310 Wild Beasts 



America") remarks that "the turtle, the bear, and the 

 wolf appear to have been primary and honored totems 

 in most tribes. . . . They are believed to have more or 

 less prominence in the genealogies of all who are organ- 

 ized upon the totemic principle." None knew wolves 

 better than the aborigines of this country, and it is most 

 improbable that beasts which so powerfully affected the 

 thoughts and feelings of men in a similar social phase 

 elsewhere, failed to conduct themselves similarly here. 

 The cause for this striking difference is probably to be 

 found in the peoples and not in the animals ; more 

 especially as every element was present in the situation 

 where the former were placed, that would have fostered 

 the growth of superstition. "The Indian dwelling or 

 wigwam," says Schoolcraft, "is constantly among wild 

 animals, . . . whether enchanted or unenchanted, spirits 

 or real beings, he knows not. He chases them by day, 

 and dreams of them by night. ... A dream or a fact 

 is equally potent in the Indian mind. He is intimate 

 with the habits, motions, and characters of all animals, 

 and feels himself peculiarly connected at all times with 

 the animal creation. By the totemic system, he identifies 

 his personal and tribal history and existence with theirs ; 

 he thinks himself the peculiar favorite of the Great Spirit, 

 whenever they exist abundantly in his hunting-grounds, 

 and when he dies, the figure of the quadruped, bird, or 

 reptile which has guarded him through life, is put in 

 hieroglyphics on his grave post." 



This is not an exaggerated statement, and the fact is 

 that the wolf was not only a tutelar of gentes and emblem 



