[hii l-tout] TOTEMISM : ITS ORIGIN AND IMPORT 73 



of a family, of a group of kindred who dwelt together, fought together 

 and learned the value of united strength."^ 



Dr. 1^. Boas wias led .to the same oonolusion with regard to the 

 totems among the Kwakiutl Indians. He writes : " We have to deal 

 here with the elementary idea of the acquisition of a guardian spirit 

 which has attained its strongest development in America. Its specific 

 character on the Xorth Pacific Coast lies in the fact that the guardian 

 spirit has become hereditary. This is the case among the northern tribes 

 of British Columhia. It is also the case among the Kwakiutl and among 

 tile Ohinook."- 



Ensdgn Nibkck arrived at similar conclusions with regard to the 

 clan totems of the Haida-Tlingit. He writes : " From their nature 

 totems are in a state of flux. Clans tend to become phratries, split up 

 into sub-phratries, sub-phratries decay and finally disappear. An indi- 

 vidual distinguisihes himself, becomes wealthy and hence a leading man 

 of the village. His totem or indeed, his individual crest or sub^totem, 

 may have been an obscure one. As he rises, its importance in the tribe 

 rises with him. Under his successors the totem widens its numbers, 

 influence, and finally eclipses other clan totems which eventually melt 

 away or are incorporated with it. In this evolution we see the sub- 

 totem grow into the clan totem." ^ 



And if I may be permitted to refer to my own work, I may state 

 that I was led independently to form the saone opinion fro'm my study 

 of the Salish tribes before I was even aware that others had come to 

 this conclusion. 



This is likewise the view taken by the officers of iftie Bureau of 

 American Ethnology and, as far as I have been able to learn, that of the 

 majority of students on this continent. 



There must be some force, I submit, in the evidence on this head 

 whidh thus leads so many students^ working independently of each 

 other, to the same conclusion. 



Some European students have clearly recognized this force. The 

 author of " Totemism " in his consideration of Miss Fletcher's paper 

 remarks in " Golden Bough," * " It is quite possible that as some good 

 authorities incline to believe, the clan-totem has been developed out of 

 the individual totem by inheritance." 



Mr. N. W. Thomas is apparently inclined to go even further and 

 take the same view as that suggested in my former paper, and more 



' The Import of Ihe Totem. (Salem Press, Mass., 1897). 



'■' The «'ocial organizations of the Kwakiutl Indians. Report U.S. Nat. 

 Mus., 1895, p. 393. 



' The Coast Indians of Southern Alaska and Northern B.C., Wash. 

 * Golden Bough iii, p. 419, note 5. 



