B84 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1918. 



Maize, Grandfather Fish, etc. Even where there is no tribal bond 

 in the individual guardian this motive shows itself in another form, 

 for the guardian is a spirit whose guardianship is especially exer- 

 cised in leading the ward to his food, directing him on the hunt, just 

 as the father ghost of the Vedda is invoked mainly to guide the sup- 

 pliant son on the track of his prey. 



If we abandon this guiding thread we are lost in the labyrinth. 

 There remains no more than a vague notion that totemism indicates 

 a social apprehension of some spiritual power, or, as a recent sci- 

 entist has expressed it, " What is totemism anyway except consecra- 

 tion to spirits?" Nothing is gained by such a definition. On the 

 other hand, it is a great gain to recognize that the old limitations 

 imposed upon totemism are not essential; it does not necessarily 

 imply worship, exogamy, descent, or name. All these things are 

 special social variations springing out of totemism according to 

 circumstances. 1 



Thus, finally, the matter becomes a question of definition. Is it 

 well to make totemism synonymous with any trait found in it? 

 After all, the word totemism is American, and in America, until the 

 sociologists began to play with it, it had a pretty definite meaning 

 not necessarily involving name, descent, exogamy, worship, or taboo 

 but always implying a clan connection with a class of animals or 

 plants, and this connection ought to be maintained in our use of the 

 word. That this connection was originally based on economic 

 grounds (as I think) is a secondary matter. But we should not call 

 lightning or intestines " totems." In an already established totemic 

 environment such wierd " totems " may be adopted, as the social need 

 of a totem may be satisfied by calling any object of taboo a totem, 

 but secondary phenomena should not lead us to ignore what totem- 

 ism really represents. 



lAmong the Gilyaks a drowned clansman becomes a beast called Master (spirit), who is 

 revered as a guardian. But this spirit lacks the fundamental essence of totemism in 

 that it is (or was) human and individual. A half-human totem is a common Australian 

 phenomenon, but always this monster is invented as an explanation of a bifurcated de- 

 scent into animal and human categories ; either the animal nature is always present, or 

 the human ancestor has a very intimate connection with the totem animal. Association 

 serves as well as descent in America to give the totem, but it is association with a non- 

 human creature. In British Columbia, as in some of our tribes, the totem animal is a 

 regular source of food supply and is freely hunted, killed, and eaten. 



