ANIMISTIC BELIEFS 109 



but that they may all be explained in a simpler and 

 more satisfactory manner. 



Suggested Theory of the Origin of Totemism 



Before bringing this chapter to an end, we would 

 point out that among the facts we have described 

 there are some which seem to suggest a possible 

 and, indeed, as it seems to us, a very natural and 

 probable mode of origin of totem - worship. We 

 refer to the varieties of the Ngarong of the I bans 

 and sporadic analogous cases among the other 

 tribes. We have seen that the Ngarong may 

 assume the form of some curious natural object, or 

 of some one animal distinguished from its fellows 

 by some slight peculiarity, which receives the atten- 

 tions of some one man only. In such cases the 

 Ngarong is hardly distinguishable from a fetish. 

 In other cases the man, being unable to distinguish 

 the particular animal which he believes to be 

 animated by his Ngarong, extends his regard and 

 gratitude to the whole species. In such a case it 

 seems difficult to deny the name " individual totem " 

 to the species, if the term is to be used at all. In 

 other cases, again, all the members of a man's family 

 and all his descendants, and, if he be a chief, all the 

 members of the community over which he rules, 

 may come to share in the benefits conferred by his 

 Ngarong, and in the feeling of respect for it and in 

 the performance of rites in honour of the species of 

 animal in one individual of which it is supposed to 

 reside. In such cases the species approaches very 

 closely the clan -totem in some of its varieties. 

 (In speaking of the **Kobong" of certain natives 

 of Western Australia, Sir G. Grey^ says, ** This 

 arises from the family belief that some one indi- 

 vidual of the species is their nearest friend, to kill 



^ Quoted in Mr. Frazer's Totemism, ist ed., 1887, p. 8. 



