CHAPTEE IX. 



BADGES AND COSTUMES. 



408. The pursuit of interpretations once more takes 

 us back to victories achieved over men or animals. 

 Badges are derived from trophies; with which, in early 

 stages, they are identical. We have seen that by the Sho- 

 shoncs, a warrior is allowed to wear the feet and claws of a 

 grizzly bear, constituting their &quot; highest insignia of glory/ 

 only when he has killed one: the trophy being thus made 

 into a recognized mark of honour. And seeing this, we can 

 not doubt that the buffalo-horns decorating the head of a 

 Mandan chief and indicating his dignity, were at first worn 

 as spoils of the chase in which he prided himself: implying 

 a genesis of a badge out of a trophy, which gives meaning to 

 the head-dresses of certain divine and human personages 

 among ancient peoples. 



Beginning as a personal distinction naturally resulting 

 from personal prowess, like the lion s skin which Hercules 

 wears, the trophy-badge borne by a warrior whose supe 

 riority gains for him supremacy, tends to originate a fam 

 ily-badge; which becomes a badge of office if his descend 

 ants retain power. Hence the naturalness of the facts that 

 in Ukimi &quot; the skin [of a lion] ... is prepared for the 

 sultan s wear, as no one else dare use it; &quot; that &quot; a leopard- 

 skin mantle is the insignia of rank among the Zoolus; &quot; and 

 that in Uganda, certain of the king s attendants wear &quot; leop 

 ard-cat skins girt round the waist, the sign of royal blood.&quot; 



179 



