OcTOBER 2, 1902] 
NATURE 
563 
American idea of the acquisition of the »zanztm was evidently 
also fundamental among the Kwakiutl, as all their tales refer to 
it and the whole winter ceremonial is based on it. 
I agree in the main with Mr. Hartland (‘‘Folk-lore,” xi. p. 68) 
in thinking that, ‘‘ whether or no totemism was anciently a part 
of the tribal organisation, the sam conception is of modern 
date. It is part of the indivjdualism which is tending, not 
among these tribes only, to obscure the older communistic 
traditions.” 
Nyarong. 
Allied to the szanztz of North America is the zyarong, or 
spirit-helper, of the Iban (Sea Dayaks) of Sarawak. The Iban 
believe that the spirit of some ancestor or dead relative may 
come to them in a dream, and this 72yarong becomes the special 
protector of the individual. An Iban youth will often retire to 
some lonely spot or mountain-top and live for days on a very 
restricted diet in his anxiety to obtain a vision. This custom is 
called mampok. On the following day the dreamer searches 
for the outward and visible form of the zyavong, which may be 
anything from a curious natural object to some one animal. In 
such cases the zyavong hardly differs from a fetish. In other 
cases, as the man is unable to distinguish the particular animal 
which he believes to be animated by his zyarong, he extends 
his regard and gratitude to the whole species. In some 
instances all the members of a man’s family and all his imme- 
diate descendants, and if he be a chief all the members of the 
community over which he rules, may came to share the benefits 
conferred by the yavong and pay respect to the species of 
animal in one individual of which it is supposed to reside. ‘In 
such cases,” Drs. Hose and McDougall remark ( /owrn. Anthrop. 
Inst., xxxi. I9OI, p. 210), ‘‘the species approaches very closely 
the clan totem in some of its varieties.” Here we have a 
parallel to the North American custom, but the later stages are 
not carried as far. 
Personally I concur in the opinion expressed by Drs. Hose 
and McDougall that there is no proof that the peculiar regard 
paid in Sarawak to animals, the sacrifice of animals to gods or 
spirits, the ceremonial use of the blood of these sacrificed 
animals are survivals of a fully developed system of totem 
worship now fallen into decay. It is very significant that the 
magical and social aspects of totemism are entirely lacking. 
Those who have read Miss Alice Fletcher’s sympathetic 
account of ‘‘The Import of the Totem” (Amer. Assoc. Adv. 
Sci., Section Anthropology, Detroit Meeting, August, 1897) 
can scarcely fail to recognise that the moral support due to 
a belief in the guidance and protection of a wahkudbe (‘* personal 
totem”) is of great importance to the individual, and would 
nerve him in difficulty and danger, and thus proving a very 
present help in time of need it would surely justify its existence 
in a most practical manner and consequently be of real utility 
in the struggle for existence—a struggle which in man has a 
psychical as well as a material aspect. 
The advantages of totemism are many, but most of them are 
social and benefit the special groups or the community at large. 
The hold that the vzazz/z has on the individual consists in its 
personal relation ; the man feels that he himself is helped, and 
I suspect this is the main reason why it supplants totemism. I 
believe Mr. Lang some years ago suggested the term sazzitaism 
for this cult.. If this name be not accepted I venture to propose 
the revival of the word ‘‘daimon” (Safuwy) to include the 
manitu, nyarong and similar spirit-helpers, and ‘‘ daimonism ” 
as the name of the cult. 
Theriomorphic Ancestor Worship. 
Dr. Frazer calls attention (47a, 1901, No. 3) toa publication 
by Dr. G. McCall Theal (‘‘ Records of South-eastern Africa,” 
vii. 1901) in which he describes the tribal veneration for certain 
animals, széoko. The Bantu believed that the spirits of the 
dead visited their friends and descendants in the form of animals. 
Each tribe regarded some particular animal as the one selected 
by the ghost of its kindred, and therefore looked upon it as 
sacred. Dr. Frazer says: ‘‘ Thus the totemism of the Bantu 
tribes of South Africa resolves itself into a particular species of 
the worship of the dead; the totem animals are revered as 
incarnations of the souls of dead ancestors. This entirely 
agrees with the general theory of totemism suggested by the 
late S. G. A. Wilken and recently advocated by Prof. E. B. 
Tylor” (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxviii. p. 146). But is this 
totemism? The széoko are the residences of the ancestral 
spirits of the tribe, not of a clan ; there is no mention of szsoho 
NO. 1718, VOL. 66] 
exogamy. Is this anything more than theriomorphic ancestor 
worship? There can, however, be little doubt that true totem- 
ism did occur, and probably universally so, among the Bantu 
people ; but some of the tribes appear to be in a transitional 
state, and others have doubtless passed beyond typical totemism. 
The decay of the Bantu totemism in South Africa appears to 
have been mainly due to a patriarchal organisation combined 
with a pastoral life. + 
In describing Dr. Wilken’s theory that the doctrine of the 
transmigration of souls affords the link which connects totemism 
with ancestor worship, Prof. Tylor concludes as follows: ‘‘ By 
thus finding in the world-wide doctrine of soul-transference an 
actual cause producing the two collateral lines of man and beast 
which constitute the necessary framework of totemism, we seem 
to reach at least something analogous to its real cause.” I have 
already expressed my belief that the animal cults of the Malay 
Archipelago, so far as they are known at present, cannot be 
logically described as totemism, and the majority of the peoples 
of this area have so long passed out of savagery that we are 
hardly likely to find here an unequivocal clue to the actual 
origin of totemism. 
The reverence paid to particular animals or plants by certain 
groups of people in Fiji may, as Mr. Lorimer Fison says, 
(‘* Ann. Rep. Brit. New Guinea,” 1897-98, p. 136) ‘‘ look like 
reminiscences’ of totemism, but he has ‘‘ no direct evidence.” It 
surely belongs to the same category as the Samoan custom of 
which Dr. George Brown writes (2ézd., p. 137), ‘‘In Samoa 
every principal family had some animal which they did not eat, 
and I have always regarded this as meaning, not that they 
thought the animal divine, or an object of worship, but that it 
was the ‘shrine’ in which their ancestral god had dwelt, or 
which was associated with some fact in their past history which 
had led them to adopt it as their totem.” An opinion which 
Prof. Tylor has independently expressed (/ow7. Anthrop. 
Inst., xxviii. p. 142), but he naturally dissents from the incarnate 
god being termed a ‘‘ totem.” 
I agree with Dr. Codrington (‘‘ The Melanesians,” 1891, p. 
32) in doubting whether the evidence warrants a belief in 
totemism as an existing institution in the Southern Solomon 
Islands. I suspect that totemism has been destroyed over a 
considerable portion of Melanesia by the growth of secret 
societies as well as by theriomorphic ancestor worship. Herr 
R. Parkinson (déh. Ber. k. Zool. Anth. Eth. Mus. Dresden, 
vii. 1899, Nr. 6), however, proves true totemism in the Northern 
Solomon Islands as the Rev. B. Danks had previously done 
(Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xviii. 1889, p. 281) for New Britain, 
Duke of York Island and New Ireland. 
The more one looks into the evidence the more difficult is it 
to find cases of typical totemism ; almost everywhere consider- 
able modification has taken place, often so much so that the 
communities cannot logically be called totemistic. The magical 
increase of the totem by the clansmen does not appear to be 
common, but that may be due to its having been overlooked ; 
on the other hand, magic may be performed against the totems 
to prevent them from injuring the crops, as in the case of the 
‘*Reptile people” of the Omaha (J. O. Dorsey, “‘ Ann, Rep. 
Bureau Ethnol.,” 1881-82 (1884), p. 248). 
Animal Brethren. 
Throughout South-eastern Australia and probably elsewhere 
in that continent, there is a peculiar association of a species of 
animal, unusually a bird, with eachsex. To take two examples 
given by Mr. A. W. Howitt (/owsn. Anthrop. Inst., xv. 1886, 
p- 416), ‘‘ the bird totems of the Kurnai are the Emu, Wren 
and the Superb Warbler, which are respectively the ‘man’s 
brother’ and ‘woman’s sister.’ . . . When we turn to the 
Kulin, we find both the Kurnai totems in just the same position. 
In addition there are also a second male and female totem, 
namely, the Bat and the small Night Jar.” Mr. Howitt is 
careful to point out, ‘‘ They are not true totems in the sense that 
these represent subdivisions of the primary classes ; yet they are 
true totems in so far that they are regarded as being the 
‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ of the human beings who bear their 
names.”” Mr. A. L. P. Cameron (zd7d., xiv. 1885, p. 350) also 
states that these are ‘‘something different from ordinary 
totems.” Later Mr. Howitt (¢ézd., xviii. 1888, pp. 57, 59) 
says : *‘ Among the Wotjobaluk tribe which have a true totemic 
1 E. Durkheim, “L’Année Sociologique,” v. 1902, p. 330; of also 
F. B. Jevons, ‘‘ Introduction to the History of Religion,” 1902, pp. 155, 
158. 
