18 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. !0. 
Wolf 
Water-spirit ( ?) 
Buffalo 
Deer 
Elk 
Snake 
The same order was given by a number of other informants. 
In the Bear clan legend the order is water-spirit, birds, bears, and 
in practically all the versions of the Bear clan legends the bear 
always finds the footprints of the wolf, which would indicate 
that the latter had preceded him. Nevertheless, in the versions 
of the Wolf clan myth, the bear footprints are found by the 
Wolf people, and, strangely enough, in the same version the Wolf 
people are represented as the last clan, whereas in another 
version of the myth they are represented as being the first clan. 
In still another myth, the Water-spirit is represented as first, etc. 
These discrepancies can be explained in only one way, one that 
was to be expected, namely, that each clan tried to augment 
its own importance by insisting that it was one of the first, if not 
the first, to have originated. About one thing all seem to be 
agreed — that the Snake clan was the last. The Fish clan is rarely 
mentioned and, in general, appears to be a very late addition. 
It is thus clear that no historical importance can be attached 
to the order of the clans. More significance must, however, 
be attached to the statements that certain clans have originated 
at special places. Thus, while the majority trace their origin 
to Green bay, the members of the Warrior and Buffalo clan claim 
certain lakes far to the south of Green bay as their original 
home. Here the literary tendency to associate the origin of the 
clans with a lake of a definite character makes any discussion 
practically futile. It is, of course, quite plain that the tribe 
as a unit, localized in a definite place, did not adopt animal 
names for their various clans, but that a type of name gradually 
spread over all the local groups. One of these local groups 
may have become associated with a definite place of origin. 
Perhaps the association of Green bay as the place of origin is 
precisely such an instance. The local associations of the Warrior 
and Buffalo clans can also be taken as suggestive of an historical 
past. That the prevalent association of Green bay as the 
