KADiN] SO(;iAL ORGANIZATION GENERAL DISCUSSION 195 



walking in the clouds, there is a name, He-who-walks-in-the- Clouds. Now since the 

 thunder-birds have long wings, there is a name, He-yjho-has- Long- Wings . . . Now 

 when the thunder-birds come, they come with terrible thunder-crashes, it is said; 

 and as many people as there are on this earth, . . . and as many plants as there are 

 on the earth, indeed, everything, the earth itself, they deluge with rain, and thunder- 

 crashes (are heard); for all this they have a name; they call him Wanidjdxega. 



The point at issue in this interpretation of names is, can we accept 

 it as historically primary? We do not think so, for the following 

 reasons: A large numher of the names are clearly descriptive of 

 animal habits, others express the influence of social organization, 

 and others refer to personal achievements, etc. Secondly, the in- 

 terpretation is of too specific a nature to be regarded as one that 

 could possibly have dictated an original system of naming; and, 

 thirdly, in spite of its prevalence, other systems of interpretation 

 are present. As a matter of fact in the above quotation, our in- 

 formant distinctly mentions the fact that the characteristics of 

 thunderbirds were used for names, although he insists that the 

 names referred specifically to the ancestors of the Thunderbird clan. 

 According to J. O. Dorsey the interpretations obtained by him were 

 largely symbolical. He makes no mention of the interpretation ob- 

 tained by the author, although this may be due to the fact that he 

 was but imperfectly acquainted with Winnebago ethnology. It 

 seems best, therefore, to regard the ancestor-episode type of name as 

 but one, perhaps the last, that developed among the Winnebago.' 



ATTITUDE TOWARD CLAN ANIMALS 



When the animal names became associated with the social groups 

 they were accompanied by the specific associations clustering around 

 these animals. These associations were probably of the same type, 

 if not indeed identical with those grouped around the animals as 

 guardian spirits. The clan animals are among the principal guardian 

 spirits to-day, and we must expect to find an explanation of the atti- 

 tude toward them as clan animals in the attitude exhibited toward 

 the guardian spirit. To a certain extent it would be quite correct 

 to say that the guardian became the clan animal. This does not, 

 however, mean, in the slightest degree, that the guardian spirit of 

 the individual became the clan animal, but merely that the concept 

 of the guardian spirit became associated with a local group. 



The guardian spirit is at the present time conceived of as an im- 

 material being in control of an animal species. The attitude toward 

 this spirit is a purely reUgious one, and exhibits a marked absence of 

 taboo of any kind. It is an open question whether a vision must be 

 attested by obtaining some part of the animal "embodiment" of 



" For fuller discussion cf. P. Ratlin, The Social Organization of the Winnebago Indians, Museum Bulle- 

 tin 10, .Vnthropological Series 5, Geological Survey of Canada, 1915. 



