[aizz-rour] ORIGIN OF THE TOTEMISM OF THE ABORIGINES 13 
entitled to the use of them, which entered into so largely and affected 
so profoundly the social life and organizations of our coast tribes, are 
seen to have originated in two different sources. The crest, which is a 
visible representation, symbolic or otherwise, of the totem, springs from 
pictographic or plastic realization of the sila. The totemic emblems 
and insignia are symbolic records of some event or adventure more or 
less mythic in the life of the owner or of his ancestors from whom he 
inherited them, the nature of which is well exemplified in the story of 
the origin of that important crest or totem of the Halkémé’len tribes, 
the squoi age, described by me in the fourth Report of the Committee 
on the Ethnological Survey of Canada. This, I think, becomes clear 
from a study of the social life of the various Salish tribes. Among the 
Thompsons of the Interior the totem or crest, as I have said, is quite 
unknown. Pictographie and even plastic representations of their sulia 
are by no means rare. The former were quite commonly found on per- 
sonal belongings, such as utensils, clothes, weapons, etc., but they never 
appear to have assumed the character of a crest, their use seems to be 
merely decorative. When we descend the river, however, and reach the 
Halkémé@ lem tribes, the personal and family crest and fraternal em- 
blems appear. A carved or painted representation of an individual’s 
sûlia is found on the posts of his house and on his family vault or 
corpse-box, as well as upon other of his belongings. It has now become 
identified with the owner and the owner with it. It is the mark or crest 
by which he and his are distinguished from others of the tribe. That 
these personal, distinguishing crests or totem-symbols are derived from 
his szlia the name applied to them by the Indians themselves makes per- 
fectly clear. They are called sululia, which is the collective form of 
sulia, which, as I have said, comes from the word ulia, to dream; dreams 
and visions being the usual media of communication between the indi- 
vidual and his sûlia or guarding spirit or totem. From the personal 
and family crest is but a step to the clan crest. The clan in this region 
being but a collection of families or gentes related to each by their 
common crest or totem. 
Dr. Boas is inclined to see in the incipient clan totemism of the 
Coast Salish the influence of the northern tribes. While this may be 
true to some extent, it is clear that the Salish had among them the 
germs of totemie organization and would in time have undoubtedly 
developed an independent totem system of their own. Among the 
Salish the village community apparently formed the original unit of 
organization ; but among the Halkomé’lem and coast tribes of this 
stock we see another classification arising, viz., that of totemic or phra- 
tric organization. The brotherhood of the Squoi’agé numbered its mem- 
bers in every village community on the Lower Fraser, all of whom were 
