[hill-tout] TOTEMISM : ITS ORIGIN AND IMPORT 71 



two children. These, perceiving the weakness of mankind, " the 

 finished beings " of the earth, .sought to protect them from the 

 '' animals of prey " and whenever they came across in their wandering 

 over the earth one of these animals, " were he a great lion or a mere 

 mole," they struck hirm with the lightning of their magic shields and 

 ■instantly he was slirivelled and burnt to stone. Then they thus ad- 

 dressed them : " That ye may not be evil unto men, but that ye may 

 be a great good unto them have we changed you into rock everlastingly. 

 By the magic breatli of prey, by the heart that shall endure forever 

 within you, •shall ye be made to serve instead of to devour mankind."^ 



On the Isthmus of Tehuantepec when a child was about to be 

 born the relatives drew on the floor figures of animals, one after another, 

 and the one that remained when the infant was born became its totem. 

 A somewhat similar custom prevailed in Samoa. 



The difference, then, between the " totem " here and the " fetish " 

 there is clearly seen to lie mainly in the way in which they are severally 

 acquired. In character they axe everywhere the same. 



It is not needful to dwell longer on this point. Already there is a 

 pretty general concurrence of opinion among anthropologists that the 

 fetish and the personal totem is one and th-e same thing; or, at any 

 rate, that the two have their origin in the same animistic concept; 

 the pioint in dispute is rather the relation existing between these 

 and " clan totemism," which we must now proceed to consider. 



In this country the majority of students hold the view that the 

 " clan " totem is but a natural development along gocial lines, of the 

 personal totem. And not only the clan totem, but the society or 

 fraternal totem as well. They are irresistibly led to this conclusion 

 from the data before them. The attitude of the clansmen and of the 

 members of a society to their respective totems is everywhere seen to 

 be the sa.me as that of the individual to his personal totem and the same 

 relation exists between them. 



I pointed out just now in the analysis of the elements which enter 

 into American totemism that the three series or categories are intimately 

 connected by the common underlying concept of a tutelar spirit or 

 ghostly helper, which in the first case is confined to the individual, 

 in the second to the clan or gens, and in the third to the society or 

 brotherhood. Now, it appeacrs to me, that if we are able to discover 

 a clear instance or two of a personal totem passing by inheritance to 

 the family or relatives of its owner, and thus becoming a common, 

 family totem, we shall be perfectly justified in assuming that the 

 family totem may be enlarged into the clan or gems totem, inasmuch 



^ Zuni Fetiches. iSecond Annual Rept. But. Amer. Ech., p. 14. 



