The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1899-05-19
THE TOTEM POSTS.
THE FAMILY CREST OF THE
BARBARIAN.
The Indian Relief That They Descended
FROM some Beast, Bird or Fish-The
Totem Poles and Their sig~nincanoe to
the Tribes.

NAa ANANaas
The shield-supporting animals, whose
efieies crown the gate posts Of ances-
trail halls. %evidencing, with more OF less
Of truth, the antiquity or valor Of the
jewellers therein, are the heraldic de-
sceIdants Of totem posts OF veritable
family trees. found among red Indians
and other barbaric folk. Therefore, the
unlucky burning Of one or more Of
these interesting relics at Fort Wran-
gee in Alaska. should command the
sympathy Of our Kings of Arms, Rouge
CToix. Blue Mantle and Rouge Dragon.
For the totem is the family crest Of
the barbarian, the g%enuineness Of
which not even hat merciless exposer
Of sham coats-of-arms would venture
to question. Moreover, It has a sig
nihcance, and, assuredly, a history,
usually lacking in the devices which.
fer a consideration, your ~genealogy
hunter will discover or invent. And
the significance lies in the words with
which a Micmac legend begins: I'm
the olden time men were as animals.
NtAA 4AAAA1Aa aH AANA INV NAAa M4a az
one knows" For in early %barbaric
thought there was no dividing line be-
tween living things, d fact to which,
Daly on more assured ground, modern
science bears witness, the vague
guesses Of the past thus having con-
hsmation from the certainties Of the
present.
The barbaric idea carried with it be-
lief in the descent of the tribe from
sUme beast or bird, fish, or even insect,
a0d, since the savage also saw no di-
viding line between the living and nom
living, in descent from the great sun
himself or a wayside stone. The an
cestor from whom descent was traced
was his totem or "otem,' a corrup-
tion Of the Algonkin dodhaim, mean
ing "clan mark" The Haidas believed
IN their descent from the crow: the
Chippewyan totem is the dog, for
which reason that tribe would not
make the creature a beast of burden;
while the Delawares were as proud Of
their tortoise world bearing ancestor
as our old nobility Of their forefathers'
arrival here in the C%onqueror's ret
inue.
Among some Australian blackfellows
the word "kobong," meaning friend"
ar protector" is the generic term for
the animal or plant from which de-
scent is claimed. Now this remarka-
BILE belief in the totem or "kobong,"
The range of which is world wide, both
in time and space-traces of It in these
islands and other civilized parts Of the
globe having been discovered-affects
the life of the savage constantly and
deeply. And, notably, in three Ways
first, in worship of the totem; second,
IN abstaining from eating the totemic
snimal or plant; third, in %forbidding,
with the severest penalties against
transgressors, marriage between per-
sons of the same totem; that is, having
the same name, and wearing or using
the same crest.
Then theories of transmigration en-
Ter into the general idea. the MOquis,
for example, believing that after death
they live In the form of their totemic
animals, those of the deer family be-
coming deer, of the bear becoming
| UEhIhr anu nu AAEnEEt LOQf Tic
respect paid to the cries of animals
and the songs Of birds, since 1t is ar
gued that that which is akin to man
must have communion with him. The
subject neighbors itself to a number OF
! others in directions which cannot be
followed in this outline, but. obviously,
has its chief Importance in the three
customs noted above. As to the first
named, it here %sufices to say that the
worship of animals has it's source OIL
impetus in the %attribution of some
spirit or power incarnate in them
which, for the time being, puts them
on a higher plane than man, for whom
dread Of a thing exists in the degree
that the thing is unknown.
The properties of stimulating to fren-
zy, or of soothing as narcotics, or OF
healing or poisoning, which certain
pants possess, would foster like belief
in them, as among the ojibways, who
believe that the god Of the buffalo
grass causes madness, and among the
Algonkin. who credit the corn, the to.
bacco and other plants with indwelline
spirits. The reluctance to eat the to.
ten. overcome only by threatening
starvation, when the animals pardon
is asked, and propitiatory sacrifices Of
fered at the slaughter, is probably the
parent Of the division of foods into
clean and unclean ruling many an OBJ
scuTe custom, and explaining many
prejudice, as that, for example. against
eating the hare, which Caesar speaks
OF as prevailing in Britain in his time
when our %forefathers were so print.
tive.
The totem poles represent the claI
crcsts Of those living in the house out
side which they are fixed. and, as lam
HES Of different totems sometimes
dwell together, the poles offer strangt
mixtures Of figures. The destruction
Of the poles at Fort Wrangel is re
grsttable; but fortunately other groups
IN Alaska survive, notably that at For
TcBgasi and. p%ictorially, the totem Il
with US In the ornamented bows o
canoes, which have their representa-
tive survivals I'm the fgureheads o
ships. And its influence may be tracet
in the great animal mounds of Nortl
America, In the grave posts Of tn
Australian continent, in tattooing, ant
in tribal communication through pic
ture-writing. The Corean totem i
doubtless a boundary god, one OF tn.
great company of deities among whom
Terminus held high place. For tn
proud Jupiter shared his home on tn.
capitol with the Roman god Of high
ways and landmarks. and vainly dit
the foreign interlopers strive TO dis
place Terminus. Altogether the stud