METHOD IN THE STUDY OF TOTEMISM
BY
ANDREW LANG
GLASGOW
Printed at the University Press by
ROBERT MACLEHOSE & CO. LTD.
1911
METHOD IN THE STUDY OF TOTEMISM
Is there any human institution which can be safely called "Totemism"?
Is there any possibility of defining, or even describing Totemism? Is
it legitimate--is it even possible, with due regard for "methodology"
and logic--to seek for the "normal" form of Totemism, and to trace it
through many Protean changes, produced by various causes, social and
speculative? I think it possible to discern the main type of Totemism,
and to account for divergences.
Quite the opposite opinion appears to be held by Mr. H. H. Goldenweizer
in his "Totemism, an Analytic Study."[1] This treatise is acutely
critical and very welcome, as it enables British inquirers about
totemism to see themselves as they appear "in larger other eyes than
ours." Our common error, we learn, is this: "A feature salient in the
totemic life of some community is seized upon only to be projected into
the life of the remote past, and to be made the starting-point of the
totemic process. The intermediary stages and secondary features are
supplied from local evidence, by analogy with other communities, or 'in
accordance with recognised principles of evolution' [what are they?]
and of logic. The origin and development, thus arrived at, are then
used as principles of interpretation of the present conditions. Not
one step in the above method of attacking the problem of totemism is
logically justifiable."[2]
As I am the unjustifiable sinner quoted in this extract,[3] I may
observe that my words are cited from a harmless statement to the
effect that a self-consistent "hypothesis," or "set of guesses,"
which colligates all the known facts in a problem, is better than a
self-contradictory hypothesis which does not colligate the facts.
Now the "feature salient in the totemic life of some communities,"
which I "project into the life of the remote past," and "make the
starting-point of the totemic process" is the totemic name, animal,
vegetable, or what not, of the totem-kin.
In an attempt to construct a theory of the origin of totemism,
the choice of the totemic name as a starting-point is logically
justifiable, because the possession of a totemic name is,
_universally_, the mark of a totem-kin; or, as most writers prefer to
say, "clan." How can you know that a clan is totemic, if it is not
called by a totemic name? The second salient feature in the totemic
life of some communities which I select as even prior to the totemic
name, is the exogamy of the "clans" now bearing totemic names.
To these remarks Mr. Goldenweizer would reply (I put his ideas briefly)
there are (1) exogamous clans without totemic names; and there are (2)
clans with totemic names, but without exogamy.
To this I answer (1) that if his exogamous clan has not a totemic
name, I do not quite see why it should be discussed in connection with
totemism; but that many exogamous sets, bearing _not_ totemic names,
but local names or nicknames, can be proved to have at one time borne
totemic names. Such exogamous sets, therefore, no longer bearing
totemic names, are often demonstrably variations from the totemic type;
and are not proofs that there is no such thing as a totemic type.
Secondly, I answer, in the almost unique case of "clans" bearing
totemic names without being exogamous, that these "clans" have
previously been exogamous, and have, under ascertained conditions,
shuffled off exogamy. They are deviations from the prevalent type of
clans with totemic names _plus_ exogamy. They are exceptions to the
rule, and, as such, they prove the rule. They are divergences from the
type, and, as such, they prove the existence of the type from which
they have diverged.
So far I can defend my own method: it starts from features that are
universal, or demonstrably have been universal in totemism. There _is_
"an organic unity of the features of totemism,"--of these two features,
the essential features.
Lastly, Mr. Goldenweizer accuses us "Britishers," as he calls us,
of neglecting in our speculations the effects of "borrowing and
diffusion, of assimilation and secondary associations of cultural
elements, in primitive societies."[4]
This charge I do not understand. There has been much discussion of
possibilities of the borrowing and diffusion and assimilation of
phratries, exogamy, and of totemic institutions; and of "ethnic
influences," influences of races, in Australia. But the absence of
historical information, the almost purely mythical character of tribal
legends (in North-West America going back to the Flood, in Australia,
to the "Dream Time"), with our ignorance of Australian philology,
prevent us in this field from reaching conclusions.
(Possibly philologists may yet cast some light on "ethnic influences"
in Australia. The learned editor of _Anthropos_, Père Schmidt, tells me
that he has made a study of Australian languages and believes that he
has arrived at interesting results.)
Mr. Goldenweizer represents, though unofficially, the studies of many
earnest inquirers of North America, whether British subjects, like Mr.
Hill Tout, or American citizens such as Dr. Boas. They vary, to be
sure, among themselves, as to theories, but they vary also from British
speculators. They have personally and laboriously explored and loyally
reported on totemism among the tribes of the north-west Pacific coast
and _Hinterland_; totemism among these tribes has especially occupied
them; whereas British anthropologists have chiefly, though by no means
solely, devoted themselves to the many varieties of totemism exhibited
by the natives of Australia. These Australian tribes are certainly on
perhaps the lowest known human level of physical culture, whereas the
tribes of British Columbia possess wealth, "towns," a currency (in
blankets), rank (noble, free, unfree), realistic art, and heraldry as a
mark of rank, and of degrees of wealth.
Mr. Goldenweizer's method is to contrast the North-Western American
form of totemism with that prevalent in Central Australia, and to
ask,--how, among so many differences, can you discover a type, an
original norm? I answer that both in North-Western America and in
Central Australia, we find differences which can be proved to arise
from changes in physical and "cultural" conditions and from speculative
ideas. I have said that in British Columbia the tribes are in a much
more advanced state of culture than any Australian peoples, and
their culture has affected their society and their totemism. Wealth,
distinctions of rank, realistic art, with its result in heraldry as a
mark of rank, and fixed residence in groups of houses are conditions
unknown to the Australian tribes, and have necessarily provided
divergences in totemic institutions. Mr. Goldenweizer replies "that
the American conditions are due to the fact that the tribes of British
Columbia are 'advanced' cannot be admitted."[5] But, admitted or not,
it can be proved, as I hope to demonstrate.
[1] _Journal of American Folk-Lore_, April-June, 1910.
[2] _J. A. F._ p. 280
[3] _Secret of the Totem_, p. 28.
[4] _J. A. F._ p. 281.
[5] _J. A. F._ p. 287.
II.
Mr. Goldenweizer gives what he supposes some of us to regard as
"essential characteristics" or "symptoms" of totemism. He numbers five
of these "symptoms."
1. An exogamous clan.
2. A clan name derived from the totem.
3. A religious attitude towards the totem, as a "friend," "brother,"
"protector," &c.
4. Taboos or restrictions against the killing, eating (sometimes
touching, seeing) of the totem.
5. A belief in descent from the totem.
Mr. Goldenweizer next, by drawing a contrast between British Columbian
and Central Australian totemism, tries to prove, if I understand him,
that "the various features of totemism," are, or may be "essentially
independent of one another," "historically, or psychologically, or
both."[6]
Now, looking at the five symptoms of totemism, I may repeat (speaking
only for myself) that, as to 1 and 2, I think _the exogamous clan_,
with "_a clan name derived from the totem_" is an institution of such
very wide diffusion that I may blamelessly study it and attempt to
account to myself for its existence. But this does not mean that I
regard all exogamous social sets as at present totemic; or as always
having borne totem names. Again, sets of people (I cannot call them
"clans," for the word "clan" indicates persons claiming common descent
from a male ancestor,--say _Clan Gihean, Clan Diarmaid_), may bear
animal or vegetable or other such names, yet not be at present, as
such, exogamous. Of these are the Arunta, and the Narran-ga.
3. _A religious attitude towards the totem_. One cannot discuss this
without a definition of religion. "Totemism is not a religion," says
Mr. Frazer, with whom I am here in agreement.
4. _Totemic taboos_. These, though extremely general, are not quite
universal even in Australia.
5. _A belief in descent from the totem_.
This belief is post-totemic, being merely one of many aetiological
myths by which men explain to themselves why they are totemists; what
is the nature of the _rapport_ between them and their totems; why
they bear as a kin (or association) animal or vegetable names. One or
another such myth is not an essential part of totemism, for it is,
necessarily, post-totemic.
I am thus left confronting the problems, (1) why are the immense
majority of exogamous kins, in societies which we call "totemic," named
by animal and other such names; and (2) why are they exogamous?
As for other exogamous social sets, which bear, not animal names, but
territorial, or descriptive names, or nicknames, often derisive, it is
my business to show, if I can, that these sets, or some of them, have
passed, in historical times, out of the stage of totem-kins, owing to
circumstances which I shall describe. Next (2) I have to show, if I
can, why a few sets of people, bearing, as sets or associations, animal
or other such names, are now no longer _exogamous_.
If I succeed, I think that I may regard "Totemism" as characterised by
exogamous kins bearing totemic names, and as "an integral phenomenon"
existing in many various forms.[7]
If I understand Mr. Goldenweizer this attitude and effort of mine
must seem to him "methodologically" erroneous, and "logically
unjustifiable." "This attitude," he says (namely the attitude of those
who hold totemism to be "an integral phenomenon"), "is reflected in the
way several authors deal with the so-called 'survivals' of totemism,
where from the presence in some region of one or two of the 'symptoms'
of totemism, or of the fragments of such symptoms, they infer the
existence in the past of totemism in its 'typical form,' that is, with
all its essential characteristics."[8]
Thus, for example, from such phenomena as standards bearing animal
forms; or from animal worship,--each animal being adored in its own
district,--or from myths of descent from gods in the form of animals;
or from the animal names of some Roman _gentes_; or from animals
closely associated with gods (like the Shrew Mouse with Sminthian
Apollo); or from the presence of beings partly theriomorphic partly
anthropomorphic, in art, many writers infer a past of totemism in
Italy; Israel; Greece Hellenic and Greece Minoan; in Egypt; in
Ireland; and so forth. It is not my purpose to treat of such so-called
survivals. I am to deal with peoples such as the tribes of Australia,
New Guinea, and North-West America, who, if not the rose, have been
near the rose: if not always totemic are at least neighbours of
totemists.
[6] _J. A. F._ p. 183.
[7] But I exclude from my treatment of the subject, the "Matrimonial
Classes," or "sub-classes" of many Australian tribes, for these are
peculiar to Australia, appear to be results of deliberate conscious
enactment, and, though they bear animal names (when their names can be
translated), have no traceable connection with totemism.
[8] _J. A. F._ p. 182.
III.
Mr. Goldenweizer tabulates the results of his comparison between
the Totemism of British Columbia and that of Central Australia.[9]
In the latter region the totemic institutions and myths are not
those of South-Eastern Australia. To the totemism of many tribes in
South-Eastern Australia that of a great tribe of British Columbia,
the Tlingit, bears,--if we may trust some of the evidence,--the
closest possible resemblance; while, if we trust other and conflicting
evidence, the resemblance is, on an important point, nearer to the
institutions of certain Australian tribes of the furthest south, in
Cape Yorke peninsula. The evidence for British Columbian totemism,
I shall show, is so wavering as to make criticism difficult. The
terminology, too, of some American students has been extremely
perplexing. I am sorry to be obliged to dwell on this point, but a
terminology which seems to apply five or six separate terms to the same
social unit needs reform.
Dr. Boas is one of the most energetic field-anthropologists of the
United States. To him we owe sixteen separate disquisitions and reports
on the natives of the North-West Pacific coast and _Hinterland_, all
of them cited by Mr. Goldenweizer in his excellent Bibliography. But
Mr. Frazer observes that Dr. Boas variously denominates the kindred
groups of the Kwakiutl tribe as "groups," "clans," "gentes," and
"families." I must add that he also uses _gentes_ as a synonym for
phratries--"Phratries, viz. _gentes_."[10] Now a "phratry" is not a
_gens_; a "group" may be anything you please; a "family" is not a
_gens_;--a "_gens_" is an aggregate of families,--and a "clan" is not
a "family."
Mr. Goldenweizer's tabulated form of his comparisons between British
Columbia and Australia contains ten categories (see the last footnote
of p. 6). Of these, two at least (8) (9) indicate elements which are
purely proofs that the B.C. tribes are on a much higher, or later,
level of social progress than the Australians. These two are _Rank_
and _Art_. Had Mr. Goldenweizer added _Wealth_ and _Towns_ to his ten
categories he would have given four factors in B.C. culture which
affect B.C. totemism, and which do not exist in Central Australia,
where realistic art is all but wholly unknown: art being occupied with
archaic conventional patterns. Thus, in Australia, the bewildering B.C.
heraldry--the "crests"--cannot, as in B.C., confuse the statements
of observers, perplex their terminology (for they often use "crests"
as synonyms of "totems"), and disorganise totemism itself. But we
can find, not far from Australia, a parallel to this heraldry in New
Guinea. For "crests" or badges in Central British New Guinea, see
_Totemism and Exogamy_, vol. ii. pp. 42-44. The people, like the B.C.
tribes, are settled in villages. They have "a number of exogamous
clans," most clans occupying several villages, and they have paternal
descent. "Every clan" (as apparently in some cases in British Columbia)
"has a number of badges called Oaoa, which, generally speaking, may
only be worn or used by members of the clan." The "clan" names are
geographical or are patronymics, they are not totemic; the badges
either represent birds and mammals, or are "schematised" from some
prominent feature of these. The people are not now totemists, even if
they have passed through totemism.
Again (category 5), in British Columbia, "Magical Ceremonies are not
associated with Totemism." In Central Australia they are "intimately
associated with totemism." Yes, but in South-Eastern Australia they
are not, as far as our evidence informs us. Magical ceremonies are
not in Mr. Goldenweizer's list of five symptoms or characteristic
peculiarities of totemism, so I leave them out of account.
Again, as to Taboo (category 3), in British Columbia, "non-totemic
taboo is common; totemic, absent."
As to this "absence," Mr. Frazer has a great deal to say. For example,
we have Commander Mayne's book, _Four Years in British Columbia_, a
work of 1862, in which is given information from Mr. William Duncan, a
missionary among the Tsimshian tribe. All such evidence given prior to
controversies about totemism is valuable. According to this account,
the Indians used, as "crests," representations of Whale, Porpoise,
Eagle, Raven, Wolf, Frog, etc. Every person was obliged to marry out
of the name of the animal represented by his crest, and each "clan"
tabooed its animal, "will never kill the animal which he has adopted
for his crest, or which belongs to him as his birthright," that is,
apparently, his "familiar," and his inherited totem. This is original
totemism in North-West America.
Mr. Frazer says, "So far as I remember, no other writer on these
North-Western Indians has mentioned their reluctance to kill their
totemic animals. In the course of this work I have repeatedly called
attention to the paucity of information on this important side of
totemism in the writings of American ethnologists."[11] Mr. Frazer also
finds the usual totemic taboo among the Yuchi, a tribe of the Gulf
nations.[12]
In Central Australia are "numerous totemic and non-totemic taboos." But
in other parts of Australia there are also tribes where people even
kill and eat their totems. The totemic taboo is an extremely common
institution, but not a note _stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae_.
Another category is (4), "Descent from the Totem." As I have said,
the belief in this descent is a mere explanatory myth to account for
totemism; and, like all other such myths, could only arise after men
were not only totemic, but wondered why they were totemic. Consequently
such myths are not of the essence of totemism, and their varieties are
of no importance.
The belief, or myth, of totemic descent is absent in British Columbia,
says Mr. Goldenweizer, in the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian tribes, and
present "among the Kwakiutl and further south." In Central Australia
descent from the totem is "universal."
But it is a queer kind of "descent," is not, in the usual sense,
descent at all, and, notoriously, _is not descent by physical
generation_.
Then we have the category (7), "Guardian Spirits, intimately associated
with Totemism" in British Columbia, "_not_ associated with it in
Central Australia." Yet, in Central Australia, a man's spirit is a
totemic spirit. Again (10), "Number of Totems." In British Columbia
"small," in Central Australia "large." But it is "small" in such
central regions of Australia as those of the Dieri and Urabunna, and in
South-Eastern Australia; and why it is so large among the Arunta no man
knows. It is an unexplained peculiarity, and not essential.
"Reincarnation" (6) is, in British Columbia, "not associated with
Totemism," in Central Australia "intimately associated with Totemism."
Here, Mr. Strehlow, for the Southern Arunta, reports otherwise; while
for the Northern Arunta and other tribes, this "reincarnation" is part
of a speculative explanatory myth. The myth, as I can show, explains,
at one stroke, how men come to have souls, and why men are totemic We
know the kind of savage philosophy which accounts for this category.
I have now remarked on eight out of Mr. Goldenweizer's ten categories
of differences between British Columbian and South Australian totemism;
all of them, I think, are separable accidents of totemism; and most of
them are easily to be accounted for by actual differences of culture,
of social conditions, and by variety of savage taste and fancy in
making guesses as to why totemists are totemistic.
[9] _J. A. F._ p. 229. I give the tabular form in this note:
TOTEMISM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
BRITISH COLUMBIA CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
Phratries
Exogamy (1) Totemic phratries (Tlingit) Classes
Totemic clans (Haida, Totem Clans (generally
Tsimshian, Northern Kwakiutl) not independent
exogamous units.)
Totemic names (2) Phratries (Tlingit) All totem clans
Clans (Haida)
1 of 4 clans (Tsimshian)
Clans (Northern Kwakiutl)
Taboo (3) Non-totemic taboo, common; Numerous totemic and
totemic absent non-totemic taboos
Descent from Absent (Tlingit, Haida, Universal
the totem (4) Tsimshian)
Occurs (Kwakiutl and
farther South)
Magical Not associated Intimately associated
ceremonies (5) with totemism with totemism.
Reincarnation (6) Not associated Intimately associated
with totemism with totemism.
Guardian Intimately associated Not associated
spirits (7) with totemism with totemism
Art (8) Actively associated Passively associated
with totemism with totemism
Rank (9) Conspicious (in Absent
individuals and groups)
Number of Small Large
totems (10)
[10] Franz Boas, _Fifth Report of the Committee on the North-Western
Tribes of Canada_, p. 32, cited in _Totemism and Exogamy_, vol. iii. p.
319, note 2; cf. p. 321.
[11] _Totemism and Exogamy_, vol. iii. pp. 309-311.
[12] F. G. Speck, _Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians_, Philadelphia, 1909,
pp. 70 sq. _Totemism and Exogamy_, vol. iv. p. 312, cf. vol. iii. p.
181.
IV.
We next arrive at the two first of Mr. Goldenweizer's categories.
These are concerned with points of such very wide diffusion in the
totemic world that I, under correction, take leave to regard them as
"normal," while I hold that such variations from the norm as exist can
be explained--as aberrations.
The first of these two categories is announced as:
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
1. Exogamy
Totemic phratries (Tlingit).
Totemic clans (Haida, Tsimshian, Northern Kwakiutl).
CENTRAL AUSTRALIA.
2. Exogamy
Phratries.
Classes.
Totem clans (generally not independent exogamous units).
This needs explanation! By "totemic _phratries_" in the case of the
Tlingits, Mr. Goldenweizer means the two main exogamous divisions
of the tribe, Wolf and Raven. By "totemic _clans_," in the case of
the Haida, he also means the two main exogamous divisions, Raven
and Eagle, which, really, are phratries. But it is also clear that
Mr. Goldenweizer is here using the word "clans" as it exists in the
peculiar terminology of Dr. Swanton. Mr. Goldenweizer informs us that
"Dr. Swanton now fully recognises the strict parallelism of the social
units of the Tlingit and Haida, and sanctions the use of 'phratry' and
clan in both cases." This terminological source of confusion happily
disappears.
We are now, alas, entering a region where the variations of evidence,
the confusions of terminology, and the influence of wealth and rank
in the creation of heraldry, cause extreme perplexity. Meanwhile,
as the Haida "clans" of the category are, in fact, phratries; on
the other hand the "totemic clans" of the Tsimshians and Northern
Kwakiutl (Raven, Eagle, Hawk, Wolf), and six "totemic clans" of the
Northern Kwakiutl seem destitute of phratries, which, among the Arunta
of Central Australia, have also died out Mr. Goldenweizer, however,
assigns phratries to Central Australia, the Arunta have none;[13]
also "totem clans," where there are none, for the totemically named
associations of the Arunta are not "clans," in the normal and usual
sense of that word; they are not kins but associations.
Mr. Goldenweizer, in his first category, speaks of Central Australia
as possessing totemic "clans" ("generally not independent exogamous
units"). If by "Central Australia" he means the Arunta group of tribes,
they have, I repeat, no "totemic clans"; they have only clubs with
totemic names, and these associations are not "exogamous units." Where
phratries with totem kins in them exist, no totem kin is or can be
"an independent exogamous unit," except where one totem to one totem
marriage prevails, as among certain Australian tribes. But if the
phratry rule be dropped, as Morgan says it was among the Iroquois, then
people may marry into any totem kin except their own, and each totem
kin becomes an "independent exogamous unit."[14]
Thus the first category in Mr. Goldenweizer's list needs a good deal
of explanation and criticism.
The second category is _Totemic Names_. Under these, in British
Columbia, are:
"Phratries (Tlingit)."
"Clans (Haida)." (But these are phratries.)
"Two of four clan Tsimshian."
"Clans (Northern Kwakiutl)."
In place of two animal-named clans out of four, Mr. Frazer assigns four
animal-named clans to the Tsimshians;[15] Raven, Eagle, Wolf, and Bear.
(_T. and E._, vol. iii. pp. 307-308.) Mr. Goldenweizer himself[16] also
assigns these _four animal-named clans to the Tsimshians_. But, in his
table,[17] he docks two Tsimshian clans of their totem names. He does
so also in his p. 190. Thus (p. 187) all of the four Tsimshian "clans"
have animal names. But (p. 190), and also in the tabular arrangement,
only two of the Tsimshian clans have animal names. Mr. Frazer gives
to all four Tsimshian clans the names of animals. Whom are we to
believe[18] Method is here a little to seek.
A much more serious puzzle meets us when, in his second category
(totemic names), Mr. Goldenweizer assigns no totemic names to the
"clans" of the Tlingit, while Mr. F. Boas (whose list is quoted by Mr.
Frazer) and Holmberg (1856) do assign totemic names to the Tlingit
clans.
Let us examine this situation.
If we take a South-East Australian tribe of the Barkinji pattern,
we find it divided into two animal-named intermarrying phratries
(or exogamous intermarrying "classes" or "moieties," I call them
"phratries"). In each phratry are totem kins, that is, kins named
after animals, vegetables, or other things in nature. The names of
phratries and totem kins (I know no other word for them but totem kins
or totem clans) descend in the female line. No such totem kin occurs in
_both_ exogamous phratries, therefore all these units are necessarily
exogamous.
Two-thirds of the Australian phratry names are untranslated, like those
of the Dieri; the other third, with a single exception (the Euahlayi),
are names of animals.[19]
Now turn to the disputable case of the Tlingits of British Columbia.
I first examine Mr. Frazer's account of them in Totemism and Exogamy
(vol. iii. pp. 264-278). The Tlingits are divided into two exogamous
phratries, or "classes," of animal names, Raven and Wolf. (In the north
the Wolf "class" is also known as the Eagle.) Phratry exogamy is the
rule; descent is in the female line. Each phratry is subdivided into a
number of "clans," which are named after various animals. As no "clan"
is represented in both phratries, and as all folk are obliged to marry
out of their own phratry, the "clans" are, inevitably, exogamous.
For purposes of comparison with other British Columbia tribes, I
give the list of Tlingit totem kins furnished by Mr. Frazer, "on the
authority of Mr. F. Boas"[20]:
RAVEN PHRATRY. WOLF (EAGLE) PHRATRY.
Raven. Wolf.
Frog. Hear.
Goose. Eagle.
Sea Lion. Killer Whale.
Owl. Shark.
Salmon. Auk.
Beaver. Gull.
Codfish. Sparrow Hawk.
Skate. Thunder Bird.[21]
As I found out, and proved, in many Australian tribes the name of each
phratry also occurs as the name of a totem kin in the phratry; so also
it is among the Tlingit--_teste_ Mr F. Boas.[22]
Thus on every point--female descent, animal-named phratries,
animal-named totem kins, and each phratry containing a totem kin of its
own name, the Tlingit totemism is absolutely identical with that of
many South-Eastern Australian tribes of the most archaic type.
But the Tlingit, unlike the Australians, live in villages, and "the
families or households may occupy one or more houses. The _families_
actually take their names from places." (I italicise the word
"families.") Mr. Frazer's authorities here are Holmberg (1856), Pauly
(1862), Petroff ("the principal clans are those of the Raven, the Bear,
the Wolf, and the Whale"), Krause (both here undated). Dr. Boas (1889).
and Mr. Swanton (1908).
Mr Goldenweizer[23] does not mention that the "clans" of the Tlingit
have animal names. Quite the reverse; he says that "the 'clans' of
the Tlingit ... bear, with a few exceptions, names derived from
localities."[24] This is repeated on p. 225.
At this point, really, the evidence becomes unspeakably perplexing. Mr.
Frazer, we see, follows Mr. F. Boas and Holmberg (1856) in declaring
that the "clans" of the Tlingit bear animal names. Mr. Goldenweizer
says that, "with few exceptions," the "clans" of the Tlingit bear
"names derived from localities."[25] Mr. Goldenweizer's authority is
"Swanton, _Bur. Eth. Rep._, 1904-1905 (1908), p. 398." Mr. Frazer[26]
also quotes that page of Mr. Swanton, but does not say that Mr. Swanton
here gives _local_, not animal, names to the clans of the Tlingit. Mr.
Frazer also cites Mr. Swanton's p. 423 _sq._ Here we find Mr. Swanton
averring that Killer Whale, Grizzly Bear, Wolf, and Halibut are in the
Wolf phratry, "on the Wolf side," among the Tlingit; while Raven, Frog,
Hawk, and Black Whale are on the Raven side. Here are animal names (not
precisely as in Mr. Boas' list) within the phratries. But Mr. Swanton
does not reckon these animal names as names of "clans"; to "clans" he
gives local names in almost every case. To his mind these animal names
in Tlingit society denote "_crests_" not "_clans_" and with crests we
enter a region of confusion.
I cannot but think that the confusion is caused (apart from loose
terminology) by the _crests_ of these peoples. The crests are an
excrescence, a heraldic result of wealth and rank; and as such can
have nothing to do with early totemism. Scholars sometimes say
"totems" when they mean "crests" (and perhaps _vice versa_), and
confusion must ensue.
I quote, on this point, a letter which Mr. Goldenweizer kindly wrote to
me (Jan. 21, 1911).
"Since the appearance of Mr. Swanton's studies of the Tlingit and the
Haida there remains no doubt whatever that the clans of these two
tribes bear (with some few exceptions) names derived from localities.
On pp. 398-9-400 of his Tlingit study (26th Report of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, 1904-5) he gives a list of the geographical groups,
and of the clans with their local names, classified according to the
two phratries: Raven and Wolf. It must be remembered that to many of
these clans he gives the totems [crests] of the Tlingit phratries: then
the gentes [clans] of the Stikin tribe are enumerated. Some of the
native names are translated as house or local names; it is pointed out
that the raven occurs four times as the crest of four gentes [clans]
with different names which, therefore, cannot mean 'raven.'
"The Haida case is quite parallel. Here 'each clan [phratry] was
subdivided into a considerable number of families [clans] which
generally took their names from some town or camping-place.' And again:
'It would seem that originally each family occupied a certain place
or lived in a certain part of a town' (Swanton, _The Haida_, pp. 66,
_sq_.) Now, of course, many clans are represented in several districts.
Opposite p. 76 we find a genealogical table of the Raven families
[clans] descended from Foam Woman, with their local names. A similar
table of the Eagle families [clans] descended from Greatest Mountain,
is given on p. 93. Again Professor Boas' account, although fragmentary,
is correct. 'The phratries of the Haida are divided into gentes [clans]
in the same way as those of the Tlingit, they also take their names, in
the majority of cases, from the houses' (R.B.A.A.S., p. 822). The names
of the Skidigate-village-people clans are given as an example.
"As to personal names among the Haida, a curious fact must be noted.
Notwithstanding the greater prominence of crests and art among the
Haida, their personal names are but seldom derived from animals, as
is the rule among the Tlingit, the clans are not now restricted to
one village district, but are found in several of the geographical
groups. Thus the G ā n A x Á d î (of the Raven phratry) are found in
the Tongas, Taku, Chilkat and Yakutat groups, while the Tégoedî (of the
Wolf phratry) occur in the Tongas, Sanya, Hutsnuwù and Yakutat groups.
The only non-local clan-names in the list are the Kuxînédî (marten
people) of Henya; the SAgutēnedî (grass people) and NēsÁdî (salt-water
people) of Kake; the LlūklnAxAdî (king-salmon people) of Sitka; and the
LugāxAdî (quick people) of Chilkat. Each of these five clans occurs
only once in the list, from which we may perhaps infer that they are
of relatively late origin (this merely as a suggestion). On the other
hand, 'the great majority of Tlingit personal names,' Mr. Swanton tells
us, 'referred to some animal, especially that animal whose emblem was
particularly valued by the clan to which the bearer belonged' (Bureau,
1904-5, pp. 421-2). In the passage you note, viz. 'the transposition of
phratries is indicated also by crests and names, for the killer-whale,
grizzly bear, wolf, and halibut, are on the Wolf side among the Tlingit
and on the Raven side among the Haida, etc.,' the animals cited are the
'crests' while the 'names' referred to are, of course, the personal
names which are derived from animals and as a rule change with the
crests; therefore, they are not illustrated in the passage.
"Professor Boas' list is incomplete but similar in substance (Reports
of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1889. p.
821). First majority of Haida personal names refer to the potlatch,
property, etc. (Swanton, _The Haida_, pp. 119-120.) This is, no doubt,
due to the influence of the potlatch which is among these people the
central social and ceremonial feature.
"Holmberg's work I did not see. Probably his list of animals also
stands for the crests and not the clan names....
"Of the Tsimshian clans only two bear animal names. K'anhada and
GyispotuwE'da do not, as Professor Boas formerly supposed, mean 'raven'
and 'bear' (cf. R.B.A.A.S., 1889. p. 823 and Annual Archaeological
Report, Toronto, 1906, p. 239)."
If I may ask a question about this very perplexing state of affairs, I
would say, Is the animal crest of each "clan" supposed to be _later_
than the local designation of the clan? To me it seems that the crest
is in origin a heraldic representation of the clan totem, and that,
as in Australia, totemic names of clans are older than names derived
from localities or "houses." The house, the fixed building, is part of
a society later than the first bearing of totemic names by clans. The
crest, as a badge of rank and wealth, is later than the totem; social
advance, houses, towns, heraldry, as a mark of rank, appear to me to
cause the perplexities, and to place these American tribes outside of
the totemism of people without rank, wealth, and houses and heraldry.
As I understand the case, the Tlingit clans did not originally, as Dr.
Swanton seems to suppose, "occupy a certain place or live in a certain
quarter of a town," whence they derived the place-names or town-names
which they at present bear, according to Dr. Swanton. The Tlingit, now
living in towns, and with clans of town-names, may naturally fancy that
from the first their clans bore local or town-names. But society that
begins in people who, like the Tlingit, have female descent, cannot
form a local clan of descent, unless the men go to the homes of the
women, which is not here the case. Originally I think their crests, as
in Holmberg's report, were effigies of their clan totems, and the clans
bore their totem names. But with advance to wealth, houses, and settled
conditions, the local or town-names (as in other cases is certain)
superseded the totem names of the clans, while the totem badge became,
as the crest, a factor in a system of heraldry, to us perplexing.
Certainly the facts as given by Dr. Swanton, may be envisaged in this
way; the processes of change are simple, natural and have parallels
elsewhere.
If a totemic clan chooses to wear the image of its totem as a badge,
and has no other badge, all is plain sailing. But in British Columbia,
as in Central British New Guinea, men, in proportion to their wealth
and descent, wear an indefinite number of badges or "crests." "Although
referred to by most writers as totems," says Mr. Swanton, speaking of
the Haida tribe, "these crests have no proper totemic significance,
their use being similar to that of the quarterings in heraldry, to mark
the social position of the wearers."[26] Of course Australian totemists
have no social position to be indicated by crests or badges. Now Dr.
Boas speaks of "crests" as "totems," among the Haida,[27] and we are
perplexed among these mixtures of heraldic with totemic terms.
Next, and this is curious, while Mr. Swanton gives local names to the
"clans" of the Tlingit; to many but not all of his "House Groups" he
gives _animal_ names, "Raven, Moose, Grizzly Bear, Killer Whale, Eagle,
Frog _houses_" and so on. All these animals are names of Holmberg's
and Mr. F. Boas' totems of clans; but, according to Mr. Swanton, they
are names borne, not by "clans" but by "house groups."[28] Other
house groups have local names, or descriptive names, or nicknames, as
"gambling house." Thus Mr. Frazer gives animal names to the "clans" of
the Tlingit to which Mr. Swanton gives local names, and while many of
the houses, or "house groups" of Mr. Swanton's Tlingit bear totemic
names, Mr. Frazer says "the families generally take their names from
places."[29] There appears to be confusion due to imperfect terminology.
Mr. Goldenweizer avers that "the intensive and prolonged researches
conducted by a number of well trained observers among these tribes of
the North Pacific border have shown with great clearness,"--something
not at present to the point[30] But we regret the absence of
clearness. Can we rely on Holmberg who described the state of affairs
as it was fifty years ago, and who knew nothing, I presume, of
Australian phratries and totem kins? In his time the Tlingit, like
a dozen South-Eastern tribes of Australia, had animal-named kins in
animal-named exogamous intermarrying phratries with female descent. Or
was Holmberg (and was Mr. F. Boas in his list of animal-named Tlingit
clans) led astray by the "crests"? Did each of these inquirers mistake
"crests" for totems of clans?
One thing is clear, the Tlingit and the other tribes being possessed
of wealth, and of gentry, and of heraldry, cause almost inextricable
confusion by their use of heraldic badges, named "crests" by some; and
"totems" (or _both_ crests and totems at once) by other well trained
observers. I am inclined to believe that most of these crests were,
originally, representations of the totems of distinct totem kins. My
reason is this: Mr. Swanton tells us that "the crests and names which
among the Tlingit are on the Wolf side" are "on the Raven side" among
the Haida. Among these people, animal names and crests are divided
between the two phratries, the same name or crest not occurring in
both phratries. This is merely the universal arrangement of totems in
phratries.
Even now, among the Tlingit, says Mr. Swanton, "theoretically _the
emblems_" (crests) "_used on the Raven side were different from those
on the Wolf or Eagle side_," (precisely as, in Australia, the totems
in Eagle Hawk phratry are different from those in Crow phratry),
"and although a man of high caste might borrow an emblem from his
brother-in-law temporarily, he was not permitted to retain it" (His
brother-in-law, of course, was of the phratry not his own.) All this
means no more than that occasionally a man of high caste may _now_
impale the arms of his wife.[31] With castes and heraldry, born of
wealth and rank, we have stepped out of totemism at this point It has
been modified by social conditions. "Some families were too poor to
have an emblem," did they also cease to have a totem? Some of the rich
"could," it was said, "use anything." Is this because they pile up
sixteen quarterings? "The same crest may be, and is, used by different
clans, and any one clan may have several crests...."[32] Many "clans"
now use the same crest, and there are quarrels about rights to this
or that "crest." Some members of the Wolf phratry assert a right to
the Eagle crest. Mr. Frazer thinks that "such claims are perhaps to be
explained by marriages of the members of the clan with members of other
clans who had these animals for their crests."[33]
That is precisely my own opinion. If "crests" were originally mere
representations of each person's totem animal they have now become
involved, through rank and social degrees, with heraldry, and with
badges not totemic, such as a certain mountain. Meanwhile all the
Tlingit "clans," if we follow Mr. Swanton's evidence, or almost all the
"clans" are now mere local settlements, at least they bear local and
other descriptive names. I nearly despair of arriving at Mr. Swanton's
theory of what a Tlingit "clan" really is! But he gives a list of "the
geographical groups," the "clans," and the phratry to which each of the
clans belonged....
Thus we have (1)
PHRATRY RAVEN.
Then (2)
TONGAS (I take Tongas to be "a geographical group").
Then under TONGAS GānAXA'di, People of Gā'NAX.
PHRATRY WOLF.
TONGAS (Geographical group, apparently).
Te'goedî, People of the island Teq°.
GānAXÁdî and Te'goedî seem to be "clans," but then clan Te'goedî,
"People of the isle Teq°," looks like "a geographical group"!
There are fourteen "geographical divisions" of this kind, and
sixty-eight "clans" of this kind, with descriptive or local names. The
clans "were in a way local groups," says Mr. Swanton. They were also
"clans or consanguineal bands," each "usually named from some town
or camp it had once occupied." They "differed from the geographical
groups ... being social divisions instead of comprising the accidental
occupants of one locality."[34]
Be it observed that Mr. Swanton speaks of "these geographical divisions
or tribes"; which increases the trouble, for, if the Tlingit be
a "tribe," and the geographical divisions of the Tlingit be also
"tribes," things are perplexing.
Once more, the Tlingit reckon descent in the female line. Now how can
"a consanguineal band," which reckons descent in the female line,
look like "a geographical group"? A totem kin, with male descent,
in Australia and elsewhere, like a Highland clan, say the MacIans,
necessarily becomes "a geographical group," say in Glencoe. But how,
with female descent (unless the women go to the men's homes), a Tlingit
"consanguineal band" can also have a local habitation is to me a
difficult question. The names of the phratries descend in the female
line. Do the local and descriptive names of "the clans or consanguineal
bands," also descend in the female line? I cannot presume to say. Mr.
Frazer throws no light on this point believing, as he does, that the
"clans" within the Tlingit phratries, are the familiar totem kins,
of animal names. If so, the children must inherit the maternal totem
"clan" name.
Only one thing is clear to me, a Tlingit of the Wolf phratry can only
marry a bride of the Raven phratry; a Tlingit of the Raven phratry
can only woo a maiden of the Wolf phratry. If totem kins there be in
the phratries, these totem kins are exogamous. If there be no totem
kins in the phratry, are Mr. Swanton's clans of local names _locally_
exogamous? May persons marry within the region where they are settled?
I know not, but I rather incline to suppose that members of _both_
phratries may be found in Mr. Swanton's clans of local name; indeed
it _must_ be so, and therefore a pair of lovers _may_ perhaps wed
_within_ their "clan or consanguineal band," and within their local
group, which, thus, is not exogamous. If so, the Tlingit clan is _not_
exogamous. But all _this_ is purely conjectural.
While, in Mr. Swanton's version, the Tsimshians, with female descent,
have two exogamous "clans" with animal names, and two with other names;
while in Mr. Frazer's book they have four animal-named exogamous clans,
there is a third story resting on the authority of Mr. William Duncan,
a missionary among the Tsimshian from 1857 onwards.[35] Mr. Duncan's
information Commander Mayne incorporated in his book.[36]
According to Commander Mayne, using Mr. Duncan's evidence, in 1862,
the Tsimshians (as we have seen), carved faces of "Whale, Porpoise,
Raven, Eagle, Wolf, Frog, etc.," on roof beams. He calls such effigies
"crests." No person may marry another of the same "crest": the children
take their mother's _crest_, and bear the name of the animal which it
represents. None may kill the animal of his crest. All this is exogamy
with totem kins, under the phratries, as the exogamous units,[37] and
with the totemic taboo. If Mayne and Duncan are right, either more
recent writers are wrong, or Tsimshian totemism has been much modified
since 1862.
[13] That is, the matrimonial classes, eight in all, are divided into
two sets of four each, but these sets are nameless.
[14] L. A. Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, pp. 79-83.
[15] I may be permitted to note that these four Tsimshian clans look,
to me, as if they had originally been two pairs of phratries. We find
a parallel Australian case in the Narran-ga tribe of York's peninsula
in South Victoria. Here Mr. Howitt gives us the "classes" (his term for
phratries):
_Kayi_ Emu.
_Waui_ Red Kangaroo.
_Wiltu_ Eagle Hawk.
_Wilthathu_ Shark.
Each of these four main divisions had totem kins within it, and, as
usual, the same totem (all are animals) never occurred in more than one
main division. (Howitt, _N.T.S.E.A._ p. 130.) In precisely the same way
"crests" of animal name occur in each of the four Tsimshian "clans":
_Raven_ Raven, Codfish, Starfish.
_Eagle_ Eagle, Halibut, Beaver, Whale.
_Wolf_ Wolf, Crane, Grizzly Bear.
_Bear_ Killer Whale, Sun, Moon, Stars, Rainbow,
Grouse, and Sea Monster.
These "crests," thus arranged, no crest in more than one clan (or
phratry?) look like old totems in the two pairs of clans, or, as I
suspect, of phratries. The Australian parallel corroborates the view
that the Tsimshian "clans" have been phratries.
[16] _J. A. F._ p. 187. quoting "Swanton 26th _B. E. R._, 1904-1905, p.
423."
[17] _Ibid_. p. 229.
[18] The truth seems to be that Mr. Goldenweizer (p. 189) misquotes Mr.
Swanton, who (26th _B. E. R._ p. 423) is speaking, not of the Tsimshian
but of the Haida. In his p. 190 Mr. Goldenweizer is quoting Dr. Boas,
_Annual Archaeological Report_, Toronto, 1905, pp. 235-249.
[19] Thomas, _Kinship and Marriage in Australia_.
[20] _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 266, note 1.
[21] _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 266, note I.
[22] _Secret of the Totem_, pp. 164-170
[23] _J. A. F._ p. 186.
[24] _J. A. F._ p. 190.
[25] _J. A. F._ pp. 190-225.
[26]_ T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 266, note 1.
[27] Quoted, _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 281.
[28] _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 283.
[29] _Ber. Eth. Report_, 1904-1905, pp. 400-407.
[30] _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 266.
[31] _J. A. F._, p. 287.
[32] _R. B. E., ut supra_, p. 415.
[33] _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 268.
[34] _T. and E._, vol. iii. p. 269.
[35] _R. B. E. ut supra_, p. 398.
[36] Mayne, _Four Years in British Columbia_, p. 257 _sq_. 1862.
[37] See _T. and E._, vol. iii. pp. 309-311.
[38] _T. and E._, vol. iii. pp. 309-311.
V.
Further south than the Tsimshian dwell the Kwakiutl, of whom the most
southerly are called "the Kwakiutl proper." The northern Kwakiutl
are divided, says Dr. Boas, into "septs" and "clans." What a "sept"
may be I am not certain. The first tribe has "clans" called Beaver,
Eagle, Wolf, Salmon, Raven, Killer Whale: the usual totemic names in
this region. These totemic clans are exogamous, like those of Mayne's
Tsimshians. Descent is in the female line. In the next tribe we find
three exogamous animal-named clans: Eagle, Raven, Killer Whale, Beaver,
Wolf, and Salmon have vanished, or have never existed. In these two
tribes a child is sometimes placed in the father's, not in the mother's
clan, as a Dieri father sometimes "gives" his totem to his son, in
addition to the inherited maternal totem.[39]