676 EEroRT — 1898. 



of this spirit to the individual is identical with that of the Manitou to the 

 eastern Indian. 



It can be clearly shown that the development of the family Manitou 

 into the family totem has taken place owing to the influence of the 

 northern tribes. In order to make this clear, it is necessary to consider 

 for a moment the clans of the Kwakiutl somewhat closely. In examining- 

 the names of the tribes, it will be seen that very often the name of the 

 tribe is the collective form of the name of its ancestor. At the same 

 time a subdivision of the tribe, one of its clans, may have the name ' The 

 Family of the Ancestor,' while the other clans have diflferent names. It 

 seems that this proves that the hrst clan formed the original stock of the 

 tribe, and that the other clans joined it later on. This theory is strength- 

 ened by two considerations : lirst, it is stated that each clan originally 

 had its village at a certain place, which it left later on in order to join 

 others. Almost all these places can be proved to be ancient village sites. 

 Secondly, many clans have names which may be tran.slated, as ' Inhabit- 

 ants of such and such a place,' while nowadays they live with the rest 

 of the tribe in the same village, and have no distinct claims to the 

 territory the name of which they bear. This seems to prove that the 

 present social organisation of the tribe is a late development, and that 

 originally the Kwakiutl were in the same stage of development as their 

 southern neighbours, among whom the social unit is the village commu- 

 nity, and who have no crests. 



The northern tribes have clearly defined totems, which are inherited 

 in the maternal line, and which have animal names and animal crests. 

 While among these tribes the totem of the whole clan is founded on the 

 tradition belonging to the whole clan, the subdivisions of the latter are 

 explained in exactly the same manner as those of the Kwakiutl clans. 

 The artistic bent of these people has taken hold of these traditions, and 

 has thus formed the crest for the clan and for its subdivisions. There is 

 littlo doubt that the plastic art of the northern tribes was a most import- 

 ant factor in developing their social system. In the south, where this art 

 begins to disappear, the village community takes the place of the clan 

 with animal totem, while among the tribes located between these two 

 groups, among whom the plastic art is well developed, although not as 

 highly as in the north, there is an intermediate form of social system. It 

 is therefore likely that the development of the social system discussed 

 here has taken place in the northern part of British Columbia. 



The northern tribes of Kwakiutl lineage show clearly that their ideas 

 have been influenced by the animal totem of the northern tribes. They 

 have adopted to a great extent the maternal descent and the division into 

 animal totems of the northern tribes. The social organisation of the 

 He'iltsuk-, one of the most northern tribes of Kwakiutl lineage, is similar 

 to that of the Tsimshian, while their southern neighbours, the inha- 

 bitants of Rivers Inlet, who speak the same dialect, retain the more 

 complex organisation of the Kwakiutl ; but they have mainly maternal 

 descent. 



It is an interesting fact that a great many of the clan legends of the 

 Kwakiutl are very insignificant, while others have important mythical 

 bearings by which they are closely connected with the mythological 

 concepts of the people. It seems probable that clan legends first found 

 their way to the Kwakiutl by marriages with women of northern tribes, 

 whose traditions, according to the customs of the northern region, were 



