means of clearing their warehouses of tiresome visitors; as Bosman says, 'If we are ever tired with the natives of this country, and would fain be rid of them, we need only speak ill of the snake, at which they immediately stop their ears and run out of doors.'[1] Lastly, among the Tatar tribes of Siberia, Castrén finds the explanation of the veneration which the nomade pays to certain animals, in a distinct fetish-theory which he thus sums up: 'Can he also contrive to propitiate the snake, bear, wolf, swan, and various other birds of the air and beasts of the field, he has in them good protectors, for in them are hidden mighty spirits.'[2]
In the lower levels of civilization the social institution known as Totemism is of frequent occurrence. Its anthropological importance was especially brought into notice by J. F. McLennan, whose views as to an early totem-period of society have much influenced opinion since his time.[3] The totemic tribe is divided into clans, the members of each clan connecting themselves with, calling themselves by the name of, and even deriving their mythic pedigree from some animal, plant, or thing, but most often an animal; these totem-clans are exogamous, marriage not being permissible within the clan, while permissible or obligatory between clan and clan. Thus among the Ojibwa Indians of North America, the names of such clan-animals, Bear, Wolf, Tortoise, Deer, Rabbit, &c., served to designate the inter-marrying clans into which the tribes were divided, Indians being actually spoken of as bears, wolves, &c., and the figures of these animals indicating their clans in the native picture-writing. The Ojibwa word for such a clan-name has passed into English in the form 'totem,' and thus has become an accepted term among anthropologists to denote
- ↑ Bosman, 'Guinea,' letter 19; in Pinkerton, vol. xvi. p. 499. See Burton, 'Dahome,' ch. iv., xvii. An account of the Vaudoux serpent-worship still carried on among the negroes of Hayti, in 'Lippincott's Magazine,' Philadelphia, March, 1870.
- ↑ Castrén, 'Finn. Myth.' p. 196, see 228.
- ↑ J. F. McLennan in 'Fortnightly Review,' 1869-70; reprinted in 'Studies in Ancient History,' 2nd Series, pp. 117, 491.
