9 
The special face-paintings associated with the clans are no longer 
remembered, except in the case of the eagle clan, whose members drew a 
streak of red across the nose and cheeks and a streak of blue below. Dots 
of white on forehead and cheeks may have been the characteristic pattern 
of another clan. At the present time the Indians use no set patterns, but 
decorate their faces on special occasions according to their individual 
fancies. 
There was no trace of any belief that the Indians were descended 
from the totem bird or animal, although such an idea would appear less 
absurd to the Ojibwa than it does to us, since at least some of them con- 
sidered that birds and animals were originally human beings transformed. 
The totem was not worshipped in any way ; a man might kill and eat it as 
freely as other game. Neither was there any notion that he received aid 
from his totem, or could kill it more easily than other animals. Never- 
theless, he owed it a certain measure of respect and should request its 
consent or present his apologies before killing it. The hunter who belonged 
to the caribou clan should invite the caribou to draw near, or at least to 
permit his approach within bow- or gun-shot. A hunter of the bear clan 
who discovered a bear in its den should request it to come out, and if it 
refused should leave it unmolested, lest the bears take offence and bring 
misfortune on himself and his family. Old Jim Nanibush related an amus- 
ing story in this connexion: 
“ Two weeks ago I was camping on the shore of the lake with my relative, Henry 
Miller. Henry went down to draw water for cooking. Noticing signs of beaver near the 
camp I called to him ‘ There must be a beaver here.’ Henry in jest shouted ‘ Totem.’ 
Immediately a beaver jumped in the water, startling him so greatly that he dropped 
his bucket and ran.” 
The clan system just outlined evidently dates back to fairly remote 
times, and indeed most of the Indians retain no knowledge or tradition of 
its origin. The oldest surviving native on the island, Jim Nanibush, linked 
it with the myth of Shauwanigizik, “Southern Sky,” 1 which appears to 
have been an Ottawa tale not current among the Ojibwa and Potawatomi 
of Georgian bay. 
“ Shauwanigizik, who created the birds, the animals, and the trees, sent them to 
bless the Indians, and those who were blessed by the bear, the caribou, etc., took these 
animals as their totems. Indians who were blessed by the hemlock adopted the eagle, 
since that bird constantly nests in the hemlock tree; and for a similar reason those 
who were blessed by the cedar became the squirrel elan. The children of these early 
Indians inherited their fathers’ totems. It was the sun who bestowed on each clan its 
special style of face-painting. Hence in life the Indians painted their faces to please 
the sun; but they decorated the faces of the dead with their clan paintings to please 
the sun’s sister, the moon.” 
1 See p. 25. 
