Chap. I.] TOTEMS. 5 



guished by the name of the animal which it thus 

 bears as its device; as, for example, the clan of 

 the Wolf, the Deer, the Otter, or the Hawk. In 

 the language of the Algonquins, these emblems 

 are known by the name of Totems} The mem- 

 bers of the same clan, being connected, or supposed 

 to be so, by ties of kindred, more or less remote, 

 are prohibited from intermarriage. Thus Wolf 

 cannot marry Wolf ; but he may, if he chooses, 

 take a wife from the clan of Hawks, or any other 

 clan but his own. It follows that when this pro- 

 hibition is rigidly observed, no single clan can live 

 apart from the rest ; but the whole must be min- 

 gled together, and in every family the husband and 

 wife must be of different clans. 



To different totems attach different degrees of 

 rank and dignity ; and those of the Bear, the Tor- 

 toise, and the Wolf are among the first in honor. 

 Each man is proud of his badge, jealously asserting 

 its claims to respect; and the members of the 

 same clan, though they may, perhaps, speak differ- 

 ent dialects, and dwell far asunder, are yet bound 

 together by the closest ties of fraternity. If a 

 man is killed, every member of the clan feels called 



1 Schoolcraft, Oneota, 172. 



The extraordmary figures intended to represent tortoises, deer, snakes, 

 and other animals, which are often seen appended to Indian treaties, are 

 the totems of the chiefs, who employ these devices of their respective 

 clans as their sign manual. The device of his clan is also sometimes tat- 

 toed on the body of the warrior. 



The word tribe might, perhaps, have been employed with as much pro- 

 priety as that of clan, to indicate the totemic division ; but as the former 

 is constantly employed to represent the local or poUtical divisions of the 

 Indian race, hopeless confusion would arise fi-om using it in a double 

 capacity. 



