The origin of totemism is unknown to me, as to Mr. McLennan and Dr.
Robertson Smith, but Mr. Max Muller knows this origin. 'A totem is a
clan-mark, then a clan-name, then the name of the ancestor of a clan, and
lastly the name of something worshipped by a clan' (i. 201). 'All this
applies in the first instance to Red Indians only.' Yes, and 'clan'
applies in the first instance to the Scottish clans only! When Mr. Max
Muller speaks of 'clans' among the Red Indians, he uses a word whose
connotation differs from anything known to exist in America. But the
analogy between a Scottish clan and an American totem-kin is close enough
to justify Mr. Max Muller in speaking of Red Indian 'clans.' By parity
of reasoning, the analogy between the Australian Kobong and the American
totem is so complete that we may speak of 'Totemism' in Australia. It
would be childish to talk of 'Totemism' in North America, 'Kobongism' in
Australia, 'Pacarissaism' in the realm of the Incas: totems, kobongs, and
pacarissas all amounting to the same thing, except in one point. I am
not aware that Australian blacks erect, or that the subjects of the
Incas, or that African and Indian and Asiatic totemists, erected 'sign-
boards' anywhere, as the Ottawa writer assures us that the Ottawas do, or
used to do. And, if they don't, how do we know that kobongs and
pacarissas were developed out of sign-boards?