222 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



however " profess to tell of what occurred to them 

 in bodies previously inhabited for at least six genera- 

 tions back." 1 Twins are a mystery to the Teton, who 

 believe that they are of superhuman origin and must 

 come from Twin-land. They may die ; but they are 

 sure to be born again into separate families, and will 

 then be able to recognise one another though others 

 are unable to do so. Medicine-men often found their 

 claims to supernatural power on having had a previous 

 existence as twins. 2 A tale belonging to the cycle 

 of Orpheus and Eurydice told by a member of the 

 Teuktcan-si tribe in California relates that the bereaved 

 husband when in the other world saw a long line of 

 little babies moving silently back across the bridge 

 that spanned the furious river between the living and 

 the dead. "They were coming here to our women." 3 

 In Peru, if we may trust Garcilaso dela Vega, the 

 Cavinna, one of the tribes to the south of Cuzco 

 subdued by the Inca Manco Capac, claimed to be 

 descended from parents who came out of a certain 

 lake, and believed that the souls of those who died 

 entered the lake and thence returned again to animate 

 other bodies. 4 



The custom of calling a child by the name of one of 

 its forefathers or other previously deceased relations is 

 so common that it is useless to adduce instances, 

 unless there be some concomitant like that of 

 divination or a dream for connecting it with the belief 



selecting their mothers are born into human society (Ibid. 494, 

 quoting Pond in Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes). 



1 Dorsey, Rep. Bur. Ethn. xi. 493. 



* Dorsey, op. cit. 482, quoting MS. by Dr. J. M. Woodburn in 

 possession of the Bur. Ethn. 3 Journ. Am. F. L. xv. 105. 



4 Garcilaso, Bk. i. c. xx ; Markham's trsln., i. 80. 



