, if the system is composed of two exogamous
classes with descent in the female line, and we name the
classes as before A and B, we may define as follows the
relations of an A man to all the other men of the community,
assuming for the sake of simplicity that the men are all com-
prised in three generations, namely A’s own generation, the
generation above his own, and the generation below his
own.
The {ci) To take first the classificatory relationships of an
classi-
ficatory
A man to the other A men. In the generation above
relation- his own all the A men are his mother’s brothers (since his
ships of an
A man to
mother is A and her brothers are A) or his fathers-in-law
the other (since his wives are B and their fathers are A). In his own
A men.
generation all the A men are his brothers or his cousins, the
sons either of his mother’s sisters (since his mother is A and
her sons are A) or of his father’s brothers (since his father’s
brothers are B and their sons ar^ A), but he calls them all

indiscriminately his brothers. In the generation below his

own all the A men are the sons either of his sisters (since
his sisters are A and their children are A) or of his female
SKcr. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 123

cousins, the daughters of his mother’s sisters or of his

father’s brothers ;
but he calls them all his nephews.
{b) To takenow the classificatory relationships of an A Tht;

man to the B men. In the generation above his own all the B
men are his group fathers or his father’s brothers and one of reiation-
them is his actual father, but he calls them all his fathers. A
In his own generation all the B men are his cousins, the the a men.
sons either of his father’s sisters (since his father’s sisters are
B and their sons are B) or of his mother’s brothers (since his
mother’s brothers are A and their sons are B), and they are
all his wife’s brothers (since his wife is a B). In the genera-
tion below his own all the B men are his sons or his
brother’s sons (since his brothers are A and their sons are
B), but he calls them all indiscriminately his sons. A reason
for thus confounding his own sons with his brother’s sons has
already been suggested.^ There are grounds for thinking, as
I shall point out presently, that a very early form of group

marriage consisted of a group of brothers married to a

group of sisters, and in such unions it might be difficult
or impossible for a man to distinguish his own sons from
his brothers’ sons.
If the reader will take the trouble to compare the rela- The
tionships of men and women, which I have thus theoretically
deduced from a simple exogamous bisection of the com- reiation-

munity, with the relationships actually recognised by the dhecti'v^"'*

have come before
classificatory system, as these relation.ships Uie

us again and again in the course of this work,^ he will atofacom-

once perceive their substantial agreement, though for the munity
sake of simplicity and clearness I have refrained from exogamous
following the system through its more remote ramifications '

in the fourth and fifth generations. The agreement should appear

convince him that the classificatory system of relationship
has in fact resulted from a simple bisection of the com- by the
^
munity into two exogamous classes and from nothing else. ^s*l^(ft?ons
It should be particularly observed that the two-class system into four
of exogamy suffices of itself to create the classificatory

^ Above, p. 1 15. and Gillen, Nalive Tribes of Centra!

See the references in the Index, Australia, pp. 76 sqq. id.. Northern
;

s.v. “Classificatory System of Rela- Tribes of Centra! Australia, pp. 78

tionship,” or the tables in Spencer sqq.
 124 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION sixt. iii

subclasses system of relationship, which appears not to have been

which have
taken place
materially affected by the subsequent adoption of the four-
in some class and eight-class systems in certain tribes. This observa-
Australian
tribes, but
tion is important, because, while the classificatory system of
which have relationship is found to be diffused over a great part of the
not been
found to world, the four-class and eight-class systems have hitherto
occur in been detected in Australia alone. In the absence of evidence
any other
part of the to the contrary we accordingly infer that the successive
world. bisections of the two-class system into four and eight classes
have been inventions of the Australian intellect alone, and
that the existence of the classificatory system in other races
of men raises no presumption that these races have ever
practised exogamy in any more complex form than the
simple two-class system.
Thus with the
institution of two exogamous classes and
the system of group marriage the classificatory
resulting
system of relationship springs up of itself it simply defines ;

the relations of all the men and women of the community to

each other according to the generation and the exogamous
class to which they belong. The seemingly complex system
of relationship, like the seemingly complex system of
exogamy on which it is based, turns out to be simple
enough when we view it from its starting-point in the
bisection of a community into two exogamous classes.
The But in dealing with aboriginal Australian society we are
custom of
group
not left to infer the former prevalence of group marriage
marriage from the classificatory system of relationship alone. We
still e.\ists,

or existed
have seen that a practice of group marriage actually pre-
till lately, vails, or prevailed till lately, among many Australian tribes,
in some
Australian especially in the dreary regions about Lake Eyre, where
tribes, nature may almost be said to have exhausted her ingenuity
though
the inter- in making the country uninhabitable, and where accordingl}'
marrying the aborigines, fully occupied in maintaining a bare struggle
groups
are much for existence, enjoyed none of those material advantages
smaller
which are essential to intellectual and social progress.^
than the
exogamous Naturally enough, therefore, the old custom of group
classes.

1 As to existing, or lately existing, Eyre, see vol. i. pp. 341 sq. As to

group marriage in Australia, see above, the necessity of material advantages
vol. i.
pp. 308 sqq., 363 sqq. As to for intellectual and social progress, see
the nature of the country about Lake above, vol. i. pp. 167 sqq., 314 sqq.
SKCT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 125

marriage has lingered longest amongst these most backward

tribes,who have retained exogamy in its simplest and
oldest form, that of the two- class system. But even
among them groups are by no means co-
the marriage
incident with the exogamous
classes they are far narrower ;

in extent, they are a still closer approximation to the

custom of individual marriage, that is, to the marriage of
one man with one woman or with several women, which
is now the ordinary form of sexual union in the Australian

tribes. Thus the history of exogamy may be compared to

a series of concentric rings placed successively one within
the other, each of lesser circumference than its predecessor
and each consequently circumscribing within narrower
bounds the freedom of the individuals whom it encloses.
The outermost ring includes all the women of the tribe ;
the
innermost ring includes one woman only. The first ring
represents promiscuity the last ring represents monogamy.
;

In what precedes I have assumed that when a com- When

munity first divided itself into two exogamous classes the
children were assigned to the class of their mother, in other stituted,

words, that descent was traced in the female line. One reason'r'^
obvious reason for preferring female to male descent would tracing

be the certainty and the permanence of the blood relation- of the

ship between a mother and her child compared with the exogamous
. , , . . , . ,
classes in
uncertainty and frequently the impermanence of the social
,

the female
tather than
relationship between a man and the children of the woman m the male
with whom he cohabited ;
for in speaking of these early line,

times we must always bear mind that the physical re-

in
lationship of a father to his children was not yet recognised,
and that he was to them no more than their guardian and
the consort of their mother. Another strong reason, which
indeed flows as a consequence from the preceding reason,
for preferring female to male descent in the original two-
class system of exogamy was that the aversion to incest
with a mother was probably much older and more deeply
rooted than the aversion to incest with a daughter, and
that, while a two-class system with female descent bars
incest with a mother, a two - class system with male
descent does not do so for whereas a two-class system
;

with female descent puts a mother and her son in the same
 126 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

exogamous class and thereby prevents their sexual union, a

two-class system with male descent puts mother and son
in different exogamous
and therefore presents no
classes
barrier to their sexual union. For these reasons it seems
probable that when exogamy was first instituted most
people adopted maternal rather than paternal descent of the
exogamous classes.
But with But it need not necessarily have been so. I have
group
marriage
already pointed out ^ that with group
marriage it is as
it is as easy to trace group fatherhood as group motherhood,
easy to
determine since the group of fathers is just as well known as the
group group of mothers, though the individual father may be un-
fatherhood
as it is to known. It is therefore perfectly possible that in instituting
determine exogamy some tribes from the beginning preferred to assign
group
mother- children to the group of their fathers instead of to the group
hood
hence
;
of their mothers. Of course such an assignation would not
from the imply any recognition of physical paternity, the nature and
beginning
of e.\ogamy
even existence of which were most probably quite unknown
some tribes to the founders of exogamy. All that these primitive
may have
preferred
savages understood by a father of children was a man who
to trace cohabited with the children’s mother and acted as guardian
descent of
exogamous of the family. That cohabitation, whether occasional or
classes in prolonged, would be a fact as familiar, or nearly as familiar,
the male
rather than to every member of the community as the fact of the
in the
woman’s motherhood and though nobody thought of con-
;
female line.
necting the cohabitation with the motherhood as cause and
effect, yet the mere association of the man with the woman
gave him an interest in her children, and the more pro-
longed the association, in other words, the more permanent
the marriage, the greater would be the interest he would take
in them. The children were obviously a part of the
woman’s body and if from long possession he came to
;

regard the woman as his property, he would naturally be

led to regard her children as his property also. In fact, as

I have already suggested,^ we may conjecture that a man

looked on his wife’s children as his chattels long before he
knew them to be his offspring. Thus in primitive society
it is probable that fatherhood was viewed as a social, not a

physical, relationship of a man to his children. But that

1
Vol. i. pp. 167, 248 sq., 335 sq. ^ Vol. i. p. 167.
SECT. TII THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 127

social relationship may quite well have been considered a

sufficient reason for assigning children to the class of the
man who had the right of cohabiting with their mother
rather than to the class of the mother herself Hence we
cannot safely assume that Australian communities, such as
the Arunta and other Central tribes, who now transmit
their exogamous classes in the paternal line, ever trans-
mitted them in the maternal line.^ So far as exogamy is
concerned, father-kin may be as primitive as mother-kin.
To complete our view of Australian exogamy it only It remains
e.\amine
remains to indicate the relation of the exogamous classes to
the relation
to the totemic clans, and to shew how the exogamy of of the
exogamous
the clans came, under certain circumstances, to follow as a classes to
corollary from the exogamy of the classes, that is, primarily the totemic
clans.
from the bisection of a community into two intermarrying In Central
groups. We have seen that among the Arunta and other Australia the rule of
tribes of Central whose totemic, though not their
Australia, exogamy
exogamous, system appears to be the most primitive, the was not
applied
totemic clans are not exogamous, and the reason why they to the
totemic
are not exogamous is that these tribes have retained the truly
clans,
primitive mode of determining a person’s totem, not by the because
with con-
totem of his father or mother, but by the accident of the place ceptional
where his mother imagined that the infant’s spirit had passed totemism,
such as
into her womb. Such a mode of determining the totem, if it is prevails
rigorously observed, clearly prevents the totems from being among
these
hereditary and therefore renders them useless for the purposes tribes, the

of exogamy ;
since with conceptional totemism of this sort application
of the
you cannot prevent, for example, a brother from cohabiting exogamous
rule to the
with a sister or a mother from cohabiting with her son by
totems
laying down a rule that no man shall cohabit with a woman could not
prevent the
of the same totem. For with conceptional totemism it may marriage of
happen, and often does happen, that the brother’s totem is near kin.

different from the sister’s totem and the mother’s totem

different from the son’s totem. In such cases, therefore, an

1
Professor E. Durkheim, indeed, Spencer and Gillen pointed out
has argued that in these Central tribes [Norlhern Tribes of Central Australia,
descent of the classes was traced in p. 121, note'), his argument rests on
the female line before it was traced in a misapprehension of the facts, and
the male line. See E. Durkheim, “Stir collapses when that misapprehension is
le totemisme,” UAtinee sociologique, corrected.
V. (1902) pp. 98 sqq. But, as Messrs.
 128 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION sect . 111

exogamous rule which forbids cohabitation between men

and women of the same totem would be powerless to pre-
vent the incest of a brother with a sister, or the incest of a
mother with her Accordingly the Arunta and other
son.
tribes of Central Australia, as well as the Banks’ Islanders,
who have retained the primitive system of conceptional
totemism, have logically and rightly never applied the rule
of exogamy to their totemic clans, because they saw, what
indeed was obvious, that its application to them would not
effect the object which exogamy was instituted to effect, to
wit, the prevention of the marriage of near kin. Thus
the omission of these tribes to apply the rule of exogamy
to their totemic clans, while they strictly applied it to the
classes, not only indicates in the clearest manner the sharp
distinction which we must draw between the exogamous
classes and the totemic clans, but also furnishes a strong
argument in favour of the view that exogamy was instituted
for no other purpose than to prevent the marriage of near
kin, since it was strictly applied to those social divisions
which effected that purpose, and was not applied at all to
those social divisions which could not possibly effect it.
In other From this it follows that amongst the Arunta and other
Australian
tribes it is
tribes of Central Australia exogamy was introduced before
possible the totems had become hereditary. Was it so in the other
that the
totems had Australian tribes ? It is not necessary to suppose so. We
become may imagine that people took their totems regularly either
hereditary
before the from their father or their mother before the introduction of
introduc- exogamy, that is, while persons of the same totem were still
tion of
exogamy, free to cohabit with each other. If, then, exogamy in its

and if that simplest form of a two-class system were instituted in a

were so
the totemic community which up to that time had consisted of a number
clans would
of hereditary totemic, but not exogamous, clans, it is easy
naturally
become to see that the exogamy of the totemic clans would be
exogamous
by being
a natural, though not a necessary, consequence. For an
distributed obvious way of drawing the new exogamous line through
among the
exogamous the community would be to divide up the hereditary totemic
classes. clans between the two exogamous classes, placing so many
clans on one side of the line to form the one class, and
so many clans on the other side of the line to form the
other class. In this way, given the exogamy of the two
SECT. HI THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 129

classes and the heredity of the totemic clans, the clans

were henceforth exogamous no man in future might marry
;

a woman of his own clan or a woman of any clan in his

own class he might only marry a woman of one of the
;

clans in the other class. Thus it is quite possible that in

all the Australian tribes in which the totemic clans are now
exogamous, they have been so from the very introduction
of exogamy, though not of course before it.
On the other hand, the circumstance that many tribes in But it may
well have
the secluded centre of the Australian continent have retained
been that
the primitive system of conceptional totemism along with the in all
Australian
comparatively new custom of exogamy, suggests that every- tribes
where in Australia the exogamous revolution may have been totemism
was still in
inaugurated in communities which in like manner had not the con-
yet advanced from conceptional to hereditary totemism. ceptional,
not the
And there is the more reason to think so because, as we have hereditary,

already seen,^ the tribes which lie somewhat further from the stage at the
time when
Centre and nearer to the sea are at the present day still in a exogamy
was
from conceptional to hereditary totemism.
state of transition
instituted ;

Amongst them the theory which bridges over the gap between and there
is the more
the two systems is that, while the mother is still supposed
reason to
to conceive in the old way by the entrance of a spirit think so,
because
child none but a spirit of the father’s totem will
into her, some tribes
dare to take up its abode in his wife. In this way are still in

a state of
the old conceptional theory of totemism is preserved and transition
combined with the new principle of heredity the child is ;
from con-
ceptional to
still born in the ancient fashion, but it now invariably takes hereditary
its father’s totem. An analogous theory, it is obvious, totemism.

might be invented to reconcile conceptional totemism with a

rule that a child always takes its mother’s totem rather than
its father’s. Thus given an original system of conceptional
totemism, it is capable of developing, consistently with its
principles, into hereditary totemism either with paternal or
with maternal descent. But given an original system of
hereditary totemism it seems impossible to explain in any
probable manner how it could have developed into concep-
tional and non-hereditary totemism such as we find it among
the Arunta and other tribes of Central Australia. This
is surely a very strong reason for regarding conceptional
1 See vol. i. pp. 242-246.
VOL. IV K
 130 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

totemism as primary or original and hereditary totemism

as secondary or derivative.
Concep- On the whole, then, I incline to believe that when exo-
tional
totemism gamy was first instituted in Australia the natives were still
might divided into totemic clans like those of the Arunta in which
develop
gradually the totems had not yet become hereditary that is, in which
;

into every person derived his totem from the accident of his
hereditary
totemism mother’s fancy when she first felt her womb quickened. The
either with
transition from this conceptional to hereditary totemism
male or
with would then be gradual, not sudden. From habitually co-
female
habiting with a certain woman a man would come to desire
descent.
that the children to whom she gave birth and whom, though
he did not know they were his offspring, he helped to guard
and to feed, should have his totem and so should belong to his
totemic clan. For that purpose he might easily put pressure
on his wife, forbidding her to go near spots where she might
conceive spirits of any totems but his own. If such feelings
were general among the men of a tribe, a custom of inherit-
ing the totem from the father might become first common
and then universal when it was complete the transition
;

from purely conceptional totemism to purely hereditary

totemism in the male line would be complete also. On the
other hand, if it was the mother who particularly desired that
her children should take her totem and belong to her totemic
clan, the transition from conceptional totemism to hereditary
totemism in the female line would have been equally facile,
indeed much more so for seeing that under the conceptional
;

system a child’s totem is always determined by the mother’s

fancy or, to be more exact, by her statement as to her fancy,
it would be easy for her either to frequent places haunted by

spirits of her own totem only in order to receive one of them

into her womb, or at all events, if she were unscrupulous, to
fib that she had done so, and in this way to satisfy the long-

ing of her mother’s heart by getting children of her own

totem. That may perhaps be one, and not the least influen-
tial, cause why among primitive totemic tribes the totem
oftener descends in the maternal than in the paternal line.
But in While exogamy in the form of group marriage may
tribes
which thus have started either with female or with male descent,
started in other words, either with mother-kin or with father-kin.
 .

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 131

there are many causes which would tend in course of time with female

to give a preference to male descent or father-kin over

female descent or mother-kin. Amongst these causes the there

principal would probably be the gradual restriction of group be'a

tlnie
marriage within narrower and narrower limits and with it tendency

the greater certainty of individual fatherhood for it is to ;

be remembered that although exogamy appears to have descent 01

been instituted at a time when the nature of physical por with

paternity was unknown, most tribes which still observe the gradual

institution are now, and probably have long been, acquainted of group

with the part

offspring.
^ which the father plays in the begetting
^
Even in South-Eastern Australia, where, favoured
^
00 individual
fatherhood

by a fine climate and ample supplies of food, the aborigines

had made the greatest material and intellectual progress, more and
the fact of physical paternity was clearly recognised,^ though „
it is still unknown to the ruder tribes of the Centre and the and with
North. And with the knowledge of the blood tie which o'^'^prop^rw
unites a man to his children, it is obvious that his wish to men would
draw them closer to himself socially would also naturally be more
strengthened. Thus, whereas the system of father-kin, once transmit

established, is perfectly stable, being never exchanged for belongings

^'teir
mother-kin, the system of mother-kin, on the other hand, is
^ own
unstable, being constantly liable to be exchanged for father- children,

kin. The chief agency in effecting the transition from

mother-kin to father-kin would appear to have been a sisters’

general increase in material prosperity bringing with it a ^yplfare’a

large accession of private property to individuals. For it is man’s heirs

when a man has much to bequeath to his heirs that he system^of

becomes sensible of the natural inequity, as it now appears mother-
to him, of a system of kinship which obliges him to transmit on the
all his goods to his sisters’ children and none to his own. otherhand,
tribe
Hence it is with the great development ofr private property which
. .

that devices for shifting descent from the female to the started
male line most commonly originate. Amongst these father-kin
devices are the practice of making presents to a man’s own
children in his lifetime, in order that when he dies there motive to

may be little or nothing to go to his sisters’ children ;

the
practice of buying his wife and with her the children from mother-
'

her family, so that henceforth the father is the owner as

1 See above, vol. i. pp. 338, 439 sq.
 132 5 UMMAR Y AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

well as the begetter of his offspring and the practice of ;

naming children into their father’s clan instead of into their

mother’s. Examples of all these methods of shifting the
line of descent from the female to the male line have come
before us in the course of our survey/ and no doubt they
might easily be multiplied. Hence, as I have already
pointed out,^ wherever we find a tribe wavering between
female descent and male descent we may be sure that
it is in the act of passing from mother-kin to father-kin,
and not in the reverse direction, since there are many
motives which induce men
exchange mother-kin for to
father-kin but none which induce them to exchange father-
kin for mother-kin. If in Australia there is little or no
evidence of a transition from maternal to paternal descent,
the reason is probably to be found in the extreme poverty
of the Australian aborigines, who, having hardly any property
to bequeath to their heirs, were not very solicitous as to who
their heirs should be.
Thus the Thus
the whole apparently intricate, obscure, and
whole
marriage confused system of aboriginal Australian marriage and
system relationship can be readily and simply explained on the
of the
Australian two principles of conceptional totemism and the division of
aborigines a community into two exogamous classes for the sake of
can be
explained preventing the marriage of near kin. Given these two
by two principles as starting-points, and granted that totemism
simple
principles. preceded exogamy, we see that the apparent intricacy,
obscurity, and confusion of the system vanish like clouds
and are replaced by a clear, orderly, and logical evolution.
On any other principles, so far as I can perceive, the attempt
to explain Australian totemism and exogamy only darkens
darkness and confounds confusion.

Will the Having found, as it seems, an adequate explanation of

same
theory
the growth, though not of the ultimate origin, of exogamy
explain in aboriginal Australia, we naturally ask whether a similar
exogamy
in other
explanation can account for the growth of exogamy in all
parts of the other parts of the world where it is practised. The
the world?
It is true
germ of the whole institution, if I am right, is the deliberate

' See above, vol. i. pp. 71 sq., vol. ii. p. 195, vol. iii. pp. 42, 72, 174 sq.,
^
308 sg. See above, vol. i. p. 71.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 133

bisection of the whole community into two exogamous that

classes for the purpose of preventing the sexual unions

near kin. Accordingly on this hypothesis we should expect simple

to find such a bisection or traces of it in all exogamous lype'js^**

tribes. The facts, however, do not by any means altogether found in

answer to that expectation. It is true that a division intObmiherr

two exogamous classes, in other words, a two-class system,

exists commonly, though not universally, in Melanesia ^ and ing that
is found among some tribes of North American Indians, such

as the Iroquois, the Tlingits, the Haidas, and the Kenais.^ have been
But the existence of two and only two exogamous
^ divisions Pf^ntised
,
by many
in a community is rare and exceptional. Usually we find peoples,
not two exogamous classes but many exogamous clans, as
appears to be the invariable rule among the numerous only

totemic peoples of India and Africa.® But is it not possible of°he'^^

that some communities these exogamous and totemic
in totemic

clans may once have been grouped in exogamous classes or

phratries which afterwards disappeared, leaving behind them
nothing but the exogamy of the totemic clans, in other
words, the prohibition of marriage between men and women
of the same totemic clans ? This is not only possible ;
it

appears to have actually happened in totemic communities

widely separated from each other. Thus in the Western
Islands of Torres Straits there is reason to think that the
totemic clans were formerly grouped in two exogamous
classes or phratries, but that the exogamy of the classes has
been relaxed while the exogamy of the totemic clans has
been retained.^ Careful enquiry led Dr. Seligmann to the
conclusion that the same thing has happened among the
Mekeo people and the Wagawaga people of New Guinea.®
In North America the very same change is known to have
taken place among the Iroquois, as we learn from the high
authority of L. H. Morgan, who lived among them for long
and knew them intimately. Formerly, he says, the Iroquois
were divided into two exogamous classes or phratries, each

1 See above, vol. ii. pp. 69 sqq., West are reported to be divided into
1 18 sqq., 127 sq., 131 sq. two exogamous classes, though not into
2 See above, vol. iii. pp. li sq., totemic clans. See above, vol. ii.

265 sq.,280 sq., 364 sq. PP- 541, 590.

^ However, in Africa the Gallas in See above, vol. ii. pp. 5-7.
the East and the Wepa people in the ® See above, vol. ii. pp. 44 sq..
 134 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. HI

comprising four totemic clans, and no one might marry a

woman in any of the four clans of his own class or phratry
without incurring the deepest detestation and disgrace. In
process of time, however, he tells us, the rigour of the system
was relaxed,until finally the prohibition of marriage was
confinedonly to the totemic clan.^ Again, precisely the
same change is reported to have taken place among the
Hurons or Wyandots. Our best authority on the tribe,
Mr. W. E. Connolly, informs us that formerly the Wyandots
were divided into two exogamous classes or phratries, one of
which comprised four and the other seven totemic clans.
In old times marriage was forbidden within the class or
phratry as well as within the totem clan, for the clans
grouped together in a class or phratry were regarded as
brothers to each other, whereas they were only cousins to
the clans of the other class or phratry. But at a later time
the rule prohibiting marriage within the class was abolished
and the prohibition was restricted to the totemic clan in ;

other words, the clan continued to be exogamous after the

class had ceased to be so.^ On the other side of America
the same change would seem to have taken place among the
Kenais of Alaska, though our information as to that tribe
is not full apd precise enough to allow us to speak with

confidence.®
A strong These facts shew that in tribes which have two exogam-
motive for
dropping ous classes, each class comprising a number of totemic clans,
the exo- there is a tendency for the exogamy of the class to be
gamy of
the classes dropped and the exogamy of the clan to be retained. An
and retain- obvious motive for such a change is to be found in the far
ing the
exogamy heavier burden which the exogamous class imposes on those
of the
clans is
who submit to it. For where a community is divided into
that the two exogamous classes every man is thereby forbidden to
former is
marry, roughly speaking, one half of all the women of the
far more
burden- community. In small communities, and in savage society
some than
the latter,
the community is generally small, such a rule must often
since it make it very difficult for a man to obtain a wife at all ;

imposes
far greater
accordingly there would be a strong temptation to relax the
restrictions burdensome exogamous rule of the class and to retain the
on mar-
riage. ' See above, yol. ii. ^ 5gg above, vol. sq.
iii. p. iii. pp. 33
^
See above, vol. iii. pp. 364 sq.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 135

far easier exogamous rule of the clan. The relief afforded

by such a relaxation would be immediate, and it would be
all the greater in proportion to the number of the totemic
clans. If there were, let us say, twenty totemic clans, then,
instead of being excluded from marriage with ten of them
by the severe rule of class exogamy, a man would now be
excluded from marriage with only one of them by the mild
rule of clan exogamy. The temptation thus offered to
tribes hard put to it for wives must often have proved irre-
sistible. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that many
tribes besides the Western Islanders of Torres Straits, the
Iroquois, and the Wyandots have tacitly or formally
abolished the exogamy of the class, while they satisfied
their scruples by continuing to observe the exogamy of the
clan. In doing so they would exchange a heavy for a light
matrimonial yoke.
The foregoing considerations suggest that everywhere Thus clan
the exogamy of the totemic clan may have been preceded e.xogamy
may every-
by exogamy of the class or phratry, even where no trace of where have
been pre-
a two-class system has survived in short, we may perhaps ceded by
;

draw the conclusion that exogamy of the totemic clans is class

e.xogamy.
always exogamy in decay, since the restrictions which it
imposes on marriage are far less sweeping than the restric-
tions imposed by the exogamy of the classes or phratries.
But there is another strong and quite independent reason The
existence
for thinking that many tribes which now know only the of the
exogamy of the totemic clans formerly distributed these classifi-
catory
totemic clans into two exogamous classes. We have seen system of
that wherever the system of relationship of a totemic people relation-
ship in all
has been ascertained, that system is classificatory, not descrip- totemic
tive, in its nature. To that rule there appears to be no peoples is
another
exception. But, further, we have found that the classifica- reason for
inferring
tory system of relationship follows naturally and necessarily
that their
as a corollary from the system of group marriage created by totemic
clans were
the distribution of a community into two exogamous classes.^ formerly
Hence we may infer with some degree of probability that, distributed
intwo
wherever the classificatory system now exists, a two-class exogamous
system of exogamy existed before. If that is so, then classes.

exogamy would seem everywhere to have originated as in

* See above, pp. 114 sqq.
 136 ^ UMMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

Australia by a deliberate bisection of the community into

two exogamous classes for the purpose of preventing the
marriage of near kin, especially the marriage of brothers
with sisters and of mothers with sons.
Thus An advantage of adopting this as a general solution of
exogamy
may every-
the whole problem of exogamy is that, like the solution of
where have the problem of totemism which I have adopted, it enables
originated
in a us to understand how the institution is found so widely
bi-section distributed over the globe without obliging us to assume
of the
community either that it has been borrowed by one distant race from
into two another, or that it has been transmitted by inheritance from
exogamous
classes the common ancestors of races so diverse and remote from
for the
purpose of
each other as the Australian aborigines, the Dravidians of
preventing India, the negro and Bantu peoples of Africa, and the
the mar-
riage of
Indians of North America. Institutions so primitive and
near kin. so widespread as totemism and exogamy are explained more
easily and naturally by the hypothesis of independent origin
in many places than by the hypothesis either of borrowing
or of inheritance from primaeval ancestors. But to explain
the wide diffusion of any such institution, with any appear-
ance of probability, on the hypothesis of many separate
origins, we must be able to point to certain simple general
ideas which naturally suggest themselves to savage men, and
we must be able to indicate some easy and obvious way in
which these ideas might find expression in practice. A
theory which requires us to assume that a highly complex
process of evolution has been repeated independently by
many races in many lands condemns itself at the outset. If
a custom has sprung up independently in a multitude of
savage tribes all over the globe, it is probable that it has
originated in some idea which to the savage mind appears
very simple and obvious. Such a simple idea we have
found for totemism in the belief that women can be im-
pregnated without the aid of the other sex by animals,
plants, and other natural objects, which enter into them and
are born from them with the nature of the animals, plants,
or other natural objects, though with the illusory appear-
ance of human beings. Such a simple idea we have found
for exogamy in the dislike of the cohabitation of brothers
with sisters and of mothers with sons, and we have seen
 SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY J37

how this dislike might easily find expression in the distribu-

tion of a community into two exogamous classes with female
descent, which effectually prevents all such cohabitations.
The hypothesis has at least the merit of simplicity which, as
I have just said, is indispensable to any theory which
professes to explain the independent origin in many places
of a widespread institution.
At the same time it is possible to push the theory of E.xogamy
independent origins too far. Within certain limits it seems
probable that exogamy has spread from one tribe to another pendentiy
by simple borrowing. This may well have happened, for distan7^*
example, among the Australian aborigines, who for the most points and
part live in friendly communication with each other and readily d^ffusfon^
pass on their simple inventions to their neighbours. Indeed trough
we know that changes in the exogamous classes have been bouring
spreading for some time from one Australian tribe to peoples-
another ^ there is therefore no improbability, indeed there
;

is great probability, in the view that the plan of bisecting a

community into two exogamous classes may have originated

in a few Australian tribes, possibly in one tribe only, and may
have been passed on by the inventors to their neighbours
till it spread by diffusion over the whole continent. And
in other parts of the world we may suppose that the same
thing has happened within certain ethnical and geographical
boundaries. In short, it appears likely that exogamy, in
the form of the two-class system, has sprung up inde-
pendently at a number of points in widely separated areas,
such as the different continents, and that from these points
as centres it has been diffused in gradually widening circles
among neighbouring peoples.
But if exogamy has been instituted in other parts of E.xogamy
the world to serve the same purpose that it appears to have ^sLm of
served in Australia, we must conclude that it has everywhere group
been originally a system of group marriage devised for the demised to
sake of superseding a previous state of sexual promiscuity, supersede
°*^^
which had for some time been falling into general disrepute state 0

before a few of the abler men hit upon an expedient for sexual pro-
abolishing it or rather for restraining it within certain limits. Bm the

Such a state of absolute sexual promiscuity, we must

' See above, vol. i. p. 283.
 138 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

promis- remember, is a matter of inference, not of observation.

cuity is a
matter of
There is no good evidence, so far as I am aware, that it
inference has ever been practised by any race of men within historical
only there
and if it ever existed, as we have reason to think
;

is no good
times ;

evidence that it did, the moral and social conditions which it implies
that it has
ever been are so low that it could not reasonably be expected to have
practised survived at the present day even among the lowest of
by any
race of existing savages. The numerous statements which have
men within been made as to a total absence of restrictions on the
historical
times. intercourse of the sexes in certain races seem all to be
loose, vague, and based on imperfect knowledge or on
hearsay certainly not one of them has ever borne the
;

scrutiny of a thorough scientific investigation.^ Even group

marriage, which appears from exogamy and the classificatory
system of relationship to have succeeded promiscuity as the
next stage of progress, has left few traces of itself anywhere
but in Australia, where in a restricted form it has been
practised by a number of tribes down to modern times.
Group In our survey of totemism we have indeed met with what
marriage
among the has been described by competent and independent observers
Chuckchees as regular systems of group marriage among the Chuckchees
and
Herero. of North-East Asia and the Herero of South-West
Africa.” But such cases are too isolated to allow us to lay
much stress on them. They may spring from purely local
and temporary circumstances rather than from such general
and permanent causes as would alone suffice to explain the
prevalence of group marriage over the vast area now
occupied by the exogamous and classificatory peoples.

^ On this subject I agree with L. II. miscuity may be deduced theoretically as

Morgan, who says {Ancient Society, p. a necessary condition antecedent to the
502): “It is not probable that any consanguine family ; but it lies concealed
people within the time of recorded in the misty antiquity of mankind
human observation have lived in a beyond the reach of positive know-
state of promiscuous intercourse like ledge.” By “the punaluan family”
the gregarious animals. The perpetua- Morgan means a form of group marriage
tion of such a people from the infancy which was practised in Hawaii. The
of mankind would evidently have been unsatisfactory nature of the evidence
impossible. The cases cited, and adduced for a practice of sexual pro-
many others that might be added, are miscuity within historical times has
better explained as arising under the been rightly shewn by Dr. E. Wester-
punaluan family, which, to the foreign marck {History of Human Marriage,
observer, with limited means of observa- pp. 51 sqq.).
would afford the external indica- 2 See above, vol.
tion, ii. pp. 348 sqq.,
tions named by these authors. Pro- 366 sq.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 139

Again, very great laxity in the relations of the sexes, Loose

combined with either polyandry or something like group ^efattons
marriage, is known to exist among the Todas of India and in some
the Masai and the Bahima of Africa.^ But it is a singular frtbeTof
fact that these three tribes are, or were till lately, purely India and

pastoral, devoting themselves entirely to the care of their

cattle and subsisting on their products. This suggests, as
I have already indicated,^ that there is something in the
pastoral life that affects the relations of the sexes in a
peculiar way which we do not clearly understand ;
for
though the limitation which that mode of life necessarily
imposes on the means of subsistence might naturally lead
to polyandry as a device for keeping down the population,
it would hardly explain the general relaxation of sexual
morality which characterises these tribes. In these circum-
stances we cannot safely draw any general inferences as to
group marriage from the practice of the Todas, the Masai,
and the Bahima. Again, apparent traces of sexual com- Traces of
munism survive in the licentious customs of various peoples,®
but these also are too few and too isolated to allow us to munism in
give much weight to them as evidence of a former general customs.^
practice of group marriage.
But there are two customs of wide prevalence throughout Relics of
the world which separately and in conjunction may perhaps
be explained on the hypothesis that they are relics of group are perhaps
marriage and in particular of that form of group marriage |he^°|vo'^

which L. H. Morgan called the punaluan, to wit, the union customs of

of a group of husbands who are brothers with a group of ^nd the
wives who are sisters. The first of these customs is the sororate,
world-wide rule which allows or requires a man to marry the in the
widow of his deceased elder brother the other is the rule ="stoms ofa;
marrying
^

which allows or requires a man to marry the younger sisters deceased

*
either of his living or of his deceased wife. Or, to put the
same customs from the point of view of the woman, we may and a
say that the former custom allows or requires her to marry
her deceased husband’s brother, and that the latter custom wife’s
allows or requires her to marry the husband either of her

^ See above, vol. ii. pp. 256, 265, ® See above, vol. ii. pp. 129, 145
415 sq.,538 sq. sqq., 403, 602 sq., 638 sq., iii.

^ Above, vol. ii. p. 539. 472.

 140 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

living or of her deceased sister. The former custom has

long been known under the name of the levirate, from the
Latin levir, “ the latter custom, which
a husband’s brother ” ;

has received very little attention, has no distinctive name,

but on analogy I propose to call it the soj'orate, from the
Latin soror, “ a sister.” The two customs are in fact
correlative ;
they present in all probability two sides of one
original custom, and it is convenient to give them corre-
sponding names.
The The practice of the levirate, or the custom which gives a
custom
of the
younger brother the right of marrying his deceased elder
sororate, brother’s widow, is so familiar and has been so fully
that is, the
right to
exemplified in the preceding volumes of this work^ that it
marry a would be superfluous to dwell upon it here. But the
wife’s
younger correlative practice of the sororate, or the custom which gives
sisters
a man the right of marrying his wife’s younger sisters either
either in
her lifetime in her lifetime or after her death, has been so little noticed
or after
that it may be well not only to recall some of the instances
her death,
is observed of it which we have already met with, but to illustrate it
by many
tribes of
with some fresh examples for the sake of shewing the
North wide prevalence of the custom and its importance in the
American
Indians.
history of marriage. Its significance in this respect was
first pointed out by L. H. Morgan, whose attention was
pointedly drawn to it by finding it observed in about
forty tribes of North American Indians.^ Accordingly we

1
See the references in the Index, marriage relation on the basis of their
s.v. “ Levirate.” sisterhood the husband of one being
;

L. H. Morgan, A)icic 7 it Society,

^ the husband of all, but not the only
p. 432 “ One custom may be cited
: husband, for other males were joint
of unmistakable punaluan origin, which husbands with him in the group. After
is still recognized in at least forty the punaluan family fell out, the right
North American Indian tribes. Where remained with the husband of the eldest
a man married the eldest daughter of a sister to become the husband of all her
family he became entitled by custom sisters if he chose to claim it. It may
to all her sisters as wives when they with reason be regarded as a genuine
”
attained the marriageable age. It was survival of the ancient punaluan custom.
a right seldom enforced, from the The term punaluan, which Morgan
difficulty, on the part of the individual, applied to a certain form of group
of maintaining several families, although marriage, is derived from the Hawaiian
polygamy was recognized universally as word pitnaliia, signifying a marriage
a privilege of the males. We find in relationship, which is defined as follows
this the remains of the custom of in a letter written to L. H. Morgan
punalita among their remote ancestors. in i860 by Judge Lorin Andrews of
Undoubtedly there was a time among Honolulu “ The relationship of piina-
:

them when own sisters went into the llia is rather amphibious. It arose
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 141

shall begin with examples of the custom drawn from these

tribes.
A writer of the eighteenth century, speaking of the Examples
Indians in the neighbourhood of the great lakes, says :
“ It

is not uncommon
an Indian to marry two sisters some- among the
for ;

times, if there happen to be more, the whole number and J^beTof ;

notwithstanding this (as it appears to civilized nations) North

unnatural union, they all live in the greatest harmony.” ^
Another writer, referring to the Indians of the south-western
deserts, observes that “in general, when an Indian wishes
to have many wives he chooses above all others, if he can,
sisters, because he thinks he can thus secure more domestic

peace.” ^ The general practice, as defined by L. H. Morgan,

is that “ when a man marries the eldest daughter he becomes,

by that act, entitled to each and all of her sisters as wives

when they severally attain the marriageable age. The
option rests with him, and he may enforce the claim, or yield
it to another.” ® That the custom prevailed especially The
among the Indians of the great plains or prairies we learn amorfi'the
from a well-informed writer, who says that “ with the plains Indians of

tribes, and perhaps with others, the man who marries the
eldest of several daughters has prior claim upon her un-
married sisters.” ^ Thus among the Osages “ polygamy is
usual ;
for it is a custom that, when a savage asks a girl
in marriage and gets her to wife, not only she but all her
sisters belong to him and are regarded as his wives. It is

a great glory among them to have several.” ^ As to the

Potawattamies we are informed that “ it was usual for them,
when an Indian married one of several sisters, to consider
him as wedded to all and it became incumbent upon him
;

to take them all as wives. The marrying of a brother’s

from the fact that two or more brothers ence iti the Great Deserts of North
with their wives, or two or more sisters America (London, i860), ii. 306.
with their husbands, were inclined to 3 L. H. Morgan, Systems
of Con-
possess each other in common ; but sa>iguinity and Affinity, pp. 477 sq.
the modern use of the word is that of ^
J. Mooney, “ Mytlis of the
dear frie 7 id, or intiijiate companion^ Cherokee,” Nuieteenth A 7 inual Rep07 't
See L. H. Morgan, Ancient Society, of the Bttreati of America/i Etlmology,
p. 427. Part i. (Washington, 1900) p. 491.
' Carver, Travels through the
J.
® A 7 i 7 iales de P Association de la pro-
Interior Parts 'of North America, pagatio 7 i la Foi, No. v. (Mars,
de
Third Edition (London, 1781), p. 367. 1825) (Second Edition, Lyons and
2 E. Domenech, Seven Years’ Resid- Paris, 1829) p. 56.
142 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

widow was not interdicted, but was always looked upon

as a very improper connexion.” ^ It is curious thus to find
in the same tribe the sororate obligatory and the levirate
discountenaced, though not forbidden. More usually the
two correlative customs are equally observed by the same
people. This, for instance, is true of the Blackfeet Indians,
amongst whom all the younger sisters of a man’s wife were
regarded as his wives, if he chose to take them and when ;

a man died his eldest brother had the right to marry the
widow or widows.^ Similarly among the Kansas all a wife’s
were destined to be her husband’s wives, and when a
sisters
man died his eldest brother took the widow to wife without any
ceremony, removing her and her children, whom he regarded
as his own, to his house.^ So with the Minnetarees or
Hidatsas, a man who marries the eldest of several sisters
has a claim to the others as they grow up, and he generally
marries them further, a man usually takes to wife the widow
;

of his deceased brother.^ So too with the Apaches, a man

will marry younger sisters as fast as they grow up,
his wife’s
and he likewise weds the widow of his deceased brother.®
Amongst the Mandans, when a man married an eldest
daughter he had a right to all her sisters ^ and similarly ;

amongst the Crows, if a man married the eldest daughter

of a family he had a right to marry all her younger sisters
when they grew up, even in the lifetime of his first wife,
their eldest sister.^ The customs of the Arapahoes in this
respect are especially worthy of attention. Amongst them
“ a wife’s next younger sister, if of marriageable age, is

sometimes given to her husband if his brother-in-law likes

him. Sometimes the husband asks and pays for his wife’s
younger sister. This may be done several times if she
has several sisters. If his wife has no sister, a cousin (also
called sister ’) is sometimes given to him.
‘
When a woman
1
W. H. Keating, Expedition to the widow.
Source of St. Peter's River (London, ^ See above, vol. iii. p. 127. As to
1825), i. III. the “ eldest brother,” see the preceding
2 See above, vol. iii. p. 85. By note.
“ the eldest brother ” is probably meant * See above, vol. iii. p. 148.
only the eldest surviving brother, not
“ See above, vol. iii. p. 246.
the first-born of all the brothers. For
the usual rule is that only a younger
® See above, vol. iii. p. 136.
brother maymarryhis deceased brother’s ^ See above, vol. iii. p. 154.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 143

dies, her husband marries her sister. When a man dies, his
brother sometimes marries his wife. expected to do He is
so.” ^ In this tribe, although apparently a man can no
longer claim his wife’s younger sisters as a right in his wife’s
lifetime, on the other hand he seems regularly to marry his
deceased wife’s sister, just as he is expected to marry his
deceased brother’s widow. The two customs are strictly
analogous. And just as the custom of marrying a deceased
wife’s sister is doubtless derived from the custom of marrying
her other sisters in her lifetime, so by analogy we may
reasonably infer that the custom of marrying a deceased
brother’s wife is derived from an older custom of sharing a
brother’s wives in the brother’s lifetime. But to this point
we shall return presently.
The custom of the sororate is by no means confined to The
the Indians of the great
^ prairies.
r Perhaps the rudest of all
T'
^
among the ^ ^

the Indian tribes of North America were the aborigines of Indians of

the Californian Peninsula, and among them, “ before they
were baptized, each man took as many wives as he liked, Oregon,

and if there were several sisters in a family he married them

all ^
together.” Further to the north, at Monterey in
California, was likewise the custom for a man to marry
it

all the sisters of one family.® Still further to the north,

among the Maidus, another Californian tribe, a man had a

* A. L. Kroeber, The Arapaho, p. since,one of them counted his own

14 (Bulletin of the American Mtiseim daughter (as he believed) among the
of Natural History, vol. xviii. Part i. number of his wives. . . . They lived,
Ne\v York, 1902). in fact, before the establishment of the
“ An Account of the mission country,
J. Baegert,
2 in their in utter
Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Cali- licentiousness, and adultery was daily
fornian Peninsula,” Annual Report of committed by every one without shame
the Smithsonian Institution for the and without any fear, the feeling of
Year i86f, p. 368. This J. Baegert jealousy being unknown
to them.
was a German Jesuit missionary who Neighbouring each other
tribes visited
lived among these savages for seventeen very often only for the purpose of
years during the second half of the spending some days in open debauchery,
eighteenth century. Some passages and during such times a general prosti-
from his account (l.c.) of their marriage tution prevailed.” It is interesting to
customs may be quoted :
“ The son- find the avoidance of a wife’s mother,
in-law was not allowed, for some time, with its implied disapprobation of
to look into the face of his mother-in- incest, practised among savages whose
law or his wife’s next female relations, sexual relations in general seem to
but had to step aside, or to hide himself, have been very loose.
when these women were present. Yet ® La Perouse, ii. 303, quoted

they did not pay much attention to by H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of

consanguinity, and only a few years the Pacific States, i. 388, note
 144 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

right to marry he
his wife’s sisters, and, very significantly, if
did not exercise his right, it Moreover,
passed to his brother.
it was usual for him to marry the widow of his deceased

brother.^ Passing still further northwards we come to the

tribes of Oregon, the Flatheads, Nez Pereas, Spokans,
Walla-wallas, Cayuse, and Waskows, and “ with all of them,
marrying the eldest daughter entitles a man to the rest of
the family, as they grow up. If a wife dies, her sister or
some of the connexion, if younger than the deceased, is
regarded as destined to marry him. Cases occur in which,
upon the death of a wife (after the period of mourning . . .

expires), her younger sister, though the wife of another man,

is claimed, and she deserts her husband and goes to the
disconsolate widower. The right of a man is recognised,
to put away his wife, and take a new one, even the sister of
the discarded one, if he thinks proper. The parents do not
seem to object to a man’s turning off one sister, and taking
a younger one —
the lordly prerogative, as imperious as
that of a sultan, being a custom handed down from time
immemorial.” ^ The right to marry a wife’s sister must
indeed be a strong one when it is thus able to supersede
the existing right of the husband in possession. Further,
we see that among these Indians of Oregon the right to
marry a deceased wife’s sister is merely a consequence of the
The right to marry the sisters in the wife’s lifetime. Similarly,
sororate
among the
still further to the north, among the Crees or Knisteneaux,
Crees, the “ when a man loses his wife, it is considered as a duty, to
Northern
Tinnehs,
marry her sister, if she has one ;
or he may, if he pleases,
and the have them both at the same time.” ® And amongst the
Kaviaks.
Northern Tinnehs, who border on the Eskimo in the far
north, men make no scruple of having two or three sisters
for wives at one time.'^ Similarly among the Kaviaks of
Alaska “ incest is not uncommon, and two or three wives,
often sisters, are taken by those who can afford to support
them.” ^ Far away from those icy regions the Caribs

' See above, vol. iii. p. 498. A. Mackenzie, Voyages from Mon-
^

2 Major B. Alvord, “Concerning treal through the Continent of North

the Manners and Customs, the Super- Ajnerica (London, 1801), pp. xevi. sq.
stitions, etc., of the Indians of Oregon,” * See above, vol. iii. p. 354.

in II. R. Schoolcraft’s Indian 'Tribes ® W. Dali, Alaska and its Resources

of the United States, v. 654 J17. (London, 1870), p. 138.

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 145

practised similar marriage customs under tropical suns. The

“Very
^ often,” ^
we are told, “the same man will take to wife
among the
^ ^ ^

three or four sisters, who

cousins-german or Caribs and
will be his
his nieces. They maintain that having been brought up
together the women will love each other the more, will live
in a better understanding, will help each other more readily,
and, what is most advantageous for him, will serve him
better.” ^ Again, among the few cases of polygamy which
Sir R. Schomburgk found among the Macusis of British
Guiana was one of an Indian who had three sisters to wife.^
Similar customs are observed in other parts of the The
world. Thus in Africa among the Zulus a man often Africa
marries two sisters, and it is the ordinary practice for him to and Mada-
wed his deceased brother’s wife.® Among the Bantu tribes
of Kavirondo a man has the right to marry all his wife’s
younger sisters as they come of age they may not be given ;

in marriage to any one until he has declined their hands.^

Among the Basoga it was customary for a wife to induce
her sister or sisters to come and live with her and become
wives of her husband.® Among the Banyoro there are no
restrictions on marriage with several sisters a man may ;

marry two or more sisters at the same time. Moreover, if

his wife dies, he expects her parents to furnish him with one
of her sisters to replace the dead wife. Also if his wife
proves barren, he may demand one of her sisters in
marriage.® Thus, like some Indian tribes of North America,
the Banyoro practise marriage with the sister both of a living
and of a deceased wife. In Madagascar it is said to be
customary for a man to receive, along with his wife, her
younger sisters in marriage.'^
In Southern India a Kuruba man may marry two sisters. The
either on the death of one of them, or if the first wife is f°7ndia
barren or suffers from an incurable disease.® Among the
Medaras of the Madras Presidency a man often marries two
^ Labat, Nouveau Voyage aux hies ^ See above, vol. ii. p. 461.
de P Ameriqtie, Nouvelle edition (Paris,
**
See above, vol. ii. p. 522. Com-
1742), 77 sq.
ii.

^ R.
pare vol. ii. pp. 453 and 463 as to
.Schomburgk (Leipsic, 1847-
the Bageshu and Bateso.
1848), Reisen in Britisch- Guiana, ii.
318. ^ Th. Waitz, Anthropologie der
® See above, vol. ii. 384.
Naturvolker, ii. 438.
p.
* See above, vol. ii. p. 451. ® See above, vol. ii. p. 245.
VOL. IV L
 146 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

sisters ifone of them is sickly, and marriage with a deceased

wife’s regarded with especial favour.^
sister
is Again a
Bestha man may wed two sisters, but the custom is not
recommended, and he is positively forbidden to marry his
deceased brother’s widow.^ Among the Saoras of Madras it
is said to be common for a man to marry his wife’s sister,

and the two sisters so married live together till a child is

born, after which they must separate. The Saoras also
practise the levirate in its usual form that is, a younger —
brother generally marries the widow of his deceased elder
brother if he is too young for marriage, the widow waits
;

for him till he is grown up.^ Among the inhabitants of the

hills near Rajamahall a man may marry his wife’s sisters,

and he may take to wife the widow of his deceased elder

brother.^ Among the Garos of Assam polygamy is allowed
and a man may marry two sisters, but in that case he must
marry the elder before the younger.®
The Some tribes of Queensland and North-West Australia
sororate in
Australia,
allow a man to marry two or more sisters.® In Samoa “ it
Oceania, was a common practice in the olden days for a woman to
and Asia.
take her sister or sisters with her, and these were practically
the concubines of the husband.” In the Mortlock Islands
custom assigned to a husband, along with his wife, all her
free sisters, but only chiefs availed themselves of the
privilege.® Among the Fijians a man was not allowed to
pick and choose in a family of sisters ;
if he married one of
them he was bound in honour to marry them all.® Among
the Rodes, a savage tribe of hunters in the mountains of
Cambodia, polygamy is in vogue, and a man who has

married the eldest daughter of a family has an acknowledged

1 See above, 250.

vol. ii. p. ® Major A. Playfair, The Garos
^ See above, 272.
vol. ii. p. (London, 1909), p. 69.
3 F. Fawcett, “On the Saoras (or
® See above, vol. i. pp. 572, 577 n^.
Savaras), an Aboriginal Hill People of ^ Rev. George Brown, D. D. Melan-
the Eastern Ghats of the Madras Presi-
,

esians a?td Polynesians, their Life

dency,” of the Atithropological
Histories Illustrated and Compared,
Society of Bombay, i. (1886) pp. 231,
p. 1 16 (type-written copy).
234 sq.
^ Lieutenant Thomas Shaw, “The ® Kubary, “ Die Bewohner der
J.

Inhabitants of the Hills near Raja-

Mortlock -Inseln,” Mittheilungen der
mahall,” Asiatic Researches, Fourth
geographischen Gesellschaft hi Hamburg,
Edition, iv. (London, 1807) pp. 59,
1878-79, p.37 (separate reprint).
60. ® See above, vol. ii. p. 143.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 147

right to marry all her younger sisters they may not wed ;

anybody else without his consent.^ Lastly, among the

Kamtchatkans a man often marries two sisters either at the
same time or one after the death of the other and when ;

a husband dies, his surviving brother marries the widow,

whether he already has a wife or not.^
Thus the custom which allows a man the right of marry- In some
ing his wife’s younger sisters in her lifetime appears to be
very widespread, and often it is supplemented by a per- is only
mission to marry them after her death. But among some ate
peoples, though a husband is allowed or even obliged to death of
marry his wife’s sisters, one after the other, when she is „,jfe that ;

dead, he is no longer permitted to marry them during her 's, a man

lifetime. Thus amongst the Koryaks of North-Eastern the^si™e7^
Asia a man may not marry the sister of his living wife, but
ClcCG3.SCdt •

he is obliged to marry his deceased wife s younger sister, but not of

though he is forbidden to marry her elder sister. Similarly,
a Koryak widow is bound to marry her deceased husband’s
younger brother, but is forbidden to marry his elder brother.®
So among the Ramaiyas, a pedlar class of North-Western
India, a man may not have two sisters to wife at the same
time, but there is no rule against his marrying his deceased
wife’s younger sister.^ In like manner among the Oswals,
a trading class of the same region, a man is forbidden to
marry his deceased wife’s elder sister, but allowed to marry
her younger sister.® The Cheremiss of Russia will not marry
two sisters at the same time, but they are pleased to marry
one after the other.® Among the Battas of Sumatra, if a
wife dies childless, her husband has the right to marry her
sisters successively, one after the other, without having to
pay another bride -price for them to the parents if the ;

parents refuse their consent to the new marriage, the

widower may demand the restitution of the price he paid
for his first wife.^ In the island of Engano a widower
1
J. Moura, Le Royainne dti the North- Western Provinces and Oudh,
Cambodge (Paris, 1883), i. 426, 427, iv. 224.
428. ® W.
Crooke, op. cii. iv. 99.
^ G. W. Beschreibung von
Steller, ®G. Georgi, Beschreibung aller
J.
deni Lande Kamtschatka (Frankfort and Nationen des russischen Reichs (St.
Leipsic, 1774), p. 347. Petersburg, 1776-1780), i. 31.
® See above, vol. ii. p. 352. C. J.
''
Tetnminck, Coup d'‘oeil
^ W. Crooke, Tribes and Castes of geniral sur les possessions nierland-
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

usually marries his deceased wife’s sister ;

but if he fails to
do so, we are told, he has not to pay a fine for culpable
negligence.^ In the Louisiade Archipelago, to the east of
New Guinea, when a woman dies her husband may take her
unmarried sister to wife without any fresh payment, and she
may not refuse him. But if he does not care to marry her,
and she marries somebody else, her husband must pay the
bride-price to her dead sister’s husband instead of to her
own people. Yet though a man may, and indeed should,
marry his deceased wife’s sister, he ought not to approach
Avoidance her closely or hold prolonged conversation with her during
of wife’s
sister in
nor should he speak to her alone in the
his wife’s lifetime,
wife’s forest he does so, she might tell her sister, his wife, who
;
if
lifetime.
would thereupon think she had cause for jealousy, and a
domestic quarrel might be the result. In this case the
ceremonial avoidance of the wife’s sister in the lifetime of
the wife is clearly a precaution to prevent an improper
intimacy between the two. Further, in the Louisiades the
correlative custom of the levirate is also in vogue that is, ;

a man has the right to marry his deceased brother’s

widow, after she has completed her term of mourning.^
Among the Wabemba, a tribe on the western shore of
Lake Tanganyika in Africa, when a man’s wife dies he
has the right to marry her younger sister, if she is still
unmarried. But if all his deceased wife’s sisters are married,
the widower sends a present to the husband of his late wife’s
younger sister, and the woman is ceded to him by her hus-
band for a single day; so strong is the claim of the widower
on his deceased wife’s sisters. The Wabemba practise the
levirate as well as the sororate ;
when a man dies his oldest
brother marries the widow.^ Among the Iroquois a man
was bound to marry his deceased wife’s sister or, in default
of a such other woman as the family of his deceased
sister,

wife might provide for him. If he failed to do his duty by

aises da?ts Pl ide

7 Archipilagique (Ley- ^ C. G. Seligmann, The Mela 7 iesia 7 is
den, 1847), ii. 55. of B 'itish New
7 Gtthiea (Cambridge,
1
J.
Winkler, “ Bericht uber die 1910), pp. 738 sq.
zweite Untersuchungsreise nach der ^ See above, vol. ii. p. 630. By
Insel Engano,” Tijdschrift voo 7 - I/id- “oldest brother” is probably meant
ische 7'aal- La/id- e/i Volkc 7 iku 7ide, L the eldest surviving brother. See
(1908), p. 152. above, p. 142 n''^.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 149

marrying her, he exposed himself to the fluent invective of

the injuredwoman. In like manner, when his brother died,
an Iroquois man had no choice but to marry the widow.^
Among a man sometimes marries his deceased
the Omahas
wife’s sister obedience to the express wish of his dying
in
wife and a brother is as usual yoked in matrimony to
;

his deceased brother’s widow.^ Among the Biloxi a man

might marry his deceased wife’s sister, and a woman might
marry her deceased husband’s brother, but it is not said
that as among the Iroquois such marriages were obligatory.®
Lastly, among the Pima Indians it was customary for a
widower to wed his deceased wife’s sister.^
Many more cases of the same sort might no doubt be Taken
collected, but the preceding instances suffice to prove that
in the opinion of many peoples a man has a natural right, customs of

sometimes amounting to an obligation, to marry all his

wife’s younger sisters either in his wife’s lifetime or after sororate

her decease. Among some tribes the right is exercised a°former

both during the life and after the death of the first wife custom of
;

among other tribes it is exercised only after her death, but m'^a^dage,
accord-
in these cases we can hardly doubt that the restriction is a
ance with
comparatively late modification of an older custom which which a
allowed a man to marry
^ the sisters of his living
^ as well as P°"p
brothers
of his deceased wife. But if the sororate, limited to the married a
right of marrying a deceased wife’s sister, is almost certainly
derived from an older right of marrying a living wife’s sister, held their

it becomes highly probable that the world-wide custom of^^^nion.

the levirate, which requires a woman to marry her deceased
husband’s brother, is in like manner derived from an older right
of marrying her living husband’s brother and as the two ;

customs of the sororate and the levirate are commonly practised

by the same peoples we seem to be justified in concluding
that they are two sides of a single ancient institution, to wit, a
practice of group-marriage in which a group of brothers married
a group of sisters and held their wives in common. Among
the Central Australian tribes it still happens not infrequently

' See above, vol. iii. p. 19. ^ Frank Russel, “The Pima In-
2
- r 1 o dians,” Twenty-sixth Annual Retort
See above, vol. m. p. 108. r d ^ Ts~,r
oj the Bureau oj American
t 1
Ethnology
3 See above, vol. iii. p. 155. (Washington, 1908), p. 184.
 ISO 6
"
UMMAR Y AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

that the sisters of one family are all married to the brothers
of another family and although this is not group-marriage,
;
^

since each brother has only one sister to wife, it may well
be a relic of an older custom in which a group of husbands,
who were brothers, held in common a group of wives, who
were sisters. In point of fact group-marriage of this sort
still occurs among the Todas of Southern India, whose
marriage customs, as we have seen,^ are very primitive.
“ Their practice is this all brothers of one family, be they
:

many or few, live in mixed and incestuous cohabitation with

one or more wives. If there be four or five brothers, and
one of them, being old enough, gets married, his wife claims
allthe other brothers as her husbands, and as they success-
ively attain manhood, she consorts with them ;
or if the wife
has one or more younger they in turn, on attaining a
sisters,

marriageable age, become the wives of their sister’s husband

or husbands, and thus in a family of several brothers, there
may be, according to circumstances, only one wife for them
all, or many but, one or more, they all live under one roof,
;

and cohabit promiscuously, just as fancy or taste inclines.

Owing, however, to the great scarcit)^ of women in this tribe,
it more frequently happens that a single woman is wife to
While the several husbands, sometimes as many as six.” ® But while
levitate
and the
the customs of the levirate and the sororate thus appear to
sororate be correlative, both together testifying to an ancient and
are cor-
relative
widespread custom of group-marriage which has for the most
customs, part passed away, they have in practice diverged somewhat
they have
diverged from each other at the present time, the levirate only operat-
from each ing after the death of the husband, the sororate operating
first
other in
practice. both during the life and after the death of the first wife.
The reason of the divergence may be, as I have already
suggested,"^ the greater strength of jealousy in men than
in women which prompted men to refuse to share their
wives with their brothers, while women were, and are

^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 2 See above, vol. ii. pp. 256, 264 sq.
of Central Australia, p. 559: “Not ^ J. Shortt, M.D., “An Account of
infrequently a woman’s daughters will the Hill Tribes of the Neilgherries,”
be allotted to brothers, the elder brother Transactions of the Ethnological Society
taking the elder daughter, the second of London, New Series, vii. (1869)
brother the second daughter, and so p. 240.
on.” Vol. ii. p. 144.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 151

still often, quite willing to share their husbands with their

sisters.

On these grounds, therefore, it appears to be a reasonable Thus a

large part
hypothesis that at least a large part of mankind has passed of mankind
through the stage of group-marriage in its progress upward appears to
have
from a still lower stage of sexual promiscuity to a higher passed
stage of monogamy. Apart from the customs to which I through
the stages
have just called attention and the traces of a wider freedom of sexual
formerly accorded to the sexes in their relations with each promiscuity
and group-
other, the two great landmarks of group-marriage are exo- marriage.
gamy and the classificatory system of relationship, which, as
I have attempted to shew, are inseparably united and must

stand or fall together as evidence of an ancient system of

communal marriage.
But exogamy and the classificatory system of relationship There is
no clear
are,roughly speaking, confined to the lower races of man- evidence
kind they form a clear and trenchant line between savagery
:
that the
great
and civilisation.^ Almost the only civilised race which, so civilised

to say, stands astride this great border-line are the Aryan races, the
Aryans
Hindoos, who possess the system of exogamy without the and the
classificatory system of relationship.^ Whether they have Semites,

* Compare L. H. Morgan, Systems Singhalese who, speaking a language

of Consanguinity and Affinity, p. 470 : which appears to be Aryan, nevertheless
“ When it is considered that the possess the classificatory system of re-
domestic relationships of the entire lationship. But the Singhalese appear
human family, so far as the latter is not to be Aryans by blood. See above,
represented in the Tables, fall under vol. ii. pp. 333 - 335 Further, the
-

the descriptive or the classificatory Albanians are said to be exogamous.

form, and that they are the reverse of See Miss M. E. Durham, reported in
each other in their fundamental con- The Athenaetnn, No. 4297, 5th March
ceptions, it furnishes a significant sepa- 1910, p. 283: “High Albania is the
ration of the families of mankind into only spot in Europe in which the tribal
two great divisions. Upon one side system exists intact. The tribes occupy
are the Aryan, Semitic and Uralian, the mountain land which forms the
and upon the other the Ganowanian, north-west corner of Turkey in Europe.
the Turanian and the Malayan, which They are exogamous, but male blood
gives nearly the line of demarcation only counts. Each tribe is ruled by a
between the civilized and uncivilized council of elders, by ancient laws handed
nations. Although both forms are older down by oral tradition, which are
than civilization, it tends to show that strictly enforced. . . . Among other
the family, as now and
constituted, very ancient customs, the Levirate is still
which grew out of the development of practised, even by many of the Roman
a knowledge of property, of its uses, Catholic tribes. Blood revenge is
and of its transmission by inheritance, extremely prevalent. . . . Communal
lies at the foundation of the first families of as many as forty members
civilization of mankind.” live together in one room, ruled by
2 To them may perhaps be added the the house lord, who has often power
 152 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

have as a inherited exogamy from the common ancestors of the whole

whole
practised
Aryan family or have borrowed it from the dark-skinned
exogamy aborigines of India, with whom they have been in contact
and
counted
for thousands of years, is a question of the highest interest
kinship not merely for the history of the Aryans in particular, but
according
to the
for the history of human marriage in general ;
since if it

classifica- could be made probable that the whole Aryan family had
tory system
of relation- once passed through the stage of exogamy, with its natural
ship ;
accompaniment the classificatory system of relationship, it
hence it

isnot would become difficult to resist the conclusion that exogamy,

necessary
with all its implications of group-marriage and a preceding
to suppose
that they custom of sexual promiscuity, had once been universal among
have
passed
mankind. But in the absence of proof that the Semites and
through the Aryans in general ever practised exogamy and counted
the stages
of sexual
kinship on the classificatory system we are not justified in
promiscuity concluding that these institutions have at one time been
and group-
marriage.
common to the whole human race. Nor, apart from the
want of direct evidence, does there appear to be any reason
in the nature of things why these institutions should be
necessary stages in the social evolution of every people.
The object of exogamy,
have attempted to shew, was
as I

to prevent the marriage of near kin, especially the marriage

of brothers with sisters and of mothers with sons and it ;

seems perfectly possible that some peoples may have

achieved this object directly by a simple prohibition of con-
sanguineous marriages without resorting to that expedient of
dividing the whole community into two intermarrying
classes, from which the vast and cumbrous system of
exogamy and the classificatory relationships grew by a
The rise logical development. The history of exogamy is the history
and decay
first of a growing and afterwards of a decaying scrupulosity
of exo-
gamy. as to the marriage of near kin. With every fresh scruple a
fresh bar was erected between the sexes, till the barriers
reach their greatest known height in the eight-class system
of the Australian aborigines, which practically shuts the
door for every man upon seven-eighths of the women of the
community. Whether any tribes ever carried their scruples
still further and reduced within even narrower limits the

of life and death over his subjects. for an occasional forcible capture.
Marriage is always by purchase, save Cliildren are betrothed in infancy.”
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 153

number of a man’s possible wives is not known and if ;

there ever were such tribes they probably perished either

from the mere difficulty of propagating their kind under
these too elaborate restrictions, or because their ever-
dwindling numbers could not resist the pressure of less
scrupulous and faster breeding neighbours. Having reached
its culminating point in bloated systems of eight classes and
the like, exogamy begins to decline. The exogamy of the
classes was the first to go, leaving behind it the far less
extensive and therefore far less burdensome exogamy of the
clans, whether totemic or otherwise. It is in this greatly

shrunken form, shorn of its original classes, that the institu-

tion is still found in the great majority of exogamous
jDeopIes outside of Australia. The last stage of decay is

reached when the exogamy of the clan breaks down also,

and henceforth marriage is regulated by the prohibited
degrees alone.
Now it is quite possible that the great civilised families The great

of mankind, who now marriage only by the pro-

regulate
hibited degrees of kinship, have run through this course of always
social development and decay in the remote past. They
may at one time in their history, not necessarily the earliest, themselves
have practised sexual promiscuity, have felt a growing aver-
sion to the marriage of near kin, have embodied that incest
aversion in a system of exogamy, and finally, discarding that embodying
system with its exaggerations, have reverted to a simple that pro-
prohibition of the marriage of persons closely related by ^ system of
blood.^ But it is not necessary to suppose that they have exogamy,
followed this long roundabout road merely to return to the
point from which they started. They may always have
confined themselves to a simple prohibition of the incestuous
unions which they abhorred.
Whether that be so or not, it appears highly probable However
that the aversion which most civilised races have entertained
to incest or the marriage of near kin has been derived by probable
them through
° a long series of ages
° from their savage
° aversion to

’
L. H. Morgan thought it probable system of relationship. See his
that the Aryan and Semitic peoples Systejus of Consanguinity and Aff)iity,
have passed through the stages of 492
pp. pp. 413,
group-marriage and the classificatory 429.
 154 5 UMMAR V AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

incest has ancestors ;

for there is no evidence or probability that the
everywhere
been
aversion is a thing of recent growth, a product of advanced
inherited civilisation. Even therefore though the primitive forefathers
from
savage of the Semites and the Aryans may have known nothing
ancestors. either of totemism or of exogamy, we may with some
Why did
savages confidence assume that they disapproved of incest and that
abhor and their disapprobation hasbeen inherited by their descendants
prohibit
incest to this day. Thus the abhorrence of incest, which is the
or the essence of exogamy, goes back in the history of mankind to
marriage
of near a period of very rude savagery ; and we may fairly suppose
kin? We that, whether it has been embodied in a system of exogamy
cannot tell.
or not, has everywhere originated in the same primitive
it

modes of thought and feeling. What, then, are the primitive

modes of thought and feeling which gave rise to the abhor-
rence of incest ? Why, in other words, did rude and ignorant
savages come to regard with strong disapprobation the
cohabitation of brothers with sisters and of parents with
children ? We do not know and it is difficult even to guess.
None of the answers yet given to these questions appears to
It cannot be satisfactory. cannot have been that primitive
It
have been
that
savages forbade because they perceived it to be
incest
savages injurious to the offspring for down to our own time the
;
forbade
incest opinions of scientific men have differed on the question whether
because the closest inbreeding, in other words, the highest degree of
they
incest, is injurious or not to the progeny. “ The evil results
perceived
it to be “ are difficult to
from close interbreeding,” says Darwin,
injurious
to the detect, for they accumulate slowly, and differ much in degree
offspring ;
with different species, whilst the good effects which almost
for the evil
results of invariably follow a cross are from the first manifest”;^
inbreeding
are difficult
and it may be added that the evil effects of inbreeding, if

to detect, they exist, are necessarily more difficult to detect in man

and even
now than in most other species of animals because mankind
scientific breeds so slowly. With quick-breeding animals like fowls,
men are
not agreed where the generations follow each other in rapid succession,
about it is possible to observe the good or ill effects of inbreeding
them.
and outbreeding in a short time. But with the human race,
even if we were perfectly free to make experiments in
breeding, many years would necessarily elapse before the

' Charles Darwin, The Variation of tion, Popular Edition (London, I905)>
Anunals and Plants tinder Domestica- ii. 113.
 '

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 55

of these experiments would be clearly manifested.

effect
Accordingly we cannot suppose that any harmful con-
sequences of inbreeding have been observed by savages and
have provided them with the motive for instituting exogamy.
All that we know of the ignorance and improvidence of
savages confirms the observation of Darwin that they “ are
not likely to reflect on distant evils to their progeny.” ^
Indeed the improbability that primitive man should have
regulated the relations of the sexes by elaborate rules
intended to avert the evil effects of inbreeding on the
offspring has been greatly increased since Darwin wrote by
the remarkable discovery that some of the most primitive of
existing races, who observe the strictest of all systems of
exogamy, are entirely ignorant of the causal relation which
exists between the intercourse of the sexes and the birth of
offspring. The ignorance which thus characterises these
backward tribes was no doubt at one time universal amongst
mankind and must have been shared by the savage founders
of exogamy. But if they did not know that children are
the fruit of marriage, it is difficult to see how they could
have instituted an elaborate system of marriage for the
express purpose of benefiting the children. In short, the
idea that the abhorrence of incest originally sprang from an
observation of its injurious effects on the offspring may
safely be dismissed as baseless.
But if the founders of exogamy did not believe that the Nor
cohabitation of the nearest blood relations is detrimental to
the progeny, can they have believed that it is detrimental to founders of

the parents themselves ;

in other words, can they have thought
that the mere act of sexual intercourse with a near relative imagined
that incest
.

IS m
.

itself, quite apart from any social consequences or

,

jg injurious
moral sentiments, physically injurious to one or both of thefo .^^e
actors ? I formerly thought that this may have been so persons
and was accordingly inclined to look for the ultimate origin them-
. . . . , .
selves ;
for
of exogamy or the prohibition of incest in a superstition there is

of this sort, a baseless fear that incest was of itself iniurl-

ous to the incestuous couple.^ But there are serious and that
®t^''ages
indeed, as it now seems to me, conclusive objections to this
t
Charles Darwin, The Variation of tion (London, 1905), ii. 127.
Animals and Plants under Domestica- ^ See above, vol. i. p. 165.
 156 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

attribute view.^ For in the first place there is very little evidence that
injurious savages conceive the sexual intercourse of near kin to be harm-
effects to ful to the persons who engage in it. The Navahoes, indeed,
the crime. • . , - , •
think that it they married women of their own clan their bones
, , ,

would dry up and they would die and the Baganda are of;
^

opinion that if a man and woman of the same clan should

marry each other (which sometimes happens accidentally

through ignorance of their relationship) they will suffer from
tremor of the limbs and a breaking out of sores on the body
which would end in death if the incestuous union were not
dissolved.^ But not much stress can be laid on this super-
stition of the Baganda, since the same natural penalty is
believed by them to be entailed by any breach of taboo,
such as the eating of the totemic animal or contact
between a father-in-law and a daughter-in-law.^ Had the
dread of harm caused by incestuous unions to the parties
themselves been the origin of exogamy, it seems prob-
able that the dread would have been peculiarly deep
and general among the Australian aborigines, who of all
mankind practise exogamy in its most rigid forms. Yet so
far as I know these savages are not said to be actuated by
any such fear in observing their complex exogamous rules.
Further, But the mere general want of evidence is not the most
severky^^
conclusive argument against the theory in question for ;

with which Unfortunately the records which we possess of savage life are
generViiy imperfect that it is never safe to argue from the silence
punished of the record to the absence of the thing. In short mere
seems'^to^^ negative evidence, always a broken reed, is perhaps nowhere
shew that go broken and treacherous a prop for an argument as in
th6yl3CliGV6
^
it to be anthropology. Conclusions laid down with confidence one
day on the strength of a mere negation may be upset the
which^
endangers next day by the discovery of a single positive fact. Accord-
the whole
Jngly
o ^ it is perfectly
i y
possible
i
that a belief in the injurious
j
community
rather than effects of iiicest on the persons who engage in it may in fact

1
These objections have been in- 2 See above, vol. iii. p. 243.
dicated by Mr. Andrew Lang. His
This I learn from
2 my friend the
observations on the point are perfectly
Rev. J. Roscoe.
just, and I have profited by them. See
his article, “The Totem Taboo and * This also I learn from the Rev.
Exogamy,” iMan, vi. (1906) pp. 1 30 J. Roscoe. Compare above, vol. ii.
sq. PP- 473 . 509-
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 157

be common among savages, though at present very few cases simply the
of have been reported.
it A more formidable objection to the
theory which would base exogamy on such a belief is drawn themselves,
from the extreme severity with which in most exogamous
tribes breaches of exogamy have been punished by the com-
munity. The usual penalty for such offences is death inflicted
on both the culprits.^ Now if people had thought that incest
injured the incestuous persons themselves and nobody else,
society might well have been content to leave the sinners to
suffer the natural and inevitable consequences of their sin.
Why should it step in and say, “You have hurt yourselves,
therefore we will put you to death ” ? It may be laid down as
an axiom applicable to all states of society that society only
punishes social offences, that is offences which are believed
to be injurious, not necessarily to the individual offenders,
but to the community at large and the severer the punish-
;

ment meted out to them, the deeper the injury they must
be supposed to inflict on the commonwealth. But society
cannot inflict any penalty heavier than death therefore ;

capital crimes must be those which are thought to be most

dangerous and detrimental to the whole body of the people.
From this it follows that in commonly punishing breaches
of exogamy, or in short incest, with death, exogamous tribes
must be of opinion that the offence is a most serious injury
to the whole community. Only thus can we reasonably
explain the horror which incest usually excites among them
and the extreme rigour with which they visit it even to the
extermination of the culprits.
What then can be the great social wrong which was Now many
supposed to result from incest? how were the guilty persons believe that
believed to endanger the whole tribe by their crime? A the effect of
possible answer is that the intercourse of near kin was sexual
thought to render the women of the tribe sterile and to in
g0nercil is
endanger the common food-supply by preventing edible to make
animals from multiplying and edible plants from growing ;

in short, that the effect of incest was supposed to be sterility to prevent

of women, animals, and plants. Such beliefs appear in
point of fact to have been held by many races in from multi-
different parts of the world. The idea that sexual crime
^ See the references in the Index, s.v. “ Unlawful Marriages.’'
 158 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

in general and incest in particular blights the crops is

common among peoples of the Malayan stock in the Indian

Archipelago and their kinsfolk in Indo-China ;
but it is also
strongly held by some natives of West Africa, and there
are grounds for thinking that similar notions as to the
injurious influence of incest on women and cattle as well as
on the corn prevailed among the primitive Semites and the
primitive Aryans, including the ancient Greeks, the ancient
Latins, and the ancient Irish. The evidence has been
If such a collected by me elsewhere.^ Now if any such beliefs were
entenalued
entertained by the founders of exogamy, they would clearly
by the have been perfectly sufficient motives for instituting the
exogamy for they would perfectly explain the horror with
it would which incest has been regarded and the extreme severity
a perfectly with which it has been punished. You cannot do men a
sufficient
deeper injury than by preventing their women from bearing
instituting children and by stopping their supply oi lood lor by doing ;

the system,
hinder them from propagating their kind, and
by doing the second you menace them with death. The
most serious dangers, therefore, that can threaten any com-
munity are that its women should bear no children and that
it may have nothing to eat and crimes which imperil
;

the production of children and the supply of food deserve

to be punished by any society which values its existence
with the utmost rigour of the law. If therefore the savages
who devised exogamy really supposed that incest prevented
women from bearing children, animals from multiplying, and
plants from growing, they were perfectly justified from their
point of view in taking the elaborate precautions which they
1
Psyches Task, a Disco-urse con- they mate brother and sister,
will
cerning the Influence of Superstition 07 i father and daughter, mother and son
the Growth of Institutions (London, without scruple. Yet they themselves
1909), pp. 31-51. To the evidence practise exogamy and avoid incest.
there cited for the belief in ancient The contradiction is curious and tells
Ireland should be added John (Sir) rather than for the theory,
against
Rhys’s Heathendom (London,
Celtic which have suggested in the text,
I

1888), pp. 308 sq., as my friend the that exogamy may have originated in
author has kindly pointed out to me. a fear of human incest blighting the
The Rev. John Roscoe informs me edible animals and
plants. It is true
that the pastoral tribes of Central that the Basoga are reported to abhor
Africa with which he is acquainted, incest in their cattle to punish itand
including the Bahima, Banyoro, and (see above, vol. 461) but Mr.
ii. p. ;

Baganda, have no objection to the Roscoe doubts whether the report is

closest inbreeding of their cattle ; accurate.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 159

did to prevent sexual unions which in their opinion struck

such deadly blows at the life of the community.
But was this really their belief? The only serious diffi- However,
culty in the way was so, is the absence
of supposing that it

of evidence that such notions are held by the most primitive evidence
^
exogamous peoples, the Australian aborigines, amongst
whom we should certainly expect to find them if they had held by the

indeed been the origin of exogamy. Further, it is to be abor[ginTs,

observed that all the peoples who are known to hold the among
beliefs in question appear to be agricultural, and what they is indeed
especially dread is the sterilising effect of incest on their
crops ;
they are not so often said to fear its sterilising gamy,
effect on women and cattle, though this may be partly
explained by the simple circumstance that some of these expected to

races do not keep cattle. But the savage founders of

exogamy, if we may judge by the Australian aborigines of
to-day, were certainly not agricultural ;
they did not even
know that seed put in the ground will germinate and grow.
Thus the known distribution of the beliefs as to the sterilis-
ing effect of incest on women, animals, and the crops,
suggests that it is a product of a culture somewhat more
advanced than can be ascribed to the savages who started
exogamy. In fact, it might be argued, as I have argued
elsewhere,^ thatall such notions as to the injurious natural

consequences of incest are an effect rather than the cause of

its prohibition that is, the peoples in question may first
;

have banned the marriage of near kin for some reasons

unknown and may afterwards have become so habituated
to the observance of the incest law that they regarded in-
fractions of it as breaches of what we should call natural
law and therefore as calculated to disturb the course of
nature. In short, it is possible that this superstition is

rather late than early, and that therefore it cannot be the

root of exogamy.
On the other hand it must be borne in mind that the Neverthe-
chief consideration which tells against the assumption ofpogslbie
such a superstition as the origin of exogamy is the purely that

negative one that no such superstition has yet, so far as

I know, been found among the Australian aborigines, from a
1 Psyche's Task, pp. 44-47.
 i6o SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

belief in the amongst whom

on this theory it might be expected to
sterilising
effect of
flourish. But I have already pointed out the danger of
incest on relying on merely negative evidence and considering every-
;
women,
animals, thing as carefully as I can I incline, though with great
and plants. hesitancy and reserve, to think that exogamy may have

sprung from a belief in the injurious and especially the

sterilising effects of incest, not upon the persons who engage
in it, at least not upon the man, nor upon the offspring, but
upon women generally and particularly upon edible animals
and plants and I venture to conjecture that a careful
;

search among the most primitive exogamous peoples now

surviving, especially among the Australian aborigines, might
still reveal the existence of such a belief among them. At
least if that is not the origin of exogamy I must confess to
being completely baffled, for I have no other conjecture to
offer on the subject.
But if But if exogamy and the prohibition of incest, which is
e.xogamy
its essence, originated in a mere superstition such as I have
and the
prohibition conjecturally indicated, would it necessarily follow that they
of incest
have have both been evil and injurious, in other words, that it
sprung would have been better if men had always married their
from a
mere super- nearest relations instead of taking, as they generally have
stition,
taken, the greatest pains to avoid such marriages ? The
fo°fovv\hat consequence would by no means be necessary. I have
they have
shewn elsewhere ^ that superstition has often proved a most
been evil ?
Not neces- valuable auxiliary of morality and law, that men have very
It may
sarily, for
often done right from the most absurd motives.
superstition
is often a have been so in the case of exogamy and the prohibition
useful
auxiliary
of incest. All turns on the question whether inbreeding or
of law and outbreeding, endogamy or exogamy is better for the species,
morality.
All turns
and that is a question which can be settled only by biology ;

on the it lies quite outside the province of anthropology. So far

question
whether as mankind is concerned, and it is with them alone that we
inbreeding have to do in this enquiry, the materials at our disposal
breeding, appear to be insufficient to enable us to arrive at a definite
endogamy conclusion for amongst the peoples known to us in history
;
or exo-
gamy, is outbreeding, whether in the form of exogamy or in the simple
themore prohibition of incest, has been the practice of such an over-
beneficial
1
Psyche's Task, a Discourse con- the Growth of Institutio7is (London,
cerning the Influence of Superstition oti 1909).
 !

SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY i6i

whelming majority, and the contrary practice of inbreeding to the

or endogamy has been followed by such a very small minority, on't'ws
that a fair comparison of the effects of the two practices question
cannot be instituted. But as mankind has apparently been opinions
evolved from lower species of animals which in like manner ^ttientific

propagated their kinds by the union of the se.xes, it is highly divided,

probable that the good or ill effects which follow from in- Some think
^ - that there
breeding and outbreeding, from endogamy and exogamy, is no harm
in the human species, follow from them also in the lower
^
^
closest
^

species and as the breeding of many of the lower animals inbreeding,

;

has long been the object of careful observation and exact highest
experiments conducted both by practical breeders and scien- degree of
tific men, a large body of evidence has been accumulated, from

which it is possible with a considerable degree of probability

to draw conclusions applicable to man. Now upon the
fundamental question whether inbreeding or outbreeding,
whether endogamy or exogamy, is the more beneficial in the
long run, the opinions of experts appear to be divided. A
writer, Mr. A. H. Huth, who carefully investigated the question
with special reference to its bearing on man, reached the con-
clusion that the closest inbreeding or endogamy between the
human sexes is not in itself injurious to the progeny, and that
the evil consequences which are often supposed to flow from
it are to be explained by other causes, particularly by morbid
tendencies in the stock, which are naturally increased in the
offspring whenever they are transmitted to it from both the
parents.^ The same view of the harmlessness of inbreeding
or endogamy was held by the eminent Dutch anthropologist,
Professor G. A. Wilken,^ and apparently by the eminent
' A. H. Huth, The Marriage of incapables de donner a lettrs enfants ce
Near Kin considered with respect to qilils ont, et leur donnant au coiitraire
the Laws of Nations, the Results of ce qtlils n’otit pas, ce qu'ils n’ont jamais
Experience, and the Teachiiigs of que
eu, et dest en presence de tels faits
Biology, Second Edition (London, I'on ose prononcer le mot heriditi ”
1887). The orator appears to forget the
- G. A. Wilken, “ Huwelijken numerous cases of hermaphrodite
tusschen Bloedverwanlen,” De Gids, plants endowed with all the organs
1890, No. 6. In this work (pp. 2 st], of both se.xes and perfectly capable of
of the separate reprint) Prof. Wilken fertilising other plants and .of being
quotes with approval the following fertilised by them, yet perfectly in-
passage from a French writer, M. capable of fertilising themselves, nay
Boudin :
“ Comment, voila des parents sometimes actually poisoning them-
consanguins, pleins de force et de santi, selves by their own pollen. See Ch.
exempts de toute infirmite appriciable, Darwin, The Variation of Animals and
VOL. IV M
 i 62 5U MMA RY AND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

But the French anthropologist Paul Topinard.^ But so far as I can

gather their opinion is not shared by the best and most
the'best°^
and latest recent authorities. Thus after weighing all the available
authorities
seems to evidence as carefully as possible Darwin concludes as follows ;

be that “ Finally, when we consider the various facts now given, which
inbreeding
or incest is plainly show that good follows from crossing, and less plainly
in thelong that evil follows from close interbreeding, and when we bear
run always
injurious in mind that with very many organisms elaborate provisions
by dimin- been made for the occasional union of distinct indi-
ishmg the
vigour, viduals, the existence of a great law of nature ?s almost
Proved namely, that the crossing of animals and plants
wpeckiiy ;

the fertility which are not closely related to each other is highly beneficial
offsprino-
even necessary, and that interbreeding prolonged during
many generations is injurious.”^ The evils which Darwin
believed to result from close and long interbreeding are loss
of constitutional vigour, of size, and of fertility.® Similarly
Mr. A. R. Wallace concludes “ The experiments of Mr. :

Darwin, showing the great and immediate good effects of a

cross between distinct strains in plants, cannot be explained
away neither can the innumerable arrangements to secure
;

cross-fertilisation by insects. . . . On the whole, then, the

evidence at our command proves that, whatever may be its

ultimate cause, close interbreeding does usually produce bad

results ;
and it is only by the most rigid selection, whether
natural or artificial, that the danger can be altogether
^
obviated.”
Opinion ot Again, my friend Mr. Walter Heape, F.R.S., who has
Mr. Walter
Heape.
exact researches into the breeding both of fc>
men and
animals, writes to me as follows :
“ From what you tell me
of exogamy in its simplest form, i.e. in so far as it provides
against the marriage of mother and sister and the marriage
of cousins ® (concubitants and others), it is so closely in accord

Plants under Domestication (London, 2 Charles Darwin, The Variation of

1905), ii. 139 sqq. The facts of nature Animals and Plants tinder Domestica-
do not always correspond to our logical tion (London, 1905), ii. 157.
expectations. Ch. Darwin, op. cit. ii. 156.
^

1 P. Topinard, D Anthropologic, ^
A. R. Wallace, Darwinism, an
Quatrieme Edition (Paris, 1884), pp. Exposition of the Theory of Natural
397 sq. It is also shared by M. Selection (London, 1889), p. 162.
Salomon Reinach. See his Cultes, ® Mr. Heape is here under a slight

Mythes, et Religions, i. (Paris, 1905) misapprehension. The marriage of

pp. 157 sqq. cousins is prevented not by the simplest
 SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 163

with the experience of breeders of animals that, failing a clear

social reason for the law, it might be fairly assumed to have
its origin in accordance with known biological phenomena.
Icannot claim to be considered capable of expressing a final
opinion on the subject, but I think I may say that, so far as

breeders know, inbreeding of brother and sister, father and

daughter, grandfather and granddaughter, and cousins, is
essential for the rapid fixing of a type and is the best
method, if not the only method, of producing the ancestor
of a new and definite variety (see Evolution of British Cattle).
At the same time indefinite inbreeding (‘ in and in breeding ’)
is found to be associated with deterioration. . . . Breeders are
firmly convinced that indefinite inbreeding certainly results
in deterioration, that is their experience. . , . Thus the
practice of exogamy is in accord with the experience of
breeders.” In particular Mr. Heape tells me that a tendency
to infertility is believed to be a common result of continuous
inbreeding in stock, and that in his judgment the belief is

certainly true.^
To the same effect Mr. F. H. A. Marshall, Fellow of Opinion
Christ’s College, Cambridge, whose researches into sexual
^
physiology will shortly be published in full, informs me that Marshall,

long-continued inbreeding carried on in the same place and

under the same conditions certainly tends to sterility, but
that this tendency can be to some extent counteracted by
changing the conditions of life, particularly by removing the
animals to a considerable distance. For instance, he tells
me that racehorses, which have inbred perhaps more than
any other animal, tend to be sterile, but that the offspring
of racehorses which have been sent to Australia recover their
fertility both with each other and with the parent stock

without any infusion of fresh blood. Old breeders were

quite aware of the advantage which domestic animals gained
from new surroundings hence some of them used to send
;

part of their stock, for example, to Ireland and then after

a time to bring the animals or their descendants back
reinvigorated and rendered more prolific by the change.

but by the most complex form of exo- 1 Extracted from a letter of Mr.
gamy, namely the eight-class system. Walter Heape dated Greyfriars, South-
But the mistake is immaterial. wold, 17th December 1909.
 164 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

Darwin's This bears out an opinion expressed by Darwin as follows :

view that
“There is good reason to believe, and this was the opinion
the evils of
inbreeding of that most experienced observer, Sir J. Sebright, that the
may be
checked evil effects of close interbreeding may be checked or quite
or pre- prevented by the related individuals being separated for a
vented by
changing few generations and exposed to different conditions of life.
the con-
This conclusion is now held by many breeders for instance, ;
ditions of
lifewithout Mr. Carr remarks, it is a well-known fact that a change of
‘

introducing
soil and climate effects perhaps almost as great a change in
any fresh
blood. the constitution as would result from an infusion of fresh
blood.’ I hope to show in a future work that consanguinity

by itself counts for nothing, but acts solely from related

organisms generally having a similar constitution, and
having been exposed in most cases to similar conditions.” ^
Similarly Mr. A. R. Wallace writes “ It appears probable,
;

then, that it is not interbreeding in itself that is hurtful, but

interbreeding without rigid selection or some change of
conditions. ... In nature, too, the species always extends
over a larger area and consists of much greater numbers,
and thus a difference of constitution soon arises in different
parts of the area, which is wanting in the limited numbers
of pure bred domestic animals. From a consideration of
these varied facts we conclude that an occasional disturb-
ance of the organic equilibrium is what is essential to keep
up the vigour and fertility of any organism, and that this
disturbance may be equally well produced either by a cross
between individuals of somewhat different constitutions, or
by occasional slight changes in the conditions of life.”^
Thus if these eminent authorities are right, the radical
defect of consanguineous marriages is not the mere con-
fluence of two streams of the same blood it is that the two
;

individuals who conjugate are not sufficiently differentiated

from each other. A certain degree of difference between
' Ch. Darwin, The V^ariation of the evil results of interbreeding may
Animals and Plants under Domestica- be much diminished or quite elimin-
tion (London, 1905), ii. 115; compare ated.” Some breeders keep large
id. ii. 156: “There is good reason to stocks at different places for the sake
believe that by keeping the members of crossing them with each other (Ch.
of the same family in distinct bodies, Darwin, op. cit. ii. 117).
especially if exposed to somewhat
different conditions of life, and by - A. R. Wallace, Darivinism
occasionally crossing these families. (London, 1889), pp. 326 sq.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 165

them is essential to fertility and life ;

too great sameness
leads to sterility may perhaps Analogy
and death. The conclusion
be confirmed by an analogy drawn from the lowest forms of
protozoa
animal humble Protozoa, which have not yet attained
life, the
to a discrimination of the sexes and propagate their kind,
generation after generation, by the alternate growth and
fission of the individual. But though this solitary mode of
reproduction may be repeated many times, experiments
prove that cannot be continued indefinitely.
it There comes
a time in the history of each individual when it appears that
the organism is becoming worn out, is shrinking after every
successive division, in shortis shewing signs of senile decay.

It must then unite with another organism of a different

origin, if the cycle of growth and reproduction is to begin
afresh ;
such a union is absolutely necessary to the per-
petuation of the species.^
From the testimonies which I have cited we may safely But if

conclude that infertility is an inevitable consequence of Jn-

breeding continued through many generations in the same conse-

place and under the same conditions. The loss of fertility,

indeed, “ when it occurs, seems never to be absolute, but only tinued

relative to animals of the same blood so that this sterility ;

is to a certain extent analogous with that of self-impotent same con-

plants which cannot be fertilized by their own pollen, but endo-

are perfectly fertile with pollen of any other individual of the gam°«s
. 1 1 • r -i- • races must
same species. It is a curious coincidence that infertility is have stood

which many more or less primitive peoples

precisely the effect
have attributed to incestuous marriages, though they have tage as
not limited that effect to womankind but have extended it comp^‘'ed
With
to animals and plants. As they cannot have reached these exogamous
conclusions from experience, they would seem to have arrived s^ruggjgfor
at them through some purely superstitious fancy which as existence,
yet escapes us.^ Be that as it may, if the sexual unions of be
near kin tend in the long run to be unproductive, it is obvious the endo-

t
See V. Simpson’s
Professor J. ing some owl-pigeons till their extreme
article “Biology” Dr. J. Hastings’s
in sterility almost extinguished the breed ;

Ejicydopaedia of Religion and Ethics, and another case of inbreeding trum-

ii. (Edinburgh,
1909) p. 630. peter-pigeons till “ inbreeding so close
^ Ch. Darwin, The Variation of stopped reproduction.” SeeCh. Darwin,
Animals and Plants tender Domestica- op. cit. ii. 1 3 1.
tion (London, 1905), 157. How- ii.

ever, Darwin reports a case of inbreed- 2 See above, pp. 157-160.

 1 66 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SECT. Ill

gamous that any motive, whether purely rational or purely superstitious,

peoples
have
which led a people to eschew and forbid such unions must
always have so far contributed to the welfare of the community
been, so
far as we by assisting it to multiply fast, though no doubt the same
know, so scruples pushed to an exaggerated extent, as in the eight-
few in
number class system of the Australian aborigines, might have the
by com- contrary effect by acting as a positive check on population.
parison
with the On the other hand so far as a people entertained no aversion
exogamous to incest and indulged in it freely, just so far would it
peoples.
multiply more slowly than its more scrupulous neighbours
and would thereby stand at a manifest disadvantage in com-
peting against them. Thus the practice of outbreeding or
exogamy would and the practice of inbreeding or
help,
endogamy would hinder, any community which adopted it
in the long series of contests which result in the survival of
the fittest for in one factor of vital importance, the possi-
;

bility of rapid breeding, the exogamous community would

be the fit and the endogamous community the unfit. These
considerations may partly explain why at the present day,
and so we know throughout history, the races which
far as
practise exogamy or prohibit incest have been vastly more
numerous than the races which practise endogamy and
permit incest ;
and it is a fair inference that in the struggle
for existence many endogamous
peoples have disappeared,
having been either extinguished or absorbed by their more
vigorous and prolific rivals.

Thus the On the whole, then, if we compare the principles of

principles
gxogamy with the principles of scientific breeding we can
present scarcely fail to be struck, as Mr. Walter Heape has pointed

resem^'^*
out,^ by the curious resemblance, amounting almost to coin-
blance cidence, between the two.
to the
principles
In the first place under exogamy the beneficial effects
of scientific of crossing, which the highest authorities deem essential to
breeding.
the welfare and even to the existence of species of animals
The
institution and plants, is secured by the system of exogamous classes,
of exo-
either two, four, or eight in number, which we have seen
ganious
classes every reason to regard as artificially instituted for the express
secured the
advantages
purpose of preventing the cohabitation of the nearest blood
of crossing, relations. Now it is very remarkable that the particular
1
See above, pp. 162 sq.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 167

form of incest which the oldest form of exogamy, the two- and the
class system, specially prevents is the incest of brothers with

sisters. That system absolutely prevents all such incest, classes

while it only partially prevents the incest of parents with stfuued is

children,^ which to the civilised mind might seem more shock- in accord-

ing on account of the difference between the generations, as sound bio-

well as for other reasons. Yet this determination of savage logical
• • r • •
principles.
man 1 1 1
to stop the cohabitation of brothers with sisters
1
even
before stopping the cohabitation of parents with children
is in accordance with the soundest biological principles for ;

it is well recognised both by practical breeders and scientific

men that the sexual union of brothers with sisters is the
closest and most injurious form of incest, more so than the
sexual union of a mother with a son or of a father with a
daughter.^ The complete prohibition of incest between
parents and children was effected by the second form of
exogamy, the four-class system. Lastly, the prohibition of
marriage between all first cousins, about which opinion has
wavered down to the present time even in civilised countries,
was only accomplished by the third and latest form of
exogamy, the eight-class system, which was naturally adopted
only by such tribes as disapproved of these marriages, but
never by tribes who viewed the union of certain first cousins
either with indifference or with positive approbation.
Nor does this exhaust the analogies between exogamy Further,

and scientific breeding. We have seen that the rule of the

deterioration and especially of the infertility of inbred of chang-

animals is subject to a very important exception. While condptons

the evil can be removed by an infusion of fresh blood, it can of life

also be remedied in an entirely different way by simply ^c'ured

changing the conditions of life, especially by sending some L' the
animals to a distance and then bringing their progeny back oHocai^
to unite with members of the family which have remained exogamy
m the old home. Such a form of local exogamy, as we may or in ad-
call it, without the introduction of any fresh blood, appears
to be effective in regenerating the stock and restoring its lost tice of
fertility.^ But this system of local exogamy, this marriage

See above, pp. loy s^., 114-119.

* tion (London, 1905), ii. 114, 123,
Ch. Darwin, The Variation of
^
130, 156.
Animals and Plants under Domestica- ^ See above,
pp. 163 s^
 i68 5 UMMA RY A ND CONCL USION SECT. Ill

of members of the same race who have lived at a distance

from each other, is also practised by many savage tribes
besides or instead of their system of kinship exogamy. It
is often a rule with them that they must get their wives not
merely from another stock but from another district.^ For
example, we have seen that the Warramunga tribe of
Central Australia is divided into two intermarrying classes
which occupy separate districts, a northern and a southern,
with the rule that the northern men must always marry
wives from the southern district, and that reciprocally all the
southern men must marry wives from the northern district.^
Indeed, as I have already pointed out,® there are some
grounds for conjecturing that the custom of locally separating
the exogamous classes may have been adopted at the very
outset for the sake of sundering those persons whose sexual
union was deemed a danger to the community. It might

be hard to devise a marriage system more in accordance

with sound biological principles.
The Thus exogamy, especially in the form in which it is
analogy of
exogamy practised by the lowest of existing savages, the aborigines
to scientific of Australia, presents a curious analogy to a system
breeding
cannot be of scientific That the exogamous system of
breeding.
due to these primitive people was artificial and that it was de-
any exact
knowledge liberately devised by them for the purpose which it actually
or far-
serves, namely the prevention of the marriage of near kin,
seeing care
on the seems quite certain on no other reasonable hypothesis can
;

part of its
savage
we explain its complex arrangements, so perfectly adapted
founders ;
to the wants and the ideas of the natives. Yet it is im-
it must
possible to suppose that in planning it these ignorant and
be an
accidental improvident savages could have been animated by exact
result of
a super-
knowledge of its consequences or by a far-seeing care for the
stition, an future welfare of their remote descendants. When we reflect
uncon-
scious how little day marriage is regulated by any such
to this
mimicry considerations even among the most enlightened classes in
of science.
the most civilised communities, we shall not be likely to
attribute a far higher degree of knowledge, foresight, and
self-command to the rude founders of exogamy. What idea
these primitive sages and lawgivers, if we may call them so,

See the references in the Index, j-.z).

' ^ See above, vol. i. pp. 246-249.
“ Exogamy, local.’’ ^ Above, vol. i. p. 248.
SECT. Ill THE ORIGIN OF EXOGAMY 169

liad in their minds when they laid down the fundamental

lines of the institution, we cannot say with certainty all ;

that we know of savages leads us to suppose that it must

have been what we should now call a superstition, some crude
notion of natural causation which to us might seem trans-
parently false, though to them it doubtless seemed obviously
true. Yet egregiously wrong as they were in theory, they
appear to have been fundamentally right in practice. What
they abhorred was really evil what they preferred was
;

really good. Perhaps we may call their curious system an

unconscious mimicry of science. The end which it accom-
plished was wise, though the thoughts of the men who
invented it were foolish. In acting as they did, these poor
savages blindly obeyed the impulse of the great evolutionary
forces which in the physical world are constantly educing
higher out of lower forms of existence and in the moral
world civilisation out of savagery. If that is so, exogamy
has been an instrument in the hands of that unknown power,

the masked wizard of history, who by some mysterious

process, some subtle alchemy, so often transmutes in the
crucible of suffering the dross of folly and evil into the fine
gold of wisdom and good.
NOTES AND CORRECTIONS
 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS
VOLUME I

P. 4. The sex totem the individual totem.

. . . These -
—
terms are unsatisfactory, for reasons which I have already indi-
cated.^ For “ sex totem ” I have suggested “ sex patron,” and
the suggestion has, I understand, been accepted by a committee
of anthropologists, who for “individual totem” propose to sub-
stitute “guardian genius.”

P. 7. The Kalang . .transformed into a dog.

. The full —
legend of the descent of the Kalangs from a dog which married
a woman has been recorded.- It presents the characteristic
traits of the Oedipus story ; a mother marries her son un-
wittingly, and the son kills his dog-father without knowing
the relation in which' he stood to the animal. In one version
of the legend the woman has twin sons by the dog and after-
wards unwittingly marries them both. It is said that the belief
of the Kalangs in their descent from a dog plays a great part in
all their ceremonies, the intention of which is to summon their

ancestors into their midst. For example, they strew ashes on the
floor for eight nights before a wedding, and if they find the foot-
prints of a dog in the ashes, they take it as a sign that the ancestors
are pleased with the marriage. Similarly, they draw' omens from
the footprints of a dog in ashes or sand at a certain festival
which they hold once in seven months. It is also said that the
Kalangs have wooden images of dogs, which they revere.^ Accord-
ing to the Javanese, the incest which the Kalangs tell of in their
traditions is repeated in their customs for it is reported that
;

among them mother and son often live together as man and wife,
^ See above, vol. iii. pp. 454-456. M[echelen], /Az'a'. pp. 438-441. Com-
" See E. Ketjen, “ De Kalangers,” pare P. J. Veth, yava (Haarlem, 1875-
Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- 1884), iii. pp. 581 sq.
en Volkenkunde, xxiv. (1877) pp. 430- ^ E. Ketjen, op. cit. pp. 424-
435, with the notes of H. L. Ch. te 427.
>73
 174 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

and it is and riches

a belief of the Kalangs that worldly prosperity
flow from such a union.i However, in spite of the tradition of
their descent from a dog, there seems to be no sufficient evidence
that the Kalangs have totemism. Indeed the story of a canine
origin, combined with incest, is told of other peoples in the Malay
Archipelago.’^

P. 8. The Ainos suckled by a bear.

. . According to the
. —
Rev. John Batchelor many of the Ainos who dwell among the
mountains believe themselves to be descended from a bear. They
belong to the Bear clan and are called Kuniin Kamui sanikiri, that
is, “ descendants of the bear.” Such people are very proud and
say, “ As for me, I am a child of the god of the mountains ; I am
descended from the divine one who rules in the mountains.”
Further, Mr. Batchelor tells us that the Ainos of a certain district
often call each other by names which mean “children of the eagle ”
and “ descendants of the bird,” these being terms of reproach
which they hurl at one another in their quarrels. He thinks that
these epithets are evidence of clan totemism.^ However, there is
no sufficient proof that the Ainos are totemic.^ The usual tradition
is that the Ainos, like the Kalangs of Java, are descended from
a woman and a dog.^

That brother belonging to me you have killed.” “ In

P. 9. “ —
one instance, a native at Beran plains, desired a European not to
kill a gi'mar, which he was then chasing, but to catch it alive, as it

was him brother.’ The animal, however, was killed, at which the
‘

native was much displeased, and would not eat of it, but unceasingly
.complained of the tumbling down him brother.’ ” ® Again, with
‘

regard to the Moorloobulloo, a tribe of Central Australia, at the

junction of King’s Creek and the Georgina or Herbert River, we
are told that “ the persons of this tribe take each the name of some
^
bird or animal, which the individual calls brother, and will not eat.”

' E. Ketjen, “ De Kalangers,” Tijd- Swinton C. Holland, “ On the Ainos,”

-schrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en fournal of the Aiithropological Institute,
Volkenkunde, xxiv. (1877) p. 427. iii. (1874) p. 236 H. C. St. John,
;

2 J. C. van Eerde, “ De Kalang- Notes and Sketches from the Wild Coasts
legende op Lombok,” Tijdschrift voor of Nipon (Edinburgh, 1880), pp. 29^7.;
Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, Isabella L. Bird, Unbeaten Tracks in
xlv. (1902) pp. 30-58, especially pp. fapan (New Edition, 1885), pp. 250,
30 sq. 25 5 315
>
D. Brauns, fapanische
;

^ Rev. John Batchelor, The Aitiu Aldrchen und Sagen (Leipsic, 1885),
.a?td their Folk-lore CLowAoxx, 1901), pp. pp. 167-170.
10 sq. ® George Bennett, Wanderings in
*See above, vol. ii. p. 348 note. Neiv South Wales, Batavia, Pedir
5 See W. M. Wood, “The Hairy Coast, Singapore and China (London,
Men of Yesso,” Transactions of the 1834), i. 131.
Ethnological Society of L^ondon, New ^ O. Machattie, in E. M. Curr’s
J.
Series, iv. (1866) p. 37 Lieut. ;
The Australian Race, ii. 366 sq.
 —

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 175

Some Peruvian Indians would not kill the fish of a certain river ;

“ for they said that the fish were their brothers.” ^

P. 9. The Ojibways (Chippeways) do not kill . . . their totems,

etc. — However, this statement seems to apply to the guardian
animals of individuals rather than to the totemic animals of clans.^
P. 10. Split totems. — Some of the ancient Egyptians, like
many modern savages, appear to have restricted their veneration to
whereby they were able to satisfy
certain parts of the sacred animals,
at once their consciences and their appetites by abstaining from
some joints and partaking of others. Thus Sextus Empiricus
writes “ Of the Egyptians who are counted wise some deem it sacri-
:

legious to eat the head of an animal, others to eat the shoulder-

blade, others the foot, and others some other part.”^ Again,
Lucian says that, while some of the ancient Egyptians revered whole
animals, such as bulls, crocodiles, cats, baboons, and apes, others
worshipped only parts of animals ; thus the right shoulder would be
the god of one village, the left shoulder the god of a second village,
and half of the head the god of a third.^

P. 13. A Samoan clan had for itstotem the butterfly, etc.

The worshipful animals, plants, and so forth of the Samoans
appear to have been rather deities developed out of totems than
totems in the proper sense.®
P. 1 4. Sometimes the totem animal
is fed and even kept alive

in captivity. — A very few cases of

feeding wild animals or keeping
them in captivity on the ground of their sanctity have met us in the
course of this work.® The natives of the Pelew Islands regard the
puffin as a divine bird they often feed it and keep it tame.'^
;
It
is said that in antiquity a Greek general, marching at the head of an
army into the interior of Libya, discovered three cities called the
Cities of Apes, in which apes were worshipped as gods and lived
with the people in their houses. The inhabitants generally called
their children after the apes and punished with death any sacri-
legious person who dared to kill one of the sacred animals.®
P. 15. The dead totem is mourned for and buried, etc. — It is

* Garcilasso de la Vega, First Part 341 (as to the aborigines of Formosa) ;

of the Royal Commentaries of the and vol. iii. p. 576 (as to the Bororos
Yncas, translated by C. R. Markham, of Brazil).
vol. i. p. 168. See also above, vol.
’’

J. Kubary, “Die Religion der

ii. p. 372. Pelauer,” in A. Bastian’s Allerlei aus
See above, vol. ill. pp. 51 sq. Volks- und Menschenkunde (Berlin,
^ Sextus Empiricus, ed. I. Bekker 1888), 38 sq.
i.

(Berlin, 1842), p. 173. ® Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca

^ Jupiter Tragoedus, 42.
C\xc\d.x\, Historica, xx. 58. The passage was
“ See above, vol. ii.
pp. 151, 166 sq. me by
pointed out to my learned friend
® See above, vol. Mr. William Wyse.
ii. p. 35 (as to
the Bugilai of New Guinea) vol. ii. p. ;
 176 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAM\ VO I,. I

by no means clear that any of the sacred animals, whose solemn

burial is recorded in this paragraph, were totems. A similar custom
of burying sacred animals, not necessarily totems, is observed else-
where. Thus in Malabar “killing a snake is considered a grievous
sin, and even to see a snake with its head bruised is believed to be

a precursor of calamities. Pious Malayalis, when they see a snake

killed in this way, have it burnt with the full solemnities attendant
on the cremation of high-caste Hindus. The carcase is covered
with a piece of silk, and burnt in sandalwood. A Brahman is
hired to observe pollution for some days, and elaborate funeral
oblations are offered to the dead snake.” ^ Some of the totemic
clans of the Gold Coast bury their totemic animals.-

P. 1 6. Circumlocutions ... to give no offence to the worship-

ful animal. —The custom of referring to animals, especially danger-
ous animals, by circumlocutions for the sake of avoiding the use of
their ordinary names is very widespread and is no doubt commonly
based on a fear of attracting the attention of the creatures or of
putting them on their guard. The animals
3
so referred to need not
be totems ;
often they are the creatures which the hunter or fisher-
man wishes to catch and kill.^
The worshippers of the Syrian goddess
P. 17. break out . . .

in ulcers. — According
to the Greek comic poet Menander, when
the Syrians ate fish, their feet and bellies swelled up, and by way of
appeasing the goddess whom they had angered they put on sack-
cloth and sat down on dung by the wayside in order to express the
depth of their humiliation.^
P. 17. The Egyptians . . . would break out in a scab. — Aelian
ascribes to the Egyptian historian Manetho the statement, that any
Egyptian who drank of pig’s milk would be covered with leprosy.^

Prohibited P. 19. Food prohibitions, which vary chiefly with age.— These
foods in prohibitions are, or were, common among the aborigines of Australia.
Australia.
Thus with regard to the natives of Victoria in particular we are told
that they “have many very curious laws relating to food. The old
men are privileged to eat every kind of food that it is lawful for any
of their tribe to eat, but there are kinds of food which a tribe will
eat in one district and which tribes in another part of the continent
will not touch. The women may not eat of the flesh of certain
animals certain sorts of meat are prohibited to children and young-
;

persons young married women are interdicted from partaking of

;

1 Edgar Thurston, Ethnographic For many examples of the custom

Notes in Southern (Madras, 1 906), see The Golden Bough, Second Edition,
p. 288, quoting Mr. C. Karunakara i. 451 sqq
solemn burial of ^ Menander, quoted by Porphyry,
Menon. As to the
certain sacred animals in Madagascar, De Ahstinenfia, iv. 15.
see above, vol. ii. pp. 633, 635. “ Aelian, De Natura Animaliinn,
2 See above, vol. ii. pp. 556 j 557 - X. 16.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 177

dainties that delight the palates of olderwomen and men may not
;

touch the flesh of some animals until a mystic ceremony has been
duly celebrated. Their laws, indeed, in connection with hunting
and fishing, and the collecting, cooking, and eating of food, are
numerous and complex and as the penalties believed to be
;

incurred for a breach of these laws are, in most cases, serious

diseases, or death, they are obeyed. Some suppose that cunning
old men established the laws for the purpose of reserving to them-
selves those kinds of food which it was most difficult to procure,
and that one effect of their prohibitions was to make the young
men more expert in hunting ; and it has been suggested that the
eating of some animals was interdicted in order that the natural
increase might not be prevented. In looking over the list of
animals prohibited to young men, to women, and to children, one
fails to see, however, any good reasons for the selection unless we —
regard nearly the whole of the prohibitions as having their source
in superstitious beliefs.”^ In the Yarra tribe young people were
forbidden to eat the flying squirrels, porcupines, emus, bustards,
ducks, swans, iguanas, turtles, a species of large fish (zvoora-mook),
and young opossums, but they might eat old male opossums. If
any young person ate of any of the forbidden animals before leave
was granted him by the old men, it was said that he would sicken
and die, and that no doctor could save him. But after the age of
thirty he might eat any of the animals with impunity.^ “No young
men are allowed to eat the flesh or eggs of the emu, a kind of
luxury which is thus reserved exclusively for the old men and the
women. I understood from Piper, who abstained from eating emu,
when food was very scarce, that the ceremony necessary in this
case consisted chiefly in being rubbed all over with emu fat by an
old man. Richardson of our party was an old man, and Piper
reluctantly allowed himself to be rubbed with emu fat by Richardson,
but from that time he had no objection to eat emu. The threatened
penalty was that young men on eating the flesh of an emu would
be afflicted with sores all over the body.”® Among the Birria,
Koongerri, and Kungarditchi tribes of Central Australia, at the
junction of the Thomson and Barcoo rivers, it was believed that if
a young man were even to break an emu egg, the offended spirits
would raise a storm of thunder and lightning, in which the culprit
himself would probably be struck down.^ Among the Port Lincoln
tribes of South Australia the general principle of the food laws is
said to have been “ that the male of any animal should be eaten by
grown-up men, the female by women, and the young animal by

* R. Brough Smyth, The Aborigines peditions into the Ititerior of Eastern

of Victoria, i. 234. Atistralia (London, 1838), ii. 340 sg.
^ R. Brough Smyth, op. cit. i. * E. M. Curr, The Attstraliati Race,
235.
^ Major T. L. Mitchell, Three Ex- ii- 377 -

VOL. IV N
178 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

children only. An is made with respect to the

exception, however,
common kangaroo-rat, which may be
eaten promiscuously. The
wallaby, especially that species called by the natives yurridni^ and
the two species of bandicoot, kiirkulla and yartiri, must on no
account be eaten by young men and young women, as they are
believed to produce premature menses in the latter, and discolour
the beards of the former, giving them a brown tinge instead of a
shining black. . . . Guanas and lizards are proper food for girls,
as accelerating maturity, and snakes for women, promoting
^
fecundity.”
Among the aborigines of Australia the prohibitions to eat certain
animal or vegetable foods often come into operation at those
initiatory ceremonies which mark the attainment of puberty and the
transition from boyhood to manhood. We shall recur to this
subject a little further on.^

P. 2 0. The Psylli, a Snake clan in Africa exposed their . . .

new-horn children to snakes, etc. The ancient historian Dio —

Cassius has also recorded that the Psylli were immune to snake-
bites, and that they tested their new-born children by exposing
them to snakes, which did them no harm. According to the
historian, Octavian attempted to restore the dead Cleopatra to life
by means of these men.^ The Greek topographer Pausanias also
refers to the power which the Libyan Psylli were thought to possess
of healing persons who had been bitten by snakes.^ In the Punjab
there is a Snake caste or tribe (zaf), the members of which worship
snakes and claim to be immune to their sting. They will not kill a
snake, and if they find a dead one, they put clothes on it and give
the reptile a regular burial.^ The Tilokchandi Baises in North-
Western India claim to be descended from the snake-god, and it is
said that no member of the family has been known to die from
snake-bite.® Members of the Isowa sect in Morocco assert that
snakes, scorpions, and all other venomous creatures cannot harm
them, and that they therefore handle them with impunity.^

P. 2 1. Some judicial ordeals may have originated in totem

tests of kinship. — At
Calabar in West Africa the sharks were the
ju-ju or sacred animals. They throng the creek before the town
and used to be regularly fed. In former times criminals had to

1
W. Schurmann, “The Aborig-
C. Pausanias, Description of Greece,
inal Tribes of Port Lincoln,” Native ix. 28. I.

Tribes of South Australia, p. 220. F. A. Steel, in Panjab Notes

® and
Queries, vol. ii. p. 91, § 555.
See above, vol.
* i. pp. 40-42, and ® Panjab Notes and Queries, vol. iii.
below, pp. 217 sqq.
p. 162, § 664.
^ Dio Cassius, Historia Romana, li. ^ A. Leared, Morocco and the Moors
14. (London, 1876), p. 267.
VOL. 1 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 179

swim across the creek as an ordeal. If they escaped the maws of

the ravenous sharks, they were deemed innocent.^

P. 22. The Snake clan (Ophiogenes) of Asia Minor, etc. The —

Snake clan (Ophiogenes) were a mythical people, who are said to
have lived at Parium in Mysia.^ The statement in the text that
if they were bitten by an adder they had only to put a snake to

the wound is erroneous. What Strabo reports is that when people

were bitten by adders the Snake men healed them by touching
their bodies and so transferring the poison to themselves and thus
relieving the inflammation. He tells us that the founder of the
family is said to have been a hero who had been an adder before
he took human shape. “ As we crossed the Kal Aspad, we saw a
—
tomb named Imam Zadahi Pir Mar (Pir Mar signifies Saint Snake),
a shrine of great celebrity in Luristan. This saint is said to have
possessed the miraculous power of curing the bites of all venomous
serpents and, at the present day, whenever a Lur in the vicinity
;

is by a snake, he repairs to the shrine, and, according to

bitten
popular belief, always recovers. The descendants of this holy
personage, too, claim to have inherited the miraculous power, and
®
I have certainly seen them effect some very remarkable cures.”

P. 25. The Yezidis abominate blue. —Their strongest curse is

“ May you die in blue garments.” ^ Hindoos of the Kurnal District
will not grow indigo, for simple blue is an abomination to them.®

It is very unlikely that such dislikes have anything to do with

totemism.
P. 25. The sun was the special divinity of the chiefs of the
Natchez. —
The Natchez had a temple dedicated to the sun, in
which a perpetual fire was kept burning. They thought that the
family of their chiefs was descended from the sun and that their
souls returned to it at death. The chief of the whole nation was
called the Great Sun and his relations the Little Suns. These
human Suns looked down on their fellow-tribesmen with great
contempt.®
P. 26. The clansman
the habit of assimilating himself to
is in
his totem, etc. — “ I have made before about
To the observations
all African tribes, that in their attire they endeavour to imitate
some part of the animal creation, I may add that they seem to
1 Captain John Adams, Remarks Koords, 277.
p.
on the Cotcntry extending from Cape ® Denzil C. J. Ibbetson, Re-
(Sir)
Palmas to the Rwer Congo (London, port on the Revision of Settlement oj
1823), pp. 138 sq. the Panipat Tapsil and Karnal Par-
^ Strabo, xiii. i. 14. ganah of the Karnal District (Allaha-
Rawlinson, in Journal ’of the
^ bad, 1883), p. 155.
Royal Geographical Society, ix. (1839) ® “ Relation de la Louisiane,”
p. 96. Voyages an nord, Troisieme Ldition
Millingan, Wild Life among the (Amsterdam, 1731-1738), v. 24.
 i8o TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. i

show a special preference for copying any individual species for

which they have a particular reverence. In this way it frequently
happens that their superstition indirectly influences the habits of
their daily life, and that their animal-worship finds expression in
’
their dress.”

P. 27. The practice of knocking out the upper front teeth at

puberty ... is, or was once, probably an imitation of the totem.
— This statement is not well founded. There is no evidence that
the widespread custom of knocking out, chipping, or filing the
teeth ^ is an imitation of the totemic animal, nor indeed that it has
anything to do with totemism, though it is observed by many
Custom of totemic tribes. The custom of knocking out one or two front teeth
extracting
of each male novice at initiation occurs in the extreme north of
front teeth
at initiation
Queensland,^ and is common in South-Eastern Australia,'^ but since
and other in the tribes which practise it the .operation is performed alike on
occasions in all lads, whatever their totem, it seems impossible that the extraction
Australia.
of the tooth or teeth can be intended to assimilate the men to their
various totemic animals. Like so many other rites which mark
the attainment of puberty among savages, this strange custom of
extracting or mutilating the teeth is probably based on some crude
superstition which we do not yet understand. Among the Central
Australian tribes the extraction of teeth is not practised as a rite of
initiation, obligatory upon all young men before they are admitted
manhood
to the privileges of ;
still it is submitted to voluntarily by
many men and women and is associated, curiously enough, in their
Extraction minds with the production or the prevention of rain. Thus in
of teeth
the Arunta tribe the custom is observed especially by members of
associated
with rain. the Rain or Water totem indeed it is almost, though not quite,
;

obligatory on both men and women of that clan as well as on the

natives of what is called the Rain Country {Kartwia Quatcha) to
the north-east of the Arunta territory. In the Arunta tribe the
operation is usually performed before marriage and always after the
members of the Rain or Water clan have observed their magical
ceremony {intichhwid) for the making of rain or water. To explain
the special association of tooth-drawing with the rain totem the
natives say that the intention of the rite is to make the patient’s

1 G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Journals of Expeditions of Discovery

Africa, Third Edition (London, 1878), into Cefitral Australia (London, 1845),
i. 192. ii. 410; Native Tribes of South Aus-
^ For a collection of evidence on tralia (Adelaide, 1879), pp. 266 ;

this subject see H. von Ihering, “ Die Journal and Pj-oceedings of the Royal
kiinstliche Deformirung der Ziihne,” Society of New South Wales, 1882, pp.
Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, xiv. (1882) 165 sq., 172, 209; id., 1883, pp. 26
pp. 213-262. sq.-, E. M. Curr, The Australian Race,
3 See above, vol. i. p. 535. i. 164, iii. 273 R. Brough Smyth,
;

See the references in vol. i. p. The Aborigines of Victoria, i. 61, 62,

412 note and further E. J. Eyre, 64 sq., ii. 296.
 3

VOI,. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS i8i

face look like a dark cloud with a light rim, which portends rain.^
The explanation seems far-fetched, but at least it shews that in the
minds of the aborigines the custom is associated with, if not based
upon, the principle of sympathetic or imitative magic. In the
Warramunga tribe the ceremony of knocking out teeth is always
performed after the fall of heavy rain, when the natives have had
enough and wish the rain to stop. The Tjingilli in like manner
extract the teeth towards the end of the rainy season, when they
think that no more rain is needed and the extracted teeth are
;

thrown into a water-hole in the belief that they will drive the rain
and clouds away. Again, in the Gnanji tribe the rite is always
observed during the rainy season ; and when the tooth has been
drawn it is carried about for some time by the operator. Finally
it is given by him to the patient’s mother, who buries it beside

some water-hole for the purpose of stopping the rain and making
the edible water-lilies to grow plentifully.^
Superficially regarded the initiatory rite of tooth-extraction so Relation
far resembles the initiatory rite of circumcision that the essential
part of both consists in the removal of a part of the patient’s body ;

accordingly it is probably not without significance that the tribes of initiatory

South-Eastern Australia, who practise the rite of tooth-extraction, p'’'"

do not observe the rite of circumcision while on the contrary ;

the tribes of Central Australia and North-West Queensland, who

practise the rite of circumcision, do not observe the rite of tooth-
extraction as an initiatory ceremony.^ With great diffidence I have Theory of
conjectured that the two rites of circumcision and tooth-extraction ^ircum-
may have had this much in common, that they were both intended
to promote the reincarnation of the individual at a future time by
severing from his person a vital or especially durable portion and
subjecting it to a treatment which, in the opinion of these savages,
was fitted to ensure the desired object of bringing him to life again
after death.^
The evidence which has suggested this conjecture is indeed

very slight and scanty ;

but a few points in it may be mentioned.

* Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes The relation between circumcision and
of Central Australia, pp. 213, 450 tooth-extraction as alternative rites of
sq. ; id.. Northern Tribes of Central initiation had already been indicated by
Australia, pp. 588 sqq. E. Eyre, who used it as an argument
J.
for determining the migrations of the
^ Spencer and Gillen, Northern
various Australian tribes from what he
Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 593-
conceived to be their starting-point on
596.
the north-west coast of the continent.
^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes See E. J. Journals of Expeditions
of Central Australia, pp. 118 note *, of Discovery into Ce 7 itral Australia
21 453
> ;
W. E. Roth, Ethnological
W- (London, 1845), >'• 405 - 4 H-
Studies among the North- IVest-Ceniral G. Frazer, “ The Origin of
J.
Queensland Aborigines (Brisbane and Circumcision,” The Independent Re-
London, 1897), pp. iii, 170 sqq. view, November 1904, pp. 204-218.
 ;

TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Custom of Thus among the natives of the Goulburn River in the central part
placing
of Victoria, when a youth reaches manhood, “he is conducted by
extracted
teeth in three of the leaders of the tribe into the recesses of the woods,
trees. where he remains two days and one night. Being furnished with a
piece of wood he knocks out two of the teeth of his upper front
jaw and on returning to the camp carefully consigns them to his
;

mother. The youth then again retires into the forest, and remains
absent two nights and one day during which his mother, having
;

selected a young gum tree, inserts the teeth in the bark, in the
fork of two of the topmost branches. This tree is made known
only to certain persons of the tribe, and is strictly kept from the
knowledge of the youth himself. In case the person to whom the
tree is thus dedicated dies, the foot of it is stripped of its bark, and
it is killed by the application of fire thus becoming a monument
;

of the deceased.” ^ In some of the Darling River tribes in New

South Wales the youth after initiation used to place his extracted
tooth under the bark of a tree, near a creek, water-hole, or river
if the bark grew over it or the tooth fell into the water, all was

well but if it were exposed and ants ran over it, the natives
;

believed that the youth would suffer from a disease in his mouth.'^
These customs seem to shew that a mystic relation of sympathy
was supposed to exist between the man and his severed tooth of
such a nature that when it suffered he suffered, and that when he
died the tooth and its temporary receptacle must both be destroyed.®

^ W. Blandowski, “Personal Ob- extracted tooth together with the hair

servations made in an Excursion towards which has been plucked from his
the Central Parts of Victoria,” Trans- private partsand conceals them under
actions of the Philosophical Society of the bark of a tree which has its roots
Victoria, i. (Melbourne, 1855), p. 72. in a water-hole. See A. W. Howitt,
Compare R. Brough Smyth, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia,
Aborigines of Victoria, i. 61 ; Spencer pp. 675 sq.
and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central
Australia, pp. 453 sq. It may be ^ The belief in a sympathetic re-
noted that in the tribes of Central lationbetween the man and his extracted
Victoria described by Mr. Blandowski tooth comes out plainly in a custom of
a young man as usual was prohibited the Dieri. After the novice’s mouth
from holding any communication with is healed his father takes the two ex-
his wife’s mother. Once “a mother- tracted teeth, “blows two or three
in-law being descried approaching, a times with his mouth, and then jerks
number of lubras [women] formed a the teeth through his hand to a distance.
circle around the young man, and he He then buries them about eighteen
himself covered his face with his hands.” inches in the ground. The jerking
See W.
Blandowski, op. cit. p. 74. motion is to show that he has already
^ P'. Bonney, “ On some Customs of taken all the life out of them ; as,
the Aborigines of the River Darling, should he fail to do so, the boy would
New South Wales,” Journal of the be liable to have an ulcerated mouth,
Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) an impediment in his speech, a wry
p. 128. Similarly among tribes of the mouth, and ultimately a distorted face.”
Itchumundi nation to the west of the See A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of
Darling River a young man takes his South-East Australia, p. 656.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS <83

If these aborigines believed in the reincarnation of the dead, as to

which however we have no information, it might be that the
burning of the tree and the tooth was intended to liberate the
vital essence of the dead man as a preliminary to rebirth. In this
connection it deserves to be noticed that it is the mother of the
youth who deposits his tooth in the tree, just as among the Gnanji
it is the mother of the patient who buries the tooth beside a
water-hole ;
that in the Arunta and Kaitish tribes the
and further
extracted tooth thrown away in the direction where the boy’s or
is

girl’s mother is supposed to have encamped in the far-off dream

times {alcheringa)} This at least suggests that the tooth may

possibly be regarded as an instrument of impregnation and there-
fore of a new birth. The same may perhaps be the meaning of
a curious custom observed in the Warramunga tribe ; the extracted
tooth is pounded up and given in a piece of flesh to the mother
or to the mother-in-law of the patient to eat, according as the
person operated on is a girl or a boy.^ In some Queensland tribes
“ the custom of knocking out the two front teeth is connected with

the entry into their heaven. If they have the two front teeth out
they will have bright clear water to drink, and if not they will have
only dirty or muddy water.” ^ Such a belief, if it is really held,
proves that the practice of extracting teeth at puberty is associated
in the native mind with the life hereafter and is supposed to be
a preparation for it. Customs to a certain extent similar are Disposal
observed by some Australian aborigines in regard to the foreskins
which are severed at circumcision. Thus in the Warramunga tribe severed at
the foreskin is placed in the hole made by a witchetty grub in a circum-
tree and is supposed to cause a plentiful supply of grubs ; or it
may be put in the burrow of a ground spider and then it is thought
to make the lad’s genital organ to grow. The lad himself never
sees the severed foreskin and, like the Victorian natives in regard
to the trees where their extracted teeth are deposited, never knows
where this portion of himself has been placed. These beliefs as
to the foreskin, like the beliefs as to the tooth deposited in a water-
hole, suggest that a fertilising virtue is ascribed to the severed
foreskin as well as to the severed tooth. Further, among some
tribes of North-Western Australia the foreskin of each lad who has
been circumcised is tied to his hair and left there till his wound
ishealed, after which it is either pounded up with kangaroo meat
and eaten by its owner, or is taken by his relations to a large tree
and there inserted under the bark.^ However we may explain it.
< Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes Australian Tribes,” Jotirnal of the
of Central Attstralia, pp. 452, 453, Aiithropological Institute, xiii. (1884)
455 r?- p. 291.
Spencer and Gillen,
^ Northern < Spencer and Gillen, Northern
Tribes of Central Australia, p. 593. Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 3 S 3
^ E. Palmer, “ Notes on some ® E. Clement, “ Ethnographical
 84 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

a curious parallelism thus exists between the ritual of circumcision

and the ritual of tooth-extraction, since both of the severed and
unpalatable parts of the body, the foreskin and the tooth, are either
eaten or deposited in a tree, which is kept secret from the man or
woman from whose person the one or the other has been abstracted.
In the Unmatjera tribe the boy himself hides his foreskin, under
cover of darkness, in a hollow tree, telling no one but a cousin, his
father’s sister’s son, where he has put it, and carefully concealing it
from women. A pregnant hint as to the part played by the tree in
the ceremony is furnished by the Unmatjera tradition, that the
ancestors of the tribe always placed their foreskins in their nanja
trees, that is, in the trees where their disembodied spirits were
supposed to tarry in the interval between two successive incarna-
tions. ^ As such trees are among the spots where women are
supposed to conceive children through the entrance of the dis-
embodied spirits into their womb, it is hardly rash to conjecture
that the intention of placing the severed foreskin in such a tree
was to ensure that the person from whom it was taken might
hereafter, when his present life was over, be born again of a
woman into the world. The same idea may have been at the root
of the practice of similarly placing the extracted tooth in a tree ;

although with regard to the lattercustom we unfortunately know

too little as to the beliefs of the natives who practise it to be
justified in advancing this hypothesis as anything more than a bare
conjecture.
Hawaiian In Hawaii it was a custom to knock out one or more front teeth
custom of as a mark of grief at the death of a king or chief ; and though this
knocking
out teeth
custom was not obligatory, it was yet so common that in the old
in mourn- heathen days few men were to be seen with an entire set of teeth,
ing for a and many had lost all their front teeth both on the upper and
king or
chief.
lower jaw, which, apart from its other inconveniences, caused a
great defect in their speech. The custom was practised both by
men and women, but oftener by men than by women. Sometimes
a man knocked out his own teeth with a stone ; but more commonly
some one else kindly did it for him, putting a stick against the tooth
and hammering it with a stone till it broke. If men shrank from
the pain of the operation, women would often performit upon them

while they slept.^ It is probable that this custom was not a mere

Notes on the Western Australian 2 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches,

Aborigines,” Internationales Archiv Second Edition, iv. (London, 1836) p.
fiir Ethnographie, xvi. (1904) p. ll. 1 76. Compare The Voyages of Captain
1 Spencer and Gillen, No-thern James Cook round the iVorld (London,
Tribes of Central Australia, p. 341. 1809), 146; L. de Freycinet,
vii.

As to the nanja trees or rocks, the Voyage autour du monde, ii. (Paris,
homes of disembodied spirits, see id.. 1829) p. 601 O. von Kotzebue,
;

Native Tribes of Cent 7 -al Australia, Reise zim die IVelt (Weimar, 1830), ii.
pp. 123-125, 132-134. 1 16.
VOL, I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 185

extravagant exhibition of sorrow; we may surmise that it sprang from

some superstition. Indeed Captain Cook, the first to record it,

expressly says :
“ We
always understood that this voluntary punish-
ment, like the cutting off the joints of the finger at the Friendly
Islands, was not inflicted on themselves from the violence of grief
on the death of their friends, but was designed as a propitiatory
sacrifice to the Eatooa [spirit], to avert any danger or mischief to
which they might be exposed.” ^ It is possible that these sacrifices
of teeth may have been originally intended, not so much to appease
the vexed ghost of the departed, as to strengthen him either for his
life in the world of shades or perhaps for rebirth into the world. I

have suggested elsewhere ^ that this was the intention with which
mourners in Australia wound themselves severely and allow the
blood to drip on the corpse or on the grave.^ In some tribes of Teeth
Central Africa, as I learn from my friend the Rev. John Roscoe, all
the teeth which have been at any time extracted from a man’s
mouth are carefully preserved and buried with him at death in his
grave, doubtless in order that he may have the use of them at his
next resurrection. It is accordingly legitimate to conjecture that
the teeth which the Hawaiians knocked out of their mouths at the
death of a king or chief may have been destined for the benefit of
the deceased, whether by recruiting his vital forces in general or
by furnishing him with a liberal, indeed superabundant, supply of
teeth.
Throughout the East Indian Archipelago it is customary to file Custom of
and blacken the teeth of both sexes at puberty as a necessary pre-
liminary to marriage. The common way of announcing that a girl jj,g ^ggjjj
has reached puberty is to say, “ She has had her teeth filed.” the East
However, the ceremony is often delayed for a year or two, when
there is no immediate prospect of a girl’s marriage. The operation peiago.
is chiefly confined to the upper canine teeth, the edges of which are
filed down and made quite even, while the body of the tooth is

hollowed. However, the teeth of the lower jaw are very often filed
also. Sometimes the teeth are filed right down to the gums some- ;

times they are filed into a pointed or triangular shape, so that

alltogether they resemble the edge of a saw. The custom of thus
pointing the teeth is found particularly in Java, some districts of
Sumatra, the Mentawei Islands, among the Ootanatas on the south-

' The Voyages of Captain Jaynes New South Wales,” Journal oj the
Cook round the IVorid {Condon, 1809), Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884)
vii. 146. pp. 134 sq. ;
Spencer and Gillen,
^ “ The Native Tribes oJ Central Australia,
Origin of Circumcision,”
The Independent Review, pp. 507, 509 ; id.. Northern Tribes
November
oJ Central Australia, pp. 516 sq. G.
1904, pp. 208 sqq.
;

Grey, Journals oJ Two Expeditions of

See F. Bonney, “ On .some Customs
^
Discovery in North-West and Western
of the Aborigines of the River Darling, Australia (London, 1841), ii. 332.
 1 86 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. i

Custom of west coast of New Guinea, some negrito and some Malay tribes of
filing the
the Philippines, and very commonly among the Dyaks of Sarawak
teeth in
the East in Borneo.^
In the island of Bali the four upper front teeth are
Indian filed down gums and the two eye-teeth are pointed. For
to the
Archi-
three days after the operation the patient is secluded in a dark
pelago.
room ; above all he is strictly enjoined not to enter the kitchen.
Even when he has been released from the dark chamber he must
for eight days thereafter take the greatest care not to cross a river
or even a brook, and not to enter a house in which there is a dead
body.2 In some parts of the East Indian Archipelago, for example,
in Minahassa, a district of northern Celebes, the teeth may only be
filed after the death of the nearest blood-relations, which seems to
shew that in these places, as in Hawaii, the custom is associated
with mourning.^ Contrary to the practice of the Australian
aborigines, with whom tooth-extraction and circumcision are alterna-
tive rites of initiation, some tribes observing the one and some the
other, all the peoples of the East Indian Archipelago circumcise
both sexes, so that among them the nearly universal custom of
filing the teeth is practised in addition to, not as a substitute for,
circumcision.^ But while almost all the Indonesian peoples file their
teeth, very few of them knock out their teeth, like the aborigines of

1 breide Artikelen, No.

John Crawford, History of the 3 (Amsterdam,
Indian Archipelago (Edinburgh, 1820), 1886), pp. 460-464 ; J. G. F. Riedel,
i. 215 G. A. Wilken, Handleiding De landschappen Holontalo, Limoeto,
‘ ‘

z'oor de vergelijkende Volkenku 7 tde van Bone, Boalemo en Kattingola, of

Nederlandsch- Indie (Leyden, 1893), Andagile,” Tijdschrift voor Indische
pp. 234 sqq. ; id. “ Over de mutilatie Taal- Land- en Volkenkutide, xix. (1869)
der tanden blj de volken van den p. 133 id.
“ Die Landschaft Dawan
;

Indischen Archipel,” Bijdrage^i tot de Oder West - Timor,” Deutsche geo-

Taal- Land- en Volkenk2inde van Neder- graphische Blatter, x. 284 ; id. De shak-
landsch-Indie, xxxvii. (1888) pp. 472- en kj-oesharige rassen tusschen Selebes C 7i
504. Compare W. Marsden, History Papua (The Hague, 1886), pp. 75,
of Sutnatra (London, l8n), pp. 52 137, 177, 251, 418 ; id.. The Island
sq., 470 T. S. ;
Raffles, The History of of Flores or Pulau Bimga, p. 8 (re-
Java (London, 1817), i.
95, 351 ;
T. printed from the Revue colo 7 tiale zVz/e;--
J. Newbold, Political atid Statistical As to the different modes
7 tatio 7 iale).

Account of the British Settle??ients in of mutilating the teeth and their

the Straits of Malacca (London, 1839), geographical distribution in the Indian
i. 253 S. Miiller, Keizen en Onder-
;
Archipelago, see H. von Ihering,
zoekingen in den Indischen Archipel “ Die kiinstliche Deformirung der
(Amsterdam, 1857), ii. 279; B. F. Zahne,” Zeitschrift fiir Etlmologie, xiv.
Matthes, Bijdragen tot de Ethnologic (1882) pp. 240-253.
van Znid-Celehes (The Hague, 1875), 2 R. van Eck, “ Schetsen van het
pp. 70 sq. A. L. van Hasselt, Volks-
;
eiland Bali,” Tijdsda'ift voor Neder-
beschrijving van Midden - Sumatra landsch- I/idie, N.S. ix. (1880) pp.
(Leyden, 1882), pp. 6-8; J. B. 423-429.
Neumann, “ Het Pane en Bila- * G. A. Wilken, Handleidmg voor

stroomgebied op het eiland Sumatra,” de vergelijke 77 de Volke 7 iku 7 ide (Leyden,

Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch 1893), p. 236.
Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, Tweede * G. A. Wilken, op. cit. pp. 225,
Serie, Deel iii. Afdeeling, Mehr uitge- 234 -
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 187

Australia. custom appears to be reported only of

Indeed the latter
some tribes Celebes and of the natives of Engano.^
of Central
Thus it is said that among the Tonapos, Tobadas, and Tokulabis
of Central Celebes women have two front upper teeth knocked
out at puberty and the lower teeth filed away to the gums. The
reason alleged for the practice is that a woman once bit her
husband so severely that he died.^ The wide prevalence of the
custom of filing the teeth and the comparative absence of the
custom of breaking them out in the Indian Archipelago favour the
view that the former is a mitigation of the latter, the barbarous old
practice of removing certain teeth altogether having been softened
into one of removing only a portion of each.^
The
practice of filing the teeth is found also in some tribes of Custom of
the
Indo-China. Thus among the Phnongs, on the left bank of the
Mekong River in Cambodia, when children are thirteen years of
age, the teeth of the upper jaw are cut down almost to the gums China,
and [they are kept short by filing or rubbing them from time
to time. No reasonable explanation of the custom is given by the
people.^ Similarly among the Khveks of French Cochin-China men
and women file their upper incisor teeth down to a level with the
gums and the men of Drai, a village of the Mois, also have their
teeth filed, which according to the Annamites is a sign of
cannibalism.® In China we hear of the Ta-ya Kih-lau, or “ the
Kih-lau which beat out their teeth.” “ These are found in Kien-si,

Tsing-ping, and Ping-yueh. Before the daughters are given in

marriage, two of their front teeth must be beaten out to prevent
damage to the husband’s family. This practice has secured to this
tribe its designation, as given above. This tribe is divided into
five clans, which do not intermarry.” " Among the aborigines of
northern Formosa “one of the most singular customs is that of
knocking out the eye tooth of all the children when they reach the

1 G. A. Wilken, “ Over de muti- Nederlandsch - Indie, xxxyii. (1888)

latie der tanden,” Bijdragen tot de p. 484.
Taal- Land- en Volkenkitnde van ^ J. Moura, le Royaiirne dii
Nederlandsch - Itidie, xxxvii. (1888) Cambodge (Paris, 1883), i. 416.
id. Handleiding voor de ® E. Aymonier, Notes sur le Laos
pp. 483 sq. ;

vergelijkende Volkenkiinde van Neder- (Saigon, 1885), p. 57.

landsch - Indie (Leyden, 1893), p. ® Humann, “ Excursion chez les
236. Moi's,” Cochinchine francaise, ex-
^
J. G. F. Riedel, “De Topantunuasu cursions et reconnaissances. No. 19
of oorspronkelijke Volksstammen van (Saigon, 1884), p. 36.
CentrasilSelehes,” Bijdragen totde Taal- “ Sketches of the Miau-tsze,”
Land- en Volkenkunde van Neder- translated by the Rev. E. C. Bridgman,
landsch - Indie, xxxv. (1886) pp. 92 Journal of the North China Branch of
sq. the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. No. 3
^ This is the opinion of Dr. Uhle, (December 1859), p. 283. These
quoted by G. A. Wilken, “ Over de “ Sketches” were written by a China-
mutilatie der tanden,” Bijdragen tot man who travelled in the province of
de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Kwei-chou.
 TOTEMISM AND EE OGAM V VOL. I

age of six or eight years, in the belief that it strengthens their speed
and wind in hunting.” ^

Custom of In Africa the custom of knocking out, chipping, or filing the

knocking
out, chip-
teeth is very common.^ Thus among the Herero or Damaras both
ping, or boys and girls about the age of puberty have the four lower incisor
filing the teeth knocked out and a wedge-shaped or triangular opening (like
teeth in
an inverted V) made in the upper row by chipping pieces off the
Africa.
two middle incisor teeth with a rough stone The people regard
this artificial deformity as a beauty ; no girl will attract a lover if she
has not undergone this painful mutilation. As to the meaning of
the custom the Herero themselves are uncertain.^ According to
one account the name for the operation (pruvara ruotniisisi) means
“fashioned after the likeness of the holy ancestral bull.”'* It is to
be observed that among the Herero all the males are also circum-
cised, the operation being performed on them between the ages of
six and ten, some years before their teeth are knocked out and
chipped.® All the Batoka tribes in the valley of the Zambesi
“ follow the curious custom of knocking out the upper front teeth
at the age of puberty. This is done by both sexes, and though the
under teeth, being relieved from the attrition of the upper, grow
long and somewhat bent out, and thereby cause the under lip to
protrude in a most unsightly way, no young woman thinks herself
accomplished until she has got rid of the upper incisors. . . .

When questioned respecting the origin of this practice, the Batoka

reply that their object is to be like oxen, and those who retain their
teeth they consider to resemble zebras. Whether this is the true
reason or not, it is difficult to say ; but it is noticeable that the
veneration for oxen which prevails in many tribes should here
be associated with hatred to the zebra, as among the Bakwains ;

that this operation is performed at the same age that circumcision is

in other tribes and that here that ceremony is unknown. The
;

custom is so universal that a person who has his teeth is considered

ugly. . Some of the Makololo give a more facetious explanation
. .

* E. C. Taintor, “ The Aborigines of {JovAon, 1838), ii. 163 ;

terior of Africa
Northern Formosa,” Journal of the C. J. Andersson, Lake Ngatni, Second
North China Branch of the Royal Edition (London, 1856), p. 226;
Asiatic Society, New Series, No. 9, James Chapman, Travels in the Interior
p. 65. of South Africa (London, 1868), ii.
2 As to the different forms of the 215; J. “Die Ovaherero,”
Hahn,
mutilation and their geographical dis- Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erd-
H. von Ihering,
tribution in Africa, see kunde zu Berlin, iv. (i869)p. 501 ; G.
“ Die klinstliche Deformirung der F ritsche. Die Eingeborenen Sitd-Af-ikas
Zahne,” Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, (Breslau, 1872), p. 235.
xiy. (1882) pp. 220-240.
* ‘ Zeichen oder gebildet nach
‘ dem
^ FI. Schinz, Deutsch - Sildwest heiligen Almenstier’’^ (J. Irle, Die
Afrika, pp. 169-171 J. Irle, Die
;
Herero, p. 105).
Herero (Gtitersloh, 1906), pp. 104 sq. ® J. Hahn, l.c. ;
H. Schinz, Deutsch-
Compare Sir James Edward Alexander, Siidwesl Afrika,
-
pp. 168 sq. \ J.
Expedition of Discovery into the In- Irle, Die Herero, pp. 102- 104.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 189

of the custom ;
they say that the wife of a chief having in a quarrel
bitten her husband’s hand, he, in revenge, ordered her front teeth
to be knocked out, and all the men in the tribe followed his example ;
but this does not explain why they afterwards knocked out their
own.” ^ The Babimpes, another tribe of South Africa, knock out
both upper and lower front teeth ; ^ the Mathlekas file their teeth
to stumps ^ and the Bashinje file them to points.^
]
The Banabya
“ in order
or Banyai file their middle front teeth to be like their
“ The Makalakas or Bashapatani file
cattle,” ® the upper front
teeth, like the Damaras, with a stone ; the Batongo knock out the
two upper front teeth with an axe. This rite is practised as
. . .

a sort of circumcision.” ® The Mashona file a wedge-shaped or

triangular opening (like an inverted V) between two front teeth.
The Maio, Baluba (or Bashilanga), and Kizuata-shito file their teeth ;
the Bakuba break out the two upper front teeth.®
Similar mutilations are practised widely in West Africa. Thus Mutilations
“the Mussurongo and Ambriz blacks knock out the two middle teeth

front teeth in the upper jaw on arriving at the age of puberty. The
Mushicongos are distinguished from them by having all their front
teeth, top and bottom, chipped into points.”® Among the Otando
people (a branch of the Ashira nation) the fashion of mutilating the
teeth varies. “Many file the two upper incisors in the shape of a
sharp cone, and the four lower ones are also filed to a sharp point.
Others file the four upper incisors to a point. A few among them
have the two upper incisors pulled out.” Among the Aponos both
men and women extract the two middle upper incisors and file the
rest, as well as the four lower, to points. The Ishogos and
Ashangos “ adopt the custom of taking out their two middle upper
incisors, and of filing the other incisors to a point ; but the Ashangos
do not adopt the custom of filing also the upper incisors. Some of the
women have the four upper incisors taken out.” Among the Apingi
both men and women file their teeth. Among the Songo negroes of
1 David Livingstone, Missio 7 iary ceedhigs of the Royal Geog>‘aphical
Travels and Researches in South Society, New Series, viii. (1886) p. 69.
Africa (London, 1857), pp. 532 sq. ® “ Silva Porto’s Journey from Bihe
With the latter explanation of the (Bie) to the Bakuba Country,” Proceed-
custom compare the explanation of it ings of the Royal Geographical Society,
given by some tribes of Celebes (above, New Series, ix. (1887) pp. 755, 756.
p. 187). ® Monteiro, Angola and the
J. J.
D. Livingstone, op. cit. p. 263.
2
River Co 7 tgo (London, 1875), i- 262 sq.
Arbousset et Daumas, Relation
2

d'un voyage d' exploration (Paris,

P. B. Du Chaillu, A Jour7 iey to
Asho 7 igo-la 77 d (London, 1867), p. 210.
1842), p. 357.
^ D. Livingstone, op. cit. p. 442. P. B. Du Chaillu, op. cit. p. 255.
^
J.
Chapman, Travels in the In- P. B. Du Chaillu, op. cit. p. 331.
terior of Sojith Africa, ii. 160 sq. Compare ibid. pp. 285 sq.

® J. Chapman, op. cit. ii. 215. P. B. Du Chaillu, Exploratio 7is

W. M. Kerr, “ Jo'uney from Cape
^ a 7id Adve 7 itures i/i Eq <ato
7 7 ial Africa

Town inland to Lake Nyassa,” Pro- (London, 1861), p. 442.

 90 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Loanda it is a common custom to file the upper incisor teeth to a

point.^ Kalunda women often file the upper incisor teeth so as to
round, not point, them and they break the two opposite teeth
;

quite out.- The Musulungus, who occupy the islands of the

Congo and a part of the north bank, “ have no tattoo, but they
pierce the nose septum and extract the two central and upper
incisors ;
the Muxi-Congoes or Lower Congoese chip or file out a
chevron in the near sides of the same teeth.” ^ Amongst the Bayaka
of Loango it is the universal custom to point the upper front teeth.'*
However, Loango the fashion of mutilating the teeth varies.
in
Some people knock them out, others file them either horizontally
or so as to leave a triangular gap ;
others again point them.^
Further, the custom of filing the teeth to a point is said to prevail
among all the negro tribes of the west coast of Africa from the
Casamance River in Senegambia to the Gaboon.*' Among the
Krumen and Grebus “ the two middle incisors of the upper jaw are
filed away, leaving an angular space.”
Mutilations Similar deformations of the teeth are practised by many tribes
of the teeth Thus among
of Central and Eastern Africa. the Bakuba, in the
in Central
and Eastern valley of the Kasai River, a southern tributary of the Congo, the
Africa. two upper front teeth are always knocked out at puberty.® Again,
with regard to the tribes about the southern half of Lake Tangan-
yika we are told that they chip the two upper front incisors, or all
of them, and extract the two centre front teeth in the lower jaw.*^
Again, some of the Wakhutu “have a practice exceptional in —
these latitudes —
of chipping their incisors to sharp points, which
imitate well enough the armature of the reptilia.” *** The Wadoe
1
P. Pogge, Im Reiche des Miiata Africa (London, 1825), p. 199; E.
Jamwo (Berlin, l88o), p. 36. Rechis, Nouvelle Geographic uni-
^ P. Pogge, op. cit. p. 98. verselle, xii. 380 ; W. Allen and T.
3
R. F. Burton, Two Trips to R. H. Thomson, Narrative of the
Gorilla Land (London, 1876), p. 89. Expedition to the River Niger in 1841
* Paul Giissfeldt, Die Loango- (London, 1848), ii. 297.
Expedition (Leipsic, 1879), p. 198. ^ W. Allen and T. R. H. Thomson,

® A. Bastian, Die deutsche Ex- op. cit. i. 125.

pedition an der Loango- ILiiste (Jena, * Wolf, “ Reisen in Central-
L.
1874), i. 185. Africa,” Verhandlungeii der Gesell-
® J. B. Berenger-Feraud, Les Peuples schaft fur Erdkiinde zu Berlin, xiv.
de la S^n^gambie {Vax\s, 1879), PP- 289, (1887) p. 84 H. Wissmann, L. Wolf,
;

297, 302 sq., 308. Compare S. M. C. von P'ran^ois, H. RlSN&x, Lm Inneren

X. Golberry, Fragments d un Voyage en Afrikas, die Erforschung des IGassai
Afrique (Paris, 1802), p. 406 (where it (Leipsic, 1885), p. 242.
is said that the teeth of the natives ® V. L. Cameron, “ Examination
near Sierra Leone are pointed “ like of the Southern Half of Lake Tangan-
those of a shark ”) T. Winterbottom,
;
yika,” Jou7-iial of the Royal Geographi-
An Account of the Native Africans in cal Society, xlv. (1875) p. 215.
the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone R. F. Burton, “ The Lake Regions
(London, 1803), pp. 104 sq. A. G. ;
of Central Equatorial Africa,” Journal
Laing, Travels in the Timannee, Koor- of the Royal Geographical Society,
anko, and Soolima Countries in Western xxix. (1859) p. 97.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 191

“ frequently chip away the two inner sides of the upper central
incisors, leaving a small chevron-shaped hole. This mutilation
however is practised almost throughout Intertropical Africa.” ^ The
Wasagara “chip the teeth to points like sharks.”- The Wahehe
chip the two upper incisors, and some men extract three or four of
the lower front teeth.^ Among the Wapare men and women have
the four upper incisors pointed “ like sharks,” and often the two
lower teeth are knocked out at puberty.'* The Makua of East
Africa have as a rule their front teeth filed to a point.® Of the
by Captains Speke and Grant on their famous journey,
tribes visited
it is
“ they generally wear down, with a bit of iron, the
said that
centre of their incisor teeth ; others, the N’geendo, for example,
convert all the incisors into eye-teeth shape, making them to
resemble the teeth of the crocodile.”® Among the Wanyamwezi a
triangular opening is made in the upper front teeth by chipping
away the edges of the two middle incisors ; the women extract two
of the lower front teeth. The former custom that of making a —
triangular opening in the middle of the upper front teeth is shared —
by many African peoples.'^ The A-Kamba sharpen to a point the
incisor teeth in the upper jaw and knock out the two middle
incisors from the lower jaw. The teeth are sharpened at the first
circumcision ceremony, and by the man who operates on that
occasion. If a child dies who has not had the middle incisor tooth
of the lower jaw knocked out, this tooth is removed after death,
else it is believed that some one will soon die in the village.® The
Nandi pull out the two middle incisor teeth in the lower jaw, and a
chief or medicine-man has in addition one of the upper incisors
removed. Besides the extraction of teeth the Nandi practise
circumcision both on men and women.® Almost all Masai men
and most Masai women knock out the two middle incisor teeth of
the lower jaw, a custom which is also very common among the

* R. F. Burton, “ The Lake Regions London, New Series, iii. (1865) pp.
of Central Equatorial Africa,” yisrrrwa/ 88 sq.
of the Royal Geographical Society, ^ E. Reclus, Nouvelle Glographie
xxix. (1859) p. 99. universelle, 218; F. Stuhlmann,
xiii.

^ R. F. Burton, op. cit. p. 131. Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika
(Berlin, 1894), p. 84 R. A. Ashe,
^ R. F. Burton, <7/. cit. p. 138.
;

Two Kings of Uganda (London, 1889),

O. Baumann, Usambara (Berlin,
p. 287 ; J. Becker, La Vie en Afriqtie
1891), p. 222. (Paris and Brussels, 1887), pp. 187,
® H. E. O’Neill, “Journey in the 259-
Makua and Lomwe Countries,” Pro- ® C. W. Hobley, The Ethnology oj
ceedings of the R. Geographical Society, the A-Ka?nba, pp. 17 sq., 67 (un-
New Series, iv. {1882) p. 197. published).
Capt. Grant, “On the Native
® ® Sir Harry Johnston, The Uganda
Tribes visited by Captains Speke and Protectorate (London, 1904), ii. 864,
Grant in Equatorial Africa,” Trans- 868 ; C. W. Hohley, Eastern Uganda,
actions of the Ethnological Society of (London, 1902), pp. 38, 39.
 192 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Nilotic tribes. The Masai

also circumcise both men and women
Mutilations about puberty.^ In British East Africa the Awa-Wanga draw the
teeth of the lower jaw ; the Ketosh extract two or
in
andCentral l^hree, the Ithako and Isukha only one. Were a man’s teeth not
Africa. drawn, it is believed that he would certainly be killed in war and ;

if his wife’s teeth were not drawn, he would also be slain in battle.

People laugh at a man who keeps all his teeth they say he is like ;

a donkey.^ The Ja-luo, a Nilotic people of Kavirondo, who do not

practise circumcision, draw the six middle teeth of the lower jaw.
If a man has not these teeth drawn, it is said that his wife will die
soon after marriage.^ Similarly the Bantu Kavirondo, who also do
not practise circumcision, “ usually pull out the two middle incisor
teeth in the lower jaw. Both the men and women do this. It is
thought that if a man retains all his lower incisor teeth he will be
killed in warfare, and that if his wife has failed to pull out her teeth
it might cause her husband to perish.”^ The Basoga also extract
two of the lower front teeth.® The Banyoro pull out the four lower
incisors ; “ this is a practice learnt, no doubt, from the neighbouring
Nilotic tribes. As individuals of both sexes grow old, their upper
incisor teeth, having no opposition, grow long and project from the
gum in a slanting manner, which gives the mouth an ugly hippo-
potamine appearance. The Banyoro do not circumcise.” The
males of all the Congo pygmies seen by Sir Harry Johnston were
circumcised, “ and all in both sexes had their upper incisor teeth
and canines sharpened to a point, after the fashion of the Babira
and Upper Congo tribes.”^ Among the Lur, to the west of the
Albert Nyanza Lake, the four lower incisors are extracted, or rather
pushed out, at the age of puberty.® The Latuka also remove the four
lower incisors.® The Monbutto, in the upper valley of the Congo, file
the upper middle incisors so as to present a vacant triangular space
in the row of teeth but “ they neither break out their lower
incisor teeth, like the black nations on the northern river plains, nor
do they file them to points, like the Niam-niam.” They practise
circumcision. Among the tribal marks of the Agar and Atwot is

' Harry Johnston, TAe Uganda

Sir Sir Harry Johnston, op. cit. ii.
Protectorate (London, 1904), ii. 803, 581. Compare Emin Pasha in Central
804 A. C. Hollis,
;
The Masai Africa, being a Collection of his Letters
(Oxford, 1905), pp. 261 sq., 296 sq., and Journals (London, 1888), pp. 61,
299, 313- 194.
C. W. Hobley, Eastern Uganda, ^ Sir Harry Johnston, op. cit. ii.

(London, 1902), p. 20. 538.

^ C. W. Hobley, op. cit. p. 31 ; ® Emin Pasha itt Central Africa,
compare Sir Harry Johnston, op. cit. being a Collection of his Letters and
ii. 783. Journals, p. 154.
Sir Harry Johnston, op. cit. ii.
* ® Ibid. p. 237.
728; L. Decle, Three Years in Savage Ibid. p. 212.
Africa, p. 464. G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of
® L. Decle, l.c. Africa (London, 1878), ii. 53.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 193

the removal of the four lower incisor teeth and the two canines.^
The Niam-niam “ fall in with the custom, common to the whole of
Central Africa, of filing the incisor teeth to a point, for the purpose
of effectually gripping the arm of an adversary either in wrestling or
in single combat.” ^ Among the Upotos of the middle Congo
the practice of filing the teeth is general. Men as a rule file
only the teeth of the upper jaw, but women file the teeth of the
lower jaw as well.^ Among the Dinkas of the Upper Nile “ both
sexes break off the lower incisor teeth, a custom which they
practise in common with the majority of the natives of the district
of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The object of this hideous mutilation is
hard to determine ; its effect appears in their inarticulate language.” *
The Nuehr, a tribe of the same region, akin to the Dinkas, similarly
knock out the two front teeth of the lower jaw as soon as they
appear in both sexes. The mutilation affects many sounds in the
language, giving them a peculiar intonation' which it is hard to
imitate.^ In the Madi or Moru tribe the upper and lower incisor
teeth are extracted from both sexes at puberty.® The Bendeh, a
pagan tribe of the Soudan, file all their teeth, except the molars,
into a round shape.’^ The Somrai and Gaberi, of the eastern
French Soudan, remove an upper and a lower incisor tooth ; the
Sara, of the same region, remove two of each. ®
In contrast to the natives of Africa, among whom the custom Custom of
of removing or mutilating the teeth is widely spread, almost all the ^"ocking
TJ. ^ .R f. .° -i ,,
Indian tribes of America appear to have wisely refrained from America,
out teethr-jr 111

maiming and mutilating themselves in this absurd fashion. How-

ever, the natives of the province of Huancavelica in Peru pulled
out two or three teeth both in the upper and in the lower jaw of
all their children, as soon as the second set of teeth had made its

appearance. According to tradition the custom was instituted by

an Inca as a punishment for the treason of a Huancavelica chief,®
but the story was probably invented to explain the origin of a

f
Emin Pasha in Central Africa, ^ Travels of an Arab Merchaict
pp. 238 sq. [Mohammed Ibn-Omar El Tounsy] in
2 G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Soudan (London, 1854), p. 224.
Africa, i. 276. ® G. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan,
^ M. Lindeman,Zw6^(?/^jj (Brussels,
ii. 683.
1906), p. 21.
G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of ® Garcilasso de la Vega, Eirst Part

Africa, 50; compare id. pp. 135 of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas,
sq. translated by Clements R. Markham
® E. Marno, Reisen hn Gebiete des (London, 1869-1871), ii. 426 sq. ;
Blauen und Weissm Nil (Vienna, Cieza de Leon, Travels, translated by
1874). P- 345- Clements R. Markham (London, 1864),
® R. W. Felkin, “ Notes on the pp. 177, 181. The number of teeth
Madi or Moru Tribe of Central Africa,” extracted in each jaw was two accord-
Proceedings of the Royal Society of ing to Garcilasso de la Vega, but three
Edinburgh, xii. (1882-1884) p. 315- according to Cieza de Leon.
VOL. IV O
 194 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

practice of which the real meaning had been forgotten. Some

Indians of Central America used to knock out a front tooth of
every captive whom they took in war.^ This they may have done
either to mark him or perhaps to have in their possession a piece
of his person, by means of which they imagined they could control
him on the principle of sympathetic magic.
The From the foregoing survey we may gather that, though some
custom of tribes
of South Africa are said to draw their teeth in order to
te™h7s"not resemble the cattle which they revere,^ yet there is no sufficient
an imita- ground for holding that the custom of extracting or mutilating the
tion of the
teeth is an attempt to imitate the totemic animal, or indeed that it
probably ^*^7 direct connection with totemism. If we ask what is the
it is based real Origin of a practice, which can hardly have helped and must
on some often have hindered its practitioners in their hard struggle for
superstition existence,
we may safely dismiss as insufficient the answer that
as to it was simply designed to adorn and beautify the face.^ That it is
puberty regarded as an ornament by the people who disfigure themselves
do not"'^ in this way is certain, but this is only an instance of a taste which
understand, has been perverted by long habit. With far greater probability we
may suppose that this curious form of self-mutilation, whether it is

practised as a rite of initiation at puberty or as a rite of mourning

after a death, is based on some deep-seated superstition, but what

the exact nature of the superstition may be remains obscure. The

late eminent Dutch ethnologist G. A. Wilken suggested somewhat
vaguely that the extraction of teeth at puberty is a sacrifice ^ but ;

why or to whom the sacrifice was offered he did not attempt to

determine. I have conjectured that the practice may perhaps have
been intended to facilitate the reincarnation either of the patient
himself or of some one else at a future time ; but I admit that the
conjecture seems far-fetched and improbable. We might be able
to understand the custom, as well as the kindred custom of cir-
cumcision and other mutilations of the genital organs, if only we
knew how primitive man explained to himself the mysterious
phenomena of puberty ; but that is one of the many unsolved
problems of anthropology.
In connection with the practice of extracting or mutilating the
teeth at puberty may be mentioned the widespread African custom
of putting all children to death who cut their upper teeth before the

1
H. H. Bancroft, The Native Races ing themselves to these animals.
of the Pacific States, i. 764. ^ This was the view of H. von
^ See above, pp. 188, 189. Ob- Ihering (“Die kunstliche Deformirung
servers have noted the resemblance of der Zahne,” Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic,
pointed human teeth to the teeth of xiv. (1882) pp. 217 sq.).
sharks or crocodiles. See above, pp. 190, ^
G. A. Wilken, “ Over de mutilatie
191. But it is not said that the natives der tanden,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-
have adopted the custom of pointing Laftd- en Volkenktmde van Neder-
their teeth for the purpose of assimilat- landsch- Indie, xxxvii. (1888) p. 17.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 195

lower, because it is believed that such children will be wicked and African

will bring misfortune on all about them. The custom is particularly custom of
common among the tribes of Eastern Africa. For example, we are death^
told that “ the kigogo, or child who cuts the two upper incisors children
before the lower, is either put to death or he is given away or sold
to the slave-merchant, under the impression that he will bring teeth before
disease, calamity, and death into the household. The Wasawahili the lower,
and the Zanzibar Arabs have the same superstition the former ;

kill the child ; the latter, after a khitmah, or prelection of the Koran,

make it swear, by nodding its head, unable to articulate, that it

will not injure those about him.” ^ Among the Banyoro “ the
cutting of children’s upper incisors before the lower appears to be
feared as bringing misfortune, and when it occurs, the mbmidua
(magician) is at once summoned to perform certain dances for the
protection of the child, and is rewarded by a goat.”^ But in most
tribes the unlucky children were put to death. Among the
Wajagga of Mount Kilimandjaro, in East Africa, a child who cuts
his upper teeth first is generally put to death. If it is exception-
ally allowed to live, the parents take great care to conceal the
misfortune, for the popular belief is that such a child W'ill after-
wards murder his or her spouse, or that the spouse will die soon
after marriage. It is a lifelong disgrace to any man or woman to
have cut the upper teeth before the lower. If he is a man, he
will get no girl to marry him except such a one as is despised and
rejected by everybody else ; if she is a woman, nobody but an ugly
old man will take her to wife.^
P. 27. The hone . . . which some Australian tribes thrust

R. F. Burton, “ The Lake Regions

' logie, und Urgeschichte, 1877, P- ( 78 )
of Central Equatorial Journal {Zeitschrift fiir Etlmologie, ix. ) ; D.
of the R. Geographical Society, xxix. Livingstone, Missionary Travels and
(1859) pp. 91 sq. See further C. Researches in South Africa (London,
Vel ten, Sitten und Gebrduche der Suaheli 1857), p. 577 ; J- B. Labat, Relation
(Gottingen, 1903), p. 24 ; J. M. Hilde- Historique de 1 Ethiopie Occidentale
'

brandt, “ Ethnographische Notizen (Paris, 1732), ii. 115 ; R. Clarke,

iiber Wakamba und ihre Nachbarn,” “The Inhabitants of Sierra Leone,”
Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, x.
{1878) Transactions of the Ethnological Society
P- O- Baumann, Usambara und
395 > of London, New Series, ii. (1863) p.
seine Nachbargebiete (Berlin, 1891), pp. 333 J- F- Schon and S. Crowther,
;

43, 131, 237 A. Widenmann, “Die

;
Journals (London, 1842), p. 50; W.
Kilimandscharo - Bevdlkerung,” Peter- Allen and T. R. H. Thomson,
manns Mitteiliingen, Ergdnzungsheft, Narrative of the Expedition to the
No. 129 (Gotha, 1899), p. 90; Ch. River Niger in 1841 (London, 1848),
Delhaise, Notes Ethnographiqiies sur i. 243 sq.
quelques Petiplades du Tanganika ^ Emin Pasha in Central Africa,

(Brussels, 1905), pp. 33 sq.-. Sir H. being a Collection of his Letters and
li. Johnston, British Central Africa Journals, p. 94.
(London, 1897), pp. 416 sq. H. ;
® M. Merker, “ Rechtsverhaltnisse
Griitzner, “ Ueber die Gebr'auche der und Sitten der Wadschagga,” Peter-
Basutho,” Verhajidhmgen der Berliner manns Mitteilungen, Ergdnzungsheft
Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, Ethno- No. 138 (Gotha, 1902), p. 13.
 196 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Thecustom tliTOUgli their nose, etc. —

There is nothing to shew that this
a^bone'^or^
custom is connected with totemism, in particular that it is an
stick imitation of the totemic animal. Like the custom of knocking out
through the teeth, the practice of wearing a bone or stick thrust through the
nose probably originated in superstition and not in a mere desire
totemic. to beautify the person. In the Arunta and Ilpirra tribes of Central
Australia, when a boy’s nose has been bored, he strips a piece of
bark from a gum tree and throws it as far as he can in the direction
where his mother, or rather the spirit of which his mother is a
reincarnation, used to encamp in the far-off dream times (akheringd)}
Similarly, as we saw,^ he throws his extracted tooth in the same
direction, which seems to shew that to the minds of the natives
there is some similarity or connecting link between the customs of
tooth-extraction and nose-boring. In the same tribes, when a girl’s
nose has been bored, which is commonly done by her husband
soon after she comes into his possession, she fills a small wooden
vessel full of sand and facing towards the quarter where her mother’s
spirit camped in the alcheringa days, she executes a series of short
jumps, keeping her feet close together and her legs stiff, while she
moves the sand in the vessel about as if she were winnowing seed.
Neglect to perform this curious ceremony would, it is said, be
regarded as a grave offence against her mother.® In the Warra-
munga tribe every medicine-man wears a structure called kupitja
thrust through his nose ; it is not only an emblem of his profession
but is associated in some mysterious way with his magical powers.^
In the Pacific island of Yap, one of the Caroline group, all who
die before their noses are pierced have the operation performed on
their dead bodies in order, as the natives say, that they may be
able to find the right house in heaven.® This shews that the
custom is supposed in some way to have a direct bearing on the
life after death, though perhaps only in so far as a person not so

marked might be regarded as imperfect and therefore as not

entitled to a good place in the other world. It deserves to be
observed that most of the bodily mutilations which savages volun-
tarily inflict on themselves, such as piercing the nose, the lips, and
the ears, the practice of circumcision, subincision, and so forth, are
concerned with the natural openings of the body, and may therefore
perhaps have been designed to guard against the intrusion of
dangerous objects, whether material or spiritual, which might
insinuate themselves through these passages into the person. One
1
Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes Tribes of Central Australia, p. 484.
of Central Australia, p. 459 ; id.. The structure seems to be a little

Northern Tribes of Central Australia, cylindrical mass of tightly-wound fur-

p. 615. string.
2 See above, p. 183. ® A. Senfft, “ Die Rechtssitten der

® Spencer and Gillen, ll.cc. Jap-Eingeborenen,” Globus, xci. (1907),

^ Spencer and Gillen, Northern P- 143 -
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 197

of these natural openings is the navel, and though mutilations of Mutilation

that part of the body seem to be rare, they are not unknown. Thus
the Rendilis, anomadic tribe of Samburu-land in Eastern Equatorial
Africa, “are circumcised in the Mohammedan manner, and, in
addition, they are mutilated in a most extraordinary fashion by
having their navels cut out, leaving a deep hole. They are the
only tribe mutilated in this manner with the exception of the Marie,
who inhabit the district north of ‘Basso Ebor (Lake Stephanie), ’

and who are probably an offshoot of the Rendili.” ^

P. 28. Tribes distinguished by their tattoo marks.
. . . The Tattooing —
practice of having tribalmarks tattooed or incised on the body is
very common, especially in Africa, but there is usually no reason
to regard such marks as imitations of totems ; for the mark is the
same for all members of a tribe, whereas the totemic clans are
always subdivisions of a tribe, so that marks borne by all the tribes-
people indiscriminately cannot be totemic. In Africa the tribal
mark usually consists of a number of cuts arranged in a particular
pattern most commonly on the face, but also on other parts of the
body. For example, the Dahomans mark themselves with a
perpendicular cut between the eyebrows ; the Whydahs cut both
cheeks so as to give them the appearance of being pitted with the
small-pox ; and “ the inhabitants of the neighbouring states are
likewise known by the scarifications on their bodies, every country
making use of this custom in their own manner. The Ardrahs
make an incision in each cheek, turning up a part of the flesh
towards the ears, and healing it in that position. The Mabees are
distinguished by three long oblique cuts on one cheek and a cross
on the other.” ^ “The scaring or tattoos, which are common to all
Negro nations in these latitudes, and by which their country is
instantly known, are, in Bornou, particularly unbecoming. The
Bornouese have twenty cuts or lines on each side of the face, which
are drawn from the corners of the mouth towards the angles of the
lower jaw and the cheek-bone ; and it is quite distressing to witness
the torture the poor little children undergo who are thus marked,
enduring not only the heat, but the attacks of millions of flies.
They have also one cut on the forehead in the centre, six on each
arm, six on each leg and thigh, four on each breast, and nine on
each side, just above the hips.”^
1 A. Arkell-Hardwick, An Ivory in Africa, see“Dr. Livingstone’s Ex-
Trader in North Kenia (London, pedition to Lake Journal of
1903), p. 228. the Royal Geographical Society, xxxiii.
2 Archibald History of
Dalzel, (1863) p. 256; V. L. Cameron,
Dahomy (London, 1793), p. xviii. “ Examination of the Southern Half of
^ Denham and Clapperton, Travels Lake Tanganyika,” ibid. xlv. (1875)
and Discoveries in Northern and Cen- p. 215; Keith Johnston, “Notes of
tral Africa (London, 1831), iii. 175. a Trip from Zanzibar to Usambara,”
For more examples of such tribal marks Proceedings of the R. Geographical
198 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

P. 29. These Australian tribal badges are sometimes represen-

tations of the totem. —
This is inexact. What is affirmed by the
Society, New Series,
(1879) p. 556 ;
i. pp. 60 sq., 237, 338, 342, 346; A.
Joseph Thoinson, “ Notes on the Basin B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking Peoples of
of the River Rovuma, East Africa,” the Gold Coast, pp. 289 sq. G. A. ;

ibid. N.S. iv. (1882) pp. 74, 79 ; Lethbridge Banbury, Sierra Leone
H. E. O’Neill, “Journey in the (London, 1888), p. 199 E. Reclus,
;

Makua and Lomwe Countries,” ibid. Nouvelle Gdographie Universelle, xi.

p. 196; W. M. Kerr, “Journey from 813 sq., xii. 380, 384, 396, 721 ; T.
Cape Town overland to Lake Nyassa,” Winterbottom, An Account of the
ibid. N.S. viii. (1886) p. 72; C. T. Native Africans hi the Neighbourhood
Wilson and R. W. Felkin, Ugatida of Sierra Leone (London, 1803), pp.
and the Egyptian Soudan, ii. 122 J. ;
105-107 J. Matthews, A Voyage to
;

Becker, La Vie en Afrique (Paris and Sierra Leone (London, 1791), pp. no
Brussels, 1887), ii. 187, 305 ; A. sq. ;
R. F. Burton, Two Trips to
Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an Goi'illa Land (London, 1876), ii. 234 ;

der Loango-Kiiste, i. 313 jy., 317, 318, G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of Africa
319, 323 T. J. Hutchinson, Ijnpres-
;
(Edinburgh, 1878), i. 50, 276; Sir
sions of Western Africa (London, H. H. Johnston, British Central
1858), p. 187 J. Adams, Sketches
;
Africa, p. 423. Similar evidence
taken during Ten Voyages in Africa, might easily be multiplied. The fullest
pp. 6, 9, 16, 24, 33, 42 W. Allen and
;
description of tribal tattoo marks in
T. R. H. Thomson, Natn-ative of the Africa which I have met with is given
Expedition to the Rwer Niger in 184.1 by II. Hale from his observations of
(London, 1848), i. 124 sq., 242, 345; negro slaves in Brazil. See Ch. Wilkes,
J. A. Grant, A
IVa/k across Africa Narrative of the United States Ex-
(Edinburgh and London, 1864), p. ploring Expedition, New Edition (New
174; G. Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan, York, 1851), i. 54-64. Among
ii. (Berlin, 1879) pp. 142, 178, 622, the Maoris, according to one account,
683; H. H. Johnston, “ On the Races each tribe was distinguished by its
of the Cosigo, " founial of the Anthro- tattoo marks. See W. Ellis, Poly-
pological Jttsiitufe, xiii. (1884) p. 474 ; nesian Researches, Second Edition,
Herbert Ward, Five Years with the iii.
354 sqq. W. Brown, Neiv Zealatid
;

Cotigo Cantiibals (London, 1890), p. and its Aborigines (London, 1845), p.

136 Ch. Delhaise, Notes Ethno-
; 31. However, other good authorities
graphiques sur quelques Peuplades du deny that the Maori tattoo marks
Tanganika (Brussels, 1905), p. 27 ; denote the tribe to which the person
E. Delmar Morgan, Journal of the belongs. See E. Dieffenbach, Travels
Anthropological Institute, xvii. (1888) in New Zealand (London, 1843), ii.
p. 235, speaking of the Congo tribes 43 ;
E. Shortland, The Southern Dis-
says, “ The tattoo marks of the Bab- tricts of New Zealand (London, 1851),
wendes form a lozenge shape on the pp. id sq. “The Caroline Islanders
forehead, those of the Batekes are tattoo themselves not out of motives
arranged in lines on both cheeks and of decency, nor altogether for orna-
on the breast. It has been remarked ment, but as a means of distinguishing
by a recent writer (Dr. Chavanne) their families and clans, and of retain-
that tattooing is regarded by the natives ing the memory of persons, objects,
as a protection against their fetish or and events” (United States Exploring
evil spirit ” ; R. Clarke, “ The Inhabit- Expedition, Ethnology and Philology,
ants of Sierra Leone,” Tra7isactio7is by Horatio Hale (Philadelphia, 1846),
of the Ethnological Society of London, p. 76). The Shans and Karens of
New Series, ii. (1863) p. 355 T. V. ;
Burma have their distinctive tribal
Robins, “ Notes and Sketches on the marks produced by tattooing. See
Niger,” ibid. v. (1867) p. 86 ; Efriin Capt. C. J. F. S. Forbes, Bn'tish
Pasha in Cetttral Africa, being a Burma (London, 1878), p. 238.
Collectiosi of his Letters a7td Journals,
 , ;

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 199

authority (Mr. Chatfield) is only that “ the raised cicatrices on the The body
bodies of the natives are the blazon of their respective classes or
totems.” But the blazon of a totem (by which the writer probably aborigines
means a totemic clan) need not be a representation of the totem, are said by

Moreover, Mr. Chatfield’s statement has not been confirmed by

^
trustworthy authorities and its accuracy is doubted.^ The Central
and North Central tribes investigated by Messrs. Spencer and but this is
Gillen are in the habit of making many scars on their bodies by denied by

cutting the skin with flint or glass and then rubbing ashes or the
down of an eagle-hawk into the wounds. Sometimes the scars
stretch right across the chest or abdomen. As a rule they are
longer and more numerous on men than on women. But at the
present day their form and arrangement have no special meaning j

they indicate neither the tribe nor the class nor the totem. The
natives regard them as purely decorative, and Messrs. Spencer and
Gillen could find no evidence in thecustoms and traditions of the
tribes that these cicatrices ever had a deeper meaning. Indeed the
enquirers confess that they are very sceptical as to the supposed
symbolism of these marks in any part of Australia.^ In the tribes
of North-West Central Queensland the bodies of both men and
women are scarred with transverse cuts across the trunk from the
level of the nipples to the navel, and with a few on the shoulders
some tribes add scars on the back. These marks are optional, not
compulsory, and the custom of making them is dying out in this
part of Australia. Like Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, Mr. Roth
could discover no pictorial or hidden signification attached to
the marks.^ However, the explorer E. J. Eyre affirmed that
“ there are many varieties in the form, number, or arrangement of
the scars, distinguishing the different tribes, so that one stranger
meeting with another anywhere in the woods, can at once tell, from
the manner in which he is tattooed, the country and tribe to which
he belongs, if not very remote.”^ Again, he observes that “each
tribe has a distinctive mode of making their incisions. Some have
scars running completely across the chest, from one axillar to the
other, whilst others have merely dotted lines some have circles
;

and semicircles formed on the apex of the shoulder, others small

dots only.”® Another writer, speaking of the Australian aborigines
in general, says :
“ They also tattoo, which is a most painful opera-
tion. In some tribes the whole back and part of the chest are
covered, and the women are also tattooed, but not to the same

* Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and 3 W. E. Roth, Ethnological Studies

Kurnai, p. 66, note * E. M. Curr,

;
among the North- West- Central Queens-
The Australiati Race, ii. 468, 475. land Aborigines, pp. 114 sq.
^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes '•
E. J. 'E.yxe., Journals of Expeditions
of Central Australia, pp. 4 1 -43
;
id
. of Discovery into Central Australia,
Northern Ty-ibes of Central Australia, (London, 1845), ii. 333.
® E.
PP- 54-56. J. Eyre, op. cit. ii. 335.
 200 rOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

extent. Among others, the men only have a single row, high up
on the back. The operation is always performed by a man, and
consists in making a number of broad and deep gashes in the
flesh those on the men are generally about an inch and a half in
;

length. It is astonishing how stoically this horrible operation is

borne. once saw a young
I man undergoing
the operation,
and he bore it with the greatest although his back was
fortitude,
literally cut to pieces. By some process, with which I am not
acquainted, the cut, when healed, protrudes half an inch from the
skin, forming large lumps, which are considered a great orna-
ment.” 1
In some Although in some tribes these elaborate body-marks are now
Australian
regarded as purely ornamental, it is difficult to suppose that they
tribes the
cutting of have always been so. It seems more likely that the decorative
the scars effect of the scars was an after-thought, and that in submitting to
is an
the severe pain of being hacked and gashed in this cruel fashion the
initiatory
ceremony savage was originally impelled by some more powerful motive than
performed the wish to improve his personal appearance. This suspicion is
on young
confirmed by observing that in some tribes the cutting of the
men about
puberty. gashes forms an important part of the initiatory ceremonies through
which every lad must pass before he ranks as a full-grown man, and
that in these tribes a sort of mystic importance appears to be
attached to the scars in relation to women. Thus in the Port
Lincoln tribes of South Australia the last and most important of the
initiatory rites consisted in giving the novice a new name and
carving the marks on his back. This part of the ceremony has
“ Everything being prepared,
been described as follows : several
men open veins in their lower arms, while the young men are
raised to swallow the first drops of the blood. They are then
directed to kneel on their hands and knees, so as to give a
horizontal position to their backs, which are covered all over with
blood as soon as this is sufficiently coagulated, one person marks
:

with his thumb the places in the blood where the incisions are to
be made, namely, one in the middle of the neck, and two rows
from the shoulders down to the hips, at intervals of about a third
of an inch between each cut. These are named Manka, and are
ever after held in such veneration, that it would be deemed a great
profanation to allude to them in the presence of women. Each
incision requires several cuts with the blunt chips of quartz to
make them deep enough, and is then carefully drawn apart ; yet
the poor fellows do not shrink, or utter a sound ; but I have seen
their friends so overcome by sympathy with their pain, that they
made attempts to stop the cruel proceedings, which was of course
not allowed by the other men. During the cutting, which is
performed with astonishing expedition, as many of the men as can
' A. A. C. Le Souef, in R. Brough Smyth’s Aborigines of Victoria, ii. 296.
 —

VOl.. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 201

find room crowd around the youths, repeating in a subdued tone,

but very rapidly, the following formula :

“ Kaiiwaka kanya marra marra

Kaj'ndo kanya marra marra
Pilbirri ka?tya marra marra.

“This incantation, which is derived from their ancestors, is

apparently void of any coherent sense ; the object of its repetition,
however, is to alleviate the pain of the young men, and to prevent
dangerous consequences from the dreadful lacerations.” ^ It
should be observed that these tribes practise circumcision as the
second initiatory rite to which all youths must be subjected in
their progress to manhood ;
yet even circumcision is deemed of
less importance than the cutting of these cruel gashes in the bodies
of the young men.^
Again, among the Dieri the initiatory rite of making the cuts in Died
the backs of the novices was subsequent to the rite of circumcision ceremony
and presumably was deemed not less important, though in this °he'^backs
tribe the young men received their new names at circumcision, not of novices
at the cutting of the gashes. “ The next ceremony, following
circumcision,” says Mr. S. Gason, “ is that now to be described, cision.
A young man, without previous warning, is taken out of the camp
by the old men, whereon the women set up crying, and so continue
for almost half the night. On the succeeding morning at sunrise,
the men (young and old), excepting his father and elder brothers,
surround him, directing him to close his eyes. One of the old men
then binds another old man round his arm, near the shoulder, with
string, pretty tightly, and with a sharp piece of flint lances the main
artery of the arm, about an inch above the elbow, causing an
instant flow of blood, which is permitted to play on the young man
until his whole frame is covered with blood. As soon as the old
man becomes exhausted from loss of blood, another is operated on,
and so on two or three others in succession, until the young man
becomes quite stiff and sore from the great quantity of blood
adhering to his person. The next stage in the ceremony is much
worse for the young man. He is told to lie with his face down,
when one or two young men cut him on the neck and shoulders
with a sharp flint, about a sixteenth of an inch in depth, in from
six to twelve places, which incisions create scars, which until death
show that he has gone through the Willyarool’’ ^ A Dieri man
1
C. W. Schurmann, “ The Abori- subincision, “though without any par-
ginal Tribes of Port Lincoln,” Native ticular ceremony ” (C. W. Schiirmann,
Tribes of South Atistralia, pp. 232 sq. op. cit. p. 231).
Compare A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes ® S. Gason, “The Manners and
of South-East Australia, pp. 669 sq. Customs of Dieyerie Tribe of
the
^ C. W. Schiirmann, op. cit.
pp. Australian Aborigines,” Native Tribes
228-231. These tribes also practise of Sotith Australia, p. 270. Compare
 —

202 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

points with pride to these scars. Until they are healed, he may
not turn his face to a woman nor eat in her presence.^
It seems likely that in many other tribes the raising of these
scars or cicatrices on the body similarly formed at one time or
another a of initiation which was practised on young men at
rite
puberty, either alone or in addition to other bodily mutilations,
such as circumcision, subincision, and the extraction of teeth.
Probably the ultimate explanation of all these worse than needless
tortures, which savages inflict on each other and submit to with a
misplaced heroism, is to be sought in the same direction, namely,
in the ideas which primitive man has formed of the nature of
puberty. But, as I have already repeatedly pointed out, these
ideas remain for us civilised men very obscure.

Custom of
tattooing
P. 29. The women alone tattoo. — In some parts of New Guinea
women
women are tattooed on many parts of their bodies, but the men
but , ,, 1 1 i, • 1 1

not men. scarcely or not at lubetube, a small island

all tattooed. In
off the south-eastern extremity of New Guinea, “of old no male
was tattooed except for sickness. Women, on the other hand, were
always tattooed profusely, and the reason given for this is that it
makes the girl look nice and accentuates her good skin. A girl’s
face would be tattooed some time before puberty but usually after
her nose had been pierced, the scalp and neck apparently not being
touched. Nothing more is done until the girl reaches puberty,
when the chest, belly, flanks, arms and hands are tattooed
after the first catamenia ceases.”® Among the natives of the
Admiralty Islands tattooing is almost entirely confined to the
women, with whom it is universal. They “ are tattooed with rings
round the eyes and all over the face, and in diagonal lines over the
upper part of the front of the body, the lines crossing one another
so as to form a series of lozenge-shaped spaces.” ^ Amongst the

A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South- Guinea,” Jotmtal of the Anthropological

East Australia, pp. 658 sq. Institute, vi. (1877) P- no; W. Y.
A. W. Howitt, op. cit. p. 659.
1 Turner, “ On the Ethnology of the
2 O. Finsch, Neu-Gtiinea und seine Motu,” ibid. vii. (1878) p. 481 W. ;

Bewohner (Bremen, 1865), p. 139 ;

G. Lawes, “Ethnological Notes on
Moresby, in Journal of the R. Geo- the Motu, Koitapu and Koiari Tribes
graphical Society, xliv. (1874) pp. 7, of New Guinea,” ibid. p. 370 C. ;

1 2 ; Wyat Gill, ibid. p. 24 ;

Journal Hager, Kaiser Wilhelms-Land (Leip-
of the R. Geographical Society, xlv. sic, 71 d.)
.
p. 92 O. S. Stone, A
;

(1875) p. 167 O. C. Stone, “ Descrip-

; Few Months i}i New Gumea (London,
tion of the Country and Natives of Port 1880), pp. 78 sq. ; C. G. Seligmann,
Moresby and Neighbourhood, New The Mela7tesians of Biltish New
Guinea,” ibid. xlvi. (1876) pp. 58 Guinea (Cambridge, 1910), p. 73.
sq. ;
W.
G. Lawes, “Notes on New ^ C. G. Seligmann, The Mela7iesians

Guinea and its Inhabitants,” Proceed- of British New Gumea (Cambridge,

ings of the R. Geographical Society, 1910), p. 493.
1880, pp. 607, 614 Dr. Comrie, ;
* H. N. Moseley, “On the In-
“ Anthropological Notes on New habitants of the Admiralty Islands,”
 ^

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 203

natives of Siara (a district in the south ofNew Ireland) and the

neighbouring islands of John and Caens none but the married
St.

women are tattooed, and the operation is performed only by women.

Similarly in Fiji the women alone are tattooed and the marks for the
most part are imprinted on a broad band round the loins and
thighs, these being the parts of the body hidden by the liku, a
fringed waist-band which is worn short before marriage but is much
lengthened after the birth of the first child. However, young
Fijian women have barbed lines tattooed also on their hands and
fingers and middle-aged women have blue patches at the corners
;

of the mouth. The custom of tattooing is said to have been ordained

by the god Ndengei and its neglect is punished after death for in ;

the other world the ghost of an untattooed woman is chased by the

ghosts of tattooed women wdth sharp shells in their hands, as if to
do to her spirit what should have been done to her body in life.
So strong was this superstition in former days that when a girl died
before she was tattooed her friends would sometimes paint the blue
lines on her corpse in order to deceive the priest and escape the
anger of the gods. The operation of tattooing is performed only by
women.^ In some of the Chin tribes of Burma all the women have
their faces tattooed. The operation is begun in childhood and is
gradually completed, sometimes not for a good many years. The
pattern differs with the tribes. Men are not tattooed at all.

A Chin woman’s beauty is estimated by her tattooing. The origin

of the custom is still uncertain, but as it is followed only by the
tribes who border on or are near to the Burmese, it has been
suggested that the first intention was to protect the women from
being carried off, or to allow them to be easily discovered if they
had been stolen away.^ According to a Chinese writer, it is a custom
of the Li, the aborigines of the island of Hainan, that a woman’s face
should be tattooed just before marriage according to a pattern
prescribed by her husband, who has received it from his ancestors ;

not the least deviation from the traditional pattern is allowed, lest
the husband’s ancestors should not be able to recognise his wife
after death.^

Journal oftheAnthropoloncal Institute, Second Edition (London, i860), i.

vi. (1877) p. 401. 160; Ch. Wilkes, The United States
* R. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in Exploring Expedition, New Edition
der Sitdsee (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 304 (New York, 1851), hi. 355; The
sq. Compare A. J. Duffield, “On U iited
7 States Exploi-ing Expedition,
the Natives of New Ireland,” Jotirnal Ethnography arid Philology, by Horatio
op the Anthropological histitute, xv. Hale (Philadelphia, 1846), p. 63.
(1886) p. 1 17: “The tattooing and ^ (Sir)
J. George Scott and J. P.
cuttings on the flesh were entirely Hardiman, Gazetteer of Upper Burma
confined to women and the head men. and the Shan States, Part i. vol. i.

The tattooing is abundant at the (Rangoon, 1900), p. 466.

corners of the eyes and mouth.” '*
(Sir) J. G. Scott, Fi-ance aiid
^ T. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, Toughing (London, 1885), p. 348.
 204 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Aino Among women are tattooed but not the men.

the Ainos the
women The body thus marked are the lips, the lower arms, the
parts of the
tattooed,
but not back of the hands, and in some districts the forehead between the
the men. eyebrows. The tattooing of the upper lip gives an Aino woman the
appearance of wearing a moustache with the points turned up on
her cheeks. This ornamentation or disfigurement of the mouth is
begun and is added to from time to
early, often in a girl’s sixth year,
time but not completed till marriage. The tattooing of the hands and
arms is done at a single sitting, not before the fourteenth year of
the girl’s life. The operation is performed by old women.^ The
tattooing of an Aino woman’s lips is never finished till she has been
betrothed when it is complete, “ all men know that she is either a
;

betrothed or married woman.” If a woman marries without being

properly tattooed, she commits a great sin and when she dies she
will go straight to hell, where the demons will at once do all the
tattooing with very large knives at a single sitting." Mr. Batchelor
was told that the intention of the tattoo marks is to frighten away
the demon of disease, and that when an epidemic is raging in a
village, all the women should tattoo each other in order to repel the
foul fiend. Moreover, when the eyes of old women are growing
dim, they should improve their failing sight by tattooing their
mouths and hands over again.^
Women The custom of tattooing the women but not the men prevails
alone among a number of the wild tribes of Bengal and Assam. Thus,
tattooed in
some wild the faces of the Khyen
women “ are tattooed to a most disfiguring
tribes of extent, and they have a tradition that the practice was resorted to
Bengal and in order to conceal the natural beauty for which they are so renowned,
Assam.
that their maidens were carried off by the dominant race in lieu of
tribute. Figures of animals are sometimes imprinted on their flesh
as ornaments.”'^ The Juang women tattoo three strokes on the
forehead just over the nose and three on each of the temples.®
Among the Kharrias “ the women are all tattooed with the marks
on the forehead and temples common to so many of these tribes.”
The marks consist of three parallel lines on the forehead, and two
on each temple.® The Birhor women are tattooed on their chest,
arms, and ankles, but not on their faces.'^ “The Oraon women
1
B. Scheube, Die Ainos, p. 6. Journal of the Anthropological Institute,
Compare A. S.Bickmore, “ Some iii. (1874) pp. 237 jy. Rev. J. Batchelor,
;

Notes on the Ainos,” Transactions of The Ainu and their Folklore (London,
the Ethnological Society of London, 1901), pp. 20 sqq.
New Series, vii. (1869) p. 18; Com- Rev. J. Bachelor, op. cit. p. 24.
mander H. C. St. John, “ The Ainos,” ^ Rev. Batchelor, op. cit. p. 23.
J.
Journal of the Anthropological Institute, * E. T. Dalton, Desc 7 -iptive Ethno-
ii. 1 873) p. 249 id. Notes and Sketches
( ; ,
logy of Bengal, p. 1 1 4.
from the Wild Coasts of Nifon (Edin- ° E. T. Dalton op. cit. p. 157.
burgh, 1880), p. 22 H. von Siebold,
;

Studien iiber die Ainos {JierVm, 1881),

® E. T. Dalton, op. cit. p. 16 1.
p. 15; Lieut. Holland, “The Ainos,”
’
E. T. Dalton, op. cit. p. 219.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 205

are all tattooed in childhood with the three marks on the brow and

two on each temple that distinguish a majority of the Munda

females. . Girls when adult, or nearly so, have themselves further
. .

tattooed on the arms and back.” ^ Amongst the wild Naga tribes
of Assam the women are commonly tattooed on their legs, some-
times also on their faces, breasts, stomachs, and arms. In some of
these tribes the men tattoo themselves little or not at all ;
in others,
however, a man tattoos a mark on his body for every human head
which he has taken.^ Among in the extreme Chuckchee
the Chukchees,
north-east of Asia, women commonly
tattooed with a vertical
are
line on each side of the nose and with several vertical lines on the tattooed,
chin. Childless women tattoo on both cheeks three equidistant
lines running all the way around. This is considered to be a charm
against sterility. Chukchee men are not tattooed, except in the
Eskimo villages and the nearest Chukchee settlements, where a
great many of them have two small marks tattooed on both cheeks
near the mouth.®
Eskimo women are tattooed with lines on their faces, most Eskimo
commonly on their chins but sometimes also on other parts of their women
bodies such as the neck, breast, shoulders, arms, and legs. Among
the Eskimo of Hudson Bay and Point Barrow the operation is
performed on a girl at puberty. Among the Eskimo of Point
Barrow men are sometimes tattooed as a mark of distinction, for
example, to indicate that they have taken whales. The custom of
tattooing the women seems to prevail among almost all the Eskimo
tribes from Greenland to Bering Strait.'^ In some tribes of Cali-
fornian Indians, such as the Karok and Patawat, the women tattoo
three narrow leaf-shaped marks on their chins ; ^ in tribes of the
1 E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Ethno- Memoir of the Americaji Museum of
logy of Betigal, p. 251. Natural History).
Woodthorpe,
2 Lieut. -Colonel R. G. * D. Crantz, History of Greenland,
“ Notes on the Wild Tribes inhabiting (London, 1767), i. 138; C. F. Hall,
the so-called Naga Hills,” Joitmal of Life with the Esquimaux (London,
the Anthropological Instittite, xi. (1882) 1864), ii. 315 F. Boas, “ The Central
;

pp. 201, 204, 206, 207 sq., 209 ; S. Eskimo,” Sixth Annual Report of the
E. Peale, “The Nagas and Neigh- Bureqii of Ethnology (Washington,
bouring Tx'ihts, ” foicrnal of the Anthro- 1888), p. 561 J. Murduch, “The Point
;

pological Institute, (1874) p. 477 ;

iii. Barrow Eskimo,” Ninth Annual Report
E. A. Gait, Census of India, i8gi, of the Bureau of Ethnology (Washing-
Assam, Report, vol. i. (Shillong, 1892) ton, 1892), pp. 138-140; L. M.
pp. 243, 245 sq. Turner, “The Pludson Bay Eskimo,
3 W. Bogoras, The
Chukchee (Ley- Eleventh Animal Report of the Bureau
den and New York, 1904-1909), p. of Ethnology (Washington, 1894), pp.
254 {Memoir of the Americaxt Museum 207 sq. ; E. W. Nelson, “ The Eskimo
of Natural History). Amongst the about Bering Strait,” Eighteenth
Koryaks also some women tattoo their Annual Report of the Bureau of
faces as a charm against barrenness. American Ethnology, Part i. (Washing-
See W. Jochelson, The Koryak (Ley- ton, 1899) pp. 50-52.
den and New York, 1908), p. 46 ® S. Powers, Tribes of California,
( The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, pp. 20, 96.
 2o6 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

In some Coast Range the women often have a rude figure of a tree tattooed
Californian
tribes the
on the abdomen and breast.^ Among the Matooals of California
women the women tattoo nearly all over their faces, and the men also have
alone are a round spot tattooed in the middle of their forehead. Old
tattooed.
pioneers in California “ hold that the reason why the women alone
tattoo in all other tribes is that in case they are taken captives,
their own people may be able to recognize them when there comes
an opportunity of ransom. There are two facts which give some
color of probability to this reasoning. One is that the California
Indians are rent into such infinitesimal divisions, any one of which
may be arrayed in deadly feud against another at any moment, that
the slight differences in their dialects would not suffice to dis-
tinguish the captive squaws. A second is that the squaws almost
never attempt any ornamental tattooing, but adhere closely to the
plain regulation-mark of the tribe.” ^
In some Among the Nilotic tribes of Kavirondo, in British East Africa,
African
the women are tattooed on the chest and stomach with thin curved
tribes the
women lines of dots on each side reaching round to near the spine. The
alone are men are not tattooed.^ Similarly among the Wakikuya of Eastern
tattooed.
Africa tattooing is confined to the women.^ The Kimbunda men
of West Africa tattoo no part of their bodies, but “ the Kimbunda
women are wont to tattoo, not those parts of the body which
remain uncovered, namely the face and arms, but those parts
which nature commands to conceal, especially about the genitals, in
the region of the groin and lower part of the stomach, also one or
both buttocks, often also one or both shoulder-blades.” The opera-
tion is usually performed soon after marriage.® The Mayombe
women of Loango are tattooed, mostly with geometrical figures on
both sides of the navel, sometimes up to the breast. But the
Mayombe men are not tattooed, though they are often marked with
scars caused by cupping or scarification.® Amongst the Duallas of
Cameroon the bodies of the women are covered with tattooing,
whereas the men only tattoo a few lines on their faces ; indeed
some men are not tattooed at alk^ Amongst the Amazulus tattoo-
ing or rather scarification is sometimes met with, but only on
women. The common pattern consists of two squares meeting at
their angles. It is incised on one side of the pelvic region, towards

1
S. Powers, Tribes of California, Ethnologie, x. (1878) p. 351.
pp. 148, 242. L. Magyar, Reisen in Siid-Afrika
S. Powers, op. oil. p. 109. in den Jahre7i i84q bis jSgy (Buda-
3 H. E. O’Neill, in Proceedings of Pesth and Leipsic, 1859 ), pp. 341 sq.
the R. Geographical Society, 1882, ® P. Giissfeldt, Die Loango Expedi-
p. 743 ;
C. W. Hobley, Eastern tion (Leipsic, 1879), p. 107.
Uganda (London, 1902), p. 31. E. Reclus, Nouvelle Geographic
*
J. M. Hildebrandt, “Ethno- Universelle, xiii. 69 ;
fournal of the
graphische Notizen iiber Wakamba Anthropological Institute, x. (l88l)pp.
und ihre Nachbarn,” Zeitschrift fiir 468 sq.
 VOL. 1 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 207

the loins ; young girls so marked fetch a higher price in the

marriage market.^
On the other hand in some tribes it is the men alone who are in some
tattooed. This is true of the Tongans,^ the Samoans,^ some tribes
of South-Western New Guinea/ many Dyak tribes of Borneo/ the ^re
Khyyoungtha, a Chittagong/ and the Dinkas of the
hill tribe of tattooed.

Upper Nile.'^ Among the Dinkas the pattern consists of ten lines
radiating from the base of the nose and traversing the forehead
and temples.®
When we observe how often the custom of tattooing women is
observed at puberty or marriage, we may surmise that its original
intention was not to beautify the body, but to guard against those
mysterious dangers which apparently the savage apprehends at
that period of life. The practice of tattooing the faces of women
as a charm against barrenness ® points in the same direction. But
as to the exact nature of the dangers which the savage associates
with puberty, and as to how the various mutilations inflicted on the
youth of both sexes are supposed to guard against them, we are
still totally in the dark.

P. 30. Each wears a

helmet representing his totem. In —
antiquity Cimbrian cavalry wore helmets fashioned in the
the
likeness of the heads of animals, with nodding plumes above them,
which added to the apparent stature of the big men as they bestrode
their horses and charged down in their glittering iron cuirasses,
covering their breasts with their white shields, while they plied their
long heavy broadswords among the Roman ranks. But there is
no evidence that the animals on their helmets represented the
totems of these dashing cavaliers. Norsemen sometimes wore on
' A. Delegorgue, Voyage dans Life i)i the Forests of the Far East,
rAfriqtit Australe (Paris, 1847), ii. Second Edition (London, 1863), i. 55.
228. On the other hand in the tribes of Cen-
^ T. Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, tral Borneo both men and women are
Second Edition (London, i860), i. 160 tattooed. See A. W. Nieuwenhuis,
sq. Quer durch Bor}ieo (Leyden, 1904-
^ G. Turner, (London, 1884), 1907), i. 78, 275, 449 sqq., ii. 38 and ;

PP- 55 N- for a full account of tattooing in Borneo,

*
G. A. Wilken, Handleiding voor so far as it isknown, see C. Hose and
de •vergelijkende Volkenkimde van R. Shelford, “ Materials for a Study
Nederlandsch - Indie (Leyden, 1893), of Tatu in Borneo,” Journal of the
p. 250. Anthropological Bistitute, xxxvi. (1906)
^ C. J. Temminck, Coup ipceil sur pp. 60-91, with Plates vi.-xiii.
Possessions Neerlandaises dans V Inde ® T. H. Lewin, Wild Races
les of South-
Archipelagique (Leyden, 1846-1849), Eastern Lidia (London, 1870), pp.
u- 352 , 353 ; S. Muller, Reizen C7t 1 16 sq.

Onderzoekening in den Indischen Archi- I G. Schweinfurth, The Heart of

pel (Amsterdam, 1857), ii. 259 ; M. H/Ara (London, 1878), i. 50.
T. H. Perelaer, Ethnographische * G. Schweinfurth, l.c.
Beschrijving der Dajaks (Zalt-Bommel, ® See above, p. 205, with note^.
1870), pp. 92-94; Spenser St. John, Plutarch, Marius, 25.
 —

2o8 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

the top of their helmets a complete figure of a boar as the symbol

of the great god Frey.^

Men dis-
P. 31. The human child is disguised as a wolf to cheat its
guised as
animals.
supernatural foes. —Among when a man falls
the Central Eskimo,
the medicine-men will sometimes change his name in order to
ill,

ward off the disease, or they will consecrate him as a dog to the
goddess Sedna. In the latter case the man takes a dog’s name
and must wear a dog’s harness over his inner fur-jacket for the rest
of his life.^ The Bedouins regard the ass, especially the wild ass,
as a very robust animal, immune to disease. Hence when he has to
enter a plague-stricken town, a Bedouin will sometimes pretend to
be an ass, creeping on all fours and braying ten times. After that
he believes himself quite safe ; the plague will think that he is an
ass indeed and that it would be labour in vain to attack him.®
When one Karok Indian has killed another, “ he frequently barks
like a coyote in the belief that he will thereby be endued with so
much of that animal’s cunning that he will be able to elude the
punishment due to his crime.” ^ Such practices are quite in-
dependent of totemism.
P. 32. —
A custom of wrapping infants at birth in a bearskin.
In the south of Iceland it is believed that if a child is born on a
bearskin, he will be healthy and strong and will, like the polar bear,
be insensible to cold.^ The belief rests on the principles of sym-
pathetic magic and has no connection with totemism.

Ceremonial P. 32. He is born again from a cow.^ —

The curious ceremony
birth from described in the text is observed, for the reasons mentioned, in the
a cow.
Himalayan districts of the North-West Provinces of India.® Some-
times the ceremony is softened by merely placing the unlucky
infant in a basket before a good milch cow with a calf and allowing
the calf to lick the child, “ by which operation the noxious qualities
which the child has derived from its birth are removed.” Again,
a person who has lost caste may be reinstated in it by passing
several times under a cow’s belly, which is probably a symbol of

1
P. Hermann, Nordische Mythologie ^ S. Powers, Tribes of Califoi-tiia
(Leipsic, 1903), p. 207. (Washington, 1877), p. 37.
2 F. Boas, “ Die Sagen der Baffin- ® M. Bartels, “ Islandischer Branch

land Eskimos,” Verhandlungen der und Volksglaube in Bezug auf die

Berliner Gesellschaftfiir Ant}i7-opologie, Nachkommenschaft,” Zeitschrift fm"
Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte, i88g, Ethnologie, xxxii. (1900) p. 67.
p. (164) (appended to Zeitschrift fiir ® E. T. Atkinson, The Hima-
Etlmologie, xvii.) ; id. “The Central layan Disti-icts of the North- West
Eskimo,” Sixth Annual Report of the Provinces of India, ii. (Allahabad,
Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1884) p. 914.
612. ^ Alexander Mackintosh, Account of
1888), p.
^ J. Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen the Origin attd Presetit Conditio7i of the
Heidentums, Zweite Ausgabe (Berlin, Tribe of Ramoosies (Bombay, 1833),
1897), pp. 162 sq. p. 124.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 209

being bom again from The

passage through a metal image of This
it.^

a cow in is resorted to in India pretence of

imitation of birth from the animal
either in order to restore a person to a caste which he has forfeited a cow
by misconduct or to raise him to a higher caste than the one to is intended
which by his natural birth he belongs. When the two Brahmans restore a

whom Ragoba sent to England returned to India, it was decided

that they must have defiled themselves by contact with the gentiles he has
and that in order to cleanse them thoroughly from the taint they forfeited or
had contracted it was necessary that they should be born again.
For the purpose of the new birth it is laid down that an image of a higher
woman or of a cow shall be made of pure gold, and that the sinner ‘^^ste.
shall be passed through the usual channel in order to emerge from
it, like a new-born babe, in a state of innocence. But as a statue
of pure gold and of the proper size would be exceedingly expensive,
it is enough to make an image of the sacred jwti in gold and
to let the offender creep through it. This was done ; the two
Brahmans solemnly crawled through the aperture, and so were
happily restored to the communion of the faithful.^ “ It is on

record that the Tanjore Nayakar, having betrayed Madura and

suffered for it, was told by his Brahman advisers that he had better

be born again. So a colossal cow was cast in bronze, and the

Nayakar shut up inside. The wife of his Brahman acted as
nurse, received him in her arms, rocked him on her knees, and
caressed him on her breast, and he tried to cry like a baby.” ^
Again, the Maharajah of Travancore is by birth a Sudra, but he can
and does overcome this natural defect by being born again as a
Brahman from a golden cow or a golden water-lily. The golden
vessel, whether in the shape of a cow or of a water-lily, is half filled
with water and the five products of a cow, to wit, milk, curd, butter,
urine, and dung. The prince enters the vessel, the lid is clapped
down on him, he ducks five times in the precious compound, and
remains for about ten minutes absorbed in holy meditation, while
the Brahmans chant prayers and hymns. Then he comes forth
dripping, a new, a regenerate man to prostrate himself at the feet of
the idol and to receive on his head the magnificent crown of
Travancore. He has now been born again like the Brahmans ; it
is therefore his high privilege to be present when these holy men

are eating dinners and to share in their repast.

their But the
members may no longer eat with him he has risen
of his family ;

far above them by the rite of the new birth.^ Amongst the Ovambo
*
J. A. Dubois, Mmirs, institutions ^ E. Thurston, Etlmographic Notes
et cirhnonies des peuples de H Inde in Southern /wrfz'a (Madras, 1906), pp.
(Paris, 1825), i. 42. 271 sq.
Captain F. Wilford, “ On Mount
^ ^
Rev. S. Mateer, The Latid of
Caucasus,” Asiatic Researches, vi. Charity (London, 1871), pp. 169,
(London, i8oi) pp. 537 sq. (8vo 172 ; North-India 7 i Notes and Queries,
edition). iii. p. 215, § 465.
VOL. IV P
 5

210 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

of South-West Africa a remedy for sickness consists in killing and

flaying a cow, piercing the flanks in the region of the heart, and
helping the patient to squeeze his way through the reeking carcase.^
But it does not appear whether this bloody passage is regarded as a
new birth.

P. 32. Marriage ceremonies. —

There is no evidence or probability
that any of the marriage ceremonies described in the text are in any
way Some of them may possibly be intended
related to totemism.
to fertilise theyoung couple.^ This may have been the intention
of the ancient Hindoo ceremony of seating bride and bridegroom
at marriage on a red bull’s hide.^ There is no reason to connect
such a ceremony with totemism. However, “ the Vaydas of Cutch
worship the monkey god whom they consider to be their ancestor,
and to please him in their marriage ceremony, the bridegroom goes
to the bride’s house dressed up as a monkey and there leaps about
in monkey fashion.”^ And amongst the Bhils the totems are
worshipped especially at marriage.^
P. 32. An Italian bride smeared the doorposts of her new
home with wolf’s fat. In Algeria — a bride smears the doorposts of
her new home with butter.®
The Marrying the bride and bridegroom to trees before they
P. 32.
custom of
marrying are married to each other. —
There is no ground for connecting
persons to this custom with totemism. Much more probable is the view
trees is
suggested by Mr. W. Crooke that the custom “ is based on the
often
resorted to
desire to bring the wedded pair into intimate connexion with the
in India reproductive powers of nature ” in other words, that the ceremony
for the is a rite of fertilisation intended to ensure the birth of children.
purpose of
averting
Yet there are numerous facts which tend to shew that in India the
some custom of marrying persons to trees is intended to avert evil conse-
threatened quences from the bride or bridegroom. Many examples of such
danger.
customs have been collected by Mr. Crooke.® Thus in the Punjab
a Hindoo cannot be legally married a third time but there is. ;

1 (South Afyican) Folk-Lore Joiu-nal, ^ W.

Crooke, Popular Religion a?td
ii. (1880) p. 73. Compare E. Casalis, Folk-Lore of Northern India (West-
The Basutos (London, 1861), p. 256 : minster, 1896), ii. 154.
Certain tribes, after havingslaughtered
‘ ‘
See below, pp. 292 sqq.
the victim, pierce it through and ® Villot, AIccurs, cotitunies et in-
through, and cause the person who is stitutions des indigenes de PAlger ie
to be purified to pass between the (Algiers, 1888), p. 105.
pieces.”
’’
W. Crooke, “The
Hill Tribes of
As to such fertilisation ceremonies the Central Indian Hills,” fournal of
see above, vol. ii. pp. 256-263 ;
E. S. the Anthropological Institute, xxviii.
Hartland, Primitive Paternity (Lon- (1899) p. 242. Compare id.. Popular
don, 1909), i. 30 sqq. Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern
* The Grihya-Sut>-as, translated by India (Westminster, 1896), ii. 121.
H. Oldenberg, Part i. p. 383, Part W. Crooke, Popular Religion and
**

ii. pp. 193 sq. (Sacred Books of the F'olk-Loi'e of Northern India, ii. 1 1
East, vols. xxix. and xxx.). sqq.
 ;

VOI,. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 21 I

curiously enough, no objection whatever to his being married a

fourth time. Hence
if he wishes to take to himself a third wife,

he circumvents the law by being first married to a Babul tree

(Acada Arabicd) or to the Akh plant (Asdepta giganted), so that the
woman whom he afterwards marries is counted his fourth wife and
the evil consequences of marrying for a third time are avoided.^
Sometimes the vegetable bride to which the gay widower is thus
married for the purpose of evading the law is supposed to die soon
after the marriage ; which clearly shews the risk which a human
bride would have run by wedding the ill-omened bridegroom.^
Again, in Oudh it is deemed very unlucky to marry a couple if the
ruling stars of the young man form a more powerful combination
than those of the young woman ; but the difficulty can be avoided
by marrying the girl first to a peepul tree {Ficus religiosa)? In the
Himalayas when the conjunction of the planets portends misfortune
at a marriage, or when on account of some bodily or mental defect
nobody is marry him or her, the luckless or unattractive
willing to
boy or girl is first wedded
to an earthen pot, the marriage-knot
being tied in the literal sense by a string which unites the neck of
the bridegroom or bride to the neck of the pot while the dedi-
catory formula sets forth that the ceremony is undertaken in order
to counteract the malign influence of the adverse planets or of the
bodily or mental blemish of the husband or wife.^ Here the
custom of marrying an unlucky person to a pot is clearly equivalent
to the custom of marrying him or her to a peepul tree ; the one and
the other are plainly intended to divert the threatened misfortune
from a human being to an inanimate object, whether a tree or a
pot. Similarly, in some parts of the Punjab if a man has lost two
or three wives in succession he marries a bird before he marries
another human wife,® obviously with the intention of breaking his
run of bad luck. In Madras men are often married to plantain
trees for the following reason. Among orthodox Hindoos a
younger brother may not marry before an elder brother. But it
may be that the elder brother is deaf, dumb, blind, a cripple, or
otherwise so maimed that nobody will give him his daughter to
wife. How then can the younger brother marry ? The difficulty
is overcome by marrying the blind, lame, deaf, or otherwise
defective elder brother to a plantain tree with all the usual

' W. Crooke, Poptdar Religion and 3 W. Crooke, l.c.

Folk-Lore of Northern India, ii. 1 1 5 ;
E. T. Atkinson, The Himalayan
^
Panjab Notes and Queries, ii. p. 42,
Districts of the North- Western P}-o-
§ 252 ; (Sir) D. C. J. Ibbetson,
vinces of India, ii. (Allahabad, 1884)
Report on the Revision of Settlement of
the Panipat Tahsil and Karnal Par- p. 913 ;
W. Crooke, op. cit. li. 117.
ganah of the Karnal District (Allaha- ® North Indian Notes and Queries,
bad, 1883), p. 155. ’• P- IS) § 110 ; VV. Crooke, op. cit.
^ W. Crooke, op. cit. il. 116. li. 119.
 212 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Custom of formalities of a wedding. Then the Brahman priest fells the

marrying plantain tree and the whole family plunged into mourning for the
is
people to
trees in vegetable bride thus cut off in her prime. So the elder brother is
India. now a w'idower and his younger brother is free to wed.^ Once
more, amongst the Gadariyas, a shepherd caste of the North-West
Provinces of India, if a girl has a curl of hair which resembles a
female snake, she is first married to a camel-thorn bush, apparently
in order that her serpent-nature may discharge its venom on the
bush rather than on her bridegroom. And if a bachelor marries a
widow and she bears him a daughter, before he gives away his
daughter in marriage, he goes through a form of marriage with a
tree for the sake of annulling the evil influence which is supposed
to emanate from the marriage of a bachelor with a widow.^ The
intention of all such ceremonies, as Mr. Crooke has pointed out,®
seems to be to avert some threatened evil from the bride or bride-
groom or from both and to transfer it to a plant, an animal, or a
thing. Thus the customs in question fall under the head of those
widespread transferences of evil of which the custom of the scape-
goat is the most familiar example."^ Yet Mr. Crooke may very well
be right in thinking that the custom, practised by some of the wild
hill-tribes of India, of making bride and bridegroom clasp a tree
or tying them to it before marriage, springs from an entirely
different order of ideas and is, in short, a fertilisation ceremony.^
In any case, as I have said, it seems to have nothing to do with
totemism.

P. 34. Dancing girls of Goa are married to daggers, etc. The —

Uriyas of Ganjam have to marry their daughters before the period
of puberty, and if a suitable husband is not to be found, they will
fulfil their obligation by marrying the girl to an arrow.® Sometimes a
bachelor who wishes to marry a widow is first wedded to a ring or
a pitcher instead of to a plant.’^

P. 34, note ®. The old Egyptian custom ... of dressing a

—
woman as a bride, etc. In the canal of Cairo it used to be
customary to erect every year a round pillar of earth called “ the
bride ” {’arooseh), which was regularly swept away by the rising
waters of the Nile. “It is believed that the custom of forming
this 'arooseh originated from an ancient superstitious usage which is
mentioned by Arab authors, and among them by El-Makreezee.

1 Indian Notes and Queries, iv. p. ^ See The Golden Bough, Second
105, §396. Edition, iii. i sqq.
^ W. Crooke, Tribes a 7 id Castes of ® W. Crooke, op. cit. ii. 120, 12 1.

the North - Western Provinces and ®

“Notes on Marriage Customs in
Oudh, ii. 363. the Madras Presidency,” The I?!dia 7 i
3 W. Crooke, Popular Religion atid Antiquary, xxv. (1896) p. 145.
Folk-Lore of Northern India (West- ^ Pa 7 ijab Notes a 7 td
Q 7 ie 7 -ies, iii. p.
minster, 1896), ii. 120. 4 . § 12.
 —

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 213

This historian relates that in the year of the conquest of Egypt by

the Arabs, ’Amr Ibn-El-’A's, the Arab general, was told that the
Egyptians were accustomed at the period when the Nile began to
rise to deck a young virgin in gay apparel, and throw her into the
river as a sacrifice, to obtain a plentiful inundation. This barbarous
^
custom, it is said, he abolished.”
P. 34, note Legends like those of Andromeda and Hesione.
®.

Examples of such tales might easily be multiplied. Their essence

is the marriage of a woman to a water-spirit, and the tales probably

reflect a real custom of sacrificing a woman to a water-spirit to be

his bride.^

P. 35. Egyptian queens were sometimes buried in cow-shaped

sarcophaguses. —
This was probably done to place the dead queens
under the protection of Isis, or perhaps rather to identify them with
the goddess, who was herself sometimes represented by the image
of a cow and in appears wearing horns on her head.®
art regularly
Some of the Solomon who worship sharks, deposit the
Islanders,
dead bodies of chiefs and the skulls of ordinary men in wooden
images of sharks, which stand in their temples or tambu-\\owa&i,.‘^

P. 35. Men of the Sun totem are buried with their heads Custom of
towards the sunrise. —
Similarly among the Battas of Sumatra men burying
of different totems are buried with their heads in different directions,®
*tiftheir
but the reasons for these differences are not always manifest. On heads to
the analogy of the Hot-Wind totem and the Sun totem among the certain
Wotjoballuk we may conjecture that the direction in which the body
was buried was the direction in which the totem was supposed especi- compass,
ally to reside, so that the intention of interring the bodies in these
positions may have been to enable the released spirits of the dead
to rejoin their totems. It might be worth while to collect similar
rules of burial among other peoples. In antiquity the Athenians
buried their dead with the heads to the west, while the Megarians
buried theirs with the heads to the east.® In Korat, a province of
French Tonquin, persons who die a natural death are buried in
the sun’s course with their heads to the west ; but persons who
* E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs and their Natives (London, 1887), pp.
of the Modern (Paisley, n.d.), 53, 70 sq.
^
ch. xxvi. p. 500. See above, vol. ii. p. 190.
® Plutarch, Solon, 10, ddirTovai 8^
^ See my note on Pausanias, ix. 26.
Meyapeh Trph% 'Iw roll's veKpoiis arplpopres,
7 (vol. V. pp. 143-145) ; and my
Lectures on the Early History of the
’X8y}vaioi Sk wpos kairipap. The ex-

Kingship (London, pression ambiguous, but I under-

is
1905), pp. 179
sqq.
stand it in the sense I have indicated.
According to Aelian ( Var. Hist. vii.
^ .See my Adonis, Attis, Osiris,
19), the Athenians buried their dead
Second Edition (London, 1907), pp.
turned towards the west, but the
300. 319-
Megarians followed no rule in the
*
H. B. Guppy, The Solomon Islands matter.
 214 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Burial perish by violence and women who die in childbed are buried
customs athwart the sun’s course with their heads to the north. ^ Such
bya™elief
Customs naturally furnish no indication of totemism ; more probably
in a land they depend on the ideas which each people has formed of the
of the dead direction in which lies the land of the dead, some races associating

in"^thewLt
rising and others with the setting sun. More commonly,
where the it would seem, the souls are thought to descend with the great
'

sun goes luminary as he sinks in a blaze of glory in the fiery west. Thus
some aborigines of Victoria thought that the spirits of the dead go
towards the setting sun.^ The Woiworung or Wurunjerri tribe of
Victoria believed that the world of the dead, which they called
ngamat, lay beyond the western edge of the earth, and that the
bright hues of sunset were caused by the souls of the dead going
out and in or ascending up the golden pathway to heaven.® Some
aborigines of New South Wales in burying their dead took great
care to lay the body in the grave in such a position that the sun
might look on it as he passed ; they even cut down for that purpose
every shrub that could obstruct the view.^ Among the Battas of
Sumatra a burial regularly takes place at noon. The coffin is set
crosswise over the open grave, the assembled people crouch down,
and a solemn silence ensues. Then the lid of the coffin is lifted
off, and the son or other chief mourner, raising his hand,
addresses the dead man as follows “Now father, you see the sun
:

for the last time ; you will see it no more ” ; or “ Look your
last upon the sun; you will never see it again. Sleep sound.”®
Perhaps the original intention of this ceremony was to enable
the spirit of the dead to follow the westering sun to his place
of rest. We are told that some of the Calchaqui Indians of
Argentina opened the eyes of their dead that they might see the
way to the other world.® For a similar reason, perhaps, some of
the savages of Tonquin open the eyes of the dead for a few
1
E. Aymonier, Voyage dans le the English Colony in New South
Laos, ii. (Paris, 1897) p. 327. In Wales (London, 1804), p. 390 G.;

his earlier Notes sur le Laos

work. Barrington, The LListory of New South
(Paris, 1885), p. 268, the writer re- Wales (London, 1802), p. 27.
verses the statement as to the position ® F. Junghuhn, Die Bataliinderauf
of the bodies. But his later and rather Sumatra (Berlin, 1847), ii. 141 W. ;

more detailed statement is to be pre- A. Henny, “ Bijdrage tot de Kennis

ferred. der Bataklanden,” Tijdschrift voor
^ Stanbridge, “ Tribes in the
W. Indische Taal- Land- e 7 i Volkenkutide,
Central Part of Victoria,” Transactions xvii. (1868) pp. 29 sq. ; Joachim
of the Ethnological Society of London, Freiherr von Brenner, Bestich bei den
New Series, i. (1861) p. 299. Kannibalen Sumatras (Wiirzburg,
A. W. Howitt, in Journal of the
® 1894), pp. 235 sq.
Anthropological Lnstitute, xiii. (1884) Pedro de Angelis, Coleccion de
p. 187, xvi. (1887) p. 41 ; id.. Native Obras y Dociwientos relatives a la
Tribes of South-East Australia, p. Llistoria antigtia y modetma de las
438- Provincias del Rio de la Plata, ii.

* Lieut. -Colonel Collins, Account of (Buenos- Ayres, 1836) p. 30.

 —

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 215

moments before they shut the lid of the coffin down on him, “ in
order that he may see the sky.” ^ The Mangaia in the
natives of
Pacific believe that the souls of the dead congregate on a blufi'
which faces towards the setting sun. Thence, as the day wears to
evening, the mournful procession passes over a row of rocks or
stepping stones to the outer edge of the reef, where the surf breaks
eternally. Then, as the glowing orb sinks into the sea, they flit
down
The line of light that plays
Along the smooth wave toward the bur7ung west.

to sink with the sun into the nether world, but not like him to
return again.^ The Karok
Indians of California believe that
for the blessed dead there is a Happy Western Land beyond
the great water, and the path which leads to it they call the Path
of the Roses.^
Ceremonies at Puberty.
P. 36. —
The statements in the text as
to the relation of totemism to scars and other mutilations of the
person must be corrected by what I have said above.^ Nor is it
true, as I now believe, to say that “ the fundamental rules of totem
society are rules regulating marriage ” ; for this assumes that
exogamy is an integral part of totemism, whereas the evidence
tends to shew that the two institutions were in their origin quite
distinct, although in most totemic peoples they have been accident-
ally united.® I have already pointed out that, so long as we are
ignorant of the views which savages take of the nature of puberty,
we cannot expect to understand the meaning of the rites with which
they celebrate the attainment by both sexes of the power of repro-
ducing the species.® Hence I now attach little weight to the
speculations on this subject in the text.

P. 38. Kasia maidens dance at the new moon in March. Dances of

Kasia
According to other accounts this annual dance of the Kasias or maids and
Khasis takes place in the late spring, generally in May. The girls, bachelors.
richly clad in party-coloured silks, wearing crowns of gold or silver
on their heads, their persons blazing with jewelry, dance demurely
in a circle with mincing steps and downcast eyes. In the middle
of the circle squat the musicians eliciting a loud barbaric music from
droning bagpipes, clashing cymbals, and thunderous drums, and
drawing fresh and fresh inspiration from an enormous punch-bowl
of rice-beer which stands beside them. Outside the decorous circle
* “ Notes sur quelques
Pinabel, 1876), pp. 155-159.
peuplades sauvages dependant du ^ S. Powers, Ti-ibes of Califorina
Tong-King,” Bulletin de la Socitti de (Washington, 1877), p. 34.
Giographie (Paris), VII™® Serie, v. See above, pp. 198 sqq.
^ See above,
(1884) p. 429. pp. 8 sqq.
^ Rev. W. W. Gill, Myths and ® See above, pp. 194, 202, 207,
Songs of the South Pacific (London, also vol. iii. p. 453.
 —

2I6 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Dances at of the maidens goes whirling round and round the giddy circle of
puberty. the bachelors, rigged out in old uniforms, frock-coats, ladies’ jackets,
plumes, necklaces and tea-cosies, jigging, hopping, leaping, whoop-
ing themselves hoarse, brandishing knives, fly-flappers, and blue
cotton umbrellas in wild confusion. Higher and higher rises the
music, faster and more furious grows the dance, till the punch-bowl
producing its natural consequences the musicians drop off one after
the other to sleep, and the war-whoops of the dancers subside into
doleful grunts and groans. Many matches are made at these annual
Khasi balls.^ Among the Barotse on the Zambesi girls on reaching
puberty dance for weeks together, always about midnight, to the
accompaniment of songs and castanets.'^ Among the Suzees and
Mandingoes of Sierra- Leone girls are circumcised at puberty. Every
year during the dry season, on the first appearance of a new moon,
the damsels of each town who are to be circumcised are taken into
a wood and kept there in strict seclusion for a moon and a day,
charms being placed on every path to prevent intrusion. There
the operation is performed by an old woman. Afterwards the
girls go round the town in procession and dance and sing before
every principal person’s house till they receive a present. When
this round of dances is completed, the young women are given in
marriage to their betrothed husbands.®

Hunters P. 40. The savage disguises himself in the animal’s skin, etc.
disguised The Bushmen of South Africa were adepts in the art of stalking
in skins of
animais. game in such disguises. We read that “when taking the field against
the elephant, the hippopotamus, or rhinoceros, they appeared with
the head and hide of a hartebeest over their shoulders, and whilst
advancing towards their quarry through the long grass, would care-
fully mimic all the actions of the animal they wished to represent.
They appeared again in the spoils of the blesbok, with the head and
wings of a vulture, the striped hide of the zebra, or they might be
seen stalking in the guise of an ostrich.” ^ In the last of these dis-
guises they wear light frames covered with ostrich feathers and
carry the head and neck of an ostrich supported on a stick.®
Similarly the Mambowe of South Africa stalk game “ by using the
stratagem of a cap made of the skin of a leche’s or poku’s head.

1 Lieut. E. H. Steel, “ On the ^ E. Holub, Sieben Jahre in Siid-

Khasia Tribes,” Transactions of the Afrika (Vienna, 1881), ii. 258.
Ethnological Society of Lotidon, New
® John Matthews, A Voyage to the
Series, vii. (1869) p. 309 ; Mrs. J. C.
River Sierra-Leone (London, 1791),
Murray- Aynsley, “ Some Account of
pp. 70-73.
the Secular and Religious Dances of
Certain Primitive Peoples in Asia and G. W. Stow, The Native Races of
South Africa (London, 1905), p. 82.
Africa,” The Folk-Lore Journal, v.
(1887) pp. 273-276; Major P. R. T. ® Sir James Edward Alexander, Ex-
Gurdon, The Khasis (London, 1907), pedition of Discovery into the Inteidor
pp. 154-156. of Africa (London, 1838), ii. 145-147.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 217

having the horns still attached, and another made so as to represent

the upper white part of the crane called jabiru (^Micteru Senegalensis),
with its long neck and beak above. With these on, they crawl
through the grass they can easily put up their heads so far as
;

to see their prey without being recognised until they are within
bowshot.” ^ The Somalis disguise themselves as ostriches in
order to shoot or to catch and tame the bird.^ Some American
Indians used to disguise themselves as deer or wild turkeys in order
to kill these creatures.^ The Eskimo clothe themselves in seal
skins and snort like seals till they come within striking distance of
the animals ; ^ and in order to kill deer they muffle themselves in
deer-skin coats and hoods and mimic the bellow of the deer when
they call to each other.^

P. 40. It is at initiation that the youth is solemnly for- Foods

bidden to eat of certain foods. —^Amongst the Australian tribes such
prohibited
to youths at
prohibitions are very common,® but they seem to be independent of initiation.
totemism. Many of them come into operation before initiation
and are not relaxed till long after it, sometimes not until the man

or woman isadvanced in years. The penalties, real or

well
imaginary, incurred by infringement of the rules are not civil but
natural, being supposed to flow inevitably from the act itself with-
out human intervention. Amongst them are accidents and ill-
success in the chase, but for the most part they consist of certain
bodily ailments or infirmities which appear to be purely fanciful.
As a rule it is only the old men who are free to eat anything. For
example, in some tribes of New South Wales youths at initiation
were forbidden to eat eggs, fish, or any of the finer sorts of opossum
or kangaroo. Their fare was therefore very poor, but as they grew
older these restrictions were removed, and after passing middle age
they might eat anything.’^ Again, among the natives of the Mary
River and the bunya-biinya country in Queensland “ there was hardly
any animal, from a human being to a giant fly, that was not con-
sidered wholesome and lawful food to the elder men of the tribe.
To minors, certain animals were proscribed as mundha. In the
bunya season of 1875-76, bunyas were mundha to the females. The
food prohibited to minors is porcupine, snakes, eels, fresh-water fish.

* D. Livingstone, Missionary ^ H. Egede, A Description of Green-

Travels and Researches hi South land, Second Edition (London, 1818),
Africa (London, 1857), p. 490. p. 106.
^ Ph. Paulitschke, Ethnographie ® Captain G. F. Lyon, Private
Nordost-Afrikas, die materielle Cidtur Journal (London, 1824), 336.
p.
der Dandkil, Galla und Somdl (Berlin,
® See above, pp. 176 sqq.
1893), p. 229.
"
® Bossu, Nouveaux Voyages attx Ch. Wilkes, Narrative of the
Indes Occidentales (Paris, 1768), ii. 52 United States Exploring Expedition,
sq. ; LangsdorfF, Voyages and Travels New Edition, ii. (New York, 1851), p.
(London, 1813), ii. 197. 194 -
 2i8 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

kangaroo injured in emu and scrub

the chase, the eggs of the
turkey, and the flying Indulgence
forbidden foods is
fox. in
supposed to be punished with sickness and cancerous sores.” ^ It
has been suggested that these prohibitions have been laid upon the
young by the old either for the purpose of reserving the best of the
food for themselves, or in order to prevent the extinction of certain
species of edible animals.^
Such pro- Butmay be questioned whether these explanations are
it
hibitions of sufficient. In regard to the latter of the two motives suggested it
be°based^
seems very unlikely that improvident savages such as the Australians,
on super- who never store up food for future use, should be so far-seeing as
stition to guard against the extinction of the animals on which they sub-
regard to the theory that these numerous taboos
tharfon
selfishness, have been imposed by the older people on their juniors from purely
selfish motives, and have been upheld by superstitious terrors which
the seniors artfully impressed on the minds of their dupes, it may
well be doubted whether the Australian aborigines are capable of
conceiving or executing so elaborate a system of fraud. I prefer to

suppose that the prohibitions in question are really based on mis-

taken beliefs as to the ill-effect of certain foods in certain circum-
stances, especially at particular times of life and above all at
puberty. If we understood the conception which the savage has
formed of the nature of puberty, we might also understand why
on the one hand he forbids some foods to young people at this
critical period, and why on the other hand he permits food of
any kind to be eaten by old people, that is, by persons who have
lost the power of reproducing their species. For it is probably that
mysterious power which the savage is mainly concerned to guard
and fence about by these rules of diet. In short, it seems likely that
the prohibition of certain foods to young people is often founded
rather on superstition than on selfishness.
Super- Certainly in their diet the Australian aborigines practise many
stitious abstinences which appear to be purely superstitious and which can
hardly be explained by a theory that the practitioners have been

1
E. M. Cy-wc, Australian Race, ^ Rev. G. Taplin, “The Narrinyeri,”

iii. Compare R. Brough Smyth,

159. Native Tribes of South Australia, p.
The Aborigines of Victoria, i. 234 : 16; R. Brough Smyth, The Aboi-igines
“The old men are privileged to eat of Victoria, i. 234 (quoted above, p.
every kind of food that it is lawful for 177), 238 Spencer and Gillen, Native
;

any of their tribe to eat.” A. W. Tribes of Central Australia, p. 471,

Howitt, “On some Australian Cere- “The idea throughout is evidently that
monies of Initiation,” Journal of the which obtains so largely in savage tribes
Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) of reserving the best things for the use
p. 456 “ In some of the tribes, e.g.,
; of the elders, and, more especially, of
the Wolgal, these food rules only the elder men” ;
id.. Northern Tribes
become relaxed gradually, so that it is of Central Australia, pp. 61 1, 612,
the old man only who is free to use 613.
every kind of animal food.”
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 219

beguiled or bullied into them by designing persons who profit by certain

the simplicity of their dupe.s. Thus, for example, among the tribes
about the Nogoa River in Southern Queensland “certain restrictions
respecting the use of food exist. Old people, for instance, are the aborigines,
only persons allowed to eat the flesh of the emu. Other articles of
food are forbidden to a man whose brother has recently died, but
this custom does not extend to sisters. A
father, on the death of
a child, male or female, abstains from eating iguanas, opossums,
and snakes, of the male sex, but nothing of the kind occurs on the
death of a wife. This prohibition of animals of a particular sex is
widely prevalent in Australia.” ^ Similarly among the natives of the
Mary River Southern Queensland the flesh of certain
district in
animals was forbidden to persons in mourning.'^ Again, in some Men-
Australian tribes menstruous women might not partake of certain struous
foods ; and in this case the prohibition, like other taboos laid on
women at such times, seems to have been purely superstitious, to eat
Thus among the natives of the Murray River menstruous women certain
had to refrain not merely from eating fish but from going near a
river or crossing it in a canoe, because it was believed that if they
did any of these things they would frighten the fish.^ The Arunta
suppose that if a woman at one of her monthly periods were to
gather certain bulbs, which form a staple article of diet for both
men and women, the supply of the bulb would fail.'^
With these examples before us, which might doubtless be easily Australian
added to, we need not doubt that the old Australian aborigines super-
themselves implicitly believe in many of the absurd reasons which
are alleged for debarring young people from certain viands. Thus
in the Encounter Bay tribe old men appropriated to themselves the
roes of fishes, and it was said and believed that if women, young
men, or children ate of that dainty they would grow prematurely
old.^ The natives about King George’s Sound in South-West
Australia “ have some superstitious notions in regard to peculiar
food for different ages and sexes. Thus girls, after eleven or
twelve years of age, seldom eat bandicoot, such foods being con-
sidered a preventive to breeding ; young men will not eat nailots or
ivarlits (black eagle), or they will not have a fine beard such food ;

will also influence their success in the chace

;
and although kangaroos
may abound, they will seldom see them, and always miss them when
they attempt to spear them. I believe that it is not until the age
of thirty that they may eat indiscriminately.”® The Kulin of the
* E. M. Cmx, The Australian Race, Northern Tribes of Cefitral Australia,
iii. 91. p. 615.
^ E. M. Curr, op. cit. iii. 159. H. E. Meyer, “ Manners and
5

® R. Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Customs of the Aborigines of the En-

Victoria, i. 236. counter Bay Tribe,” Native Tribes of
Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes South Australia, p. 187.
of Central Australia, p. 473 id.. ;
® Scott Nind, “ Description of the
 220 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Australian Goulburn River, in South-Eastern Australia, “ believed that if the

super- novice ate the spiny ant-eater or the black duck, he would be killed
stitions as
to food.
by the thunder. If he ate of the female of the opossum or native
bear, he was liable to fall when climbing trees, and so on for other
offences.”^ In the tribe which occupied the Main Dividing Range
between the Cape and Belyando Rivers “ the young men and
women are forbidden to eat certain sorts of food, such as the emu,
swan, scrub and plain turkeys, and the eggs of these birds. The
eel, the black-headed snake, and other animals are also on the
schedule of forbidden foods. The reason assigned by the old folks
for these restrictions is, that the richness of these foods would kill
the young, and so persuaded are the young of the truth of this
assertion, that Mr. MacGlashan is convinced they would rather die of
hunger than infringe their law. They call this law knagana, which
means ‘forbidden.’”^ In the Arunta tribe an uncircumcised boy
is forbidden to eat many animals or parts of animals, particularly

kangaroo tail, the wild turkey and its eggs, the female bandicoot,
large lizards, emu fat, all kinds of parrots and cockatoos, the large
quail and its eggs, the eagle-hawk, the wild cat, the podargus
and its eggs; and various penalties, such as premature age and
decay and bleeding to death at circumcision, are denounced against
him for infractions of the rules. Some of these imaginary pains
consist of various bodily deformities, such as a large mouth and a
hole in the chin, which may on the principle of sympathetic magic
be suggested by similar peculiarities in the tabooed animals.^ Again,
in the interval between circumcision and subincision, and indeed
until the wound caused by the second of these operations has com-
pletely healed, a young Arunta man must abstain from eating
snakes, opossums, bandicoots, echidna, lizards, mound birds and
their eggs, wild turkeys and their eggs, eagle-hawks and their eggs.
Any infraction of these rules is thought to retard his recovery and
inflame his wounds."^ Similarly Arunta girls and young women
until they have borne a child, or until their breasts begin to be
pendent, are forbidden to eat female bandicoot, large lizards, the
large quail and its eggs, the wild cat, kangaroo tail, emu fat,
cockatoos and parrots of all kinds, echidna, and the brown hawk
{Hieracidea orientalis). The penalties supposed to be incurred by
breaches of the rules resemble those which overtake the men,
except that some of the ailments and infirmities are peculiar to
women, such as absence of milk from the breasts. Women
Natives of King George’s Sound (Swan pp. 41 sq.
River) and AdjoiningCountry,’’_/o;^r«(z/ 2 E. M. Curr, The Australian Race,

of the R. Geographical Society, i. iii. 20.

3 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes

(1832) p. 37.
I
A. W. Howitt, “On Australian of Central Australia, pp. 471 sq.
^ Spencer and
Medicine Men,” Journal of the An- Gillen, op. cit. p.
thropological Institute, xvi. (1887) 470.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 221

believe that if they ate old brown hawks their sons would be Australian

afflicted with varicose veins on the forehead. Further, a woman

may not eat opossum, large carpet snake, large lizard, nor fat jq cqqjj

of any sort during the time that elapses between the circumcision
and the subincision of her son ; for were she to partake of any
of these foods, theArunta think that it would retard her son’s
recovery.^ These last prohibitions clearly rest on an imaginary
bond of magic sympathy between the mother and her son. In
the Kaitish tribe young men may not eat emu, snake, porcu-
pine, wild cat, eagle-hawk, or large lizards ; if they do, it is
believed that their bodies will swell up and their hair will turn
prematurely grey. The restrictions laid on young women are still

more numerous. Among the foods forbidden to them are acacia

seed, emu eggs, the wild turkey and its eggs, the wild dog, big
snakes, echidna, big lizards, wild cat, eagle-hawk, kites, big rats,
rabbit bandicoots, and fish. Infractions of these taboos are sup-
posed to entail various bodily infirmities, such as sore throat, swollen
cheeks, swollen head, swollen body, emaciation, sores on the head,
and sores on the The
restrictions with regard to the food
legs.

of women are be much the same through all of the

said to
Central tribes ; everywhere apparently the women strictly abstain
from eating the brown hawk, lest they should have no milk in their
breasts some people think that the eating of the brown hawk
;

causes the breasts to wither up, others on the contrary affirm that
it makes them swell up and burst. Very old women among the
Kaitish are freed from these restrictions.^ In the Warramunga
tribe young men are gradually released from these taboos as they
grow older, but a man is usually well on in middle age before he
may eat such things as wild turkey, rabbit bandicoot, and emu.
In the same tribe there is a general rule that nobody may eat eagle-
hawks, because it is said these birds batten on the bodies of dead
natives.^ In the Binbinga tribe the newly initiated boy may not
eat snake, female kangaroo, wallaby, female emu, turtle, big lizards,
big female bandicoot, native compa.nion, jadi'ru, black duck,
fish,

dingo, turkey and its eggs, pigeon, and yams. All of these things are
tabooed to him till his whiskers are grown. Finally, he takes a
snake and other offerings of food to an old man, his wife’s father,
who first puts the snake round his own neck and then touches the
lad’s mouth with it. After that the young man may eat snakes.^
The view that the extensive prohibitions of food enjoined on
young people of both sexes in Australia are in the main dictated
by superstition rather than by the calculating selfishness of their

1 ^
Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes Spencer and Gillen, op. cit.

of Central Australia, pp. 472 p. 612.

^ Spencer and Gillen, Northern Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. p.
Tribes of Cetitral Azistralia, pp. 61 1 sq. 613.
 222 TOTEMJSM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Super- elders, may perhaps be confirmed by the observation that in other

stitious parts of the world it is precisely the young people and women who
from most free, and the grown men the most restricted, in their
certain diet. For example, in some Dyak tribes of Borneo women, boys,
foods. and sometimes old men are free to eat certain foods which are
forbidden, from motives of superstition, to men in the prime of life.^
Among the Dyaks of Melintam and Njawan women and children
may eat the flesh of apes, deer, and crocodiles, but from the time
that boys are circumcised they may no longer partake of these
viands. It used to be thought that any man who ate of these
animals would go mad.^ Among the Melanesians of the Duke
of York Group and the adjoining parts of New Britain and New
Ireland “ a singular custom prevails here with regard to the sons of
many chiefs. About the time of their attaining the age of puberty
they are taken into the bush, where a large house is built for them
and their attendants. Here they remain for several months, and
during this time they are well fed with pork, turtle, shark, and
anything else they please. They are then initiated into certain
ceremonies, and after this they never again taste either pork, turtle,
or shark during the remainder of their lives. So scrupulous are
they on this matter, that I have known a young man to suffer
acutely from hunger rather than eat a piece of taro which had been
cookedin the same oven with a piece of pork.”^ Amongst the
Namaquas boys under puberty are free to partake of hares, but
after they have attained to puberty and have been initiated, they
are forbidden to eat hare’s flesh or even to come into contact with
a fire at which it has been cooked. A man who eats the forbidden
food is not uncommonly banished from the village, though he may
be admitted to it again on the payment of a fine. The reason
which the Namaquas give for this custom is that the animal is the
origin of death among men. For once on a time, the hare was
charged by the moon to run to mankind and tell them, “ As I die
and am renewed, so shall you also be renewed.” The hare ran as
he was bid, but instead of saying, “ As I die and am renewed,” he
perversely and of malice prepense said, “ As I die and perish, so
shall you.” So old Namaquas say that they hate the hare for
his evil tidings and will not eat his flesh.^ Amongst the Baele of
Ennedi, a district of the eastern Soudan, after boys have been

1
See above, vol. ii. pp. 203-205. and New Ireland,” Journal of the K.
Geographical Society, xlvii. (1877) p.
2 J. M. van Barckel, “ lets over de
148.
Dajaks van Melintam en Njawan,” * Sir JamesEdward Alexander,
Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land-
Expedition of Discovery into the
en Volkcnkunde, xxvi. (1881) pp.
Interior of Africa (London, 1838), i.
431 sq.
169 ; C. J. Andersson, Lake Nganii,
* Rev. G. Brown, “ Notes on the Second Edition (London, 1856), pp.
Duke of York Group, New Britain, 328 sq.
VOL. 1 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 223

circumcised they may no longer eat fowls and other birds, fish, and
eggs. In neighbouring districts of the Soudan these foods are
similarly deemed unsuitable for grown men. But the women of
Ennedi are free to partake of these viands.^
The Kurnai youth is not allowed to eat the female
P. 41.
of any animal, etc. —
The Kurnai rules have since been stated by
—
Dr. A. W. Howitt more fully. He says “ The rules as to food
;

animals are as follows The novice may not eat the female of any
:

animal, nor the emu, the porcupine, the conger-eel, nor the spiny
ant-eater but he may eat the males of the common opossum, the
;

ringtail opossum, the rock wallaby, the small scrub wallaby, the
bush-rat, the bandicoot, the rabbit-rat, the brushtail, and the flying-
mouse. He becomes free of the flesh of the forbidden animals
by degrees. This freedom is given him by one of the old men
suddenly and unexpectedly smearing some of the cooked fat over
^
his face.”

P. 42, note Superstitious abstinence from salt. —

The custom super-
of abstaining on certain solemn occasions has been stitious
from salt
practised by many peoples, but there seems to be no reason for con-
necting it with totemism. One of the occasions on which the
abstinence has been commonly practised is mourning for a death.
Thus, according to the rules of ancient Hindoo ritual, mourners
should eat no food containing salt for three nights.^ The Juangs,
a wild hill-tribe of Bengal, abstain from salt and flesh for three
days when they are in mourning.^ In Loango the widow of a dead
prince is bound to sleep on the ground and to eat no salted food.®
Mourners in Central Africa sometimes refrain from salt, warm food,
and beer.® In the Karnal District of North-West India worshippers
of the Sun God {SuraJ Devata) eat no salt on his sacred day
Sunday.’^ One of the sacred books of the Hindoos prescribes that
no salt should be eaten on the tenth day of the moon.® In the
month of Saon (July-August) crowds of women in Bihar call them-
selves the wives of the snake-god Nag and go out begging for two
and a half days, during which they neither sleep under a roof
nor eat salt.^ Barren women among the Aroras in India sometimes
G. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan,
^ does not name the tribes who observe
ii.178 sq. thiscustom.
2 A. W. Howitt, Dative Tribes of ^ (Sir) D. C. J. Ibbetson, Report
South-East Australia, p. 633. on the Revision of Settlement of the
^ Monier Williams, Religious Life Panipat Tahsil and Kanial Parganah
and Thought in (London, 1883), of the I'^arnal District (Allahabad,
p. 283. 1883), p. 147.
E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Ethno- * A. Dubois, A/a’urs, institutions
J.
logy of Bengal, p. 158. et cirhnonies des peuples de I' hide, ii.
^ A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedi- 525. The book in which this rule is
tionan der Loango- Kiiste, i. 167. laid down is the Vishnu- Purana.
Rev. Duff Macdonald, Africana
® ® G. A. Grierson, Bihar Peasant
(London, 1882), i. no. The writer Life (Calcutta, 1885), pp. 404 sq.
 :

224 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

abstain from salt during the four rainy months,^ apparently in the
hope of thereby obtaining offspring. The Mohaves, an Indian
tribe of North America, never ate salted meat for the next moon
after the coming of a prisoner among them.^ A Brazilian Indian,
one of Mr. A. R. Wallace’s hunters, “ caught a fine cock of the
rock, and gave it to his wife to feed, but the poor woman was
obliged to live herself on cassava-bread and fruits, and abstain
entirely from all animal food, peppers, and salt, which it was
believed would cause the bird to die.” ^ In Peru a candidate
for the priesthood had to renounce the use of salt for a year.^
Among the Dards the priest of a certain goddess must purify
himself for an annual ceremony by refraining for seven days from
salt, onions, beer, and other unholy food.^ The Egyptian priests
avoided salt when they were in a state of ceremonial purity.®
Among the Arhuaco Indians of South America the medicine men
may eat no salt all their lives, but in other respects their diet is

more generous than that of their fellows.'

Abstinence Often abstinence fromsalt is combined with the practice of
from salt
chastity. was a rule of ancient Hindoo ritual that for
Thus it
combined
with the three nights after a husband has brought his bride home, the
practice of couple should sleep on the ground, remain chaste, and eat no salt.®
chastity.
When the Rajah of Long Wahou in Borneo has a son born to him,
he must for five months sleep alone and take no salt with his food
he is also forbidden to smoke and to chew sirih? Amongst some
of the Dyaks of Borneo men who have returned successful from a
head-hunting expedition have to keep apart and abstain from a
variety of things for several days in particular they may not have
;

intercourse with women, nor eat salt or fish with bones, nor touch
iron.^® In the East Indian island of Nias the men who dig a
pitfall game have to observe a number of superstitious rules,
for
the intention of which is partly to avoid giving umbrage to the
beasts, partly to prevent the sides of the pit from falling in. Thus
they are forbidden to eat salt, to bathe, and to scratch themselves
in the pit ; and the night after they have dug it they must have no

' Panjab Notes a?td Queries, ii. p. viii. 8. 2 ;

id., De Iside et Osiride, 5.

59. § 362. ‘ W. Sievers, Reise ht der Sierra

H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of Nevada de Santa Marta (Leipsic,
the Pacific States, i. 520 note As 1887), p. 94.
to the Mohaves see above, vol. iii. pp. * The Grihya Sutras, translated by

247-250. H. Oldenberg, Part i. p. 357, Part

® A. R. Wallace, Narrative of ii. p. 267 {Sacred Books of the East,
Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro vols. xxix., XXX.).
(London, 1889), p. 349. ® Carl Bock, The Head Hunters of
A. Bastian, Die Culturldnder des Borneo, p. 223.
Alien America (Berlin, 1878), i. 479. S. W. Tromp, “ Uit de Salasila
® Major van Koetei,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-
J. Biddulph, Tribes of the
Hindoo Koosh (Calcutta, 1880), p. 51. Land- eti Volkenku 7 ide van Neder-
® Plutarch, Quaestiones Conviviales, landsch-Indie, xxxvii. (1888) p. 74.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 225

intercourse with women.^ Among the Creek or Muskogee Indians Abstinence

of North America men who had been wounded in war were
confined in a small hut at a distance from the village and had to
stay there for the space of four moons, keeping strictly apart and practice of
chastity,
leading a very abstemious life ; in particular they had to abstain
from and from women. To avert the risk of incontinence,
salt
which, was believed, would have delayed the cure, each of the
it

wounded warriors was waited upon by an old superannuated

woman. “ But what is yet more surprising in their physical, or
rather theological regimen, is, that the physician is so religiously

cautious of not admitting polluted persons to visit any of his

patients, lest the defilement should retard the cure, or spoil the
warriors, that before he introduces any man, even any of their
priests, who are married according to the law, he obliges him to
assert either by a double affirmative, or by two negatives, that he
has not known even his own wife, in the space of the last natural
day.” ^ When in the year 1765 a party of Chickasaw Indians
returned home with two French scalps, the men had to remain
secluded in the sweat-house for three days and nights fasting and
purifying themselves with warm lotions and aspersions of the
button-snake root. Meantime their women had to stand through
the long frosty nights, from evening to morning, in two rows facing
each other, one on each side of the door, singing for a minute or
more together in a soft shrill voice to a solemn moving air, and
then remaining profoundly silent for ten minutes, till they again
renewed the plaintive tune. During all this time they might have
no intercourse with their husbands and might neither eat nor touch
salt.® Again, at the solemn annual festival of the Busk, when the
first-fruits of the earth were offered and the new fire kindled. Creek

men and women had for three days to remain strictly chaste and
to abstain rigidly from all food, but more particularly from salt.*
In the solemn religious fasts observed by the semi-civilised Indians
of Mexico, Central America, and Peru it seems to have been a
common, perhaps a general, rule that the people should practise
continence and eat no salt and no pepper.® For example, from the
*
J. W. Thomas,
“ De jacht op het America, translated by Captain John
eiland Nias,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Stevens (London, 1725-1726), iii. 270,
Taal- Land- en Volkenknnde, xxvi. iv. 342, 349 ;
Oviedo, Histoire dii
(1880) pp. 276 sq. Nicaragua (Paris, 1840), pp. 228 sq.
^
James Adair, History of the (Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, relations
American Indians (London, 1775), p. et mimoires oidginaux, etc.) ; Diego
125. de Landa, Relation des choses de
^ James Adair,op. cit. pp. 164-166. Yucatan (Paris, 1864), pp. 278, 279 ;
* A. M'Gillivray, in H.
A. R. Acosta, Natural and Moral History of
Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes of the United the Indies, translated by C. R. Mark-
States, V. 268. ham (London, 1880), ii. 339, 376 sq. ;

® A. de Herrera, The General History Garcilasso de la Vega, First Part oj

of the Vast Continent and Islands 0/ the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas,

VOL. IV Q
 226 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Abstinence time that they sowed the maize till the time that they reaped it, the
from salt
Indians of Nicaragua lived chastely and abstemiously, sleeping
combined
with the apart from their wives, eating no salt, and drinking neither chicha
practice of nor cocoa. ^ Similarly among the Peruvian Indians bride and
chastity.
bridegroom fasted for two days before marriage, eating no salt, no
pepper, and no flesh, and drinking none of the native wine.^
Every eight years the Mexicans celebrated a festival which was
preceded by a fast of eight days. During this fast they ate nothing
but maize-bread {tamalli) baked without salt and drank nothing but
pure water. It was believed that if any one broke the fast, even in
secret, God would punish him with leprosy. The reason which
they assigned for this abstinence was singular. They said that the
purpose of the fast observed on this occasion was to allow their
means of subsistence to enjoy a period of repose ; for they alleged
that in ordinary times bread, which was their staple food, was
fatigued by the admixture of salt and other spices, which humbled
it and made it feel old. So they fasted from salt and other dainties
in order to give back to the bread its lost youth. At the festival
to which the fast was a prelude all the gods and goddesses were
supposed to dance. Hence in the carnival or masked ball, which
formed the chief feature of the celebration, there appeared a
motley throng of dancers disguised as birds, beasts, butterflies,
bees, and beetles ; while others garbed themselves as costermongers,
wood-sellers, lepers, and so forth. Round and round the image of
the god Tlaloc circled the giddy dance, some of the dancers
making desperate efforts to swallow living water-snakes and frogs,
which they had picked up in their mouths from a tank at the feet
of the image.^
This frequent association of abstinence from salt and abstinence
from women is curious. The Nyanja-speaking peoples of British
Central Africa extract salt from grass, and when a party of the
people has gone to make salt, all the people in the village must
observe strict continence until the return of the salt-makers. When
the party returns, they must steal into the village by night without
being seen by anybody. After that one of the village elders sleeps
with his wife. She then cooks a relish and puts some of the new-
made salt into it. This relish is handed round to the salt-makers,
who rub it on their feet and under their armpits.'* Similarly the

translated by C. R. Markham, vol. ii. Stevens (London, 1725-1726), iv. 342.

p. 130 ;
Leon, Travels,
P. de Cieza de ^ Sahagun, Histoire ginirale des
translated by C. R. Markham (London, choses de la Nouvelle-Espagjie, traduite
1864), pp. 296 sq. par D. Jourdain et R. Simeon (Paris,
1 Oviedo, Histoire du Nicaragua 1880), pp. 170 sq. As to tamalli
(Paris, 1840), pp. 228 sq. (maize-bread) see id. p. 20, note
A. de Herrera, The General History ^ R. Sutherland Rattray, Some Folk-

of the Vast Continent and Islands of lore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja
America, translated by Captain John (London, 1907), pp. 19 1 sq.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 227

workers in the salt-pans near Siphoum in French Tonquin must

abstain from all sexual relations in the place where they are at

work.^ However, in savage society the same rule of continence is Contin-

observed in other industrial operations than the manufacture of

salt. For example, in the Marquesas Islands a woman who is in certain
making cocoa-nut oil must be chaste for five days, otherwise she industrial

could extract no oil from the nuts.^ Among the natives of Port
Moresby in New Guinea it is a rule that when a party goes on a
trading voyage westward to procure arrowroot, the leader has to
observe strict continence, else the canoe would sink and all the
arrowroot be lost.® In ancient Arabia the men who were engaged
in collecting incense from the trees might not pollute themselves
with women or with funerals.^ Amongst the Masai the brewers
of poison and of honey-wine must observe strict continence, else it
is supposed that the poison and the honey-wine would be spoiled.^

These and many similar cases of continence practised from super-

stitious motives by savages rest on certain primitive ideas of the
physical influence of sexual intercourse, which we do not as yet
fully understand.

P. 42. A Carib ceremony. — With this ceremony we may compare

an initiatory rite observed by the Andaman Islanders. The friends
of the young man or young woman who is being initiated at puberty
hunt and kilt a wild boar or a wild sow according to the sex of the
novice. The chief presses the carcase of the animal heavily on the
shoulders, back, and limbs of the novice as he sits on the ground.
“ This is in token of his hereafter becoming, or proving himself to
be, courageous and strong.” The carcase is then cut up, the fat is
melted and poured over the novice and rubbed into his person.®
Amongst the Arunta uncircumcised lads are often struck on the
calf of the leg with the leg-bone of an eagle-hawk, because this is
supposed to impart strength to the boy’s leg.'^ In these and many
similar customs which might be cited ® the valuable properties of
the animal are supposed to be transferred to human beings by
external application. But the customs appear to be quite in-
dependent of totemism.
P. 43. — The youths at initiation sleep on the graves of their
ancestors. — Speaking of the rights of the Australian
initiatory
aborigines a writer says another occasion a young man who
:
“ On
followed the occupation of a fisherman, told me that he was com-
1 E. Aymonier, Notes sur le Laos ® E. H. Man, The Aboriginal Ifi-

(Paris, 1885), p. 141. habitants of the Andaman Islands

^ G. PI. von Langsdorff, Reise um (London, n.d. ), p. 66.
die IPe// (P'rankfort, 1812), 119 ry.
i. ^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes

^ G. Turner, (London, 1884), of Central Australia, p. 472.

pp. 349 sq. **
For some other e.xamples see The
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xii. 54. Golden Bough, Second Edition, ii.
® See abo-ve, vol. ii. pp. 410 sq. 364 sq.
 228 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

pelled to lie for two nights on the grave of one of his ancestors,
who had also been a fisherman of some note ; by this means he was
supposed to inherit all the good qualities of his predecessor.”^
Among the Niska Indians of North-West America the novice
resorted to a grave, took out a corpse, and lay with it all night
wrapt in a blanket.^
P. 43. In some of the Victorian tribes no person related to the
youth by blood can interfere or assist in his initiation. In the —
Peake River tribe of South Australia none of a boy’s relations are
present when he is being circumcised ; they are supposed not to
know that the operation is taking place.^
P. 43. The Australian ceremony at initiation of pretending to
recall a dead man to life. —A pretence of killing a man and bring-
ing him to life again is a common ceremony of initiation among
many Elsewhere I have collected examples of it.'* We
peoples.
forms a prominent part in the initiation rites of
have seen that it

Pretence of some secret societies in North America.® The Kikuyu of British

new birth East Africa “ have a curious custom which requires that every boy
at circum-
cision. just before circumcision must be born again. The mother stands
up with the boy crouching at her feet, she pretends to go through
all the labour pains and the boy on being reborn cries like a babe

and is washed. He lives on milk for some days afterwards.” ® In

the rites of initiation I do not remember to have met with another
equally clear imitation of a new birth for the novice. But a pretence
of being born again has formed part of a rite of adoption among
;
some peoples " and we have seen that in India it is practised as
a mode of averting ill-luck or of raising a person either to a higher
rank or to one which he has for some reason forfeited.®
Custom of P. 44, note The plucking of the hair from the pubes or incipient
plucking —
beard of the youth at initiation.- -This custom seems to have been
out the
hair and
widely diffused among the southern and eastern tribes of Australia.
beards of Thus among the tribes in the neighbourhood of Adelaide the hair-
youths at of the pubes of novices was plucked out by operators of both sexes
initiation.
and various ages, even little children taking part in the work.
When the hair had been pulled out, it was carefully rolled up in

*
J. F. Mann, “Notes on the (appended to Zeitschriftfiir Ethnologie,
Aborigines of Australia,” Proceedings X.).
The Golden Bough, Second Edition,
*
of the Geographical Society of Austral-
asia, New South Wales and Victorian iii.422 sqq.
^ See above, vol. iii.
Branches, i. (1885) p. 44. pp. 462 sqq.,
2 See above, vol. iii. p. 542. 487 sq., 489 sq., 505, 542, 546.
® R. Schomburgk, “ tjber einige ® Extract from a letter of Mr. A. C.

Sitten und Gebr'auche der tief im Hollis to me. Mr. Hollis’s authority
innern Sudaustraliens, am Peake- Flusse is Dr. T. W. W. Crawford of the Kenia

und dessen Umgebung hausenden Medical Mission.

t The Golden Bough, Second Edition,
Stiimme,” Verhandlungen der Berliner
Gesellschaft fiir Antliropologie, Ethno- i. 21 sq.
logic tind Urgeschichte, 1879, P- (235) * See above, pp. 208 sq.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 229

green boughs, the hair of each novice being kept separately, and
the packets were given to a wise man to be properly disposed of.^
Amongst the Narrinyeri of South Australia the matted hair of the
novices was combed or rather torn out with the point of a spear,
and their moustaches and a great part of their beards plucked
up by the roots. The lads were then besmeared from the crown of
their head to their feet with a mixture of oil and red ochre.^ In
the Encounter Bay tribe of South Australia all the hair was singed
or plucked out from the bodies of the novices except the hair of
the head and beard and then their whole bodies, with the
;

exception of their faces, were rubbed over with grease and red
ochre.® Among the tribes of South-West Victoria all the hairs of
the beard were plucked out from the faces of novices at initiation.^
Some of the tribes on the Murray River tore out the hair or
down from the chins of the young men who were being initiated.®
In the Moorundi tribe, about 180 miles up the Murray River, boys
at initiation had the hair plucked from their bodies the men who ;

performed the operation were chosen from a distant tribe.® Among

the Maraura-speaking tribes of the Lower Darling River the novice
was stretched on the ground and all the hair was plucked from his
cheeks and chin and given to his mother, who was present, crying
and lamenting.’^ And with regard to the aborigines of the Darling
River in general we are told that “the hair of the youth who is
being initiated is cut short on his head and pulled out of his face,
and red ochre, mixed with emu fat, smeared over his body he ;

wears a necklace of twisted opossum hair.”® The Tongaranka, a

tribe of the Itchumundi nation, to the west of the Darling River,
depilated the private parts of the novices at initiation.® Among
the tribes of the Paroo and Warrego Rivers in South Queensland
the custom was to pluck out by the roots all the hairs of the
novice’s body.^® The natives of the Mary River district in South
Queensland shaved off the hair from all parts of the body but the
head.^^ Similarly in Fiji at initiation the heads of novices were

’ E. J. Eyre, Journals of Expeditions G. F. Angas, Savage Life and

of Discovery into Cetitral Australia Scesies in Australia and New Zealand,
(London, 1845), ii. 338. i. 98.
^ Rev. G. Taplin, “The Narrin- ^ A. W. Howitt, Native D'ibes of
yeri,” Native Tribes of South Australia, South-East Australia, p. 675.
p. 17 ; id. in E. M. Curr’s The ® F. Bonney, “On Some Customs
Australian Race, ii. 254 sq. of the Aborigines of the River Darling,
® Rev. H. E. A. Meyer, “ Manners New South Wales,” Jourtial of the
and Customs of the Aborigines of the Anthropological Iiistitute, xiii. (1884)
Encounter Bay Tribe,” Native Tribes p. 128.
of South Australia, p. 188. ® A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of
J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, South-East Australia, p. 675.
^

p. 30. E. M. Curr, The Australian Race,

“ ti. Brough Smith, Aborigines of hi. p. 273.
Victoria, i. 65. " E. IM. Curr, op. cit. iii. 167.
 230 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

shaved clean, and it is said that their shaven heads was an indica-
tion of childhood.^
The re- The meaning of this custom of removing the hair, especially
moval of the hair of the pubes and beard, of lads at initiation is not clear.
the hair of
novices at
But wherever the novice is supposed to be born again by means of
initiation these initiatory rites, it would be perfectly natural to remove the
was per- hair from his body, especially from these particular parts of it, in
haps to
assimilate
order to increase his resemblance to a new-born babe. For even
them to the savage mind could hardly fail to be struck by the incongruity of
new-born a young man with a beard pretending to be a tender infant. The
babes.
Australian practice of smearing the lads all over with red ochre may
be an attempt to assimilate them still more closely to newly born
infants, the red ochre being a substitute for blood ; and the same
may perhaps be said of the corresponding South African practice of
daubing the novices all over with white clay just after they have
been circumcised,^ for the new-born children of black races are at
first reddish brown and soon turn slaty grey.® It is possible that
the ancient Greek custom of polling the beards or the hair of
youths and maidens at puberty or before marriage and dedicating
the shorn locks to a god or goddess, a hero or a heroine,"^ may have
been a survival of a similar pretence of a new birth at this critical
time of life. Eveir the monkish tonsure may perhaps be remotely
connected with the same primitive practice.
Connected with this mimic death and revival of a clans-
P. 44.
man appears to he the real death and supposed revival of the totem
itself. —
With regard to what follows in the text I desire the reader
particularly to observe, first, that there is no clear evidence that
any of the slain animals are totems ; and, second, that none of the
slain animals are eaten by the worshippers. The instances cited,
Robertson therefore, furnish no solid basis for a theory of what has been called
Smith’s a totem sacrament. That theory was a creation of my brilliant and
theory of a
totem
revered friend the late W. Robertson Smith. For many years it
sacrament. remained a theory and nothing more, without a single positive

1 Rev. L. Fison, “The Nanga, or white boys by Europeans. . . . After

Sacred Stone Enclosure, of Wainimala, several weeks, the white clay is washed
Fiji,” Journal of the Anthropological off in the nearest river, red clay takes
Institute, xiv. (1885) pp. 20, 23. its place, and a new harass or blanket
^ Rev.
J. Macdonald, “Manners, isgiven to each. All the old clothing,
Customs, and Religions of South such as it is, is also burned. The lads
African Tribes,” Journal of the are then assembled to receive advice
Anthropological Institute, xix. (1890) and instruction from the old men as to
pp. 268 sq. ; J. Stewart, Lovedale, their new duties. They are now to act
South Africa (Edinburgh, 1894), pp. as men, being acknowledged as such.”
105 ry. “ They are covered from head
:
^ E. B. Tylor, Anthropology (Lon-

to foot with w'hite clay, which makes don, 1881), p. 67.

them look as if they were whitewashed. See my
article “ Artemis and
This gives them a veiy ghastly appear- The Fortnightly Review,
liippolytus,”
ance, and they are commonly called the December 1904, pp. 982, 985 sq.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 231

instance of such a sacrament being known to support it. Then Totem

came the great discoveries of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen in Central sacrament
Australia, which made an era in the study of primitive man. Australia
Amongst the many new facts which their admirable investigations
brought to light was a custom which may in a sense be called a
totem sacrament. For they found that the members of totem
clans in Central Australia, while they generally abstain from eating
their totemic animals or plants, nevertheless do at certain times
partake of them as part of a solemn ritual for the multiplica-
tion of these animals or plants. When the totem is an edible
animal or plant, the members of each totemic clan are bound to
perform magical ceremonies {intichiuma) for the increase of their
totems, in order that the animals and plants may be eaten by the
rest of the community, although not as a rule by the performers
themselves, who have these animals or plants for their totems.
And that the ceremonies may accomplish their object successfully,
it is deemed essential that the members of each totemic clan should

eat a little of their totem ; to eat none of it or to eat too much would
equally defeat the aim of those magical rites which are designed to
ensure a supply of food, both animal and vegetable, for the tribe.^
Thus a totem sacrament of a sort has been discovered among But the
the tribes of Central Australia, and “ Robertson Smith’s wonderful
intuition— almost prevision — has been strikingly confirmed after
‘

the lapse of years. Yet what we have found is not precisely what sacrament
he expected. The sacrament he had in his mind was a religious magical,
rite; the sacrament we have found is a magical ceremony. He
thought that the slain animal was regarded as divine, and never
killed except to furnish the mystic meal ; as a matter of fact, the
animals partaken of sacramentally by the Central Australians are in
no sense treated as divine, and though they are not as a rule killed
and eaten by the men and women whose totems they are, neverthe-
less they are habitually killed and eaten by all the other members
of the community ;
indeed, the evidence goes to show that at an
earlier time they were commonly eaten also by the persons whose
totems they were, nay, even that such persons partook of them more
freely, and were supposed to have a better right to do so than any
one else. The object of the real totem sacrament which Messrs.
Spencer and Gillen have discovered is not to attain to a mystical
community with a deity, but simply to ensure a plentiful supply of
food for the rest of the community by means of sorcery. In short,
what we have found is not religion, but that which was first the pre-
decessor, and afterwards the hated rival of religion ; I mean magic.”

^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes 283-327. See also above, vol. i. pp.
of Central Australia (London, 1899), 102-112, 183-186, 214-242.
pp. 167-211 ;
id.. Northern Tribes of 2 j_ Frazer, “on some Cere-
Central Australia if 1904), pp. monies of the Central Australian
 —
232 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

The only other apparent instance of what may be called a

totem sacrament with which I am acquainted is the one which is
reported by Mr. N. W. Thomas from West Africa.^ But his
report is brief, and it seems desirable to obtain fuller particulars of the
custom before we can definitely assign it a place in the very short
list of totem sacraments.

P. 44. —
Some Californian Indians killed the buzzard, and then
buried and mourned over it. However, there is no evidence or
probability that the buzzard was their totem. Totemism appears
not to have been practised by any tribe of Californian Indians.^
Zuni cere- P. 44. A Zuni ceremony described by an eye-witness, Mr.
mony of
bringing
Cushing. —-The ceremony of bringing the tortoises or turtles to the
back the village of Zuni has been described much more fully by a later
turtles and writer, Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson. It forms part of the
killing
elaborate ritual observed by these Indians at the midsummer
them.
solstice, when the sacred fire is kindled.^ Envoys are sent to fetch
“their otherselves, the tortoises,” from the sacred lake Kothlu-
walawa, to which the souls of the dead are supposed to go. When
the creatures have thus been solemnly brought to Zuni, they are
placed in a bowl of water near the middle of the floor, and ritual
dances are performed beside them. “ After the ceremonial the
tortoises are taken home by those who caught them and are hung
by their necks to the rafters till morning, when they are thrown
into pots of boiling water. The eggs are considered a great
delicacy. The meat is seldom touched except as a medicine,
which is a curative for cutaneous diseases. Part of the meat is
deposited in the river, with kohakwa (white shell beads) and
turquoise beads, as offerings to the Council of the Gods.” ^
As the lake from which the turtles are brought is the place to
which the souls of the departed are supposed to repair, Mrs.
Stevenson’s account confirms the interpretation which I had
independently given of the ceremony. I pointed out that the

Zunis believe in their transmigration or transformation at death

into their totemic animals, and that the tortoise or turtle is reported
by one authority to be a Zuni totem. Hence the intention of
killing the turtles in which, according to Mr. Cushing’s account,
the souls of dead kinsfolk are supposed to be incarnate, is

Tribes,” Froceedings of the Australasian ^ See above, vol. iii. pp. 237 sq.
Association for the Advancetne}it of
Science (Melbourne, 1901), pp. 316 ^ Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson,
Elsewhere I have pointed out on how “The Zuni Indians,” Twenty -third
very slender a basis the theory of a Annual Report of the Bureau of
totem sacrament has been built. See American Ethnology (Washington,
The Golden Bough, Second Edition 1904), pp. 153-161. As to Kothlu-
(London, 1900), vol. i. pp. .xviii. so. walawa, the lake of the dead, from
1 See above, vol. ii. pp. 589 sq. which the turtles are brought, see
^ See above, vol. iii. pp. i sq. above, vol. iii. p. 233 n.^.
VOL. 1 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 233

apparently “ to keep up a communication with the other world

in which the souls of the departed are believed to be assembled
in the form of turtles. It is a common belief that the spirits of

the dead return occasionally to their old homes ; and accordingly

the unseen visitors are welcomed and feasted by the living, and
then sent upon their way. In the Zuni ceremony the dead are
fetched home in the form of turtles, and the killing of the turtles is
the way of sending back the souls to the spirit-land.” ^
This interpretation of the Zuni custom of killing the turtles
supersedes the one which, following W. Robertson Smith, I formerly
suggested with some hesitation, namely, that it might be a piacular
sacrifice in which the god dies for his people.^ But a doubt
remains whether the ceremony is totemic or not ; for though the
turtle or tortoise is included in the list of Zuni totems given by
Captain J. G. Bourke, it is not included in the lists given by Mr.
Cushing and Mrs. Stevenson.^
P. 60. Pkratries . . . subphratries. —
With Howitt and Fison
I now prefer to call these exogamous divisions by the names of
classes and subclasses.

P. 63, note The custom ... of imposing silence on women for Silence im-

a long time after marriage. —We have seen that among the tribes of
South-West Victoria, where husband and wife always spoke different marria<^k
languages, the newly married couple were not allowed to speak to
each other for two moons after marriage, and that if during this
time they needed to converse with one another the communication
had to be made through friends.^ Elsewhere we meet with some
scattered indications of an apparently widespread custom, which
forbade a wife to speak to any one but her husband until she had
given birth to a child. Thus with regard to the Taveta of British
East Africa we read “ One singular custom of theirs in connection
:

with marriage I must relate. Brides are set apart for the first year
as something almost too good for earth. They are dressed, adorned,
physicked, and pampered in every way, almost like goddesses.
They are screened from vulgar sight, exempted from all household
duties, and prohibited from all social intercourse with all of the
other sex except their husbands. They are never left alone, are
accompanied by some one wherever they may wish to go, and are
not permitted to exert themselves in the least ; even in their short
walks they creep at a snail’s pace, lest they should overstrain their
muscles. Two of these celestial beings were permitted to visit me.
Both were very elaborately got up and in precisely the same manner.
1 The Golden Botcgh, Second Edition Osiris, Second Edition (London, 1907),
(London, 1900), ii. 374. The belief pp. 301-318.
in the periodical return of the dead to ^ See above, vol. i. p. 45.
their old homes is illustrated with ^ See above, vol. iii. p. 216.
many examples in my Adonis, Attis, ^ See above, vol. i. pp. 466, 468.
 234 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Around the head was worn a band of parti-coloured beads, to which

was attached a half-moon of bead-work in front, so as to fall down
over the forehead. Below this, fastened round the temples, fell a
veil of iron chain, hanging to below the lips in closely arranged
lengths. They honoured me only with their eyes they did not
. . .
;

let me hear the mellow harmony of their voices. They had to see
and be seen, but not to be heard or spoken to. Brides are treated
in this manner until they present their husbands with a son or
daughter, or the hope of such a desired event has passed away.” ^
Silence of A similar custom is reported of Armenian brides. “ Young
Armenian
girls go unveiled, bareheaded, wherever they please, the young men
brides.
may woo them openly, and marriages founded on affection are
common. But it is different with the young wife. The ‘Yes’
before the bridal altar is for a time the last word she is heard to
speak From that time on she appears everywhere, even in the
!

house, deeply veiled, especially with the lower part of the face, the
mouth, quite hidden, even the eyes behind the veil. No one sees
her in the street, even to church she goes only twice a year, at
Easter and Christmas, under a deep veil ; if a stranger enters the
house or the garden, she hides herself immediately. With no one
may she speak even one word, not with her own father and
brother She speaks only with her husband, when she is alone
!

with him With all other persons in the house she may communi-
!

cate only by pantomime.^ In this dumbness, which is enjoined by

custom, she persists till she has given birth to her first child. From
that time on she is again gradually emancipated ; she speaks with
the new-born child, then her husband’s mother is the first person
with whom she talks after some time she may speak with her own
;

mother ; then the turn comes for her husband’s sister, and then
also for her own sisters. Next she begins to converse with the
young girls of the house, but all very softly in whispers, that none
of the men may hear Only after six or more years is she fully
!

emancipated and her education complete. Nevertheless it is not

proper that she should ever speak with strange men, or that they
should see her unveiled.” ^

1
Charles New,
Life, IVajideTings with us among young people, especially
and Labours in Eastern Afidca (Lon- girls : made with the hands,
signs are
don, 1873), pp. 360 .ry. This enforced the fingers, by laying them over each
silence of Taveta brides is not men- other, by crossing the fingers or setting
tioned by Mr. A. C. Hollis in his them side by side, etc., so to indicate
account of the Taveta marriage customs letters or syllables. . What to us
. .

(“ Taveta Customs,” Journal of the now seems an arbitrary, childish in-

African Society, No. l, October 1901, v’ention may ultimately have a deep
pp. 113-117). Perhaps the custom has historical significance ! ” (Pla.xthausen’s
fallen into disuse since Mr. New wrote. note).
^ “ I saw to my great astonishment ^ A. Freiherr von Haxthausen,
that these pantomimes were the same Transkauhasia (Leipsic, 1856), i. 200
that may often be seen as a game also sq.
 \ OL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 235

The Ossetes of the Caucasus observe a similar custom. With Women

them also custom enjoins the strictest reserve on a young wife
until she has borne a child. then she may not exchange a
Till some
word with any one but her husband even with her parents and time after
;

brothers and sisters she speaks only in pantomime. But as soon marnage-
as she has given birth to a child, or, if she remains childless, after
four years she is completely emancipated from the rule of silence.^
Among the South Slavs it is said that in old times a bride wore
her veil till the birth of her first child, and that all this time she
did not speak to her father-in-law or mother-in-law.^ In Albania it
is contrary to all good manners for a bride to chat with her husband

in presence of others, even of her husband’s parents, until she has

given birth to a child.^ Elsewhere we meet with similar rules of
prolonged silence imposed on brides without mention of the relief
afforded by the birth of a child. Thus we read that among the
Abchasses of the Western Caucasus a bride speaks with no one for
some months after her marriage then she begins to converse with
;

the younger members of the household and of the village, afterwards

with older people, and last of all with her father-in-law and mother-
in-law.'* Another traveller in the Caucasus says that for a year
from the day of her marriage a Tartar bride is not allowed to speak
a word louder than a whisper, not even with her own parents ; but
after the lapse of a year a feast is held, and then she recovers the
full use of her tongue.® In the island of Peru, one of the Gilbert
Group in the South Pacific, it was a custom “ to prohibit a married
woman, for years after marriage, from looking at or speaking to any
one but her husband. When she went anywhere she covered
herself up with a mat, made on purpose, and which w'as so folded
in Corean style as to leave but a small hole in front for her to see
the road before her. Any man observing her coming along would
get out of the way till she passed. Any deviation from the rule
would lead to jealousy and its revengeful consequences.”** In
Sardinia a similar custom of silence used to be imposed on lovers
before marriage, as we learn from the following account “ The :

process of courtship in Sardinia was until a few' years ago carried

on in an exceptionally singular manner. The lovers were not
permitted to meet either privately or in society, and if a meeting
should accidentally occur, they recognised each other as distant
acquaintances, neither shaking hands nor holding converse together.
The only communication betw'een them w'as conducted through the
medium of the deaf and dumb alphabet, the lady performer
‘ ’

’ Von Haxthausen, Transkaukasia, ^ N. V. Seidlitz (Tiflis), “ Die

ii. 23. Abchasen,” Globus, Ixvi. (1894) p- 41.
S. Krauss, Sitte und Branch
2 F. “ Edmund Spencer, Travels in
der Siidslaven (Vienna, 1885), p. 450. Circassia (London, 1837), ii. 138.
^ J. G. von Hahn, Alba 7 tesische ® G. Turner, Aawoa (London, 1884),
Studien (Jena, 1854), i. 147. p. 298.
 236 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. i

hanging over the balcony, or half hidden by the curtain of her

room, and the gentleman standing below ; this process was con-
tinued very often for several hours, the rapidity and dexterity, as
also the patience and perseverance, exhibited on these occasions
being truly marvellous. Courtship after this fashion has been
known to be protracted for years.” ^
Young In the preceding cases the young wife, though she is forbidden
wives for-
to converse with other people, is allowed to speak to her husband.
bidden to
speak with But in some African tribes she may not even do this. Thus among
their the VVabemba, to the west of Lake Tanganyika, “a young married
husbands.
woman refuses at first to speak and especially to eat in presence
of her husband. This situation is prolonged in proportion to the
high rank of the husband. The observation of this respectful
silence is called kusimbila. However, there is something artful in
the silence, for the husband must give his wife a present (kusikula)
to untie her tongue. Sometimes, indeed often, the present is
not enough and must be repeated twice or thrice. This is called
kuliatiaD- Similarly, among the Wahorohoro “in the early days
of marriage the wife remains absolutely dumb in presence of her
husband ]
and just as among the Wabemba the husband must
^
give her a present in order to hear her voice.”
The silence What is the meaning of the rule of silence thus imposed on
imposed lovers before marriage or on brides after it ? The example of the
on women
tribes of South-West Victoria supplies at least a possible explanation;
after
marriage for among them husband and wife always belonged to tribes speak-
has prob- ing different languages, the pair continued to speak each his and
ably its
her own language even after marriage, and both before marriage
root in
some super- and for two months after it they were forbidden to converse with
stition. each other at all.'* Thus it is suggested that the enforced silence
may be only a formal acknowledgment of the difference of language
between husband and wife and the consequent difficulty which they
have in communicating with each other. In support of this
explanation it might perhaps be urged that the custom in question
appears to be especially prevalent among the peoples of the
Caucasus, who belong to many different races and speak many
different tongues, and amongst whom therefore it may often happen
that husband and wife are unable to speak or understand each
other’s languages. Yet it seems very doubtful whether this ex-
planation suffices for all the instances I have cited. How, for
example, can it be supposed to apply to the Gilbert Islands in the
South Pacific, where probably no speech but Polynesian was ever
heard till the advent of Europeans ? More probably the silence of

' and its Rc-

R. Tennant, Sardinia graphiques sur quelqucs Peuplades da
sources (Rome and London, 1885), p. Tanganika (Brussels, 1905), pp. 17 sq.
232. * Ch. Delhaise, op. cit. p. 36.
“ Ch. Delhaise, Notes ethno- * See above, vol. i. pp. 466-468.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 237

the wife till her first child is born rests on some superstitious belief
touching her first pregnancy which as yet we do not understand.
This view is to a certain extent confirmed by the parallel rule of Parallel
silence which many peoples impose on widows, and sometimes on
widowers, for a considerable time after their bereavement ; for there observed
is clear evidence that the silence of the widow or widower springs by widows,

from a superstitious fear of attracting the dangerous attentions of

the ghost of the deceased spouse.^ But if a widow is tongue-tied
by superstition, so may be the wife, though the particular super-
stition may be different. In the Warramunga tribe of Central
Australia the custom of silence after a death is observed by many
other women besides the widow ; all the time they are under the
ban, these women converse silently with each other on their fingers,
and become so expert in the gesture language and so accustomed
to it that some of them never resume the use of their tongue, but
prefer to talk on their fingers, hands, and arms for the rest of their
days .2 Thus the substitution of the gesture language for speech
occurs among some races at three of the most important periods of
a woman’s career, at her wooing, her early v/edded life, and her
widowhood. Probably in all three cases the motive for conduct so
opposed to the natural instincts of women is superstition.
P. 64. Amongst the Caribs the language of the men differed to
—
some extent from that of the women. This remiarkable peculiarity
is shared by several other South American languages, though it has

been oftenest noted among the Caribs.^ The differences between

^ See the evidence collected by me Christophe, la Guadeloupe, de la
de
in my note, “The Silent Widow,” in Martinique auires dans P Anieriqtie
et
Transactiojis of the Third International (Paris, 1654), p. 462; De Rochefort,
Congress for the History of Religions Histoire naturelle et morale des Antilles
(Oxford, 1908), i. 256-258. To the (Rotterdam, 1665), pp. 349 sq. De
;

examples there cited I will add another la Borde, “Relation de I’origine,

from the Indians of California ; mceurs, coustumes, religion, guerres
“Around Auburn, a devoted widow et voyages des Caraibes, sauvages des
never speaks, on any occasion or upon Isles Antilles de I’Amerique,” in
any pretext, for several months, some- Recueil de divers voyages fails en
times a year or more, after the death of Afrique et e>i P Amerique qui n’ont
her husband. Of this singular fact I point este encore ptibliez (Paris, 1684),
had ocular demonstration. Elsewhere, pp. 4, 39 ;
Rabat, Nouveau Voyage
as on the American River, she speaks aux Isles de P Atnerique, Nouvelle
only in a whisper for several months ” Edition (Paris, 1742), vi. 127 sq., 129 ;
(S. Powers, Tribes of California, p. Lafitau, Moeurs des sauvages ameri-
327)- quains (Paris, 1724), i. 55 A. von
;

Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes

^ Humboldt, Reise in die Aq^mioctial-
of Central Australia, pp. 500 ry. ; id.. Gege 7iden des netien Continents, in
Northern Tribes of Central Australia, deutscher Bearbeitung, von H. Hauff
pp. 525 sq. (Stuttgart,1874), iv. 204 sq. ; F. A.
^ As to the
differences between the Ober, Camps ui the Caribbees (Edin-
modes of speech of men and women in burgh, 1880), pp. 100 sq. ; J. N. Rat,
the Carib language see J. B. du Tertre, “The Carib Language as now spoken in
Histoire ge 7 ierale des Isles de S. Dominica, West Indies,” fownal of the
 —
238 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Difference the speech of the sexes in these tribes extend both to the vocabulary
oflanguage and to the grammatical terminations. How they are to be explained
between
men and
is uncertain. They appear not to correspond at all to the differences
women. which have been observed between the speech of men and women
in some Caffre languages for whereas the Caffre differences are
;

based on a superstitious avoidance of certain words and syllables by

the women and vary from one woman to another,^ there is no
evidence that the American differences originate in that way, and
they seem to be constant for all the men and women of a tribe. I
have conjectured that differences between the speech of the sexes,
such as we find in South America, but hardly, if at all, anywhere
else,^ may account for the origin of grammatical gender in language,
feminine terminations perhaps representing the speech of women
and masculine terminations the speech of men.® But it cannot be
said that there is much evidence to support the hypothesis.

Australian P. 64. Native Australian traditions as to the origin of these

tradition of
y^rious tribal divisions. —
“ The aborigines of the northern parts
of Victoria say that the world was created by beings whom they
Eaglehawk call Nooralk —
beings that existed a very long time ago. They
and Crow ^ame a man who is very old Nooralpily. They believe that the
classes"'°'^^
beings who created all things had severally the form of the Crow
and the Eagle. There was continual war between these two beings,
but peace was made at length. They agreed that the Murray
blacks should be divided into two classes the Mak-quarra or —
Eaglehawk, and the Kil-parra or Crow. The conflict that was
waged between the rival powers is thus preserved in song :

Anthropological histitute, xxvii. (1898), liens,” Zeitscli 7 'ift fur Ethnologie, xxvi.

pp. 311 sq.\ C. Sapper, “ Mittel- (1894), pp. 23-50; Th. Koch, “Die
americanische Caraiben,” Internatio- Guaikuru-Gruppe,” Mitteilungen der
nales Archiv fiir Ethnographie, x. anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien
(1897), pp. 57 sq. As to other (1903), pp. i6 sq.

South American languages in which 1 See The Golden Bough, Second

analogous differences between the Edition, i. 413 sq.
speech of men and women have been 2 In the Tenggerese language,
observed, see Dobrizhoffer, Historia de spoken in the Tenger mountains ot
Abiponibus (Vienna, 1784), ii. 193; Eastern Java, the women say Ingsum
F. de Azaia, Voyages dans T Amirique and the men say Reang for “I,” the
miridionale (Paris, 1809), ii. 106 sq. ; first personal pronoun singular. See
A. d’Orbigny, DHomnie ani^j-icam J. H. F. Kohlbrugge, “ Die Teng-
(Paris, 1839), i. iSSAn I 35 163
,
R- gAesen, ein alter javanische Volks-
Schomburgk, Reisenin Britisch-Guiana stamm,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- La^id-
(Leipsic, 1847-1848), i. 227; C. F. en Volltenkunde van Nederlandsch-
Phil, von Martius, Beitrdge zur Ethno- Indic, liii. (1901) p. 94.
graphie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas, ® J. G. Frazer, “ A Suggestion as to
zumal Brasiliens, i. (Leipsic, 1867), the Origin of Gender in Language,”
pp. 106 sq., 704; P. Ehrenreich, The Fortnightly Review, January
“ Materialien zur Sprachenkunde Brasi- 1900, pp. 79-90.
 ;

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 239

Thinj-ami balkec mako ;

Knee strike Crow ;

Nato-panda Kambe-ar tona

Spear father of him.

The meaning of which is Strike the Crow on the knee

:
‘
I will ;

spear his father.’ The war was maintained with great vigour for a
length of time. The Crow took every possible advantage of his
nobler foe, the Eagle ;
but the latter generally had ample revenge
for injuries and Out of their enmities and final agreement
insults.
arose the two classes, and thence a law governing marriages amongst
^
these classes.”
This tradition is notable because it relates that the division
of a tribe into two exogamous classes, Eaglehawk and Crow,
arose through of two hostile beings.
the The
reconciliation
division of a tribe intotwo classes Miikwara (^Mak-qiiarra) and
Kilpara {Kilparrd) extended over a great part of New South
Wales.^ The account of their origin which I have just quoted
shews that the names mean Eaglehawk and Crow respectively ; so
that this large group of tribes must be added to those whose
exogamous classes or phratries are named after animals.® The
natives of the Lower Darling River had a tradition that their
ancestor arrived on the banks of the river, which were then unin-
habited, with two wives called respectively Mukwara (Mookwara)
and Kilpara (Keelpara) that the sons of Mukwara took to wife the
;

daughters of Kilpara, and that the children of the marriage, taking

their names from their mothers, were called Kilparas while con- ;

versely the sons of Kilpara took to wife the daughters of Mukwara,

and the children of the marriage, taking their name from their
mothers, were called Mukwaras. Afterwards, so runs the tradition,
the two classes were subdivided, the Mukwaras into Kangaroos and
Opossums, and the Kilparas into Emus and Ducks and henceforth, ;

for man
example, a Kilpara of the Emu subdivision could not
marry any Mukwara woman indiscriminately, but only such as
belonged to the proper subdivision. That, the natives said, was
the origin of their exogamous classes and subclasses, and of the
laws which regulated their marriage ever afterwards. In this
tradition the origin of the subclasses is explained, with great
probability, by a subdivision of each of the original classes. The
old law which divided the Woiworung tribe into two classes, Eagle-
hawk and Crow, was said to have been brought by the wizards from
Bunjil, the headman in the sky.®

' R. Brough Smyth, The Aborigines N. Lockhart, cited by E. M. Curr,

of Victoria, i. 423 sq. The Australian Race, ii. 165 sq.
^ See above, ® A. W. Howitt, “ On some Aus-
vol. i. pp. 380-392.
® See above, vol. i.p. 417. tralian 'BeXitk,” Journal of the Anthro-
^ The tradition is reported by C. G. pological Instittite, xiii. (1884) p. 195.
 240 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. 1

In regard to the diffusion of exogamous classes named after

the eagle-hawk and the crow, it is to be observed that they are
found in at least two other tribes (the Ngarigo and Wolgal tribes of
South-Eastern New South Wales), whose native names for the two
Theory of birds are quite different.^ Arguing from the wide distribution of
a racial exogamous classes named after the eagle-hawk and crow in South-
difference
East Australia, and also from the native myths and superstitions
between
the Eagle- which cluster round the birds, the Rev. John Mathew suggested
hawk and that “the eaglehawk and the crow represent two distinct races of
Crow
classes.
men which once contested for the possession of Australia, the taller,
more powerful and more fierce ‘eaglehawk’ race overcoming and
in places exterminating the weaker, more scantily equipped sable
‘
crows.’ But there seems to be no sufficient evidence of any
racial distinction between the exogamous divisions of the Australian
aborigines ; and, as I have already pointed out, it appears to be
far more probable that these divisions arose by subdivision than by
amalgamation.^
P. 67. Bengal
In Mr. Risley
. . . and liis coadjutors
. . .

have found no tribe with female descent, etc. In the text I refer —
to the Kasias (Khasis) of Assam as an exception which appeared
to have escaped the attention of (Sir) H. H. Risley. But I was in
error. Although Assam, the home of the Khasis, was included in
Bengal when Col. Dalton composed his Descriptive Ethnology op
Be?igal, it had ceased to belong to it before Sir Herbert Risley
wrote. Hence the mother-kin of the Khasis formed no exception
to the general proposition laid down by him as to the universal
prevalence of father-kin in Bengal. My mistake was courteously
corrected by Sir Herbert Risley.^
P. 69. In some Australian tribes sons take their totem from their
father and daughters from their mother. This statement is not —
well founded and is probably quite incorrect. As to the Dieri I
was m.isled by a statement of S. Gason, who appears to have been
in error on this point.® As to the Ikula or Morning Star tribe the
account in the text has not been repeated by Dr. A. W. Howitt in
hisbook and is probably erroneous.®
P. 71. A transition from female to male descent. —Amongst
the Melanesians who practise the system of mother-kin or female
descent. Dr. Codrington has recorded some customs which seem to
mark a transition to father-kin or male descent. The customs in
question are observed at the birth of a first-born son. “ At Araga,
As to Bunjil see A. W. Howitt, Native Aborigines (London, 1899), p. 19.
Iribes of South-East Australia, ^ See above, vol. i. pp. 282 sqq.
pp.
sqq. ^ See also above, vol. ii. p. 318,
489
See above, vol. i. pp. 393 sq.
t note
Rev. John Mathew, Eaglehawk
^ ® See above, vol. i. p.
345 note *.
and Crow, a Study of the Australian ® See above, vol. i. p.
473, note^.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 241

Pentecost Island, a first-born son remains ten days in the house in Transition
which he was born, during which time the father’s kinsmen take
food to the mother. On the tenth day they bring nothing, but the [^°father^-"
father gives them food and mats, which count as money, in as kin effected
great quantity as he can afford. They, the kin of the father and buying

therefore not kin of the infant, on that day perform a certain

ceremony called huhuni they lay upon the infant’s head mats mother's
\

and the strings with which pigs are tied, and the father tells them family,
that he accepts this as a sign that hereafter they will feed and help
his son. There is clearly in this a movement towards the patriarchal
system, a recognition of the tie of blood through the father and of
duties that follow from it. Another sign of the same advance of
the father’s right is to be seen in the very different custom that
prevails in the Banks’ Islands on the birth of a first-born son ; there
is raised upon that event, a noisy and playful fight, vagalo, after
which the father buys off the assailants with payment of money to
the other veve,^ to the kinsmen that is of the child and his mother.
It is hardly possible to be mistaken in taking this fight to be
a ceremonial, if playful, claim of the mother’s
assertion of the
kinsfolk to the child as one of themselves, and the father’s payment
to be the quieting of their claim and the securing of his own
position as head of his own family.” In both these cases the
members of the father’s class (veve) establish a claim to the child by
making presents to the members of the mother’s class, to whom the
boy belongs by birth ; not to put too fine a point on it, they buy
the child from his kinsmen. In short the transition from mother-
kin to father-kin is here made very simply by purchase. Similarly
among the Sakalava of Madagascar, “ the marriage feast being over,
the young husband, in order to secure an absolute right to his wife
and the first child, but especially the child, makes a present of an
o.x to his wife’s parents, and a further present of four yards of cloth

or a large bag of rice to each of her nearest relatives. These must

be presented before his wife gives birth to her first child, as they
are regarded as the payment necessary to secure the child for
himself, and if not made in proper time, he loses his right to be
considered the father of the child, which then belongs to his
®
father-in-law and mother-in-law.”
1 It may be remembered that in the stones, clods, or anything hard that
Banks’ Islands the people are divided comes to hand. After exchanging
into two exogamous classes, each of some shrewd knocks they separate
which is called a veve. See vol. ii. with laughter and jests. See R.
pp. 69 jy. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in der Siidsee
^ R. II. Codrington, T/ie Melan- (Stuttgart, 1907), pp. 269 sq. Per-
esians (Oxford, 1891), pp. 230 sq. haps these sham fights may be a relic
In New Ireland the birth of a first- of contests between the father’s clan
born child is celebrated by sham fights and the mother’s clan for possession of
between men and women, the men the child.
armed with cudgels, the women with ^ A. Walen, “ The Sakalava,” The
VOL. IV R
 —
242 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Blood- P. 72. Smearing bride and bridegroom with each other’s blood.
covenant This custom is practised by the Birhors, a hill tribe of the Munda
husband Stock in India. At marriage “ the only ceremony is drawing blood
and wife at from the little fingers of the bridegroom and bride, and with this
marriage, tilak is given to each by marks made above the clavicle.” ^
Among the Basutos, on the morning after the consummation of the
marriage the medicine-man scratches husband and wife on the
inner side of the elbow, hand, foot, and knee, takes the blood
from the husband’s wounds and smears it on the wounds of his
wife, and similarly takes the wife’s blood and smears it on the
wounds of her husband.^ Similarly among the Herero at marriage
the mother of the bridegroom makes some cuts with a knife in the
thighs of both the wedded pair, and rubs the man’s blood over the
woman’s cuts and the woman’s blood over the man’s.^ Such
customs are clearly examples of the common ceremony known as
the blood-covenant, whereby people are made of one blood in the
most literal sense by putting some of the blood of each into the
body of the other. But it is obvious that such a rite may be used
just as well to transfer the husband to the wife’s clan as to transfer
the wife to the husband’s ;
hence it might serve as a stepping-stone
from father-kin to mother-kin quite as easily as a stepping-stone
from mother-kin to father-kin. We cannot, therefore, assume,
wherever we find the ceremony, that it is practised with the inten-
tion of altering the line of descent, still less that it is intended to
alter it in one direction only, namely from maternal descent to
paternal descent.
In some parts of Polynesia, curiously enough, it was the blood
of the mothers of the married pair which was mingled at marriage.
“ On some occasions, the female relatives cut their faces and brows
with the instrument set with shark’s teeth, received the flowing blood
on a piece of native cloth, and deposited the cloth, sprinkled with
the mingled blood of the mothers of the married pair, at the feet
of the bride.” ^

P. 72. If the husband gives nothing, the children of the

marriage belong to the wife’s family. —
One of the commonest, as
it is one of the easiest, modes of effecting a change of descent

from the maternal to the paternal line would seem to be the

purchase of the wife for when she has been bought and paid for,
•,

any children whom she may bear are, in virtue of that payment.
Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar pologie, Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte,
Magazine, No. 8 (Christmas, 1884), iSyj, p. 77 (appended to the Zeitschrift
PP- 53 ^1 - fiir Etlmologie, ix. ).

^
E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Eth- ^ J. Irle, Die Herero (Giitersloh,
nology of Bengal, p. 220. 1906), p. 154.
2 H. Griitzner, “ Uber die Ge- * W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches,
brauche der Basutho,” Ve 7 'handlungcn Second Edition, i. (London, 1832) p.
der Berlmcr Gesellschaft fiir Anthro- 272.
VOL. 1 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 243

regarded as the property of the purchaser, her husband, whether he Change

is the actual father of the children or not. Thus for example with from
maternal
regard to the natives of the Lower Congo we read “ a few other to paternal
examples of native manners and customs may be of interest. I descent

will give one concerning inheritance, which is rather curious. It (from

mother-
has already been said that descent is reckoned through females kin to ;

the meaning of this may not be clear to all. If a man die, the father-kin)
bulk of his property goes to his sister’s son, not to his son ; the effected by
purchasing
reason being that of the blood-relationship of the nephew there can the wife
be no doubt, but the descent of the son may be questioned. The and with
nephew is, therefore, looked on as a nearer relative than the son, her the
children.
and he is the heir, and should he die, more grief is felt than in the
case of the son. A
strange exception is made when a man marries
a slave of his the son then ranks first in this case, as the natives
:

say that he is not only presumably the next-of-kin by birth, but also
by purchase, as the mother belonged to the father.” ^ Similarly
among the Kimbunda “ sons begotten in marriage are regarded as
the property, not of their father, but of their maternal uncle ; and
their own father, even so long as they are minors and under his
protection, has no power over them. Also the sons are not the
heirs of their father but of their uncle, and the latter can dispose of
them with unlimited authority, even to the extent of selling them
in case of necessity. Only the children born of slave women are
regarded as really the property of their father and are also his
heirs.” ^
A similar distinction between the children of a wife who has Custom of
been paid for and the children of a wife who has not been paid for purchasing
wife and
seems to prevail widely among the peoples of the Indian Archi- children in
pelago ; there, also, the children of a purchased wife belong to the the Indian
father, but the children of an unpaid-for wife belong to herself and Archi-
pelago.
to her family. Thus among the Alfoors or aborigines of Halmahera,
when the bridal price has not been paid, the wife continues to live
in her parents’ house ; the impecunious husband takes up his abode
with them, and all his services go to the advantage of his wife. But as
soon as he has paid the price, his wife becomes his legal property
and he may either take her to live with his own parents or set up
an independent household of his own. Further, we are told, “ the
conception of legal property is extended also to the children.
Those whom he begets by the woman before the payment of the

’
R. C. Phillips, “The Lower as far as Kinsembo ” {ibid. p. 214).
Congo, a Sociological Study,” Journal Compare A. Bastian, Die deutsche
of the Anthropological Institute, xvii. Expedition an der Loango-Kiiste, i.

(1888) pp. 229 sq. The parts of 165.

Africa referred to in this paper are ^ Ladislaus Magyar, Reisen in Siid-
“ the Congo River, from about Vivi Afrika in den Jahren iSqg bis iSpJ
downwards to the mouth, and the coast (Buda-Pesth and Leipsic, 1859), p.
northwards to Loango, and southwards 284.
 244 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

do not belong to the father, but are the property

bridal price {besi)
of the mother.”^ So in Ceram, if a man has not paid for his wife
he lives in her house as a member of her family and the children
remain with her parents.^ In the Timor Laut islands, also, so
long as the bridal price is not fully paid, the wife has the right
to stay with her parents and is not completely subject to her
husband. It is a great advantage to him to pay the price of
his wife in full before she bears a child, for he thus obtains entire
power over her and a right to all her children.^ Similarly among
the Battas of Sumatra, if a man cannot pay for his wife he goes
to live with her family and works for them till he is able to
discharge the debt. Sometimes he stays with them till a daughter
of his is grown up and given in marriage ; whereupon with the sum
of money he receives for her he pays the debt which he has
long owed for her mother, his wife. But should he never succeed
in meeting the obligations he incurred at marriage, then when
he dies the children belong to the mother or, if she is dead, to her
family.^
Effect of Thus it seems probable that in communities organised on the
wealth in
system of mother-kin a general increase of wealth may tend to
promoting
the change promote a change to father-kin, and that in two ways, both by
from supplying a motive for the change and by furnishing the means to
mother-kin For the more property a man owns the more anxious he
effect it.
to father-
kin. will be to bequeath it to his children, and the easier it will be for
him to do so by compensating those who under the system of
mother-kin would have been the rightful heirs.

In the Pp. 72 sq . —
The couvade ... is perhaps a fiction intended to
customs
which have
transfer to the father those rights over the children, etc. This —
view, though it has been held by Bachofen and other authorities of
been called
couvade repute, is almost certainly erroneous. It rests on what seems to be
there is
For it assumes that the custom
a misinterpretation of the facts.
no good
evidence consists of a simulation of childbirth by the father in order that he
that the may acquire those rights over his children which under a former
father pre-
system of mother-kin had been possessed by the mother and her
tends to
have given family alone. But of such a custom not a single well-authenticated
birth to the instance, so far as I know, has been adduced.^ The ancient Greek

1 C. F. H. Campen, “ De Alfoeren landsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap,

van Halemahera,” Tijdschrift voor Tweede Serie, Deel iii. Afdeeling,
Nederlandsch Indie, April 1883, pp. Meer uitgebreide Artikelen, No. 3
286 sq. (Amsterdam, 1886), p. 472.
2
J. G. F. Riedel, De sliiik- en ^
For examples of the couvade see
kroesharige Kassen tiisschen Selebes en especially E. B. Tylor, Researches into
Papua, 132.
p. the Early History of Mankind, Third
3 Edition (London, 1878), pp. 291x^7.
J. G. F. Riedel, op. cit. p. 301. ;

4
T- B. Neumann, “ Het Pane- en H. Ploss, Das Kind in Branch und
Bila- Stroomgebied op het eiland Sitte der Volker, Zweite Auflage (Leip-
Sumatra,” Tijdschrift van het Neder- sic, 1884), ii. 143J77.;
H. Ling Roth,
 '

VOI-. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 245

poet Apollonius Rhodius did indeed affirm that among the Tibareni child for

of Pontus, when a woman had been delivered of a child, her

husband lay groaning in bed with his head bandaged, while his wife °ng^those"
prepared food and baths for him as if he had been the mother.^ rights over
The custom so described is most naturally interpreted as an which
imitation of childbirth enacted by the husband. But there is no
evidence or probability that the poet had seen the ceremony which been en-
he describes. It is more likely that he had only heard of it at joyed by
second hand and misinterpreted it, as many people have mis-
interpreted similar customs since his time. Again, speaking of the
Californian Indians, H. H. Bancroft says that “ a curious custom
prevails, which is, however, by no means peculiar to California.
When child-birth overtakes the wife, the husband puts himself to
bed, and there grunting and groaning he affects to suffer all the
agonies of a woman in labor. Lying there, he is nursed and tended
for some days by the women as carefully as though he were the
actual sufferer.” ^ In this description the statement that the
husband “grunting and groaning affects to suffer all the agonies of
a woman in labor ” is probably a pure addition of the writer, who
compiled his account at second hand and does not pretend to have
seen what he describes. Of the two authorities whom he cites in
support of his description one at least says nothing about a simula-
tion of childbirth by the husband.^ Again, in one of the earliest
accounts of the custom it is said that as soon as his wife has been
delivered of a child, the Carib husband “ takes to his bed, complains,
and acts like a woman in childbed.” And still more emphatically
Du Tertre tells us that in these circumstances the Carib husband,
“ as if the pain of the wife had passed into the husband, begins to

“ On the Signification of Couvade,” or stretched out at full length under a

Journal of the Anthropological Institute^ tree, affecting to be extremely weak
xxii. (1893) pp. 204-241 E. S. ;
and ill.”
* “
Hartland, The Legend of Perseus, ii. Relation de FOrigine, Moeurs,
(London, 1895) pp. 400-41 1. I have Coustumes, Religion, Guerres et
made a large collection of evidence on Voyages des Caraibes Sauvages des
this subject, but must reserve it for Isles Antilles de I’Amerique, faite par
another work. le Sieur de la Borde, employe a la

' Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, Conversion des Caraibes, estant avec

le R. P. Simon Jesuite,” printed in
ii. 1011-1014. The expression used
by the poet 'Koerpa Xe^uiia, “ child-bed Recueil de Divers Voyages fails en
baths,” clearly implies that in the
Af-ique et en P Amerique, qui n'ont
poet’s mind the man was treated point esti encore publiez (Paris, 1684), p.
as a
mother. 32. De la Borde’s full description of
the custom (pp. 32-34) agrees closely
^ H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of
with that of Du Tertre (see the next
the Pacific States, i. 391. note) and may be the original of it.
^ M. Venegas, Natural and Civil We are not informed when De la
History of California (London, 1759), Borde served as a missionary among
i. 82. All that Venegas says of the the Caribs and wrote his description of
husband is that he “ lay in his cave. them.
 246 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

complain and to utter loud cries, just as if the child had been torn
from his belly in small pieces.” ^ Yet even these expressions may
only be the interpretation of the civilised observer ; they do not
necessarily imply that the father actually pretended to play the
part of the mother. This has been rightly remarked by Professor
E. B. Tylor, who says with justice: “Nor is there much in these
practices which can be construed as a pretence of maternity made
by the father.” ^
The sup- Thus no sufficient evidence has been adduced to shew that the
posed pre-
couvade involves a simulation of childbirth on the part of the
tence of
childbirth father , the theory that it does so appears to be supported neither
by the by the practice nor by the statements of the natives themselves ; it
father
is to all appearance an unwarranted assumption made by civilised
appears
to be a persons who misunderstood what they saw or read about. The
mistake of assumption and the misunderstanding are embodied in the German
observers.
name
1
for the custom, das Marinerkindbett.
Moreover, But if the couvade, so far as is known, does not imply any
the cou-
pretence of maternity on the part of the father, it can hardly be
vade is
practised explained as an attempt to secure for the father under a system of
by people father-kin those rights over the children which had previously been
who have
enjoyed by the mother under a system of mother-kin. That ex-
mother-
kin; how planation appears indeed not only to be unsupported by the facts
then can but actually to conflict with them. For according to it the custom
it be a
should be found only among peoples who are either passing out of
transition
to father- a system of mother-kin or have actually reached a system of father-
kin? kin ; whereas on the contrary some of the best attested examples of
the custom occur among tribes who have mother-kin only. To
quote Prof. Tylor again “ Still more adverse to Bachofen’s notion,
:

is the fact that these Macusis [who practise the couvade], so far

from reckoning the parentage as having been transferred to the

father by the couvade, are actually among the tribes who do not
reckon kinship on the father’s side, the child belonging to the
mother’s clan. So among the Arawacs, though the father performs
the couvade, this does not interfere with the rule that kinship goes
by the mother.” ^ On the whole, Bachofen’s theory that the couvade
is a fiction intended to effect a transition from mother-kin to father-

J. B. du Tertre, Histoire Generale Seconde Edition (Rotterdam, 1665),

des Isles de S. Christophe, de la was probably copied either from De
Guadelozipe, de la Martinique el autres la Borde or from Du Tertre’s earlier
dans r Amerique (Paris, 1654), pp. work. His language seems to agree
4 1 2-4 1 5. This account was after- more closely with that of De la Borde ;

wards repeated by Du Tertre in his thus he uses the same phrase '‘faire
Histoire Generale des Antilles, pub- r accouche" “to act like a woman in
lished at Paris in 1667, from which it childbed.”
is commonly quoted by writers on the 2 E. B. Tylor, Researches into the
couvade. The account of the custom Early History of Manhind, Third
given by Rochefort in his Histoire Edition (London, 1878), p. 298.
3
Naturelle et Morale des lies Antilles, E. B. Tylor, l.c.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 247

kin may be safely set aside not only as unproved but as inconsistent
with the facts.
The true explanation of the actually observed couvade has been The
given by Professor E. B. Tylor/ and after him by Mr. E. S. customs
Hartland.2 In fact the custom is merely one of the innumerable yade'are'^'
cases of sympathetic magic. The father believes that there exists an appli-
between him and his child a relation of such intimate physical cation of
sympathy that whatever he does must simultaneously affect his
offspring for example, if he
, exerts himself violently, the child will based on a
be fatigued ; if he eats food that disagrees with him, the child will supposed
be sick or have a pain in its stomach ;
and so on. This is not an
hypothesis. It is the actual belief of the savages, avowed by them sympathy
in the plainest language again and again, and it fully explains the between
custom. We right, therefore, to reject their testimony and
have no chiid"^
to substitute for their explanation another which, far from explain-
ing the facts, is actually contradicted by them.® The fact is that
what in this custom seems extravagantly absurd to us seems
perfectly simple and natural to the savage. The idea that
1 B. Tylor, Researches into the
E. transition-stage from the maternal to
Early History of Mankhid, Third the paternal form of society, proceeds
Edition (London, 1878), pp. 295 sqq. as follows: “They retain survivals of
He rightly explains the custom by the maternal stage but appear only
;

“ the opinion that the connexion recently to have adopted the paternal.
between father and child is not only, As if to emphasise the change and to
as we think, a mere relation of parent- show that the father has a direct
age, affection, duty, but that their very relation to his child, the father is
bodies are joined by a physical bond, represented as a second mother and
so that what is done to the one acts goes through the fiction of a mock-
directly upon the other” (pp. 295 sq.), birth, the so-called coiivade. He lies
and he speaks of the couvade being in bed for forty days, after the birth of
“sympathetic magic” (p. 298). In his child and during this period he is
;

this work Tylor justly rejected

Prof. fed as an invalid” (L. A. Waddell,
Bachofen’s theory of the couvade, “The Tribes of the Brahmaputra
assigning as his reasons for doing so Va.W&yl'’ Journal of the Asiatic Society
practically the same grounds which of Betigal, Ixix. Part iii. Calcutta, 1901,
I have put forward in the text. But p. 3). In this passage the sentence
he afterwards changed his mind and “ the father is represented as a second
accepted Bachofen’s view. See E. B. mother and goes through the fiction of
Tylor, “ On a Method of Investigat- a mock birth ” appears to be only Dr.
ing the Development of Institutions,” Waddell’s interpretation of the actual
Journal of the Anthropological Institute, custom which he describes in the next
xviii. (1889) pp. 254 sqq. sentence “ He lies in bed for forty
:

^ E. S. Hartland, The Legend of days, after the birth of his child ; and
Perseus, ii. 400 sqq. during this period he is fed as an
3 The theory of
the couvade as a invalid.” Therenothing in this to
is

mark of transition from mother - kin justify the description of thecustom as

to father-kin has now got into books “ the fiction of a mock birth.” Dr.
and through them into the minds of Waddell is indeed right in saying that
observers, who interpret the facts the custom proves a direct relation of
accordingly. For example Dr. L. A. the father to the child but he appears
;

Waddell, after remarking that the Miris to be wrong in assuming the relation
of the Brahmaputra valley' are in a to be maternal.
 ;

248 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Firm persons and things act on each other at a distance is as firmly

belief
of savages believed by him as the multiplication table or the law of gravita-
pafhai'c
Sympathetic magic and telepathy are fundamental
magic and axioms of his thinking he as little doubts them as we doubt that
;

telepathy, and two make four or that a stone unsupported will fall to
the ground. To him there is nothing extraordinary or exceptional
in the physical sympathy between a father and his newborn child
he believes that sympathy of exactly the same kind exists between
parted husband and wife, between friends at home and friends far
awayfishing, hunting, journeying, fighting ; and he not only holds
the belief in the abstract but acts on it for by the code of savage
j

morality friends and relations are required so to regulate their

conduct that their acts shall not injuriously affect the distant dear
ones. Nor is this bond of physical sympathy supposed to exist
merely between friends ; it equally joins enemies, and the malig-
nant arts of the sorcerer are based on it.^ All this is the merest
commonplace to the savage. The astonishment which customs like
the couvade have excited in the mind of civilised man is merely
a measure of his profound ignorance of primitive modes of thought.
Happily this ignorance is being gradually dissipated by a wider and
more exact study of savagery.
Simulation While there is, so far as I am aware, no good evidence that the
customs which have been classed under the head of couvade involve
bLt^h for
the purpose ^ simulation of childbirth practised for the purpose of giving a
of relieving father power over his children, such curious dramas have certainly

been acted by men at childbirth, but with an entirely different

of'h°r^"
travail- intention, namely, for the sake of relieving the real mother of her
pangs. pangs and transferring them, whether by sympathetic magic or
otherwise, to the pretended mother. The following instances will
make this clear. Among some of the Dyaks of Sarawak “ should
any difficulty occur in child delivery the manangs or medicine men
are called in. One takes charge of the proceedings in the lying-in
chamber, the remainder set themselves on the ruai or common
verandah. The }?ianang inside the room wraps a long loop of
cloth around the woman, above the womb. A vianang outside
wraps his body around in the same manner, but first places within
its fold a large stone corresponding to the position of the child

in the mother’s womb. A

long incantation is then sung by the
?nanangs outside, while the one within the room strives with all his
power to force the child downwards and so compel delivery. As
soon as he has done so, he draws down upon it the loop of cloth
and twists it tightly around the mother’s body, so as to prevent the
upward return of the child. A shout from him proclaims to his

* I have illustrated the principles of some length in The Golden Bough,

sympathetic magic, both in its benev- Second Edition, i. 9 sqq.
olent and in its malevolent aspect, at
 VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 249

companions on the ruai his success, and the manang who is for the
occasion personating the mother, moves the loop of cloth contain-
ing the stone which encircles his own body a stage downwards.
And so the matter proceeds until the child is born.” ^ Again, in
some parts of New Ireland, when a woman is in hard labour and a
compassionate man desires to aid her delivery, he does not, as we
might expect, repair to the bedchamber of the sufferer ; he betakes
himself to the men’s clubhouse, lies down, feigns to be ill, and
writhes in fictitious agony, whenever he hears the shrieks of the
woman in childbed. The other men gather round him and make
as if they would alleviate his pangs. This kindly meant farce lasts
till the child is born.^
In both these cases there is a deliberate simulation of child- The simu-
birth for the purpose of facilitating a real birth. In both cases the '‘ation of

mode of operation is sympathetic or imitative magic; the desired

effect is thought to be brought about by imitating it. But there performed
seems to be this distinction between them that in the first case the the

immediate object is to hasten the appearance of the child, in the mjiyl^e'per-

second it is to relieve the woman’s pangs by transferring them to formed by
the pretended mother. In both cases the pretended mother is a ^ stranger

man, but in neither is he the woman’s husband.

^
In the one he is ini3.gc.
, , , .

a medicine-man hired for the occasion ; in the other he is a com-

passionate neighbour who, touched with pity for the woman’s
sufferings, tries in the true spirit of chivalry to relieve her by taking
her heavy burden on himself. In Borneo an attempt is sometimes
made to shift the travail-pains to an image ; but the principle is
the same. A little wooden figure is carved lying down in a little
wooden house ; it is supposed to suffer the throes of maternity
vicariously.®
In other cases the same notion of vicarious suffering appears to Some-
be applied for the relief of women at the expense of their husbands, times, how-
Thus in Gujarat there is worshipped a certain Mother Goddess travail-
whose power “ is exerted in a remarkable way for the benefit of pains are
women after childbirth. Among a very low-caste set of basket- supposed
makers (called Pomla) it is the usual practice of a wife to go about transferred
her work immediately after delivery, as if nothing had happened, to the
The presiding Mata of the tribe is supposed to transfer her weak- woman’s
ness to her husband, who takes to his bed and has to be supported
with good nourishing food.”'* Again, in the Telugu-speaking
districts of Southern India there is a wandering tribe of fortune-

* F. W.
Leggatt, quoted by H. Ling Dajaken Sudost - Borneos bei der
Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and Geburt,” Globus, Ixxii. (1897) p. 270.
British North Borneo (London, 1896), One of these figures is now in the
i. 98 sq. Anthropological Museum at Berlin.
R. Parkinson, Dreissig Jahre in
^
Monier Williams, Religious Life
der Siidsee (Stuttgart, 1907), p. 189. and Thought in India (London, 1883),
® P'. Grabowsky, “ Gebrauche der p. 229.
 250 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

tellers, swine-herds, and mat-makers called Erukalavandlu. Among

them “ directly the woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs her
husband, who immediately
takes some of her clothes, puts them on,
places on his forehead the mark which the women usually place on
theirs, retires into a dark room, where there is only a very dim
lamp, and lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long
cloth. When the child is born, it is washed and placed on the cot
beside the father. Assafoetida, and other articles are then
given, not to the mother, but to the father. During the days of
ceremonial uncleanness the man is treated as the other Hindus
treat their women on such occasions. He is not allowed to leave
his bed, but has everything needful brought to him.” ^
This trans- This last custom has been cited as an example of the couvade ^ ;
ference of
but it appears to differ in two important respects from the couvade
pains to the
husband is as it is practised in South America. For whereas the South
quite a American couvade consists in a certain diet and regimen observed
different
by the father for the sake of his child, the South Indian couvade, if
custom
from what we may call it so, consists apparently in a simulation of childbirth
has been enacted by the husband for the sake of his wife. For in the light
called
of the preceding instances we may reasonably suppose that the
couvade.
intention of the South Indian custom is to relieve the wife by
transferring the travail-pains to her husband. If that is so, two
such different customs ought not to be confounded under the
common name and as the name of couvade may now
of couvade ;

by prescription be claimed for the South American custom,

fairly
that is, for the strict diet and regimen observed by a father for the
.sake of his child, another name should be found for the very
different South Indian custom, that is, for the pretence of child-
birth practised by the husband for the sake of his wife.
In Europe If any doubt remains in the reader’s mind as to whether the
also
South Indian husband who dresses in his wife’s clothes at child-
attempts
have often birth does so for the purpose of relieving her pains, the doubt will
been made probably be removed by comparing the similar customs still
to shift the
practised in Europe with that expressed intention. Thus in Ireland
pains of
“ there is also a way by which the pains of maternity can be trans-
childbirth
from the ferred from the woman to her husband. This secret is so jealously
mother to
guarded that a correspondent in the west of Ireland, who had been
the father.
Examples asked to investigate the matter, was at last obliged to report In :
‘

from regard to putting the sickness on the father of a child, that is a

Ireland.
well-known thing in this country, but after making every inquiry I
could not make out how it is done. It is strictly private.’ It
came out, however, in a chance conversation with a woman who,

* T//e Indian Antiquary, iii. (1874) the Anthropological Institute, xxii.

p. 150. (1893) p. 213; and by Mr. E. Thur-

^ By Mr. II. Ling Roth, “ On the ston,Ethnographic Notes in SotUhern
Signification of Couvade,” Jojtrtial of India (Madras, 1906), p. 548.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 25

when a child, had once been selected to wait upon a nurse on

such an occasion. At a critical moment the nurse hunted her ‘

out of the room,’ and then, taking the husband’s vest, she put it
upon the sick woman. The child had hid behind the door in the
next room and saw the whole operation, but was too far off to hear
the words which were probably repeated at the same time. It is
asserted by some that the husband’s consent must first be obtained,
but the general opinion is that he feels all the pain, and even cries
out with the agony, without being aware of the cause.” ^ The
account thus given by Mr. James Mooney, now a distinguished
member of the American Bureau of Ethnology, is confirmed by
other testimony. Thus the local doctor of Kilkeiran and Carna, in
South Connemara, reported in 1892 that a woman occasionally
wears the coat of the father of the expected child, “ with the idea
that he should share in the pains of childbirth ” ; ^ and similarly
Dr. C. R. Browne writes that in the counties of Tipperary and
Limerick “ women in childbirth often wear the trousers of the
father of [the] child round the neck, the effect of which is supposed
to be the lightening of the pains of labour. I have myself seen a
case of this in Dublin, about two years ago.”^
when a woman is in hard labour, it is an
Similarly in France, Attempts
husband’s trousers on her “in order that she shift the
old custom to put her
may bring forth without pain ” ; ^ and in Germany also they say
that it greatly facilitates a woman’s delivery in childbed if she draws from the
on her husband’s trousers.® Esthonian women have a different way mother to
* t h ci*
of accomplishing the same object. “ In the Werrosch a super-
France
stition prevails that a woman can greatly relieve the pains of child- Germany,
birth by drawing her husband into sympathy and making him a tmd
^^**toma.
sharer of these sufferings. This is effected in the following way.
On the marriage evening she gives him plenty of beer to drink
seasoned with wild rosemary {^Lediini palustre), that he may
fall into a deep sleep. While he lies in this narcotic
slumber, the woman must creep between his legs without his per-
ceiving it (for if he wakes up, all the good of it is lost), and in that
way the poor man gets his share of the future travail-pains.” Other
Esthonian women seek to transfer their maternal pangs to a cock
by killing the bird and pressing it, in the death-agony, to their
persons. In that way they believe that they shift the worst of the

^ James Mooney, “The Medical cit. p. 359.

Mythology of Ireland,” Proceedirtgs of J. K. Thiers, Traits des Super-
the Ame?'ican Philosophical Society, stitions (Paris, 1679), p. 327, “ Qitand
xxiv. (January to June, 1887) No. 125, tine femme est en mal d^ enfant, luyfaire
p. 146. mettre le haiit de chausse de son mari,
2 Quoted by Dr. A. C. Iladdon, “A afin qilelle accouche sans doulettr."
Batch of Irish Folk-lore,” Folk-lore, iv. ® J. W. 'F! o\{, Beitrdge zur deutschen
(1893) 357
P- - Mythologie, i. (Gottingen and Leipsic,
^ Quoted by Dr. A. C. Haddon, op. 1852) p. 251.
 ;

2^2 TOTE MISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

pain to the deceased chanticleer, reserving only an insignificant

Attempts portion of it for themselves.^ In Scotland similar attempts have
to shift the
been made to shift the pains of parturition to other people, whether
pains of
childbirth men or women, to animals and to things. In the year 1591 a lady
from the named Eufame Macalyane was tried for witchcraft, and among the
mother to
charges brought against her was that of resorting to enchantments
the father
in Scot- for the purpose of relieving her agonies in childbed. It seems that
land. with this intention she had placed a holed stone under her pillow,
had tied a paper of enchanted powder in her hair, and in the actual
throes had caused her husband’s shirt to be stripped from him,
folded, and placed under the foot of the bed. These nefarious
practices, we are informed, were so successful that at the birth of
her first son her sickness was cast upon a dog, which ran away and
was never seen again and on the birth of her last son her “ natural
;

and kindly pain was unnaturally cast upon the wanton cat in the
house, whilk likewise was never seen thereafter.” However, her
judges took good care that she never gave birth to another son
for they burned her alive on the Castle-hill at Edinburgh.^ Again,
when Queen Mary was brought to bed of her son, afterwards James
VI., in the Castle of Edinburgh, two other ladies, the Countess of
Athole and the Lady Reirres, were in the same condition at the
same time in the same place, and Lady Reirres complained “ that
she was never so troubled with no bairn that ever she bare, for the
Lady Athole had cast all the pain of her child-birth upon her.” ^
At Langholm in Dumfriesshire in the year 1772 the English
traveller Pennant was shewn the place where several witches had
suffered in the last century, and he adds “ This reminds me of a
;

very singular belief that prevailed not many years ago in these
parts ; nothing less than that the midwives had power of transferring
part of the primaeval curse bestowed on our great first mother, from
the good wife to her husband. I saw the reputed offspring of such
a labour ; who kindly came into the world without giving her
mother the least uneasiness, while the poor husband was roaring
with agony in his uncouth and unnatural pains.” ^
.Such Thus it appears that attempts to shift the pains of childbirth
attempts
from the mother to other persons or to animals, but especially
to transfer
the pains to the husband, have been made in many parts of the world, not
appear to least of all in Europe. The mode by which the shift is supposed
rest on the
to be effected appears to be a simple application of sympathetic
principle of

* Boecler-Kreutzwald, Der Ehsien the I have modernised the spell-

trials.
aherglaubische Gebrauche, lVeise 7i und ing. For other charges against Eufame
Gewolmheiten (St. Petersburg, 1854), Macalyane, see id. pp. 340-342.
3 G. Dalyell, op. cit.
pp. 47 sq. J. p. 132.
^
J. G. Dalyell, The Darker Super-
* Thomas Pennant, “A Tour in
stitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), Scotland, and Voyage to the Hebrides
pp. 130 sq., 133. The quotations in in 1772,” in Pinkerton’s Voyages and
the text are from the official records of Travels, iii. 21 1.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 253

magic ;
and the process belongs to that very numerous class of sympathetic
superstitions which I have called the transference of evil and have magic-

illustrated at some However, in

length elsewhere.^ regard to some
posjlbie
of the cases it may perhaps be doubted whether the dread of that a wish
demons and the wish to deceive them has not its share in the trans- deceive
ference. Certainly women in childbed are supposed to be peculiarly
obnoxious to the machinations of evil spirits, and many are the supposed
precautions adopted to repel or outwit these dangerous, though harass

invisible, enemies. It may, therefore^ be that the person, whether

childbed"
the husband or another, who dresses or acts as the mother at the may also
critical moment, is merely a dummy put up to draw the fire of the count for
devils, while the real patient steals a march on them by giving
birth to the child before they can discover the deceit that
has been practised on them and hasten back, with ruffled
temper, to the real scene of operations. For example, the Tagals
of the Philippines believe that women at childbirth are the
prey of two malignant spirits called Patianac and Osuang, who
hunt in couples, one of them appearing as a dwarf, the other as
a dog, a cat, or a bird. To protect women in their hour of
need against these dreaded foes the people resort sometimes to
craft, sometimes to intimidation, and sometimes to sheer physical
force. Thus they bung up the doors and windows to prevent
the ingress of the devils, till the poor patient is nearly stifled with
heat and stench. They light fires all round the hut ; they stuff
mortar-pieces with powder to the muzzle and let them off again
and again in the immediate neighbourhood of the sufferer;
and the husband, stark naked and armed to the teeth, mounts
the roof and there hews and slashes in the air like a man
demented, while his sympathising friends, similarly equipped with
swords, spears, and shields, and taking their time from him, attack
the demons with such murderous fury, laying about them not only
all round the house, but also underneath it (for the houses are

raised on posts), that it is a chance if the poor devils escape with a

whole skin from the cataract of cuts and thrusts. These are strong
measures. Yet they do not exhaust the resources of the Tagals in
their dealings with the unseen. Sometimes their mind misgives
them that the expectant mother may not be wholly safe even within
a ring of blazing fires and flashing swords so to put her out of
;

harm’s way, when the pains begin, they will sometimes carry the
sufferer softly into another house, where the devils, they hope, will
not be able to find her.^
For the same purpose the nomadic Turks of Central Asia beat

1 The Golden Bough, 'S>% q.ovAY^C\'C\ox\, und die Anschauungen der

religiosen
iii. 1-134. Malaien des Philippinen-Archipels,”
Alittheilungen der Wiener geogi-aph-
^ F. Blumentritt, “ Der Ahnencultus ischen Gesellschajt, 1882, pp. 178 sq.
 •

254 TOTE MISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Protecting with sticks on the outside of a tent where a woman lies in childbed^
women in
and they shriek, howl, and fire off their guns continually to drive
childbed
from away the demon who is tormenting her. If the pains still continue
demons. after the child is born, they resort to a number of devices for putting
an end to them. Thus they cause a horse with large bright eyes
to touch the bosom of the sufferer in order to repel the devil, and
for the same purpose they bring an owl into the tent and oblige it
to hoot, or they put a bird of prey on her breast. Sometimes they
pepper the woman with gooseberries, in the hope that the devil
will stick to them and so drop off from her, or they burn the berries
for the purpose of chasing him away with the foul smell. And for
a like reason they bury a sword in the ground, edge upwards, under
the place where the poor suffering head is lying ; or a bard rushes
into the tent and beats the woman lightly with a stick under the
impression that the blows fall not on her but on the devil.^
Similar examples of attempts to relieve women in childbed by
repelling or outwitting the evil spirits which are supposed to infest
them at these critical times might be multiplied almost indefinitely.
is possible that such superstitions have played a part in the
It
customs which are commonly grouped under the head of couvade.^
But there seems to be no positive evidence that this is so ; and in
the absence of proof it is better perhaps to regard the pretence of
childbirth by another person, whether the husband or another, as
a simple case of the world-wide transference of evil by means of
sympathetic magic.
Results of To sum up the results of the preceding discussion, which I
discussion.
hope to resume with far ampler materials in another work, I
conclude that ; —
I. Under I. Under the general name of couvade two quite distinct
the name customs, both connected with childbirth, have been commonly
of couvade
two quite confounded. One of these customs consists of a strict diet and
distinct .regimen observed by a father for the benefit of his newborn child,
customs because the father is believed to be united to the child by such an
have
commonly intimate bond of physical sympathy that all his acts affect and may
been con- hurt or kill the tender infant. The other custom consists of a
founded. simulation of childbirth by a man, generally perhaps by the husband,
practised for the benefit of the real mother, in order to relieve her
of her pains by transferring them to the pretended mother. The
difference between these customs in kind is obvious, and in accord-
ance with their different intentions they are commonly observed
at different times. The simulation of travail-pangs takes place
simultaneously with the real pangs before the child is born. The
1
H. Vambery, Das Tiirkenvolk band’s keeping his bed w.as a trick
(Leipsic, 1885), pp. 213 sq. played on the guileless devil, who
mistook him for the real patient. See
^ This was the view of Adolph A. Bastian, Ein Bestich in San Salva-
Bastian. He thought that the hus- dor 1859), pp. 194-196.
VOL. 1 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 255

Strict diet and regimen of the father begin only

after the child is
born ;
only then that he betakes himself to his bed and
for it is

subjects himself to the full rigour of his superstitious abstinences,

though he has often for similar reasons to regulate his conduct
during his wife’s pregnancy by many other rules which a civilised
man would find sufficiently burdensome. It is strange that two

customs so different in their intention and in the manner and time

of their observance should have been confounded under the common
name of couvade. If, however, writers on these subjects prefer to
retain the one name for the two things, they should at least dis-
tinguish the two things by specific epithets attached to the generic
name. One, for example, might be called the prenatal and the
other the post-natal couvade on the ground of the different times
at which they are observed ; or the one might be called the dietetic
couvade and the other the pseudo-maternal couvade on the ground
of the different modes in wffiich they are performed.
2. Both customs are founded on the principle of sympathetic 2. Both

magic, though on different branches of it. The post-natal or dietetic customs are
founded on
couvade is founded on that branch of sympathetic magic which sympathetic
may be called contagious, because in it the effect is supposed to be magic.
produced by contact, real or imaginary. In this case the imaginary
contact exists between father and child. The prenatal or pseudo-
maternal couvade is founded on that branch of sympathetic magic
which maybe called homoeopathic or imitative, because in it the effect
is supposed to be produced by imitation.^ In this case the imita-
tion is that of childbirth enacted by the father or somebody else.
3. Neither the one custom nor the other, neither prenatal or 3. Neither
custom has
dietetic couvade, nor post-natal or pseudo-maternal couvade, appears
anything to
to have anything to do with an attempt to shift the custom of do with a
descent from the maternal to the paternal line, in other words, to change
initiate the change from mother-kin to father-kin.
from
mother-
The apparently widespread custom of men dressing as
P. 73. kin to

—
women and women as men at marriage. On their wedding night ^^^^her-km.

Spartan brides were dressed in men’s clothes when they received Exchange
the bridegroom on the marriage bed.^ Amongst the Egyptian Jews betwLn*^*
in the time of Maimonides the bridegroom was adorned as a woman bride and

and wore a woman’s garments, while the bride with a helmet on

her head and a sword in her hand led the wedding dance.^ In n™r°^a<re,
some Brahman families of Southern India at marriage the bride is
disguised as a boy and another girl is dressed up to represent the
bride.^ In the elaborate marriage ceremonies observed by the

1 As to sympathetic magic and its ^ Sepp, Altbayerischer Sagenschatz

two branches see further my Lectures (Munich, 1876), p. 232.
on the Early History of the Kingship E. Thurston, Ethnographic Notes
(London, 1905), pp. 37 sqq. in Southern India (Madras, 1906),
2 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 15. P- 3 -
 256 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

people of Southern Celebes the bridegroom at one stage of the

proceedings puts on the garments which have just been put off by
the bride.^
Exchange Sometimes it is not the principals but the assistants at a marriage
of clothes who appear disguised in the costume of the other sex. Thus
between
men and among the Wasambara of East Africa the chief bridesmaid is
women dressed as a man and carries a sword and a gun.^ Among the
(other than
western Somali tribes, while the bride and bridegroom are shut up
the bride-
groom and in the nuptial chamber, seven young bachelors and seven maidens
bride) at assemble in the house. A
man appointed for the purpose performs
marriage. a mock marriage over these young people, wedding them in pairs,
and the mock wife must obey the mock husband. Sometimes the
couples exchange garments, the young men dressing as women and
the young women as men. “ The girls dress up their partners,
using padding to make the disguise as complete as possible and ;

then, assuming the airs of husbands, they flog their partners

all

with horsewhips, and order them about in the same manner as they
themselves had been treated by the young men.” These frolics last
seven days, at the end of which the seven bachelors and the seven
maids are paid a dollar a head by the bridegroom and the bride.®
In Torwal, of the Hindo Koosh, the bridegroom’s party is accom-
panied by men dressed as women, who dance and jest, and the
whole village takes part in the entertainment of the bridegroom’s
friends.'* At a Hindoo wedding in Bihar a man disguised as a
woman approaches the marriage party with a jar of water and says
that he is a woman of Assam come to give away the bride.®
Among the Chamars and other low castes of Northern India boys at
marriage dress up as women and perform a rude and sometimes
unseemly dance. Among the Modh Brahmans of Gujarat at a
wedding the bridegroom’s maternal uncle dresses himself up as a
Jhanda or Pathan fakir, whose ghost is dangerous, in woman’s
clothes from head to waist and in men’s clothes from the waist
downwards, rubs his face with oil, daubs it with red powder, and in
this impressive costume accompanies the bridal pair to a spot where
two roads meet, which is always haunted ground, and there he
waits till the couple offer food to the goddess of the place.®
Similar exchanges of costume between men and women are practised

1 B. F. Matthes, Bijdragen tot de Folk-lore Journal, vi. (1888) pp. 121

Ethnologie van Zuid - Celebes (The sq.
* Major
Hague, 1875), p. 35. J. Biddulph, Tribes of the
2 J. P. Farler, “ The Usambara Hindoo Koosh (Calcutta, 1880), p. 80 ;
Country, in East Africa,’’ Proceedings compare id. p. 78.
of the R. Geographical Society, New ® G. A. Grierson, Bihar Peasatit
Series, i. (1879) p. 92. Life (Calcutta, 1885), p. 365.
3 Captain
J. S. King,
“Notes on ® W.
Crooke, Popular Religion and
the Folk-lore and some Social Customs Folk-lore of Norther>i India (West-
of the Western Somali Tribes,” The minster, 1896), ii. 8.
VOI.. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 257

at marriage in various parts of Europe. At Kukus in Bulgaria a

girl puts on the bridegroom’s robes, claps a fez on her head,
and
thus disguised as a man
wedding dance.^ Sometimes in
leads the
Upper Brittany on the day after a wedding young men disguise
themselves as girls and girls disguise themselves as young men.^
In the Samerberg district of Bavaria a bearded man in woman’s
clothes is palmed off as the bride on the bridegroom he is known ;

as “the AVild Bride.” ^ Similarly at an Esthonian wedding the

bride’s brother, or some other young man, dresses up in woman’s
garments and tries to pass himself off on the bridegroom as the
bride ^ and it is an Esthonian marriage custom to place the bride-
;

groom’s hat on the head of the bride.^

What is the meaning of these curious interchanges of costume The most
between men and women at marriage ? In the text I have suggested probable
explanation
that the pretended exchange of sex between the bridegroom and of these
the bride may have been designed to give the husband those rights inter-
over the children which had formerly been possessed by the wife, in changes
of costume
other words, that the intention was to effect a transition from an between
old system of mother-kin to a new system of father-kin. This men and
explanation might perhaps suffice for the cases in which the women at
marriage
disguise is confined to the married couple, but it could hardly
is that
apply to the cases in which the disguise is worn by other persons. they are
And the same may be said of another suggested explanation, disguises
intended
namely, that the dressing of the bride in male attire is a charm to protect
to secure the birth of male offspring,*^’ for that would not bride and
account for the disguise of the bridegroom as a woman nor bridegroom
from the
for the exchange of costume between men and women other demons
than the bridegroom and bride. On the whole the most prob- who lie

able explanation of these disguises at marriage is that they are in wait

for them.
intended to deceive the malignant and envious spirits who lie in
wait for the happy pair at this season. For this theory would
explain the assumption of male or female costume, especially the
costume of the bridegroom or bride, by other persons than the
principals at the ceremony. Persons so disguised may be supposed
to serve as dummies to attract the attention of the demons and so allow
the real bride and bridegroom to escape unnoticed. This is in sub-
stance the theory of Mr. W. Crooke, who conjectures that “ some one

* F. S. Krauss, Sitte U 7 id Branch ® L. von Schroeder, op. cit. pp.

der Siidslaven (A<’ienna, 1885), p. 438. 95 f?-
" P. Sebillot, Couhimes populaires ® Adonis, Allis, Osiris, Second
de la Haule-Bretagne (Vans, 1886), p. Edition (London, 1907), p. 434. I now
138. see that the same motive for dressing
^ Von Dtiringsfeld, Hockzeitsbnck women as men at marriage had previ-
(Leipsic, 1871), p. 126. ously been suggested by the Hon. J.
L. von Schroeder, Die Hochzeits- Abercromby. See his article, “ An
brduche der Esten (Berlin, 1888), p. Amazonian Custom in the Caucasus,”
218 compare id. p. 220.
; Folk-Lore, \\. (1891) pp. 179-181.
VOL. IV S
 ;

258 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. i

assumes the part of the bride in order to divert on himself from her
the envious glance of the Evil Eye.” ^ He points out very justly that
Custom of this theory would explain the common European custom known as
the False
the False Bride, which consists of an attempt to palm off on the
Bride.
bridegroom some one else, whether a man or a woman, disguised so
as to resemble the bride.^ The Somali custom, described above,^
lends itself particularly to this explanation for the seven mock- ;

married couples who keep up the pretence of marriage for seven

days after the wedding may very well, quite apart from the inter-
change of clothes between them, be designed to divert the attention
of malignant spirits from the real bride and bridegroom, who are
actually closeted with each other in the bridal chamber. That
they are believed to render a service to the married pair is manifest,
for they are paid by the bride and bridegroom for what they have
done at the end of the seven days. The payment of mock-married
pairs would be superfluous and meaningless if their performance
was nothing more than an outburst of youthful gaiety on a festive
occasion. Further, this explanation of the interchange of dress
between the sexes at marriage is confirmed, as Mr. Crooke has
pointed out, by the parallel custom of disguising young boys as girls ;
for the intention of this last custom appears unquestionably to be
to avert the Evil Eye.^ But the exchange of dress between men
and women is a custom which has been practised under many
different circumstances and probably from many different motives.®

Masai lads P. 73. In Central [rather Eastern] Africa a Masai dresses as a

dressed
as girls
girl for a month after marriage. —
On this subject Mr. A. C. Hollis,
one of our best authorities on the Masai, writes to me as follows
after
“ The Masai do not dress as girls a month before marriage,
circum-
cision. as stated by Thomson, but Masai boys dress as women for a
month immediately after circumcision. A similar custom is
followed by the Kikuyu and by the Nandi-Lumbwa group.
Amongst the latter group girls when about to be circumcised
dress as warriors.” The custom in regard to Masai boys
is this. When they have been circumcised they are called
Sipolio (recluse). “ They remain at home for four days, and bows
are prepared for them. They then sally forth and shoot at the
young girls, their arrows being blocked with a piece of honey-comb
so that they cannot penetrate into the girls’ bodies. They also shoot
' W. Crooke, Popular Religion and W. Crooke, op. cit. ii. 8. As to
Folk-Lore in No 7'thern India (West- the widespread custom of dressing boys
minster, 1896), ii. 8. as girls, see my article “Achilles at
Scyros,” The Classical Review.^ vii.
^ W. Crooke, l.c. As to the custom,
(1893) pp. 292 ry.
compare Miss Gertrude M. Godden, ^

® have dealt with some particular

I
“ The False Bride,” Folk-Lore^ iv.
cases of the custom in my Adojtis,
(1893) pp. 142-14S. Allis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 428-
3 See above, 256.
p. 434 -
VOL. 1 AZOTES A AID CORRECTIONS 259

small birds, which they wear round their heads together with ostrich
feathers. The Sipolio like to appear as women and wear surutya
earrings and garments reaching to the ground. They also paint
their faces with chalk. When they have all recovered, they are
shaved again and become Il-barnot (the shaved ones). They then
discard the long garments and wear warriors’ skins and ornaments.
After this their hair is allowed to grow, and as soon as it has grown
^
long enough to plait, they are called Il-muran (warriors).”
P. 73. The transference of the child to the father’s clan may Ceremonies
he the object of a ceremony observed by the Todas. The ceremony the —
in question has been described more fully in another part of this
book.2 There is little or nothing in it to favour the view that its pregnancy,
intention is to transfer the child to the father’s clan. As an
alternative theory I have suggested that the ceremony may be
designed to fertilise or impregnate the woman.® To this explana-
tion of the custom it may reasonably be objected that being
observed in the seventh month of pregnancy the ceremony is too
late to be regarded as one of impregnation, since indeed many
children are born in that month. This objection tells forcibly and
perhaps fatally against the theory in question. Ceremonies have
commonly been observed in tbe seventh month of a woman’s
pregnancy by other peoples besides the Todas, but their intention
seems to be to ensure a safe delivery, whether by keeping off
demons, by manipulating the woman’s body, or in other ways.^ In
Java a curious feature of the ceremonies on this occasion is a mock
birth carried out on the person of the pregnant woman. The part
of the baby is played by a weaver’s shuttle and that of the after-
birth by an egg. When the shuttle drops to the ground, an old
woman takes it up in her arms, dandles it like a baby, and says,
“ Oh, what a dear little child Oh, what a beautiful little child ” ®
! !

' A. C. Hollis, The Masai (Oxford, {Sacred Books of the East, xxix. ) ; S.
1905), p. 298. Mateer, Native Life in Travancore
® See above, vol. 256 sqq. (London, 1883), pp. 48, 113, 118 sq. ;
ii. pp.
Jagor, “ Einige Sklaven-Kasten in
The ceremony has been described
also
by Mr. W. Breeks, in his Account Malabar,” Verhandhingen der Berliner
J.
Primitive Tribes and Monu- Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologie, Ethno-
of the
ments of the Nilagiris (London, 1873), logic, und Urgeschichte, 1878, p. 239
p. 19. His account is less detailed (appended to the Zeitschrift fur Ethno-
logic, X.) ; B. F". Matthes, Bifdragen
than the one in the text but agrees
substantially with it. tot de Ethnologic van Zuid-Celebes (The
Hague, 1875), PP- 48 sqq. ; “ De
3 Above, vol. ii. pp. 258 sqq.
Leenvorstendom Boni, ” Tifdschrift voor
^ For examples of these ceremonies Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkiuide,
see Sahagun, Histoire generate des XV. (1865) pp. 57 sq.\ T. Stamford
chases de la Nouvelle-Espagne, traduite Raffles, History of fava (London,
par D. Joiirdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1817), i. 316, 322 sq.
1880), pp. 424-431 The Grihya-
;
® See the description of the cus-
Sutras, translated by PI. Oldenberg, tom in The Golden Bough, Second
Part i. (Oxford, 1886) pp. 47 sqq. Edition, i. 20. To the authorities
 26o TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Manifestly this little drama is intended to facilitate the real birth

by simulating it ;
the ceremony is an example of sympathetic
or imitative magic.
Badaga In the seventh month of a woman’s pregnancy the Badagas of
ceremony the Neilgherry Hills observe a ceremony which has been described
in the
seventh as a second marriage ceremony in confirmation of the first. The
month of husband asks his father-in-law, “ Shall I bind this cord round the
pregnancy.
neck of your daughter?” As soon as “Yes” is said, the cord is
fastened round her neck and then after a few minutes taken off.
Before the couple are set two vessels, into one of which the relations
of the husband put money, while the relations of the wife put it into
the other. A
feast of milk and vegetables follows.^ It is possible,
ceremony observed by the Todas in the seventh
therefore, that the
month of pregnancy is also an old marriage ceremony, as Dr. Rivers
has suggested ^ and if that were so the interpretation of it as a rite
;

of impregnation would not be wholly excluded.

Cannibal- P. 73. As a rule, perhaps, members of the same totem clan do

ism in
Australia.
not eat each other, —
Definite information on this subject seems to
be almost entirely wanting, so that no general rule can be laid down.
In the Mukjarawaint tribe of Victoria a man who transgressed the
marriage laws was killed and eaten by men of his own totemic clan.^
But this is the only case I remember to have met with in which it is
definitely affirmed that people ate a man of their own totem. On
the other hand there seems to be little or no evidence that they were
Both forbidden to do so. It was a common custom among the Australian
friends aborigines to eat the members of their own tribe who were either
and foes
are eaten,
slain in battle or died a natural death. And, besides that, in times
but the of famine children were often killed and devoured by their relations
custom and friends. Enemies killed in war were eaten by some tribes, but
of eating
friends
the practice of eating friends and relations appears to have been
seems more frequent indeed it is affirmed of some tribes that while they
;

to be the ate their friends they refused to eat their enemies.'^ In the
commoner.
there cited may be added C. F. Ethnologie mid Urgeschichte, i8j6, pp.
Winter, “ Instellingen, Gewoonten en 200 sq. (appended to Zeitschrift fiir
Gebruiken der Javanen te Soerakarta,” Ethnologie, viii.).

TijdscMift voor Nierlands Indie 2See above, vol. ii. p. 258.

(Batavia, 1843), Eerste Deel, pp. 691- ^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of

694; J. Knebel, “Varia Javanica,” South-East Austialia, p. 247. See

Tijdschrift voor hidische Taal-, Land- above, vol. i. p. 461.
en Volkenkunde, xliv. (1901) p. 36. In D. Lang, Queensland (London,
J.
the former of these accounts the places 1861), pp. 354-360, 388 sq. R. ;

of the shuttle and the egg are taken by Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria,
two coco-nuts ; in the latter account i. xxxvii. sq., 244-247 J. Dawson,
;

the simulation of birth does not come Australian Aborigines, p. 67 W. ;

clearly out. Ridley, Kamilaroi, p. 160 ; R. Schom-

^ Jagor, “ Uber die Badagas im burgk, in Verhandlungen der Berliner
Nilgiri-Gebirge,” Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft fiir Anthropologic, Ethno-
Berliner Gesellschaft JUr Anthropologic^ logie und Urgeschichte, iSqg, p. {237).
VOI,. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 261

Binbinga tribe, who body is cut up, roasted and

eat their dead, the
eaten by men exogamous class or moiety. For
of the other
example, if the deceased was a Tjurulum man, his carcase is
devoured by Tjuanaku, Tjulantjuka, Paliarinji, and Pungarinji men,
who together make up that moiety of the tribe to which the
Tjurulum subclass does not belong. No woman of the tribe is
allowed to partake of human flesh.^ In the Mara and Anula tribes
the flesh may be eaten by members of both the exogamous classes
“ In the case of an Anula woman, whose body was
or moieties.
eaten a short time ago, the following took place. The woman
belonged to the Wialia division of the tribe, and her body was dis-
embowelled by a Roumburia man. Those present during the rite
and participating in it were four in number two of them were her
—
;

tribal fathers, belonging therefore to the Wialia group that is, to

her own moiety of the tribe the other two were her mother’s
;

brothers, and therefore Roumburia men belonging to the half of the

tribe to which she did not belong. The woman’s totem was
Barramunda (a fresh-water fish) ; the tribal fathers’, wild dog ; the
mother’s two brothers were respectively alligator and night-hawk ; so
that it will be clearly seen that the rite of eating the flesh of a dead
person is in no way concerned with the totem group. In another
instance —
that of the eating of an Anula man who was a Roumburia
— the body was disembowelled by an Urtalia man who was the
mother’s brother of the deceased ; the other men present and
participating were one Wialia, two Urtalia, and one Awukaria.”^
Hence in neither of the cases thus described by Messrs. Spencer
and Gillen was the flesh of the dead partaken of by persons of his
or her own totem clan. Whether this exclusion of persons of the
same totem from the cannibal repast was accidental or prescribed
by custom, does not appear.
The motives which induce the members of an Australian tribe Motives
to eat the bodies of their own dead are various. Often the motive
is sheer hunger, and under the pressure of this powerful incentive aborigines

it would seem that infants are commonly the first victims. We are for eating

told that in hard summers the Kaura tribe near Adelaide used to
friends.

(appended to Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, but not foes are eaten see J.D. Lang,
xi.) ;
E. M. Curr, The Australian op. cit. p. 359 ; J. Dawson and W.
Race, i. 89, 290, 370, 380, 422, ii. Ridley, ll.cc. ;
E. M. Curr, op. cit. ii.

18, I19, 159, 179, 322, 331 sq., 341 449 A. W. Mowitt, op. cit. p. 753.
;

346, 351. 361, 371, 376, 390, 1 Spencer and Gillen, Northern
393. 400, 403, 404, 408, 427, 428, Tribes of Ce 7 it>-al Australia, p. 548.
432, 449 465, 474 iii- 3 ^, 121, 138,
, , As to the classes and subclasses of the
144, 147, 159, 166, 353 545 W. E. , ;
Binbinga tribe, see above, vol. i. p.
Roth, Ethnological Studies among the 269.
North- IVest-Central Queensland Abori- ^ Spencer and Gillen, op. cit. pp.
gines, p. 166; A. W. Howitt, Native 548 sq. As to the classes and sub-
Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. classes of the Anula tribe, see above,
750 7 S 6
'
For statements that friends
. vol. i. p. 271.
 262 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

devour all the new-born infants.^ The Mungerra tribe in Queens-

land, when sorely pinched by famine, have been known to kill and
Sometimes eat some of their female children.^ Sometimes the motive assigned
the
for the practice is affection. Thus among the tribes on Moreton Bay
Australian
aborigines in New South Wales it is said to have been customary for parents
“ as a token of grief
eat their to partake of the flesh of their dead children
dead kins- and affection for the deceased.” The well-informed Mr. James
^
folk from
motives Dawson, speaking of the tribes of South-West Victoria, says “ There :

of respect isnot the slightest doubt that the eating of human flesh is practised
and
by the aborigines, but only as a mark of affectionate respect, in
affection.
solemn service of mourning for the dead. The flesh of enemies is
never eaten, nor of members of other tribes. The bodies of
relatives of either sex, who have lost their lives by violence, are
alone partaken of ; and even then only if the body is not mangled,
or unhealthy, or in poor condition, or in a putrid state. The body
is divided among the adult relatives —
with the exception of nursing
or pregnant women —
and the flesh of every part is roasted and
eaten but the vitals and intestines, which are burned with the
bones. If the body be much contused, or if it have been pierced
by more than three spears, it is considered too much mangled to
be eaten. The body of a woman who has had children is not
eaten. When a child over four or five years of age is killed
accidentally, or by one spear wound only, all the relatives eat of it
except the brothers and sisters. The flesh of a healthy, fat, young
woman is considered the best ; and the palms of the hands are
considered the most delicate portions. On remarking to the
aborigines that the eating of the whole of the flesh of a dead body
by the relatives had the appearance of their making a meal of it,
they said that an ordinary-sized body afforded to each of numerous
adult relatives only a mere tasting ; and that it was eaten with no
desire to gratify or appease the appetite, but only as a symbol of
respect and regret for the dead.” ^ Evidence to the same effect
was given by a convict Davies as to some Queensland tribes
with whom he had lived. He said that with the exception of
the bodies of old people the dead were regularly eaten by the
survivors, whether they had fallen in battle or died a natural death ;
it was an immemorial custom and a sacred duty with them to
devour the corpses of their departed relatives and friends ; but
their enemies slain in battle they would not eat.® The Tangara
carry their dead about with them, and whenever they feel sorrow for
their death, they eat some of the flesh, till nothing remains but the

' A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of Scenes in Australia and New Zealand,

South-East Australia, p. 749. i.
73 -

Dawson, Australian Aborisnnes,

-T'
it,.
TVT . 7-
M. Curr, I he Australian Race, A T- o >

ii. 465 ,
compaie id. p. 351.
5 j Lang, Queensland (London,
^ G. F. Angas, Savage Life and 1861), pp. 355, 359 sq.
 ;

VOI-. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 263

bones.^ When a child dies, the aborigines of the Peake River in

South Australia eat it, saying that unless they did so they would
always grieve for it. They give the head to the mother, and the
children in the camp also get some of the flesh to make them grow.
They also eat different parts of men and women who die, particularly
those parts in which their best abilities are supposed to reside.'^
Some of the Kamilaroi placed their dead in trees, kindled fires
under them, and sat down to catch the droppings of the fat, hoping
thus to acquire the courage and strength, for example, of the
deceased warrior. Others ate the heart and liver of their dead for
the same purpose. They did not eat enemies slain in battle.®
Sometimes parents would kill their newborn baby and give its flesh
to their older children to eat for the purpose of strengthening them.
This was done, for example, in the Wotjobaluk and Luritcha tribes.^
Among some of the tribes on the Darling River, before a body was
buried it used to be customary to cut off a piece of flesh from the
thigh, if it was a child, or from the stomach, if it was an adult.
The severed flesh was then taken from the grave to the camp, dried
in the sun, chopped up small, and distributed among the relations
and friends of the deceased. Some of them used the gobbet to
make a charm called yoimtoo others sucked it to get strength and
courage and others again threw it into the river to bring a flood
;

and when both were wanted.®

fish,

Amongst the Dieri, when a dead body had been lowered into Practice
of the
its last resting-place, a man, who was no relation of the deceased,
Dieri as
stepped into the grave and proceeded to cut off all the fat that to eating
adhered to the muscles of the face, thighs, arms and stomach. This their dead
relations.
he handed round to the mourners to be swallowed by them. The
reason they gave for the practice was that the nearest relations
might forget the departed and not be continually weeping. “ The

order in which they partake of their dead relatives is this The :

—
mother eats of her children. The children eat of their mother.
Brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law eat of each other. Uncles, aunts,
nephews, nieces, grandchildren, grandfathers, and grandmothers eat
of each other. But the father does not eat of his offspring, or the

^ A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of ^ W. E. Stanbridge, “Tribes in the

South-East Australia, p. 751. Central Part of Victoria,” Transactions

2 R. Schomburgk (of Adelaide), of the Ethnological Society of London,
“ Uber einige Sitten und Gebrauche New i. (London, 1861) p. 289
.Series, ;

der tief im innern Sudaustraliens, am A. W.

Howitt, Native Tribes of South-
Peake-Flusse und dessen Umgebung East Aust7 -alia, pp. 749, 750; Spencer
hausenden Stamme,” Verhandltingen and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central
der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthro- Australia, p. 475.
pologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, ® F. Bonney, “On some Customs
fSyg, p. (237) (appended to Zeitschrift of the Aborigines of the River Darling,
fiir Ethnologie, xi. ). New South Wales,” fournal of the
^ Rev. W.
Ridley, Kamilaroi (Syd- Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884)
ney, 1875), p. 160. pp. 134, 135.
 264 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

offspring of the sire. men paint them-

After eating of the dead the
selves with charcoal and
marking a black ring round the mouth.
fat,

This distinguishing mark is called Mmiamuroomuroo. The women

do likewise, besides painting two white stripes on their arms, which
marks distinguish those who have partaken of the late deceased ;
the other men smearing
themselves all over with white clay, to
testify their in the Dieri tribe women as well as
grief.” ^ Thus
men partook of the bodies of the dead. However, in some tribes
women were forbidden to eat human flesh.^
Custom Among the Australian tribes which ate their slain enemies the
of eating
favourite joints seem to have been the arms and the legs, the
dead
enemies. hands and the feet.^ The Theddora and Ngarigo thought that they
acquired the courage and other qualities of the enemies whom they
had eaten.^ The Luritcha, who eat their enemies, take great care
to destroy the bones and especially the skulls ; otherwise they think
that the bones will come together, and that the dead men will arise
and pursue with their vengeance the foes who have devoured them.®
Although P. 7 6. Some phratries, both in America and Australia, bear the
exogamous
classes or
—
names of animals. -From this and other indications I have inferred
phratries in the text that the Australian phratries and subphratries (classes
sometimes and subclasses) were formerly totemic clans, and that as phratries
bear
animal
and subphratries (classes and subclasses) they may have retained
names, their totems after they had been subdivided into totem clans proper.
they seem The evidence now seems to me altogether inadequate to support
not to be
this inference, which
withdraw accordingly.
I In this view I
totemic.
entirely agree with the mature judgment of Dr. A. W. Howitt, who
in like manner had formerly inclined to the opinion that the
phratries or classes may once have been totemic clans.® On the
* S. Gason, “The Dieyeri Tribe,” of Central Australia, p. 475.
Native Tribes of South Atistralia, p. ® Dr. A. W. Howitt writes thus
274. Compare A. W. Howitt, Native {Folk-Lore, xvii. 1906, p. no) “Mr. :

Tribes of South-East Australia, pp. Hartland quotes a passage in one of my

448 sq., 751. earlier papers to the effect that in my
^ E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, opinion the exogamous moieties of the
ii. 179, 332 ; Spencer and Gillen, Australian tribes were originally totem
Northerti Tribes of Central Australia, clans. I did incline, many years back,
p. 548. It has been suggested by Mr. to this belief, but the wdder knowledge
E. S. Hartland {Primitive Paternity, of later years has so far altered my
i. 231 sq.\ that one motive for eating opinion, that I consider the weight of
dead friends may have been to ensure evidence to be against it.” With regard
their rebirth. This motive could hardly to the Port Mackay tribe in Queensland
operate in tribes which forbid women (see vol. pp. 77 sq.) the evidence for
i.

to partake of human flesh. the existence of phratric and subphratric

A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of
3 totems seems altogether insufficient.
South-East Australia, pp. 751, 752 ; The evidence for the phratric totems
E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, iii. consists of a single statement of Mr.
545 - Bridgman that “the symbol of the
* A. W.Howitt, op. cit. p. 752. Yoongaroo division is the alligator and
® Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of the Wootaroo the kangaroo ” (P'ison
VOL. ! NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 265

whole the Australian evidence points to the conclusion that the

phratries and subphratries, or classes and subclasses, are social
divisions of an entirely different order from the totemic clans. As
I have already pointed out, they seem to be of later origin than the
totemic clans and to have been deliberately instituted for the
purpose of regulating marriage, with which the totemic clans had
previously nothing to do.^ When the exogamous divisions were
introduced, it was convenient, though not absolutely necessary, to
have names for them ; ^ and these names would naturally be significant
of something, for it is very unlikely that they would be new words
arbitrarily coined for the purpose. Among them the names of
animals and plants would probably figure, since on animals and
plants, the sources of their food-supply, the minds of the natives are
constantly dwelling. It is no wonder, therefore, that the names of
some Australian phratries or classes should be those of animals ; the
wonder rather is that among so many Australian names of phratries
or classes so few should be known to be those of animals. But
the mere designation of such divisions by the names of animals by
no means proves that the eponymous animals are totems. A special Sometimes
reason for naming any particular phratry after an animal or plant ammai
might very well be, as has been suggested by Dr. Washington
Matthews,^ the existence within it of an important totemic clan of exogamous
that name ; the phratry or class would thus be named after one of
its members, the whole after the part, as happens not infrequently.
5^
Thus the inference that, whenever we meet with a phratry or class borrowed
bearing the same name as one of its totemic clans, the clan has
arisen by subdivision of the phratry and has taken its name from jotemic
it, is not necessarily right ; it may be on the contrary that the dans
phratry or class has borrowed its name from the clan. Another included
way in which phratries or classes might come to bear the names of
animals and so to simulate totemic clans may be, as Professor
Baldwin Spencer has suggested, through the extinction of all the
totems except two, one in each of the phratries or classes, so that
henceforth the totemic clan would coincide with the phratry or
class. This, as he says, may have happened to the Wurunjerri
tribe.^ In point of fact, both in North-Central Australia and in
and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 2 have already pointed out that
I

p. 40) and the evidence for the totems

; both and Melanesia some
in Australia
of the subphratries in like manner rests of the exogamous divisions have no
on the single statement of Mr. W. special names. See above, vol. i. pp.
Chatfield (Fison and Howitt, op. cit. p. 265 sq. vol. ii. p. 70.
;

41), whose evidence on another subject

^ See above, vol. ii. pp. 243 sq.
has been doubted by good authorities.
See above, p. 1 99. Mr. Chatfield’s state- * Baldwin Spencer’s suggestion
Prof.
ment is repeated by Mr. E. M. Curr, is mentioned by Dr. A. W. Howitt in
The Australian Race, ii. 468. Folk-Lore, xvii. (1906) p. lio. As to
* See above, vol. i. 162 .ry., 251 sq., the Wurunjerri tribe, see above, vol. i.

257 sqq., 272 sqq. PP- 435 . 437 -

 ^ ^;

266 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

Queensland we have found evidence of the extinction of the

totemic clans and their absorption in the exogamous classes or
phratries, with the accompanying transference of the old totemic
taboos from the clans to the classes.
P. 8 1. The growth, maturity, and decay of totems. The —
theory here suggested of the growth and decay of totems must be
corrected by the preceding note, in which I have pointed out that
there is no sufficient proof of the existence of phratric and
subphratric totems. Nor is it at all clear that subtotems are
undeveloped totems indeed the relation between the two things
;

is very obscure. Subtotems are found elsewhere than in Australia,

but it is only in Australia, apparently, that an attempt has been
made to classify the whole of nature under the exogamous phratries
or clans.

The P. 93. Here, then, the scientific inquirer might reasonably

. . .

Central
Australian
expect to find the savage in his very lowest depths, etc. In this —
aborigines, somewhat too rhetorically coloured passage I do not intend to
like all suggest that the Central Australian aborigines are in the condition
existing
of absolutely primitive humanity. Far from it. I believe that even
savages,
are the lowest of existing savages, amongst whom I reckon the tribes of
primitive Central Australia, have in respect of intelligence, morality, and the
only in arts of life advanced immeasurably beyond the absolutely primitive
a relative,
not in an condition of humanity, and that the interval which divides them
absolute, from civilised men is probably far less than the interval which
sense. divides them from truly primitive men, that is, from men as they
were when they emerged from a much lower form of animal life.
It is only in a relative, not in an absolute, sense that we can
speak of the Australian or. of any other known race as primitive
but the usage of the language perfectly justifies us in employing the
word in such a sense to distinguish the ruder from the more highly
developed races of man. Indeed we have no synonym for the
word in English, and if we drop it in deference to an absurd
misunderstanding we cripple ourselves by the sacrifice of an
indispensable term. Were we to abstain from using every word
which dunces have misunderstood or sophists misrepresented, we
should be reduced to absolute silence, for there is hardly a word
which has not been thus perverted.^
P. 96. An immemorial sanctuary within which outlawed and

1 See above, vol. i. pp. 527 sq. I have already given my reasons for
2 For example, see above, vol. ii. regarding the tribes of Central Australia
pp. 14-16, 30 sq., 48 sq. as, on the whole, not only the most
3 On the use and abuse of the term primitive savages of that continent but
primitive as applied to savages I may also as the most primitive race of men
refer the reader to my
remarks in The about whom we possess accurate in-
Scope of Social Anthropology (London, formation. See above, vol. i. pp. 314-
1908), pp. 7-9. In the present work 339, 342 sq .
 ;

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 267

desperate men have found safety. —

Since this sketch of the
development of sanctuaries or asylums in primitive society
was written, the subject has been handled by Dr. Albert Hell-
wig in two treatises, to which I may refer the reader for further
details.^

In Upolu, one of the Samoan Islands, etc.

P. 97. The right Right — of

of sanctuary seems to have been more highly developed in Hawaii,

where there were certain sacred enclosures called J?u/ionuas, which
“ These puhoimas" we
have been described as Cities of Refuge.
“ were the Hawaiian cities of refuge, and afforded an
are told,
inviolable sanctuary to the guilty fugitive who, when flying from the
avenging spear, wms so favoured as to enter their precincts. This
had several wide entrances, some on the side next the sea, the
others facing the mountains. Hither the manslayer, the man who
had broken a tabu, or failed in the observance of its rigid require-
ments, the thief, and even the murderer, fled from his incensed
pursuers, and was secure. To whomsoever he belonged, and from
whatever part he came, he was equally certain of admittance,
though liable to be pursued even to the gates of the enclosure.
Happily for him, those gates were perpetually open ; and as soon as
the fugitive had entered, he repaired to the presence of the idol,
and made a short ejaculatory address, expressive of his obligations
to him in reaching the place with security. Whenever war was
proclaimed, and during the period of actual hostilities, a white flag
was unfurled on the top of a tall spear, at each end of the enclosure,
and, until the conclusion of peace, waved the symbol of hope to
those who, vanquished in flght, might flee thither for protection.
It was fixed a short distance from the wmlls on the outside, and to
the spot on which this banner was unfurled, the victorious wmrrior
might chase his routed foes but here, he must himself fall back
;

beyond it he must not advance one step, on pain of forfeiting his

life. The priests, and their adherents, w'ould immediately put to
death any one who should have the temerity to follow or molest
those who were once within the pale of the pahu tabic [sacred
enclosure] and, as they expressed it,' under the shade or pro-
;

tection of Keave, the tutelar deity of the place. In one part of the
enclosure, houses were formerly erected for the priests, and others
who, after a certain time, or at the cessation of
for the refugees,
and returned unmolested to their
war, were dismissed by the priests,
dwellings and families ; no one venturing to injure those who,
when they fled to the gods, had been by them protected. We
could not learn the length of time it was necessary for them to
remain in the pichonua but it did not appear to be more than
;

1 A. Hellwig, Das Asylrecht chr trcige zur Asylrecht von Ozeanieu (Siwti-
NaUnuolker (Berlin, 1903);
id., Bei- gart, 1906).
 268 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

two or three days. After that, they either attached themselves to

the service of the priests, or returned to their homes.” ^
One of these sanctuaries which Mr. Ellis examined at Honaunau
is described by him as capacious and capable of containing a vast
multitude of people. It was more than seven hundred feet long
and four hundred feet wide the walls were twelve feet high and
;

fifteen feet thick. In time of war the old men, women, and
children used to be left within it, while the warriors went out to
fight.^

Sanctuaries
on the
P. loo. In Western Africa . . . sanctuaries, etc. — Among the
Ga people of the Gold Coast every tribal fetish has the right to
GoldCoast.
protect its suppliants. Slaves or freemen in distress may flee to it
and find sanctuary. The fugitive says, “ Hear, priest, I give myself
to the fetish. If you let anybody wrench me away, you will die.”
After that the pursuer will not molest him. Such fugitives, when
they have taken sanctuary, are not free ; they are regarded as the
clients or servants of the fetish-priest and of the king of the town.
The king uses them as messengers, drummers, and so forth ; the
priest makes them lay out and cultivate his gardens, fetch wood,
and serve him in other ways. AVhen a fetish is famous, like Lakpa
in La, there are many such refugees. They are called “ fence
people,” because once a year they must make a new fence round
the fetish-house but they need not always dwell in its immediate
;

neighbourhood.^
Ceremonies P. 129. Whenever one of these creatures is killed a ceremony
over dead
animals to
has to be performed over it, etc. —
With this ceremony we may
disenchant
compare the ceremonies performed by the Malays over the game
them. which they have killed, for the purpose of expelling the evil spirit
or mischief {badi) which is thought to lurk in certain species of wild
animals. Amongst the animals and birds supposed to be haunted
or possessed by this evil spirit are deer, the mouse-deer (Tragulus),
the wild pig, all monkeys (except gibbons), monitor lizards, certain
snakes and crocodiles, the vulture, the stork, the jungle fowl
{GaHus gallus), and the quail. The elephant, the rhinoceros, and
the tapir have no badi in the strict sense of the word, but they have
a kuang, which comes to much the same thing. If any of these
creatures is killed without the evil spirit or mischief {badi) being
cast out of the carcase, it is believed that all who are in at the death
willbe affected by a singular malady for either they go mad and ;

imitate the habits of the dead animal, or certain parts of their

bodies are transformed into a likeness of the beast. Thus, if the
creature that has been killed is a jungle fowl, the sufferer will crow
' W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, ^ B. Struck, “Zur Kenntniss des
Second Edition, iv. (London, 1836) pp. Gastanimes (Goldkiiste),” Globus, ypm.
167 sq. (1908) p. 31.
^ W. Ellis, op. cit. iv. 168.
VOI.. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 269

and flap his arms like the fowl, and sometimes feathers may also
grow on his arms. animal killed is a deer, he will butt at
If the
people with his head down, just like a stag, and in extreme cases
antlers may sprout from his forehead and his feet may be cloven,
like the hoofs of deer. Hence to prevent these painful con-
sequences by casting the evil spirit out of the game is a necessary
part of every master-huntsman’s business. But few are adepts in
the entire art of exorcism ; for the manner of casting out the spirits
varies according as the animal is a mammal, a bird, or a reptile.
The most usual way is to stroke the body of the creature before or
after death with a branch of a tree, while the enchanter utters a
spell. ^ When the Zuni Indians hunt a deer for the purpose of
making a ceremonial mask out of its skin, the animal has to be killed
with certain solemn rites, in particular it must be smothered, not
shot ; and amongst these Indians “ a portion of all game, whether it
is used for ceremonial purposes or otherwise, is offered to the Beast

Gods, with prayers that they will intercede with the Sun Father
and the Council of the Gods.”-^ But these rites and customs
appear to have no connection with totemism.
P. 158. He thinks that the child enters into the woman at ignorance
the time when she first feels it stirring in her womb. A similar natives of —
Ignorance as to the true moment of conception is displayed by central
,

some of the natives of Central Borneo, who rank far higher than Borneo
the Australian aborigines in mental endowments and material
culture. Thus we are told that “ the Bahau have only a very moment
imperfect notion of the length of a normal pregnancy ; they assume of con-
that it lasts only four or five months, that is, so long as they can cepuon.
perceive the external symptoms on the woman. As this ignorance
appeared to be scarcely credible, I instituted enquiries on the
subject in various neighbourhoods, as a result of which I observed
that the many miscarriages and premature births, as well as the very
prevalent venereal diseases, had contributed to this false notion.
Also the natives are not aware that the testicles are necessary to
procreation ; for they think that their castrated hounds, to which
the bitches are not wholly indifferent, can beget offspring.”® It
seems probable that many other savage tribes are equally ignorant
of the moment and process of impregnation, and that they therefore
may imagine it to begin only from the time when it is sufficiently
advanced to manifest itself either by internal symptoms to the
woman herself or by external symptoms to observers.
Nelson Annandale,
^ “ Primitive 2 Mrs. Coxe Stevenson,
Matilda
Beliefs and Customs of the Patani “The Zuiii Twenty -third
Indians,”
Fishermen,” Fasciculi Malayenses, A>i- Annual Report of the Bureau of
thropology. Part i. (April, 1903) pp. American Ethnology (Washington,
1 00- 1 04. See further W. W. Skeat, 1904), pp. 439-441.
Malay Magic (London, 1900), pp. ^ A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Qiier diirch
155 177 427 m - Borneo, i. (Leyden, 1904) pp. 444 w.
 270 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. 1

Food P. 159. Amongst the objects on whicb her fancy might pitch
regarded as the cause of her pregnancy we may suppose that the last food
as a
cause of she had eaten would often he one. —The tribes of the Cairns
pregnancy. district in North Queensland actually believe that the acceptance
of food from a man by a woman is the cause of conception.^ In
like manner “ some of the aboriginal tribes of Malaya still hold the
belief that the souls of men are incarnate in the form of birds and
are born into the world through the birds being eaten by women.
A the.,ry of the same kind seems to underly the curiously important
part played in Malay romance by the longings (idani) of pregnant
‘ ’

women.” ^ I have already suggested that the longings of pregnant

women may have had a large share in the origin of totemism
by inducing mothers to identify their offspring with the things for
which they had longed in their pregnancy and so to determine their
children’s totems.^ It is even possible that these whims may be
partly responsible for the existence of subtotems since it is con-
;

ceivable that a woman may often have enjoined her child to respect
a number of animals, plants, or other objects on which her maternal
heart had been set in the critical period.

P. 163, note k This observation was communicated

. . .

by me to my friend Dr. A. W. Howitt. —

In point of fact Dr.
Howitt had himself made the same observation quite independently
many years before, though at the time of my communication
he and I had both forgotten it. The credit of the discovery,
which is of the utmost importance for the understanding of
the marriage system of the Australian aborigines, belongs to Dr.
Howitt alone.'*

Deliberate They were deliberately devised and adopted as a means

P. 163.
institution
of exogamy
of preventing the marriage, etc. —
It appears that the Khonds of

among the India at the present time occasionally lay interdicts on the inter-
Khonds. marriage of two neighbouring tribes, whenever they think that
through a prolonged practice of intermarriage between the two
communities husbands and wives are apt to be too nearly related
to each other by blood in other words, they deliberately institute a
:

new exogamous group. On this subject Mr. J. E. Friend-Pereira

writes as follows “ An essential condition of marriage is that the
:

contracting parties be not of the same tribe or sept ; and even

when they are of different tribes or septs, consanguinity up to the
seventh generation is strictly prohibited. As there are no pro-
fessional bards or genealogists among them, they resort to an
ingenious device to guard against marriages within the forbidden
degrees. When a neighbouring tribe, from which they have been
^ See above, vol. i. p. 577. See above, pp. 64 sqq.
^

2 R. J. Wilkinson, Malay Beliefs See above, vol. i. pp. 261 note-,

*

(London and Leyden, 1906), p. 46. 285 note k

 . ;

VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 271

in the habit of procuring wives, begins to show

signs of blood
relationship in the course of time, a ban placed on further
is

marriages, and the two tribes, as is becoming among kinsmen,

enter into a closer bond of friendship which is to last for fourteen
generations. After that lapse of time a general council of the
elders of the tribes is held, the interdict is removed, and
intermarriage is once more resumed, to continue for another
indefinite period.”^ It deserves to be noted that among the
Khonds the regulation of intermarriage and the maintenance
of exogamy between neighbouring groups appears to be in the
hands of the councils of elders. This supports the opinion
that among the Australian aborigines also the institution of
exogamy has been created and upheld by the elders assembled
in council.^

P. 279. The aborigines of Australia . . . entertain a deep Division

horror of incest, that is, of just those marriages which the op"»on

exogamous segmentations of the community are fitted to preclude. Australian

— This statement is too general. It applies universally to those aborigines
to the
marriages of brothers with sisters and of parents with children
which the segmentation of the community first into two and after-
wards into four exogamous divisions was designed to prevent ; but cousins,

it does not apply universally to the marriage of certain first cousins,

namely the children of a brother and of a sister for though some ;

Australian tribes disapproved of and forbade the marriage of all

firstcousins without exception, others, for example the Urabunna,
not only allow the marriage of these particular first cousins, the
children of a brother and of a sister respectively, but regard them
as the most natural and appropriate of all. Thus in Australia, as
elsewhere, the incest line wavers in respect to first cousins ; in
some tribes it includes all marriages of first cousins ;
in other tribes
it distinguishes between them, placing some within and others
without the ban. A
similar difference in the treatment of first
cousin marriages occurs in many other peoples besides the Australian
for whereas some rigidly interdict them all, others not only permit
but enjoin the marriage of those first cousins who are the children
of a brother and of a sister respectively.^

External nature certainly acts on him, but

P. 281. he reacts
on it, and his history is the resultant of that action and reaction,
etc. —
The same thought, which I have here expressed from the
point of view of human history, has been expressed quite in-

^
J. E. Friend- Pereira, “Marriage ii. pp. 304 sqq.
Customs of the Khonds,” Journal of
2 See above, vol. i. pp. 352-356,
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. Ixxi.
402.
Part iii. Anthropology, etc. (Calcutta,
1903)1 P- As to the exogamous ^ See above, pp. 108, 120; and the

divisions of the Khonds, see above, vol references in the Index, s.v. “ Cousins.”
 ^ —
273 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAM I VOL. I

dependently by Professor J. Y. Simpson from the point of view of

biology in language which agrees almost verbally with mine. He
Influence says “ Finally, we are unable to forget the dominating role of the
:

of the environment in all development without its stimuli the inherited

:

environ-
ment
organization of the living creature would not work itself out. The
on the living form any moment the resultant of external stimuli acting
is at
organism. upon its inherited organization. This has been experimentally
proved time and again a normal development is the response
;

to normal conditions. The development is thus educed, and it

may be modified by the environment but the fundamental ;

character and cause of it lie in the inherited organization. The

developing organism and environment react the one upon the
its

other independently ; yet in virtue of its adaptiveness the organism

continually sets itself free from the control of the environment and
proves itself the more constant of the two. Separation of the two
is practically impossible we are almost compelled to consider
;

the organism and its environment as a single system undergoing

^
change.”
Recogni- P. 288. If we assume that the founders of exogamy in
. . .

tion of the Australia recognised the classificatory system of relationship, and

simplest
relation-
the classificatory system of relationship only, etc. This statement —
ships is too absolute. I assume that the founders of exogamy recognised
by the the simplest social and consanguineous relationships, namely, the
founders of
cohabitation of a man with a woman, the relationship of a mother
exogamy.
to her children, and the relationship of brothers and sisters, the
children of the same mother, to each other and that they ;

extended these simple relationships into the classificatory relation-

ships by arranging all the men and women of the community into
one or other of two exogamous and intermarrying classes. The
cardinal relationship, on which the whole classificatory system
hinged, was the relation of husband and wife or, to put it more
generally, the cohabitation of a man with a woman.
P. 397. The Kamilaroi type of social organisation, etc.
Speaking of the Kamilaroi marriage system another writer says ;

“It is also a curious arrangement in these tribes that every man in

any one class is supposed to have marital rights over every woman
in the class with which he can marry ; thus every Ipai regards every
Kubbitha woman as his wife in posse. Hence a young man of the
Ipai class, as soon as by tribal ceremonies he has acquired the right
to marry, may go to the abode of a family of Kubbitha girls and
say to one of them, in the presence of her parents, Ngaia coolaid
karramulla yaralla, I wife will take by and by.’
‘ His demand thus

• Professor J. Y. Simpson, article ii. (Edinburgh, 1909) p. 634.

“Biology,” in Dr. J. Hastings’s
Encydopadia of Religion and Ethics, ^ See above, pp. 112 sqq.
 VOI,. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 273

made cannot be refused, and the parents must keep the girl until

he comes to take her as his wife.” ^

P. 404. A
woman might neither speak with nor look at her Custom of
daughter’s husband. —
In some of the tribes of New South Wales,
particularly it would seem among the Kamilaroi, if a man had ^ man and
spoken to his wife’s mother he had to leave the camp and pitch his his wife's

rude shelter of branches and bark at a distance from it. There

he had to remain in seclusion till the taint contracted by talking to
his mother-in-law might be supposed to be purged or worn away.-
Among the Arunta of Central Australia a man has to avoid not
only his actual mother-in-law but also all the women who belong to
her subclass, and similarly a woman has to avoid not only her actual
son-in-law but also all the men who belong to his subclass. On
this subject Mr. b'. J. Gillen tells us that “ no man may speak to,
look at, or go anywhere near a woman of the class to which the
mother of his wife, or wives, belongs. women of this class are
All
mura to him. The same law applies to the woman that is to say,—
she must not speak to, look at, or go near any man of the class
from which the husband of a daughter would be drawn. This law
is strictly carried out even now. A man or woman niF/ra to each
other will make a detour of half a mile rather than risk getting
within distinguishing distance of the features.”® “There is a
very extraordinary custom prevailing among the Watchandies
(and perhaps among other tribes) whereby a newly married man
is not permitted to look on his mother-in-law (abrdcurra) for a

certain space of time. When she approaches he is obliged to

retire, and should he not perceive her as she comes towards

him, one of his fellows warns him of the fact and of the direction
in which she is, and thereupon he retires in the opposite direction,
without looking towards her, hiding himself behind a bush or
a tree until it pleases her to go away, of which event he is im-
mediately apprised by his comrades. I was not able to learn the
origin of this custom, or the penalties entailed on those who
^
infringe it.”

P. 405. An obligation rested on the men of the same subclass

and totem as the victim to avenge his death. Similarly of the —
tribes of New South Wales we are told that “ when a blood feud
has to be atoned, the whole totem (say, black-snake) of the aggressor
’ John Fraser, “The Aborigines of and Melbourne, 1896) p. 164. From
New South NaXtsR Journal and Pro- the context appears that by “class”
it

ceedings of the Royal Society of Neiv Mr. Gillen here means any one of the
South Wales, xvi. (1882) p. 222. four subclasses Panunga, Purula,
Bukhara, and Kumara.
^ John Fraser, op. cit. p. 224. '•
A. Oldfield, “On the Aborigines
® F. J. Gillen, in Report on the Work of Australia,” Transactions of the
of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Ethnological Society of London, New
Central Australia, Part iv. (London Series, iii. (1865) p. 251.
VOL. IV T
 274 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I

meets the totem (say, bandicoot) of the victim ; champions are

selected to represent each side as above, and the remainder of the
men of these totems are spectators.” ’

Wives
obtained
P. 409. This custom of exchanging sisters, etc. The custom —
of obtaining a wife by giving a sister or other female relative in
by the
exchange
exchange was widespread among the Australian aborigines. Speak-
of sisters ing of the natives of the Lower Murray and Lower Darling Rivers
or other a writer observes “ Polygamy is allowed to any extent, and this
;

female
relatives.
law is generally taken advantage of by thosewho chance to be rich
in sisters, daughters, or female wards, to give in exchange for wives.
No man can get a wife unless he has a sister, ward, or daughter,
whom he can give in exchange. Fathers of grown-up sons frequently
exchange their daughters for wives, not for their sons, however, but
for themselves, even although they already have two or three. Cases
of this kind are indeed very hard for the sons, but being aboriginal
law they must bear it as best they can, and that too without murmur;
and to make the matter harder still to bear, the elders of a tribe
will not allow the young men to go off to other tribes to steal wives
for themselves, as such measures would be the certain means of
entailing endless feuds with their accompanying bloodshed, in the
attempts that would surely be made with the view of recovering
the abducted women. Young men, therefore, not having any
female relatives or wards under their control must, as a consequence
of the aboriginal law on the subject, live all their lives in single
blessedness, unless they choose to take up with some withered old
hags whom nobody owns, merely for the purpose of having their
fires cared for, their water-vessels filled, and their baggage carried
^
from camp to camp.”
P. 501. In Africa the custom of polyandry is apparently
. . .

—
unkn own. This is a mistake. Polyandry is practised by the
Bahima and Baziba of Central Africa.^
P. 503. Australia, where the husband regularly goes to live
—
with her husband’s people. However, according to Mr. Aldridge,
of Maryborough, Queensland, “ when a man marries a woman from
a distant locality, he goes to her tribelet and identifies himself with
her people. This is a rule with very few exceptions. Of course, I
speak of them as they were in their wild state. He becomes part
of and one of the family. In the event of a war expedition, the
daughter’s husband acts as a blood-relation, and will fight and kill

' John Fraser, “ The Aborigines of and Riverine Depression of the Lower
New South ''NsXes,” Journal and Pro- Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower
ceedings of the Royal Society of New Lachline, and Lower 'Ds.iVmg," Journal
South Wales, xvi. (18S2) p. 226. and Proceedings of the Royal Society of
2 Peter Beveridge, “Of the Abori- New South Wales, xvii. (1883) p. 23.
gines inhabiting the great Lacustrine ^ See above, vol. ii. p. 538.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 275

his own blood-relations if blows are struck by his wife’s relations.

I have seen a father and son fighting under these circumstances,
and the son would most certainly have killed his father if others
had not interfered.”^
J
Quoted by Professor E. B. Tylor, arguing against
Prof. Tylor’s view
“ On Method of Investigating the
a (vol. i. 503 sq.) I overlooked this
pp.
Development of Institutions,” Journal statement of Mr. Aldridge, though it
of the Anthropological Institute, xviii. was quoted by Prof. Tylor in the
(1889) pp. 250 sq. I regret that in paper to which I referred.
 ;

NOTES AND CORRECTIONS

VOLUME II

Totemism in South-Eastern New Guinea. The evidence

P. 46. —
for the practice of totemism in South-Eastern New Guinea and
the neighbouring islands has now been published more fully by Dr.
C. G. Seligmann. I will here supplement the account given in the
text by some further particulars drawn from his book.^
The two Dr. Seligmann tells us that New Guinea is inhabited by two
races of entirely different races of men, the Papuans in the west and the
New
Guinea, the Melanesians in the east. The Papuans of the west are a congeries
Papuans of frizzly-haired and often mop-headed peoples of a dark chocolate
and the or sooty brown complexion, with high heads, long arched noses,
Melan-
esians.
prominent brow-ridges, and receding foreheads. The Melanesians
are smaller and of a lighter complexion, with shorter noses, less
prominent brow-ridges, and rounded, not retreating foreheads
their hair, like that of the Papuans, is frizzly. Further, Dr. Selig-
mann distinguishes Melanesians of New Guinea into two
the
branches, a Western and an Eastern. The Western Melanesians
border on the Papuans at Cape Possession and extend thence
eastward to Orangerie Bay. They seem to have absorbed some
Papuan elements by admixture with the aborigines whom they
probably found in possession of the country when they immigrated
into it from the east ; indeed many of them, for example the Koita
near Port Moresby, still speak Papuan languages. The Eastern
Melanesians or Massim, as Dr. Seligmann calls them, occupy the
south-eastern extremity of British New Guinea from Cape Nelson
on the north and Orangerie Bay on the south, and they are also
spread over the adjacent archipelagoes, including the Louisiade
Archipelago, the Trobriand Islands, the Marshall Bennet Islands,
and Murua or Woodlark Islands.^
Toteniism The most characteristic feature in the culture of the Eastern
of the
Melanesians or Massim is the existence of a peculiar form of
Eastern
Melanesians totemism with maternal descent. The members of each clan have
or Massim as totems a series of associated animals belonging to different

1 C. G. Seligmann, M.D., The (Cambridge, 1910).

Melanesians of British New Guinea ^
C. G. Seligmann, op. cit. pp. 1-7,

276
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 277

classes of the organic kingdom ;

ordinarily these linked totems, as
Dr. Seligmann calls them, are a bird, a fish, a snake, and a plant.
But a four-footed vertebrate, such as the monitor lizard or the
crocodile, may be added to each series of linked totems, while one
of the orders of the animal kingdom, which ought to be represented
in the series of linked totems, may be absent in a particular place.
Towards the north-western borders of the district the typical
arrangement of the totems into a linked series of living organisms
has disappeared and rocks may be added to the list of totems, and
in these parts the snake totem is particularly important ; indeed the
snake is here sometimes regarded as the creator of the world. On
the whole, however, throughout the area occupied by the Eastern
Melanesians or Massim the most important totems are the birds,
and the first question commonly put to a stranger is, “ What is
your bird ? ” In old days the rule of exogamy was strictly observed
by the totemic clans, but at present it is being disregarded.^
The totemic system of the Eastern Melanesians, so far as it is
practised at Wagawaga on Milne Bay and in Tubetube, a small
island of the Engineer Group off the eastern extremity of New
Guinea, has already been described and nothing further need
be said on the subject. But it may be well to give some particulars
as to the totemism of these Eastern Melanesians or Massim in
other places.
Thus at Bartle Bay, on the northern coast of British New Totemism
Guinea, there are three communities called respectively Wamira,
Wedau, and Gelaria, each of which is divided into a number of
totemic and exogamous clans with descent in the female line. The Guinea.
Wamira communities comprise twenty-one clans each, while the
Gelaria community comprises only three. Each clan has usually a
series of linked totems. Thus, for example, in the Wamira com-
munity the Mara clan has for its totems the white pigeon and the
mountain bird ; the Iriki clan has for its totems the cockerel, the
blue pigeon, and a red poisonous snake (irikiei) ; the lanibolanai
clan has for its totems the lizard, the sea-gull, and the quail the ;

Radava clan has for its totems the cassowary, a snake {gabadi), and
a fish ; the Inagabadi clan has for its totems the cassowary, a snake
(gadadi), and two kinds of fish ; the laronai clan has for its totems
the white pig, the quail, the crow, and the eel ; the Vava and Gebai
clans have each for their totems a hawk, a small bird, and the
shark and the Garuboi clan has for its totems the crow, a snake
;

(garuboi), a fish, and a bird. In the Wedau community the

Garuboi clan has for its totems the moon and a snake {garuboiei) ;

the Iriki clan has for its totems the cockerel, the blue pigeon, and
a snake (irikiei) ; the Manibolonai clan has for its totems the sea-

*
C. G. Seligmann, llie Melanesians of British New Guinea, pp. 9 sq.
^ See above, vol. ii. pp. 46-55.
 278 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

gull,the quail, a sea bird, and a snake the Aurana clan has for its
;

totems the sea-hawk, the hawk, and the cockerel ; the Bouni clan
has for its totems a sea fish, a freshwater fish, and a bird ; the
Derama clan has for its totems the lizard, the quail, the sea-gull,
and a sea bird the Diguma clan has for its totems the alligator, a
;

bird, and a snake ; the Lavarata clan has for its totems a tree and
two stones and the Gora clan has for its totems the sun and a
;

parrot. In the Gelaria community the Garuboi clan has for its
totems a constrictor snake {garuboi) and the hornbill ; the Girimoa
clan has for its totems a constrictor snake (garuboi), the hornbill,
and the pig ; and the Elewa clan has for its totems the dog and
the pigeon.^
Exogamous Further, these totemic clans are grouped in exogamous classes
or phratries. Six such exogamous classes or phratries are recorded
in New ^he Wamira, nine for the Wedau, and two for the Gelaria.^
Guinea. Though the clans are inherited from the mother, a man is forbidden
Respect to marry into own ; the rule of
his father’s clan as well as into his

the'^"
exogamy is absolute.® A man
not eat the flesh of his totemic
will
animal, though in some cases he may kill it. Further, he will not
eat or injure his father’s totem. If a man sees his totem snake
lying on the path, he will go round it to avoid touching it. But
the natives deny that their totems help them ; the only exception to
this rule is the Elewa clan of the Gelaria community, who have the
dog for their chief totem. They think that their dogs help them,
and that strange dogs will not bite them. They are fond of the
animal, and bury a dead dog if they find it. A Wamira man of
the Logaloga clan will kill his totemic bird, the red parrot, and he
will wear its feathers, but he will not eat the bird. An lanibolanai
man will not kill or eat the monitor lizard, his most important
totem, but he will use a drum, the tympanum of which is formed of
the lizard’s skin. An laronai man will keep white pigs, his totem,
though he will not eat them. A Lavarata man, who has the
modewa tree for his totem, will not u,se the wood of the tree as fuel.
One Wedau clan which has a stone for one of its totems will boil
chips of the sacred stone and drink the water in order to get
strength in war; people come from far and near to drink the in-
The Wamira word for a totem is ba7-iaua, a
vigorating beverage."^
term which they apply to any supernatural or uncanny agency,
including white men. They speak of the totemic animal, reptile,
or bird as the father or grandfather of the family.®
In battle aman would avoid men of his own totem on the other
side and would not throw spears at them. “ He would recognize

* C. G. Seligmann, 7'he Melanesians * C. G. Seligmann, op. cit. pp. 450-

of British New Guinea, pp. 446-450. 452.
^ C. G. Seligmann, op. cit. pp.
437 - 439 -
® G
G. Seligmann, op. cit. p. 446,
^ C. G. Seligmann, op. cit. p. 447. quoting the Rev. Copland King.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 279

his clansmen by their gia (lit. nose), probably meaning face, having
previously met them at the feasts given for miles around, for no
distinctive clan badge is worn in battle.”^ Perhaps among these
people, as among the Baganda,^ each totemic clan has its own
physical type which an experienced eye can recognise at once.
About thirty-five miles west of Bartle Bay is the Mukaua com- Totemism
munity, occupying six settlements separated from each other by not Mukaua
more than two hundred yards. Four of the settlements are hamlets Guinea
containing households of only one totemic clan. The remaining
two settlements contain two clans each ; but the houses of each
clan, though they are built close together, are held to form separate
hamlets, each with its own name and headman. Each clan has its
totem or totems, which children inherit from their father. The
totems of the Murimuri clan are the Goura pigeon, the crow, five
kinds of fish, a clam, and a cephalopod. The totems of the
Wairapia clan are the dog, the cuscus, the bandicoot, a fish, a
large lizard (perhaps the Varanus sp.), and two kinds of banana.
The Kaiwunu clan has for its totem a fish of the same name
(kaiwunu). The Inauboana clan has for its totems the turtle, a
constrictor snake, and two kinds of fish. The Yabayabata clan
has for totems the red parrot, a cephalopod, a fish (perhaps
its

a kind of sea-perch), and a kind of banana. The Kaukepo clan

has for its totems the flying fox, a constrictor snake, the turtle, the
dugong, and the bonugegadara, which is perhaps a small whale.
The clan Natuwosa has for its totems the turtle, a lizard, the sting
ray, and another kind of fish. The Mukaua people do not kill or
eat their totems, but they use feathers of their totemic birds. If a
man who has the monitor lizard or the cuscus for his totem kills
one of these animals, the headman is very angry and the culprit
himself suffers from boils. If a man catches his totemic fish by
accident, he will not return it to the water but a man of another
;

totem will disengage the fish ’from the hook and eat it. A man
who has bananas for his totem may plant them and pick the fruit
for other people, although he may not himself partake of it.^
Some four miles to the east of the Mukaua community is the Totemism
Bogaboga community, who speak the same language and observe
the same customs. The Bogaboga are divided into five totemic ^ew
clans. Among the totems are birds, fish, bananas, forest trees, Guinea,
and a prominent mountain, which is the chief totem of the Kibiris
clan. People who have trees for their totems may not fell or
injure the trees, nor may they use the wood for building houses or
canoes, nor for burning. People who have the mountain for their
totem may not look at it or set foot on it. Boils are believed to

' C. G. Seligmann, The Melanesians ^ C. G. Seligmann, op. cil. pp.

of British New Guinea, 740-742, from information furnished
^ See above, vol. ii. by Mr. E. L. Giblin.
pp. 505 sq.
 —

28 o TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

break out on people who eat their totemic fish. A Bogaboga man
made the following statement as to certain totemic charms which
he made use of “ Each one of my fish-totems has a spell (tnuara)
:

named after it, and when I am fishing if I see a fish that in any
way reminds me of that fish \i.e. the totem fish] in its appearance,
movement or colour, I use the spell of that fish \i.e. of that totem
fish], and then am sure to catch successfully and to spear straight.

In fighting I would pray to the 77iuara of the ftianubada [the fish-

hawk] so that just as it darts down from the sky and never misses
its my spear dart straightly and pierce deeply. When
prey, so will
on a raid would repeat the tnuara of the kisakisa [a hawk] so
I
that even as it snatches meat from a man’s hand or from a cooking-
pot, so may I snatch or seize my spoil from the place of the
enemy.” ^

Totemisni Still further to the west, at Cape Nelson, “ totemism is well

among
the Kubiri
developed among the Kubiri. The crocodile is a totem and its
at Cape intercession is sought by placing food in the rivers for it to eat.
Nelson. The more common customs of totemism are in full force. The
crocodile clan has many subsidiary totems; these include two shell-
fish, because their shells are like the scales of the crocodile, three

freshwater fish, because the crocodile feeds on them, a variety of

taro, and a kind of banana which has the same name as the croco-
dile and which is used to feed it. Even subsidiary totems may not
be eaten, and in some cases they may not be touched.”
From this brief but interesting notice of Kubiri totemism it
would seem that the system is developing into a religion, since the
totemic crocodile is propitiated by offerings of food. Further, we
learn some of the causes which give rise to subsidiary totems. It
appears that anything connected with the principal totem, such as
the animals which it feeds on, or anything that resembles it in
appearance, or anything, however different, which bears the same
name, may thereby acquire a sacred character and become a
subsidiary totem.
So much for totemism among the Massim or Eastern Melan-
esians on the mainland of New Guinea. A similar system of linked
totems is in vogue among the people of the same stock who inhabit
the archipelagoes immediately to the east of that great island.
Totemisni Thus the natives of the Trobriand Islands are divided into four
in the
Trobriand
totemic and exogamous clans, the names of which, with their linked
Islands. totems, are as follows ;

' C. G. .Seligmann, The Melanesians sg.,quoting Dr. Strong. We have

of British New Guinea, pp. 740, 742 seen that totemism is practised among
s,j. the Kworafi of Cape Nelson. See
^
C. G. Seligmann, op. <it. pp. 743 above, vol. ii. p. 55.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 281

Name of Clan. Bird Totem. Animal I'ctem. Fish Totem. Plant Totem.

Malasi pigeon . pig ? maiva kaiatila

Lukuba fish -hawk dog ? mamila meku
Lukosisiga . green parrot . crocodile ? kaisoa girigiri
Lokulobuta lory monitor lizard ? nnvahcya . butir

Of these totems the birds are in every clan of paramount import-

ance. Doubts exist as to the fish totems, which in any case are
unimportant by comparison with the other totems.^ A man ought
not to eat his totemic bird if he breaks the rule, his stomach will
;

swell and he may die. However, even this fundamental rule is

now breaking down under foreign influence. Some people who
have the pig for one of their totems think that if they ate wild pigs,
their stomachs would swell up. Others would eat tame black pigs,
but not yellowish-brown pigs, because that, they say, is the colour
of man. Some men of the Malasi clan keep pigs, their totem ; and
throughout the Trobriand Islands the pig is well treated." The
totemic clans are exogamous, in other words, no man may marry a
woman of his own totem. However, the rule is now being relaxed.
In the old days a man was also forbidden to marry a woman of his
father’s totemic clan. Some men also refrain from eating their
father’s totemic birds and fish. But contact with white traders is
rapidly wearing away the scruples of the natives on these points.®
The natives of the Trobriand Islands have the classificatory The dassi-
system of relationship. Thus in the generation above his own a ficatory
man applies the same term, tama, to his father, to his father’s brothers,
and to the husbands of He applies the same ship in the
his mother’s sisters.
term, ina, to his mother, to his mother’s sisters, to the wives of his Trobriand
Islands.
father’s brothers, and to the wives of his mother’s brothers. In his
own generation a man applies the same term, liiguta, to his sisters
and to his female cousins, the 'daughters either of his father’s
brothers or of his mother’s sisters. He applies the same term, tua,
to his elder brother, to his elder sister, to his cousin, the child
either of his father’s brother or of his mother’s sister, and also to
his wife’s sister. A woman applies thesame term, tua, to her hus-
band’s brothers. A man applies the same term, bwada, to his
younger brother, to his younger sister, to his male cousin, the son
either of his father’s brother or of his mother’s sister, and also to
his wife’s sister and to her husband. A woman applies the same
term, bwada, to her husband’s brother and to his wife. In the
generation below his own a man applies the same term, latu, to his

* C. G. Seligmann, The Melanesians '

C. G. Seligmann, o/>. cit. pp. 680

cf British New Guinea, pp. 677 sq.
sq. C. G. Seligmann, op. cit. p. 683.
 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

own and also to the child of his mother’s

child, to his brother’s child,
brother.^ application suggests that a man has, or used to
This last
have, access to the wife of his mother’s brother, since he applies
the same term to her child that he applies to his own. have We
seen that a similar implication conveyed by classificatory terms
is

in Mota, Uganda, and some tribes of North American Indians.^

Totemism A similar system of totemism prevails in the Marshall Bennet
in the
Marshall
Islands to the east of the Trobriands. Of the linked totems the
Bennet birds are the most important, next to them perhaps come the fish
Islands. totems, and after them the plant totems. The snake totems are
insignificant indeed some clans are said to have no snake totems.
;

Further, certain four-footed vertebrates, the dog, the pig, and the
large monitor lizards are totem animals on some, if not all, of the
islands. On Gawa there are five clans with the fish-hawk, the
pigeon, the frigate-bird, the lory, and a bird called tarakaka for
their chief totems. On Iwa there are four clans with the fish-hawk,
the pigeon, the frigate-bird, and the lory for their chief totems. In
each island one particular clan recognised as traditionally the
is

strongest and most influential. In Gawa the dominant clan is the

Fish-hawk clan ; in Iwa it is the Pigeon clan. Men will not eat
or injure their totemic birds and fishes. The objection to coming
into contact with the totem fish is carried so far that a married man
or woman will not bring his or her spouse’s fish into the house, but
will cook and eat it on the beach. A man will not injure his
totemic plant, but if it proves troublesome in his garden he might
ask a man of another totem to cut it down for him. Every one
shews nearly the same respect for his father’s totemic animals
that he shews for his own. No one will kill or eat his father’s bird
and fish totems, nor will he uproot or injure his father’s totemic
plant.The totemic clans are still strictly exogamous. No man
woman of his own totem, and in the old days no man or
marries a
woman would marry into his or her father’s totemic clan. The
origin of the totemic clans explained in Iwa by a legend that
is

each clan came out of a different hole in the ground bringing with
it the totemic animals, while the totemic plants grew near the holes

from which they emerged.^ In the Trobriand Islands the origin of

the totemic clans is set forth in a similar legend.^
Totemism A system of linked totems is found also in Murua or Woodlark
in Murua
Island, to the east of the Marshall Bennet Islands. Among the
or
Woodlark linked totems are the Torres Straits pigeon and a large fish called
Islands. gudowara the scarlet lory and the turtle ; the fish-hawk and the
;

rock-cod the cockatoo and a large red fish called digbosara the
; ;

* C. G. Seligmann, The Meianesians esians of British New Guinea, pp.

of British New Guinea, p. 707. 684-688.
See above, vol. ii. pp. 510^7. '*
C. G. Seligmann, op. cit. p.
^ C. G. Seligmann, The. Melan- 679.
 ;

VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 283

crow and the shark ; the flying fo.K and a big predatory fish called
gagatu the megapod and the dugong the blue pigeon and a
;

snake the frigate-bird and the crocodile. There is some difference

;

of opinion as to how a man should treat his totem bird, but no one
will hesitate to kill and eat his totem fish. On the other hand, no
one will kill, eat, or in any way come into contact with his father’s
totem bird or fish, if he can help it ; and no one will marry into
his father’s totemic clan. The name for a totemic clan is man}-
Again, a system of linked totems prevails in the Louisiades, an Totemism
archipelago situated someway to the south-east of New Guinea
but details of the system are wanting. Every person has a number
of linked totems, which may consist of one or more birds with a
fish, a snake, and often a tree. One of the bird totems is more
important than the others. The place of the fish totem may be
taken by a turtle or alligator, and the place of the snake totem is
sometimes taken by a lizard. There seems to be no grouping of
the clans in classes or phratries in any of the islands of the
Louisiades .2
—
Totemism at Wagawaga. At Wagawaga, in South- Mutual
P. 47.
eastern New
Guinea, and in the neighbouring small island of avoidance
Tubetube, relations by marriage observe some of those customs of
ceremonial avoidance of which we have met with so many examples marriage at
among totemic and exogamous peoples. Many such relations may Wagawaga
not mention each other’s names. Thus, a man may not mention
the name of his daughter-in-law, and she may not mention his.
Husband and wife are also forbidden to utter each other’s names,
and so are brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. But the restriction
is not limited to persons of different sexes ; for brothers-in-law will

not mention each other’s names, nor will a father-in-law and a son-
in-law. Further, connections by marriage who
“ the majority of
are of opposite sexes and between whom
there is a name avoidance
also avoid coming into contact with each other. A man would Avoidance
most rigidly avoid talking to a sister of his wife whether he met ^ wife's

her alone or in the company of others. If he met her alone he

would avoid coming near her at all ; if this were impossible, as
when meeting on a jungle track, brother-in-law and sister-in-law
would turn their backs to each other in passing and one, usually
the woman, would step aside into the bush. A man avoids his Avoidance
mother-in-law less rigidly than his wife’s sisters, although if he meets ^ wife’s

her alone he treats her in the same way, and even in public does
not usually enter her house unless he is living there. In his own
house he may talk to her a little, and he may eat food she has
cooked, but he does not take the pot containing food directly from
her. Father-in-law and daughter-in-law avoid each other very much
* C. G. Seligmann, T/ie Melanesians of British New Guinea, pp. 689-691.
^ C. G. Seligmann, op. cit.
pp. 736 sq.
 ^

284 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. ii

as do mother-in-law and son-in-law. A man does not avoid his

brothers’ wives.” ^This custom of rigidly avoiding a wife’s sisters
can hardly be explained otherwise than as a precaution intended to
prevent an improper intimacy between a man and his sisters-in-law.
The Kaya- P. 59. The Tugeri or Kaya-Kaya are reported to have a
. . .

Kaya of
Dutch
complicated totemic system. —
The Kaya-Kaya are a large tribe,
New numbering many thousands, who inhabit the southern coast of
Guinea. Dutch New Guinea from Merauke westward as far at least as the
village of Makaling. They are a tall, slender, but muscular race
with long hooked noses and a light-brown skin. Their staple food
is sago, but they also plant bananas, yams, and taro. These planta-
tions are very carefully kept,and in the low swampy lands, which
skirt the coast, channels are cut at right angles to each other for
the purpose of running off the flood water. The first work of laying
out a new plantation is done by the men ; afterwards the women
keep it in order. Many coco-nut palms are planted near the
villages and along the coast. The only domestic animals bred by
the Kaya-Kaya are pigs and dogs but dogs were quite unknown to
;

the tribe before they came into contact with Europeans. Game is
plentiful and is much hunted. The favourite quarry is the wild
boar and a large species of wallaby ; but crocodiles, cassowaries,
and many marsh birds are also killed and eaten.
The houses of the Kaya-Kaya are built on the ground, not
raised on piles. All the male inhabitants of a village live and sleep
together in a few men’s houses {anmdnga safd), which generally
stand at each end of the village. Between them in a row are the
women’s houses {bubti safd), a house for every mother, her children,
and female relatives. Thus the number of the women’s houses
corresponds roughly to the number of the families. The unmarried
men (ewdti) sleep in the men’s houses, but must pass the day in
the kofad, which is a bachelor’s club-house outside of the village.
The men may not enter the women’s houses, and the women may
not enter the men’s houses.^
Every year when the weather is favourable the Kaya-Kaya
make joint raids into the territory of neighbouring tribes to carry
off human heads. Before they behead a prisoner they ask him
his name ; then having decapitated him they leave the trunk
weltering in its blood and carry back the dripping head to the
village. They eat the brain and the tongue, and having mummified
the head or stripped it of the flesh they hang it up in one of the

1 C. G. Seligmann, The Melanesians )iatur'wissenschafI lichen Klasse der

of British New Guinea (Cambridge, Kaiserlichen Akademie der IVissen-
1910), pp. 485 sq. schaftc 7i (Vienna), cxv. (1906) pp.
- R. Poch, “ Vierter Bericht iiber 895 sq., 897 sq.
meine Reise nach Neu - Guinea,”
^
Sitzungsberichte der mathernatisch- R. Poch, o/>. cit. p. 899.
 2 -

VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 285

men’s houses. The man vi^ho took the head bestows the name of
the slain man on a child who is his next of kin. Children for
whom no head has been cut off have no name.^
to time great festivals are held, to which many Masked
From time
hundreds of people come from neighbouring villages. On these dances,
occasions dances are danced in which the dancers wear masks
representing various animals. The occasions of such festivals are P.ull-
the successful issue of a head-hunt, the initiation of young men, roarers,
a marriage, a good harvest, and so on. The Kaya-Kaya are
acquainted with the bull-roarer, which they call sosoni. They give
the same name Sosom to a mythical giant, who is supposed to
appear every year with the south-east monsoon. When he comes,
a festival is held in his honour and bull-roarers are swung.
Women may not see the bull-roarers, or they would die. Boys are
presented to the giant and he kills them, but brings them to life
again.
The Kaya-Kaya are divided into totemic and exogamous clans Totemic
with descent in the paternal line ;
in other words, no man may
marry a woman of his own clan, and children take their totem Kaya.
from their father. Some of the clans include totemic subclans.
Both animals and plants figure among the totems. The following
is the list of the Kaya-Kaya clans and subclans, so far as they
were ascertained by Mr. R. Pdch ; —
1. The Gepsi or Coco-nut-palm people: to them belong the
Kiu-boan or Descendants of the Crocodile.
2. The Maht'cse or Sago-palm people: to them belong the
Gat-boan or Descendants of the Dog.
3. The Kah'ise or Cassowary people to them belong the :

Samkdke or Kangaroo people, and the Takdf-boan or the Fire

people, so called because they set fire to the grass in hunting.
4. The Bragdse or the Yam people to them belong the :

Kidnb-boan or Descendants of the Eagle.

5. The Dhvarek or the Djatuboe people {djamboe is a Malay
word applied to an apple-like tree-fruit) to them belong the SohG :

boan or Potatoe people, and the Anda-boan or Descendants of a

certain Fish (German Neunfisck).
6. The Bas'ise or the Pig people.
7. The Wdbarik or the Lizard people.

The Gepsi or Coco-nut-palm people enjoy

a high reputation, but
on the strength of it they are not entitled to order the Sago-palm
people about. Marriage between the clans is regulated by custom ;

thus it is said that the Coco-nut-palm man is the husband of the

1 R. Poch, “ Vierter Bericht iiber Kaiserlichen Akademie de 7 - Wissen-

meine Reise nach Neu - Guinea,” schaften (Vienna), cxv. (1906) p. 901.
Sitzungsberichte dei- mathematisch-
naturwissenschaftlichen A'lasse der ^ R. Poch, op. cit. pp. 901, 902.
 —

286 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

Sago-palm woman. Each clan is forbidden to eat certain foods.

Thus the Coco-nut-palni people may eat coco-nuts, but not the
flying squirrel {Petaurus), which lives in these palms. The Sago
people may eat sago, but not dogs, because they are descended
from a dog. A man’s wife and children abstain from the same
food from which he abstains.^
Thus finding totemism practised by a large tribe in Dutch
New Guinea we may reasonably surmise that it is practised by
many more tribes of the same region, though the existence of the
institution appears to have escaped the notice of the Dutch.

P. 65. The New Caledonians have apparently the classificatory

system of relationship. —
Another writer tells us that among the
New Caledonians “the uncle takes the place of the father and is
also designated by the word ‘papa,’ and similarly the aunt is
designated by the word ‘mamma,’ the native term for ‘papa’ being
baba, and the native term for mamma being gnagnaP ^
‘ ’

3
Mutual P. 77.Rules of avoidance between .brothers and sisters.
. .

avoidance
of brothers
On this custom in the New Hebrides another writer (Father A.
and sisters Deniau) observes “ At Malo brother and sister never eat together
:

in the and never go in each other’s company. If a sister is in a gathering

New and her brother afterwards appears there, she escapes or, if she
Hebrides
and New cannot, she goes to a distance, squats on her heels, with her back
Caledonia. turned and her eyes cast down to the ground, till her brother has
disappeared. If by chance she meets him on the path, she throws
herself aside, with her face turned in the opposite direction and
her eyes lowered. If it is absolutely necessary that brothers and
sisters should communicate with each other, they may do so only
through the medium of a third person.”^ Similarly in New
Caledonia brothers and sisters “are very fond of each other. The
brother will everywhere protect his sister, but will never speak to
her ; on the contrary he shuns every occasion of being with her.
He is completely separated from her by his education and he never
addresses a word to her. I could not learn the cause of this
custom.”
P. 96. — man may or may
Dr. Rivers omitted to enquire whether a
not marry a woman who has the same conceptional totem as himself.
— Since the passage in the text was printed Dr. W. H. R. Rivers
has learned from his correspondent in Melanesia that, just as I had
1 R. Poch, “ Vierter Bericht iiber Father A. Deniau, “ Croyances
meine Reise nach Neu Guinea,”- religieuses et moeurs des indigenes de
Sitziingsberichte der mathemaiisck- I’ile Malo (Nouvelles Hebrides) a
naiiirwissenschaftlichen Klasse der I’arrivee des missionaires en 1887,” Les
Kaiserlichen Akadcmie der IVissen- A/issions catholiques, xxxiii. (1901) p.
schaften (Vienna), cxv. (1906) p. 900. 358.
2 L. Moncelon, in Bulletins de la ^ Glaumont, “ Usages, moeurs et
Social d’’ Anthropologie de Paris, Troi- coutumes des Neo-Caledoniens,” Revue
sieme Serie, ix. (1886) p. 366. d'ethnographie, vii. (1889) p. 84.
VOL. I NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 287

conjectured, two persons who have the same conceptional totem Parallel
are free to marry each other. Thus all the inferences which I had between
provisionally drawn from my conjectural anticipation of this informa- (-eptional
tion are confirmed. The resemblances between the conceptional totemism
‘^e
totemism of the Banks’ Islanders and that of the Central Australians
are hence very close indeed. In neither people are the totems islanders
hereditary ; in both they are determined for each individual by the and that
fancy of his or her pregnant mother, who imagines that she has °f
conceived through the entrance into her of a spirit without any Australians
help from the male sex. But of the two systems the Melanesian
is the more primitive \ indeed it answers exactly to what I had
postulated on theoretical grounds as the absolutely primitive type
of totemism.^ For whereas the Australian mother imagines that
what has entered her womb is a human spirit with an animal or
plant for its totem, the Melanesian mother imagines that what has
entered her womb is a spirit animal or spirit plant, and when her
child "is born she identifies it with the spirit animal or spirit plant
which she had conceived. Further, while both peoples have a strict
system of exogamous classes, neither of them applies the rule of
exogamy to their totems ; among the Melanesians, as among the
Central Australians, a man is quite free to marry a woman who has
the same conceptional totem as himself. The reason why both
peoples, while adhering strictly to the rule of exogamy as regards
the classes, do not apply the rule to their totems is very simple, as
I have already explained.'^ When totems are not inherited but
determined fortuitously by the fancies of pregnant women, the
application to them of the rule of exogamy could not effect what
exogamy was designed to effect, namely, the prevention of the
marriage of near kin. Hence in the Banks’ Islands as in Central
Australia the institutions of totemism and exogamy exist in-
dependently side by side without mingling with or in any way
affecting each other. In both places the exogamous class is a
totally different thing from the totemic group or clan. Here we
have pure totemism and pure exogamy.
They are divided into a large number of exogamous Exogamous
P. 183.
families or clans. —
Another Micronesian people who are divided
into exogamous clans are the Mortlock Islanders. Their islands islands,
form part of the Caroline Group. Each clan traces its descent
from a single ancestress and is hereditary in the female line. No
man may marry or have sexual intercourse with a woman of his
own A
breach of this rule is regarded as incest of the most
clan.
heinous sort to be expiated only by death. Every member of the
criminal’s clan would avenge such an outrage. Each clan has its
own lands, which are sometimes in different islands. The social
* See vol. i. pp. 157 sqq.
^
Vol. i. pp. 165 sq., vol. ii. pp. 96 sq., vol. iv. pp. 127 sq.
 A

288 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

Exogamous head of the clan is the oldest woman, who is treated with particular
respect ; the political head of the clan is the oldest man of the
Mo'rtlocl-*'^
Islands. ' oldest family. When a chief dies, he is succeeded by his brother
or other nearest male relation. Men and women of the same clan
are kept strictly apart all the traditional laws and customs of the
;

islanders, we are told, aim at making impossible the near approach

of the two sexes to each other in the same clan. Hence a brother
and sister never sleep in the same house. The brother sleeps in
the large men’s house {fet) ; the sister sleeps in her mother’s hut
(im). In the presence of her husband a woman may not stand
beside her brother while he sits, and she may not touch him with
her hand. If she sees him sitting on the shore and he refuses to
rise at her bidding, she must pass him in a stooping attitude. It is
only in the earliest years of childhood that brothers and sisters are
allowed to play together. As the men of each clan have to seek
their wives or other female consorts in a different clan, they are
almost always absent from home. And as the children never
belong to their father’s clan but always to their mother’s, it follows
that in a war between the clans fathers and sons may be arrayed
against each other. On the other hand, if two warriors meet in a
fight and learn that they are members of the same clan, they will
not hurt each other. In short, the whole social system of the
Mortlock Islanders is built up on these exogamous clans with descent
in the maternal line.^

Separation P. 193. A woman at marriage remains in her mother’s family

of husband
and wife
and her mother’s house, where she is visited by her husband. —
in the
social system under which husband and wife live all their lives long
family life apart from each other in separate families and in separate houses
of the it may be well to illustrate it a little
is so alien to our habits that
Malays
of South more Apparently within the East Indian Archipelago this
fully.

Sumatra. remarkable arrangement prevails only in Sumatra among some

Malay peoples who practise exogamy and mother-kin.^ The follow-
ing is the account given of the custom by the late Professor G. A.
Wilken, one of the best authorities on Malay institutions. Speaking
of the custom of tracing descent in the female line, which he calls
by the common but inappropriate name of matriarchate, Wilken
observes ^ “ There are only a few peoples among whom this
:

institution is preserved intact. Amongst them are the Malays of

South Sumatra, with whom exclusive descent in the female line lies
at the foundation of their social life. The children of the daughters
therefore belong to the family, but the children of the sons do not.

1
J.
Kubary, “Die Bewohner der G. A. Wilken, Hamileiding voor
-

Mortlock-Inseln,” Mittheilungen der de vergelijkende Volkenkunde van

geograpliische)! Gesellschaft in Ham- Nederlandsch-lndie (htyAtn, 1893), p.
burg, iSyS-jg, pp. 21-29, 37 (separate 325-
reprint). * G. A. Wilken, op. cit. pp. 323 sq
VOL II. NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 289

The family is propagated through the woman ; she is heir. A

necessary consequence of this is that at her marriage the woman
remains in the family, in the household, to which she belongs ; that
is, she remains with her brothers and sisters. In fact, she does not
even quit the house in which she was born and grew up. But the
husband also on his side remains at marriage, like his wife, in his
family and similarly does not quit the family dwelling. Thus
marriage does not bring with it cohabitation ; in truth even then
man and wife live apart. Their wedded life manifests itself only
in the form of visits which the husband pays to his wife. That is,
he goes to his wife by day, helps her in her work at the rice-fields,
and shares with her the noontide meal. At least that is the
procedure in the honeymoon. Afterwards the visits by day grow
rarer, and the husband comes now and then at evening to her house
and stays there, if he is a faithful spouse, till the next morning.
Thus what we have to bear in mind is that husband and wife do
not live together nor form a common household, but that each of
them stays in his or her family and household with his or her
brothers and sisters and forms with them a single household. So
the household consists not of husband, wife, and children, but of
brothers, sisters, and sisters’ children. At the head of the house- The
hold stands the eldest brother and wields authority ^
also over his ™other's
eldest
sisters’ children in as much as they belong to the household. The hrother
maternal uncle, the maniak^ is in respect of his rights and duties the the head
proper father also of his sisters’ children, the ka7nanakan.
“The father, in as much as he does not belong to the household,
has nothing to say to his children. In his turn he also, at least if
he is an eldest brother, stands at the head of the household
composed of his brothers and sisters and his sisters’ children. On
the death of the eldest brother the next brother becomes head of
the household, and so on till all the brothers are dead. Then the
household is broken up. Each sister with her children then forms
a new household, and when she dies the children again form a
household with the eldest son at their head. Thus the house-
hold does not always consist of brothers, sisters, and sisters’
children ; sometimes it consists of a mother with her children.
Yet the first is the normal household, the second only a transitional
one. Properly speaking a woman, if she is married and has
children, belongs to two households, namely, to the household of
her brothers and sisters and to the nascent household of her
children. The latter remains in a state of abeyance so long as
the former exists ; it only comes into independent being when
the other, through the death of all the brothers, has ceased to
exist.
“With this institution the right of inheritance is bound up. In
the first place it is to be remarked that in marriage there is no such
VOL. IV u
 290 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

No com- thing as community of goods between husband and wife. From

munity
the nature such a community is impossible, since
of the case
of goods
between husband and wife never form a single household but always
husband belong to two different households. The goods of the husband
and wife.
pass at his death to his heirs and those of the wife to her heirs.
But the heirs are, first, those who belong to the household of the
testator. If the husband dies, his children do not inherit because
they do not belong to his household ; but in the first place his
brothers and sisters inherit, and failing them his sisters’ children,
boys and girls alike. However, at the death of the wife it is her
children, her sons and daughters, who inherit, and if there are
none, then her brothers and sisters. Properly speaking it is only
the women, whether daughters or sisters, who inherit ; for the
inheritance, the harta pusaka, which is not divided, serves primarily
for the maintenance of the female members of the household, and
the male members only get anything that remains over. Thus it
is with great justice that the Sanscrit word pusaka has been applied

in this connection and has only gradually acquired the meaning of

Children inheritance. What we must therefore keep in view is, that as a
do not
logical consequence of the whole matriarchal constitution of the
inherit
from their household the children do not inherit from their father. Indeed
father, but his household, his brothers and sisters, take good care that nothing
hemay
make pre-
of the estate which he has left goes to his children. As soon as
sents to the father is dead, his relations, the heirs, hasten to his wife’s house
them in his to demand the goods which may have been bequeathed by the
lifetime.
deceased. Only by gifts in his lifetime can a father do anything
for his children. However, a custom has gradually grown up in
many places, that a father may
dispose of the half of his property
in gifts for the good of his children. But in order to be legally
valid such a gift {libak) must be made in presence of brothers,
sisters, and witnesses. If this formality is omitted, it is quite
certain that at the death the gift will be reclaimed to the last
farthing.”

Marriage P. 213. One such report reaches us from the Poggi or Pageh
customs
in the
Islands. — Some
account of the Poggi Islanders is given by a Mr.
Poggi John Crisp, who visited them from Sumatra in 1792. Though he
Islands. testifiesto the loose sexual relations which prevail among the
unmarried, his evidence by no means confirms the statement that
marriage is unknown in the islands. He says “In marriages, the
:

matter is settled between the parents of the young persons, and

when agreed upon, the young man goes to the house of the bride,
and takes her home ; on this occasion a hog is generally killed, and
a feast made. Polygamy is not allowed. In cases of adultery,
where the wife is the offender, the injured husband has a right to
seize the effects of the paramour, and sometimes punishes his wife
by cutting off her hair. When the husband offends, the wife has
 ;

VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 291

a right to quit him, and to return to her parents’ house ; but in this
state of separation she is not allowed to marry another ; however, in
both these cases, the matter is generally made up, and the parties
reconciled ; and we were informed that instances of their occurrence
were very unfrequent. Simple fornication between' unmarried
persons is neither a crime nor a disgrace and a young woman is:

rather liked the better, and more desired in marriage, for having
borne a child sometimes they have two or three, when, upon a
;

marriage taking place, the children are left with the parents of their
mother.” ^
The accounts of other observers who have visited these islands
tell still more strongly against the statement that marriage is
unknown among the natives. Thus H. von Rosenberg, a Dutch
official and traveller, who visited the islands in 1852, says indeed
that “ the intercourse between young men and girls is very free
if a girl is got with child, it in no way detracts from her good
fame.” But he immediately adds that “ marriage takes the form
of monogamythe man obtains a wife for himself from her
;

parents by purchase or better by bartering articles worth from fifty

to a hundred gulden. Under no circumstances is divorce per-
mitted. Adultery is punished with the death of both the culprits.
If the husband dies, the widow may only marry a widower, and
reciprocally a widower may marry none but a widow. The
Mentawis are much addicted to jealousy and will not tolerate
prostitution.” ^ Another Dutch official, Mr. H. A. Mess, who visited
the islands in 1869, has described the solemn marriage ceremony
by which among these people, who are reported to be unacquainted
with marriage, “ bride and bridegroom proclaim that they are one
till death and that till then they will be true to each other in life

and in death.” ®
With these testimonies before us we may safely dismiss as a
fable the statement that marriage is unknown in the Poggi Islands.
It is strange that so learned and generally so well-informed a writer
as the late Professor G. A. Wilken should have given currency to
such a statement.
P. 216. In Borneo . . . the Olo Ot (those of Koetei) . . .

contract no marriage. —The writer whom elsewhere Prof. G. A.

* John Crisp, “ An Account of the ^ H. A. Mess, “ De Mentawei-

Inhabitants of the Poggy Islands, lying eilanden,” Tijdschrift voor Indische
off Sumatra,” Asiatick Researches, vi. Taal-, Land- az Volkenkzinde, xxvi.
(London, 1801) pp. 87 sq. (8vo edition). (1881) p. 91. However, the writer
^ H. von Rosenberg, Der tualayische does not bear out H. von Rosen-
Archipel (Leipsic, 1878), p. 199. berg’s view that among these islanders
Mentawi or Mantawi is the name of marriage is indissoluble ; for he says
the whole chain of islands of which the that custom permits a man at any time
Poggi or Pageh Islands are the southern to put away his wife for any cause.
part.
 —

292 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

Wilken cites as his authority for this statement^ merely says:

“ The Orang Ot Ot carry on barter after the well known
or Olo
fashion of the Kooboo or Looboo in Sumatra and other similar
primitive tribes in Celebes and elsewhere. They never shew them-
selves to Europeans all that we know of them is hearsay.
;
The
Koeteineese relate that their Ot do not contract marriage, have no
dwellings, and are hunted by them like the beasts of the wood.” ^
It seems obvious that no weight whatever can be attached to such
loose hearsay evidence.
Exogamous P. 219. The Bhils . . . are divided into many exogamous and
and totemic totemic clans.
clans of
—A
fuller list of the totemic clans of the Bhils has

the Bhils.
been published in the EtliJiographical Survey of India, from
lately
which I extract the following particulars. The tribe inhabits
Western Malwa and the Vindhyan-Satpura region in the province
known as Central India. The members of the tribe are dark-
skinned, of low stature, and often thickset. In 1901 the total
numbers of the tribe were about 207,000. They are a wandering
people, subsisting largely on jungle fruits and roots and some
common Their usual abode is a mere shed of bamboos
grains.
and matting thatched with leaves and grass. A few of them have
been induced to settle down in somewhat better huts and to till the
ground.^ They are divided into no less than a hundred and twenty-
two exogamous clans or septs. No man may marry a woman of
his own clan or sept. “ This prohibition is extended for three
generations to any sept into which a man has already married. A
man can also not marry into the sept from which his mother came for
three generations, as the members of this sept are held to be brothers
and sisters of such man. The same rule is extended to the septs
of grandmothers, maternal and paternal.”^ A man may marry two
Respect sisters.^ The septs are totemic and “ the usual reverence appears
for the
to be paid to any object which is regarded as a sept totem, it being
totem.
never destroyed or injured. Nor is its effigy ever tattooed on
the body.”® Among these totemic septs or clans may be noted
the following :

I. The Kanbi
clan is said to be nicknamed after the kanti or
kalam tree {Stephegyne parvifolid), because one of their ancestors
climbed into it during the marriage ceremony. Members of the
clan worship the kalayn tree and will never cut it down.
1 G. A. Wilken, Over de Verwant- ^ The Ethnographical Survey of the

schap en het Huwelijks- eii Erfrecht hij Central India Agency, Monograph No.
de Volken van het Maleische Ras (Am- 2 The Jungle Tribes of Malwa, by
,

sterdam, 1893), p. 82 n.i (reprinted Captain C. E. Luard (Lucknow, 1909),

from De Indische Gids for May 1883). PP- 17, 33 > 34 37 ,
-

2 C. A. L. M. Schwaner, Borneo, * Op. cit. pp. 18, 91-97.

Beschrijvmg van het Stroomgebied van ® Op. cit. p. 19.
den Barito (Amsterdam, 1853-1854), i. ® Op. cit. p. 18.
231. ^ Op. cit. pp. 91-97.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS '-^93

2. The Katija clan takes its name from the dagger. At the
beginning of the bdna ceremony a dagger is worshipped and is held
by the bridegroom throughout the ceremony.
3. The Kishori clan takes its name from the kishori tree
{Butea frondosa), which they worship at marriages. They never
place its leaves on their heads.
4.The Kodia clan is called after the cowrie shell, and no
woman of the clan wears cowries.
5. The Bhuria or Brown clan is said to have taken its name

from an ancestor who went about covered with ashes. They

worship a brown gourd and ashy coloured snakes, and they will
neither eat such gourds nor kill such snakes.
6. The Bilwal clan is named after the bel tree (Aeg/e marmelos).

They worship the bel tree and draw omens from its leaves at
marriages.
7. The Ganawa clan is named after the ganiar tree {Cochlo-

spernium gossypium). They worship it at marriages and never cut it.

8. The Garwal clan takes its name from the lizard called garwal.

An effigy of the lizard made of flour is worshipped at marriages,

and the real animal never injured.
is

9. The Pargi clan worships the land crab (kekdi) at marriages

and draw omens from it. They say that one of their ancestors
was miraculously saved by a land crab.
10. The Parmar clan worships the goad (parana), and they
draw a figure of it in turmeric on a wall at marriage.
11. The Chudadia clan is called after lac bangles (chuda).
Lac bangles are worshipped at marriages, and no woman of the
clan ever wears them.
12. The Changed clan is named after a bull’s horn. They
worship a horn at weddings and never cut the horns of cattle.
bull’s
13. The Maoda clan worships the earthenware dish called a
taodi if one of these vessels is broken they carefully collect the

pieces and bury them.

14. The Palasia clan takes its name from the palasla {Butea
frondosa) tree, which they worship at marriages and never cut.
1 5. The Bhagara clan is called after “ pieces of bread ”
iphagra). Such broken pieces of bread are distributed to all at the
end of a wedding.
The Makwana clan is named after the spider {makzva). At
16.
is made of a spider out of flour and worshipped.
marriages an effigy
17. The Mori clan derives its name from the peacock {mor).
Members of this Peacock clan never molest the bird, and at a
wedding they worship the effigy of a peacock.
18. The Munia clan is called after the nm?ij or molni tree {Odi?ui
Wodier), which they worship at marriage and refuse to injure.
19. The Mena clan is named after mena kodra, a form of kodoti
 294 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. ii

{Pasapalum stoloniferum), which, eaten in excess, is said to cause a

form of intoxication. Members of the clan nowadays never eat
kodon, but they worship balls of it at marriage.
20. The Suwaar clan is called after the wild boar. Members
of this Boar clan never kill or eat pigs ;
and at weddings they make
an effigy of a pig out of flour and worship it.

21. The Wakhla clan takes name from the species of bat
its

called a flying fox {^Pteropus medius). Members of this Bat clan

never hurt these bats.
22. The Jhala clan never sows walri grain ; and they say that
no member of the clan can eat the grain without suffering for it.
They tell of a man who broke the taboo and whose body swelled in
consequence, till he appeased his goddess with offering of walri
grain. It seems that walri is not a particular kind of cereal but
any kind of grain produced in ground which has been cleared by
burning down trees.
Possible From the preceding account we gather that the Bhils pay
trace of
concep-
respect to their totems above all at marriage. Why that should be
tional so is not clear. Can it be that we have here a trace of conceptional
totemism. totemism, of a belief that the totem will enter into and impregnate
the bride ?

Totemism
among the
P. 230. Totemism in the Madras Presidency. Some further —
evidence on this subject may be cited from Mr. Edgar Thurston’s
Porojas.
valuable work on the ethnology of Southern India. The Porojas
or Parjas are thrifty industrious cultivators, akin to the Khonds,
among the hills of Ganjam and Vizagapatam.^ They fall into
several sections, among which are the Barang Jhodias, the Pengus,
Khondis, Bondas, and Durs. “ Among the Barang
Jhodias, the
^idda (vulture), lap/i (tiger), and f^a£^ (cobra) are regarded as totems.
Among the Pengu, Khondi, and Dur divisions, the two last are
apparently regarded as such, and, in addition to them, the Bonda
Porojas have mandi (cow). In the Barang Jhodia, Pengu, and
Kondhi divisions, it is customary for a man to marry his paternal
aunt’s daughter, but he cannot claim her as a matter of right,
for the principle of free love is recognised among them. The
dhangada and dhangadi basa system, according to which bachelors
and unmarried girls sleep in separate quarters in a village, is in
force among the Porojas.” ^ A younger brother usually marries his
elder brother’s widow.®
The The Ronas are a class of Oriya-speaking hill cultivators in
Ronas.
Jeypore. They are supposed to be descended from Ranjit, the
great warrior of Orissa. As examples of their clans or septs, which
are presumably exogamous, Mr. Thurston cites Kora (sun), Bhag
' E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of ^ E. Thurston, op. cit. vi. 210.
Southern India (Madras, 1909), vi.
207-210. 3
E. Thurston, op. cit. vi. 215.
 ^

VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 295

(tiger), Nag Khinbudi (bear), and Mafsya (fish).

(cobra), Among
the Ronas customary for a man to marry the daughter of
it is

his father’s brother ; and a younger brother usually marries his

elder brother’s widow.
The Saliyans are a Tamil-speaking class of weavers in Tanjore. I'he

Contrary to the custom of Tamil castes they are divided into

exogamous clans or septs, which are apparently not totemic, though
some of them are named after the black monkey {jnandhi), the
donkey {kazhudhai), the frog (thavalai\ and Euphorbia Tirucalli
{kalhy
The Togatas are Telugu weavers in the Cuddapah district. The
Like many other Telugu castes, they are divided into exogamous 'I'ogatas.
clans or septs, which take their names from, amongst other things,
goat (?nekala), horse [gurram), indigo {nlli), cummin seed (Jilakara),
and Chrysanthemum i?idicu 7?i {samanthi)p
The Toreyas are a Canarese class who live chiefly in the Tamil The
districts of Coimbatore and Salem. Most of them are now culti-
vators, especially of the betel vine {Piper betle). There are many
exogamous clans or septs among them, some of which observe
totemic taboos. Thus members of the Silver {belli) clan may not
wear toe-rings of silver ; members of a clan, which takes its name
(pnne) from the tree Pterocarpus marsupiuni, may not mark their
foreheads with the juice from the trunk of that tree ; and members
of a clan, which takes its name (kuzhal) from a flute played by
shepherd boys and snake charmers, must throw away the remains
of their food if they hear the sound of the flute while they are at
a meal. Members of the Snake (naga) clan worship ant-hills at
marriage, because ant-hills are the home of snakes.^
The Tsakalas or Sakalas are the Washermen of the Telugu The
country, and they also act as torch-bearers and palanquin-bearers. Tsakalas.

Like other Telugu castes they are divided into exogamous clans or
septs {intiperu). Members of the Gu)n)?iadi clan do not cultivate
or eat the fruit of the gunu7iadi plant {Cucurbita 77 iaximai)-, mem-
bers of the Magili pula clan {potra) avoid the fruit of Pandanus
fascicularis ; and members of the Thamballa clan (gotra) may not
eat sword beans i^Canavalia ensiformis). A common clan is the
Ant {chimala) clan.^

P. 240. Yenuga, elephant. — Members of this Elephant {yenuga)

clan will not touch ivory.*^

P. 322. A
tribe of Assam are the Garos.
. . . A recent mono- —
graph on the Garos by Major A. Playfair confirms the view, which

* E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of * E. Thurston, op. cit. vii. 176 sq.
Southern India (Madras, 1909), vi.
® E. Thurston, op. cit. vii. 197-
256-258.
199.
E. Thurston, op. cit. vi. 277 stp.
^ E. Thurston, op. cit. vii. 170, 172. ® E. 'I'hurston, op. cit. vii. 437.
 ^ ;

296 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

Totemism I have expressed in the text, that the Garo tribal subdivisions
among
called “ motherhoods ” are totemic. According to Major Playfair,
the Garos
of Assam. the Garos are divided into three exogamous septs or clans (kafc/iis),
which bear the names of Momin, Marak, and Sangma. The first
of these clans is entirely confined to the branch of the Garos called
the Akawes, who inhabit the whole of the northern hills and the
plains at their foot ; but the other two clans are distributed among
all the geographical divisions of the tribe, no matter how much they
may differ from one another in language and custom. The origin
of the clans is obscure ; at present they seem to be in process of
subdividing into several new clans, which, however, have not yet
attained independent rank. Further, the Garos are subdivided into
a very large number of “ motherhoods,” of which the general name,
according to Major Playfair, is machong. Descent of the “ mother-
hoods ” is naturally in the maternal line a child belongs
;

to its mother’s machong, not to that of its father, whose family

indeed is barely recognised. The origin of many of these “ mother-
hoods ” appears to be totemic; for the members of some of them
trace their descent from the totemic. animal, though they do not
appear to treat the creature with respect or reverence. Thus
the Rangsan “ motherhood ” of the Marak clan has for its totem the
bear. The members of the clan say that they are descended from
a he-bear who married a Marak woman and they are called “ children
of the bear.” Again, the Naringre-dokru “motherhood” of the
Momin clan has for its totem the dove. The members of the clan
say that they are descended from a naughty girl, who stuck feathers
all over her body with wax and thereupon was turned into a dove.

Again, the Drokgre “ motherhood ” of the Marak clan have the hen
for their totem, because their ancestress had a wonderful ornament
which could cluck for all the world like a hen. Again, the Koknal
or Basket “ motherhood ” of the Sangma clan is so called because
the ancestress or, as the Garos call her, the grandmother of the
clan was carried off in a basket (hoh) for the sake of her wealth
for she was a very rich old woman. Some “ motherhoods ” take
their names from a stream or hill near which they settled. Whole
families, we are told, probably broke away from their associates
and formed new communities, assuming new names to distinguish
them from the parent stock.
Female We have seen that among the Garos property descends through
descent of women. On this subject Major Playfair writes “ The system ;

property
among which divides the Garo tribe into certain clans and ‘motherhoods,’
the Garos. the members of which trace back their descent to a common
ancestress, and which has laid down that descent in the clan shall be
through the mother and not through the father, also provides that

' Major A. Playfair, The Garos (London, 1909) pp. 64-66 ;

as to the Akawes,
see id. p. 59.
 ®

VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 297

inheritance shall follow the same course, and shall be restricted to

the female line. No man may possess property, unless he has
acquired it by his own exertions. No man can inherit property
under any circumstance whatever.
“The law of inheritance may be briefly stated to be, that
property once in a motherhood cannot pass out of it. A woman’s
children are all of her machong [‘ motherhood ’], and therefore it

might at first appear that her son would satisfy the rule ; but he
must marry a woman of another clan, and his children would be of
their mother’s sept, so that, if he inherited his mother’s property,
it would pass out of her machong [‘ motherhood ’] in the second
generation. The daughter must therefore inherit, and her daughter
after her, or, failing issue, another woman of the clan appointed by
some of its members. . . .

“ In spite of the
above rule, during the lifetime of a woman’s
husband, he has full use of her property. He cannot will it away,
but otherwise his authority with regard to it is unquestioned. For
instance, a nokma [headman] is always looked upon as the owner
of the lands of his village, and though he must have derived his
rights through his wife, she is never considered, unless it is found
convenient that her name should he mentioned in litigation. From
this, it will be seen that matriarchy in the strict sense of the word

does not exist among the Garos. A woman is merely the vehicle
by which property descends from one generation to another.” ^

P. 327. All the indications of totemism in Assam. ^To Totemism . . .

—
the tribes of Assam which exhibit traces of totemism are to be
added the Kacharis, a short, thickset race speaking a language of
the Tibeto-Burman family, who inhabit the districts of Cachar
Plains and North Cachar.^ They are industrious and skilful
cultivators of the soil and raise abundant crops of rice. From Endogamy
the investigations of the Rev. S. Endle, who lived amongst them for
many years and knew them intimately, it appears that the Kacharis
were formerly divided into very numerous totemic clans which, con-
trary to the usual rule of totemism, were endogamous instead of
exogamous. Some of the clans still exist, but the restrictions once
placed on their intermarriage are no longer in force. Amongst the
Kachari clans recorded by Mr. Endle are the following :
—
I. Sivarga-aroi, or the Heaven (swa/ga) folk. This clan is The
deemed the highest of
°
all. None of its members ever worked as
folk.

1 Major A. Playfair, The Garos tribe Rev. S. Endle, which

by the
(London, 1909), pp. 71 sq. will be published by the
shortly
^ Census
of India, i 8gr, Assam, by Government of Eastern Bengal. I
E. A. Gait, vol. i. (Shillong, 1892) am indebted to the kindness of Col.
pp. 159, 227. P. R. T. Guidon and Mr. J. D.
^ This account of the Kachari clans Anderson for permission to read and
is derived from a monograph on the make e.xtracts from the manuscript.
 ;

298 TOTEM ISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

cultivators. They devoted themselves to the service of religion

and were supported by the offerings of the faithful.
The 2. Basumati-aroi or the Earth (pasumaii) folk. The members
Earth folk.
of this clan enjoy a privilege peculiar to themselves in being allowed
to bury their dead without buying the ground for a grave or for the
erection of a funeral pyre.
The 3. Mosa-aroi or the Tiger {mosa) folk. The members of this
Tiger folk.
Mourning
clan claim kindred with the tiger, and when a village inhabited
by
for a tiger. them hears of the death of a neighbourhood, all the
tiger in the
people must mourn. The period of mourning is indeed short,
seldom exceeding twenty-four hours, but it is strictly observed, for
no solid food whatever may be partaken of during its continuance.
At the end of the mourning the floor and walls of every house
must be carefully smeared with a compound of mud and cow-dung
all articles of clothing and all household utensils made of brass

must be thoroughly cleansed in running water ; and all earthenware

vessels, except such as are new and have never been used for
cooking, must be broken and thrown away. Then one of the
elders of the community, acting as deori (minister) solemnly
distributes the “ water of peace ” {santi jal) to be drunk by all
in turn ;
and the buildings themselves, as well as all articles of
clothing and so forth, are freely sprinkled with the same holy
water. The
solemnity ends with the sacrifice of a fowl or pig,
which partaken of by all in common.
is

4. Khangkhlo-aroi or the Kangkhlo folk. Kangkhlo is apparently

the name of a jungle grass of which the Kacharis are very fond.
It is used freely both at religious ceremonies and at merry-makings.
The 5. Sibing-aroi or the Sesamum {siting) folk. This clan is said
Sesamum
to have been the only one which in the olden days was allowed to
folk.
cultivate the sesamum plant. The members of the clan still hold
the plant in special honour.
The 6. Gandret-aroi or the Leech {gandret) folk. This clan holds
Leech folk.
the leech in high regard and may not under ordinary circumstances
kill it. But at certain religious ceremonials, for example, at
purification after a death in the family, its members are required
to chew a leech with vegetables for a certain limited period, though
apparently only once in a lifetime.
The 7. Ndrze-aroi or the Jute {ndrze) folk. This clan held jute in
Jute folk. special honour, and at great religious ceremonies members of the
clan were bound to chew a certain quantity of jute.
8. Ding-aroi or the Bamboo-water-vessel {dingo) folk. The
members of this clan are said to have formerly earned their liveli-
hood by making these bamboo water-vessels.
The 9. The clan was
Goi-bdri-aroi or the Areca-palm {goi) folk.
Areca-palm
formerly devoted to the cultivation of the areca, of which perhaps
folk.
they held the monopoly.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 299

10. Bdnhbdrd-roi or the Bamboo-grove {banhbari) folk. Near The

many Kachari
,
gods are worshipped
villages
°
there
.
is

at certain seasons.
a sacred bamboo 01 where
grove, the
grove folk,

11. Dhekidbdri-aroi or the Fern (dJiekid) folk. The totem of The

the clan was probably the fern, which is still sometimes used in the
preparation of the fatikd spirit.
12. Mabmard-roi or the Afao-fish folk.
Kherkhatha-roi or the Squirrel {Jierketud) folk.
13. They are The
said to be a low caste. One of their functions is to cut the horns folk.
- ,

of cattle.
Similar clans with corresponding names are found among the
Meches, a people closely akin to the Kacharis.^ But unlike the
clans of the Kacharis the clans of the Meches are exogamous.
The most important of them are the Tiger clan, the Bamboo clan,
the Water clan, the Betel-nut clan, and the Heaven clan.^
But it isamong the Dimasa of the North Cachar Hills and the Exogamous
Hojais of the Nowgong district that the subdivision into clans
seems to attain its highest development. In this portion of the
Kachari or Bara race some eighty clans are recognised, of which
forty are known as men’s clans {sengfang) and forty as women’s
clans (zdlu)? All the members of these clans eat and drink freely
together and exogamous.
are, or were, all The only clan Endogamy
strictly
exempt from this strict rule of exogamy was the so-called royal ,

clan known as the Black Earth Folk (Hd-chiim-sd), all the members
of which were obliged to marry within their own clan. We have
seen that similarly in Africa royal clans are not infrequently endo-
gamous.^ The rule of marriage in the other clans seems to be
that no man may marry into his mother’s clan, and that no woman
may marry into her father’s clan. It is explained as follows by
Mr. Soppitt, who calls the clans sects: “To give an example, one
male sect is called Hasungsa, and one female sect Sagaodi. A
Hasungsa marrying a Sagaodi, the male issue are Hasungsas and
the female Sagaodis. The sons, Hasungsas, cannot marry any
woman of the mother’s caste or sect. In the same manner, the
daughter can marry no man of her father’s sect. Thus, though no
blood tie exists, in many cases a marriage between certain persons
is impossible, simply from the bar of sect. On the other hand,
cousin-marriage is allowed. An example will best illustrate this :

Two brothers, Hasungsas, marry women of the Pasaidi and Sagaodi

sect, and have as issue a daughter and a boy. The boy will be a
Hasungsa and the girl Sagaodi. These first cousins cannot marry,
1 As to the Meches, see Censtis of there are forty men’s clans and forty-
India, i 8gi, Assam, by E. A. Gait, two women’s clans. See Census of
vol. i. (Shillong, 1892) p. 228. India, i 8gi, Assam, by E. A. Gait,
^ From the Rev. S. Endle’s manu- vol. i. (Shillong, 1892) p. 226.
script. See abov^e, vol. ii. pp. 523 sq.,
^ According to another account 538, 581 sq., 628.
 300 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

both fathers having been Hasungsa. But allowing the first cousins
marry Bangali wife and Rajiung husband, respectively, their children
are Hasungsa (the boy) and Sagaodi, and may contract marriage
ties, the male having no Sagaodi sect in his family. The term
Semfong is used to denote the members of one of the sects.” ^
From this account we gather that first cousins, the children of two
brothers, are forbidden to marry each other ; but that second
cousins, the children of a male first cousin and of a female first
cousin, may marry each other.
The As a rule the Kacharis are a strictly monogamous race, chaste
sororate
and
before marriage and faithful to their spouses after it. A widower
levirate. may marry his deceased wife’s younger sister, but not her elder
sister. Similarly a widow may marry her deceased husband’s
younger brother, but not his elder brother.^ “ The matriarchate
is unknown, and the father is an extremely good-natured and easy-

going head of a contented and simple family. The tribes are

mostly endogamous, if the expression can be used of people who
marry very much as European peasants do. There is no child-
marriage, and prenuptial chastity is the rule rather than the
exception. There are signs to show that marriage by capture was
once the rule ; but nowadays marriages are the result of an elope-
ment, followed by the payment of a fine to the girl’s relatives, or
of a definite arrangement between the parents of the young people,
which results in a present offered to the bride’s parents, or else a
term of service on the bridegroom’s part in his father-in-law’s
house.” ®
Communal P. 328. Large common houses in which the unmarried men
house for
young
pass the night. —
Sometimes in the Naga and other hill tribes of
people of Assam and its neighbourhood there are communal houses for
both sexes unmarried girls as well as for bachelors. A Naga village or town
among will sometimes contain as many as eight or ten communal houses
the hill
tribes of
or pahs, as they are called by some tribes, for the bachelors, and
Assam. four or five such houses for the girls. The houses of the girls are
Census of India, iSgi, Assam, by
1
Dr. J. Hastings’s Eiicyclopadia of
E. A. Gait, vol. i. (Shillong, 1892) Religion and Ethics, ii. (Edinburgh,
p. 226. From this account we infer 1909) p. 754. The term “ Bodo ” is
that a men’s clan or sect includes only- a generic name applied to all peoples
men, and that a women’s clan or sect speaking the Tibetan-Burman group of
includes only women. But Mr. Endle’s languages. So Mr. Anderson’s re-
account, given above (p. 299), seems marks, which I have quoted in the
to imply that each clan includes hoth text, apply to other tribes besides the
sexes at least this must be true of the
;
Kacharis. To the list of clans Mr.
royal clan, which is endogamous. The Anderson adds the Siju-ariU or Cactus
subject deserves further investigation. (sijni) clan. The cactus (the Eu-
phorbia) is sacred. It grows in the
^ From the Rev. S. Endle's manu-
courtyard of every Kachari family.
script.
See Census of India, i8gi, Assam, by
^ J. D. Anderson, s.v. “ Bodos,” in E. A. Gait, i. 224.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 301

looked after by an old woman ;

they are strictly tabooed to married
women. the institution of these communal houses exists
Where
for the unmarried youth, the most complete license is reported to
prevail between the sexes up to the time of marriage, and this
license is not merely connived at, it is recognised by public opinion.
No value is placed on youthful chastity sexual morality in our sense
;

of the word only begins with marriage, but after marriage infidelity
is said to be very rare. Nevertheless children are very seldom born
until after marriage ;
should several girls be found with child, their
nuptials are arranged for and all parties are generally content. The
communal houses or barracks of the bachelors always stand at the
entrance to the village and serve as guard-houses ; guards are set
here by day and night and keep tally of all the men who leave the
village or return to it. In the unsettled condition of the country
such precautions are, or used to be, necessary to prevent sudden
attacks by neighbouring enemies.^

Hints of totemism and exogamy ... in Asia.

P. 347. To Exogamous —
the exogamous peoples of Asia mentioned in the text should be
added the Circassians, Ossetes, Ostyaks, and apparently the
Kalmucks, as J. F. McLennan and Dr. Westermarck have already
pointed out.^
Thus in regard to the Circassians we read “ The Circassian Exogamy :

the
word for the societies or fraternities is tleush, which signifies also
‘seeds.’ The tradition with regard to them is, that the members
of each all sprang from the same stock or ancestry ; and thus they
may be considered many
septs or clans, with this peculiarity
as so
— considered equal. These cousins-german,
that, like seeds, all are
or members of the same fraternity, are not only themselves inter-
dicted from intermarrying, but their serfs too must wed with the
serfs of another fraternity ; and where, as is generally the case,
many fraternities enter into one general bond, this law, in regard
to marriage, must be observed by all. All who are thus bound
together have the privilege of visiting the family-houses of each
other on the footing of brothers, which seems to me only to make
matters worse, unless they can all bring their minds to look upon
the females of their fraternity as their very sisters, otherwise this
privilege of entree must be the source of many a hopeless or
criminal passion. We have here under our eyes a proof that such
consequences must proceed from the prohibition. The confidential
dependant or steward of our host here is a tokav who fled to his

1 S. E. Peal, “On \tt\e. Morong as bii/ide (Berlin, 1902), pp. 278 sqq.
possibly a Relic of Pre-marriage Com- ^
J. F. McLennan, Stzidies hi
munism,” Journal of the Anthropo- Ancient History (London, 1886), pp.
logical Institute, xxii. (1893) pp. 244, 52 sqq. E. Westermarck, History of
;

248 sq., 253-255, 259 sq. Compare Human Marriage (London, 1891), pp.
H. Schurtz, Altersklassen tind Miinner- 305 sq -
 302 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

protection from Notwhatsh; because, having fallen in love with

and married a woman of his own fraternity, he had become liable
to punishment for this infraction of Circassian law. Yet his
Incest fraternity containedperhaps several thousand members. Formerly
formerly
such a marriage was looked upon as incest, and punished by
punished
with death. drowning ; now a fine of two hundred oxen, and restitution of the
wife to her parents, are only exacted. The breaches of this law
therefore are not now uncommon.” ^

Exogamy The Ossetes of the Caucasus are divided into families or clans,
among the
Ossetes.
each of which traces its descent from a male ancestor and bears a
common name. These clans appear to be exogamous, for we are
told that “ the father may marry his daughter-in-law, the brother
may marry his sister-in-law, the son may marry his mother’s sister:
in that there is nothing illegitimate or contrary to custom. But to
marry a wife of the same clan and name, were she even in the
remotest degree related, is reckoned by the Ossetes to be incest.” ^
Exogamy The writer who records these customs of the Ossetes adds “ It :

among the
is highly remarkable that precisely the same customs and ideas as
Ostyaks.
to relationship prevail among the Ostyak people. They also never
marry a woman of their father’s kin, never a woman of the same
family name but they may marry even a step-mother, a step-
;

daughter, or a step-sister ; indeed they have a specially partiality

for the last of these marriages.”^
Exogamy The practice of the Kalmucks is described by J. F. McLennan
among the “ It appears that they have two systems of marriage
as follows :
.Kalmucks.
law; one for the common people, and one for the nobles, or
princely class. The common people, we are told by Bergmann,
enter into no unions in which the parties are not distant from one
another by three or four degrees but how the degrees are counted
:

we are not informed. We are told that they have great abhorrence
for the marriages of near relatives, and have a proverb The — ‘

great folk and dogs know no relationship,’ —

which Bergmann says is
due to members of the princely class sometimes marrying sisters-in-
law. We find, however, that these sisters-in-law are uniformly
women of an entirely different stock from their husbands different, —
or what is taken for different. For no man of the princely class . . .

in any of the tribes can marry a woman of his own tribe or nation.
Not only must his wife be a noble, but she must be a noble of a
different stock. For princely marriages, says Bergmann, the bride ‘

is chosen from another people’s stock —

among the Derbets from
the Torgot stock ; and among the Torgots from the Derbet
stock; and so on.’ Here, then, we have the principle of

1
J. S. Journal of a Residence (Leipsic, 1856), ii. 26 sg.

in Circassia (London, 1840), i. 347 ® Von Haxthausen, op. cit. ii. 27

sq. note*, citing as his authority Muller,
^ Von Haxthausen, Transkaukasia Der ugrische Volksstamm, i. 308.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 303

exogamy in full force in regard to the marriages of the governing

^
classes.”
Pp. 367^^. Mutualavoidancebetween persons related by marriage Mutual
isobserved by the Herero. —
As an example of the care with which a
Herero avoids his future mother-in-law we are told that once when (ions by
a missionary was preaching at a kraal, the future mother-in-law of marriage
one of his hearers hove in sight. At this apparition the young man
flung himself to the ground, and covered him up
his friends hastily
with skins, under which he had
to lie sweating till his formidable
relative withdrew.^ A few other examples of similar customs of
avoidance observed by various African tribes may be added here.
Amongst the Amapondas “ it is considered highly indelicate for a
woman to marry a man of the same kraal to which she belongs, or
for a married woman to look on the face of any of her husband’s
male relations. If she observes any of these relations approaching,
she turns aside, or hides herself until they have passed.” ® Amongst
the Matabele a married woman may neither speak to nor even look
at her husband’s father, and her husband must be equally reserved
towards his wife’s mother."* A similar reserve is practised by the
tribes of the Tanganyika plateau.® Amongst the Angoni it would
be a gross breach of etiquette if a man were to enter his son-in-law’s
house ; he may come within ten paces of the door, but no nearer.
A woman may not even approach her son-in-law’s house, and she is
never allowed to speak to him. Should they meet accidentally on
a path, the son-in-law gives way and makes a circuit to avoid
encountering his mother-in-law face to face.® Among the Donaglas
a husband after marriage “ lives in his wife’s house for a year, with-
out being allowed to see his mother-in-law, with whom he enters
into relations only on the birth of his first son.”^

P. 377. The Bawenda are a Bantu people. The religion of the — Religion

Bawenda has been described by other writers, but their accounts

contain no clear indications of totemism. The Rev. E. Gottschling
says that “ the Bawenda have their nameless Modzhno (God), which
is nothing else but the totality of the good souls of their ancestors,

who have not been valoi, with the founder of their tribe as head,
' F. McLennan, Studies in ^ Andrew Steedman, Wanderings
J.
Ancient History (London, 1886), pp. and Adventures in the Interior of
52 sq. McLennan’s authority is B. Southern Africa (London, 1835), '•

Bergmann, Nomadische Streifereien 241 sq.

unter den Kalmiiken in den Jahren * L. Decle, Three
Years in Savage
j8o2 imd 180S (Riga, 1804-1805), Africa (London, 1898), p. 159.
iii. 145 sq., a passage of which the sub-
^ L. Decle, op. cit. 294.
p.
stance is correctly conveyed in tlie text.
2 G. Viehe, “ Some Customs of the
•*
“The Angoni - Zulus,”
British
Ovaherero,” {South African) Folk-lore Central Africa Gazette, No. 86, April
Journal, vol. i. (1879) pp. 46 sq. H. 30th, 1898, p. 2.
;

Schinz, Deutsch - Siidwest-Afrika, p. t G. Casati, Ten Years in Equatoria

172. (London and New York, 1891), i. 69.
 304 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

and the Besides this Modzimo,

ruling chief as living representative.
of which the plural Vadzimo, meaning the single souls of their
is

ancestors, they also have Medzimo, another plural of Modzimo,

which denotes the many objects on earth which have been made
the visible representative of the ancestors of each clan and family.
These Medzuno, into which sometimes the Vadzimo return, are
either cattle, goats, sheep, or weapons and tools of old dead ancestors,
a pfumo (assegai), a tzanga
as for instance a dzeinbe (kaffir-hoe),
(war-axe), a vibado (axe) and other tools. Even shrubs, flowers,
or rushes may be created Medzimo.” ^ It might be rash to infer
that these Medzimo are totems.

Question of P. 378. Whether the tribes are also exogamous is not stated
Bechuana
exogamy.
by the authorities I have consulted. However, speaking of the —
Bechuana tribes, Captain C. R. Conder observes “ Levirate :

marriage exists as among the Zulus, and exogamy seems the

common practice, resulting in a great mixture of tribal relations.” ^

But not much weight can be attached to this vague and hesitating
statement. The question whether the Bechuana tribes or clans are
exogamous or not must still be regarded as open.
Zulu super- P. 381. Superstitious prejudices against eating certain foods.
stitions
as to food.
—According to another writer, among the foods which Zulu
prejudice or superstition rejects are wild boar, rhinoceros, and
especially fish. A
term of contempt ipmphogazane) is
special
applied to persons who have partaken of these forbidden viands.
Further, the Zulus think that any man who made use of the inner
fat of the elan {Bose/aphus oreas) would infallibly lose his virility.
Moreover, a woman would fear to let her husband come near her,
if she knew that he had so much as touched with his finger a

python, a crocodile, or a hyisna.® Again, the great African horn-

bill {Buceros africaniis) and the crowned crane {Balearica pavonind)

are both deemed sacred by the Caffres and if a man has killed ;

one of these birds, he must sacrifice a calf or a young ox by way of

expiation.^ But these superstitions, being apparently common to
whole tribes, are probably quite independent of totemism.
P. 441. The hyaena . . . most tribes of East Africa hold that
1 Rev. E. Gottschling, “The Present Condition of the Native Tribes
Bawenda,” Journal of the Anthro- in Bechuanaland,” Journal of the
pological Institute, xxxv. (1905) pp. Anthropological Institute, xvi. (1887)
378 sq. As to these Bawenda talis- p. 85.
mans, supposed to contain ancestral ^ A. Delegorgue, Voyage dans
spirits, see further an article, “ Das PAfrique Australe (Paris, 1847), ii.
Volk der Vawenda, Auszug aus dem 225 sq.
Bericht des Missionar Beuster,” Zeit- Andrew Steedman, Wanderings
'*

schrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdktmde and Adventures in the Interior of

zu Berlin, xiv. (1879) p. 238. Southern Africa (London, 1835), i.

2 Captain C. R. Conder, “ The 236.

VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 305

animal in respect or fear. — The Bageshu on Mount Elgon and the

Wanyamwezi to the south of the Victoria Nyanza are in the habit
of throwing out their dead to the hysenas. Hence they both
regard these animals as sacred, and the cry of a hyaena in the
evening is often said to be the voice of the last person who died.
The Wanyamwezi say that they could not kill a hyaena, because
they do not know whether the creature might not be a relation of
theirs, an aunt, or a grandmother, or what not.^ But this general
reverence for a species of animal, because it is supposed to lodge
the souls of the dead, is not by itself totemism.

P. 469. The Queen Sister (Lubu^a) has also her own establish- The
ment .she rules her own people and is called a king.
. . —
The remark-
able position occupied by the Queen Sister in Uganda has its parallel among the
among the Barotse or Marotse, an important Bantu tribe on the Barotse.
Upper Zambesi. In the Barotse country, we read, “there are two
capitals, Lealouyi and Nalolo. The first of these, a large village of
about three thousand inhabitants, is the residence of the king
Leouanika ; Nalolo is the residence of the king’s eldest sister.
Like him, she has the title of morena^ which means ‘lord,’ ‘king,’
or ‘queen,’ without distinction of sex. She is sometimes also
called mokouae or princess,’ a general term applicable to all
‘

the women of the royal family, but the mokonae of Nalolo is

the most important of all. She alone reigns in concert with
the king and shares with him the title of morena. The same
honours that are paid to him are paid to her, and she keeps
the same state. Like him, she has her khotla, where she sits
surrounded by her councillors and chiefs of the tribe. Lastly, she
also receives taxes from the most distant parts of the kingdom.
Both of them have handsome rectangular houses, very large and
high, which form conspicuous features of the landscape.”^
The existence of this double kingship, a male kingship and a Double
female kingship, in two important Bantu peoples is very remarkable, kingship,
all the more so, as the writer observes, because in Africa woman

generally occupies an inferior position. Yet among the Barotse

“ this queen is quite independent of her brother. In fact there are
two kingdoms quite distinct from each other. But they are closely
united, and it often happens that persons are transferred from the
service of the king to that of the queen, or reciprocally. Many
sons of the chiefs bred at the court of Lealouyi have become vassals
of the queen, or on the contrary young people of Nalolo are sent to
the king. Messengers are constantly coming and going between
the two capitals, in order that the king and queen may be kept in-
formed of what is happening in the country. Finally, most of the

* From information given me by the ^ E. Beguin, Les Ma- 7 -otsi (Lau-

Rev. John Roscoe. sanne and Fontaines, 1903), p. 12.
VOL. IV X
 ;

3o6 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. II

families at the two capitals are related to each other and often pay
^
each other visits.”
The The Queen husband chosen by herself, who ranks
Sister has a
Prince
Consort.
as Prince Consort. He
her representative and man of business
is ;

he must salute her humbly like a slave, and when she goes out he
walks behind her. Formerly he might not even sit on the same
mat with her or share her meals ; but of late years the rigour of the
custom has been somewhat relaxed, and the “ son-in-law of the
nation,” as the Queen Sister’s husband is called, has not to put up
with so many affronts as in past days.^
The high rank thus assigned to the king’s sister in the polity of
the Barotse as in the polity of the Baganda seems to point to a
system of mother-kin, whether present or past ; and we have seen
that among the Baganda vestiges of mother-kin may still be
detected.^
Worship 469. The royal tomb (mulalo) is the abode of the king’s
P.
of the
dead kings
ghost. — With
the worship which the Baganda pay to their dead
of the kings we may compare the similar worship which the Barotse or
Barotse. Marotse of the Upper Zambesi River pay to their departed monarchs.
The Barotse recognise a supreme deity called Niambe, who is
supposed to reside in the sun, but they reserve their devotions
chiefly for the inferior deities, the so-called ditifio, the spirits of
their dead kings, whose tombs may be seen near the villages which
The king’s they inhabited in their life. Each tomb stands in a grove of beautiful
tomb.
trees and is encircled by a tall palisade of pointed stakes, covered
with fine mats. Such an enclosure is sacred ; the people are for-
bidden to enter it lest they should disturb and annoy the ghost of
the dead king who sleeps there in his grave. But the inhabitants
of the nearest village are charged with the duty of keeping the tomb
and the enclosure in good order, repairing the palisade, and
replacing the mats when they are worn out. Once a month, at the
new moon, the women sweep not only the grave and the enclosure
The king's but the whole village. The guardian of the tomb is at the same
prophet.
time a priest ; he acts as intermediary between the god and the
people who come to pray to him. He bears the title of Ngomboti
he alone has the right to enter the sacred enclosure the profane ;

multitude must stand at a respectful distance. Even the king

himself, when he comes to consult one of his ancestors, is forbidden
to set foot on the holy ground. In presence of the god or, as they
call him, the Master of the Tomb, the monarch must bear himself
like a slave in the presence of his master. He kneels down near
the entrance, claps his hands, and gives the royal salute ; and from
within the enclosure the priest returns the salute just as the king
himself, when he holds his court, returns the salute of his subjects.

* E. Beguin, Les Ala-KotsJ (Lau- E. Beguin, op. cit. p. loi.

sanne and Fontaines, 1903), pp. \oosq. ^ See above, vol. iii. pp. 512
VOI,. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 307

Then commoner, makes his petition

the suppliant, whether king or
to the deity and deposits his offering for no man may pray to the
;

god with empty hands. Inside the enclosure, close to the entrance,
is a hole which is supposed to serve as a channel of communication

with the spirit of the deified king. In it the offerings are placed. Offerings
Often they consist of milk which is poured into the hole ; and the
k'ngs.
faster it drains away and is absorbed, the more favourable is the god
supposed to be to the petitioner. When the offerings are more
solid and durable, such as flesh, cloths, and glass beads, they become
the property of the priest after having been allowed to lie for a
decent time beside the sacred orifice of the tomb. The spirits of The spirits
the dead kings are thus consulted on matters of public concern as
kin^s con-
well as by private individuals touching their own affairs. If a war suited as
is to be waged, if a plague is raging among the people or a murrain oracles,

among the cattle, if the land is parched with drought, in short if

any danger threatens or any calamity has afflicted the country,
recourse is had to these local gods, dwelling each in his shady
grove, not far from the abodes of the living. They are near, but
the great god in heaven is far away. What wonder, therefore, that
their help is often sought while he is neglected ? Their history is
remembered men tell of the doughty deeds they did in their life-
;

time ; why should they not be able to succour their votaries now that
they have put on immortality ? All over the country these temple-
tombs may be seen. They serve as historical monuments to recall
to the people the annals of their country. One of the most popular
of the royal shrines is near Senanga at the southern end of the great
plain of the Barotse. Voyagers who go down the Zambesi do not
fail to pay their devotions at the shrine, that the god of the place

may make their voyage to prosper and may guard the frail canoe
from shipwreck in the rush and roar of the rapids ; and when they
return in safety they repair again to the sacred spot to deposit a
thank-offering for the protection of the deity.^

P. 513. In the history of institutions the authority of the

maternal uncle. as a rule precedes that of the father.
. . . This —
view is not novel. Dr. Westermarck has discussed it, and has
attempted, not very successfully, to shew how the position of
authority occupied by the maternal uncle in early society is con-
sistent with his theory of a primitive patriarchal family.^

P. 523. The king regularly marrying his own sister. The — Marriage
custom of marrying their sisters appears to be common with African
kings. Thus with regard to Kasongo, the king of Urua, it is their
reported by Commander V. L. Cameron that “ his principal wife sisters,

and the four or five ranking next to her are all of royal blood, being
* E. Beguin, Les Ma-Rotse (Lau- ^ History of Human
sanne and Fontaines, 1903), pp. 118- Marriage (London, 1891), pp. 39
123. sqq.
 —

308 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. I.

either his sisters or first-cousins ;

and amongst his harem are to be
found his step-mothers, aunts, sisters, nieces, cousins, and, still more
own children.” ^ And the same traveller
horrible, his tells us of
another chief whose principal wife was his sister.-

Totemism
among the
P. 625 . —
The Bakuba or Bushongo Tribe. Fuller details as to
the totemic system of this and kindred tribes have since been
Bushongo
or Bakuba. furnished to me through the kindness of Mr. T. A. Joyce of the
British Museum. The Bushongo (incorrectly called the Bakuba)
tribe inhabits the Kasai District of the Congo Free State. I will
subjoin Mr. Joyce’s account of Bushongo totemism in his own
words :

“An important institution is that of ikina bari, which appears to

be a decayed form of totemism. The word ikina means a prohibi-
tion, and the ikina bari must be distinguished from the ikitia 7iyi7ni
or Royal Prohibitions (analogous to our Ten Commandments),
which are taught at the tuki 77ibula initiation ceremonies. The
origin of the ikina bari is said to be as follows. When Bumba (the
Creator) had finished the work of creation, he travelled through
the villages of men and pointed out to each some animal which he
forbade the inhabitants to eat ; some villages were omitted, and the
inhabitants of these in consequence have no ikma. His object in
imposing these prohibitions is said to be in order to teach men ‘

self-denial.’ If a man has as ikina the leopard, he may neither eat

leopards nor any animal killed by a leopard. At the same time
the not held sacred, since no particular respect is paid to it,
iki7ia is
and it may be
killed by the individual who acknowledges it as his
ikhia. A man
will indicate his ikina in the following words Iji :

kwe77ie kanya lohmia (supposing that his ikma is the bird lotu77iu).
These words belong to the obsolete Lumbila language, and their
exact meaning is lost. Breach of the prohibition entails sickness
and death.
“ The ikma bari is inherited from the father, and a wife will
adopt the ikina of her husband the ikma of the mother is observed
;

to a certain extent, but not so strictly, and is certainly not trans-

mitted further than one generation. The ikma of the 7iyi7/ii
(paramount chief) is respected by all his subjects, and, of course,
varies from ruler to ruler. The skin or feathers of the ikma may
be worn as ornaments.
“ At the present day the inhabitants of a given village do not
necessarily respect the same ikma, and the same ikma occur in
different villages and subtribes. There is no connection between
the tribal name and the ikma.
“ It was said at first that man might marry a woman who had
a

* V. L. Cameron, Across Africa - V. L. Cameron, op. cit. ii. 149.

(London, 1877), ii. 70.
VOL. II NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 309

the same ikma as himself, but further enquiries among the older Exogamy,
folk elicited the fact that as recently as one generation ago such
unions were absolutely forbidden.
“ A man who has no ikina bari is said to be like a wild beast ‘

which eats everything,’ and is not considered a pure-bred Bushongo.

New^/5w«are constituted even at the present day, and in the follow- Institution

ing way. Suppose a hunter has killed a guinea-fowl, and a dispute

arises relative to its distribution between him and his companions.
Perhaps he may fly into a rage and say, ‘Take the bird for your-
selves, I will not touch it !
’
and go off in a rage. Shortly after-
wards he dies, and ghost haunts the village, causing many
his
deaths. The cause of the epidemic remains a mystery, until some
old man will say, It is the ghost of so-and-so, who died in anger
‘

over a guinea-fowl. Let us make the guinea-fowl ikina and refrain

from eating its flesh.’ This is done, and the ghost ceases to
trouble the village as long as the ikina is observed.
“ The inheritance of rank and property is in the female line. Inheritance
not in the male line, as is the case with the ikma. A man’s heir in ofpropeny.
the first instance is his eldest surviving brother ; in reversion, eldest
surviving son of eldest sister by same father and mother ;
in second
reversion, eldest surviving sons of sisters in order of age of latter,
and so on.”
P. 630. When
a wife has borne two children, her husband Temporary
deserts her and takes a new
wife. —
In antiquity a similar custom marriages,
is said to have been observed by the Tapyri, a Parthian tribe.

Strabo reports that it was customary with them to give away a wife
to another husband as soon as she had borne two or three children.^

* Strabo, xi. 9. i.
 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS
VOLUME III

Anomalous P. 70. But in regard to cousins, the children of a brother and

terms for
cousins
sister respectively, the Miami system presents a remarkable
in some feature. — It will be seen from the text that under the Miami system
North and also under the Shawnee and Omaha systems ^ a man calls his
American
Indian
female cousin, the daughter of his mother’s brother, “ my mother,”
tribes, and she calls him “ my son.” This is just the converse of what
indicating happens under the Minnetaree and Choctaw systems, under which
extended
marital
a man calls his cousins, the children of his mother’s brother “ my
rights. son ” and “my daughter,” and they call him “my father.”^ Now
we have seen ^ that these Minnetaree and Choctaw terms for cousins
are intelligible on the hypothesis that among these tribes in former
times, as among the Barongo at present, a man had marital rights
over the wife of his mother’s brother, or, in other words, that a
nephew might enjoy the wife of his maternal uncle, for in that case
her children might actually be his. Or, to change the terms, a
woman’s children might really be the offspring of her husband’s
nephew (the son of his sister), since that nephew had the right of
access to her. If that is so we may by analogy conjecture that
the converse nomenclature for certain cousins among the Miamis,
Shawnees, and Omahas is explicable by a converse custom, which
permitted a man to exercise marital rights over his wife’s niece,
the daughter of her brother, or, in other words, which placed a
woman at the disposal of her paternal aunt’s (father’s sister’s)
husband. Thus, whereas under the Minnetaree and Choctaw
system a man was apparently allowed to enjoy the wife of his
maternal uncle (mother’s brother), under the Miami, Shawnee, and
Omaha system he was allowed to enjoy his wife’s niece, the daughter
of her brother. Hence, if these extensions of marital rights can
be described as an advantage, then in the former case the
advantage was with the nephew at the expense of his maternal uncle ;
* See above, vol. iii. pp. 74, 116. “daughter” which a man applies to
- See above, vol. iii. pp. 149, 175 his cousins, the children of his mother’s
St/. With the Minnetaree and Choctaw brother. See above, vol. iii. p. 165.
systems the Creek system agrees so far
as concerns the terms “son” and ^ See above, vol. ii. pp. 510 jy.

310
 VOJ,. Ill NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 31

in the latter case the advantage was with the niece at the expense
of her paternal aunt. In the one case a man was allowed access
to a woman presumably in the generation above him ; in the other
he was allowed access to a woman presumably in the generation
below him. But it is possible that these curious names for cousins
are to be explained otherwise I have only indicated one possible
:

solution of the problem.

P. 155. Totemism among the Gulf Nations. —To

the totemic Totemism
tribes described under this head be added the
in the text are to
Yuchi Indians, of whom a full account has lately been published Indians
'

by Mr. F. G. Speck.’- The following account of the tribe and its

totemic system is derived from his book.
The Yuchis formerly inhabited the banks of the Savannah The
River, which now divides the States of Georgia and South Carolina. Yuchis.
There they dwelt at an early time in contact with a southern band
of Shawnees and near the seats of the Cherokees, the Catawbas,
the Santees, and the Yamasis. These four tribes and the Yuchis
all speak languages which differ fundamentally from each other. It
is unusual to find five languages belonging to different stocks within

so restricted an area on the eastern side of the Mississippi. After

fruitless efforts to resist the pressure of the Creek confederacy the
Yuchis finally made peace and joined the league.’’ The remnant
of the tribe, numbering about five hundred, is now settled with the
rest of the Creek Indians, in the state of Oklahoma, whither they
were removed in 1836.® At all times, so far as tradition runs
back, the Yuchis have been mainly tillers of the soil, living in
settled villages and only hunting when the state of the crops
allowed them to absent themselves from home for a while. Among
the crops which they raised were corn, beans, sweet potatoes,
melons, pumpkins, squashes, and tobacco. When the corn and
other vegetables had been gathered in, they were stored for use
in outhouses and cribs raised on posts. The principal animals
hunted for their flesh were the deer, bison, bear, raccoon, opossum,
rabbit, and squirrel ; while the panther, wild cat, fox, wolf, otter,
beaver, and skunk were killed chiefly for the sake of their skins.
The game animals were deemed very wise and very wary in order ;

to catch them it was needful to chant certain magic spells, of which

the burdens were known to the shamans.'’
The Yuchis number of Totemic
are or were divided into a considerable
e.xogamous and totemic clans with descent in the maternal line in c'^ns :

other words, no man might marry a woman of his own totemic clan
yVchls

1 Franck G. Speck, Ethnology of the - F. G. Speck, Ethnology of the

Yuchi hidians, Philadelphia, 1909 Yuchi Indians, p. 6.
( University of Pennsylvania, Anthropo- 3 F. G. Speck, op. cit. p. g.
logical Publications of the University
Museum, vol. i. No. i).
* F. G. Speck, op. cit. pp. 18 sq.
 . ^ :

312 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. Ill

and children belonged to the clan of their mother, not of their

father.
3. The prohibition
4. of marriage within the clan is very strict
9.
a violation of the 2.
rule 3.
regarded as incest.
is But a man4.is free to
5. 6. 7. 8.
marry a woman of any clan but his own.^ The names of twenty
clans have been recorded as follows: —
15. 16.
17.
I Bear. 18. Wolf. Deer. 20. Tortoise.
Panther. Wildcat. Fo.x. Wind.
9. Fish. I o. Beaver. 1 1. Otter. 12. Raccoon.
1 Skunk. 1 Opossum. Rabbit. Squirrel.
Turkey. Eagle. 1 Buzzard. Snake.

The account which Mr. Speck gives of the relationship in

which the Yuchis believe themselves to stand to their totems is
instructive and all the more valuable because, as I have had
occasion repeatedly to point out, American writers on totemism
so often say little or nothing about this fundamental side of the
institution. I will therefore quote Mr. Speck’s explanations nearly
Descent entire. He says “ The members of each clan believe that they
:

from the
are the relatives and, in some vague way, the descendants of certain
totem.
pre-existing animals whose names and identity they now bear. The
animal ancestors are accordingly totemic. In regard to the living
animals, they, too, are the earthly types and descendants of the
pre-existing ones, hence, since they trace their descent from the
same sources as the human clans, the two are consanguinely related.
Respect “ This brings the various clan groups into close relationship with
for the
totem.
various species of animals, and we find accordingly that the members
of each clan will not do violence to wild animals having the form
and name of their totem. For instance, the Bear clan never molest
bears, ‘but nevertheless they use commodities made from parts of
the bear. Such things, of course, as bear hides, bear meat or
whatever else may be useful, are obtained from other clans who have
no taboo against killing bears.' In the same way the Deer people
use parts of the deer when they have occasion to, but do not
directly take part in killing deer. In this way a sort of amnesty is
maintained between the different clans and different kinds of
animals, while the blame for the injury of animals is shifted from
one clan to the other. General use could consequently be made of
the animal kingdom without obliging members of any clan to be the
direct murderers of their animal relatives.
“ In common usage the clan is known collectively by its animal
name : the men of the Panther clan calling themselves Panthers,
those of the Fish clan. Fish, and so on through the list. The
* F. G. Speck, Ethnology of the Speck’s informants were not agreed as
Yuchi Indians, pp. 70, 71, 95. to the last three clans (the Eagle, the
^ F. G. Speck, op. cit.
p. 71. Mr. Buzzard, and the Snake).
VOL. Ill NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 313

totemic animals are held in reverence, appealed to privately in

various exigencies, and publicly worshipped during the annual
ceremony. . . .

The young man or boy in the course of his adolescence reaches Initiation
“
a period when he is initiated into the rank of manhood in his°^y°“"S
town. This eventconnected with totemism.
is For from the time
of his initiation he believed to have acquired the protection of
is

his clan totem. Thenceforth he stands in a totemic relation similar

to the young man of the plains tribe who has obtained his
‘medicine.’ Here in the Southeast, however, the ‘medicine’ is
not represented by a concrete object, but is the guiding influence
of a supernatural being. The earthly animals nevertheless are
believed in many cases to possess wisdom which may be useful to
human beings, so the different clans look to their animal relatives
for aid in various directions. Among the tribes of the plains, how-
ever, each man has an individual guardian spirit, which is not
necessarily the same as his gens totem.” ^
The foregoing account of Yuchi totemism suggests several Com-
observations. While the blood relationship supposed to exist panson of
between the clanspeople and their totemic animals is typical of totemism
totemism, the cynical understanding between the clans to kill each with
other’s totems for their mutual benefit is unusual, and reminds us Central
of the practice of the Central Australian aborigines, who multiply toterntsm"
their totemic animals by magic in order that the creatures may be
eaten by others.^ On the other hand, the appeals made to the
totemic animals in time of need and the dances performed in their
honour seem to indicate an incipient worship or religion of the
totems. Lastly, the belief that a young man acquires the protection Resem-
of his totem by means of initiation at puberty strongly
clan
resembles, as Mr. Speck points out, the belief of many other totems to
American Indians that a youth obtains a personal guardian spirit guardian
of his own through dreams at puberty. The resemblance draws sp'^'ts.
still closer the analogy which we have already traced between the

totem of the clan and the guardian spirit of the individual.^

The dances in honour of the totems are danced by the Yuchis Totemic
at the great annual festival which celebrates the ripening of the corn
and the first solemn eating of the new fruits. In these dances the
dancers mimick the actions and cries of their totemic animals and
even seem to believe that for the time being they are identical with
the creatures. However, no imitative costumes or masks are now
used, nor could Mr. Speck ascertain that they ever had been in
use. Other features of this yearly celebration are the observance The sacred
of certain taboos, the kindling of a new and sacred fire, the scarifi-
cation of men, the taking of an emetic, and the performance of the
* F. G. Speck, Ethnology of the ^ See vol. i. pp. 104 sqq.
Yuchi Indians, pp. 70 sg. 3 ggg above, vol. iii. pp. 450 sqg.
 314 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. Ill

ball game. A feast on the new corn follows the taking of the
emetic.^
Classi- From an incomplete list of kinship terms recorded by Mr.
ficatory Speck we may gather that the Yuchis have the classificatory system
system of
of relationship. Thus a man calls his mother’s sister “my little
relation-
ship mother ” ;
he calls his father’s brother and also his mother’s brother
among the “ my little father ” ;
and he calls his female cousin, the daughter of
Yuchis.
his mother’s sister, “my sister.”^

Clans
of the
P. 167. The Seminole Indians of Florida. From the account —
of an old Franciscan monk, Francesco Pareja, who went to Florida
Timucua
Indians. in 1593 and founded the monastery ofSt. Helena to the north
of Augustine, we learn that the Timucua Indians of that
St.
province were divided into stocks or clans which took their names
variously from deer, fish, bears, pumas, fowls, the earth, the wind,
and so forth.® These stocks or clans were probably totemic.
Avoidance P. 361. The custom which obliges a man and his mother-in-law
of a wife’s
relations.
to avoid each other. —A few more instances of this custom as it is

or was observed by various American tribes may be given here.

Among the low savages of the Californian peninsula a man was not
allowed for some time to look into the face of his mother-in-law or
of his wife’s other near relations \ when these women were present,
he had to step aside or hide himself. Among the Indians of the
Isla del Malhado in Florida a father-in-law and mother-in-law might
not enter the house of their son-in-law, and he on his side might
not appear before his father-in-law and his relations. If they met
by accident they had to go apart to the distance of a bowshot,
holding their heads down and their eyes turned to the earth. But
a woman was free to converse with the father and mother of her
husband.® Among the Indians of Yucatan, if a betrothed man saw
his future father-in-law or mother-in-law at a distance, he turned
away as quickly as possible, believing that a meeting with them
would prevent him from begetting children.® The reason thus
assigned for the custom of avoidance is remarkable and, so far as I
remember, unique. Among the Arawaks of British Guiana a man
' F. G. Speck, Ethnology of the pp. 109 sq. (in Ternaux-Compans’
Yuchi Indians, pp. 112-115. Voyages, relations et mimoEes origi-
F. G. Speck, op. cit. p. 69.
® 7iaux pottr sez-vir a Phistoire de la
dicouverte de I’AznPriqzee). The ori-
A. S. Gatschet, “ Volkund Sprach
®
ginal of this work was published in
der Timucua,” Zeitschrijt fiir Ethno-
Spanish at Valladolid in 1555. Com-
logic, ix. (1877) pp. 247 sq.
pare A. de Herrera, The Geziez'al
*
Baegert, “ An Account of the
J. History of the Vast Cozitmezit and
Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Cali- Islazids of A77ierica, translated by Capt.
fornian Peninsula,” Amiual Report of John Stevens (London, 1725, 1726),
the Board ofRegents ofthe Smithso7iian iv. 34.
histitutionfor the year i86g, p. 368. ^ Brasseur de
Bourbourg, Histoire
* Alvar Nunez Cabe^a de Vaca, des 7iatio77S civilisiesdu Rlexique et de
Relation et Natefrages (Paris, 1837), r A77tirique-Ce7it7ale, ii. 52 sq.
VOL. Ill NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 315

may never see the face of his wife’s mother. If she is in the house
with him, they must be separated by a screen or partition-wall ; if
she travels with him in a canoe, she steps in first, in order that she
may turn her back to him.^ Among the Caribs “the women never
quit their father’s house, and in that they have an advantage over
their husbands in as much as they may talk to all sorts of people,
whereas the husband dare not converse with his wife’s relations,
unless he is dispensed from this observance either by their tender
age or by their intoxication. They shun meeting them and make
great circuits for that purpose. If they are surprised in a place
where they cannot help meeting, the person addressed turns his
face another way so as not to be obliged to see the person, whose
voice he is compelled to hear.”^ Thus both among the Caribs
and the Indians of the Isla del Malhado, while a man had to avoid
the relations of his wife, a woman was free to converse with the
relations of her husband. This confirms the observation that the
taboo which separates a man from his mother-in-law is in general
more stringent than the taboo which separates a woman from her
father-in-law.®

P. 362. Instances of men united to their mothers, their sisters. Marriage

or their daughters, are far from rare. Similarly of the Caribs
. . . —
it is said that “ they have no prohibited degree of consanguinity
^Trlbs
among them fathers have been known to marry their own
:

daughters, by whom
they had children, and mothers to marry their
sons. Though is very rare, it is common enough to see two
that
sisters, and sometimes a mother and daughter, married to the same
man.”

The greatest misfortune of all is for a dancer to fall

P. 519.
in the dance. The unfortunate cannibal who fell in the dance
. . .

used to be killed. —
Similarly in West Africa “it is a bad omen for
a dancer to slip and fall when performing before the king of

^ G. Klemm, Allgemeine Ciiltur- point esti encore publiez, Paris, 1684).

Ceschichte der Menschheit (Leipsic, ® See above, vol. ii. p. 77.
*
1843-1852), ii. 77. J. B. du Tertre, Histoire generate
2
J. B. du 'YtxX.x^, Histou-e generale des des Isles de S. Christophe, de la
Isles de S. Christophe, de la Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe, de la Martinique et autres
de la Martinique el autres dans F Ame- dans fAmerique (Paris, 1654), p. 419.
riqtie (Paris, 419. A similar,
1654), p. The evidence of De la Borde is similar.
but rather briefer, account of the custom He says :
“ They take their wives
is given by De la Borde, who may without distinction of relationship, for
have borrowed from Du Tertre. See they mix with each other indifferently,
De la Borde, “Relation de I’origine, like beasts. I have seen some who had
moeurs, coustumes, religion, guerres their daughters for wives.” See De la
et voyages des Caraibes, sauvages des Borde, “Relation de I’origine, etc.,
Isles Antilles de I’Amerique,” p. 56 des Caraibes,” p. 19 (in Recueil de
(in Recueil de divers voyages fails en divers voyages fails en Afrique et en
Afrique et eti 1 Ameriqtie qtti 71‘ont
' r Atnerique, Paris, 1684).
 3i6 TOTE MISM AND EXOGAMY VOL. Ill

Dahotni, and, up to the reign of Gezo, any dancer who met with
such an accident was put to death.” ^

Marriage P. 575. The true and legitimate wives in this country are the
with a
niece
daughters of their sisters. —
Another old writer, speaking of the
among the Brazilian Indians, says “ They are in the habit of marrying their
:

South nieces, the daughters of their brothers or of their sisters. They

American
regard them as their legitimate wives the father cannot refuse :

Indians.
them, and no one else has a right to marry them.”^ Another of
the earliest writers on Brazil observes of the Indians that “ the only
degrees of consanguinity observed in marriage are these none of :

them takes his mother, sister, or daughter to wife the rest are not :

reckoned a paternal uncle marries his niece, and so on.” ^ On

:

the other hand, speaking of the Macusis of British Guiana, Sir R.

Schomburgk observes “ The paternal uncle may never marry his
;

niece, because that is regarded as a degree of relationship next to

that of brother and sister hence the paternal uncle is called papa
;

just like the father. On the other hand, everybody is allowed to

marry his sister’s daughter, or his deceased brother’s wife, or his
stepmother, when his father is dead.”

' A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-speaking originaux pour servir a V histoire de la

Peoples of the Slave Coast (London, diconvcrtc de P Amh-ique).
1890), p. 95. ^ J. Lerius, Historia navigationis in
^ Pero de Magalhanes de Gandavo, Brasiliam (1586), p. 232.
Histoire de la Province de Sancta-Cruz '*
R. Schomburgk, z';r

(Paris, 1837), p. 1 (Ternaux-Com-

15 Guiana (Leipsic, 1847 -
1848), ii.

pans, Voyages, relatiojis, et mimoires 318.

 NOTES AND CORRECTIONS
VOLUME IV

P. 1 5 1, note The Albanians are said to be exogamous. The The —

part of Albania in which Miss M. Edith Durham reports exogamy Albanian
to be still lies to the north of Scutari and bears the name
practised
of Maltsia e madhe or “the Great Mountain Land.” It is a wilder-
ness of grey and barren rock, where there is little land that can be
brought under cultivation, and where large tracts are dependent for
their supply of water on rain alone. This rugged and sterile region
is the home of five great tribes, the Hoti, Gruda, Kastrati, Skreli,
and Kilmeni.^
Miss Durham’s account of exogamy as it is practised by these Miss M. E.
tribes runs as follows :
— Durham’s
“ The main fact is the has been both their ex-o°rmy°^
tribe {fis). It
strength and their weakness. Each
has a definite tale of among the
tribe
origin. Descent is traced strictly through the male line, and the Albanians,
tradition handed from father to son through memories undebauched
by print.
“The head of each jis is its hereditary standard-bearer, the
Bariaktar. The office passes from father to son, or in default of
son to the next heir male. The standard is now a Turkish one.
Only the Mirdites have a distinctive flag with a rayed-sun upon it.
“ Some large tribes are divided into groups, each with its own
Bariaktar. A division thus marching under one standard (bariak)
is called a bariak. Such a bariak may be descended from a different
stock from the rest of the tribe, or the division may have been made
for convenience when the tribe grew large.
“ The men and women descending from a common male
ancestor, though very remote, regard one another as brother and
sister, and marriage between them is forbidden as incestuous.
Though the relationship be such that the Catholic Church per-
mits marriage, it is regarded with such genuine horror that I have

1
Miss M. Edith Durham, High Albania (London, 1909), p. 19.

317
 318 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY vol. iv

Exogamy heard of but one instance where it was attempted or desired, when
among the against tribal law.
Albanians.
Even a native priest told me that a marriage
between cousins separated by twelve generations was to him a
horrible idea, though the Church permitted it, for really they are
‘

brothers and sisters.’

“ The mountain men have professed Christianity for some fifteen
centuries, but tribe usage is still stronger than Church law. man A
marries and gives his daughter in marriage outside his tribe, except
when that tribe contains members of a different stock, or when it
has been divided into bariaks considered distant enough for inter-
marriage. But in spite of this exogamy, it would appear that,
through the female line, the race may have been fairly closely
inbred. For a man does not go far for a wife, but usually takes
one from the next tribe, unless that tribe be consanguineous. If
not so debarred, he takes a wife thence and marries his daughter
there. Kastrati, for example, usually marries Hoti, and Hoti
Kastrati. The bulk of the married women in one were born in
the other. A perpetual interchange of women has gone on for
^
some centuries.”
The account of exogamy in Albania is correct, as we may
If this
occurrence assume it to be, some important consequences flow from it.
So
of exogamy
in two
long as exogamy was known to be practised by the Hindoos alone
widely of all the peoples of the Aryan stock, it was possible to suppose, as
separated I have suggested,^ that the institution may not have been native to
peoples of
the Aryan them but may have
been borrowed by their ancestors from the
stock, dark-skinned aborigines of India among whom they settled, and
namely, the among whom both exogamy and totemism would seem to have
Albanians
and the been universally prevalent. But when we find exogamy practised
Hindoos, to this day by a semi-barbarous people of Europe, the case is altered.
renders it The Albanians are not in contact with any savages from whom
probable
that exo-
they could have borrowed the institution. It would appear,
gamy was therefore, that they must have inherited it from their remote
at one time ancestors. And if they have done so, it becomes probable that
practised
by all the Hindoos have done so also. Now if two branches of the Aryan
members stock so different and so remote from each other as the Hindoos of
of the India and the Albanians of Turkey in Europe could both be proved
Aryan
family.
to have inherited the practice of exogamy from their rude and
distant progenitors of a prehistoric age, it would become probable
that exogamy had at one time been practised by all the other
members of the great Aryan family ; and since, as I have already
pointed out,^ the institution of exogamy appears to have been in
its origin a system of group marriage, which in turn displaced a

previous custom of sexual promiscuity, it would follow that all the

peoples of the Aryan family have at some period of their social
* Miss M. Edith Durham, High ^ See above, vol. ii. p. 330.
Albania (London, 1909), pp. 20 sq. ^ See above, vol. iv. pp. 137 sqq.
VOL. IV NOTES AND CORRECTIONS 319

evolution passed through the stages of sexual promiscuity and

group marriage before they reached the higher stage of monogamy
and the prohibited degrees. But this is a subject on which further
research into the matrimonial institutions of the Aryans may yet
throw light.

The Leech folk

P. 298. are required to chew a leech. The totem
. . .

. . The Jute folk

. were hound to chew a certain quantity sacrament,
. . .

of jute. —
These customs should apparently be added to the very
few known instances of a totem sacrament.^

* See above, vol. i. p. 120, vol. ii. p. 590, vol. iv. pp. 230-232.
 1 ,;

INDEX
Aaru and Babar archipelagoes, totemisni Agariyas, totemism among the, ii. 278
in, i. 7, II sq.

Ababua, their belief in transmigration, Age-grades, iii. 548 ;

among the Kaya-
ii. 391 totemism among the, 625, 626
;
Kaya, ii. 59 sqq. taboos observed ;

Abchasses, the, iv. 235 by members of, 413 among the ;

Abenakis, totemism of the, iii. 45 sg. Masai, 412 sqq. se.xual communism ;

Abercromby, Hon. J., iv. 257 between men and women of corre-
Abhorrence of incest, i. 54, 164, 554 ;
sponding, 415 17. among the Taveta, ;

dates from savagery, iv. 154 419 among the Nandi, 445 sq.
;

Abipones, male infanticide among the, Age-groups, i. 180

iv. Agriculture, perhaps orginated in magic,
79
Abomination (buto), each exogamous i. 2iq sq., iv. 1917. ;
in New Guinea, ii.

class has its special, ii. 103 sgg. 33’ 35 284; of the 4°’ 61, iv.

Abyssinia, forbidden foods in, i. 58 Oraons, ii. 285 of the Hos, 293 of ; ;

Acagchemem Indians, iii. 403 the Santals, 300 of the Khonds, ;

Accessory totems, ii. 136. See also Sub- 303 of the

; Juangs, 314 of the ;

sidiary totems Korwas, 315 of the Khasis, 319 ; ;

Achewa, the, 395, 398, 399 ii. of the Meitheis, 326 of the Bechu- ;

Achilpa (Wild Cat) people, tradition as anas, 369 of the Wahehe, 404 ; of ;

to, i. 251 sq. the Taveta, 417 of the A-Kamba, ;

Acholi, the, ii. 628 420 of the Suk, 427 of the Nandi,
; ;

Acoma, Pueblo village, iii. 217 432 in

;
Kavirondo, 447 of the ;

.Acorn dance, iii. 494 sg 496 .

,
Siena, 549 sq. of the Fantees, 555 ;

Acorns as food, iii. 493, 495 sq. of Ewe -speaking peoples, 577 of ;

Adair, James, iii. 161 sgq., 164, 172, American Indians, iii. i, 2, 3, 30, 39,
177, iv. 225 his theory of the ; 44, 45 sq., 74 sq., 87 sq., 120, 128,
descent of the Redskins from the 13s 146, 147. 158, 171. 172. 177.
Jews, 99 i. 18017., 183’ 195’ 199’ 200, 204 sq.
Address, terms of, ii. 50 242, 248, 262, 56417., 573, iv. 31
Admiralty Islands, totemism in, ii. 133 Ahirs, totems of the, ii. 230
sq. Ahts, guardian spirits among the, iii.
Adonis, Gardens of, i. 34 410 17. Wolf dance of the, 503
;

Adultery, punishment of, i. 476, 554, Ainos, descended from bear, i. 8, iv.
573, ii. 410 not regarded as an ; 174 keep bears, eagles, etc. in cages,
; ,

offence, 265 i.
15 reported totemism of the, ii.
;

Adzi-anim, god of Tshi negroes,

37 iv. 348 n. women alone tattooed among
;

Aegis of Athene, i. 32 the, iv. 204

Aeschylus on father-kin, i. 382 Ait//, god, ii. 152
Affinity between a clan and its totem, ii. A-Kamba or Wakamba, the, ii. 420
8 sq. sqq.
Africa, East and Central, totemism in, Akawes, the, iv. 296
394 m- A-Kikuyu, the, ii. 425
South, totemism in, ii. 354 sqq. Alatunja, headman, i. 194, 327
West, totemism in, ii. 543 sqq. Albania, silence of brides in, iv. 235
religion in, iv. y. sqq. proportion ;
Albanians, the, reported to be exogam-
of the sexes in, 86 sq. ous, iv. 151 317 sq.

323
 , , , , ,

324 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Albert, Lake, ii. 513 Anderson, J. D. ,
ii. 619 iv. 297 k.^,
Albert Nyanza, Lake, ii. 628 300
Alcheringa of Central Australian abo- Andersson, C. ii. 360 J. ,

rigines, i. 93, 181, 188 sq. Andromeda, 34 n.^ i.

Aleuts, iii. 251 Angamis, the, ii. 328

Alfoors, the, ii. 185 Angass, the, ii. 598
Algonkin Indians, Secret Societies of the, Anglos, the, ii. 579
iii.
47 S sqq. Angola and Congo, totemism in, ii.
speech, iii. 72 609 sqq.
tribes of the Atlantic, totemism Angoni, the, ii. 395 mutual avoidance ;

among the, iii.

39 sqq. of parents - in - law and son - in - law
Algonkins, the, iii. 46 sq. ;
guardian among the, iv. 303
spirits among the, 372 sqq. Angoniland, totemism in Central, ii.
Alice Springs, i. 190, 192, 194, 195 394 m-
Alps, the Australian, i. 315, 318 Animal ancestors, i.
5 sqq.
Altaians, clans of the, i. 86 guardians, ii. 627
Alternation of the totems between the names of some Australian classes
subclasses, 408 sq. 419, 433 sq.
i. ,
or phratries, iv. 238 sqq 264 sqq. . ,

Alvord, B. iv. 144 ,

spouses, iii. 33
Amalgamation of e.xogamous communi- totemic, kept, iv. 278
ties, hypothesis of, i. 284 sq. Animal-shaped mounds, i. 31 k.®
Amapondas, the, iv. 303 Animals, apologies for killing, i. 10, 19
Ama-Xosa, traces of totemism among sq., iii. 67, 81 tests of kinship with, ;

the, ii. 380 sqq. i. 20 sq. supposed to be in people's

;

Ama-Zulu, traces of totemism among bodies, 26 dances imitative of, 37 ;

the, ii. 380 sqq. sqq., imitation of,

iii. 418 ; i.
37 sqq. ;

Amazons of Dahomey, ii. 578 as incarnations of gods in Samoa, 81

Ambon (Amboyna), totemism in, i. 7, ii, sq., ii. 153 sqq. ;
domestication of, i.

86, ii. 197 87 assimilation of people to, ii. 92

; ;

Ambrym, the volcano, 63 ii. ancestral ghosts in, 104 descent from, ;

America, geographical diffusion of totem- 104 igqsq., 199, 200, 633, 637;
sq.,
ism in, i. 84 sq. transformations of deities into, 139 ;

Central, totemism among the In- gods incarnate in, 152 sq. 155, 156
dians of, iii. 551 sqq. ;
guardian spirits sqq. 167 sq. 169, 175 sq. 178 ;

in, 443 sqq. growing inside of people who have

North-West, races of, iii. 251 sqq. ; eaten them, 17 sq., 19, 160, 167,
natural features and climate of, 254 428 sq., 482, ii. 160; help given
sqq. Secret Societies of, 499 sqq.
;
to ancestors by, 187, 188, 199, 200,
South, totemism among the Indians 202 local sacred, 583 sqq., 590 sqq.
; ;

of, 557 sqq.

iii. guardian spirits of, iii. 133 sq. parts ;

American Bureau of Ethnology, iii. 93 of animals as guardian spirits, 412,

240 417, 427, 451 language of, 421 sq. ; ;

Indians, individual totems or worshipped, 577 sqq.

guardian spirits of the, i. 50 sq. iii. ,
born of women, i. 16, ii. 56, 58 sq.,
370 sqq. excess of women over men
;
610, 612 legends of, i. 7 sq. ;

among the, iv. 84 dances representing, iv. 285 ;

theory of totemism, iv. 48 mimicked by dancers, 313

Ancestor of clan dressed as animal or as men
disguised as, iv. 208, 216
a supernatural being, iii. 324 sq. sq. 226 ceremonies performed over
;

Ancestor-worship in Fiji, ii. 148 n.'^ slain, 268 sq.

Ancestors personated sacred cere-
helped by animals,
in — — sacred, in Congo, ii. 614 sq.
Madagascar, 632 sqq.
in ;

monies, i. 204 ; kept in cap- ;

totemic or otherwise, ii. 187, 188. 199, tivity, iv.175, buried, 175 sq.
200, 202, 210, 375 sq. worship of :
totemic, legends of descent from,
eponymous, 327 as guardian spirits, ;
i.
5 sqq. not killed or eaten, 8 sqq.
; ;

453 as birds, iii. 324 sqq.

;
worship ;
not to be looked at, ii, 12, 13 fed ;

of, among the Bantu tribes, iv. 32 or kept in captivity, sq. mourned ;

sqq. and 15 sq. not spoken of

buried, \

Andaman Islanders, initiation ceremony directly, 16 growing in people's ;

of the, iv. 227 bodies, 17 sq., 19, 428 sq., 482, ii.
Andamanese, food prohibitions of the, 160 appeasing the, i. 18 assimila-
; ;

i. 42 ;
forbidden foods of the, 52 tion of people to, 25 sqq. dressing in ;
 , , , ,

INDEX 325

skins of, 26 gods developed out of,

;
Arizona, iii. 195, 196, 204, 206
ii.139 help given to ancestors by,
;
Arm-bone of dead, Warramunga cere-
375 sq. punishment for killing, 434
; ;
mony with, i. 202
resemblance of people to, iii. 55 sq. ;
Armenian brides, their custom of silence,
apologies for killing, 67, 81 trans- ;
iv. 234
formation into, 76 respect shewn for, ;
Armour god, iii. 396 sq.

310, 311 artificial, 312.

;
See also Arnot, F. S. ,
ii. 624 sq.
Ancestors Arrows, girls married to, iv. 212
Animals and plants, sacred, not all to -Art, influence of totemism on, iv. 25,
be confounded with totems, iii. 195 ; 26 sq.
Cherokee superstitions about, 186 sqq. Artemis, Arcadian, i. 38 ;
Brauronian,
Anjea, mythical being, i. 536 sq. ibid.
Ankole, ii. 532 Artemisia, i.
75 n.^
Ant-eater, totem, ii. 428 Artificial monsters, novices brought
Ant-hills worshipped at marriage, iv. back on, 541, 542, 543 sq.
iii.
537 sq.

29s objects as totems, i. 25, 254, ii.

Ant totem, ceremony of the, i. 207 221, 223, 231, 233, 234, 235, 237,
Antelope (Po?'tax picttts) clan, ii. 301 239, 240, 243, 245, 247, 248, 250,
clan, ii. 489, 550 251, 270, 271, 274, 280, 295, 296,
Antelopes sacred,
iv. 37 297, 298, 301, 306, 309, 316 as ;

Anthropomorphic gods developed out of guardian 417, 420

spirits, iii.

totems, i. 82 Aru -Archipelago, traces of totemism in

supernatural being in Australia, i. the, ii. 200 sq.

14s sq., 151 sq. Arunta, the, do not observe totemic exo-
Ants, driver, sacred, iv. 37 gamy, i. 103 totemism of, 186 sqq. ; ;

Anula tribe, classes and totems of the, i. its resemblance to that of the Banks’

237 ;
exogamous classes of the, Islanders, 94 ii.
9 sqq. iv. sq. ;
for-
271 classificatory terms used by the,
;
bidden foods among the, 220 sq. ;

303 avoidance of mother - in - law, etc.

Anyanja, the, ii. 395, 401 among the, 273 theory of conception ;

Aos, the, ii. 328 among, i. 188 sq. sacred dramatic ;

Apaches, sororate among the, iv. 142 ceremonies of, 205 sqq. exogamous ;

and Navahoes, iii. 202, 241 sqq. ; classes of, 256 sqq., 259 sqq. rules of ;

exogamous clans of the, 243 sqq. marriage and descent among, 259 sqq. ;

Apes, sacred, ii. 205, 206 sq., 210, iv. classificatory terms used by, 297 sq.
175 nation, i. 186
'A(f>d 6 yyovs yd/xovs, i. 63 n.^ totem clans, why they are not
Apollonius Rhodius, iv. 245 exogamous, i. 259, ii. 97, iv. 127 sq.
Apologies for killing animals, i. 10, 19 Aryan race in India, exogamy in the, ii.

sq., iii. 67, 81 330

Appeasing the totem, Samoan mode of, Aryan-speaking peoples, the classificatory
i. 18, ii. 156, 157, 158, 160 system of relationship among the, ii.
Appei family, origin of, ii. 567 sq. 333 -t?-
Apple-tree in marriage-ceremony, i. 33 Aryans, question of totemism among
Arab remedy for hydrophobia, 133 i. the primitive, i. 86, iv. 13 question ;

Arabs mourn for dead gazelle, i. 15 of exogamy among the, 15 1 sq., 318 ry.
Arakhs, totemism among the, ii. 221 Ash Wednesday, burial of sardine on, i.
Arapahoes, the, iii. i «.', 112 associa- ; IS«.8
tion of Warriors among the, 479 Ashantee, rule of succession to the
sqq. ;
Crazy Dance of the, 480, throne of, ii. 564 sq.
481 sq. sororate among the, iv. 142
;
Ashantees, the, ii. 553, 555 sq.
sq. Ashe, R. B. ii. 471 n.^ ,

Araucanians or Moluches, traces of Ashes of dead, iii. 270, 271

totemism among the, iii. 581 sq. Ashiwanni, Rain Priests, iii. 234
Arawaks, descended from animals, i. 7 ;
-Asia (apartfrom India), traces of totemism
totemism among the, iii. 564 sqq. in, ii. 336 sqq.
.\rgive brides wear beards, i.
73 Ass, Bedouins imitate the, iv, 208
.Arhuacos, the, iii.
557 Assam, women alone tattooed in some
Ari, personal totem, 535 i. sq. 538, 539 tribes of, iv. 204 totemism and
sq. ;

Arickarees, 146 the, iii. ;

worship of exogamy in, ii. 318^77., iv. 295-300
corn-ear among, 144 sq. ;
Secret Assimilation of people to their totems,
Societies among, 490 sq. i. 25 sqq., ii. 8 sq., iv. 179 sq. of ;
 , , , , ;
, ,

326 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

people to animals or plants, ii. 92 of ;
Australian savages not absolutely primi-
men to their guardian spirits, iii. 387, tive, iv. Ill
400, 417, 426, 451 tribes, exogamous classes of the,
Assiniboins, iii. no societies of the, 474 ; i. 271 sqq. generally at peace with
-,

Associated or linked totems, ii. 30 sq . each other, 284

48 sq., 50 sq., 52, 54 sq. Australians, Western, descended from
Associations, dancing, of North American birds, i. 7
Indians, i. 46 sq. Avebury, Lord, his theory of totemism,
religious, iii. 457, 547 ;
of the iv. 44
Dacotas, i. 46 sq. See Societies Avoidance, custom of mutual avoidance
Asuras, totemism among the, ii. 309 sq. between near relations by blood or
Asylums or sanctuaries, iv. 266 sqg. ;
marriage adopted as a precaution
development of cities out of, i. 95 sqq . against incest, i. 285 ?z.', 503, 542, ii.
in Australia, America, Africa, Borneo, 77 sqq., 131, 147 sq., 189, 424,623,
etc., 96 sqq. 638, iii. 112 sq., iv. 108 sqq., 284
Atai, a sort of external soul, ii. 81 sqq. of blood, i. 49
Athabaska, Lake, iii. 346 of cousins, ii. 130 sq., 508, 629,
Athabaskans, iii. 346 the, 637 sq. iv. 109
Athapascan Athabascan family of
or of daughter, ii. 189, 424
Indians, iii. 241, 252 of husband's father, ii. 189, 385,
Athene, aegis of, i. 32 403, iii. no, III, 112
Athenians, marriage with the half-sister of husband’s maternal uncle, ii.
among the ancient, ii. 602 burial ; 630
custom of the, iv. 213 of husband's parents, ii. 124, 401
Athens, wolf buried at, i. 15 sq. of mother, ii. 77, 78, 189, 638
Atticmaidens dance as bears, i. 38 of sister-in-law, the wife of wife's
Attiwandaronks, iii. 3 brother, ii. 388
Atua, god, ii. 167, 168, 179, 180, 181 of sister's daughters, ii. 509
Augiid, totem, ii. 2, 19, 22, 23 of sisters, i. 542, 565 sq., ii. 77 sqq.,
Australia, equivalence of the exogamous 124, 131, 147, 189, 343, 344, 638,
divisions in, i. 63 ; totemism universal 245, 362, iv. 286, 288
iii.

in, 84, iv. II ;

its archaic type of of wife's father, ii. 17, iii. 109, no,
animals and plants, i. 92 ;
primitive III. 3 °S
character of the aborigines, 92 sq. ; of wife's grandmother, iii. 109 sq.
universal prevalence of magic in, 141 of wife’s mother, i. 285 n.^, 286 n.,
sq. rudiments of religion in, 142 sqq.
; 395, 40417., 41617., 440, 451, 469.
Supreme Being reported in, 151 sq. 492, S° 3 S°6, 541, 565, 572, ii. 17, 26,
.

Felix, i. 316, 318 7(3 sqq., 117, 189, 368, 385, 40057.,
North-East, totemism in, i. 515 sqq. 403, 412, 424, 461, 508, 522, 622 sq.,
North-West, totemism in, i. ^6jsqq. 630, iii. 108 sqq., 136, 148, 247,
South-Eastern, totemism in, i. 314 277 sq., 305, 361 sq., 498, 583, iv.
sqq. physical geography of, 314 sqq.
; ; 109, 273, 305, 314 sq.
decadence of tribes in, 340 of wife's parents, ii. 124, 581, 630
West, totemism in, i. 546 sqq. of wife’s sister, iv. 283, 284
Australian aborigines, evidence of pro- of relations by marriage, iv. 283,
gress among the, i. 154 sq. material ; 303
and social progress among the, 320 Awa, totemic taboo, ii. 588
sqq. houses of the, 321 sqq.
;
among ;
Awa-Kisii, ii. 447
the lowest of existing races, 342 sq. ;
Awa-Rimi, the, ii. 447
not degraded, 342 sq. infanticide ;
Awa- Ware, the, ii.
447
among the, iv. 81 sq.-, proportion of Axe clan, ii. 299
the se.xes among the, 85 ry. their body ; Axes thrown at thunder-spirits, ii.
437
scars, 198 sqq.-, cannibalism among Aye-aye, sacred, ii. 635
the, 260 sqq. See also Central Aus- Azande, the, ii. 628, 629
tralian
Alps,
i. 315, 318 Babacoote, sacred in Madagascar, ii.

marriage systems devised to pre- 632, 633

vent the marriage of near kin, iv. Babar Archipelago, totemism in the,

105 sqq. 1 12 sqq. i. 7, II, ii. 199 sq.

rites of initiation at puberty, i. Babembo, the, ii. 627. 629
36 sq. 38 sq. 40 sqq. 42 sqq. iv. 180 Babies fashioned out of mud, i. 536 sq.

sqq., 217 sqq., 227 sqq. Babines, the, iii. 347

 ;

INDEX 327

Baboon clan, ii. 396 ;

totem, 375, 378, Balubare, national Baganda gods, iv.

428, 436 33. 34

Bachelors’ club-houses, iv. 284. See also Bamboo, clan and totem, ii, 279, 296,
Club-houses 310
Bachofen, J. J., i. 71 Bammanas, the, ii. 543, 545
Badagas, the, ii. 244, iv. 260 Banana, cultivation of the, ii. 464 sq .

Badges, totemic, i. 60, ii. 9 sq., 425, impregnation of women by the flower
iii. 40, 65, 227 tribal, i. 28 sq., 36 ; ;
of the, ii. 507, iv. 63
of clans, ii. 43 sqq., 46 of the Haidas, ;
Bandage on mouth, i. 19, ii. 160
iii. 281 sqq. of Tlingit clans, iii.;
Bandicoot totem, in i.

267 sqq. See also Crests Bands, dancing, of N. American Indians,

Badris of Bengal, i. ii i. 46 sq. See Associations and Societies
Baegert, J. ,
iv. 143 Bangerang tribe, i. 437
Ba-fioti, the, ii. 613, 615 Banks' Islands, tamanhi of, i. 52 exo- ;

Baganda, 463 sqq.

the, their arts,
ii. ;
gamous classes in the, ii. 69 sqq. con- ;

465 sq. government, 467 sqq.

; ;
ceptional totemism in, 89 sqq. female ;

toteniism, 472 sqq. classificatory ; infanticide in the, iv. 80

system of relationship, 509 sqq. their ;
Banks’ Islanders, their totemism and
theory of conception without cohabita- exogamy, iv. 9 sq. their conceptionai ;

tion, 507^7., iii. 152, iv. 63 totemism, 5917., 287

clans, their economic functions, iv. Banmanas (Bammanas), the, ii. 543
19 Bants, totemism among the, ii. 233
religion of the, iv. 32 sqq. ;
Bantu Kavirondo, the, ii. 447
proportion of male and female births peoples, breeders of cattle, iv. 23
among the, 87 their opinion as to ;
tribes, totemism and exogamy
effect of breaking taboo, 156 probably at one time universal among
Bagdis, totemism among the, ii. 310 the, ii. 360 Dr. G. McCall Theal’s
;

Bageshu, the, ii. 451 sqq. ;

exogamy theory of totemism, 388 sqq. religion ;

among the, 452 sq. ;

hold hyaenas of the, iv. 32 sqq. of Kavirondo, ;

sacred, iv. 305 proportion of the sexes among the,

Bahau, the, of Central Borneo, iv. 269 iv. 86 sq. sororate ;
among the.
Bahero, or Bairo, the, ii.
533, 535 14s
Bahima, 532 sqq.
the, their belief in
ii. ;
Bantus, culture of the, i.
343
transmigration, 392 customs in re- ;
Banyai, the, ii. 390
gard to cattle, 533 sqq. totemism of ;
Banyoro, totemism among the, ii, 513
S3S polyandry, 538 loose
I ;
sqq. marriage customs of the, 522
;

sexual morality, 539 sqq. kings of the Banyoro, their rules

;

Baiame, a mythical being, i. 146, 148, 413 of life and death, 526 sqq. ;
sororate
Baiswar, totemism among the, ii. 279 among the, iv. 145
Bakalai or Bakele, their totemic descent, Barais, totems of the, ii. 230
i. 8 rule of descent among the, 67
; ;
Barcoo River, i. 367, 379
totemism and exogamy among the, Bari, the, ii. 628
16, ii. 609 sqq. Bariak, a standard, iv. 317, 318
Bakedi, the, ii. 461 Bariaktar, a standard-bearer, iv. 317
Bakene, the, ii. 454 sqq. ;
totemism Baringo District of British East Africa,
among the, 456 ii. 426
Bakondjo, the, ii. 627, 629 Bark-cloth makers, of the kings of
Bakongs, the, ii. 208 Uganda, ii.481
Bakuba or Bushongo, totemism among Barkinji nation, i. 387, 389
the, ii. 625, iv. 308 sq. Barongo form of the system classificatory
Bakusu, the, ii. 627 of relationship, 386 sqq. ii.

Balder, 489
iii. Barotse, the, ii. 390 sq. the Queen ;

Balele, the, ii. 628 Sister among the, iv. 305 sq. worship ;

Bali, exogamous clan, ii. 233, 238, 250, of dead kings among the, 306 sq.
276 Barren women, modes of fertilising, ii.

Balijas, totemism among the, ii. 233 259

Balimo of the Basutos, i. 149 Barter, system of, iii. 262
Ball, masked, iv. 226 Bartle Bay, totemism at, iv. 277 sqq.

totem, 25 i. Basedow, H., 576 n.^

i.

Balong, the, ii. 598 Basoga, the, ii.

457 sqq. totemism ;

Baluba, traces of totemism among the, among the, 458 sqq. sororate among;

ii. 624 sq. the, iv. 145

 , ;

328 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Basoko, the, ii. 627 Beetle Grub man who ate beetle grubs,
Basutos, the, ii. 369 ;
the Balimo of the, i. 239 sq.
i. 149 B6guin, E. ,
iv. 305
Bat, sex totem, i. 47, 48 ;
god, ii. 158, Bell, J. S. ,
iv. 301 sq.
165 ;
clan, ii. 558 Bellabellas, the, a Kwakiutl tribe, iii.

Bataks. See Battas 300, 532, 539, 545

Bates, Mrs. Daisy M. ,
i. 560 sqq. Bella Coolas, the, iii, 253 communities ;

Bateso, the, ii. 461 sqq. ; totemism and crests of the, 339 sqq Secret . ;

among the, 462 Societies among the, 510 sqq.

Bath of Blood, ii. 608 Bellamy, Dr. ,
ii.
544
Batoka, the, i. 27 Benefits conferred by totem, i. 22 sq.
Batoro, totemism among the, ii. 530 Bengal, totemism in,
284 i. 10, 12, ii.

sqq. sqq.\ marriage to trees in, i. 32 sq.

Battas or Bataks of Sumatra, totemism Berbers, the, ii. 601
among the, i. 137 ii. 185 sqq. ;
Bergmann, B. iv. 302 ,

sororate among the, iv. 147 Berriait tribe, i. 392

Bavili, the, 613 ii. Besthas, totemism among the, ii. 233
Baw-baw, Mount, i. 435 sq., 272 sororate among the, iv. 146
;

Bawenda, traces of totemism among the, Betrothal, i. 372, 382, 393, 394, 395,
377 religion of the, iv. 303 sq.
i 409, 419, 424 sq., 450, 460, 463, 467,
Bawgott, ii. 427. See Suk 473. 491. 541. 549, 552, 557, ii.
Baxbakualanuxsiwae, the Cannibal 463, iii. 244
Spirit, iii. 435 sq., 522, 524, 525, 531 Betsileo, the, ii. 633, 634 sq.
Baxus, iii. 517, 518 profane, 334 ;
Betsiinisaraka, the, ii. 632, 633, 637,
Bean, clan and totem, ii. 310, 492 sq. 638
Bear, descent from, i. 5, 8 ;
apologies Beveridge, P. iv. 81 n.^, 274 ,

for killing, 10, \() sq., iii. 67, 81 ;

Bhangi, exogamous clans among the, ii.

cubs suckled by Aino women, i. 15 ; 279

not spoken of directly, 16 ;
feast Bharias, totems of the, ii. 230
offered to slain, 19 sq., iii. 67, 134 ;
Bhars, totemism among the, ii. 294 sq.
story of the man who married a bear, Bhils or Bheels, totemism among the,
293 bears kept in cages by Ainos,
sq. ;
ii. 218 292 jyy.
jyy., iv.

i. 15 imitation of, 39
;
Bhondari, totemism among the, ii. 234
clan, iv. 312 character of, iii. 55 ; ;
Bhumij, the, ii. 31 1 sqq. totemism ;

subdivision of, 57 among the, 312

dance of Attic maidens, i. 38 Biamban, 146 i.

Bear’s flesh offered to Indian corn, i. Biduelli tribe, i. 395

14 ;
paw, descent from, iii. 67 bear- ;
Bilaspore, marriage of cousins in, ii. 224
skin at birth, i. 32 medicine - man ;
Bili Magga, totemism among the, ii. 274
dressed in, 39 Biloxi, the, iii. 155 sororate among the, ;

Beardmore, Edward, ii. 25 iv. 149

Beard plucked out at initiation, i. 467, Bilqulas. See Bella Coolas

484, iv. 228 sqq. Bina, taboos, ii. 614
Beards, false, worn by brides, i. 73 Binbinga, burial rites of the, 202 sq i. .

Bearers of the kings of Uganda, ii. classificatory terms used by the, 302
487 nation, i. 186 n.'^
Bearskin, children placed at birth on, iv. tribe, exogamous classes of the, i.

208 268 sq.

Beauty and the Beast type of tale, ii. Binger, Captain, ii,
545
206, 570, 589, iii. 64 Bingongina tribe, exogamous classes of
Beaver and snail, descent of Osages the, i. 267
from, i. 5 sq. iii. 129 Bini, totemism among the, ii. 587 sqq.
Beaver wife, the, iii. 60 sqq. Binjhias, totemism among the, ii. 313
Beavers, the, Indian tribe, iii. 346 Bird, man married to a, i. 33^7., iv. 221
Bechuanas, totemism among the, 13, i. box, sacred, iii. 145
ii. 369 sqq. totemic dances of, i. 37
;
clan, ii. 490 sq.
sq. said
;
to be exogamous, iv. 304 mates of totems, i. 254 sqq.
Bedias, totemism among the, ii. 294 of prey in Carib ceremony, i. 42
Bee, totem, ii. 242, 315, 428, 435 Birds, ceremony to keep from corn, i.

clan, their power over bees, ii. 434 23, iii. 104 ;
dances to imitate, 269
Beena marriage, ii. 17 “ Birds,” name applied to totems, ii.

Beer made of plantains, ii. 534 132

 INDEX 329

Birds of omen, ii. 206 ii,475, 628 sq., 38, 560 563 iii. sq., ;

paramount totems, 277,281, 282 iv. collective responsibility in, iv. 38^7.,
Birth, ceremonies at, 31 sq., 51, ii. i. 273 sq.

152, iii. 103 sq.\ from a cow, pre- Blood, human, poured on stones in
tence of, i. 32, iv. 208 sq. new, at ;
magical ceremony for multiplication
initiation, i. 44 individual totem ;
of totems, i. 107, 108 used in ;

(guardian spirit) acquired at, 51 ;

magical ceremonies, 358, 360
ceremony at, in Samoa, 71 of royal ;
•
menstruous, magical virtues of,
child, orgies at, ii. 638 sq. ;
of children, iv. 100, 102

Minnetaree theory of, iii. 150 sq. of clan, supposed sanctity of, iv.

Birth-names of members of totem clans, too sq.

i. 58 sq. of defloration in relation to
stones, i. 192, 195, 196 exogamy, 103 n.^ iv.

tests of animal kinship, 20 sq. i. of kin poured on corpse at burial,

Bisection of a community into exogamous i.
75 not spilt on ground, 75
;

divisions, i. 163, 166, 335 probably a ;

of sacrifice smeared on head of
widespread stage of social evolution, sacrificer, ii. 210, 213
258, iv. 132 sq. effect and intention ;
by youths
of tribesmen drunk at
of, i. 282^7., iv. 106, no initiation, 200 i. 42, iv.

Bismarck Archipelago, ii. 64 Bloodsucker, totem, ii. 317

Bite of crocodile, as test, i. 21 of snake ;
Blue abominated by Yezidis, i. 25, iv.

as ordeal, 20, 21 of tiger as ordeal, 20 ; 197

Black Shoulder (Buffalo) clan of the Bluebuck or Duyker tribe of Bechuanas,
Omahas, i. 5, ii, 26, 35, iii.
94 sq., ii.
374 sq.
104 Boar clan, iv. 294
Snake totem of Warramunga, i. figure of, on Norse helmets, iv.

192 sq., 222 sqq., 234 sq. 207 sq.

snakes, magical ceremony for the Boas, Dr. Franz, iii. 263, 273, 283 sq.,
222 sqq. «.i,
multiplication of, i. 300, 311 sq., 315, 319, 326 321,
Blackening the face to obtain visions, 326^-7., 328^77., 339, 340^-7., 341
iii-
373. 376, 384, 387 361, 412, 421 sq., 434 sq., 499, 503
the teeth, custom of, iv. 185 ^7-. 513 m-’ 538 sq., iv. 48
Blackfeet Indians, exogamy among the, Bodos, the, iv. 300
iii. 84 sq. ;
guardian spirits among the, Body - marks, incised, of Australian
387 sqq. ; secret societies of the, 475 aborigines, iv. 198 sqq.
sqq. ;
of women among the,
excess Bogaboga community, totemism of the,
iv. sororate among the, 142
84 ;
iv. 279 sq.
Blacksmiths, chief of the, ii. 606 heredi- ;
BogaraSj Waldemar, ii. 348 .sqq.

tary, 497 ii. Boils the punishment for killing or eating

Blankets, iii. 260 ;
as money, 262, 303, the totem, i. 17, iii. 94, iv. 279 sq.
304 Bombay Presidency, totemism in the, ii.

Blazons, totemic, i. 29. See Crests 27s sqq.

Bleeding as a means to make rain, i. 75 Bone of eagle, drinking through, iii. 518,
Blindness, taboos based on fear of, i. 526
13 «.*, iii. 91 ;
the punishment for Bones of dead powdered and swallowed,
injuring a sacred animal, ii. 177 i.
75 of game, ceremony at breaking,
;

Blood smeared on bodies of youths at 486 of human victims of cannibals,

;

initiation, i. 42 identified with life, ;

treatment of, iii. 522 sq., 525 sq.
42, 74 sq.\ the life of the clan, 42 Bonnet totem, i. 25
«.•*; given to sick to drink, 42 Bonny, monitor lizards worshipped at,
Gond rajah smeared with blood
;
ii-
S9 I
of tribe, 43 ceremonial avoidance ;
Bookoomuri, mythical beings, i. 385, 386
of, 49 drawn from body to seal
;
Boomerang totem, 254 i.

compact, 50 smeared on bride and ;

Bora ceremony, 37 i.

bridegroom at marriage, 72 blood, ;

Borneo, analogies to totemism in, ii.

milk, and flesh the food of Masai 202 sqq.

warriors, ii. 414 bath of, 608 ; Bororos, tribe of Brazilian Indians,
Blood-covenant, i. 120, ii. 349, 350 sq. ;
identify themselves with red macaws,
at marriage, iv. 242 i. 1 19, iii. 576; their ceremony at,
Blood, covering novices with, iv. 200, killing certain fish, i. 129 sq.
201 Boscana, Father Geronimo, i. 97, iii.

feud, i.
53 sq., 405, 440, 553, 404
 1 ^ ;

33 ° TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Bosch (Bush) negroes of Guiana, i. 17 Brothers and sisters as joint husbands in
Bose, P. N. ii. 223 sq. , group marriage, iv. 139
Bossum or god, in Guinea, i. 72 ;
fetish, Brothers, elder, of animal species, i. 82 ;

ii-
573 . 574 names of brothers not mentioned by
Boswell, James, i. 382 sq. sisters, ii. 77 not united in group- ;

Bottadas, totemism among the, ii. 234 marriage, 349, 350, 367
Bougainville, totemism in, ii. 116, Brothers-in-law, relations between, ii.
1 17 sq. 17 forbidden to mention each other's
;

Boulder representing a mass of manna, names, 124 sq., iv. 283; (husbands
i. 107 of sisters), close tie between, 351
Boulia District, i. 517 and sisters-in-law, mutual avoidance
Bourke, Captain J. G. iii. 196 11., 202 , of, 412
n.^, 216 n."^, 220 n.-, 222, 229, 230, Brotherhoods or confederaciesin the Aru
231, 246, 248, 249, 250 Archipelago, ii. 200 sq.
Bow and arrow, Toda ceremony of the, Brown, A. R. iii. 371 re.^ ,

in seventh month of pregnancy, i. 73, Rev. Dr. George, ii. 119, 122 sq.,
ii. 256 sqq. 152 re., iv. 222
Bowdich, E. T. , ii. 565 Brown clan, iv. 293
Bowing to totem, ii. 316 Rudjan, personal totem, i. 412, 489
Boyas, totemism among the, ii. 230 sq. Buffalo clan, 231, 232, 233,
ii. sq.,
Boys, laughing, a totem, i. 160 sq. 557 ^ 1 - ;
tribe of Bechuanas, 373
Brahfo, god of Tshi negroes, iv. 37 dance, iii. 476 sq.
Brahmans, Kuhn, their marriagecustoms, masks worn in dances, iii. 138, 139
ii. 619 sqq. Society, iii. 462
Brass, python worshipped at, ii. 591 Buffalo-tail clan, i. 12, iii. 97
Brauronian Artemis, i. 38 re.® Buffaloes, totemic taboos concerned with,
Brazil, Indians of, iii. 573 sqq. i. II sq. ;
return of dead clanspeople
preference for marriage with near to the, 35 ;
sacred, of the Todas, ii.
relations among Indians of, iii.
575 254 ; totems referring to, 428, 429,
sq.. i V. 316 430, 439, iii. 100, 1 18 ;
pursuit of,
Breeders of fowls, horses, and cattle, 69, 84, 88, 136, 138 sq. ;
traditions
their the conveyance
belief in of of descent from, 94, 95 i. 5, iii. ;

maternal impressions to offspring, iv. ceremonies for attracting and multi-

66 sq. plying, 137 sqq.
Brewers of honey-wine, continence ob- Bugilai, totemism among the, ii. 34 sq.
served by, ii. 41 Buka, totemism in, ii. 117, 118
Bri-bris,iii. 551 sq., 553 sq. Bukoba, ii. 406
Brick totem, ii 221 Bulb [irriakura] totem, ceremony of
Bricks, sun-dried, iii. 203 the, i. 205 sq.
Bride of the Nile, i. 34 re.® Bulenda, totemic clan, ii. 546, 547
the False, iv. 258 Bull, totem, ii. 297
the silent, i. 63 re.® dance, iii. 140 re.

Brides, silence imposed on, iv. 233 sqq. Bull-roarers, i. 124, 413 n.^, 565,
Brincker, H..ii. 366 S7S re.®, 34, 35, 38, 39, 57,
ii. 12,
Brinton, D. G. iii. 41, 445 , 436, iii. 230, 234, 235, 238, iv. 285
British Columbia, Indians of, their Bull’s hide, bridal pair placed on a red,
totemic carvings, i. 30 iv. 210
Brother, totem spoken of as, i. 9, iv. Bulls, sacred, ii. 235 sq.

174 Bumba, the creator, iv. 308

Brother’s daughter, marriage with, ii. Bunjil,i. 146 (Eagle-hawk), 435 sqq. ; ;

121 sq. iv. 316 ,

mythical headman, 352, 353 a name ;

Brothers and sisters, prevention of mar- applied to old men, 494

riage of, i. 163, 166, 274, 275, 279, Buntamurra tribe, i. 432 sqq.
282, 285 re.i two-class system devised
;
Bzinya-lmnya, i.
443 fruit of the,
to prevent the marriage of, 401 sq., Bunya-bunya Mountains, i. 443
445 mutual avoidance of, 542, 565,
:
Bureau of Ethnolpgy, American, iii.

ii.
77 sqq., 124, 131, 147, 189, 343, 93 re.^, 240
344, 638, iii. 245, 362, iv. 286, 288 ; Burial, temporary, 430 totemic, i. ;
ii.

marriage of, ii. 541, 638, iii. 575 sq., 190; at cross-roads, 5071^., iii. 152;
579 incest of, ii. 638
:
exogamy in- ;
alive, penalty for unlawful marriage,
troduced to prevent the marriage of, 552
iv. 104 sq., 107 sq. customs, i.
454 sq., ii. 51, iv. 213
 , ,

INDEX 331

s(jq. in relation to disembodied spirits,

;
iii. I, 249 ;
and to all Indians on
i.20 1 sqq. the Pacific slopes of the Rocky Moun-
Burial grounds of toteniic clans, ii. 475, tains,2 guardian spirits among
;

559 ;
sleeping in, to obtain the dead the, sqq.
403sororate among the, iv.
;

as guardian spirits, iii. 420, 438 143 tattooing

;
among the, 205 sq. ;

of Egyptian Queens, i. 35 of mem- ;

totemism not found among the, 232
bers of totem clans, 75 sq. of totem, ; Californian tribe reverence the buzzard,
15 sq., ii. 30, 56, 127, iv. 278; of i. 16
sacred owl, ii. 155 Callisto, i. 38 n.^
of sacred animals, iv. 175 ry. Calves, taboos concerning, i. 12, ii.
97
" Buried man," a man who lives with Cambridge Anthropological Expedition,
his wife's kindred, iii. 112 ii. I, 28, 29
" Buried woman," a woman who lives Cameron, .‘\. L. P. i. 381 sq., 383 sq., ,

with her husband's kindred, iii. 112 384 sq.

Burma, exogamy in, ii. 336 sq. Cameron, V. L. iv. 307 sq. ,

Burned, not buried, corpses to be, iii. Cameroon, sacred animals in, ii. sqq.
66 .rq. Camping, rules of, i. 75, 248 order of, ;

Burn, exogamous clans in, ii. 198 sq. iii. 93, 118, 120, 124^7.
Bushbuck, a totem, ii. 402, 421 sq. 459, Canarese language, ii. 227, 329
460 ;
clan, 493 sq., 519 Caniengas or Mohawks, iii. 4
Bush-cat clan, ii. 557, 572 Cannibal Societies, iii. 511 sq., 515 sq.,
Bushmen reverence goats, i. 13 fear to ; 522 sqq., 537, 539 sq., 542, 545
mention lion, 16 hints of totemism ; Spirit, iii. 334, 515, 522
among the, ii.
539 Cannibalism, 73 sq., ii. 451, iv. 7
i. sq. ;

their disguises in hunting, iv. 216 in Australia, 260 sqq.

Bush negroes of Surinam, traces of ritualistic, iii. 501, 511, 515, 522,
totemism among the, i. 17, iii. 572 523. S3S 537. 542. 543; legends of
pig, totem, ii. 438 origin of, 515
souls, ii. 594 sqq. Cannibals, purification of, iii. 512, 523,
Bushongo or Bakutaa, totemism among 525 dances of, 524, 531
;
rules ;

the, ii. 625, iv. 308 sq. observed by, after eating human flesh,
Busk, annual festival of the, iv. 225 525 sq. (Hamaisas), the, a Secret
;

Busoga, ii. 454, 457 Society of the Kwakiutl, 521 sqq.

Butha, contracted from Kumbatha, i. Capitoline Hill, i. 95
62 See Kumbo Cappellenia molnccaita, ii. 197
abomination, ii. 103 sqq. Captive, female, i. 403, 419, 476, 505^7.
Butterfly clan, i. 13 Capture at marriage, form of, iii. 582,
god, ii. 159 iv. 72
man, i. 18 marriage by, iv. 300
Butterflies, dead people in, ii. 81 of wives, i. 426 sq., 450, 475, 476,
Buying wife and children, iv. 131 sq. 541
See also Wives of women a rare mode of obtaining
Byington, Dr. Cyrus, iii. 174 wives in Australia, iv. 91
Buzzard ceremonially killed and buried, Carib ceremony with bird of prey, i. 42
i. 16 totem, ii. 436, 441
;
Cariboo-eaters, the, iii. 346
Caribs, i. 42 n.^ ;
women's language
Cabbages at marriage, i.
33 n.'^ among the, 64 n. iv. 237 sq. soro- ;

Cabecars, the, iii. 551 rate among the, 144 sq. avoidance ;

Caddos, the, iii. i 7;.', \%o sqq. of wife's relations among the, 315 ;

Caens and St. John Islands, totemism in, marriage of near relations among the,
ii. 132 sq. 315
Caffre hunters, pantomime of, i. 39 Carnival, an Indian, iii. 485
Cairns at which magical ceremonies are Caroline Islands, traces of totemism in,
performed, i. 573 sq. ii.176 sq.
Calabar, sancturies or asylums in, i. 100 Carp, descent from, i. 5, iii. 67 ;
clan of
negroes, their belief in external or Outaouaks (Ottawas), i. 5, iii. 67
bush souls, ii. 594 sq. Carpentaria, tribes of the Gulf of, i.
Calf, unborn, a totem, ii. 403, 403 228
California, totemism not found in, 84 i. Carpet-snake clan, 182 i.

Californian Indians, descended from Carriers, the, an Indian tribe, iii. 347 ;

coyote, i. 6 ; many subdivisions,

their totemic clans of the, 351 “honorific ;

29 n.^ \ totemism unknown to the, totems " of the, 545 sqq.

 , , , , , ,

332 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Carver, Captain J. ,
iii. 75, 86 sq., 464 at pubert}', 36 sqq. at pregnancy, 73 ; ;

sqq., iv. 141 transmitted from tribe to tribe, 283

Carvings, totemic, 29 i. sqq., ii.
43, 52, Ceremonies, magical, for influencing the
58, 126, iii. 267 sqq. totems, i. 23 sq. for multiplying the
;

Cassowary men, ii. 9, ii totems, 104 sqq. for the control of ;

people, iv. 285 the totems, 131 sqq., iii. 105, 126 sq. ;

Castes, hereditary professional, ii. 505 to secure water and fish, i. 484 sq. for ;

Cat, skin of wild, prohibition to touch, the multiplication of edible animals

i. 12 totem, ii. 220, 292, 296, 298
;
and plants, 573 sqq. to ensure a ;

Catlin, George, iii. 134, 135, 139, 180, supply of turtle and dugong, ii. 12
390 sqq. sqq. to make fruits of earth grow,
;

Cattle of the Bahima, ii. 533 sq. 31 sqq., 34, 38 sq. for increase of ;

of the Hereto, ii. 355 taboos re- ;

food supply, iii. 137 sqq.
lating to, observed by the Hereto, 358, sacred, in Central Australia, i. 203
362 sq. sqq.
domesticated in Africa, iv. 23 totemic, at birth and death, etc., iii.

marked with totem, 13 i. ;

marked 103 sqq.
on their ears with totemic badge, ii. of initiation, iv. 227, 228 sqq.
372. 425 performed over slain animals, iv.

Cave inhabited by spirits of unborn 268 See also Birth, Death, Initia-
sq.
children, iii. 150 sqq. tion, Marriage, Puberty, Rain-making
Caverns which the souls of the dead
in Ceremony to secure success in hunting,
live, iii. 582 i. 485 at cutting up an emu, 485
; sq.
Caves, prehistoric paintings in, i. 223 71.^ Ceres, iii. 142, 144, 145
on Mount Elgon, ii. 451 sq. Cerquin, in Honduras, iii. 443
Cayuga tribe of Iroquois, their phratries Chadars, totems of the, ii. 230
and clans, 57, iii. 4, 8
i. Chalk, bedaubing the body with, ii.

Cedar, the white, iii. 257 592

Cedar -bark, red, insignia of Secret Chalmers, Rev. J., ii. 34^7.
Societies made of, iii. 504, 517, 519, Chamars, totems of the, ii. 230
524, 527, 540 ornaments of, 435,
;
Chameleon, antipathy of the Bechuanas
510, 511, 524 to the, ii. 376 sq. a messenger of God
;

Cedar-tree sacred, iii. 194 to men, 376 sq., 423

Celibacy of sacred dairyman, ii. 254 clan, ii. 360, 362 sq.
Celts, question of totemism among the, totem, ii. 306, 307, 435
iv. 13 Chancas of Peru, iii. 578
Centipede god, ii. 156 Change from maternal to paternal
totem, ii. 231, 298 descent (mother-kin to father-kin), i.
Central Australia, deserts of, i. 317 sq.\ 71 sqq., ii. 15, 17, 196, 325, iii. 42.
climate of, 170 sq.\ totemism in, 175 58, 72, 80, 122 sq., 320 sq., iv. 131
sqq. sq. 240 sq. 242 sqq.
Central Australian aborigines, their Changes of tribal customs initiated by old
primitive character, i.
93 sqq. ;
their men, i. 352 sqq.
theory of conception and childbirth, Charcoal, prohibition to touch, i. 12,
93 sq. their moral code, 146 sq.
;
iii. 97
totemism, its peculiar features, i. Charlevoix, the Jesuit, iii. 14, 375 sq.
T02 sqq. its analogy to that of the
;
Charms, totemic, iv. 280
Banks' Islanders, ii. 94 sqq., iv. 9 sq. Chastity compulsory in certain cases, i.
totems, list of, i. 252 sqq. 215 sq., ii. 41 1, 527, 528 sq. re- ;

tribes the more backward, i. 167, quired at initiation, iii. 421, 424, 437 ;

320 sqq. 338 sq. ;

more primitive combined with abstinence from salt, iv.
than the northern tribes, 242 sq. 224 sqq. youthful, not valued, 301
:

Central Provinces of India, totemism in Chebleng tribes, the, ii. 428

the, ii. 222 sqq. 229 .57. Chenchus, totemism among the, ii. 234
Cephalophus, antelope clan, ii. 495 sq. Chepara tribe, i. 505 sqq.
Ceram, traces of totemism in, ii. 198 Cheremiss, sororate among the, iv. 147
Ceremonial laws, death the penalty for Cherokee, the, iii. 182 sqq. syllabary, ;

breaches of the, iii. 510, 519, 543 184 expulsion of, 185
;
exogamous ;

sq. clans of, 186 superstitions about

;

Ceremonies at birth, i. 31 sq., 51, 71 ;

animals and plants, 186 sqq.
at marriage, 32 sqq. 73, ii. 456 sq. Cheyenne, the, iii. i Crazy Dance
iv. 293 sq., 295 ;
at death, i. 34 sqq. ;
of, 481 sq. Warriors’ Association of.
;
 , ,

INDEX 333

485 sq. excess of women among the,

;
Cibola, iii. 202, 206, 215
iv. 84 Cicatrices as tribal badges, i. 28 sq. See
Chickasas (Chickasaws), phratries and Scars
clans of the, i. 56 Cimbrian cavalry, helmets of, iv. 207
Chickasaws, the, iii. 177 sqq. totemism ;
Circassians, exogamy among the, iv.

of, 178 sq. 3 °i sq.

Chief masquerading as spirits, iii. 533 ;
Circle, tribal, iii. 93, 118, 120, 124
communes in solitude with Great Spirit,

534 Circumcision, practised, i. 85, 565, 567

Chief-of-the-Ancients, iii. 337 sq. sqq-, 575 576 ii-
57 379 453 . . .

Chiefs in N. W. America, iii. 261 among ;

iii. 458 as an initiatory rite, i. 44,
;

the Haidas, 301 sq. of the Loucheux, ; 74, 195, 204 of son as atonement ;

358 for father, ii. 145 substitutes for, i. ;

Chieftainship in Australia, i. 328 sqq. 569; sexual licence at, ii. 145 sqq.,
Chilcotins, the, iii. 339, 347 403, 453 sq. among the Masai, 412 ;

Child identified with an animal or a fruit, sqq. festival, 436

;
among the Nandi, ;

ii. 91 sq. 443, 44S :

theory of, iv. i8i prac- ;

Childbirth, simulation of, by the father, tised, 181, 183, 184, 186, 188, 191,
iv. 244 sqq. 192, 201, 216 dress of Masai lads
;

Children, free from food restrictions, i. after, 258 sq.

19 acquired by father through pay-

;
Circumlocutions Used in speaking of
ment for wife, 72 new-born, killed ; totems, i. 16
and eaten, 74 offerings to obtain, ii.
;
Cities developed out of sanctuaries or
219 Giver of Children, title of a
;
asylums, i. 95 sqq.
sacred python, 501 unborn, living in ;
of Refuge, i. 96 sqq.
cave, iii. i$o sqq. regarded as a man’s ; Civet Cat clan, ii. 483 sq., 557
property before they were known to Clam fish, iii. 259
be his offspring, iv. 126 bought with ;
Clam-shell, sacred, iii. 98, 107
wife, 242 sqq. ;
named after slain men, Clan, initiation ceremonies intended to
28s admit youths to life of the, i. 42 life ;

Chili, theAraucanians of, iii. 581 cus- ;

of the clan in the blood, 42 n.^; the
tom as to pregnant women in, iv. 64 totem clan, obligations of, 53 sqq.;
Chin women alone tattooed, iv. 203 custom of transferring child to father's,
China, traces of totemism in, i. 86, ii. 71 sqq.; exogamy of the totem, 54
338 sq. sqq. marriage into one clan only, ii.
;

China Rose clan, ii. 274 607, 609

Chinese family names derived from totem, i. 4
animals, plants, etc., ii. 338, 339 totemic, solidarity of the, ii. 8 ;

Chingpaw. See Kachins social obligations of members of a, iii.

Chinigchinich, Californian god, iii. 404 299. 475 559 .

Chinook, the, iii. 405, 408, 434 Clans subdivision of the totem clans,
:

Chins, exogamy among the, ii.

337 i. 56, 57 sqq. personal names of ;

Chippewayans, the, iii. 346. See Ojib- members of totem clans, 58 sq. fusion ;

ways of totem clans, 60 rules of descent in ;

Chitom^, a holy pontiff of Congo, ii. 529 totem clans, 65 sqq. rules of camp- ;

Choctaws, i. 5, iii. 156, 171 sqq.; phra- ing of totem clans, 75 peace and ;

tries and clans of the, i. 56 anoma- ;

war clans, 75 rules as to burial of ;

lous terms for cousins among the, iv. members of totem clans, 75 sq. ;

310 totem clans tend to pass into local

Chota Nagpur, tribes of, ii. 284 sqq. clans, 83 subdivision of, ii. 192 ; ;

Chrysalis of witchetty grub, imitation of, paternal and maternal, 357 sqq. ;

as a magical ceremony, i, 106 lands of, 628 supposed to take after ;

Chrysanthemum clan, ii. 273, 275 the qualities of their totems, iii. 345
Chuckchees, group-marriage among the, totemic, supersession of clans by
ii. 348 sqq. iv. 138; relationship, ii. e.xogamous classes, i. 227, 236, 527
352 women alone tattooed among
; sq. 530 traditions as to origin of, 555
;

the, iv. 205 sq., iii. 81 sq. local segregation of, ;

Churinga sacred sticks and stones of ii. 4, 5, 6 estates of, 474^7. burial-
; ;

Central Australians, 124 i. 96, sqq., grounds of, 475 social obligations ;

189, 190, sqq.,

193, 194, 196, 197 among members of, 299, 475, 559 ;

215, ii. 21 buried at foot of boulder

; physical types of, 505 sq. subdivision ;

representing manna, i. 107 of the, iii. 41, 44, 54 sq., 57, 79 sq..
 1 , , , , ,

334 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

124 personal names of members of,
; Cleanliness essential to acquisition of a
76 sq., loi sqq. not exogamous, iv. ; guardian spirit, iii. ’407, 408, 414,
8 sq. See Names, personal 434. 437. 438 sq.
Classes, tribes with two, i. 339 sq. ;
Clodd, Edward, iv. 53
anomalous exogamous, 451 472 Clothing, absence of, among Central
sqq. social in N. W. America, iii.
; Australian aborigines, i. 321
261 Cloud totem, i. 104
exogamous divisions (phratries) of people, iii. 213
Australian aborigines, i. 60 [see picture in rain-making ceremony,
Phratries) ;
more recent than totemism, iii. 236
157 superseding totemic clans,
;
Clouds, omens from, ii. 161
227, 236, 527 sq.. S30 local centre ;
Club-houses, ii. 38, 43 sq., 46 of men, ;

of spirits of, 229 of the Arunta, etc., ; 38, 43, 57, 60, 79, 286, 314 sq., 325,
256 sqq. without names, 264 sq
; . 328, 341 for unmarried men, 622
; ;

ii. 70, iii. 244 of the Australian ;

of bachelors, iv. 284
tribes,i. 271 sqq. named ;
after Coast Murring tribe, i. 22
animals or other natural objects, 417 ;
Cobra clan, ii. 232, 234, 236, 238,
traditions as to the origin of the, 465 242
sq. ;
equivalence of, 507 sqq., 521 sq. ;
sacred, 21 i.

in Torres Straits, ii. 5, 6 sq., 22, 23, totem, ii. 288, 296, 297, 298
50 ;
in New Guinea, 29 ;
Melanesia,
in Cochiti, Pueblo village, iii. 221
67 sqq. ;
subdivision of, 102 in ; Cockle, wife of mythical Raven, i. 6
Mysore, 273 ;
among the Iroquois, god, ii. 160 sq.
iii. II sq. \
local segregation of, Cockles growing on people’s bodies, i.

357 sq. :
with animal names in 18
Australia, iv. 264 sq. ;
in New Cockroach, totem, ii. 435
Guinea, 278. See also Exogamous Coco-nut clan, 233, 249 ii.

and Exogomy palm people,

iv. 285, 286

Classification of natural objects under Codrington, Dr. R. H., ii. 67177., 102,
totemic divisions, i. 78 sqq. 104, 105 sq. 109 sq. iv. 80, 240
Classificatory system of relationship, i. sq.

155, 177 sq., 286 sqq., 289 sqq., 362, Collective responsibility, its utility, iv.

375 -f?-. 380, 383 419 431. 39 sq.

441, 447, 461 sq., 486 sqq., 492 sq., Cohabitation with sisters, daughters, and
500, 506 sq., 543 lyy., 566 sq., ii. 16, mothers, iii. 362, 363, 575, 579
53 -t?-. 57. 65 sq., 73 sq., 114 sq., Collas of Peru, iii. 578
125 sq., 129 sq., 140 sqq., 169 sqq., Colobus monkey clan, ii. 480 sq.

174 sq., 178

191, sq., 182 sq., 188, 550
266 sqq., 330 sqq., 342, 344, 38617(7., totem, ii. 440, 441
401, 41617., 44417., iii. 19 sqq., 38, Colloshes, iii. 271. See Koloshes
43. 44 59 68 69 sqq., 73 sq., , Colombia, iii. 557
77, 83 sq., 85, 113 sqq., 119 sq., 122, Colours as totems, i. 24 sq.
123, 128, 131, 137, 14817., 164177., Columbia River, iii. 408
175 sqq., 186, 240 sq., 305 sq., 367 Communal houses, ii. 28, 33, 35, ^jsq.,
sq., 553, iv. 286, 314; among the 194, 214, iii. 6 sq., 30, 44, 45, 146,
Baganda, ii. 509 sqq. among the ; 260, 573 for the unmarried of both
;

Neyaux, 553 on the Gold Coast, ;

sexes, iv. 300 sq.
575 among the Ba-fioti, 615
i ;
taboos, ii. 215
among the Malagasy, 639 sq. in ;
Commune, the undivided, i. 514
the Trobriand Islands, iv. 281 sq. ; Communism in land among the Ewe
originally a system of marriage, not tribes, ii. 582 sexual, traces of, i. ;

of consanguinity, i. 290 sq. ex- ; 64, ii. 129, 403, 602 sq., 638, iii.
plained by McLennan as a system 472, iv. 139 ;
survivals in Australia
of terms of address, 291 sq. based ;
of, i. 31 1 sqq. ; reported in Indo-
on group marriage, 303 sqq. the ;
nesia, ii. 213 sqq. ;
between men and
Polynesian (Malayan) form not the women of corresponding age-grades,
most primitive, iv. 105 results from ; 415 sq.
a two-class system of exogamy, 114 Compensation for killing totem, i.
9 ;

sqq. a record of group marriage, 121

;
for blood, iii. 560 sq. 563
sq. always an accompaniment of
;
Compulsion applied to totem, i. 23 sq.
totemism, 135 a landmark of group ;
Conception, Central Australian theory
marriage, 15 of, i.
93 sq. theory of Pennefather
;
 ,, , , ,;

INDEX 335

natives as to, 536 jy. not regarded ;

Corn, ceremonies for ensuring crops of,
as an effect of cohabitation, 576 s^. iii. 140 sqq. See also Maize
ii. 507 s^. food regarded as the cause
;
dance, iii. 142 sqq. Green Corn ;

of, i. 576, 577, ii. 612 totemism a ;

dance, 177, 184; Maidens, mythical,
primitive theory of, i. 157 ryy. 160 , 236 Medicine Festival, 140 sq.
;

sff., 245, 482, ii. 84,

iii. 150 ,
Father of, iii. 237
274, iv. 57 jyy. ;
ignorance of the Great Mother, iii. 237
true moment of, 269 ry. See also Indian, sacrifices to, i. 14
Impregnation Corn-ear, worship of, i. 144 sq.
Conceptional totemism, i. 156, i6iry. Corn-meal, sacred, iii, 230
ii.93, iv. 57 sqq. older than here- ;
Corn-stalk clan, ii. 558, 572
ditary totemism, ii. 99 of the Banks' ;
Correspondence of exogamous divisions
Islanders and Central Australians, in, i. 63 sq.

parallel between, 94 sqq., iv.

9 sq., Cos, marriage custom in, i. 73
287 ;
in relation to exogamy, 127 Costa Rica, totemism among the Indians
sqq. of, iii. 551 sqq.
Conch-shell, totem, ii. 243 Costume, totemic, iii. 276
Conciliation of game animals, i. 121 Cotton, iii. 195, 205
sqq. 241
,
clan, ii. 237
Conder, C. R. ,
iv. 304 Coudreau, H. A., iii. 574 71.-
Condor clans, i. 26 Council of Iroquois, iii. 16 sqq. federal, ;

Condors, descent from, i. 7, iii. 579 156 of clan-elders, 206

;

Conduct, lessons in, imparted at initia- Council-women, iii. 35, 36 sq.

tion, i.
37 Counseller-of-the-World, iii. 323 sq.
Confederacies, or brotherhoods, in the Courtesans married to plants, i. 34
Aru Archipelago, ii. 200 sq. of clans, ;
Cousins, marriage of, i. 177 sqq., 180
306 sqq. t?-.346, 393. 491. 572, ii. 141
Confederacy of the Iroquois, iii. 3 sqq. ;
188, 22^ sqq., 232 sq., 234, 236, 237,
of Creek Indians, 156 sq. 238, 243, 243 sq., 249, 250, 255 sq.,
Congo, kingdom of, ii. 613 taboos ; 271, 271 sq., 274, 365, 378 sq., 383,
observed in, 614 sqq. and Angola, ; 399 sq., 405, 409, 460 ry., 463, 508,
totemism in, 609 sqq. 522, 581, 607, 615, 637, iii. 348, 349
Connelly, W. E. iii. ^osqq., 37, iv. 134,
sq., iv. 271, 294, 295, 300 prevented ;

Connolly, R. M. ii. 563 ,

by the eight-class system, i. 277 sq.
Conservatism of savages, i. 353 283, 572; favoured, 180 sq., ii. 65;
Continence at magical ceremonies, i. forbidden, i. 346, 439, 449 sq. 459,
215 sq. observed from superstitious
; 47 S. 483. ii.
75233, 234, iii. 552 ;

motives, ii. 410 sq.. 527, 528 sq., iii. avoidance of,130 ry., 508, 629, 637
ii.

421, 424, 437; observed in certain jy. iv. 109; marriage of second cousins,
,

industrial operations, iv. 226 .ty. ii. 143, 169 effect of the marriage
;

Control, magical, over totem, i. 533 ;

of of cousins on the offspring, 149 sq. ;

totems, magical ceremonies for, iii. marriage of cousins prohibited among

105, 126 sq. commoners, but allowed among chiefs,
Cooking men in oven, pretence of, i. 18, 388 first and
; second cousins for-
ii. 156, 158, 160 bidden to marry, third cousins in
Coomassie, ii.
554 certain cases allowed to marry, 409
Co-operative magic, totemism a system anomalous terms applied to, 510 sq.,
of, i. 109, 113, 116 sqq. iii. 70 sq., 74, 83 ry., 115 sqq., 149,
Copper deemed sacred, iii. 48 worked ; 165, 167, 17s sq., iv. 310 sq.
by Indians, 263 marriages of first, said to be
Indians, iii. 346 unfavourable to offspring, iv. 94 ;

in North America, iv. 23 Australian aversion to, 108 ;

the
plates, iii 292 as money, 262 ;
incest line has commonly wavered at,
tools used by Indians, iii. 346 120, 271
totem, ii. 296 Couvade, the, i. 72 sq. iv. 244 sqq.
Cooper’s Creek, 367, 377, 378, 379 i. Cow, pretence of being born from, i.
Corea, exogamy of family names in, ii. 32, iv. 208 sqq. as image of Isis,
;

339 213
Corn, rice, strewed on bride, ii.
etc., tailless, a totemic clan, ii.
497
260, 262 ceremony to protect corn
;
totem, ii. 221, 242, 296, 297,
from insects, 244 spirit of the, ; 298
608 Cowboy, royal, ii. 527
 , , . ,

336 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Cowichans, guardian spirits among the, Cross or cross-split totems, i. 14
iii. 409 sq. Cross-roads, burials of suicides, etc. at,
,

Cows, superstitious fear of depriving 507 sq., iii. 152

ii.

cows of their milk, ii. 4T4 Crow, relationship of clan to, i. 8 sqq. ;

Coyote, Californian Indians descended omens given by, 22 sq. reverence of ;

from the, i. 6 the Kurnai for the, 494 sq.

Crab god, 157 ii. clan, ii. 497 sq. and totem, 288, ;

clan,
ii. 319, 321 289, 290, 292, 297, 301, 428, 429
Crane, descent from, i. 5 Crow and Eaglehawk in Australia, i. 76
clan, character of, iii. 55 sq. ;
of the sq. as class names, i. 392 sqq. 435
;

Ojibways, i. 5 sqq. 494 sq. iv. 238 sqq.

,

Crested, totem, ii. 439 Crows or Upsarokas, exogamous clans

the crested, sacred, iv. 304 of the, iii. 153 societies of the, 474 ; ;

Crawley, E., i. 277 «.'* sororate among the, iv. 142

Cray-fish, descent from, i. 5 fed by ;
Cruickshank, B. ,
ii.
574
Cray clan, 14 Crystals at initiation ceremonies, i. 412
clan, legendary origin of, iii. 175 ;
Cuba, proportion of the sexes in, iv.
of Choctaws, i. 5 86
god, ii. IS9 Cucumber totem, ii. 222
totem, i. 5, 8 Cultivation, shifting of, ii.
549 sq., 555,
Crazy Dance, iii. 480, 481 sq. 564 sq. S77
Credit, system of, iii. 262 Culture of totemic peoples, iv. 17 sqq.
Creeks, the, iii. 156 sqq.', youths at Cundinamarca, iii. 449
initiation, i. 42 phratries and clans;
Cupid and Psyche type of tale, ii. 55,
of, 56 guardian spirits of, iii. 401
; 64, 206, 308, 589, iii. 337
sqq. totemism of, 160 sqq.
;
Curr, E. M. 142, iv. 109 n.^, 219
,
i.

Crees, the, iii. 67 sq. Currencies, native, ii. 64, iii. 262
— or Knisteneaux, sororate among Curse of maternal uncle, its power, ii.

the, iv. 144 409, 444

Crescents, magical, ii. 22 sq. Curses, ii. 164, 410
Crested Crane, totem,' ii. 439 sacred, ;
Cushing, F. H., iii. 217, 231, iv. 232;
449 the woman who turned into a,
;
on a Zuni ceremony, i.
44 sq.

497 Cutting the bodies of novices, iii. 419,

Crests, of families, ii. 200 ; figures of 423 sq. 429
totems used as, iii. 40 ;
totemic, 227 ;
Cuttle-fish clan,i. 18
of Tlingit clans, 267 sqq. of the
; god, ii. 160, 163
Haidas, 281 sqq.; legends told to Cwa, a king of Uganda, ii. 483, 489
explain origin 313 sqq.; of, 286 sqq., Cyprus, Snake clan in, i. 20, 22
tattooed, 288 sq.; painted on faces; Czekanowski, J. , ii. 627
289 carved and painted, 309 respect
; ;

shewn for, 310, 352 of the Kwakiutl, ;

Dacotas or Sioux, iii. 85 sq. ;
religious
322 sqq. of the Kwakiutl inherited
;
associations of the, i. 46 sq. ;
guardian
through women, 329 sq.; painted on spirits among the, iii. 396 sqq. ;
Secret
houses and dancing implements, 341. Societies of the, sqq.
" clans” of
459 ;

See also Badges the, 469 sq.

Crocodile, shrine of the, ii. 18 sqq.; Daedala, Greek festival of, i.
33
worshipped on the Slave Coast, 584 Daflas, the, ii. 328
clan, i. 13, 21, ii. 545 Dahomey, 576 ii. monarchy ;
absolute
men, ii. 9, ii of, 577 wars of, 578
eq. transition
; ;

tribe of Bechuanas, ii. 372 to father-kin, 580 sq. license allowed ;

and shark, heroes developed out of, to women of blood royal, 581
iv. 30 sq. Dairy, Toda religion of the, ii. 254
Crocodiles respected, ii, 13; magical i. Dairymen, holy, of the Todas, ii. 254
ceremony for the multiplication of, Dali, W. H., iii. 368, 369, 442 sq.
229 offerings to, ii. 200 men blood-
; ;
Dalton, Col. E. T. ,
i. 67 sq., ii. 286,
brothers with, 207 sacred, 574, 598, ; 290, 294, 323
iv. 37 Damaras, ii. 354 their totems, 10. ; i.

and sharks, images of, ii. 200 See Herero

Crooke, 'W., ii. 287 n.^, iv. 210, 212, Dance round tree, 33 to secure sun- i. ;

257. 258 shine, ii. 373 sq. the Green Corn, ;

Cross River, traces of totemism among iii. 171, 184, 191 ;

the Snake, 213,
the natives of the, ii. 592 ry. 229 sqq. ;
Buffalo, 476 sq. the ;
 , ; , , ,

INDEX 337

Crazy, 480, 481 of penitence, sq. ;

Daudai, totemism in, ii. 25 sqq.
147 for corn, 237
;
before war, 418 ; ;
Daughter, avoidance of, by father, ii.
of guardian spirit, 420 of shaman to ; 189, 424; marriage or cohabitation of
heal the sick, 422 of the medicine- ;
a father with his, 40, 118, 628, iii.

bag, 463 sqq. the Great Dance of the

; 362, 363. 579 . iv. 315
Spirits, 502. See also Dances Daura, king of, ii. 607 sq.
Dance, masked, of Mexicans, iv. 226 Dawn of Day, prayers to the, iii. 413,
of the Khasis, iv. 215 sq. 414, 419, 423
Dance-houses, iii. 491, 493, 519 Dawson, George M. iii. 282, 299, 302, ,

Dance-masks, iii. 275, 312, 341, 343^7., 437. 536 m-

43 S Dawson, James, i. 322 n.^, 463, 466^7.,
Dance-season, iii. 496 468 sq., 470, iv. 262
Dancer, sacred, iii. 212, 214; fall of, Dead, sleeping on the graves of the dead
severely punished, 519, iv. 315 sq. to acquire their virtues, i.
43 pretence ;

Dancers, the Fool, iii. 527 sq., 530, 532 ;

of recalling the dead to life at initiation,
the Ghost, 528 43 sq. smearing the juices of the dead
;

Dances in imitation of animals, 1 37 .

on the living, 74 strengthened for ;

sqq., ii. 126 sq., 398 sq., iii. 418, 461, resurrection, 75 bones of dead ;

476 sq., 494, 507, 509, 527, 529 sq. ;

powdered and swallowed, 75 aborigi- ;

totemic, i.
37 sq., ii. 20, 126 sq., 370, nal Australian regard for the, 143 ;

iii. 76, 275312, iv. 313 of

sq. ;
fires to warm the, 143 ;
dislike of
maidens at puberty, i. 38, iv. 215 sq. ;
naming the, 456 ;
reincarnation of the,
for buffaloes, iii. 136 to imitate birds, ; 93 155. 182, 188 sqq., ii. 84,
269 of secret societies, 335 masked,
; ; 345 552. 604, 606, iii. 274 sq.,

343 sq., iv. 285 of guardian spirits, ; 297 sqq., 335 sqq., 365 sqq. ;
offer-
iii.
434 sq. dramatic representations
;
ings to the, ii. 31 1 supposed to ap- ;

of myths, 435 intended to increase ;

pear in the form of snakes and other
the supply of edible animals, 494 of ;
animals, 389 sqq. huts for the, 455 ; ;

novices, 541,546; pantomimic

516 ry., transmigrate or are transformed into
representations of acts of spirits, 517 ;
their totems, i. 34 sq., ii. 388 sq., 398,
of cannibals, 524, 531 of Kwakiutl ; 551 sq., 560, 626, 629 festival of the, ;

women, 531 sq. iii. 239 sq., 580; ashes of the, 270,
and songs as an exorcism, iii. 271; as guardian spirits, 420 worship ;

518 of the, among the Bantu tribes, iv. 32

Dancing bands or associations of North sqq. land of, 214 sq.
; custom of eat- ;

American Indians, 46^^., iii. 457 i. ing the bodies of the dead, 7 sq.,
girls married to plants, i. 34 260 sqq. ;
supposed to be in hyaenas,
societies of the Mandans, iii. 471 iv. 305

sq. of the Minnetarees, 472 sqq.

;
of ;
hand, i.
499
the Shuswap, 508 sq. men and women as Rain-makers
Danger, supernatural, protection against iii. 234
it perhaps a motive of totemism, i. totem mourned, i. 15
31 Death, the penalty for breach of exo-
Dangris, totems of the, ii. 230 gamous rule, i. 54, 55, 381 sq., 404,
Danks, Rev. Benjamin, ii. 119 sqq. 440, 460^7., 476, 491 sq., 540, 554,
Dannert, E. ii. 358, 359, 360, 365,
, 557. 572, ii. 121, 122, 126, 128, 131,
366 sq. 473. 515. 562, iii. 48, 57 552. iv. .

Daramulun, mythical being, 41, 145, i. 302 the penalty for incest, ii. 130,
;

146, 148, 352, 353, 413 131 legends of the origin of, 376
;

“ Darding Knife,” a “ honorific totem, ''

sq. 422 sq. iv. 222
iii. 546 ceremonies,
34 sqq. iii. 104 i.

Darjis, totems of the, ii. 230 Death and resurrection, pretence of, at
Dark colour of Sauks and Foxes, iii. initiation, i. /^j,sq., iii. 463 ryy. 485, ,

75 487 sq., 489 sq.. 505, 532, 542, 545.

Darling River, floods and droughts of 546, 549, iv. 228
the, i. 3T9 sq. tribes, 381 sqq. ;
" Death paint,” iii. 129
Darwin, Charles, on excess of women Decadence of tribes in South - East
over men, iv. 84 on marriage of near ; Australia, i. 340
kin, 95 ;
his influence on specula- Decapitating prisoners, iv. 284
tions as to history of institutions, 98 Decay of totemism, i. 81 sqq., '2.iq
on evils of inbreeding, 154, 162, 164, sq.
165 Deceased wife’s sister, right to marry, ii.

VOL. IV Z
 ; , ;
, , ;

338 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

630, iii. ig, 108, 155, iv. 139 sqq. Desert zone of Southern Hemisphere, i.
See also Sororate 168
Deer, Dyak superstitions about, i. 17, Deserts of Central Australia, i. 317
iii. 190 flesh of deer tabooed, ii.
;
sq.
203 sqq. De Smet, Father, iii. 380 J7.
Deer-head clan, i. 12, iii. 97, 103 sq. Despotism in relation to religion, iv.

Defloration, blood shed at, iv. 103 28 sq.

n.^ Devaks, sacred symbols of the Marathas,
Degradation, no evidence of degradation ii. 276 sqq.
among the Australian aborigines, i. Devangas, totemism among the, ii. 234
342 iq- sqq.
Deities, presiding, of families, iii. Development of gods out of totems, i. 81
582 sq., ii. 18 sqq., 139 ^7., 151 sqq., 174,
De la Borde, iv. 245 n.^ 178, 184
Delawares or Lenape, descended from Dew, rolling in the, iii. 414
totemic animals, i. 6 ;
sacrifices offered Dhangar - Oraons, totems of the, ii.

by, 14 their totems, 16

;
transference ; 230
of child to father's clan, 71 totemism ;
Dhangars, e.xogamous clans of the, ii.

among the, iii. 39 sqq. ;

guardian 279 -f?-
spirits among the, 393 sqq. Dhimars, totems of the, ii. 230
Deliberation and will, human, as factors Dhombs, totemism among the, ii.

in growth of institutions, iv. 98, 160 236

sq. Dhurma Raja, i. 21
Demeter, iii. 142, 144, 145 Diamou, diamon, famil}' name, ii. 544,
Democracy in relation to totemism, iv. 545 550. 551
.
.

28 Dichotomy, deliberate and purposeful, of

Demons, kept off women in childbed, iv. Australian tribes, i. 273 sqq. See
253 ^q- Bisection
D6n6s. See Tinnehs Dieri tribe, the, i. 186 344 sqq. ;
do
Dennett, R. E. ii. 587 614 n.,
not respect totems, 19
their the ;

Deori Chutiyas, the, ii. 328 Mura-mura of the, 64 cannibalism, ;

Descent from the totems', i. 5 sqq. 74 Mura-muras, 148 sq. classes and
; ;

556, ii. 56, 58, 86, 88, 138, 187, totems, 344 sq. rules of marriage ;

190, 197 sq., 198 sq., 200, 565 sqq., and descent, 345 sqq. legends as to ;

604, 605, iii. 18 sq. 32 sq., 76, totems, 347 sqq. their legends as to ;

94. 95. 17s. 273 .rq., 570, iv. origin of exogamy, 350^7. ceremonies ;

312 ;
rules of, in totem clans, i. 65 for the multiplication of their totems,
sqq. ;
peculiar rule Australian of, in 357 system of relationship, 362
i ;

tribes with four subphratries (sub- group marriage among the, 363 sqq. ;

classes), 68 sq. indirect female, 68 sq. their initiatory rites, iv. 201 their ;

indirect male, 68 sq. tribes wavering ;

custom of eating dead relations, 263
between male and female, 71 maternal ;
sq.
descent not necessarily older than Diet of Masai warriors, ii. 414
paternal, 167, 249, 335 sqq. ;
indirect Diffusion, geographical, of totemism, i.

female descent of the subclasses, 399 ; 84 sqq. iv. ii sqq.

indirect male descent of the subclasses, Dilbi, i. 62
260, 444 sq. change from maternal ;
Dimasa, exogamous clans among the,
to paternal (mother-kin to father-kin), iv. 299

71 sqq., ii. 15, ,17, 196, 325, iii. 42, Diminished respect for totem, i. 19
58, 122 sq., 320 .sq.
72, 80, from ;
" Dirt lodges," iii. 87, 135
animals, ii. 104^7., 197^7., 199, 200, Diseases caused by eating totems, i.

565^77., 633, 637, iii. 94, 95 from ; 17

trees, ii. 197, 198 sq. of property, ;
Disguise at birth, i. 31 at marriage, 33 ;

iii. i6, 36, 58, 72 under mother- ;

of hunters, 40
kin, ii. 320, 323 devices for shifting ;
Disrespect for totem, penalties incurred
descent from the female to the male by, i. 16 sqq. See also Eating
line, iv. 131 sq., 240 sq., 242 Dividing range, i. 493
sqq. Divining stone, ii. 346
Descendants the Crocodile, Dog,
of Division of labour between totemic clans
Eagle, and Fish, iv. 285 iv. 18 sq.

Descriptive system of relationship, iv. Dixon, Roland B. iii. 491, 494, 495 ,

13 Djeetgun, sex totem, i. 47

 ; , , 1,

INDEX 339

Dobrizhoffer, M., i.
554, 555 nl \
on of shamans, 497 sq. ;
Festival of, 484
the Abipones, iv. 79 sq.
Dodaim or totem, iii. 50, 51 Dress, exchange of, between men and
Dog, domesticated in Australia, iv. 21 ;
women at marriage, i. 73, iv. 255
in America, 22 Iroquois sacrifice ;
sqq.
of white, 22 descent from a, 5,
;
i. Drowning, penalty of incest, iv. 302
7, iv. 173, 174; sick man disguised Drum, signal, ii. 475, 491, 496
as, 208 worshipped, iii. 579
;
Drummers of kings of Uganda, ii.
495
clan in Torres Straits, 131, ii. i. Drums, friction, ii. 436
494. 557 sq., 572 Duala stories, ii. 568 sq.
god, ii. 165 Did)n, in New Guinea, i. 96 sq. ;
men's
men, ii. 9, ii club-house, ii. 38
totem, i. 133, iii. 44, 78, 79, Du Chaillu, P. B. ,
ii. 609, 610, 61
iv. ceremony of the,
278 ; 209 i. ;
Dugong clan, ii. ii
men of dog totem helped by dogs, Dugongs, magicalfor the ceremony
iv. 278 multiplication of, i. 229, ii. 13 sq.
Dog-eaters, Society of the, iii.
537 Duke of York Islands, totemism in the,
Dog-eating Spirit, iii. 545 ii. 1 18 sqq.
Dog-ribs, Indian tribe, iii. 346 Duncan, William, iii. 309, 310, 311,
Dogs, kept by Kalangs, i. 15 omens ; 317
from, ii. 165 torn to pieces and de-
;
Dundas, Hon. K. R. ii. 426, 429, 430 ,

voured, iii. 512, S37, 541, 545 Dunn, John, iii. 532 sqq.
Dolmen, ii. 308 Durham, Miss M. E. iv. 151 n."^, 317 ,

Dolphin, sacred, ii. 636 Durkheim, Prof. Emile, iv. 119 «.',
Domestication of animals and plants, 127 his theory of exogamy,
;

perhaps connected with totemism, i. too sq.

87, iv. 19 sqq. Durrad, Rev. W. J., ii. 88
Dorns, totemism among the, ii. 313 Diising's theory of the cause of the vary-
sq. ing proportion of the sexes at birth,
Doreh, traces of totemism at, ii. 58 iv. 85
Dorsey, Rev. J. Owen, iii. 89, 93, 105, Duyker or Bluebuck tribe of Bechuanas,
118, 124, 125, 128, 131, 155, 399 nl ii.
374 sq. totem, 433 ;

462 Dyaks, their superstitions as to deer, i.

Double system of clans and taboos, 17 traces of totemism among the, 86,
;

maternal and paternal, among the ii. 202 sqq.

Hereto, ii. 357 sqq, among the ;

Wagogo, 404 on the Gold Coast, ;

Eagle, drinking through wing bone of,
560 sq. on the Lower Congo, 618 sq.,
;
iii. 518, 526 dance, 76 crest, 267, ; ;

621 268
kingship, 305 iv. clan (Haida), iii. 280 sqq.; sub-
Dougherty, John, 89 sq., 114 sq. iii. clan, i. II sq.
Dramas, sacred, in which ancestors are Eaglehawk, legends about, i. 563
personated, i. 204 sqq., iii. 550 evolu- ;
totem, ceremony of the, i. 210
tion of secular, tiid. of the Pueblo ;
sq.
Indians, 227 sqq. Eaglehawk and Crow in Australia, i.76
Dramatic representations of myths, iii. sq. as class names, i. 392 sqq. 435
312, 521 sqq. 494 sq. iv. 238 sqq.
Dravidian languages, the three great, ii. Eagles, descent from, i. 7 kept in ;

227, 329 cages by Ainos, 14 kept in cages by ;

Dravidians, totemism among the, ii. 218, Moquis, 15 ceremonies observed at

;

329 sq. cousin marriages among the,

;
killing, iii. 182, 187 sq.
227 sq. their physical type, 291, 300,
;
Eanda, maternal clan, ii.
357
329 ;e.xcess of women among the, Ear-rings, golden, as offering, ii. 200
iv. 86 Ears, as totem, i. 14, ii. 297 ;
pierced,
Drawings, totemic, on the ground, i. 29^' 373' 443 of cattle marked with i

223 totemic badge, 372, 425

Dreams, i. 454, 497 sq., 535 sq., iii. Earth clan, ii. 232
134 individual totems acquired in, folk, iv. 298
i.
;

49 sq. as vehicles of inspiration,

;

of totems, ii. 137 guardian

-— — Goddess, human sacrifices to the,
352 sq. ; ;
ii. 303 sq.
spirits obtained in, 209 sqq., iii. 373 Mother, iii. 236, 237, 577
sqq. ;
belief in the truth of, 3.77 sq. ;
totem, 24 i.
 ,

340 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Eating dead relations, i. 74, iv. 7 sq., Elephant clan, ii. 397, 484 sq., iv.
260 sqq. 29s
together as marriage ceremony, i. totem, ii. 221, 237 sq., 269 sq.,
72, 578, ii. 262 292, 296, 315, 428, 429, 430, 435
totem or forbidden food, other Elephant-hunters, ii. 496
penalties for, 16 sqq., 40 sqq., iii.
i. Elephants, ceremony for the multiplica-
91, 94; ceremonially, i. 109-111, 120, tion of, ii.
497
129, 207, 217 customs of the Central
;
Eleusinian mysteries, iii. 144
Australians in regard to, 102 sq., log Elgon, Mount, ii. 407, 431, 4Sr,
sqq., 230-238 traditions of the Central
; 454
Australians in regard to, 238-242 ;
Elgumi or Wamia, the, ii.
447
supposed effect of,
397, 403, 404, ii. Elk clan, i. 35, iii.
94 ;
of Omahas, i.

405, 406, 422, 448 sq., 473, 551, iv. 17

281, 294, 308 custom of, 6 sqq. ;
Ellis, Col. Sir A. B. ,
ii.
556, 573 sq.,
See also Sacrament 578, 579. 582 sq.
Ebussia, totemic clan, ii. 560, 561, William, iv. 267 sq.
Ellis,

563 El-Makreezee, Arab historian,iv. 212

Echo, totem, 626 ii. Elopement, punishment of, i. 425, 440,

Ecstasy of novices and initiates, iii. 518, 460, 466, 473, 540 marriage by, ;

522, S43 483 sq., ii. 199 the ordinary form ;

Edible, totems generally, i. 253 of marriage among the Kurnai, i.

Eel gods, ii. 157 499
Eells, Rev. Myron, iii. 405 sqq. Emetics, use of, at initiation, iii. 402,

Eels, offerings to, i. 14 transmigration ; 414, 419, 423, 429,432 after cannibal ;

into, ii. 635 feast, 542 taken before eating new

;

Effigies of totemic animals, i. 106, 144, corn, iv. 313 sq.

ii. 19 worshipped at marriage, iv.
;
Emily Gap, i. 196
293. 294 Emu, prohibition to eat, i. 19 flesh, ;

Effigy, magical, i. 540 fat, and eggs,

rules as to eating, 41,
Egg, descent from an, ii. 337 of goose, ;
102 imitation of emu as a magical
;

descent from, i. 7 ceremony, 106 magical painting of, ;

Eggs, ceremony to make wild fowl lay, 106 totem, 106 ceremony at cutting
; ;

'• 359 up an, 485 sq.

Egypt, totemism in ancient, i. 12 Emus, magical ceremony for multiplying,
Egyptian queens, burial of, i. 35 i. 106, 574
Egyptians, totemism of ancient, i. 17, Emu-wren, sex totem, 47 the "elder i.
;

86; the ancient, cursed the slain bulls, brother ” of Kurnai men, 496
45 and pig's milk, iv. 176
;
split ;
Encounter Bay tribe, 482 i.

totems among, 175 Endle, Rev. S. iv. 297 ,

Eight exogamous subclasses, tribes with, Endogamy of totemic clans among the
i. 259 sqq. Kacharis, iv. 297 traditions of endo- ;

Eight-class system, i. 272, 277 sqq. pre- ;

gamy in Australia,
i. 251 sq., 351;
vents the marriage of cousins, 277, 572 ;
in royal clans, 523 sq., 538, 628, ii.

its effect on marriage, iv. 107 intro- ;

iv. 299 in Madagascar, ii. 636
; of ;

duced to prevent the marriage of certain the Bella Coolas, iii. 340
first cousins, 120 and exogamy, i. 64 question ;

Ekanda, 618, 621

clan, ii. which is the more beneficial, iv. 160
Eki, taboo, ii. 612, 613 sqq.
Ekirinja, taboo, i. 102 Endogamous divisions, i. 578 sq.
Eland clan,396 ii. races at a disadvantage compared
totem, ii. 375 to exogamous races, iv. 166
Elder brothers of animal species, i. 82 ;
Ends of leaves, etc., as totems, i. 14,
of the Kurnai, 495, 498 22
and younger brothers, distinction Enemies eaten, i. 73 sq. iv. 260, 264
in respect of marriageability, ii. 191, Engano, sororate in, iv. 147 sq.

199, 351, 352 of mother and father,

;
Engwura, sacred rites, i. 204
distinction in respect of marriage with Entrails of animals, a totem, ii. 403
their daughters, i. 177 sqq. Environment, its influence on organism,
Elders, council of, i. 542 iv. 272

Eldorobo, the, ii. 447 Equivalence of exogamous classes in

Elephant, superstition as to trunk of, ii. Australia, i. 62 sq., 507 sqq., 521
496 sq. Killer of the, 608
;
sq.
 , ,

INDEX 341

Bralhipa, "child" stones, i. 192 independent of totemism, 257, ii.

Ertnatulunga, sacred storehouses, i.

97 sq. 100, 257 decay of, i. 337 ;

194, 196, 197, 199 sq. ;

change of kinship exogamy into
Eshupum tribe, ii. 592, 593 local exogamy, 507 deliberate aboli- ;

Eskimo or Innuits, iii. 251 their ;

tion of the rule of, ii. 192 ;
in the
guardian animals, i. 50 sq. guardian ;
Aryan race, 330, iv. 151 sq., 318 sq. ;

spirits among the, iii. 442 sq. ;

pacific beneficial to the species, i. 563 later ;

character of, iv. 88 their sexual ;

than totemism, ii. 89 it was an ;

immorality, 88, 89 n.^ women alone ;

innovation imposed on an existing
tattooed among the, 205 reported ; system of totem clans, i. 123, 162
totemism among the, iii. 368 sq. sq. distinct from totemism, iv. 9, 287
; ;

Estates of totem clans, ii. 474 sq. without totemism, 10 "marrying

Esthonian customs at thunder-storms, ii. out,” 72 ;
attributed to scarcity of
438 women, 75 introduced to pre-
sqq.\
women, their practices at child- vent the marriage of brothers and
birth, iv. 251 sq. sisters, 104 sq.\ in relation to con-
Estufa, iii. 203 ceptional totemism, 127 sqq.\ of the
Euros, magical ceremony for the multi- class less permanent than of the clan,
plication of, i. 226 sq. 133 sqq.\ of class more burdensome
Evening star totem, i. 102, 254 than of clan, 13457.; and theclassifica-
Evil Eye, iv. 258 tory system of relationship the land-
Ewe-speaking people of the Slave Coast, marks of group marriage, 15 1 not ;

ii. 576 sqq. totemism among the, ;

proved for the whole human race,
578 sq. their sacred animals, iv.
; 151 sq. rise and decay of, 152 sq.
; ;

37 its analogy to scientific breeding, 166

Excess of women over men in some sqq.

countries, iv. 84 Exogamy attaching to family names in
Exchange of sisters in marriage, i. 409, Burma, ii.
337 in China, 339 in ; ;

460, 463, 483, 491 540, ii. 18, 26, Corea, 339 among the Zulus and
;

28 sq., 40 of wives, i. 426, 477, 499, ;

Matabeles, 382 sq.
572^7., ii. 539 local, i. 437 sq., 458, 463, 466,
Exogamous classes, local separation of, 469, 477 sq., 490 sq., 494, 507,
among the Warramunga, i. 246 iv. 167 sq. superseding clan exo-
;

sqq. :
of the Arunta, etc. , 256 sqq. ; gamy, ii. 7 coexisting with clan ;

without names, 264 sq., 70, ii. iii. exogamy, 198

244 of the Australian tribes, i. 271
;
without totemism, ii. 255, 408, 431 ;

sqq. in Australia artificial,

; 273 ; in Sumatra, 192577. in Assam, 327 ;

named after animals or other natural sq.

objects, 417; anomalous, 451 sqq., Exogamy and endogamy, question which
472 sqq. ;
traditions as to the origin is the more beneficial, 160 sqq.
of the, 77, 465 sq. ;
equivalence of, Exorcism of spirits, iii. 511, 516, 518,
in Australia, 62 sq., 507 sqq., 521 sq. ; 54 °
in Melanesia, ii. 67 sqq. in ;
Mysore, Expiation for offending the totem, i.
273 local segregation of, iii. 357
;
sq. ; 18. See Appeasing
different from exogamous clans, iv. Extension of the totemic taboo beyond
75, 103 ;
their tendency to disappear, the totemic clan, i. 225, 227
External soul, i. 125 sqq., ii. 293 sqq.,
groups, local segregation of, iii. 552, 561, iii. 451 sq. theory of, iv. ;

1 24 ry. 52 sq.
organisation of the Australian Extraction of teeth at puberty, ii. 453.
tribes, i. 271 sqq. See Teeth
Exogamy, i.
54 sqq. ;
traditions as to Eye, Evil, iv. 258
origin of, 64 sq. 350 sqq. ;
relaxation Eyes open or shut, prohibition to look at
of the rule of, 83 sq., iv. 281 pro- ;
animals with their, i. 12, ii. 279, 290,
hibition to marry within a group, i. 295, 297, 314 inflamed by looking ;

loi no part of true totemism, 162

; ; at the totem, i. 13 of fish, totem, 14 ;

a social reform, 162 sq. introduced ;

Eyre, E. ]., iv. 81 «.^, 199
to prevent the marriage of near rela- Eyre, Lake, i. 175 sq. tribes about, ;

tions, 163, 166, 259, ii. 97, iv. 136 334 -t?-. 337 scenery of, 341 .<q. :

sq. ultimate origin unknown, i. 165

; ;

transition from promiscuous marriages Face-paintings, i. 29, iii. 129, 269 sq.,
to exogamy, 242 sqq. ;
originally 289, 414, 426, 517

t
342 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY
Fady, taboo, ii. 631, 632, 635, 637 Fauna and flora of a country affected by
Falcon crest, ii. 635 totemism, i. 87
Falkner, Thomas, iii. 581 582 Feast of first-fruits, iii. 157, 160
Fall of dancer severely punished, iii. 519, Feasts made to a man's “medicine,”
iv. 315 sq. iii. 391
“ False Bride,”
the, iv. 258 P'eathers of buzzard, sacred dress of,
Fancies of pregnant women the root of i. 16; of condors worn, 26 of totemic ;

totemism, ii. 107, iv. 64 birds worn, ii. 44, 45, 49, 52, iv. 278,
Fans or Fangs, the, ii. 599 taboos ; 279, 308
among the, 612 sq. Federal council, iii. 156
Fantees, the,
553, 555, 559, 563,
ii. FeU, clan, ii. 550
564 totemism of the, 571 sq.
;
Female captive, i.
403, 419, 476, 505
Fasting and sweating before initiation, sq.
iii. 467 descent, of totem clans, i. 65,
Fasts at marriage, iv. 226 at puberty, ;
66 sq. among the Khasis (Kasias),
;

i. 50 in connection with hunting,

; 67 sq. indirect, 68 sq.
; transition to ;

iii. 134 to obtain guardian spirits,

;
male from, 71 sqq. preference for, at ;

373. 376. 378, 382. 383. 384. 387. institution of exogamy, iv. 125 sq. See
388,. 389, 391, 392 sq., 395, 399, Descent and Mother-kin
403, 404, 406, 409, 413, 419, 423, infanticide, ii. 263, iii. 358 sup- ;

432, 437 posed cause of exogamy, iv. 75 sq.

Fat smeared on faces, i. 19 smeared on ;
Feminine forms of names of Australian
young men as a ceremony, 19, 42 of ;
subphratries (subclasses), i. 62
wolf on door-posts, 32 268, 269, 397 n.'^
Father, totem spoken of as, i. 9, 13, Fenna, exogamous clan, ii. 198
423, 278 iv. children ;
belief that F'ern folk, iv. 298
emanate from the father alone, i. 338, Fertilisation, rites marriage, ii.
of, at
382, 439 sq. generally unknown, ii.
;
260 sq. ;
of seed corn, magical cere-
215; avoids his daughter, 189, 424: mony for the, iii. 141, 142, 143
without authority over his children, Festival held at south-east monsoon, iv.
iii. 244 ;
has nothing to say to his 285 of Dreams, iii. 484 sq.
; of the ;

children, iv. 289 dead, 580

Fatherhood at first conceived as a social, Fetish distinguished from totem, i. 4, 52 ;

not a physical, relationship, iv. 126. mode of acquiring a hereditary' fetish,

See Group and Paternity ii-
573 -f?-

P'ather’s brother’s daughter, marriage Fetishism, how distinguished from totem-

with, 295
iv. ism, ii. 572
clan, custom of transferring child Fewkes, J. W., iii. 228, 229, 231
to, i. 71 sqq., iii. 42, 72 ffoulkes, Arthur, ii. 571
sister, marriage with a daughter of Ficus Indica, i. ii; a totem, ii. 278,
a father’s sister forbidden, ii. 188, 280, 288, 289, 292, 295, 296, 297,
298, 299, 314
sister's daughter, marriage with, religiosa, the pipal or peepul tree,
iv. 294 a totem, ii. 231, 237, 289
sister’s husband and father-in-law, Field, Rev. J. T. ii. 48, 51 ,

same term for, ti. 334 Fight for kingdom, ii. 530
totem, respect for, ii. 48 sq., 55, Fights, as an annual religious rite, ii.
iv. 278, 281, 282 163, 164
Fathers and daughters, marriage or Fiji, totemism in, i. 86, ii. 134 sqq. ;

cohabitation of, ii. 40, 118, 362, the vasu son) in, 67, 75
(sister's ;

363, 628, iii. 362, 363, S79. iv- 3°8, marriage of cousins in, 141 sqq., 148
315 sqq. gods developed out of totems
;

Father-in-law, custom of providing food in, iv. 30 female infanticide in, 78

; ;

for, i. 504 avoidance of, ii. 189

sq. ; ;
sororate in, 146
and father’s sister’s husband, same Fijian form of the classificatory system
term for, 334 husband lives with his,
;
of relationship, ii. 140 sqq.
iii. 571 Finger-nails, impregnation by, iii. 274
Father - kin perhaps as primitive as |
Fingers, joints of fingers sacrificed to
mother-kin, iv. 127 stable, mother- ;
guardian spirits, iii. 401
kin unstable, 131 reasons for pre- ;
Fingoes, the, ii. 384
ferring it to mother-kin, 131, See Fire people, iv. 285
Change and Descent sacred, ii. 112; its power of im-
 1 , , ,,,

INDEX 343

pregnating women, 258, 259, 261 sq.\ Fog, ceremony to dissipate, iii. 105
made by the friction of wood, 261, Food, taboos on, in Australia, i. 19, 523
262 nl, 420, 529 kindled by chief on ;
sqq. in the grave for the dead, 134
; ;

cloudy day, 373 taboos as to carrying, ;

provided for parents-in-law, 504 sq. ;

604, 605, 606 perpetual, 491, iii. 48, ;

regarded as the cause of conception,
160, 184, 239, iv. 179 576, 577, iv. 270 as a means of ;

Fire clan, ii. 245 impregnation at marriage, ii. 262 ;

new, iv. 225, 313 made annually, ;

foods prohibited among the abo-
iii. 160 ;
made at the solstices, 237 rigines of Australia, iv. 176 sqq. ;

sq. prohibited at initiation, i. 40 sqq .

phratry, iii. 118, 119 484, iv. 217 sqq.

totem, i. 234, 449 supply, magical ceremonies for
Fires on graves to warm the dead, i. increase of, i. 104 sqq. 108 sqq. , ,
iii.

143 extinguished at death of king,

; 137 sqq. ;
in relation pro-
to social
ii. 529 gress, i. 168 sq. , 230, 264, 320 sqq .

Firs, gigantic, iii. 257 331 sqq., 338 sq.

First-born children eaten, i. 74 Fool Spirit, iii. 334, 515
son called his father's shame, ii. Fools or Fool Dancers (Nutlmatl), the,
602 a Secret Society of the Kwakiutl, iii.
First-fruits, sacrifice of, i. 14 ;
feast of, 521, 525, 527 iy., 530, S32
iii. 157, 160 Forbidden food, punishment for eating,
/•'Is, a tribe, iv. 317 i. 428 sq.
Fish, sacrifices to, i. 14 ;
ceremony for Ford, ceremony at a, ii, 493
the multiplication of, 185, 574 abhor- ; Foreskins, disposal of, at circumcision,
rence of, ii. 382 ; not eaten, 541, >- 575 576 nl, iv. 183 sq.
iii.
24s, 246 nl worshipped by ;
Forest-rat, story of the wife who was a,
fishermen. 578 prejudice against ;
ii. 569
eating, iv. 304 Forgetfulness, pretence of, at initiation,
clan, i. 185, iv. 312 i.
44 feigned, iii. 526
;

totems, iv. 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, Form of capture at marriage, iv. 72
282, 283 Formosa, hints of totemism among the
Fish-hawks, sacred, ii. 592 aborigines of, ii. 341
Fishermen, guardian spirits of, iii. 416 Formula for reckoning prohibited degrees,
Fison, Rev. Lorimer, i. 292, 306, 558^7.; ii. 310 sq. 313, 317
ii.
13s, 144^7., 146^7., iv. 83 Forrest, Sir John, i. 556 sq., 567 sq.
Fison and Howitt, 48, 60, 66, 70, i. Fortuitous determination of the totem, i.

92 242 sqq.
Ft/d Furra, a Hausa ceremony, ii. Fossil bones, i.
357
603 Four-class system, i. 272, 275 sqq. ;

Flamingoes, ii. 426 peculiarity of the rule of descent in

Flatheads, the, iv. 144 285; devised to prevent
the, •zjtisq.,
Flattening of heads, iii. 409 the marriage of parents with children,
Flesh, fresh, introduced by e.xogamy, i. i.
399 sqq., 445, iv. 107; its effect
65 on marriage, 107; its origin, sqq.
and milk not to be eaten together, tribes with female descent, i.
395
ii. 414 sqq. ;
tribes with male descent, 441
Fletcher, Miss Alice C. iii. 399, 459 sq , . sqq.
iv. 48 Four-class and eight-class systems only
Flinders River, i. 517, 519, 521, 528 found in Australia, iv. -124
Flood, legend of the Great, iii. 268, Fowls not eaten, ii. 541
292 Foxes and Sauks, totemism of the, iii.
Florida, one of the Solomon Islands, ii.
74 m-
lOT, 103 ; sacred animals, etc., in it, Fraternities, religious, iii. 206, 229

1 1 “Fresh flesh’’ introduced by exogamy,

Flute clan, iv. 265 i. 65
— people, iii. 213 Freycinet, L. de, ii. 172, 173
priesthood, iii. 213 Friction of wood, fire made by, ii. 420x7.
Flutes or trumpets, mystic and sacred, iii. 237 sq.
ii-
57 iii- 574 . Friend-Pereira, J. E. ,
ii. 305 sqq.
Fly totem, i. 133, ii. 282 Frigate-bird crest, ii. 117; totem, iv.

Foam of river, totem, i. 24, ii. 290 283

Fofana, totemism among the, ii. 546 Frodsham, Dr., i.
577
344 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY
Frog, association of the frog with water, Ghasis, totemism among the, ii. 238
iii. 233 Ghasiyas, totemism among the, ii. 280^7.
clan, 239 of theii.
;
Zufii Indians, Ghost, attempts to deceive or intimidate
ceremony performed by, iii. 232 sq. the, i. ancestral, in animals and
429 ;

crest, iii. 268 sq. plants, 104 sqq.

ii. patron of a Secret ;

totem, 428, 430, 435 ii.

;
ceremony Society, iii. 334
of the, i. 208 sq. dancers, iii. 516
Fuegians, magic amongst the, i. 142 Ghost-huts of the Baganda, iv. 34
pacific character of, iv. 88 Ghosts, the, iii. 435, 436 sacrifices to, ;

Fulahs of Gambia, totemism among ii. 107 sq Society of the, iii. 461
; ;

the, ii. 546 sq. [Leldalenox], a Secret Society of the

Fulani, the, ii. 601 sqq. Kwakiutl, 522, 528 sq.
Funafuti or Ellice Island, i. 7 Gibbon apes, sacred, ii. 205, 206 sq.,
Funeral of totemic animal, ii. 56 210
rites, i. 429 sq. Gifts, magical, bestowed by guardian
Funerals, iii. 17, 275, 316 spirits, iii. 434 sqq. made by father ;

Fusion of totem clans, i. 60. in his lifetime to his children, iv. 290.
See Presents
Ga people of the Gold Coast, iv. 268 Giljaks (Gilyaks), keep young bears, i.
Gabb, W. W. , iii. 552 sq. 15 n.* their marriage customs and
,

Gage, Thomas, 444 sq.

iii. system of relationship, ii. 344 their ;

Gait, E. A., ii. 287 n.^, 318 sq.. 323, personal names, 344 sq.

324 sq. Gillen, J., F.

475 273. See i. n.'^, iv.

Gajos, traces of totemism among the, Spencer and Gillen

ii. 19 1 sq. Ginseng, superstitions about, iii. 189,
Galla family, ii. 407 193 -f?-
Gallas, ii. 540 sqq. ;
right of sanctuary Gippsland, i. 493 sq.
among the, i. 97 ;
e.\ogamy among Gircwali, a^Fulani ceremony, ii. 602 sq.
the, 541ii. Gist, George, lii. 184
Gamblers, guardian spirits of, iii. 416, Gnanji tribe, theory of conception, i.
426 245 sq. e.xogamous classes of the,
;

Game, conciliation of the game by 267 classificatory terms used by the,

;

hunters, i. 241 301 sq.

Fd^ious atpdbyyovs. i. 63 Goa tribe, 517, 526 i.

Ganga, medicine-man, ii. 615 Goajiros, blood feud among the, 53 i. ;

Ganigas, totemism among the, ii. 236 totemism among the, iii. 557 sqq.
Garden-hoe tribe of Bechuanas, ii. 374 Goalas, totemism among the, ii. 295
Gardens of Adonis, i. 34 n.^ Goat, sacred animal of Bushmen, i. 13,
Gardiner, J. Stanley, ii. 168 sq. ii.
393 tabooed to a Zulu tribe, ii.
;

Garos, female descent among the, i. 68, 381

iv. 296 sq. e.xogamy and mother-kin \
Goatskin [aegis) of Athene, i. 32
among the, ii. 322 sqq. sororate ;
Goatsucker, sex totem, 48 i.

among the, iv. 146 ;

totemism among Gobir, a Hausa kingdom, ii. 608
the, 295 sq. God-killing in Mangaia, i. 54
Gason, S. 19 «.®, 70 nS, 148 sq.,
,
i. Goddess incarnate in a woman, ii. 246
162 350, 351, 352, 359, iv. 201 Gods incarnate in animals, i. 81 sq., ii.

Gate-keepers of kings of Uganda, ii. 152 ISS. 156 sqq.. 167 sq., 169,
-f?--

499 175 sq., 178, iii. 500; developed out

Gatschet, A. S. iii. 155 ,
of animals and plants, i.
totemic
Gazelle, dead, mourned for, i. 15 ;
a 81 sq., sq., 151 sq., 166 sq.\ of
ii. 139
totem, ii. 405 villages in Samoa, 153 sq., 160 sqq.\
Peninsula, the, i. 305 n.^, ii. 119, of households in Samoa, 155 sqq.\
123 incarnate in men, 158 sq., 162 sq.,
Geelvink Bay, ii. 59 164 gods, goddesses, and spirits per-
;

Gennas, communal taboos, ii. 215 sonated by masked men, iii. 227, 500
Gennep, A. van, i. 337 ii. 61, 636 sq., Sio, 517. 533. 55°
Geographical diffusion of totemism, i. 84 Gold, clan and totem, ii. 231, 232, 270,
sqq. ,
iv. 11 sqq. 245, 272, 280, 295, 296, 297
Gesture language of widows, iv. 237 and silver as totems, iv. 24
Getae, the, i. 32 Gold Coast, the natives of the, ii. 553
Ghasias, cousin marriages among the, sqq.\ totemism, 556 sqq.
ii. 224 totems of the, 230
;
Goldie, Rev. Hugh, ii. 596 «.
 ;

INDEX 345

Golds or Goldi, exogamy of the, ii. Greeks, .animal dances of ancient, i.

346 sq. their terms of relationship,
; 39 sq. ;
question of totemism among
347 the, iv. 13
Gollas, totemism among the, ii. 236 sq. Green Bay, Indians about, iii. 131, 133
Gomme, G. L. , iv. 13 n.'^ Corn Dance, iii. 171, 184, 191
Gonds, Tiger clan 34 ceremony of, i.
;
Corn Feast, iii. 35, 136
at initiation 43 totemism
of rajah, ;
Grey, Sir George, i. 323^77., 550^77. ;

among the, ii. 222 sqq., 314; cousin on kobongs, 9 i.

marriages among the, 224 Grey hair penalty for eating forbidden
Good Mystery, iii. 82, 83 food, i. 41 sq.
Spirit, i. 148 sq. Grinnell, G. B. iii. 84, 388 sqq., 477
,

Goose, ancestress of Santals, i. 7 Grizzly Bear Spirit, iii. 334, 515

Goraits or Koraits, totemism among the, Bears {Na»c), the, a Secret
ii- 314 Society of the Kwakiutl, iii. 522, 527
Gorilla, imitation of, i.
39 Groot, J. J. M. de, ii. 338 sq.
Gorman, Rev. S. ,
iii. 219 Grosventres, iii. 146
Got, exogamous clan, ii. 223, 283, Ground, blood of kin not spilt on, i.
330 75
Gotra, exogamous clan, ii. 224, 237, Ground-drawings in totemic ceremonies,
273’ 279’ 330 223
i-

Gottschling, Rev. E. iv. 303 ,

Group fatherhood as easily traced as
Goundans, cousin marriages among the, group motherhood, i. 167, 248 sq.,
ii. 226 335 -'A. iv. 126
Grampian Mountains (Australia), i. 462 — marriage in Australia, i. 154 sq.,
Grandfather, son named after
eldest 179. 249. 3°8 m-^ 337. 363-373.. 426,
his, ii. 302 reborn in grandchild,
; 501 sq. the origin of the classifica-
;

iii. 298 totem called, ii. 559, iv.

;
tory system of relationship, 304 sqq. ;

278 among the Urabunna, 308 sqq. among ;

Grandfathers, children named after their the Dieri, 363 sqq. survivals of, in ;

paternal, iii. 298 Australia, 383, 419, 545 survival of, ;

Grand Master of Secret Society, iii. 492 in Melanesia, ii. 129 precedes in- ;

sq. dividual marriage, 69, 72 of brothers ;

Grandson, rebirth in, iii. 298 and sisters, 144 evidence of group ;

Grasshopper clan, ii. 481 sqq., 503 marriage drawn from plural forms of
totem, ii. 317 certain terms of relationship, 72 sq. ;

Grass-seed, ceremonies of Kaitish to revival of, at circumcision, 145 sqq. ;

make grass-seed grow, iv. 19 sq. among the Todas,

264 among the ;

totem, magical ceremony for the Reindeer Chuckchees, 348^77.; among

increase of, i. 215 sqq. the Hereto, 366 sq. a result of exo- ;

Grave, impregnation of barren women at, gamy, iv. 121 sq. in Australia, 124^7. ;

ii. 259 shaman spends night at, iii.

;
preceded by sexual promiscuity, 137 :

439. See Graves among the Chuckchees and Hereto,

“Grave-father,” iii. 296 138 attested by the levitate and
;

Grave-poles, iii. 270 sororate, 139 sqq. a stage between ;

Graves, totemic marks on, i. 31 of ; sexual promiscuity and monogamy,

ancestors, sleeping on them to acquire 151 the landmarks of, 151
;

virtues of the dead, 43 fires on graves ; Group-relationship, 179^7., 249, 303 i.

to warm the dead, 143 sleeping on, ; sq.

iv. 227 sq. to obtain guardian spirits,
;
Groves, sacred, ii. 294, 302, 311, 615
ii. 210 Guadalcanar, totemism in, ii. 109, iii
Great Dividing Range, i. 421 sq.
Mother, the, i. 6 Guamos, the, of the Orinoco, 42 i.

Mystery, the, iii. 82 Guanas of Paraguay, their female in-

Spirit in North America, iii. 50, fanticide, iv. 78
379, 380, 382, 383, 391, 485, S34, Guardian-spirit dance, 420 iii.

535. iv- 31 Guardian (nyarong)

spirits,
453 ii. ;

Greek belief in reincarnation of dead, obtained in dreams, 209 sqq. of ;

iii. 298 sq. custom of naming first-

; animals, iii. 133 sq.\ among the
born son after his paternal grandfather, American Indians, 370 sqq.\ among
298 sq. the Algonkins, 372 sqq. acquired at ;

custom of polling hair of young puberty, 382, 399, 410, 413, 419, 421,
people at puberty, iv. 230 423 men acquire the qualities of
;
 ;,

346 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

their, 387, 400, 417 sq., 426, 451 ceremony for multiplying Hakea
among the Sioux or Dacotas, 396 sqq . flowers, 107 i.

among the Californian Indians, 403 Halbas, totems of the, ii. 230
sqq.\ parts of animals or of things as, Halepaik, totemism among the, ii. 238,
412, 417, 427, 451 sometimes in- ; 276
herited, 412, 415, 424 sq., 434, 452; Half-sister, marriage with the, ii. 602
objects as, 417, 420
artificial pictures ;
Halmahera, exogamy in, ii. 201
of, on rocks, 424, 440 magical gifts ;
Halvakki Vakkal, exogamous septs of
bestowed by, 434 sqq. compared to ;
the, ii. 276
totems, 449 sqq.\ faith in guardian Hatyiatsas, cannibals, iii. 436 a Secret ;

spirits a confidence and

source of Society of the Kwakiutl, 521 sqq.
strength, 453 supposed to be the ;
Hamitic peoples, ii. 407
origin of totemism, iv. 48 sq. rare ;
Hammer-headed shark, shrine of the, ii.

among totemic tribes, except in 18 sqq. ;

worship of the, 168
America, 49 of individuals, 313
;
Hammurabi, i.
357
Guasangishu, the, ii. 447 Hangga (Hanga), clan of Omahas, i. ii,
Guatemala, iii. 447 iii. 95, 104
Guayami Indians, traces of totemism Hanging, the punishment of unlawful
among the,
554 sqq.iii. marriages, ii. 128, 130, 131
Gudalas, totemism among the, ii. 237 Hanno, the Carthaginian, ii. 555
Guiana, British, the Arawaks of, iii. Hano, Pueblo village, iii. 207 n.'^, 209,
564 sqq. 214
Dutch, the Bush Negroes of, iii. Hardisty, W. L. iii. 355 sqq. ,

572 Hare, aversion of Namaquas to the, iv.

French, iii. 448 222 the Great, iii. 66
;

totemism in, i. 7, 17, iii. 565 sqq. clan, its relation to snow, i. 132 sq. ;

Guinea, fetishes in, ii. 572, 574 religion ;

and totem, ii. 279
of the negroes of, iv. 36 sq. tribe of Bechuanas, ii. 373
Guinea-fowl, a totem, ii. 405, 430 Hares, sacrifices to, i. 14 Indian tribe, ;

Gulf Nations, totemism among the, iii. iii. 346

iSS m- Harper, C. H. ii. 557, 562 ,

Gurdon, Colonel P. R. T. , ii. 321 sq., Hartebeest totem, ii. 375

iv. 297 Hartland, E. S. ii. 262 iii.
, 371
iv. 62 71 .^, 247, 264 71
.'^-

Haddis, totemism among the, ii. 237 sq. Harvest festival, sexual licence at, ii.
Haddon, A. C. ,
ii. i, ii sq., 21 n.^, 303. 315
24, 39, iii. 371 71 .^, 456 ;
his theor}’ of Hasungsa, male sect, iv. 299
totemism, iv. 50 Hats representing crest-animals, iii. 269 ;

Hahn, Rev. F. ,
ii. 288 of Haida chiefs, 292
Josaphat, ii. 360 Hausas, the, ii. 601 sqq. totemism ;

Haidas, the, iii. 252, 278 sqq. de- ; among the, 603 sqq.
scended from a raven and a cockle, i. Hawaii, traces of totemism in, ii. 172
6 their tattooing, 28
;
totem, carved ;
sq.
posts among the, 30 exogamous clans ; Hawaiian form of the classificatory system
of the, iii. 280 sqq. crests of the, 281 ; of relationship, ii. 174 sq.
sqq. art of the, 288^77.
;
totem-poles ; Hawaiians, excess of males over females
of the, 290 sqq. Secret Societies among ; among the, iv. 86
the, 544 sq. ;
their totemic art, iv. Hawk, worship of the, ii. 213
26 sq. totem, ii. 289, 297, 314, 439
Hair turned white by eating totem, i. 17 ;
Hawkins, Col. Benjamin, iii. 402 sq.
grey, penalty for eating forbidden food, Haxthausen, A. von, iv. 234
41 sq. , plucked out from novices Head-dress of shamans, iii. 422
at initiation,
467, iv. 228 sqq. ;
Head-hunting, iv. 284 sq.
modes of wearing the hair distinctive Headman, mythical, in sky, i. 338 ;

of age-grades, ii. 59 loss of hair sup- ;

supernatural, 145 sq.
posed to result from infringing taboo, Headmen, i. 360 sq. ;
among the Aus-
404 totemic clans distinguished by
;
tralian aborigines,
i. 327 sqq. of ;

modes of wearing the hair, i. 26 sq. Tinneh clans,

353 sq. iii.

iii. loi, 103 impregnation by, 274

; Heads flattened, iii. 409
Haisla dialect, iii. 318, 319 Healers, the, iii. 522, 525
Haislas, the, iii. 327, 339 Heape, Walter, iv. 65, 66 sq., 68; on
Hakea Flower totem, i. 107 magical ;
effects of inbreeding, 162 sq.
 1

INDEX 347

Hcarne, Samuel, iii. 363 Homoeopathic magic, 219 i.

Heart and kidneys of animals, a totem, ii. Honduras, iii. 443

4 °S Honey, ceremony for the increase of, i.
Heart clan, ii.
499 sq. 228
totem, ii. 397 totem, i. 24, ii, 292
Hearts of animals, royal totem, ii. 381 Honey-ant people, 255 i.

Heaven, reported worship of, among Honey-wine, continence observed by

the 'I'simshians, iii. 316 sq. novices ;
brewers of, ii. 41
supposed to go to, 538 Hope, Lake, i. 348
folk (clan), iv. 297, 299 Hopis or Moquis, iii. 203, 206, 208,
Hebrews, cities of refuge among the, i. 209 sqq. ritual, 228
;

99 their prohibition of images, iv. 26

;
Horn people, iii. 213
Heckewelder, Rev. John, iii. 40, 394 Hornbill, as a clan badge, ii. 43 crest, ;

sqq. 1 17, 118 the hornbill dance, 126x7.

; i

Heiltsuks, the, iii. 327 ;

dialect, 318, respected by the Taveta, 417 omens ;

319 drawn from it, 422 sacred, iv. 304 ;

Hellwig, Dr. Albert, iv. 267 Horned animals, their flesh tabooed, ii,

Helmets representing totems, i. 30 203 sq.

Hely, B. A., ii. 26 sq., 28 Horse, importance of the, for the
Hemlock branches, ornaments of, w'orn prairie Indians, iii. 68 sq.
by dancers, iii. 517, 524, 531 clan and totem, ii. 221, 242, 248,
Henry, A., ii. 340 274. 275. 314
Henshaw, R., ii. 595 tribe in China, ii. 338
Herero, Ovaherero, or Damaras, the, ii, Horse-gram, totem, ii. 243
354 sqq. totemism among the,
;
Horse-mackerel, family, ii. 565 sqq.
356 sqq. group marriage among the,
;
Horses of Osages, iii. 128 as medium ;

366 sq iv. 138. ,

of exchange, iii. 146 sacrificed to a ;

Heroes developed out of shark and man's “medicine" or guardian spirit,

crocodile, iv. 30 sq. 391, 400
Heron, clan and totem, ii. 310 Hos, a Ewe tribe in W. Africa, ii. 581 ;

Herrera, A. de, Spanish historian, iii. or Larka Kols, the, ii. 292 sqq. exo- ;

443 -T'/- gamous clans of the, 294

Hervey Islands, tattooing in, i. 28 cus- ;
Hose, Dr. C., ii. 206, 209, 210, 211,
tom of settling child's clan in, 71 212, 213
Hesione, i.
34 ?i.^ Hostility of primitive groups, supposed,
Hiawatha, iii.
3 iv. 87 sqq.

Hidatsas. See Minnetarees Hot Wind totem, i. 24, 35, 455,

Hieu, A. van, ii. 560 456
High Priest, iii. 159, 160 Hottentots, some of their hordes named
Hilhouse, W. iii. 565 , after animals, ii. 393
Hill-Tout, Ch., iii. 429^77., 450, iv. 48 “ House of Bones," iii. 173
Hindoos, exogamous clans [goiras) among “ House of Infants,” iii. 151, 152
the, ii. 330 ; their exogamy, iv. 151 Houses, communal, ii. 28, 33, 35, 37x7.,
sq. 194, 214, iii. 6 sq., 30, 44, 45, 147,
Hippopotamus 494x7., 545 clan, ii. 260, 573, iv. 300 sq. of Australian ;

Hippopotamuses, sacred, ii. 598 aborigines, i. 321 sqq.

History of human institutions inexplicable Hovas, the, i. 85 of Madagascar, ;

by physical forces alone, i. 281 marriage of king with his niece, ii. 525
Hlonipa, ceremonial avoidance of names, Howitt, A. 'W., i. 79, 80, 133, 142,
«.i,
ii.
385 n.~ 145 sq., 151 sq., 154, 155 163,
Hobley, C. W. ,
ii. 420, 421, 424 166, 168 285 332 sq., 334
425 448
>1., 86 sq., iv. '7-.337. 339 361, 340. 352 sq.,
Hodge, F. W. iii. 220 224 , 371 sq., 373, 398, 400 n.'^, 401 n.^,
Hodgson, iii. 172 sq. 410, 427, 430, 434, 453, 456, 474 sq.,
Hoffman, W. J., iii. 77 sqq., 392 sq. 489, 493, 495, 497, 501, 503, 508 sq.,
Holeyas, totemism among the, ii. 271 514, ii. 77, iv. 52, 81 >1,-, 107
Hollis, A. C., ii. 408 409 sq., 415, 223, 264
416, 417 «.^, 418, iv. 258 Howitt and Fison, i. 48, 60, 66, 70, 92,
Holmes, Rev. J. H., ii. 41 513
Holy Basil clan, ii. 273 Howitt, Miss Mary E. B. ,
i.
397
Homicides, sanctuaries or asylums for, i. Hualpi. See Walpi
97 m- Huaneas of Peru, iii.
579
 , , , , ,

348 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Human elephants, ii. 597 60 ;
of a child with an animal or a
incarnations of gods, ii. 158 sq., fruit, ii. 91 sq.
162 sq. 164 Idnimita (grub), totem, i. in
Humb6, kingdom of, ii. 528 jj'. Ifan, exoganious clan, ii. 198
Hunter, Sir W. W. , ii. 300 nl, 322 Igaras of Idah, ii. 590
sq. Ignorance of paternity at one time
Hunters disguise themselves as animals, universal among men, iv. 155 of the ;

i. 40, iv. 216 sq. souls of dead ;

true moment of conception in women,
hunters in animals, iii. 336 sq. ; 269 sq.
guardian spirits of, 416, 420 super- ;
Iguana, descent from, ii. 605
stitious rules observed by, iv. 224 sq. Ikina bari, totemic taboos, iv. 308 sq.
Hunting, ceremonies before, iii. 572 sq. Ikula (Morning Star) tribe, reported rules
dances or pantomimes, i. 38 sq. of descent in, i. 70
Huron ceremony of marrying girls to Illinois, the,
iii. 74

nets, 34 i. Images of crocodiles and sharks, ii. 200

Hurons (Wyandots), their face-paintings, Hebrew prohibition of, iv. 26
i. 29 their phratries and clans, 57
; ;
Imitation of totemic and other animals,
totemism among the, iii. 29 sqg. ; i.
37 sqq. of wolves, 44 ;

belief of, reincarnation of infants,

in Impregnation of women without sexual
366 ;
guardian spirits of the, 372 sqq. ; intercourse, i.
93 sq., 155 sq., 191 sq.,
rule of e.vogamous classes relaxed 576. 577. ii- 84, 90 ly., 507 sq.\ rites
among the, iv. 134 of,258 sqq. of women ;
by the flower of
Husband lives with wife's family, i. 72, the banana, 507 supposed, of women ;

ii. 320, 323 by animals and plants, 90 sqq. 610,

Husband and speak to
wife, forbidden to 612 by finger-nails and hair, iii. 274.
;

each other, i. 468 respect each other's ; See also Conception

totems, ii. 27, 29, 53. S 5 not living :
Improvidence of Australian savages, iv.
together in the same house, 193 sqq., 82 sq.
iii. 14 sq. living in separate house-
;
Inanimate objects as totems, i. 24 sq.
holds in Sumatra, iv. 288 sqq. no ;
Inbreeding, injurious effects of, iv. 93
community of goods between, 290 sq. ;
evil effects of, difficult to detect,
Husband's brother, marriage with de- 154 question of the supposed in-
;

ceased. See Levirate jurious effects of, 154 sqq., 160 sqq.
brothers, wife allowed to have Incantations, i. 105, 106, 107, 108 of ;

marital relations with, i. 542 manioc, maize, and bananas, iii. 573
father, avoidance of, ii. 189, 385, Incarnations of Samoan gods, ii. 152 sq.
403, iii. no.
III, 112 155. 156 sqq.
parents, avoidance of, ii. 401 Incest, abhorrence of, i. 54, 554, 164,
totem respected by wife, ii. 27, 29, iv. 94 ;
allowed,55 origin of law i. ;

S3 . 55 of incest unknown, 165 punished ;

Husbands, secondary, ii. 264 sq. iii. , with death among Australian abori-
277 spiritual, ii. 423 sq.
; gines, 279 punishment of, ii. 71,
;

Huth, A. H., on inbreeding, iv. 161 126, 410 with daughter punished
;

Huts for the dead, ii. 455 with death, 130 with sister punished ;

Hyasna, dead, mourned for, i. 15 ; with death, 131 avoidance of near ;

Nandi superstitions as to, ii. 441 relations a precaution against, i.

sqq. veneration of the 'Wanika for
; 285 «.’, 503, 542, ii. 77 sqq., 131,
the, 442 sq. deemed sacred, 574,
: 147 sq., 189, 424, 623, 638, ii. 1 12
iv. 304 sq. sq. iv. 108 sqq. 284 abhorrence ;

totem, ii. 371, 428, 434, 439 sq. of, even in cattle, ii. 461 of brother ;

Hydrophobia, supposed remedy for, i. with sister, 638, iv. 108 with ;

133 a mother more abhorred than with

a daughter, iii. 113, iv. 125 ex- ;

Ibans or Sea Dyaks, analogies to totem- tension of notion of, iii. 113 common ;

ism among the, ii. 209 sqq. among Brazilian Indians, 575 sq. ;

Ibbetson, Sir Denzil C. J., ii. 283 sq. among Peruvian aborigines, 579,
Ibos, their belief in external souls, ii. 580 ;
between parents and children,
596 aversion Australian aborigines
of
Idah, 590, 591
ii. to, iv. 108
aversion of civilised ;

Identification of man with his totem, i. 9, peoples to incest inherited from savage
118 sqq., 121, 123, 124, 159 sq., 454, ancestors, 153 sq. origin of the aver- ;

458, 472, ii. 107, iii. 106, iv. 58, sion to incest unknown, 154 sqq.'.
 , ;

INDEX 349

belief in the sterilising effect of, 157 Iimuits (Eskimo) of Alaska, iii. 251 ;

sqq. ;
of cattle, 158 of mother
;
their guardian animals, i. 50 sq. re- ;

with son,
sq. 173 ;
punished with ported totemism among the, iii. 368 sq.
death, 302. See also Death and Un- Insects as totems of two exogamous
lawful marriages classes, ii. 118, 120
Incestuous (kuoi/), term applied to any Instincts do not need to be reinforced
one who kills or eats a person of the by law, iv. 97
same exogamous class as himself, ii. Institutions, history of human institutions
T22 inexplicable by physical forces alone,
marriages, iii. 362 sq. i. 28r
Incontinence of subjects supposed to be Interbreeding, effects of close, i. 164
injurious to kings, ii. 528 sq. See Intichiuma, magical ceremonies per-
also Chastity and Continence formed by the Central Australians for
India, totemism in, ii. 218 sqq. ;
classi- the multiplication of their totems, i.

ficatory system of relationship in, 329 104 sqq., 183 sqq., 214 sqq.,
575,
sqq. ii. 31, 40, 80, 503, iii. 105, r27, 137,
Indirect female descent of the subclasses 232, 236, 494
(subphratries), i. 68 sq., 399 Intiperu, intiperulu, exogamous sept,
male descent of the subclasses ii. 234, 236, 237, 250, 251
(subphratries), i. 68 sq., 444 sq. Invocation of the totems, i. 532 sq.
Individual or personal totem, i. 4, 49 sqq., Invulnerability conferred by guardian
ii. 98 sq., iii. 370 sq., iv. 173. See spirits, iii. 386, 387, 408, 417, 422,
Guardian spirits 435. 453
marriage, advance from sexual Iowa modes of wearing the hair, i. 26
promiscuity to, 238 an innovation
i. ;
lowas, descended from totemic animals,
on group marriage, ii. 69, 72 i. 6 totemism of the, iii. 120 sqq.
;

Indonesia, totemism in, ii. 185 sqq.\ Ipai-Ipatha, i. 62 n.^

alleged sexual communism in, 213 Ireland, transference of travail-pangs to
sqq. husband in, iv. 250 sq.
Indonesian race, the, ii. 185, 198 Iron worked, ii. 377, 432 ;
in Africa,
Indragiri, exogamy in, ii. 194 sqq. iv. 23 sq. as a totem, 24
;

Infanticide,female, ii. 263, iii. 358 ; clan, ii. 314

supposed cause of e.xogamy, iv. 75 totem, ii. 288, 289, 298
sq. female or male, cause of dispro-
;
tribe of Bechuanas, ii. 374
portion between the sexes, 77 sqq. ;
Iroquois, clans, i.
5 ;
phratries and clans
among the Australian aborigines, of the, 56 sq.
i. confederacy of the, ;

81 sq. iii.
3 sqq. totemism among the, 3 sqq.
; ;

Infertility an effect of inbreeding, iv. guardian spirits of the, 372 sqq. ;

162, 163, 165 sacrifice of white dog, iv. 22 rule ;

Inheritance, ii. 194, 195 sq., 196 sq., of exogamous classes relaxed among
443 under mother-kin, rules of, 320,
;
the, 133 sq, ;
sororate among the,
323, iv. z8g sq,, 296 sq. 148 sq.
Initiated and uninitiated, the, iii. 333^7., Irriakura (bulb), totem, i. wo sq. ;
cere-
514 sq. mony of the, i. 205
Initiation at puberty, iv. 313 beards ;
Irrigation, artificial, ii. 427
plucked out at, i. 484, iv. 228 sqq. ;
Iruntarinia, disembodied spirits of an-
foods forbidden at, i. 40, 484, iv. 217 cestors, i. 212
sqq. sexual license accorded to youths
;
Isanna River, Indians of the, iii. 575
at initiation, 484, ii. 39 n.^
i. among ;
Isibongo, family name, ii. 382
the Creek Indians, iii. 402 totemic ;
Isis, iii. 145 represented by a cow, iv.
;

taboo ceases at, ii. 425 by a super- ; 213

natural being, iii. 513 sq. pretence ;
Isowa sect in Morocco, iv. 178
of killing the novice at, iv. 54 Israel, the lost Ten Tribes of, i. 99
ceremonies or rites, i. 36 sqq. ii. Itchumundi nation, i. 387
«.i, Ivory, prohibition to touch, iv. 295
29. 34. 35. 38 sq., 39 636 n.'^,

S5S' 227, 228 sqq.

'200 sqq., ;
Coast, totemism on the, ii. 547 sqq.
performed by members of a different
class or totem, i. 43, 409, 427; extrac- Jackal clan, ii. 494
tion of teeth at, 412 n."^, 467, iv. 180 totem, ii. 435
sqq. prevalent in Australia, iii. 458
;
Jacobsen, J. Adrien, iii. 500 sqq.
their meaning unknown, 458. See also Jajaurung tribe, i. 435
Australian and Puberty Ja-Luo, the, ii. 447, 449
350 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY
James, Edwin, iii. 48 sq., 53, 58, 89, Kalingi, totemism among the, ii. 231
142 sq. 398 ,
Kalkadoon tribe, i. 517 sq., 525
Janappans or Saluppans, totemism Kalians, the, ii. 225
among the, ii. 238 sq. Kalmucks, exogamy among the, iv. 302
Japan current, iii. 255 sq.
Java, the Kalangs of, i. 7 Kamasia, totemism among the, ii.
429
Jaw-bone of dead kings preserved, ii. sq.

470, 492, iv. 34 Kamilaroi tribe or nation, i. 396 sqq. its ;

Jealousy, sexual, stronger in men than in social system, 61 sq., 272 rules of ;

women, ii. 144 ; absent in some races, marriage and descent, 68^-7., 398^77.;
216, iv. 88 sq. classes, subclasses, etc. 397 sq. ,

Jemez, the, iii. 207 Kamtchatkans, sororate among the, iv.

Jessamine clan, ii. 274, 275 147
Jesuit reports, iii. 133 sq. Kandhs. See Khonds
Jesup North Pacific Expedition, ii. 346, Kandri, magical staff, i. 364
348 Kangaroo, omens given by, i. 22 effigy ;

Jevons, F. B., i. 91, iv. 21 n. of, at initiation, 38; imitation of, 38

Jew lizard clan, i. 185 sq.

lizards, ceremony for the multiplica- totem, i. 107 ceremony of the,
;

tion of, i. 185 209

Jochelson, Waldemar, ii.
345 Kangaroos, magical ceremony for multi-
Joest, Wilhelm, ii. 87 plying, i. 107 sq., 573
fogis, totemism among the, ii. 239 Kan-gidda, totem or taboo, ii. 603
Johnston, Sir Harry, ii. 513 sq.. 591 Kannada language, ii. 273, 274, 275
sq. Kanook, ancestor of Wolf class, iii.
Jones, Peter, iii. 50, 51, 54, 384 sqq. 265
Joyce, T. A., ii. 625 iv. 308 Kansas clan, iii. 96
Juangs, the, ii. 314 sq. or Kaw, totemism of the, iii.
Junod, H. A., 386, 387 ii. 125 sq. ;
sororate among the, iv.

Jupagalk, the, 143 i. 142

Juri Indians, iii. 576 Kapus or Reddis, totemism among the,
Jurupari, spirit of a Secret Society, iii. ii. 239 sqq.

S 74 Kara Kirghiz, tribes with animal names

Jute folk, iv. 298 required to ;
chew jute among the, ii.
343 sq.
as a ceremony, ibid. Karamundi nation, i. 387, 388
Kararu and Matteri classes, 339 i. sq.
Kabiro, secondary totem, ii. 473 Kasia maidens, dance of, 38 i.

Kacharis, totemism among the, iv, 297 Kasias (Khasis), rule of female descent
sqq. among the, i. 67 sq. See Khasis
Kachina. sacred dancer, iii. 212, 214, Kasubas, totemism among the, ii. 232
228 Katikiro, prime minister of Uganda, ii.
Kachins or Chingpaws, exogamy among 466, 488
the, ii.
337 Katsina, district of Northern Nigeria, ii.

Kadawarubi tribe, ii. 26, 29 600, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608
Kadimu people, ii. 450 Kaviaks, sororate among the, iv. 144
Kafirs, the Siah Posh, cities of refuge Kavirondo, totemism in, ii. 446 sqq.
among the, i.
99 Kaya - Kaya of Dutch New Guinea,
Kagera, a god of the Baganda, ii. 498 totemism among the, 59, iv. 284 ii.

Kaiabara tribe, i. 443 sqq. sqq. age-grades among the,

;
59 ii.

Kaitish, magical totemic ceremonies of sqq. ;

agriculture of the, iv. 284
the, i. 214 sqq. customs in regard to ;
Kayans, the, ii. 207, 212
eating the totem, 231 sq. marriage ; Keating, W. H., iii. 379 sq.
customs among the, 243 sq.\ classifica- Keepers of the Pipe, iii. 97, 98
tory terms used by the, 299 sq. sur- ; Kelgeres, the, ii. 602
vivals of sexual communism among Kewa, exogamous class, ii. loi, 102,
the, 31 1 sq. ;
ceremony of the Kaitish 103
to make
grass-seed grow, iv. 19 sq. ; Kenais or Kenayes, the, iii. 363 sqq.
forbidden foods among the, 221 Kenyahs, the, ii. 206 sq., 212
Kalamantans, the, ii. sqq., 212 Keramin tribe, i. 391
Kalangs, the, legend of their descent Keresan language, iii. 207, 217, 218,
from a dog, i. 7, iv. 173 keep dogs, ; 219, 221, 222, 223
i- 15 Keriahs of India, i. 12
 , ;

INDEX 351

Khangars, totemism among the, ii. 220 Kintu, first King of Uganda, ii.
475 sq.,
sq. 480, 483, 495
Kharias, totemism 295 among the, ii. Kioga, Lake, ii. 454
Kharwars, exogamous clans of the, ii. Kiowa, the, iii. i n.^
281 totemism among the, 295 sq.
;
Kirby, W. W. 355, 359 n.^
,
iii.

Khasis or Khasias, the, ii. 318 sqq. ;

Kirghiz, tribes with animal names among
exogamy and female kinship among the, 343 sq.
ii.

the, 319 sqq. dance of the, iv. 215 sq.

;
Kitshi-Manido, the Great Spirit, iii. 485,
Khonds, the, ii. 303 sqq. totemism ; 486
among the, 304 sqq. ;
forbid inter- Kiva, sacred chamber, iii. 203 sq.
marriage of neighbouring tribes, iv. Kiwai, totemism in, ii. 35 sqq.
270 Kleintitschen, P. ii. 125 ,

Khyen women alone 29 n.'^ tattooed, i. Kliketats, the, iii. 408

Kiabara tribe, its social system, i. 62 Knife Indians, iii. 413
Kibuka, war-god of the Baganda, ii. totem, 25 i.

487. iv. 35 Knistenaux or Crees, iii. 67

Kickapoos, totemism of the, iii. 77 Knives thrown at thunder-spirits, ii.
437
Kid, living, torn to pieces by men, i. 34 sq.
Kika, totemic clan, ii. 472 Kobong or totem in W. Australia, i.
9,
Kilamuke tribe, iii. 408 551,
Kili,exogamous clan, ii. 292 Koetei, district of Borneo, right of
Kilima Njaro, Mount, ii. 417 sanctuary in, i. 98
Killer of the Elephant, ii.608 Kohl, J. G., iii. 488
Killer-whales, souls of dead hunters in, Kolarian or Munda language, ii. 291,
iii. 336 300, 329
Killing totemic animal, punishment for, Koloshes, the, iii. 264, 271
ii.
434 apologies for, iii. 67, 81
;
Komatis, cousin marriages among the,
Kilpara and Mukwara classes, i. 380 ii. 225 sq. totemism among the, 241
;

sqq. sq. 273 sq.

Kimbugwe, minister in charge of the Kondhs. See Khonds
king's navel string, ii. 482 Kongulu tribe, i. 420 sq.
Kimera, a king of Uganda, ii. 483, Koodoo clan, ii. 363
484. 493 Kootenay, the, iii. 253
King almost worshipped, ii. 623 Koranas, the, ii. 393
King George’s Sound, natives about, i. Koras, totemism among the, ii. 296
546 sqq. Koravas or Yerukalas, totemism among
King of Daura, inauguration of, ii. 608 the, ii. 243
King’s daughters always married to Korkus, totemism among the, ii. 222
slaves, ii. 607 Koromojo people, totemism among the,
Father,of a high minister in
title ii. 451
Uganda, 488 ii. Korwas, the, ii. 315 sq. totemism ;

Kings put to death in sickness, ii. 529 among the, 316

sq. 608
,
supposed at death to turn
;
Koryaks, their belief in the reincarnation
into lions, 392, 535 names of kings ;
of the dead, ii. 345 sq. their marriage
not pronounced after their death, 535 customs, 352 sq. sororate among ;

dead, worship of, ii. sqq., iv. the, 147

iv.

33 3°8 sqq.<
consulted as oracles, ;
Koshtas, totemism among the, ii. 296
ii. 470, iv. 306 Kothluwalawa, iii. 233 n.“^
——^
married to their sisters, iv. 307 Kroeber, A. L. iii. 249 sq. ,

sq. Kubary, J., ii. 184

of the Creek Indians, iii. 159, Kubi-Kubitha, i. 62
163 Kubiri, totemism of the, iv. 280
of Unyoro, rules as to their life and Kuekutsa, a group of Secret Societies,
death, ii. 526 sqq. iii. 520, 521, 525
Kingdom fought for, ii. 530 Kiihn, W. Julius, i.
475 sqq.
Kingship, double, iv. 305 Kuinmurbura tribe, 417 sqq. i.

Kingsley, Miss Mary H. ,

i. 100, ii. Knla, exogamous clan, ii. 232, 269
594. 595 «•'. 610 Kulin Brahmans, their marriage customs,
Kingsmill Islands, traces of totemism in ii. 619 sqq.
the, ii. 176 nation, i. 434 sqq. sex totems of ;

Kinship with animals, tests of, 20 i. the, 47

sq. Kumbo-Butha, i. 62 71.^
 ,

352 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Kumhars of Bengal, i. lo ;
totemism Leech folk (clan), iv. 298 ;
required to
among the, ii. 316 chew leeches as ceremony', ibid.
Kupathin, i. 62 Legends told to explain the origin of
Kuri, exogamous clan, ii. 278 crests, iii. 286 sq., 313 sqq., 322
the Hausa god Pan, ii. 603, 606 sqq.
Kurmis, totemism among the, ii. 296 Lenape or Delawares, descended from
Kurnai tribe, i. 493x^7. medicine-men, ;
totemic animals, i. 6 totemism of the, ;

28, 497 sq. youth at initiation, 41

; ;
iii. 39 sqq.
sex totems of the, 47, 496 sq. rule ;
Lending of wives, i. 426, 463, ii. 71,
of descent among the, 66 reverence ; 415, 421, iii. 472 as a magical rite, ;

eaglehawk and crow, 77 marriage ; 140 71 .^

customs, 499 J77.; classificatory system Leopard clan, ii. 479, 550, 556 sq., 559
of relationship, 500 sq-. 572, 579
Kurnandaburi tribe, i. 379 sq. group- ;
men, ii. 391
marriage among the, 367 sqq. totem, ii. 430, iv. 308
Kurni, totemism among the, ii. 231 Leopards, queens turned into, ii. 392 ;

Kurubas, totemism among the, ii. 245, worshi pped by royal family of Dahomey,
269 sqq. sororate among the, iv.
; 583^7.; ceremonies observed at killing
145 a leopard, 584 tz.^ venerated by the ;

Kurumbas, the, ii. 244 sq. Igaras, 590 sq.

Kusiut, ceremonial, iii. 510 Leprosy and madness caused by eating
Kutchins or Loucheux, iii. 345 sq. 354 , totem, i. 17
sqq. :
descended from animals, i. 6 sq. Leslie, David, ii. 381
Kwakiutl, iii. 252, 253 totemism among ;
Levirate (marriage of a widow to her de-
the, -^17 sqq. crests of the, 322 sqq.,;
ceased husband's brother), i. 148, 426,
^2.gsqq. peculiar features of Kwakiutl
; 440, 450 sq., 469, 492, 500 sqq., 541,
totemism, 327 change in the social ; 549. 552, 572. ii. 18, 26, 79 sq., 189,
organisation of the Kwakiutl in winter, I9t, 199, 222, 234, 236, 249 sq., 273,
333 guardian
!
spirits among the, 279, 280, 281, 281 sq., 291, 296, 299,
433 Secret Societies among
;
the, 302, 310, 313, 315, 347, 351, 352,
512 sqq. 367, 380, 384, 406, 412, 419, 428, 444,
Kwero, totem, ii. 449, 450 538 sq., 542, 581, 622, 630, 639, iii.
Kwod, sacred place, ii. 19 18, 59, 85, 108, 127, 155, 164, 246,
Kwoiam, a hero of Mabuiag, ii. 21 sqq. 249. 277, 305, 361, 498, 562, iv.
Kworafi, totemism among the, ii.
55 139 sq., 141, r42, 143, 144, 146,
2
147, 148, 151 71 2g4, 295, 300, . ,

Labb^, P. ,
ii.
344 sq. 316 forbidden, i. 461, ii. 271, 272,
;

Labrets, iii. 294 275, 282, 326 not derived from ;

Lachlan River tribes, i. 409 sq. polyandry, 80 discountenanced, iii. ;

Lactation, prolonged period of, among 65

savages, iv. 79 Lewis and Clark, iii. 123, 135 n.^, 146,
Lafitau, iii. 14 sq. 153. 400
Laguna, Pueblo village, iii. 218 sq. Lice, ceremony for the multiplication of,
Lake Eyre, tribes about, i.
334 sq., 337, i. 185 a totem, ii. 425
;

342, 344 sqq.-, scenery of, 341 sq. Licence, sexual, at marriage, i. 155 at ;

Lalungs, exogamy among the, ii. 324 sq. initiation, 484, ii. 39 at harvest ;

Lambert, Father, ii. 66 festival, 303, 315 [at circumcision, ;

Lands of totemic clans, ii. 559, 628, iii. 145 sqq., 403; accorded to Masai
36 warriors, 414 allowed to Queen ;

Lang, Andrew, ii. 570 n."^, iv. 156 n.^ Mother and Queen Sister in Uganda,
Language, husband and wife speaking 471 allowed
;
to king’s sisters, 565 ;

each a different, i. 63, 467 sq. of ;

granted to women of blood royal in
animals, iii. 421 sq. of women ; African kingdoms, 524, 538, 565, 581
different from that of men, iv. 237 sq. sq. 628 between the sexes up to
;

Larrekiya tribe, i. 576 marriage, iv. 301

Latham, R. G. iv. 72 n.^ ,
Life, the Master of, iii. 52, 379, 381,
Laufer, Berthold, ii. 346 401
Laughers, Society of the, iii. 512 in blood, i. 42, 74
Laughing Boys, a totem, i. 160 sq. of ;
Lightning, omens from, ii. 161
the Warramunga and Tjingilli, ii. 521 god, ii. 161
Laurel, sacred, iii. 194 sq. Lillooets, the, iii. 342 sqq. ;
guardian
Laws fathered on divine beings, i. 356 sq. spirits among the, 418 sqq.
 , , , ,

INDEX 353

Limitation of time of marriage, ii. 630 Look at totem, prohibition to, i. ii, 12,
Linked totems, ii. 48, 50^^., 52, 54^1/,, 13. 370, 372. 373ii-

iv. 277 sqq. Loon clan, character of the, iii. 56

Lion, apologies for killing, i. 19 ;
Loskiel, G. H., iii. 41, 394
(puma), descent from, iii. 578 Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, i. 99
clan, ii. 480 Loucheux or Kutchins, the, iii. 345 sq .

totem, ii.428, 436 354 sqq. castes or clans of the, 354

;

tribe of Bechuanas, ii. 372 sq. sqq. classificatory system of the, 367
;

Lions, kings called, ii. kings 535 ;

sq.
turned into, 392, 535 Louisiades, sororate in the, iv. 148
Lisiansky, U., iii. 271 sq. Louse clan, i. 185
Literature of totemism, i. 87 totem, ii. 324
Liver of animals, a totem, ii. 403, 421, Lubbock, Sir John, on origin of totem-
422 ism, i. 87, 102. See Avebury, Lord
Livingstone, David, ii. 372 Lucian, i. 175
Livonian marriage customs, ii. 262 Lugala, a Baganda fetish, ii. 495
Lizard, the originator of the sexes, i. Lung-fish clan, ii. 474, 485 sq.
48 sex totem, 48 sacred, ii. 293-;
; ;
Lungs of animals, a totem, ii. 421
antipathy of the Bechuanas to the, Lur or Alur, the, ii. 628
376 sq. ;
effigy of lizard worshipped at Luritcha, classificatory terms used b)
marriage, iv. 293 the, i. 298 sq.
clan, ii. 301 Lyon, Captain G. F. ,
iv. 89
god, ii. 165 sq.
mark on child, iv. 65 Mabuiag, ii. 2, 4, 5, 14, 21, 23
mates of totems, i. 255 McDougall, W. ii. 206, 210, 212, 213 ,

people, i. 256 Macgregor, Sir William, ii. 46 sq.

Lizards,omens from, ii. 161, 165 sq. ;
Mackenzie, J. ii. 393 ,

monitor, worshipped at Bonny, 591 Mackenzie, Dr. J. W. ii. 88 ,

Lkungen, Secret Societies of the, iii. 507 Mackenzie River, iii. 251, 252, 254
sq. McLennan, J. F. i. 71, 87, 91, 103, ,

Lobster, dead, mourned for, i. 15 291 501, iv. 16, 301, 302 sq.
sq., ;

Local centre of spirits of exogamous the discoverer of totemism and exo-

classes, i. 229 gamy, 43, 71 his theory of the ;

clans developed out of totem clans, origin of exogamy, 71 sqq.

i. 83 Madagascar, traces of totemism in, i.
exogamy, 437 sq., 458, 463, 466,i. 85 analogies to totemism in, ii. 631
;

469, 477 490 sq., 494, 507, iv. 167

sq., sqq.
sq. superseding clan exogamy, ii. 7
; ;
Maddox, Rev. H. E. ii. 532 n.^ ,

coexisting with clan exogamy, 192, 198 Madi, the, ii. 628
segregation exogamous of the Madigas, religious customs of the, ii.
classes and totems among the Warra- 245 sqq. exogamous clans of the, 247
;

munga, i. 246 sqq. ;

of totemic clans, Madness, holy, iii. 334
ii.
4, 5, 6 ;
of e.xogamous clans, 192, and leprosy caused by eating
193, 194, 198 of exogamous groups,
;
totem, i. 17
iii.124 sq., 3S7 sq. Madras Presidency, totemism in the,
totem centres, 155, 189 i. ii.230 sqq.
Locust, clan of the Green, ii. 481 sqq. Magic, in relation to religion, iv. 29 sq. ;

totem, ii. 187 the fallacy of, sympathetic, 247 56 ;

Lodge, totem, i. 25 sq. 252 sq. imitative or homceo- ;

Loeboes, marriage said to be unknown pathic, i. 219, 573, ii. 13, 14, 618,
among the, ii. 216 iii. 137, 139, 140. 234, 236, 577 in ;

Lohars, totemism among the, ii. 296 hunting, i. 39 totemism a system of ;

sq. co-operative, 108 sq. 113, n6 sqq. ;

Lolos, hints of totemism among the, ii. negative or remedial, 116 antecedent ;

339 sq. to religion, 141 universal prevalence ;

Long House, the, of the Iroquois, iii. 5 of, in Australia, 141 sq. how affected ;

Long, J., Indian interpreter, iii. 52, 381, by the variability of the seasons, 169
382 sqq. causes which tend to confirm
;

Long, Majors. H. iii. 64, 89, 93 ,

the belief in, 169 sqq. perhaps the ;

Longings and fancies of pregnant origin of agriculture, 2iysq., iv. igsq.

women, their influence on totemism, Magic and religion, distinction between,
iv. 64 sqq. 270 i. 105 blending of, iii. 142, 235
;

VOL. IV 2 A
 ,

354 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Magical ceremonies, for the multiplication Mandans, the, iii. 134 sqq.\ guardian
of the totems, i. 104 sqq., 183 sqq., spirits among, 400x7. dancing societies ;

214 sqq., 357 sqq. (see Intichiuma), of, 470 sqq. sororate among the, iv.
;

ii.
503 for the control of the totems,
; 142
i. 131 sqq. to secure water and fish,
; Mandingoes, i. 21 ;
totemism among
484 sq. ;
for the multiplication of the, ii. 543 X77., SSI
edible animals and plants, 573 sqq. ;
to Mandwa, inspired priest or medium, ii.

ensure a supply of turtle and dugong, 470, 500

ii. 12 sqq. to make fruits of earth
;
Manetho, iv. 176
grow, 31 sqq., 34, 38 sq. for increase ;
Mangaia, god-killing in, i. 54
of food supply, iii. 137 sqq. Manganja, the, i. 27
Maguzawa, heathen Hausas, ii. 601 Mangbetu, the, ii. 627, 628
Mahalbawa, totemism of the, ii. 604 Manipur, the Meitheis of, ii. 325 sqq.
Mahicans. See Mohicans Manis or Pangolin clan, ii. 486 sq.
Mahili, totemism among the, ii. 297 Manitoo or oki, i. si. 52, ii. 212 ;

Maidens at puberty, dances of, i. 38, iv. guardian spirit of individual, iii. 51,
215 sq. 52 ;
Algonkin term for spirit, 372
Maidus, Secret Society of the, iii. 491 sqq. ;
the Good and
the Wicked, 374
sqq. :
sororate among the, iv. 143 sq. Manna, magical ceremony for the multi-
Maize, cultivation of, iii. 3, 30, 39, 46, plication of, i. 107
74, 88, 120, 135 sq., 146, 158, 171, Mannhardt, W., i. 104
180, 183, 195, 199, 204, 242, 248 ;
Manslayer, uncleanness of, ii. 444
worshipped, 577. See also Corn Mantis religiosus, a totem, ii. 120
Old Woman, goddess of, slain Manu, laws of, i. 356
by her sons, iii. 191 sqq. Maoris, excess of male over female
Red, clan of the, iii. 90, 92, 99 births among the, iv. 86
Makalakas, totemism among the, ii. Maple sugar, iii. 62 n.^
377 sq. Mara, classificatory terms used by the,
Makanga, the, ii. 390 i. 302 sq.
Makonde, the, ii. 406 nation, i. 186 n.'^' (Victoria), 462 ;

Makua, the, ii. 406 tribe, classes and totems of the, i.

Malagasy, hirth custom, i. the
21 ; 237 n.~s exogamous
classes of the,
;

classificatory system of relationship 270

among the, ii. 639 sq. Maragwetta, totemism among the, ii.
tribes, traces of totemism among, 428
i. 85 ;
analogies to totemism among Maramai'a and Pikalaba, exogamous
the, ii. 631 sqq. divisions inNew Britain, ii. 119 sq.,
Malas, the, ii. 185 ;
e.xogamy among, 122 sq.
Marathas, sacred symbols [devaks^oi the,
Malay Archipelago, totemism in the, ii. ii.276 sqq.
185 sqq. Maravars or Maravans, their lawless
race, four original clans of the, ii. habits, ii. 248 their exogamous clans, ;

193 248 sq.

Malays, exogamous clans of the, ii. 193 Margas, exogamous clans of the Battas
sq-, 247 of Sumatra, i. 137 z/.^, ii. 186, 190
Male descent, of totem clans, i. 66, 67 ;
Marias, the, a Gond clan, i. 35
indirect, 68 sq. 444 transition from ;
Marks, totemic, on cattle, i. 13 on ;

female to, 71 sqq. reasons for pre- ;

property, etc. 29 on bodies of men , ;

ferring it to female descent, iv. 131. and women, 36; tribal, 28 sq., iv.
See also Change, Descent, Father-kin, 197 sqq.
and Mother-kin Marriage, classificatory system of rela-
Male and female births, causes which tionship based on marriage, not on
determine their proportion, iv. 85 consanguinity, 290 to trees, 32 i. ;

sqq. .sq. ; to birds, daggers, earthen vessels,

Make %<sx\Xi, i. 316^7., 321 plants, 33 sq. regulated by totemism, ;

Mals, totemism among the, ii. 317 36 silence imposed on women after,
;

Maxnaq, mother’s eldest brother, ii. 194, 63 «.®, iv. 233 sqq. blood smeared ;

195, 196 on bride and bridegroom at, i. 72 ;

Ma>i, totemic clan, iv. 283 exchange of dress between men and
Mana, supernatural power, ii. 100 women at, 73, iv. 255 sqq. ; licence
Mandailing, totemism and exogamy in, at, i. iss ;
limitation of time of, ii.
ii. 190 sq. 630 ;
respect shewn to totems at, iv.
 , ,; ,

INDEX 355

293 sq. 295 ;

of fathers to their Material progress a sign of intellectual
daughters, ii. 40, 118, 362, 363, iv. progress, i. 325
308, 315 ;
by capture, 72, 300 Maternal descent not necessarily more
blood-covenant at, 242 with a niece, ;
primitive than paternal, i. 167, 248 sq.,
a brother's daughter, ii. I2i sq. with ; 335 preference for, at institution
1

a niece, a sister's daughter, 271 ,?q., of exogamy, iv. 125 sq. See also
525, iii. 575, iv. 316 with near rela- ;
Descent and Mother-kin
tions, iii. 575 sq. See also Capture impressions supposed to be con-
Marriage ceremonies, i. 32 sqq. ii. 456 ,
veyed to unborn young, iv. 64 sqq.
sq. ;
totemic,
293 sq. 295 iv. ,
uncle, his authority over his sister's
group, i. 249 survival of, 419 ; ;
iv. 289
children,
individual marriage an innovation on, Mathew, Rev. John, iv. 240
ii. 69. See also Group Marriage Matteri and Kararu classes, i.
339
— laws of the Australian aborigines sqq.
artificial, i. 280 Matthews, Dr. Washington, iii. 151 sq.,
of cousins, ii. 188 favoured, 65 ; ; 243 sq., 245, 401, iv. 32 K.i, 265
forbidden, 75 sq. See also Cousins Mauliks, totemism among the, ii. 317
system of the Australian aborigines Mawatta, totemism at, ii. 25 sqq.
purposeful, i. 282 Maximilian, Prince of Wied, iii. 135
Marriages, punishment of unlawful, i. 54, n.^, 143, 147, 401, 471, 472, 474,
55, 381 393, 404, 425, 440, 460 j?'., 475
466 sq., 476, 491 sq., 540, 554, 557, May, a sacred month, ii. 163
572, ii. 71, 121, 122, 126, 128, 130, Mayne, Commander R. C. iii. 309 ,
sq.

131, 186, 191, 321, 410, 473, 515, 41 1 sq.

562, iii. 48, 552 consanguineous, ii. ;

Meches, totemism among the, iv. 299
351 incestuous, iii. 362 sq.
;
tem- ;
Mecklenburg, Duke of, ii. 627, 628,
porary, iv. 309 629
Marshall, F. H. A., on effects of in- Medaras, exogamous clans among the,
breeding, iv. 163 sq. ii. 250 sororate among the, iv. 145
:

Maryborough, tribes about, i. 441 sqq.

448 Medicine, used as synonymous with
Marzan, Father J. de, ii. 136 mystery or guardian spirit, iii. 390 sq.,
Masai, the, ii. 407 sqq.\ marriage 401, 403, 410 sq.
customs, i. super- 73, ii. 408 sqq. ;
Medicine bag or myster)' sack, iii. 378,
stitions, age-grades, 412 sqq.\
408 sq.\ 385 sq., 388, 390, 391 sq., 397 sq.,
classificatory .system of relationship, 41 1 sq., 415, 462 sqq., 487 sq.
416 sq. custom of boys after cireum-
;
dance, iii. 147 of the Dacotas, ;

eision, iv. 258 sq. 469, 470 ; of the Blackfeet women,

Mask of the sun, 533 iii. 476 sq.

Masked dances, iv. 285 feast of the Winnebagoes, iii. 466

women, iii. 555 sqq.
Maskers in religious ritual, iii. 227 — Lodge, iii. 135, 139 ; the Grand,
Masks, totemic, iii. 275 worn by ; 487
dancers, 275, 312, 341, 343 sq., 435 ;
Lodges, iii. 18
of animals worn in dances, 312, 343 Man, the chief, of the Nandi, ii.

sq. ;
of crest animals, 341 sq., 343 446 ;
political power of, iii. 159
sq. representing ancestors, 343 sqq.
; ;
men imitate their individual totems,
supposed to bring ill-luck to the i. 22 ;
Kurnai, 28 ;
individual totems
wearer, 344 of shamans, 428, 438 ; ;
of, 412, 482, 497 sq.
49, 50, trans- ;

made secretly, 501 sq. concealed from ;

migration of their souls, 129 social ;

the profane, 519 representing gods or ;

power of, 352 influence of, 549 sq. ; ;

spirits, 438, 501, 510, 517, 533, 550; political influence of, iii. 358 ;
guardian
of deer skin, iv. 269 spirits essential to, 387. See also
Massim, the, iv. 276, 277 Shamans
Masiaba of ancient Egyptians, iv. 34 spirits of Roocooyen Indians, iii.

Master of Life, iii. 379, 381, 401 of ; 448

ceremonies, 555 stone vomited by novices at initia-

Matabele, exogamy of the family names tion, iii. 467 sq.

among the, ii. 383 Medium, inspired, ii. 470, 497, 500, iv.

Matangi, the goddess, ii. 246 33. 34

Mataranes, the, their festival of the Medzimo, embodiments of ancestors, iv.

dead, iii. 580 304

356 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY
Me-e 7nkoat, a group of Secret Societies, Milk and flesh not to be eaten together,
iii. 520, 521 ii. 414

Megarians, burial custom of the, iv. 213 blood, and flesh the food of Masai
Meitheis of Manipur, the, ii. 325 sqq ;
warriors, 414
ii.

their exogamous clans, 326 sq. Milkmen, royal, ii. 527

Mekeo-speaking tribes of New Guinea, Millbank Sound, iii. 306
ii. 42, 44 sq. Milpulko tribe, i. 388
Melanesia, totemism in, i. 86, ii. 63 sqq. ;
Minabozho, iii. 485, 489
evolution of gods in, iv. 30 sq. Mindeleff, Cosmos, iii. 214
Melanesia, Southern, question of totem- Mindeleff, Victor, iii. 215 71.^
ism in, ii. 80 sqq. Minkani, i. 357, 358
Melanesians, the, ii. 64 Minnetarees or Hidatsas, i. 26 corn ;

Memorial column, iii. 342 dance of the, iii. 142 sq. totemism of ;

Men, dressed as women at marriage, i. the, 145^77.; guardian spirits of the,

73, iv. 255 sqq. ;
e.xcess of, over 401 dancing societies of the, 472
;

women among the Todas, ii. 263 sqq. ;

sororate among the, iv. 142 ;

Men's club-houses, ii. 38, 43, 57, 60, anomalous terms for cousins among
79. 286, 314 sq.. 325, 328, 341 ;
the, 310
houses, iv. 284, 288 clans and ;
Missouri valley, civilisation of the, iii.

women's clans, 299 147

Menangkabaw Malays, exogamy among Missouris and Otoes, totemism of the,
the, 193
ii. iii. 122

Menarikam, marriage with a first cousin, Mistakes in dances severely punished, iii.
ii. 224, 237, 238 519, iv. 315 sq.
Menominees, totemism of the, iii. 77 Mistletoe and Balder, iii. 488 sq.
sqq. Grand Mystery Society of the,
;
Mitakoodi tribe, i. 524, 525
489 sq. Mitchell, T. L., iv. 177
Menstruation not connected with exo- Miubbi tribe, i. 517, 518 sq.
gamy, iv. 102 sq. Mock-sacrifice of men to totems, i. 18
Menstruous blood, awe or horror of, iv. Modzi 77io (God), iv. 303
100, 102 Mogers, exogamous clans of the, ii.

women forbidden to drink milk, 250

ii. 522, 534 foods forbidden to, iv.
;
Mogwandi nation, totemism in the, ii.

219 626
Mentawei (Mentawi) Islands, ii. 213, iv. Mohaves, the, iii. 247 sqq.
291 «.'* Mohawks or Caniengas, iii. 4, 8
Merker, Captain M. ii. 405 71. ,
Mohegans, phratries and clans of the, i.

Merolla's account of taboos in Congo, ii. 57 sq. See Mohicans

615 sq. Mohicans, totemism of the, iii. 44 ;

Mess, H. A., iv. 291 classificatory system, 44 sq.

Mesas, tablelands, iii. 197 Mole, totem, ii. 440
Metals, discovery of the use of the, iv. MoHttio of the Basutos, i. 149
23 sq. Molina, J. Ignatius, iii. 581 sq.. 582^7.
Mexicans, masked dance of the, iv. 226 Moluccas, totemism in the Moluccas, ii.
Mia. mother, i. 289, 297 197 sqq.
Miamis, totemism of the, iii. 69 anoma- ; Moluches or Araucanians, traces of totem-
lous terms for cousins among the, iv. ism among the, iii. 581 sq.
310 Monarchical rule in Australia, incipient
Mice, guardian spirit of, iii. 133 sq. tendency to, i. 331
Mico. king or chief, iii. 159, 163 Monarchies, absolute, of Ashantee, Daho-
Mides. shamans, iii. 484, 485, 486 mey, and Uganda, iv. 30
Midewiwin Society of the Ojibways, iii. Monbuttoo, the, ii. 628
484 sqq. Money, native, i. 262, iii. 262
Mikirs, the, ii. 324, 328 Monitor lizards worshipped at Bonny, ii.

Milk, of pigs, i. 17 test of kinship, ; 591

21 drunk sour, ii. 355 milk vessels
; ;
Monkey clan, ii. 319, 321, 488 sq.
never washed, 355 superstitious fear ;
totem, ii. 439
of depriving cows of their milk, Monkeys as gods, ii. 377
414 sacred python fed with, 500
; ; Monogamy, theory of primitive, iv. 95
customs as to drinking, 514 sq.. 526 sq., 99 of the Kacharis, iv. 300
:

534' 539 I
prohibition to Monsoon, festival at south-east, iv. 285
boil, 534 Montagnards, the, iii.
439
 ,

INDEX 357

Montagnets, the, iii. 374, 375 322 sq. ;

relics of, among the Baganda,
Moon, as totem, i. 25, ii. 242, 298 ; 512 sq.\ does not involve the social
worship of the, 156 stolen by Raven, ;
superiority of women to men, iii. 359 ;

iii. 293 an obstacle to theory of primitive

clan, 272 ii. patriarchal family, iv. 99. See also
Mooney, James, iii. i nl, 481 sg., iv. Change and Descent
251 “ Mother of Yams," ii.
39
Moquis or Hopis, iii. 203, 206, 208, Mother-right does not imply the superior
209 descent of their clans, i. 6
sqq. ; ;
position of women, ii. 132. See also
the Snake clan of the, 7 sq. keep ;
Mother-kin
eagles, 15 the Snake Band (Society)
;
Mother’s brother and sister’s son, re-
of the, 46 phratries and clans of the,
;
lationship between, ii.
75 ;
head of
56, iii. 210 sqq. See also Hopis the family, 194, 195 ;
and wife’s father,
Moral bogies, 147 i. identity of name for, 227 ;
his relation
code of the Central Australians, i. to his sister’s children, 443 sq. ;

146 sq. authority of, in Indian society, iii. 25

Morang, men’s house, ii. 328 brother, his importance in early
Morgan, L. H., i. 55, 71, 286, 290, society, iv. 99
292, ii. 170, 171, 331, iii. 6, 8, ii, brother’s wife, right of access to,
19 sq., 42, 50, 147, 153, 154, 240, ii. 387, iv. 282 ;
and mother-in-law,
«.i, same term
247, iv. 16, 133, 138 139, 140, 334 for, ii.

141, 151 n.^, 155 his theory of ;

eldest brother head of household,
the origin of exogamy, 103 sqq. iv. 289

Morice, Father A. G. iii. 263, 348 sqq , . part in determining line of

367, 440 sqq., 54S, iv. 48 descent, iv. 130
Morning Star, men of the, i. 472 Motherhood, possibility of forgetting,
Morning Star tribe, i. 70 i. 249
Morrison, C. W. i. 577 ,
“ Motherhoods," exogamous clans of the
Morse, Jedidiah, iii. 65, 175 Garos, ii. 322, iv. 296, 297
Mortlock Islands, sororate in the, iv. Mothers, marriage of sons with, iii. 113,
146 362, 363 cohabitation with, 362,
;

Islanders, exogamy among the, 363. 579

287 sq. Motlav, primitive theory of conception
Mortuary poles, iii. 296 in, ii. 92
totems, 455 i. Motumotu or Toaripi tribe, ii. 40 sqq.
Moso, a Protean god, ii. 158, 164 Motupo, family taboo, ii. 378, 381
Mosquito Indians, i. 50 Mounds, animal-shaped, i. 31
totem, i. 183, ii. 315 Mount Gambler tribe. South Australia,
Mota, primitive theory of conception in, i. 8, 134, 135 its subtotems, 79 :

ii. 90 sqq. Mountain, a totem, iv. 279

Moth totem, ii. 220 Mountaineers, the, iii. 346
Mother, avoidance of, ii. 77, 78, 189, Mourning for dead animals (gazelle,
638 hyaena, lobster, owl), i. 15, ii.
443 ;

the Great, i. 6 for totem, iv. 298

Mother-in-law, avoidance of, i. 285 k.*, extraction of teeth in, iv. 148 sq.
286 395, 404 sq., 416 sq., 440,
n., Mowat. See Mawatta
451, 469, 492, 503, 506, 541, 565, Mpangu, hereditary taboos, ii. 617, 622
572, ii. 17, 26, 76 sqq., 117, 189, 368, Mpologoma River, ii. 454
385, 400 sq., 403, 412, 424, 461, 508, Mpondo fruit, story of the wife who came
522, 622 sq., 630, iii. 108 sqq., 136, from a, ii. 568 sq.

148, 247, 277 sq., 305, 361 sq., 498, Msiro, totem, ii. 405
583, iv. 273, 305, 314 sq. marriage ;
Mud, babies made out of, i. 536 sq.
with, ii. 323, iii. 247 sexual inter- ;
Mugema, the earl of Busiro, ii. 488 sq.
course with, 1 13 and mother’s ;
Muka Doras, exogamous clans of the,
brother’s wife, same term for, ii. 334 ii. 250
Mother-kin, a mother not necessarily the Mukasa, a great god of the Baganda,
head of a family under mother-kin, ii. ii. 481, 494, SOI, iv. 35
74 sq. compatible with the servitude
;
Mukaua community, totemism of the, iv.

of women, 117; change from, to 279

father-kin, 196, 325, 580 sq., iv. Mukjarawaint tribe, i, 462 sex totems ;

131 240 sq., 242 sqq.

sq., among ;
of the, 47 sq.
the Khasis, 320 among the Garos, ;
Mukwara and Kilpara classes, i. 380 sqq.
 ,

358 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Mulga scrub, i. 317 of relatives by marriage (father-in-law,
Muller, Max, iv. 44 mother-in-law, etc. ) not mentioned, ii.
Mulongo, taboo inherited from father, 16 sq., 57, 76, 124 sq., 189 n.'^, 385,
ii. 404 iii. Ill sq., iv. 283 superstitions as ;

Munda or Kolarian language, ii. 291, to, ii. 345 of chiefs not to be men-
;

329 tioned after dusk, 397 of kings not ;

Mundas, the, ii. 291 sg. totemisni ;

mentioned after their death, 535 ;

among the, i. 10, ii. 290 changed in sickness, 453 of ances- ;

Munedoo or munedo, guardian spirit, iii. tors, given to children, 453, 457, iii.
382 sqq. 298 names of paternal grandfathers
:

Mungan-ngaua, i. 146 given to their grandsons, 298 family ;

Munsees, the, iii. 42 names of the Haidas, 297 sq. new, ;

Muramuras of the Dieri, i. 64, 148 sq., at initiation, i. 44, iii. 510, 555
m
;

347 - summer and winter names, 517 ; of

Murdus or madas, totems, i. 348 slain men bestowed on children, iv.

Muri-Matha, i. 62 nl 285
Murray River, 381 i. Names, exogamy attaching to family
Murring tribe, 488 i. names in Burma, ii. 337 ;
in China,
Muruburra tribe, 449 i.
339 ;
in Corea, 339 ; among the Zulus
Mushroom clan, ii. 499 and Matabeles, 382 sqq.
Musisi, a god of the Baganda, ii. 494, personal, of members of totem
495 clans, 58 sq., ii. 473, iii. 13 sq.,
i.

Muskhogean stock, iii. 156 34 76 sq., loi sqq., 225 sq., 272
sq.,
Muskogees or Creeks, the, iii. 156 sq., 308 sq., 329, 360 among the ;

Musoke, a Baganda god, iv. 33, 35 Gilyaks, ii. 344 sq.

Mustard clan, ii. 274 sacred, iii. loi of secret societies, ;

Mutilations, bodily, at puberty, i. 36, 335

iv. 180 sqq. of the n.atural openings
;
Nanie-sakes, invocation of, i. 532 sq.
of the body, 196 sq. Naming of children,
35 into father's iii. ;

Mutrachas, exogamous clans of the, ii. clan, 42, iv. 132 into any clan, iii. 72
;

250 sq, Nandi, the, ii. ^,-gisqq. totemism among ;

Miiziro, totem,
403, 404, 448, 451, ii. the, 433 sqq. classificatory system of
;

473. 476, 477. 478, 537 relationship, 444 sq. ; age-grades, 445
Mweru, totemism among the, ii.424 sqq. sqq.
Mycooloon tribe, 519 i. sq., 521, 529; Nangera, a god of the Baganda, ii. 495
initiation ceremonies of, 40 sqq. Nanja, abode of disembodied spirits, i.
Mysore, totemism in, ii. 269 sqq. 190, 193, 201
Mystery, the Great or Good, iii. 82, 83 ;
Nantaba, a Baganda fetish, ii. 486
Dance of the Dacotas, iii. 463 Narrang-ga tribe, 473 sqq. i.

sack. See Medicine bag Narrinyeri, the, i. 14, 19, 477 sqq. ;

songs, iii. 427 sq. clans and totems of the, 478 sqq. ;

Myths, dramatic representations of, iii. initiation ceremonies, 40 chiefs among ;

312, 335, 435, 521 the, 329 sq.

Narumbe, novice at initiation, i. 484
Nag (serpent), totem, ii, 2.2.0 sq. ;
(snake) Nass River, iii. 306
clan, 296 Nassau, R. H., ii. 610
Naga tribes, the, ii. 328 ; of Assam, Natarenes of Paraguay, i. 35
female infanticide among the, iv. 78 ;
Natchez, the, iii. 157 revere the sun, ;

communal houses among the, 300 sq. i. 25, iv. 179

Nagesar, totemism among the, ii. 297 Nats, totemism among the, ii. 282
Naguals, guardian spirits of Central Naualakzi, supernatural, iii. 435
American Indians, iii.
443 sqq., 498, Naualock or Nawalok, Great Dance of
549 the Spirits, iii. 502, 503
Nahanais, the, iii. 346 Navahoes, the, iv. 156 religion of the, ;

Namaquas, their aversion ;o the hare, 32 t/.i

iv. 222 Navahoes and Apaches, iii. 202, 241
Names, secret, i. 196, 197, 489, ii.
473 ;
sqq. exogamous clans of the, 243 sqq.
;

absence of names for exogamous Navel, mutilation of the, iv. 197

classes, i. 264 sq. ii. 70 ;
feminine, for Navel-string, ceremony at cutting the,
the Australian subclasses, 268, 269, i. i.
537 ly. ;
of King of Uganda, ii. 482,
397 «.2, 407 411 ?/.i, 415 of ; 485, 492 ;
of dead kings preserved,
children, mode of determining, 534 ;
iv. 34
 , ,

INDEX 359

Navels of totems, ii. 19, 22 sq. Nigeria, .Southern, totemism in, ii. 587
Nayindas, toteinism among the, ii. 274 sqq.^
sq. Night-jar, sex totem, i. 47
Ndo, totemism among the, ii. 429 Nikie, iii. 97
Negative or remedial magic, i. 116 Nile, bride of the, i. 34 w.® ; Egyptian
Negroes, Nilotic, ii. 461 sacrifice of a virgin to the, iv. 212 sq.
Nelson, E. W. iii. 368 sq.,
Nilotic negroes, ii. 407, 461, 628 ;
of
Nende, a Baganda war-god, ii.
499 Kavirondo, the, 447
Net totem, i. 25 Nind, Scott, i. 546 sqq., iv. 219
Nether world, pretence of visit to the, Niskas, the, iii. 307, 311 Secret Societies
;

iii. 528 sq. among the, iii. 539 sqq.

Nets, fishing, marriage of girls to, i.
34 Noa, marriageable, i. 346, 363, 365
Nobles, commoners, and slaves, iii. 261
Neutral Nation, the, iii.
3 sq. 47 Nootkas, the, iii. 253 Secret Society of
;

New, Charles, ii. 541, iv. 233 sq. the, 504 sqq.
New birth, pretence of, i. 32 ;
at initia- North American Indians, dancing bands
tion, 44, iv. 228 or associations of the, i. '46 j-y. ;
totem-
fire, made annually, iii. 160, iv. ism among the, iii. i sqq. guardian ;

313 ; made at the solstices, iii. 237 sq. spirits among the, 370 sqq. Secret ;

fruits, solemn eating of, iv. 313 Societies among the, 457 sqq.
moon, ceremony at, ii. 501 Nose, piercing the, 569 totem, ii.
i. ;

names at initiation, i. 44, iii. 510, 397

555 Nose-bone, practice of wearing, 27 sq. i.

New Britain, totemism 118 sqq. in, ii. Nose- boring, custom of, iv. 196
Caledonia, classificatory system of Noses, long, of Fool Dancers, iii. ^27 sq.
relationship in, ii. 65 sq., iv. 286 Novices, carried off by wolves, iii. 503,
Guinea, totemism in, ii. 25 sqq., 42 505, 518 receive new names, 510,
;

sqq. iv. 276 sqq. the two races of,; 555 carried off by spirits, 516 purifi-
; ;

276 cation of the, 516, 518 dances of, 516 ;

Hebrides, totemism in, i. 86 e.vo- ;

sq., 541, 546; brought back on artificial
gamous classes in the, ii. 69 sqq. monsters, 537 sq., 541, 542, 543 sq. ;

Ireland, totemism in, ii. 118 sqq., rules observed by, after initiation, 539 ;

126 sqq. their interview with a patron spirit,

Mexico, iii. 195, 196, 204, 206 548 ;
hair of, plucked out at initiation,
Year's feast among the Hausas, ii. iv. 228 sqq.
608 Noviciate among the Narrinyeri, i. 484
Nexadi, the, iii. 267, 268 Nioro, paternal divisions, ii. 560 sq.
Neyaux, the classificatory system of re- Nunc dimittis, the totemic, i. 199
lationship among the, ii.
553 Nimu, a sort of external soul, ii. 81 sqq.
Nez Perefe, the, iv. 144 Nufa, marriageable, 178, 309 i.

Ngaitye, tutelary genius or totem, i, 478, Nursing mother, a totem of the Banyoro,
481 sq. ii. 521
Ngalalbal, mythical being, i. 41 Nurtimjas, sacred Australian poles, i.
Ngameni tribe, i. 376 sq. 124, 126 sqq., 212 ti.
Ngarego tribe, its phratries and clans, i. Nyanja - speaking peoples of British
61 Central Africa, ii. 395
Ngarigo tribe, i. 392, 393 sq. Nyarong, guardian spirit, ii. 209 sqq.
Niambe, supreme deity of the Barotse, Nyasaland Protectorate, ii. 394
iv. 306

Nias, exogamous clans in, ii. 197 ;

Oak, marriage of Zeus to, i. 33 as ;

superstitious rules observed by hunters guardian spirit, iii. 408

in, iv. 224 sq. clan, ii. 321
Nicknames, Herbert Spencer's theory forests in the Khasi country, ii.
that totemism originated in, i. 87, iv. 43 321 in Manipur, 325
;

Niece, marriage of paternal uncle with groves of California, iii. 496

his niece, his brother's daughter, dis- Oak-tree dressed as bride, 33 men i. ;

countenanced, ii. 121 sq. right of ;

tied to, 33
maternal uncle to marry his niece, his Oath by totem, 13, 21 sq., ii. 370,
i.

sister's daughter, 2yi sq., 525, iii. 575, 372

iv. 316 Oaths on a cup, ii. 154
Nigeria, Northern, totemi.sm in, ii. 600 Obligation to eat the totem, i. no, 230
sqq. sq., 233
 , , ;

360 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Octopus family, i. 131, ii. 80 sq. Ordeals, totemic, i. 20 sq.', judicial, 21,
god, ii. 157 iv. 178 sq.
Ododam, totem, iii. 67 Oregon, totemism not found in, i. 84;
Offerings to totems, ii. 219, iv. 280 sororate among the Indians of, iv.

Oil palms, ii. 377 144

Ojibways, descended from a dog, i. 5 ;
Organisation, exogamous, of Australian
totemism of the, iii. 46 sqq. guardian ;
tribes, i. produced by
271 sqq.',
spirits among 382 sqq. the, ;
Mide- deliberate and
sometimes repeated
wiwin Society of the, 484 sqq. dichotomy, i. 285
Okies, Okkis, or Otkons, supernatural Orgies at birth of a royal child, ii. 638
beings, iii. 27 ^ -t?-. 377 sq.
Okilia, brother, i. 289, 297 Origin of death, ii. 376 sq., 422 sq.
Okki, or manitoo, i. 51, 52, iii. 375, 377 Orinoco, Indians of the, iii. 572
Oknanikilla local totem centre, i. 189, Orphans, gestures of orphans in dance,
190, 193, 194 ii- 373 -t?-

Oknia, father, i. 289, 297 Orthography of native names, ii.

93 n.'^,

Olala, a Cannibal Society, iii.

539 sq., iii. 351 K.i
542 Orunda, taboo, ii. 610
Old men, influence of, in Australia, i. Oruzo, paternal clan, ii. 357
283, 226 sqq., 2 S'^m-< 44° -t?-. S42 i Osages, legend of their descent, i. 3 sq .

monopolise women, 549, 552, 572 their rules as to camping, 73 totemism ;

people unrestricted as to food, i. of the, iii. 128 sqq. sororate among ;

19 the, iv. 141

Old Woman, the Mother of the Corn, Osiris, ii.
34
iii. 140 191 sqq.', goddess of
sqq., Ossetes, silence of brides among the,
maize, slain by her sons, 19 1 sqq. iv. 235 ;
exogamy among the, 302
Olo Ot, marriage said to be unknown Ossidinge, district of W. Africa, ii. 397
among the, ii. 216, iv. 291 sq. Ostiaks, i. 86 n.'^ See Ostyaks
Olympus, a totemic, i. 81 Ostrich clan, iii. 381
Omahas, legends of their totems, i. 5, 8 ; Ostriches at death ceremony, i. 33, iii. 380
totemic taboos, ii sq.', totems, 14, Ostyaks, exogamy among the, iv. 302
17, iii. 85 sqq.', modes of wearing the Oswals, sororate among the, iv. 147
hair, i. 26 sq. guardian spirits among
;
Otoes and Missouris, totemism of the, iii.
the, iii. 398 sqq. Secret Societies of
;
122
the, 461 sqq. sororate among the, iv.
;
Ottawas, totemic carvings of, i. 30 sq. ;

149 ;
anomalous terms for cousins totemism of the, iii. 66 sq. guardian ;

among the, 310 spirits among the, 381 sq.

Omens, drawn from totems, i. 22 sq. ii. Otter clan, ii. 481
137, iv. 293 from dogs, ii. 165 from
; ;
Otter-heart and his Beaver wife, iii. 60
birds and animals, 206, 422 sqq.
Omuziro, totem, ii. 532 Otter's tongue in shamanism, iii. 438
Ona Indians of Tierra del Fuego, i. 147 Otua, god, ii. 178
Oneidas, the, iii. 4, 8 Outaouaks, their totems, i. 3, 19
Onondagas, the, iii. 4, 8 their phratries ;
Outlaws, sanctuaries or asylums for, i.
and clans, i. 57 96 sqq.
Oolachen or candle-fish, iii. 259, 306 Ovaherero. See Herero
Ootaroo and Pakoota, names of e.xo- Ovakumbi, traces of totemism among the,
gamous classes, i. 516 sq. ii. 623
Openings of the body, custom of Ovambo, the, ii. 368
mutilating the natural, iv. 196 sq. Oven, pretence of baking a human victim
Ophiogenes, i. 20, 22, iv. 179 in an, i. 18, ii. 136, 138, 160
Oracles given by inspired medium, ii. Owen, Miss Mary Alicia, iii. 76, 403
168 Owl, mourning for dead, i. 13, ii. 163 ;

Oraibi, Pueblo village, iii. 203, 208, 210 kept as bird of omen, i. 23 omens ;

Orang Ot, the, iv. 292 given by, 23 a village god, ii. 133
; ;

Sakai, reported communal marri- transformation of woman into, iii. 269

age among the, ii. 216 clan and owl masks, iii. 343 sq.
Orang-Mamaq, e.xogamy among the, ii. totem, i. 48, ii. 298
194 sq. Owls, imitation of, i. 39 sq.
Oraons, the, ii. 285 sqq. ;
totemism
among the, i. 10, ii, ii. 287 sqq. Padang, marriage customs in, ii. 193 sq.
Ordeal of spears, i.
555 Paddy (unhusked rice), totem, ii. 292
 1

INDEX 361

Padnia Sale, exogamous clans of the, ii. i.

337 ;
recognition of physical, 439
2.SI sq. \
ignorance of paternity at one
Pageh Islands. See Poggi time universal among mankind, iv.

Pains of maternity transferred to husband, iSS

etc., iv. 248 sqq. Paternity and maternity, physical, not
Painting, magical, to represent emu, i. implied by the classificatory terms
106 “father" and “mother," i. 286 sq.,
Paintings, totemic, i. 29 sq., 196, iii. ii-
54 73 7 . -^ -

267 sqq. ;
totemic body, i. ig6, ii. 28, Patriarchal family supposed to be
37; facial, iii. 36, 129, 269 sq., 289, primitive, iv. 95 sq. ;
objections to
414, 426, 517 of guardian spirits on ;
this view, 99
rocks, 424, 440, 442 Paulitschke, Philipp, ii. 541 ?t.^
Palm Oil Grove clan, ii. 558 Pawnee totems, i. 29, 30
Palm who was
squirrel, story of the wife Peace clans and War clans, iii. 129 ;

a, 568
ii. towns, 157
tree, marriage to, i. 34 n.^ Peaceful relations between Australian
Palmer, Edward, i. 51572.1, 521 sq., 523, tribes, 284 of some tribes of low
i. ;

528, 530 J77., 540, 542, 543 savages, iv. 87 sqq.

Palmer, H. R., ii. 600, 601, 602, 604, Peacock, totem, ii. 219, 220, 295 clan, ;

607 275, iv. 293

Pan, an African, ii. 603 Peepul tree, marriage to, iv. 21
Panama, Indians of, iii. 554 sqq. Peleus and Thetis, i. 63 ?i.^
Pandion Heliaetus, ii. 197 Pelew Islands, totemism in the, ii. 151,
Pangolin or Manis clan, ii. 486 sq. 183 sq.
Pans, totemism among the, ii. 297 sq. Penalties incurred by disrespect for totem,
Panther clan, ii. 550, iv. 312 i. 16 sqq.
Pantomimes at initiatory rites, 37 sq. i. Pend d'Oreille Indians, iii. 409
Papuans, their culture, ii. 33 physical ;
Pennant, Thomas, iv. 252
type of the, 201 Pennefather River, natives of the, i. 536,
Papuans and Melanesians of New Guinea, 538. 539
iv. 276 Pepper clan, ii. 231, 270, 274
Paraguay, Natarenes of, i. 35, iii. 580 Perpetual fire, ii. 491, iii. 239
Parents and children, prevention of Personal totems, i. 412, 448 sq., 482
marriage of, i. 163, 166, 274 sqq., sq., 534, 535, 536, 539,
489, 497 sq.,

283, 285 four- class system devised

; 564, ii. 84, 98 sq., 212. See Indi-
to prevent the marriage of parents vidual or personal totem and Guardian
with children, 399 sqq., 445, iv. 107, spirits
117 sq. ;
named after their children, Personation of ancestors, i. 204 of gods ;

iii. 361 and goddesses by masked men and

Parents-in-law, custom of providing food women, iii. 227
for, 504 sq.
i. avoidance of, ii. 57. ;
Personification of corn - goddess by
See also Avoidance and Mother-in-law women, 141, 142, 143 sq.iii.

Parhaiyas, totemism among the, ii. 317 Peru, aborigines of, their worship of
sq. natural objects, iii. sq.
Park, Mungo, ii. 555 n."^ Peru, a Pacific island, iv. 235
Parkinson, R., ii. 117, 118 «.i, Peruvian Indians, descended from
119,
152 n. animals, i. 7
Parkman, Francis, iii. 372 sqq. Pestle clan, ii. 270, 274
Parnkalla, group marriage among the, Petitot, Father E. iii. 357, 359 n.^, 365 ,

i. 369 •sq., 368

439 n.'^, sq.
Parrot, clan and totem, ii. 282, 558, 571, Petroff, I., iii. 267 71.

572 Phear, Sir John B. ,

ii. 334 sq.
Partridge, C., ii. 592, 593, 596 Philippine Islands, traces of totemism in
Patridge, totem, ii. 439, 606 the, i. 86
Paruinji tribe, i. 388 sq. Phratries, ii. 283 ;
in Australia, i. 60
Pasemahers, exogamy among the, ii. 192 sqq., 76 sqq., iv. 264 sq. ;
evidence
Pastoral tribes, polyandry among, ii. for phratric 76 in totems, i. sqq. ;

539 ;
laxity of sexual relations in Torres Straits, ii. 5, 6 sq., 22, 23,
certain, iv. 139 50 in New Guinea,
; 29, iv. 278 ;

Patagonians, their clans, i. 82 sq. in Mysore, ii. 273 among the Iro- ;

Paternity, primitive notion of, i. 167, quois, iii. II sq., 16 sqq. functions ;

iv. 61 sqq., 99; physical and social. of phratries among the Iroquois, 16
 ,; , 1 ,

362 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

sqq. ;
produced by subdivision of clans, Pole, village, ii. 604 ;
sacred, iii. 107
41, 44, 79 sq., 214 ;
of the Hopis, 210 Poles, sacred, among the Australians,
sqq. nameless, 244
; perhaps named ;
i. 126:
125, totem, iii. 270 sq.\
after clans, 244. See also Classes 290 sqq.,
345
Phratry, an exogamous group, including Polyandry, i. 501 among the Todas, ;

several totem clans, i. 55 sq. duties ;

ii. 256 among the Bahima and
;

to members of the same, iii. 275 Baziba, 538, 539 sq. fraternal, trace ;

Physical geography of South-Eastern of, iii. 277 may prevent the rise of
;

Australia, i. 314 sqq. exogamy, iv. 90 in Africa, 274 ;

Piacular sacrifices, i. 45 Polygamy, i. 549, ii. 26, 227, 263 sq.,

Piaroas, the, their doctrine of transmi- 272, 347, 405, 416, 453, 456, 462,
gration, iii. 572 sq. iii.277, 305, 354, 358, 365, 561,
Play, medicine or mystery, iii. 448 565 574: Kulin, ii. 619 sqq. ;

Pigeon clan, i. 182, 183, ii. 231, 301 ;

caused by prolonged lactation, iv. 79 ;

god, 156, 165 favourable to female births, 87

(Wild) clan, i. 18 Polynesia, advanced condition of totem-
Pigeons kept by Pigeon clan, i. 14 ism in, i. 81 sq., ii. 151 sqq. evolu- ;

Pig people, iv. 285 effigy of pig wor-

;
tion of gods in, iv. 30 female in- ;

shipped at marriage, 294 fanticide in, 77 sq.

Pig’s heart, a god, ii. 157 Pomegranate clan, ii. 273
Pigs' milk, i. 17 effect of drinking, iv.
;
Ponape, traces of totemism in, ii. 176
176 entrails, totem, ii. 288, 289
;
sq.
Pikalaba and Maramara, exogamous Pondos, the, ii. 382, 384
divisions in New Britain, ii. 119 sq., Ponkas, totemism of the, iii. 117 sqq.
122 sq. Porcupine, totem, ii. 371, 430 tribe of ;

Pima Indians, sororate among the, iv. Bechuanas, 372

149 Porcupines as guardian spirits, ii. 21
Pinart, Alphonse, 554 sq. iii. Porojas, totemism among the, iv. 294
Pineapple, totem, 296 ii. Port Essington, i. 578
Pinnaru, headman, i. 360 sq. Lincoln tribe, group-marriage in
Pipal (peepul) tree as totem, ii. 220, the, i. 369 sq. ;
their initiatory rites,
237 iv. 200 sq.
Pipe, keepers of the,iii. 98 sacred, 105, ; Mackay tribe, i. 430 sqq. ;
its

107 sq. phratries and subphratries, 77 sq.,

Piraungaru, secondary spouses, i. 309 78 sq.
Piros, the, iii. 207 Porto Novo, ii. 585
Pirrauru marriage, i. 363 sqq., 371 Possession by a spirit, i. 158
Pitta-Pitta tribe, i. 517, 524, 525, 526, Posts, totem, i. 30, iii. 270 sq., 290
528, S 45 sqq.
Pitt-Rivers, General, i.
325 k.^, 343 Pot, person married to earthen, iv.
Placenta of a king of Uganda, ii. 483 n . 211
regarded as twin of child, 483 n. Potato people, iv. 285
507 treatment of, 507
;
Potawattamies (Pottawatamies), sororate
Plague, ceremony to avert a, ii. 246 sq. among the, iv. 141 sq.
Plantain clan, ii. 558 Potlatch, feast accompanied by a distri-
Plants as totems, i. ii, iv. 298 mar- ; bution of property, iii. 262, 300 sq.
riage to, i. 34 domestication of, 87
; ; 304 zz.i, 342, 344, 519, 545
assimilation of people to, ii. 92 ; Pottawatamies (Potawattamies), totem-
respect for, 282, 285 ism of the, iii. 64 sq. guardian spirits ;

Playfair, Major A.,

295, 296 iv. sq. of the, 379 sqq.
Pleiades clan, ii. 301 Pottery, iii. 146 unknown, ii. 314, iii.
;

Plover, imitation of cry of, i. 113 260 made by women, ii. 432 of
; ;

Plum-tree, totem, i. 192 Pueblo Indians, iii. 205

Plural forms of terms for “mother,” Powell, J. W. iii. 33, 36, 38,

“husband,” “wife,” ii. 72 sq. Pow-wovj, medicine-man, iii. 384, 387

Plutocracy, tendency to, iii. 303 Prairies, the great, iii. 68
Poch, R. iv. 285 ,
Prayer-plumes, iii. 233, 234
Poggi or Pageh Islands, natives of the, Prayers, for rain, iii. 235 sq. to the ;

ii.213 sqq.\ marriage customs in the, sun, 389, 413, 423

215 sq., iv. 290 sq. Pregnancy, ceremonies observed at, i.
Poison-maker, continence observed by, 73 ;
ceremony in the seventh month
ii. 410 sq. of, ii. 256 sqq. iv. 259 sq.
 INDEX 363

I’regnant women, their sick fancies the by members of totemic clans, i. 112,
root of totemism, iii. 107, iv. 64 sqq. 231 sq.
Prescott, Philander, iii. 469 on Dacotan ; Proserpine River, i. 526, 532, 534
clans, i. 46 Protection against supernatural danger
Presents made by a father to his children perhaps a motive of totemism, i. 31
in his lifetime, ii. 195, iii. 174, 245, Protozoa, need of crossing among the,
iv. 131, 290 iv. 16s
Pretence of baking man in oven, i. 18, Psylli, a Snake clan, i. 20 immune to ;

ii. 156, 158, 160 snake bites, iv. 178

Primitive, sense in which e.xisting savages Puberty, taboos on food at, i. 19 ;

are, iv. 17, 266 ;

in what sense practice of knocking out teeth at, 27,
Australian aborigines are, in iv. 180 sqq. ceremonies at, i. ^6 sqq.
; ;

Prince Consort among the Barotse, iv. dances of maidens at, 38, iv. 215
306 sq. fasts at, i. 50
;
individual totems ;

Princes allowed to marry their sisters, ii. (guardian spirits) acquired at, 50 ;

538 taboos imposed at, 531 guardian ;

Princes and princesses live together pro- spirits acquired at, iii. 382, 399, 410
miscuously, ii. 523 413, 419, 421, 423 ideas of savages ;

Prisoners decapitated, iv. 284 as to puberty obscure, 453, iv. 180,

Privation favourable to male births, 194, 202, 207, 215 hair of youths ;

plenty to female, iv. 85 plucked out at, 228 sqq. See also
Procreation not associated with se.xual Australian, Ceremonies, and Initiation
intercourse, i. 191 sqq.\ not implied Pueblo Indians, iii. 2, 195 sqq.\ totemic
by the classificatory terms for father” ‘
‘
clans of the, 208 sqq. religious dramas ;

and ''
mother,"
54, 73 sq. ii. of the, 227 sqq. ; their elaborate
Progress in aboriginal Australia, i. 154 mythology and ritual, iv. 31 sq.
sq., 167, 264, 320 sqq.\ influence of country, natural features of the,
the sea on social, 167 sqq., 264, iii, 196 sqq.
331 village, plan of, iii. 201 sq.
material and social, among Aus- Puffin, divine, iv. 175
tralian coastal tribes, i. 320 sqq. Pumpkin, clan and totem, ii. 312, 315,
social, influenced by the food 319, 324 descent from a, 337
;

supply, i. 168 sq., 264, 320 sqq., 331 Punaluan form of group marriage, iv.
sqq. , 338 sq. 139, 140
Prohibited degrees, formula for reckon- Punjab, question of totemism in the, ii.
ing, ii. 310 sq., 313, 317 282 sq.
Prohibitions on food at initiation, i. 40 Purchase of wife, i. 72, ii. 18, 197, 199,
sqq., iv. 176 sqq., 217 sqq. See also 347. 379
Taboo as a means of effecting change
Prometheus, i. 386 from maternal to paternal descent, iv.
Promiscuity, trace of sexual, ii. 638 sq., 241, 242 sqq.
iv. 104110 sq. preceded group
sq., ;
Purification for killing sacred animal, i.

marriage, 137 not practised within

; 19 by vapour - bath, iii. 486
;
of ;

historical times, 138 probability that ;

cannibals, 512, 523, 525 of novices, ;

a large part of mankind has passed 516 after mourning, iv. 298
;

through, 151, 318 sq. Puti (antelope), totem, i. 13

Property, descent of, i. 67 n.^, ii. 194, Puttin, a sacred fish, ii. 205 sq.
19s sq., 196 sq., 443, iii. 16, 36, 58, Pygmies of the Congo, iv. 192
72, 174 descent of property under
;
Pythagoras, his doctrine of transmigra-
mother-kin, ii. 320, 323 bestowed by ;
tion, iii. 298
a man on his children during his life, Python, expected to visit
clan, i. 20 ;

195, iii. 174, 245 its influence in ; children at birth, 21 tribe of the ;

changing line of descent, 174 sq., iv. Bechuanas, ii. 376 descent of people ;

131 sq., 244 political influence

;
from the, 450 worship of the, in ;

acquired by private property, iii. 303 Uganda, 500 sqq. totem, in Sene- ;

sq. not allowed to pass by heredity

; gambia, 543 sq. ;
worshipped at
into another clan, 349 Whydah, 585 sq. , worshipped at
Prophet or .medium of dead king, ii. Brass, 591 sq.
470, iv. 306 god, iv. 35
Proportion of the sexes at birth, causes
which affect the, iv. 85 sqq. Quail, totem, 289 ii.

Proprietary rights in the totem claimed Quappas, totemism of the, iii. 131, 132 ly.
 ,

364 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Quartz, magical, iii. 505 Raven hero America, in N.W. iv. 31
crystal, abode of guardian spirit, ii. mask, 525 iii.

209 skins worn, i. 26

Queen Charlotte Islands, iii. 278 sq. Ray, Sidney H. ii. 39 ,

Queen Mother in Uganda, ii. 469, 471 ;

Rebirth of human beings, iii. 273, 274
in Daura, 608 sq. of the dead, 297 sqq.
;
See also
Sister in Uganda, ii. 469, 470, Reincarnation
471, 524; among the Barotse, iv. Red, as totem, i. 24 tabooed, 25 ;

3 °S n- clothes, a totem, ii. 403

Queens, burial of Egyptian, i. 35 earth clan, ii. 558, 572
Queensland, Bishop of North, i. 577 ochre, custom of smearing novices
climate of, i. 442 totemism ;
in, with, 229, 230
iv.

515 sqq. or War

towns, iii. 137
tribes, food prohibitions observed Red Maize clan of Omahas, i. 8, 11,
by, i. 136 iii. 90, 92,
99 totem, i. 17 ;

Quojas, the, of Africa, i.

44 River in Texas, iii. 180
Reddis. See Kapus
Rabbit-hunt, ceremonial, iii. 199 Reedbuck clan, ii. 496 sq.
Racial tendency to produce more males Reef Islands, totemism in the, ii. 85 sq.
or more females, iv. 86 Reform, exogamy a social, i. 162 sq.
Rain, made by king, ii. 623 prayer for, ;
Reformatory movement in Australian
iii. 235 sq. associated with extraction
;
tribes, i. 285 n.^
of teeth, iv. 180 sq. Reformers in Australian tribes, old men
clan, 359, 361
ii. as, i. 283
priests, 206, 234, 235, 236
iii. Refuge, cities of, i. 96 sqq.
totem, i. 24, 184, ii. 437. See also Reinach, Salomon, i. 223 n..^, 386, iv.
Rain-making 13 ;r.^, 21 n 103 n.^ . ,

Rainbow, omens from, ii. 166 Reincarnation, i. 155 Urabunna theory ;

god, ii. 166 of, 183 belief in reincarnation of

;

totem, ii. 626 dead universal in Central Australia,

Rainfall, influence of, on social progress, 191 of the dead, ii. 84, 345 sq., 552,
;

i. 168 sq. 264, 331 , 604, 606, iii. 274 ry., 335 sqq., 365
Rain-makers, spirits of dead people, iii. sqq. ;
practices to facilitate, iv. 181,
233. 234 194. See also Rebirth and Trans-
Rain - making, by bleeding, i. 75 ;
migration
ceremonies, 184, 218 360, ii. 162, Relations, eating dead bodies of, i. 74,
498, iii. 426, 462, 547 ceremony of ; iv. 260 sqq. marriage with near, ii.
;

the water totem, i. 113 ceremonies ; 282, iii. 575 sq.

of the Zunis, iii. 233 sqq. Relationship to totem, i. 8 sqq.
Rajputs, exogamous clans (gotras) of the, Relationships, the simplest and most
ii-
33 ° obvious, iv. 1 12: simplest, recognised
Ramaiyas, sororate among the, iv. 147 by founders of exogamy, 272. See
Ranfon, Dr. A. ii. 544 sq. , Classificatory system
Ranks, social, in N.W. America, iii. Relaxation of the rule of exogamy, i.

261 83 sq.
Raspberry mark on child, iv. 65 Religion, preceded by magic, i. 141 ;

Rat clan, ii. 491 rudiments of, in Australia, i. 142

totem, ii. 436 sqq. influence of totemism on, iv. 27
;

Rattles, iii. 522, 543 sqq. in relation to despotism, 2^ sq.

; ;

Rattlesnake, respect for, i. 10; ceremonies in relation to magic, 29 sq.

at killing, iii. 189 Religion and magic, distinction between,
clan, iii. 232 i. 105 blending of, iii. 142 combina-
; ;

Rautias, totemism among the, ii. 298 sq. tion of, 235, 237
Raven, mythology of N.W. America,
in Religious fraternities, iii. 206, 229
i.6 legends about the, iii. 292 sq
; . side of totemism, i. 4 sqq., 76 sqq.,
295 as creator, 364
;
as a guardian ;
81 sqq.
spirit, 420 personated by a masked
;
Repertories or Calendars, Indian, iii.

man, 525 446

clan (Haida), iii. 280 sqq. Reptile clan, i. 23, 132, iii. 98 ;
people,
class or phratry among the Tlingits, i. 12
iii. 265 sqq. Resemblance of people to their totemic
crest, iii. 267, 268 animals, ii. 8 sq., iii.
55 sq.
 ^ ,, ,

INDEX 365

Respect shown for totem, i. 8 sqq., ii. Rotuma, traces of totemism in, ii. 167
lo sq,, 27, 30, 36 sq., 56, 219, 238, sqq.
316, 397, 278, 279, 281, 282, 283,
iv. Rotuman form of the classificatory system
292 diminished, i. 19
;
of relationship, ii. 169 sq.
Responsibility, common, of a family, ii. Rotunda, the, iii. 160, 184
582 sq. of a clan, iv. 38 sq.
:
Rudolph, Lake, ii. 407
Resurrection, pretence of, at initiation
ceremony, i. 43 sq. iv. 228 apparent, , ;
Sachems, head chiefs of the Iroquois,
of the totem, i. 44^7. spiritual, 200; ;
iii. 15 ry., 17 sq.
gift of, iii. 436 pretence of, at initia-
;
Sachemship, iii. 71 sq.
tion into Secret Societies, 463 sqq . Sacrament, totem, i. 120, ii. 590, iv.

48s, 489 -t?-. s°s. 532, 542, 230 sqq., 319

S 4 S. 546, 549 Sacred animals, local, ii. 583 sqq., 590
Rhys, Sir John, iv. 158 n.^ sqq. in Madagascar, 632 sqq.
; and ;

Ribbe, C. ii. 116 ,

plants, not all to be confounded with
Rice, totem, ii. 221, 292, 296, 547 totems, iii. 195 kept in captivity, iv,
;

wild, iii. 47 17s

Riggs, Dr. S. R. 396
,
iii. 108 n.^, sq. Dancer, iii. 212, 214
Ringa-Ringa tribe, i. 517, 529 names, iii. loi
Rio Grande, iii. 196, 206, 207, 208 pole, iii. 107
Risley, Sir Herbert, i. 67, ii. 218 n.'^, shell, iii. 90 re.®

275 sq. 286 sq. 288, 292, 294, 297 sq

, , . stones, iii. 97, iv. 278
318 n.^, 324, 620 sq., iv. 240 •
tents, iii. 107
Rites of initiation, at puberty, i. 36 sqq., Sacrifices to totems, i. 14, 19 sq., 50,
prevalent in Australia, iii. 458. See ii.604; of totem, 588, 589, 589 sq.
also Ceremonies and Initiation 604
Ritual of Pueblo Indians, iii. 227 sqq. piacular, 45 to ghosts, ii. 108
i.
;

Ritualistic organization, in N.W. Sago, magical ceremonies to make sago

America, iii. 513 sqq. supersedes ;
grow, ii. 31 sqq., 38 sq. man who ;

family or clan organisation during fertilised sago palms, 32 sq.

winter celebrations, 514, 517 sq. Sago-palm people, iv. 285, 286
River, worship of the spirit of a, ii. St. Matthias Islands, totemism in, i. 133
492 sq. Sakai, their custom in a thunder-storm,
turtles as guardian spirits, ii. 211 ii. 438
Rivers, Dr. W. H. R. ,
i. 249 n.^, 297, Sakalavas of Madagascar, i. 85, ii. 632,
305. 307. 3°8, ii. 85 sqq., 109, 113, 637, iv. 241
114, 137, 138 sqq., 141 n.^, 152 n., Sal fish, respect shewn by potters for
171, 177 sq., 179 sqq., 225 n.^, ‘2‘2j, the, ii. 316
228, 258, 268 sq., iv. 10 59, 286 ;
Salisbury, Lake, ii.
454
quoted, ii. 89-94 Salish, the, iii. 253, 260, 261, 263 ;

Rivers worshipped, iii. 577 totemism among the, 338 sqq. ;

Rock, sacred, ii. 605 guardian spirits among the, 409 sqq.
Rodes, sororate among the, iv. 146 sq. Salivas, tribe of the Orinoco, i. 85, iii.

Rome, marriage ceremony at, i. 32 ; S72

foundation of, 95 sq. Saliyans, exogamy of the, iv. 295
Romulus and the foundation of Rome, Salmon in North-West America, iii.

i.
95 sq. 258 347, 363
sq.,
Ronas, totemism among the, iv. 294 sq. dance, iii. 530, 547 sq.
Roocooyen Indians, guardian spirits of Society, iii. 530, 547 sq.
the, iii. 448 Salt, prohibition to eat, i. 42 abstin- ;

Roondah, taboo, ii. 609, 610 ence from, at initiation, iii. 402 super- ;

Roro-speaking tribes in New Guinea, ii. 42 stitious abstinence from, iv. 223 sqq.
Rosa, J. N. de la, iii. 559 562 n.'^ totem, i. 24, ii. 289, 295, 296
Roscoe, Rev. John, ii. 451, 453, 454, Salt-workers, superstitions of, iv. 226 sq.
456, '458, 461 n.‘^, 468 n.^, 472 Saluppans. See Janappans
479. 502, 503. S °9 514. 515. Salvado, Bishop, i. 557, 560
520, S2IM.S, 523, 535, 538, 539, 542, Samira, to be possessed of, ii. 471 re.^
34«.i, 158 K.*, 305 re. Samoa, totemism in, 14, 15, 22,
iv. 87 i. 8, 13,
Rose, H. A., ii. 283 81 sq., ii. 151 sqq.
Rosenberg, H. von, iv. 291 Samoan ceremony at birth, i. 51 mode ;

Roth, W. E. i. 136, 137, 515, 522 sqq.,

,
of appeasing angry totem, i. 18; gods
528 sqq., 532 sqq., 542 sq. developed out of totems, iv. 30
 , ,

366 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Samoyeds, exogamy among the, ii. 343 167 264, 331
sq., Spirit of the, iii. ;

San Felipe, Pueblo village, iii. 223 sq. 325 worshipped, 577 sq.
sq. ;

San Juan Capistrano, iii. 403 Sea, totem, i. 24

Indians of, i. 39, 51 Sea-eel god, ii. 161
Sanctuaries, development of cities out of, Sea-urchin growing in man’s body, i. 18
’ 95 ^1'i- 'tt Australia, America,
I
Sea- weed clan, i. 22
Africa, ISorneo, etc., i. 96 sqq. Seals, the, a group of Secret Societies,
Sanctuaries or asylums, iv. 266 sqq. iii.520
Sanctuary for murderers, ii. 165 Seboko, totem,ii. 370, 378
Sand, totem, i. 24 Secondary husbands, ii. 264^7., 277 iii.

Santa Ana, Pueblo village, iii. 223 Secret names, i. 196, 197, 489, 473 ii.

Santa Cruz Islands, totemism in the, ii. Societies, 333 ii. 399, iii. 261,
85 sqq. sqq. 457 sqq. sometimes graduated ;

Santals, the, ii. 300 sqq. descended ;

according to ages, 470 sqq., 475, 477
from goose, i. 7 exogamous clans and ;
sqq., 548 insignia of the Secret
;

subclans of the,300 sqq. ii. Societies made

of red cedar bark, 504,
Santo Domingo, Pueblo village, iii. 222 517. 519. 524. 527. 540 legends of ;

Saoras, sororate among the, iv. 146 origin of, 515 their resemblances to ;

Sarawak, analogies to totemism in, ii. totemic clans, 547 sq.

202 sqq. Seed clan, ii. 489 sq.
Sardine, burial of, i. 15 Seed-corn, fertilisation of the,iii. 141,
Sardinia, custom at courtship in, iv. 142, 143 ritual with, 237
;

23s ^<1 - Seeds, ceremony for the multiplication

Sauks and Foxes, totemism of the, iii. of edible, i. 573 sq.
74 m- Segregation, local, of the exogamous
Savage differs from civilised man rather classes and totems, i. 246 sqq. of ;

in degree than in kind, 282 i. totemic clans, ii.

4, 5, 6 of exogam-
;

Savagery, all civilised races have passed ous clans, 192, 193, 194, 198 ;
of
through a stage of, i. 94 exogamous groups, iii. 124x7., 357x7.
Savages, importance of studying, 95 i. ;
Seguela, totemism in, ii. 547
their extinction, ibid. Sekanais, the, iii. 346 sq. 354
Savars, totemism among the, ii. 229 Self-denying ordinance of totemism, i.
Savo, totemism in, ii. 112 sq. 122 of Central Australian totemism,
;

Sayce, A. H. i. 86 sq. , 225, 232

Scab supposed to result from eating Seligmann, Dr. C. G. , ii. 27, 29, 30, 31,
totem, i. 17, ii. 403, 405 35. 43. 45. 47. 51. iv- 202, 276, 277
Scalps as title of nobility, iii. 303, Sernas, the, ii. 328
304 ti.^ mystery of, 417, 427
;
Seminoles, the, iii. 167 sqq.
Scapegoat, human, ii. 491 Semites, question of totemism anrong the,
Scarcity of women assigned as cause of i. 86, iv. 13 not exogamous, 14 ;

exogamy, 75 sq.iv. Senecas, the, iii. 4, 5, 8 their phratries ;

Scarification, iv. 313 and clans, i. 56 sq.

Scars as tribal or totemic badges, i. 28 Senegambia, totemism in, i. 7, 10, 20,
sq., 36, ii. 9 sq. cut on bodies of ; 22, ii.
543 sqq.
Australian aborigines, iv. 198 sqq. Senior and junior side of family in rela-
Scherzer, K. iii. 447 , tion to marriage, i. 177 sqq.
Schinz, H. ii. 368 ,
Seriphos, respect for lobster in, i. 15
Schomburgk, Sir R., iv. 145, 316 Serpent clan, ii. 545
Schoolcraft, H. R., iii. 10, 50, 51, Serpents, live, carried by dancers, iii.
377 229 sqq. See also Snake and Snakes
Schiirmann, C. W. i. 369, iv. 200 sq. ,
Servant clan, ii. 558
Schweinfurth, G. iv. sq. , Servia, traces of marriage to trees in, i.32
Science, exogamy an unconscious mimicry Serving for a wife, iii. 354, 365, iv. 300
of, iv. 169 Sesamum folk, iv. 298
Scorpion clan, i. 20, ii. 230, 233 Sese, Island of, 499, 501 ii.

totem, ii. 543, 545 Seven as a lucky number, iii. 426

Scotland, transference of travail- pangs to Seventh month of pregnancy, ceremonies
husbands in, iv. 252 observed in, i. 73, ii. 256 sqq., iv.
Scott, Sir J. George, ii. 336 sq. 259 sq.
•Scratching, forbidden, ii. 527, iii. 402 ; Sex, totems, i. 4, 47 sq., 390 sq., 456
rules as to, 326 sqq., 470, 490, 496 sq., iii. 456, iv.

.Sea, influence of the sea on progress, i.

173 ; or patrons, ii. 627, iv. 173
 ,

INDEX 367

Sexes, legend of origin 48 pro- of, i.

;
iii. 421 sqq. Secret Societies among ;

portions in primitive socety, iv.

of, the, 508 sqq.
76 causes which affect the pro-
sqq. ;
Sia, totemism of the, iii. 219 sqq.
portion of the sexes at birth, 85 sqq. ;
Siah Posh Kafirs, cities of refuge among
proportion of the sexes in Africa, 86 the, i. 99
.tq. licence between the, till marriage,
;
Siberia, totemism in, i. 85 sq., ii. 341
301 sqq.
Sextus Empiricus, iv. 175 Sibree, J. ,
ii. 637, 639 sq.
Sexual communism, relics or traces of, Sichomovi, Pueblo village, iii. 209, 212
i. 64, ii. 129, 602 sq., iii. 472 ; sur- Siciatl, the, iii. 433
vivals of, in Australia, i. 31 1 sqq. ;
Sick people fed with the blood of their
in Indonesia, alleged, ii. 213 sqq. ; kinsfolk or smeared with it, i. 42
between men and women of corre- Sickness caused by eating totem, i. 17
sponding age-grades, 415 sq. Sidibes, the, ii.
544
intercourse not supposed to be the Siebert, Rev. Otto, i. 148 n.^. 347
cause of childbirth, i. 191 sqq. See 35 °. 351. 352
also Impregnation Siena or Senoofo, 548 sqq. the, ii. ;

— jealousy absent in some races, ii. totemism among the, 550 sqq.
216, iv. 88 sq. Sigai and Maiau, ii. 18 sqq.
licence at harvest festival, ii. 303, Silence imposed on women after marriage,
315 at ;
circumcision, 403, 454 ;
i.
63 iv. 233 sqq. imposed on ;

accorded to Masai warriors, 414 widows, 237

selection, dancing as means of, i. Silk tabooed, i. 13
38 Silver clan and totem, ii. 232, 245, 247,
Shamans, guardian spirits of, iii. 412, 270, 271, 272, iv. 295 ;
silver and
415 sq., 418, 420^7., 426, 428, 437, gold as totems, iv. 24
438, 454 powers of, 418 head-dress
; ; Simon, P. Spanish historian, iii. 449
,

of, 422 dance of, 422 masks of,

; ;
Simons, F. A. A., iii. 557 n.^, 558 sq.
428, 438 of the Maidus, 497 sq. See
;
Simpson, Prof. J. Y. iv. 272 ,

also Medicine-men Simulation of childbirth by the father, iv.

Shark and crocodile, heroes developed 244 sqq.
out of, iv. 30 sq. Singhalese, physical type and racial
Sharks, respect for, i. 8, ii ; transmigra- affinities of the, ii. 334 sq. form of ;

tion into, ii. 173 ;

wooden images of, the classificatory system of relationship
213
iv. among the, 333 sq.
Sharp-edged tools and weapons used to Singhie tribe of Dyaks, i. 17
repel spirits of thunder and hail, ii. Sioux or Dacotas, iii. 85 sq .\ guardian
437 spirits among the, 396 sqq. ; Secret
Shawnees, transference of child to father's Societies among the, 459 sqq.
clan among the, i. 71 totemism of ;
Sisauk ceremonial, iii. 510
the, iii. qs sq. anomalous terms for;
Sisiutl, mythical snake, iii. 531
cousins among the, iv. 310 Sister, marriage with deceased wife's
Sheep, tabooed, i. 12 sacrificed, 32 ; ;
sister, ii. 630, iii. 19, 108, 155, iv.
sacred, ii. 634 worshipped by shep-; 139 sqq. obligation to marry a de-
;

herds, iii. S77, 578 ceased wife's younger sister, prohibition

clan, ii. 487 to marry a deceased wife’s elder sister,
totem, ii. 295, 378, S3i ii. 352. See also Sisters
Sheep's head, a totem, ii. 405 of wife, avoidance of, iv. 283, 284
Shells, sacred, ii. 19, 20, 22 sq., iii. 90, Sister's children, authority of maternal
98, 107 used in initiation rites of
;
uncle over his, ii. 123 sq., 194, 409,
Secret Societies, 467, 468 sq., 485, 564, iv. 289 the heirs under mother-
;

487 sq., 489 sq. kin, ii. 320

Shields, totems carved or painted on, i. daughter, avoidance of, ii. 509 ;

29 sq. marriage of maternal uncle with his,

Shifting of cultivation, ii. 300, 303, 315, 271, 525, iii. 575, iv. 316
ii-
549 SSS. 577 son, rights of the maternal uncle
Shortlands Islands, totemism in the, ii. over his, ii. 66 and mother's brother, ;

LT-Sm- relation between, 75 ;

at funerals,
Shoshonean language, iii. 207, 208 512 ;
a man’s heir, iii. 277
Shrines of hammer-headed shark and Sisters exchanged in marriage, i. 409,
crocodile, 19 sq. ii. 460, 463, 483, 491, 540, ii. 18, 26,
Shuswap, guardian spirits among the. 28 sq. 40, iv. 80, 274 avoidance of. ;
368 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY
>•542 565, ii. 77 sqq., 124, 131, 147,
. Smiths, hereditary, ii. 497, iv. 19
189, 343, 344, 638, iii. 245, 362, iv. 286, Smoke as means of producing clouds
288 right to marry a wife's sisters, i.
; and rain, iii. 234
572 577
, i^zsq., 245, 250, 272,
ii. Smoking as religious rite, iii. 105, 108,

384, 451, 4S3, 461, 463, 522, 630, iii. 234. 237. 388, 389
19, 65, 85, 127, 136, 148, 154, 155, Smyth, R. Brough, iv. 176 sq.
246, 354. 498, iv. 139 sqq., 292, 315 ; Snail and beaver, descent of Osages
names of sisters not mentioned by from, i. 5 sq., iii. 129
brothers, ii.
77 ;
a wife’s sisters as Snake produced at initiation, 37 i.

concubines, 167 ;
close tie between band (society) of the Moquis, i. 46
men married to sisters, 351 ;
right to black, a Hausa totem, ii. 604, 606,
cohabit with, 523 ;
right of princes to 607 effigy of double-headed, iii. 531
;

marry their sisters, 538 ;

marriage of clan, i. 184, ii. 230, 250, 310, 312 ;

brothers with sisters, 541, iii. 362, of Moquis, i. 7 sq. of Narrinyeri ;

363. 541, 575, 579, 307 iv. ;

as keep snakes, 14 in Cyprus, 20, ;

joint wives in group marriage, 139 ; 22 in Senegambia,

; 133 of the ;

kings married to their, 307 sq. Hopis, iii. 213, 229, 231, 232
Sisters of king, licence allowed to, ii. dance, iii. 213, 229 sqq.
565 Order, the, iii. 231, 232
Sister-in-law, wife of wife's brother, Snake-bite, as ordeal, i. 20 cures for, ;

avoidance of, ii. 388 22. iv. 179 supposed immunity to,
;

Sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, mutual 178

avoidance of, ii. 412 Snakes, born of a woman, i. 8, iii. 213 ;

Sitka, iii. 271 kept by Snake clan, i. 14 as kinsmen ;

Skaulits, the, iii. 429 of people, 20 ceremony for the ;

Skin of totemic animal, prohibition to multiplication of, 184 the embodi- ;

use, i. 12, 13 dressing in, 26 not; ; ments of the spirits of the dead, ii.
worn, ii. 370, 373, 374, 397, 422, 436 389 sq. princes turned into, 392
; ;

diseases caused by eating totems, sacred among the Wanyamwezi, 450

i. 17, ii. 397, 403, 404, 405, 406, 448 sq. superstitions about, iii. 188 sq.
; ;

Skins of totemic animals as signs, i. 31 ;

live, carried in Snake Dance, 229 sqq.
of animals prepared by Australian Snow, its relation to the Hare clan, i.
aborigines, 321 132 sq.
Skulls, human, offered, ii. 22 in dance ; totem,
i. 24, 36
of Cannibals, iii. 531 Snow-shower, imitation of, iii. 533
Sky, beings, i. 152 Snowstorm, ceremony for stopping, iii.

mythical headman in, i. 338 127

Slalemux, the, iii. 342 Social aspect of totemism, l. 53 sqq.
Slave Coast, natives of the, ii. 576 sqq. obligations of totemic clans, ii.

Indians, the, iii. 439 475. 559. iii- 299

mother, children of a free man by superiority of women among the
a, iv. 243 Garos, ii. 323
Slaves, iii. 261 king’s daughters always
;
Secret, ii. 399, iii. 261, 333
Societies,
married to, ii. 607 sacrifice of, iii. ;
sqq.,457 among the Siouan or ;

276, 342 Dacotan Indians, 459 sqq.

the, an Indian tribe, iii. 346 Soldier ant, totem, ii. 437
Slavs, South, silence of bride among the, Solomon Islands, totemism in the, i. 86 ;

iv. 235. See also South Slavonian exogamous classes in the, ii. loi sqq.
Sleep, Spirit of, iii. 269, 540 sq. Solstices, rites observed at the, iii. 237
Sleeping in burial grounds to obtain the sqq.
dead as guardian spirits, iii. 420, 438 ;
Somali family, ii. 407 ;
marriage custom
on graves, iv. 227 sq. of the, iv. 256, 258
Small Bird clan, 22, 23, i. 27, 131 ;
Son perpetually iii. 15 disinherited,
subclan, iii. 95 sq., 104 Songhies, the, iii. 317
Smearing fat on faces, i. 19 ;
on young Songish, the, iii. 507
men as a ceremony, 19, 42 Songs, ceremonial, in unknown lan-
blood at marriage, i. 72 guages, i. 283 ancestral, iii. 276 ; ;

the juices of the dead on the living, sacred, 389 to invoke guardian
;

i-
74 spirits, 414, 421, 427 sq. of sha- ;

Smith, W. Robertson, i. 91, 102, iv. mans, 421 of guardian spirits, 434
;

13 n.^, 74 ;
on totem sacrament, i. sq. ;
accompanying dances, 502, 518 ;

120, ii. 590, iv. 230 231 and dances as an e.xorcism, 518
 ,

INDEX 369

Sonontowanas, the, iii. 4 .Sprout, G. M.,

410 ry. iii.

Soppitt, Mr., iv. 299 Squirrel clan, 550 ii.

Sorcerers able to wound the souls of 298

folk, iv.
enemies, iii. 375 Standard, royal, iii. 159
Sororate (the right to marry a wife’s Standards, totemic, ii. 23
sisters), iv. 139 sqq. among the ;
Stanley, W. B. ii. 546 71. ,
'

Kacharis, 300 Star, totem, i. 24, 25

Sosom, name of bull-roarer, iv. 285 ;
Star Island, ii. 63
mythical giant, 285 Stars, transformation of birds into, i.

Soul, transference of, to e.vternal objects, 436 sq.

i. 124 sqq. ;
theory of external, 125 Stephan, E., and Graebner, F. ,
ii. 131
sqq., ii. 81, 552, 561, S93 -W-. “i- sq.

451 J7., iv. 52 ry. Stephen, A. M., iii. 245 sq.

Souls, multiplicity of, i. 34 \
bush, Stepmother, marriage with, ii. 189
ii.
594 sqq. transmigration of, iii. ;
Sterilising effect of incest, belief in the,
297, 365 sq. See Transmigration iv. 157 sqq.
South Slavonian birth-ceremony, i. 31 Stevenson, Mrs. M. C. iv. 232 ,

custom at hail-storm, ii. 437 Stewart, D, S. i. 79, 471 sq. ,

peasantry, superstitions of the, ii. Stilts, novice set up on high, ii. 399

259. See also Slavs Sting-ray, fish, worship of the, ii. 177
Southern Cross, the, i. 436 god, ii. 158
Streamers, ceremony at sight of, Stlatlumh, the, iii. 342 71.^
i.
499 Stokes, J. L. i. 578 ,

Spartan marriage custom, iv. 255 Stone, representing honeycomb, i. 228 ;

Spear, god, ii. 166 worshipped, ii. 31 1 divining, 346 ; ;

Spears, ordeal of, i. 555 magical, in body of novice, iii. 505

Speck, F. G. iv. 311, 312 sq. ,
axes, hammers, and knives, iii. 260
Spelling of American Indian names, iii. clan, ii. 279
93 sacred, iv. 278
Spencer, Prof. Baldwin, i. 148, 149 n.^, Stones, representing witchetty grubs, i.
152, 186 ?/.^, 196 n.^, 333 sq., iv. 105 representing eggs of insects,
;

51, 265 on totemism, i. 113-115

;
Hakea flowers, manna, and kangaroos,
Spencer, Herbert, his theory of totemism, T05, 107 associated with child-
sq. ;

i. 87, 102, iv. 43 sq. birth,192; representing eggs of grubs,

Spencer and Gillen, i. 92, 95, loi, 103, 199 representing euros (kangaroos),
;

112, 125, 138, 146 i?., 148, 15s, 163, 226 sq. representing dugongs, 229
; ;

168 tD, 175, 191, 200, 229, 230, magical ceremonies performed at heaps
'tt which the spirits of
249 «.^, 251 sq., 253, 277 n.'^, 289 573 I

sq., 293 sq., 306 sq., 310, 313, 336 the totems are thought to reside, ii.
339 «•’. 353 -J??-. 5°4. 5°S. S” 19, 21 gods in, 162 sacred, iii. 97,
; ;

575. >v. 55. 56, 60, 73,

S7I. iv. 278

82 n. 88 «.*, 199, 261 Stow, G. W. iv. 216 ,

Spider, effigy of spider worshipped at Strabo, iv. 309

marriage, iv. 293 Strahlenberg, P. J. von, ii. 342
clan, ii. 282 Strehlow, Rev. C. i. 186 «.'*, iv. 59 ,

Spieth, J. ,
iv. 37 ;r.® Stseelis, guardian spirits of the, iii. 429
Spinife.x, i. 317 sqq.
Spinning, iii. 260 Sturt, Captain C. i. 318 ,

Spiny Ant-eater clan, ii. 486 sq. Subclans, ii. 248 sq., 300 sqq., 408,
Spirit of the sea, iii. 325 sq. 410, 419, 421 rules of marriage as ;

Spirits, disembodied, in trees, i. 189, to, iii. loi

193 guardian, among the American

:
Subclasses, tribes with eight exogamous,
Indians, iii. 370 sqq. represented by ;
i. 259 sqq. feminine names of the
;

masked men, 500 r^., 510. 517. 533. Australian, 268, 269, 397 «.^, 407 71.^,
550; present in winter, 517 attempts ;
411 71 ., 415 71 ."^ alternation of the \

to deceive, iv. 253, 257 sq. See totems between the subclasses, 408
Guardian spirits sq., 419, 433 sq. ;
indirect female
Spiritual husbands, ii. 423 sq. descent of, 399 ;
indirect male descent
Spitting as a charm, i. 13 of, 444 sq. totemism of the, 527, ;

Spleen of any animal, a totem, ii. 418 53°. 531 totemic taboos of the, 531
I

Split totems, i. 10, 58 sq., 77, ii. 397, Subdivision of totem clans, i. 56, 57 sqq.,
520, 536 sq., iii. too, iv. 175 ii. 4, 16, iii. 41, 44, 54 sq., 57, 79
VOL. IV 2 B
 , 1 ,

370 rOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

sq. 214; of exogamous classes,
124, it perhaps a motive of totemism,
ii. 102 of clans, 192 ; i-31
Subincision, i. 565, 569 575 as ;
Supernatural power (OTatta), ii. too, 112;
initiatory rite, 195, 204 bestowed by guardian spirits, iii.
435 ;

Subphratries, exogamous divisions of acquired at initiation, 513 ;

claimed by
Australian aborigines, i. 60, 61 sq., members of Secret Societies, 537
76 sqq. See Subclasses Superstition a useful auxiliary of law and
Subsidiary or secondary totems, ii. 3 sq., morality, iv. 160
7, 14 sqq., 375, 376, 473, 476 sqq., Superstitions of the Cherokee about
^16 sqq., 519 sq. one possible source ;
animals and plants, iii. 186 sqq. ;

of, iv. 280. See also Linked totems about foods among the Zulus, iv.
Substitution or disguise at marriage, i. 304
33 Supreme Being, reported in Australia,
Subtotems, i. 78 sqq., 133 sqq., 427 i. 151 sq.

431 452 sq., 470 sq., 540, Swan, J. G. ,

iii. 506 sq.

567 ;
suggested explanation of, iv. Swan maiden type of
tale, ii. 308, 570,
270 589, iii. 64
Sugar, maple, iii. 62 n.^ totem, ii. 292, 295, 296, 298
Sugar-cane clan, ii. 231, 236, 239 Swanton, J. R., iii. 280 sq., 285 sq.,
Suhman, fetish, ii.
573 290, 292 sq., 300, 544
Suicides buried at cross-roads, ii. 507 sq. Swazies, the, ii. 384
Suk or Bawgott, the, ii. 426 sqq. ;
Sweat-bath, iii. 486 before war, 418 ;

totemism among the, 427 sq. Sweat-house, spirit of the, iii. 420
Suku, exogamous clan, ii. 193, 194, Sweating at initiation, iii. 402, 413, 414,
196 419, 421, 423 as a religious rite,;

Sulias, guardian spirits, iii. 429 sq. 486

Sumatra, totemism in, ii. 185 sqq. ;
Swelling of body, penalty for eating
husband and wife living in separate totem, iv. 281, 294
households in, iv. 288 sqq. Swollen stomach, supposed effect of eat-
Summer names, iii. 517 ing totem, iv. 281
Sun, the divinity of the Natchez, 25, i. Sword clan, ii. 279, 299
iv. 179 imitation of, i. 131
;
cere- ; Symbolism a veil of ignorance, i. 82
mony to make the sun shine, 131 ;
Sympathetic magic, iv. 247 sq. 252 sq. ;

descent from the, ii. 220, 281 prayers ;

in hunting, i. 39 taboos based on, ;

to, iii. 389, 413, 423 shut up in a box ;

iii.
577 sq. See also Magic
and out again, 323, sq.
let in bird ; Syrian goddess, the, iv. 176 her sacred ;

shape, 325 not to shine on bones of ;

fish, i. 17
human victims, 522, 526 represented ;

by masked man, 533 mask of the, ;

Taboo in Hawaii, ii. 172
325, 502, 533 dead buried with ;
Taboos on food, i. 19 on food ; at initia-
reference to the sun’s course, iv. 213 tion, 40 on food in Queensland,
sqq. ;

sq. 523 sqq. imposed at initiation, 531

; ;

clan, ii. 245, 272, 274, 359, 361, communal, ii. 215 observed by ;

363, iii. 214 ;

of the Bechuanas, i. members of an age-grade, 413 in ;

131 ;
in Murray Islands, 131 Congo, 614 sqq. hereditary in ;

totem, i. 24, 25, 35, 104, 254, 452, paternal line, 560 sq. in Madagascar, ;

454 4 SS> 456. ii- 242, 428, 430, 440,

.
631 sqq. based on sympathetic
;

441, iv. 213, 278 Arunta ceremony of ;

magic, iii. 576 sq.
the, i. 21 totemic, i. 8 sqq. of the Nandi, ii. ;

tribe of Bechuanas, ii.

373 sq. 435 sqq. of the Omahas, iii. 94 sqq.
; ;

worship, iii. 213, iv. 179 extended beyond the totemic clan, i.
Sun Father, iii. 237 225, 227 cease at initiation, ii. 425.
;

Priest, 209, 233, 234, 237 iii. See also Prohibitions

Sun-god, 502, 503 iii. Tagals of the Philippines, the, iv. 253
Sunrise, the dead buried with their heads Tahiti, traces of totemism in, ii. 173 sq.
towards the, iii. 274, iv. 213 Tailless Cow clan, ii.
497
Superb Warbler, sex totem, i. 47 the ;
Tales told to promote the crops, ii. 58
" elder sister " of Kurnai women, 496 Tamaniii of Banks’ Islands, i. 52 a ;

Supernatural beings, initiation into Secret sort of external soul, ii. 81 sqq., 100
Societies by, iii. 513 sqq.', as pro- sqq.
tectors of families, 513 sqq. Tamanous, spirit, guardian spirit, iii.

danger, desire for protection against 405 sqq.

 , , ,,

INDEX 371

Ta manowash, guardian spirit, iii. 408 Tewa, the, iii. 207

Tamil language, ii. 227, 329 form of ; Texas, Wolf clan in, i.
44
the classificatory system of relation- Thatada clan, iii.
95
ship, 330 sqq. Theal, G. McCall, i. 150, ii. 383, 388 sqq.
Tmia, totem, ii. 547 Theddora tribe, its phratries and clans,
Tando, chief god of Ashantee, iv. 37 i. 61 ;
branch tribe, 393
Tanganyika, Lake, ii. 629, 630 Thetis, Peleus and, i. 63 n.^
Tanner, John, iii. no, 374 Thlinkets, disguised as their totemic
Tano, the, iii. 207 animals, i. 26 totemic paintings and
;

Tanoan language, iii. 207, 224, 225 carvings among the, 30 ;

phratries and
Taplin, Rev. George, i. 477 sqq. clans of, 57. See also Tlingits
Tapyri, the, iv. 309 Thomas, N. W., ii, 587, 589, iv. 13
Tarlow, heap of stones, i. 573 Thompson Indians, guardian spirits
Tasmanians, the, i. 342 proportion of ;
among the, iii. 413 sqq.
sexes among the, iv. 85 Thomson, Basil H.,
142 sqq., 149 sq. ii.

Ta-tathi tribe, i. 390 sq. Threshold, jumping over the, iii. 512
Tattoo marks, tribal, iv. 197 Throwers, Society of the, iii. 512
Tattooed, crests, iii. 281, 288 sq, Thunder, ceremonies to stop, ii. 437 sq .

women alone, i. 29, iv. 202 sqq. iii. 126 sq. ceremony at first thunder
;

Tattooing, i. 28 of Poggi Islanders, ii.

;
of spring, 105^7., 126^7.
214, 215 sq. on king’s body, iii. 159;
;
bird, iii. 80
totemic, 353 clan, iii. 80
Tautain, Dr., ii. 543 sq. phratry, iii. 118, 119
Taveta, the, ii. 417 sqq. totemism ; among totem, i. 24, ii. 626
the, 418 silence of brides
;
among the, Thunder Mountain, iii.215
iv. 233 sq. Thunder-being clan, iii. 126 sq.
Teeth, boys' teeth worn by women, i. Thunder-stones rolled to procure rain, iii.

27 chipped, 27 practice of knock-

; ;
236
ing out teeth at puberty, 27 knocked ;
Thunderers, the, iii. 82, 83
out at initiation, 44, 74 e.xtracted at ;
Thunderstorm, ceremonies for stopping,
initiation, 412 «.'*, 467, 335, 539 ;
ii.
437 sq., iii. 126 sq.
loss of teeth supposed to result from Thundung, “elder brother” of the
infringing taboo, ii. 381, 404 ex- ;
Kurnai, i. 495
tracted at puberty, 443, 453 customs ;
Thuremlui, mythical Australian being, i.
of knocking out, chipping, and filing 44
the, iv. 180 sqq. extraction of teeth;
Thurn, Sir E. F. im, iii. 565, 566, 569
associated with rain, 180 sq. children ;
sq. 570 sq.
who cut the upper teeth first put to Thurston, Edgar, ii. 225 sqq. 244 sq.
death, 194 sq. iv. 294
Tehuantepec, Indians of the Isthmus of, Tibetans, polyandry of the, iv. 91
> 51 Tierra del Fuego, 147 i.

Teit, James, 343, 345, 409, 423, 509

iii. Tiga Loeroeng, exogamy in, ii. 195 sq.
Telugu language, ii. 227, 241, 329 Tiger (jaguar), kinship with, i. 20 oath ;

Tembus, the, ii. 382, 384 by, 21 sq. dead, mourning for, iv.
;

Temple-tombs of kings, iv. 34 298

Temporary marriages, ii. 630, iv. 309 clan, i. 34, iv. 298, 299 imitation ;

wives, custom of furnishing, i. 63. of tigers at marriage, i. 34

See Wives folk, iv. 298
Ten Broeck, P. G, S. iii. 207 ,
totem, ii. 288, 289, 295, 296, 297,
Ten Tribes of Israel, the lost, i. 99 298
Tenn6, totem, ii. 545, 546 Tikopia, traces of totemism in, ii. 176,
Tent, totem, i. 25 179 sqq.
Tents, sacred, iii. 107 Tikopian form of the classificatory system
Terms of address, ii. 50 of relationship, ;
of relationship, ii. 182 sq.
plural, for “mother,” “husband,” Timucua Indians, their clans, iv. 314
‘
‘
wife, " 72 sq. See Classificatory Tindalo, ancestral ghost, ii. 104, soy sq..
system of relationship Ill, 113
Tertre, J. B. du, iv. 315 Tinnehs or D6n6s, iii. 252 totemism ;

Test of medicine-men, i. 20 ;
of totem among the, 345 sqq. ;
totemism among
kinship, 20 sq. the Western, 348 ;
guardian spirits
Tetons, the, iii. 112, 194 among the, 439 sqq. ;
sororate among
Tevoro, village deities in Fiji, i. 139 sq. the, iv. 144
 ,

372 TO TEMISM A ND EXO GAMY

Tippa-malki/ maxr’i^Lge, i. 363^17^., 372 Tortoise or Turtle clan, origin of, iii. 18
Tiribis, the, iii. 551 sg. sq. See also Turtle
Tirki clan, i. 12 ;
with a taboo on mice Tortures of young warriors, ii. 135,
or on animals whose eyes are shut or 147
open, 279, 288, 289, 290, 295,
ii. Totem, defined, i. 3 sq. ;
derivation of
297, 299, 314 name, 3, iii. 50 ;
different kinds of,

Tiwa or Tigua, the, iii. 207 i.

4 ;
plants as totems, 4, ii sex, 4, ;

Tjingilli, sacred dramatic ceremonies of 47 sq. ,470 distinguished from fetish,

;

the, i. 227 sq. ;

classificatory terms 4, 52 ;
descent from the, 5 sqq., 556,
used by the, 301 ii. 56, 58, 86, 88, 138, 187, 190, 565
tribe, exogamous classes of the, i. sqq., 604, 605, iii. 18 j-^., yzsq., 76,
266 tyS’ 273 sq., 570, iv. 312 respect
;

Tlatlasikoalas, Secret Societies of the, iii. shewn for, i. 8 sqq., ii. 10 sq., 27,
521 30, 36 238, 316,
sq., 56, 219 sq.,
Tlingits, Tlinkits, Thlinkets, or Thlin- 397, iv. 278, 279, 281, 282, 283, 292 ;

keets, iii. 252, 253 totemism among

;
man identified with his, i. 9, 118 sqq.,
the, 264 sqq. ;
guardian spirits among 121, 123, 159 sq., 4S4. 458. 472:
the, 437 sqq. spoken of as brother, 9, iv. 174 ;

Tlokoala, 435, 504, 505, 506, 529

iii. spoken of as father, i. 9, 13, 423, iv.
To Kabinana, a culture hero, ii. 120 278 ;
split, i. 10, 77, ii. 397, 520, 536
Toad in rain-making ceremony, iii. 235 sq., iii. too ;
not to be touched, i. ii
Toaripi or Motumotu tribe, ii. 40 sqq. sqq. ;
not to be looked at, ii, 12,
Toba, Lake, ii. 186 13, 370, 372, 373
ii. sworn by, i. ;

Tobacco clan, iii.220 13, 21 sq. dead, mourned, 15, iv. ;

Toclas, the, ii. 251 sqq. ; their country, 298 not spoken of directly, i. 16
; ;

252 sqq. ;
their sacred buffaloes and penalties incurred by disrespect for,
religion 254of the dairy, ;
their 16 sqq. ; thotight to enter body of sinner
exogamy, 255; their polyandry, 256; and kill him, xq sq. appeasing the, \

ceremony in seventh month of preg- 18 diminished respect for, 19

; ;

nancy, i. 73, ii. 256 sq. their mar- ;

benefits conferred by, 22 sq. gives ;

riage customs, 263 sqq their form of ;

omens, 22 sq. compulsion applied ;

the classificatory system of relation- to, 23 sq. assimilation of man to,;

ship, ii. 266 sqq. ;

their kinship terms, 25 sqq. painted on bodies of clans-
;

i.
94 n.^ cousin marriages among the,
;
people, 29 carved or painted on ;

ii. 227 sacred dairyman of the, 528

; ; weapons, huts, canoes, etc. 29 sq. , ;

female infanticide among the, iv. 78 ;

return to the totem at death, 34 sq. ;

excess of male over female births figure of totem burned into the flesh,
among the, 86 ;
their pacific character, 51 members of totem clans named
;

88 group marriage among the, 150

;
after parts of their totems, 58 sq. ;

Tofa. exogamous clan, ii. 201 traditions of people who always married
Togatas, exogamy of the, iv. 295 women of their own totem, 103, 123 ;

Togos, the, ii. 576 eating the totem ceremonially, 109

Tomanoas, guardian spirit, iii. 409 sq. sqq., 120, 129, 207; reasons for not
Tombs of Kings of Uganda, ii. 469 sqq . eating, 121 sqq. ;
local totem centres,
470 of Kings of the Barotse, iv. 306 sq.
; 155, 189 customs in regard to ;

Tona, or individual totem, i. 51 eating the totem in Central Australia,

Tonga, traces of totemism in, ii. 177 230-238 ;
traditions in regard to
sq. eating the totem in Central Australia,
Tongan form of the classificatory system 238-242 extensive prohibitions as to
;

of relationship, ii. 178 sq. eating the totem among the north-
Tongo, a Protean god, ii. 158 central tribes of Australia, 233 sqq. ;

Tongues of buffaloes tabooed, i. ii, 12 fortuitous determination of the, 242

Tonsure, monkish, iv. 230 sqq. Central Australian traditions as
;

Toodaim or totem, iii. 50, 51 to men marrying women of the same

Topinard, P. iv. 162 ,
totem, 251 sq. belief that the totem ;

Toreyas, totemism among the, iv. 295 can grow up inside a person and cause
Toro, in Africa, ii. 530 tribe in New ;
his death, 428 sq., 482 buried, ii. 30, ;

Guinea, totemism among the, 35 127, iv. 278 supposed effect of eating ;

Toronto, iii. 29 the, 397, 403, 404, 405, 406, 422,

ii.

Torres Straits, totemism in, ii. i sqq. 448 473, 551; called grandfather,
sq.,
Tortoise, the great original, i. 6 totem, ; 559, iv. 278 said to have helped ;

ii. 234, 250, 288, 289, 298, 299, 316 ancestor, ii. 588 sacrificed, 588, 589 ;
 , ;,, , , , , ,

INDEX 373

sq., 604 ;
sacrifice to, 604 ;
social Australian, its peculiar features, 102
obligations imposed by the, iii. 48 sq. ;
sqq. as a ;
system of co-operative
penalty for eating the, 91, 94 not to ;
magic, 108^7., 113, 116^77.; magical
be named publicly, 352 custom of ;
rather than religious, 115 e.xplained ;

eating or not eating, iv. 6 sqq. pro- ;

by soul transference, 128 hereditary, ;

tection of, 313 worshipped at mar- ; 156^7., 161 ;

local, 156J7.; older than
riage,293 sq. See also Identification, exogamous classes, 157 «. 2;
primitive
Totemism, and Totems type of, 157 sqq. ;
a primitive theory of
Totem animal, not killed or eaten, i. 8 conception, 160 sqq., 482, ii. 84, iii.
sqq. fed or kept in captivity, 14 sqq.
; ; 152, iv. 57 sqq. transition from con- ;

reasons for sparing, 122 appears to ;

ceptional to hereditary, i. 161 sq., 167,
women before childbirth, ii. 137 ii. 99, iv. 129; decay of, i. 227,
^27 sq.,
poles or posts, i, 30, iii. 270 sq., 337 ^ 1 in Central Australia, 175 sqq.
- ; ;

290 sqq. ,345 of the Arunta, 186 sqq.-, originally

sacrament, i. 120, ii. 590, iv. 230 independent of exogamy, 257 in ;

sqq., 298,319 South-Eastern Australia, 314 sqq.-,

Totemic animal kept, iv. 278 in North-East Australia, 515^77.; of
badges, i. 60 the exogamous subclasses, 527, 530,
body paintings, ii. 28, 37. See also 531 developing into a worship of
;

Paintings heroes or gods, ii. 18 sqq. independent ;

burial, 190 ii. of exogamy, 89 conceptional, in the ;

carvings, 126 ii. Banks’ Islands, 89 sqq. natural ;

charms, iv. 280 starting-point for, 89 sqq.-, origin of,

dances, 37 i. sq., ii. 20, 126 sq., 89 sqq. conceptional, older than
;

370, iii. 76, 275 jy., 312, iv. 313 hereditary, 99, iv. 129 developed ;

marks on cattle, i. 13 on graves, ;

into a religion,ii. 151 sq., 166 sq.-,
31 on property, etc., 279
;
subordinate importance of, 247 ;

marriage ceremonies, iv. 293 sq . without exogamy, 404 sq., 433 in the ;

29s United States and Canada, iii. i sqq.-,

modes of wearing the hair, 26 sq. i. not a religion or worship of animals
iii. loi, 103 and plants, 118, iv. 5^7., 27 sq., loi
oaths, i. 21 sq. sq. pure, unmixed with exogamy,
:

ordeal, i. 20 9, 287 older than exogamy, 9, 74

;

paintings, i. 196 sq. exogamous, 9

;
primitive, 10 ; ;

society democratical and magical, practised by peoples at different stages

iv. 30 of culture, 17 sqq. in relation to ;

taboo, ceases at initiation, ii. 425 ;

agriculture and the domestication of
of the Nandi, 435 sqq. ;
the of animals, 19 .rqq. its influence on art, ;

Omahas, iii.
94 sqq. ;
institution of 25-27 its influence on religion, 27
;

new, iv. 309 sqq. ;

in relation to magic and demo-
Totemism defined, iv. 3 sq.\ social side of, cracy, 28 influence of,
sqq. ; social
i. 4, 53 sqq. ; as a religion, 4 sqq. 76 38 sqq. theories of the origin of, 40
;

sqq., 81 sqq. a religious and social

;
sqq. ; the author’s three theories of,
system, 4, loi ;
perhaps originates in 52 sqq. as an organised system of
;

desire against super-

for protection magic in Central Australia, 55 sq. ;

natural danger, 31; advanced condition conceptional theory of, 57 sqq.

of totemism in Samoa and Polynesia, 287
81 sq. democratic, 83 ;
not found in Totemism and exogamy distinct and
Washington, Oregon, and California, independent in origin, ii.
97 sq., 100,
84, nor among the Eskimo, ibid. geo- ;
iv. 9, 287

graphical diffusion of, 84^77., iv. ii Totems, individual or personal, i. 4,

sqq. ;
universal in Australia, i. 84 ;
its 49 sqq., 412, 448 sq. 564, 482 sq.,
diffusion in America, 84 sq. ;
in Africa, 489, 497 sq., 534, 535, 536, 539, ii.
85 in Bengal, 85
:
in Siberia, 85 sq ;
. 84, 98 sq., 212, iii. 339, 370 sq., 440,
in Melanesia, 86 traces of totemism ; 441, 442 sex totems, i. 4, 47 sq. 390
;

in Madagascar, 85 in Philippine ;
sq. 456 sqq. 470, 490, 496 sq. ii. 627, ,

Islands, 86, and among the Dyaks, iii. 456 cross, i. 14; not worshipped, ;

86 ;
its effect on fauna and flora, 20, ii. II sq., 166, 559; colours as,
87 ;
Herbert theory that Spencer's i. 24 sq. inanimate objects as, 24 ;

it originated in nicknames, 87 ;
sq. artificial, 25, 160, 254
; images ;

literature of, 87 theories of its origin, ;

of totems moulded of earth, 40 ;

87, 91 sqq.\ canons of, loi Central ;

evidence for totems of the phratries,
VOL. IV 2 B 2
 , , , , ; ,

374 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

76 sqq. 78; how of subphratries, ; Transition from female to male (maternal
related subtotems, 80 sq. de-
to ;
to paternal) descent, i. 71 sqq., iii.
veloping into gods, 81 sq. magical \ 320 sq.
ceremonies for multiplication of the, from mother-kin to father-kin, ii.
,
104 r7(/., 183 sqq., 214 sqq., 357 580 sq. See also Change, Descent,
sqq. ;
traditions of people
habit- who and Mother-kin
ually killed totems, and ate their from promiscuous totemic to exo-
1 12; magical ceremonies for the e.xogamous totemic marriages, i. 242
control of the, 131 sqq. invocation ;
sqq. from conceptional to hereditafiy
;

of, 144, 532 sq. generally edible ;

totemism, iv. 129
objects, 159, 253 intej mingling of, ;
Transmigration of the dead into their
160 mythical,
; 161 local segrega- ;
totems, i.
34 ry., ii. 56, 59, 187, 398,
tion of the totems among the Warra- 551 sq., 560, 626, 629,
iv. 232; of

munga, 249 sqq. list of Central ;

souls of medicine men, 129 into i.
;

Australian, 252 sq. ;

bird mates of, sharks, ii. 173 into horned animals, ;

254 sqq. ;
mortuary, 455 ;
transfor- 203 into
;
animals, 321 n.^, 389 sqq.,
mation into, 565 ;
subsidiary or 634 sq. of souls, iii. 297 sqq., 365 sq.,
;

secondary, ii.
3 sq.. 7, 14 sqq., iv. 45 sqq. into tapirs, iii. 573
;

375. 376, 473. 476 sqq., 516 sqq., Transmission of ceremonies, songs, etc.,
519 sq. ;
assimilation of people to from tribe to tribe, i. 283
their, i. 25 sqq. ii. 8 sq. ;
associated or Travail-pangs transferred from mother
linked, 30 sq. 48 sq. 50 sq. 52, 54 ry. to father, etc. iv. 248 sqq. .

identification of people with their, 107, Travancore, ordeal in, i. 21

iii. ro6 called birds, " ii. 132; acces- Tree, a sanctuary for murderers, ii.
'
‘
;

sory, 136 omens drawn from, 137 ; ; 165

offerings to totems to obtain children, burial, i. 201
219 ;
temporary, 520^7. ;
transmigra- Tree-creeper, sex totem, i. 47
tion into, 34 sq., ii. 56, 59, 187,
i. Tree, god, ii. 157
388 sqq., 398, 551 sq., 560, 626, 629; totems, iv. 278, 279, 283
used as crests, iii. 40; relation of people Trees, descent from, i. ii, ii. 197, 198
to their, 273 ;
presents made by sq. custom of marrying people to, i.
;

strangers to effigies of, 310, 352 ; 32 sq., iv. 210 sqq. the abodes of ;

'honorific,” 545 sqq. ;

traditions as disembodied spirits, i. 189, 193 their ;

to origin not gods, iv. of, 571 sq. ; power of impregnating women, ii.
5, 27 sq.\ associated or linked, 276 258, 259
sqq. subsidiary,
; 280 effigies of ; Tribal badges, i. 28 sq. 36 tattoo ;

totems worshipped at marriage, 293, marks, iv. 197

294 legend of origin of, 308 split
: ;
Triennial feast, i. 443
totems, origin of, i. 58^^., iv. 175. Trobriand Islands, totemism in the,
See also Artificial, Identification, Split, iv. 280 sq. classificatory system of
;

Subsidiary, Totem, Totemism relationship in the, 281 sq.

Touch, prohibition to touch totem, i. ii Tsetsacka, ' the secrets,” iii. 518
sq., ii. 219, 220, 221, 231, 290, 292, Tsetsauts, the, iii. 347, 359 sqq.
29s. 301. 313. 372, iii. 90. 92. 94. 95 .
Tsetse-fly, totem, ii. 371
96. 97, 98 Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast,
Traditions as to men marrying women of ii.
553 sqq. their totemism, 556 sqq.
; ;

the same totem,

103, 251 sq. of i. ;
negroes, their religion, iv. 36 sq.
people who habitually killed and Tsimshians, i. 252, 253 totemism ;

ate their totems, 112, 238 sqq. ;

among the, iii. 306 sqq. Secret ;

as to origins of totemic clans, iii. Societies among the, 536 sqq.

81 sq. Tuaregs, the, ii. 602
Transference of child to father’s clan, i. Tubetube, totemism in, ii. 48, 50
71 sqq. of wife to husband’s clan,
;
sqq. ; women alone tattooed in, iv.

71 sq. of soul to external objects,

\
202
124 sqq. to animal at initiation, iv.
;
Tugeri or Kaya-Kaya, totemism among
54 of travail-pangs to husband, etc.,
;
the, ii. 59. See Kaya-Kaya
248 sqq. Tunianang, i. 8
Transformation into totemic animals, i. Tumas, holed stones, iii. 558
565, iii. 76, 268, 269 of deities into ;
Turis, totemism among the, ii. 299
animals, ii. 139 sq. into deer, 207 ; ;
Turkana, the, ii. 430 sq. ;
age-grades
into crocodile, 208 among 431 the,
Transformer, the mythical, iii. 521 Turkey clan, i. 30
 1 ,

INDEX 373
Turks of Central Asia, their customs at U/iawa, wife, husband, i. 289, 298
childbirth, iv. 253 sg. Unborn calf, a totem, ii. 403, 405
Turmeric clan, ii. 274, 275 Unchalka, grub totem, ceremony of, i.
Turner, Dr. George, ii. 152 sqq. 209 sq.
Turra tribe, i.
475 ;
its phratries and Unchastity of unmarried youth supposed
clans, 60 sq. to be fatal to king, ii. 623
Turribul tribe, i. 143 Uncle, maternal, his rights over his
Turtle clan, ii. ii of Iroquois, i. 5 of ; ;
sister’s son, ii. 66 and sister’s son, ;

the Delawares, 6, 30 in Samoa, 19 ; ;

relationship between, 75 his authority ;

precedence accorded to the Turtle clan over his sister’s children, 123 sq., 194,
in America, 58 n.^ importance of the, ; 409, iv. 289at marriage, ii. 239, 245;
;

31 r^., 39
iii. rights over his sister’s children
of,
descent from, i. 5, 6, 7 ;
grow- among the Basutos, 379 access to wife ;

ing in man’s body, 18, 19, ii. 160 ;

of, 387 his relation to his sister’s
;

figure of, drawn to dispel fog, 23

i. ;
children, 443^7.; right of nephew to
in Huron mythology, 58 ; magical use the wife of his, 510 sq. his author- ;

ceremonies to ensure a supply of, ii. ity older than that of father, 513 his ;

12 sq. right to marry his niece, 525, iii. 575,

god, ii. 160 iv. 316avoidance of husband’s, ii.
;

Turtle or Tortoise clan, origin of, iii. 630 in N. American Indian society,
;

18 sq. See also Tortoise iii. 25 negotiates marriage of his

;

Turtles, Zuiii ceremony with, i.

44 sq., niece, 562
iv. 232 sq. Uncleanness of manslayer, ii. 444
Tusayan, iii. ig8 n.^, 202, 203, 206, Underground, traditions that totemic
207, 208, 214, 215 ancestors came from, iii.
95, 120, iv.
Tuscarora tribe of Iroquois, their phratries 282
and clans, i. 57, iii. 5, 8 Undivided commune, the, i. 514
Twana and Klallam tribes, iii. 405 United States, totemism in the, iii.

sqq. I sqq.
Twins, i.
549, ii. 122 ceremonies at ;
Unlawful marriages, punishment of, i.
the birth of, 457 supposed to be ; 54. SS. 381 sq., 393, 404, 425. 440,
salmon, iii. 337 thought to possess ;
460 sq., 466 sq., 476, 491 sq., 540,
guardian spirits, 423 5S4 . SS 7 572, ii. 71. 121. 122, 126,
.

Two-class system, i. 272, 274 sq., ii. 128, 130, 131, 186, 191, 321, 410,
45, 70 devised to prevent the marriage
; 473. 515. 562, iii. 48, 57 552. iv. .

of brothers with sisters, i. 401 sq. 445. ,

302
iv. 207 with female descent, i. 276
;
Unlucky to see totem,
557 ii.

sqq., 340 with male descent, 434

sqq. ;
Unmatjera, a tribe of the Arunta nation,
sqq. ;
its on marriage, iv. 107
effect ;
i. 186 77.'^ their customs as to eating
,

its origin, 113 sqq. in Melanesia and ;

the totem, i. 233
North America, 133 Unyamwezi, ii. 408
Tylor, E. B. , 503, ii. 146, 151 n.^
i. Unyoro, ii. 513: rules as to life and
iii. 52, 292 «.370, iv. 38 71 .^, 46
*, death of kings of, 526 sqq. See also
S3 246, 247, 275 Banyoro
Upoto, the, ii. 630
Uainuma Indians, iii. 576 Upsarokas or Crows, exogamous clans of
Ualare, sacred animal, ii, 41 sq. the, iii. 153
Uaupes River, Indians of the, iii.
573 Urabunna, totemism of the, i. ij6 sqq.\
sq. rules of marriage and descent among,
Uganda, ii. 463 sq. ;
worship of dead 176 sqq. theory of reincarnation, 183
; ;

kings of, iv. 33 sq. See Baganda classificatory terms used by, 295 sqq. ;

Ularaka, Urabunna equivalent of alche- group marriage among, 308 sqq.

ringa, i. 18 Uramma, a village goddess, ii. 246
Ulcers caused by eating totem, i. 17 Urville, J. Dumont d’, ii. 179
Uli-ma brotherhood, ii. 200 sq. Uwagona, goddess of fertility, ii. 603
Uli-siwa brotherhood, ii. 200 sq.
Umbaia, classificatory terms used by Vakkaliga, totemism among the, ii. 231 sq.
the, i. 301 Vallambans, the, ii, 225
tribe, exogamous classes of the, i. Vancouver’s Island, i. 318, 409, 410,
267 504. S07
Umbrella, totem, ii. 292 Vanua Levu (Fiji), traces of totemism in,
Umkulunkulu, i. 150 ii. 134^7.
 , ;
;

376 TOTEMISM AND EXOGAMY

Variability of the seasons in relation to Walen, A., ii. 632
magic, i. 169 sqq. Wallaby, imitation of, i. 39
Vasu, sister's son in Fiji, ii. 67, 75 Wallace, A. R. on evils of inbreeding, ,

Vega, F. Nunez de la Vega, iii. 445 sq., iv. 162, 164

446 sq. Walpari tribe, exogamous classes of the,

Vega, Garcilasso de la, iii.
579 sq. i. 266
Veil, bride's, i.
33 Walpi (Hualpi), Pueblo village, iii. 208,
Veiling face at sight of totem, ii. 219, 220 209, 210, 212, 213, 229
Veindavolani, marriageable, ii. 142, 144, Wanema, a god of the Baganda, ii. 495
149 Wangi, a Baganda god, ii. 497
Veniaminoff, I. iii. 277 ,
Wanika mourn dead hyaena, i. 15, ii.
Venison tabooed, ii. 203 sqq. 442 sq.
Verdigris clan, iii. 96 prohibition ;
to Wa?iinga, i. 21 1 n.^
touch, i. 12, iii. 90, 96, 97^7. Wankonde, the, 401 re.'

Vermilion clan, ii. 313 Wanyamwezi, the, revere

snakes, ii.
Vetter, Konrad, ii. 56 450 sq. ;
hold hyaenas sacred, iv. 305
Veve, exogamous class, ii. 70 War chief, 159 iii.

Vicarious suffering, utility of, iv. 39 clansand Peace clans, iii. 129
Victoria, physical geography of, i. 316 gods incarnate in owls, pigeons,
South-West, chiefs in, i. 330 sq., bats, dogs, 164 sqq. and lizards, ii.

tribes of, 463 sqq. towns, iii. 157 See Warriors

Victoria Nyanza Lake, ii. 406, 457, 461, Wards, separate, of totem class, i. 75
463 Warramunga, the, ceremony of water-
Viehe, G. ,
ii. 359, 364 snake, i. 144 sq. ceremony with arm- ;

Vindhya Mountains, ii. 218, 219, 329 bone of dead, 202 sacred dramatic ;

Virgin sacrificed to the Nile, iv. 212 sq. ceremonies of, 213 jy., •2.2.0 sqq. \ ex-
Virgin Birth, story of, iii. 293 belief tensive totemic prohibitions 234^^7. of,

in, iv. 64 exogamous classes of, 235 re.®, 265^7.

Virginia, Indians of, i.
44 rules of marriage and descent among,
Visions, membership of Secret Societies 265 sq. classificatory terms used by,
:

determined by participation in common, 300 local segregation of the exo-

;

iii. 460 sq., 548 produced by fasting, ;

gamous classes and totems among,
373. 395 -s?-- 404. 432. 437 246 sqq. ;
their local exogamy, iv.
Viti Levu (Fiji), traces of totemism in, i. 168
134 sqq. Black Snake totem, i. 192 sq.,
Vulture clan, ii. 558 222 sq. 234 sq.
Vultures, sacred, ii.
574 nation, i. 186 re.®
Warren, William W. iii. 49, 51, 52, ,

Waang (Crow),
435 i.
S 3 54. 57 382 sqq.
. .

Wabemba, ii. 629, 630 sororate among ;

Warriors, rules of life of Masai, ii. 414 ;

the, iv. 148 bridal custom of the,

;
guardian spirits of, 416, 420, 426
236 Warriors' Association of the Arapahoes,
Wacicka Society, iii. 462 iii.
479 sqq. of the Cheyennes, ;

Wagawaga, totemism at, ii. 47, 48 sqq. ; 485 sq.

mutual avoidance of relations by Wart hog clan, ii. 551
marriage at, iv. 283 Washing essential to the acquisition of a
Wagogo, totemism among the, ii. 402 guardian spirit, iii. 407, 413, 419, 434
sq. Washington State, totemism not found
Wahconda or Wakanda, iii. 108, 398 in, i. 84 guardian spirits among the
;

Wahehe, the, iii. 113 ;

totemism among, Indians of, iii. 405 sqq.
ii. 404 sq. Watabwas, the, ii. 630
Waheia, the, totemism among, ii. 406 Watchandies, the, iv. 273
Wahorohoro, the, ii. 629 Water, at marriage ceremonies, i. 33 ;

Wakamba, ii. 420. See A-Kamba restrictions on u«e of, observed by

Wakan, sacred or taboo, iii. 108 members of the Water totem, 231 sq.,
397. 398 232, 233 offerings cast into, iii. 449
;

Wakaii Wacipi, or Mystery Dance of clan, i. 218

the Dacotas, iii. 463 totem, i. 24, 1 13, 254
Wakanda, iii. 108, 398 “ Water of peace," iv. 298
Wakashan or Wakashes, iii. 253 Water-fowl as representatives of corn
Wakelbura tribe, i. 421 sqq. its sub- ;
goddess, iii. 140
totems, i.
79 sq. Water-lilies used as food, i. 203 re.'
 , ,

INDEX 377

Water-snake, mythical, i. 144 s</. Wife's totem respected by husband, ii.

Water-spirit, marriage to, iv. 213 27, 29, 53, 55. See also Wives
Water-wagtails, sacred, iv. 37 Wiimbaio tribe, 390 i.

Wathi-Wathi tribe, i. 383, 384, 386 Wild boar, totem, ii. 375
Watumbvves, the, ii. 630 bull, totem, ii. 6og
Weapons, characteristics of Australian, i. Wild Cat people, tradition as to, i. 251
343 sg.
Weaving, iii. 205, 260 Cat, totem, i. 126 sg.
Webster, Prof. Hutton, iii. 457, 458 Goose clan, 299, 301, 312
ii.

Weeks, Rev. J. H., ii. 617, 618, 623 Wilken, G. A., 216, 217, iv. 53, 161,
ii.

Welchman, Dr., ii. 113 194, 288, 291 sg. his theory of ;

Were-wolves, iii. 549; were-tigers, etc., totemism, 45 sg.

ii.
599 ry. Williams, Thomas, ii. 135
Westermarck, E. ,
iv. 138 n. 301, 307 ;
Willoughby, Rev. W. C., ii. 370, 374,
his theory of the origin of exogamy, 37 S
92 sgi/. Willyaivo, initiatory rite, iv. 201
Wheat clan, ii. 273 Wilson, Rev. Edward F. ,
iii. 388
Whirlwinds, spirits in, i. 191 nl Wilya tribe, i. 387
Whistles to represent voices of spirits, iii. Wimmera District, i. 316, 451
516, 524, 543 Wind, capture of the spirit of the Wind,
White Bat, totem, ceremony of the, i. ii. 486 sg. ceremony to make,; 24, i.

207 sg. iii. 105

Cockatoo, totem, i. 226, 454, 462, clan, i. 132, ii. 478, 486
463. 465 people, iii. 105, 127 make wind, ;

Cockatoos, magical ceremony for i. 24

the multiplication of i. 226 totem, i. 24, 102, 254, 328, ii.

hair caused by eating totem, i. 17 478

or Peace towns, iii. 157 Wing bone of eagle, drinking through.
Whydah, kingdom of, ii. 584 ;
worship iii. 518, 526
of python 585 at, Wingong, i. 8
Widows, imposed on, iv. 237
silence Winnebagoes, totemism of the, iii. 131
Wied, Prince of See Maximilian sg. medicine feast of 466 sgg.
;

Wife, transferred to husband's clan, i. Winter, change of the social organisation

71 sg. of wife's brother, avoidance
, of the Kwakiutl in, iii. 333 sg.\ spirits
of, ii. 388 appear only in, 435, 517 the season ;

Wife and husband forbidden to speak for the ritualistic performances, 507,
to each other, i. 468 S° 9 S14. 517 -f?;
.

Wife-purchase, i. 72, ii. 18, 197, 199, ceremonial, iii. 435

347. 379 names, iii. 517
Wife's family, husband lives with, 72 i. Solstice ceremony, iii. 213
father, avoidance of, ii. 17, 26, iii. Witches, precaution against, i. 31
305 ;
father and mother's brother, Witchetty Grub people, i. 199
identity of name for, ii. 227 totem, i, 105 sg.\ ceremony of the,
mother, avoidance of i. 285 11.^, 210
286 395, 404 sg., 416 sg., 440,
n., Witchetty grubs, magical ceremony foi-
451, 469, 492, 503, 506, 541, 565, multiplying, i. 105 sg. custom of ;

572, ii. 17, 26, 76 sgg., 117, 189, eating them ceremonially, 109 sg. ;

368, 385, 400 sg., 403, 412, 424, 461, totem centre of the, 196
508, 522, 622 sg. 630, iii. 108 sgg. Wiradjuri nation, i. 405 sgg.
136, 148, 247, 277 sg., 305, 361 sg., Wives, temporary, i. 63, ii. 71, 421 ;

498, 583, iv. 109, 273, 305, 314 sg. ;

primary and secondary, i. 364 sgg., ii.
marriage with, ii. 323, iii. 247 sexual ; 264 ry. purchased, i. 72, ii. 18, 197,
;

intercourse with, 113 199, 347, 379; captured, 426 sg.,

parents, avoidance of, ii. 124, 450, 475, 476 exchanged, 426, 477, ;

581 499, 572 sgg., ii. 539; lent, i. 426,

sisters, right to marry several, i. 463, ii. 415, 421, iii. 472 lent as a ;

577 n.-, 245, 250, 272,

ii. 143 sg., magical rite, 140 modes of ob- ;

291. 352, 384. 451. 4 S 3 461, 463. .

taining, i. 540 sg. procured from a ;

522, 630, iii. 19, 65, 85, 108, 127, distance, 548 of sacred serpent, 586; ;

136, 143, 154, 15s, 246, 354, 498, put away after birth of two children,
iv. 139 jyy., 292, 315; avoidance of, |
ii. 630, iv. 309 obtained by exchange
;

283, 284 *
of sisters, 80. See also Wife
 ,

378 TOl'EMISM AND EXOGAMY

Wogait tribe, i. 576 Worms, ceremony to keep from corn, i.

Wolf, descent from, i. 5 buried at ; 23, iii. 104 sq.

Athens, 15 sq. not spoken of directly, ; Worship, of animals in Peru, iii. 577
16 fat of, 32
; sqq. of totems at marriage, iv. 293
;

clan in Texas, i. 44 of Omahas, iii. ;

sq., 295; of totems, incipient, 313;
96 sq. of dead kings among the Baganda, ii.
class or phratry among the Tlingits, 469 sqq. of dead kings among the
;

iii. 265 sqq. Barotse, iv. 306 sq.

crest, iii. 267, 268 Wotjoballuk, burial customs of, i. 35 ;

dance of the Ahts, iii. 503 dances ;

their phratries and clans, 61
of the Kwakiutl, 529 sq. tribe, i. 451 sqq. ;
its subtotems,
skins, men dressed in, i. 26 worn ; 80, 13s
by dancers, iii. 343 Wounded men, seclusion of, iv. 225
town, 12. See also Wolves i. Wulmala tribe, exogamous classes of
Wolgal tribe, 392, 393, 394 sq. i. the, 266 i.

Wollunqua, mythical snake, 144 sq. i. Wurunjerri tribe, i. 435, 437

Wolves, imitation of, 44 ceremony i. ;
Wyandots or Hurons, totemism among
at killing, iii. 190 sq. ;
superstitions the, iii. 29 sqq. See Hurons
about, 190 sq. ;
souls of dead hunters Wyse, William, iv. 175
in, 336 ;
initiation by, 504 sq. 527 ,

Woman, gives birth to animal, i.

7 sq. ;
Yabim, the, ii. 56 sqq.
who gave birth to crayfish, story of, ii. Ya-itma-thang tribe, i. 392 sq.

159, 167 who gave birth to a tortoise,

;
Yakuts, indications of totemism among
story of, 494 head of household, iii. ;
the, i. 85 sq. ii. 341 sq. ,

36 the Old, Mother of the Corn, 140

;
Yam clan, ii. 491, 579
sqq.. 191 sqq. who gave birth to ;
people, iv. 285
snakes, 213 who suckled a wood- ;
religion developed out oftotemism
worm, 269 oldest, head of clan, iv. 288
;
in island of, iv.30 sq.
Women, give birth to animals, i. 16, ii. Yams, a magical ceremony to make them
610, 612 food restrictions on, i. 19
; ;
grow, i. 219 sq., ii. 34, 38 sq.
alone tattooed, 29 n?. iv. 202 sqq. ;
Yantruwanta tribe, i. 378 sq. group ;

blood of, avoided, i. 49 n.'^ dressed ;

marriage among the, 367
as men at marriage, 73, iv. 255 sqq. ;
Yao, the, of German East Africa, ii. 406
images of naked, in rites of fertilisa- Yaos, the, of British Central Africa, ii.

tion, ii. 38, 39 ;

who gave birth to 399, 401
animals, legends of, 56, 58 sq. ;
veil Yapura River, Indians of the, iii. 576
their faces at sight of their totem, 219, Yaraikanna tribe, i. 538. 539
220 ;
social superiority of, among the Yaurorka tribe, i. 378
Garos, 323 ;
veiled, 539 ;
fewer than Yeerung, sex totem, i. 47
men, iii. 358 ;
hard work 358 sq. of, ;
Yehl or Yeshl, the mythical Raven, iii.
guardian spirits of, ^77, 416 dances ; 265, 266, 293 n.^
of Kwakiutl, 531 sq. excess of women ;
Yellow Knives or Copper Indians, iii.
over men in some countries, iv. 84 346
Women and men, difference between Yendakarangu or Yandairunga tribe,
language of, i. 64 n iv. 237 sq. . ,
group marriage among the, 368 i.

Women-councillors, iii. 35, 36 sq. sq. 374 sqq.

Women’s language different from men’s, Yerkla-mining tribe, 472 sq. i.

i. 64 n. ,
iv. 237 sq. ;
houses, 284 ;
Yerrunthully tribe, i. 517, 528 sq.
clans and men’s clans, 299 Yezidis, the, iv. 179 abominate blue, ;

Wonghibon tribe, 414 sqq. i. i. 25

Wonkanguru tribe, 377 sq. i. Y-Kia, exogamy among the, ii. 339
Woodford, C. M. ii. 109 , York, Cape, i. 535
Woodpecker, worshipped, ii. 174 omens ;
Yoruba- speaking peoples of the Slave
drawn from the, 422 as a familiar, ;
Coast, ii. 581 sq.
iii. 406 as a guardian spirit, 408
;
Ysabel, totemism in, ii. 113 sq.
crest, iii. 284, 287, 297 Yuin tribe, i. 488 sqq.
totem, ii. 289, 290 Yukon River, iii. 251, 252
Woollen rug, tabooed, 12 i. Yule, Col. Henry, i. 68, ii. 216 71.'^
Woonamurra tribe, 526 i. Yuchis, totemism among the, iv. 31 1 sqq.
Worgaia tribe, the, exogainous classes of,
i.268 ;
classificatory terms used by, Zambesi, tribes of the Upper, ii. 391
300 sq. Zamolxis, birth of, i. 31 sq.
 INDEX 379

Zaparo Indians of Ecuador, iii. 577 380 sgq. ;

sororate among the, iv.
Zebra flesh, tabooed, ii. 436 145 superstitions as to foods, 304
;

clan, ii. 396, 399 sg. Zuni ceremony with turtles, i. 44 sq., iv.

totem, ii. 428 232 sq.

Zeus married to an oak, i.
33 Indians, their totemic clans, iii.

Zinymt, a dance in Angoniland, ii. 398 216

Zoroaster, i. 356 village of, iii. 204, 208, 215 sq,
Zulus, traces of totemisni among the, ii. Zunian language, iii. 207

THE END

Printed by R. & R. Ci.ark, Limited, Edinburgh.

Totemism and Exogamy.

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