2
THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
members of a totem clan call themselves by the name of their totem,
and commonly believe themselves to be actually descended from it.
Thus the Turtle clan of the Iroquois are descended froma fat turtle
which, burdened by the weight of its shell in walking, contrived by
great exertions to throw it off, and thereafter gradually developed into
a man, etc.
Believing himself to be descended from, and therefore akin to his
totem, the savage naturally treats it with respect. The origin of totem-
ism can only be conjectured. The accepted explanation is that the insti
tution arose under animistic conceptions of existence. In the struggle
for life man sought allies. The supposedly superior quality of some
animals or plants made them seem desirable in that relationship and the
pact was made.
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In later stages the notion of kinship and then of descent entered as ex
planations of the fact once imagined as real. Meanwhile the living or
dead animal was treated as was the living or dead human; in Kgvpt
corpses of both were mummified, in Greece they were buried or burned.
But from sacredness to godship was but a stage, the individual became
deity—so with the cat, bull, crocodile, etc., in Egypt, and in Greece
the horse, mouse, snake, ram, and even the lobster.
But thought grew’ more anthropomorphic, and the animal head was
placed on a human body as in Greece and Egypt. Next the animal
came to represent deity, and finally was simply sacred to him. The
relationship of totemism to religion is thus in part revealed, though
there are other connections. That out of this came in part zoolatry,
idolatry, and even polytheism is demonstrable.
In Australia totemism is almost universal. In North America it pre
vails principally among the Indians on the northwest coast as far south
as the I nited States frontier; it has quite a large following in parts of
South America, in Africa it prevails in Senegambia, among the Bakalhi
on the equator and elsewhere; there are numerous totem worshipers in
Bengal and it is very popular in parts of Siberia.
W ith regard to ancient nations totemism may be regarded as certain
for the Egyptians, and highly probable for the Semites, Greeks anti
Latins. Professor Sayce finds totemism among the ancient Babylonians,
but he has not been able to produce conclusive evidence