coming overlarge, had subdivided.1 Originally, marriage was not allowed between the members of the same phratry; but the members of either could marry into any clans of the other. Morgan regards this prohibition as an indication that the clans of each phratry were subdivisions of an original clan, and that, therefore, the prohibition against marrying into a person's own clan had followed to its subdivisions. The phratry was partly for social and partly for religious purposes. At the tribal council of chiefs and sachems members of each phratry usually seated themselves on opposite sides of an imaginary council-fire, and the speakers addressed the two opposite bodies as the representatives of the phratries. While blood feuds were ordinarily the concern of the two clans involved, it often happened that the clan of the murdered person called upon the other clans of their phratry to unite with them in avenging the deed. The phratry participated in funeral ceremonials and was also concerned in the election of the sachems and chiefs of several clans. In ball games the Senecas played by phratries, one against the other; and they bet against each other upon the result of the game.

As to the religious ideas of the Iroquois Indians, we know now that their conception of a "Great Spirit" has been misunderstood by those who first described them as believing in a single all-powerful deity identified with the Christian concept of one God. The Indian word "Manitou," which has been considered by many as an Indian name for God, does not mean the "Great Spirit" in the sense of an all-powerful ruling spirit; it is merely an adjectival concept containing the idea of the "big," the "powerful." Manitou means strange, wonderful; it does

14 Morgan, op. cit., ch. iii; Giddings, op. cit., p. 461,

not mean a deity which is extraordinary in itself, but things which are strange, or mysterious, are Manitou. Thus the Indian has no idea of one Great and Ruling Spirit as we have, but he believes in a multitude of spirits animating all surrounding objects.15

One of the most interesting institutions of primitive people is "Totemism." Frazer defined a totem as, “a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists between him and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation." 16 Becaues totemism is often closely connected with the social and religious institutions of primitive people it is one of the most illuminating subjects of study for the anthropologist. There are several features which various authorities have believed to be symptomatic of totemism. Dr. Goldenweiser has summarized them as follows:

(1.) An exogamous clan.

(2.) A clan name derived from the totem.

(3.) A religious attitude towards the totem; as a "friend," "brother," "protector," etc.

(4.) Taboos, or restrictions against killing, eating (sometimes touching and seeing), the totem.

(5.) A belief in descent from the totem."7

Since totemism among the Australian tribes and among the Indians of British Columbia presents certain characteristic features mentioned above, we will study these primitive groups and their relation to totemism. It is necessary to recognize that the totem is of three general kinds: the clan totem, common to all members of the

15 Jones, W.-"The Algonkin Manitou," Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. xviii, pp. 183-190. 16 Frazer, J. G.—Totemism, p. 1. 17 Goldenweiser, A. A.-"Totemism, An Analytical Study," Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. xxiii, April-June, 1910, no. lxxxviii.

clan, and hereditary; the sex totem, one common to all males, another common to all females, of a tribe; and the individual totem, belonging to a single individual, and not hereditary. Moreover, totemism is to be distinguished from fetishism. A totem is a class of objects. If the eagle is the totem of a clan, all eagles are held in sacred veneration by all members of the clan. A fetish is an individual object, not a class of objects.18

We first noted that totemism is related to exogamy. In British Columbia the local clan or family is the important social unit among the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl.19 The Tlingit people comprise fourteen divisions each consisting of several towns. At the present time there are two strictly exogamous phratries, with descent through the mother. These phratries are subdivided into clans which generally derive their names from the locality they originally occupied, "Of the Island of Teqo," "Of the House in the Middle of the Valley," etc.20 Among the Haida we find two exogamous metronymic clans. The members of one clan are regarded as closely related, and marriage between persons of the same clan is viewed by them with almost the same abhorrence as incest is looked upon by us.21 The Tsimshian clans are also exogamous and metronymic. The northern Kwakiutl are organized like the Tsimshian, with the exception of descent, which is both maternal and paternal. The system of descent among the southern Kwakiutl presents an interesting example of what is

18 Frazer, op. cit., pp. 2, 15, 53, 56.

19 Boas, F.-Internationaler Amerikanisten Kongress Stuttgart, 1904, vol. xiv, pp. 141-148.

20 Swanton, J. R.-Social Conditions, Beliefs, and Linguistic Relationship of the Tlingit Indians, 26th. Report Bureau Amer. Ethnology, pp. 396-399. 21 Ibid.

probably a transition from male to female descent. Through marriage, a man acquires the position and privileges of his father-in-law which he cannot use for himself but transmits to his son. These are unmistakable indications of a former descent through the father.22 But the clans are not exogamous. Indeed, a woman is advised to marry in her clan. The custom of marrying a member of the same clan and of never making matrimonial alliance with outsiders, is called endogamy. The two phratries of the Tlingit are Raven and Wolf. The exogamy of the British Columbian Indians does not seem to be indissolubly bound up with their system of totemism, so that we cannot always expect totemism to appear in connection with exogamy. Although many of the clans and family names of these peoples are animal names, the clans of the Tlingit and the families of the Haida bear names derived from localities. Thus the institution of totemism may exist without there being derivation of the clan name from the totem.

The British Columbian Indians do not generally believe that the clan descended from the totem animal. In the most common type of tradition found among the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, the ancestors of the clan or family were believed to have come into relations with some animal in the early historical period and to have derived from this animal the clan name. One of these traditions is somewhat as follows: some people captured a small beaver and kept it as a pet because it was cunning and very clean. It was well cared for, but by and by it took offense at something and began to compose songs. Afterward one of the beaver's masters went

22 Boas, F.-The Social Organization and Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians, Report of the U. S. Nat'l Muscum, 1895, pp. 334-5, 431.

through the woods to a certain salmon creek, and found two salmon-spear handles, beautifully carved, standing at the foot of a big tree. When he carried them home, the beaver said that they were his make. Then the people said something that offended it again, whereupon the beaver began, to every one's surprise, to sing just like a human being. While singing, it seized a spear and threw it straight through its master's chest, killing him instantly. Then it threw its tail down upon the ground and the earth upon which the house stood dropped in. They found afterwards that the beaver had been digging out the earth under the camp to make a great hollow. The people who had this experience, claim the Beaver as their crest and are proud to possess the songs composed by him.23 In other traditions of the same sort there is no indication that the clan is thought of as having descended from the totem animal. The grizzly bear crest was obtained by a man who married a she-bear.24 In some cases it was believed that the crest animal came to earth and became a man, the ancestor of the clan.25 In the case of the Thunder-Bird, it is related that TooLarge, the Thunder-Bird, flew with his wife through the door of the upper world down to the lower world of men where there was a man at work upon his house. This man called to them that they should become men and help him. Too-Large at once lifted the jaw of his thunderbird mask, and said, "O brother! we are people." In these legends the ancestor is first an animal, but becomes a man by taking off his animal mask.26 Thus the concept 23 Swanton, J. R.—Tlingit Myths and Texts, Bureau of Amer. Ethnol., bul. 39, 1909, p. 227.

24 Ibid., pp. 228-229.

25 Boas, op. cit., p. 382.

20 Boas and Hunt, Kirakiutl Texts Jesun Ervedition, vol. iii, 1905.