The first point to be considered is the nature of a “totem,” and this is shown by the meaning of the name itself. The word is taken from the language of the Ojibwas, a tribe of the widespread Algonkin stock, living near Lake Superior, in North America. It signifies the symbol or device of a gens or tribal4 division, that by which it is distinguished5 from all other such divisions. The kind of objects used as totems by the aborigines of North America may be seen from the names of the gentes into which the Ojibwa tribe is divided. These are twenty-three in number, and the totemic devices belonging to them comprise nine quadrupeds (the chief of which are the Wolf, the Bear, the Beaver6, and the Turtle), eight birds, five248 fishes, and one reptile7, the snake. There are numerous other totems among the American tribes, and they are not taken from the animal kingdom only. Thus, there are gentes with vegetable totems, such as Corn, Potatoe, Tobacco-Plant, and Reed-Grass. Natural objects, such as Sun, Earth, Sand, Salt, Sea, Snow, Ice, Water, and Rain, give names to other tribal divisions. Among natural phenomena8, Thunder is widely spread as the name of a gens, while Wind is used among the Creek9 Indians; and the Omahas have a name meaning Many Seasons. Medicine, Tent, Lodge10, Bonnet11, Leggings, and Knife, have given titles to other gentes, and so also has colour. Thus, we have Black and Red Omahas, and Blue and Red-Paint Cherokees. Names denoting qualities have been taken by some gentes, such as Beloved People of the Choctas; Never Laugh, Starving, Half-Dead, Meat, Fish-Eaters, and Conjurers of the Blackfeet; and the Non-Chewing of the Delawares. How some of those ideas could be represented pictorially13 as totems is not very apparent, and Mr. Lewis Morgan very properly suggests, in relation to some of the terms, that nicknames for gentes may have superseded15 the original names; to which may be added that probably many of the totems are of comparatively modern origin.
The natives of Australia make the same use of totems as the Americans. The former have divisions of the tribe answering to the gentes of the latter, distinguished by a common device or totem; and the Australian totemic divisions are usually, like the American gentes, named after animals. Thus, the Kamilaroi tribes have Kangaroo, Opossum, Iguana16,249 Emu, Bandicoot, and Blacksnake totems. Eaglehawk and Crow are widely spread throughout Eastern Australia as names of Class divisions. Totems taken from the vegetable kingdom appear to be uncommon18, as only two are mentioned in the Rev19. Lorimer Fison’s work on the Kamilaroi. The Rev. George Taplin names two others among the totems of the South Australian tribes, each of which has a “tutelary genius,” or “tribal symbol,” in the shape of some bird, beast, fish, reptile, insect, or substance. The divisions of a tribe in Western Victoria take their totems from natural features, such as Water, Mountain, Swamp, and River, and in North-Western Victoria the totemic divisions include Hot-Wind and Belonging-to-the-Sun.
Although no such developed totemic system as that in use by the natives of Australia and North America is known now to exist elsewhere, yet there are traces of the use of totems by many other peoples. Thus, among the Bechuanas of South Africa,306 each tribe takes its name from an animal or plant, and its members are known as “men of the crocodile,” “men of the fish,” “men of the monkey,” “men of the buffalo,” “men of the wild vine,” &c. The head of the family, which holds the first rank in the tribe, receives the title of “great man” of the animal whose name it bears, and no one belonging to the tribe will eat the flesh, or clothe himself with the skin, of its protecting animal, who is regarded250 as the father of the tribe. Many of the Arab tribes take their names from animals, such as the Lion, the Panther, the Wolf, the Bear, the Dog, the Fox, the Hyena20, the Sheep, and many others.307 Professor Robertson Smith, who has endeavoured to establish the existence of totemism among the early Arabs, states that the totem animal was not used as ordinary food by those connected with it. Again, some of the Kolarian tribes of India are divided into clans22 named after animals, and we find the Heron, Hawk17, Crow, and Eel23 clans among the Oraon and Munda tribes of Chota-Nagpur.
A totem origin may probably be ascribed to the animal ancestry24 claimed by a chief or his tribe. Thus, it is said by M. M. Valikhanof308 that “a characteristic feature in Central Asiatic traditions is the derivation of their origin from some animal.” The Kastsché, or Tele people, are said to have sprung from the marriage of a wolf and a beautiful Hun Princess. The Tugas professed25 to be descended26 from a she-wolf, and the Tufans, or Tibetans, from a dog. The Chinese affirmed, moreover, that Balaché, the hereditary27 chief of the Mongol Khans, was the son of a blue wolf309 and a white hind28. Traces of the use of totems by the251 Chinese themselves are not wanting. Their expression for the people is Pih-sing, meaning “the hundred family names.” As a fact, there are about four hundred such names in China, and the intermarriage of persons having the same family name is absolutely forbidden. The importance of this prohibition29 will be apparent when we come to consider the incidents of totemism. Mr. Robert Hart states310 that some of the Chinese surnames have reference to animals, fruits, metals, natural objects, &c., such as Horse, Sheep, Ox,311 Fish, Bird, Flower, Rice, River, Water, Cloud, Gold, &c., &c. He adds, “In some parts of the country large villages are met with, in each of which there exists but one family name; thus, in one district will be found, say, three villages, each containing two or three thousand people, the one of the ‘Horse,’ the second of the ‘Sheep,’ and the third of the ‘Ox’ family name.” According to the rule that a man cannot marry a woman of his own family name, a ‘Horse’ cannot marry a ‘Horse,’ but must marry a ‘Sheep,’ or an ‘Ox,’ and we may suppose that these animals were originally the totems or devices of particular family groups; in like manner, as the Wolf, the Bear, and the Beaver are, among the American aborigines, totems of the groups of kin3 to which the term gens is applied30.
The former use of totems may probably be assumed also when animal names are applied, not to tribal divi252sions, but to the tribes themselves, as we have seen is the case with the Arabs. Thus, when the great Hindu Epic,312 in describing the adventures of Arjuna, one of the Pandavan Princes, says that the Nagas or Serpents were defeated with the aid of Peacocks, we must understand that a people known as Peacocks, from their totemic device, defeated a people whose badge was a serpent. The Peacock was indeed the heraldic device of the Tambouk Kings of Orissa. Probably the existence of the Singhs or Lions, the warrior31 caste of the tribes of North-Western India, may be accounted for in the same way. Dr. M’Lennan313 refers to numerous facts to prove that many animals, among others the Serpent, the Horse, the Bull, the Lion, the Bear, the Dog, and the Goat gave names to ancient tribes, who used the animals after whom they were called as badges. He goes further than this, and supposes that all the ancient nations passed through a totem stage, in which they had animals and plants for gods. This question, however, we shall have occasion to refer to later on.
The nature of totems having been shown, the object of totemism as a system has now to be explained. The Rev. George Taplin remarks that each Narrinyeri tribe is regarded as a family, every member of which is a blood relation, and the totem borne by the Australian tribe, or rather tribal division, is thus the symbol of a family group, in like manner as the American totem is the device of a gens. The first question asked of a stranger by the Dieyerie tribe of253 Cooper’s Creek, in Central Australia, is “Of what family (murdoo) are you?” Each murdoo is distinguished by a special name, being that of some object which, according to a tribal legend, may be animate32 or inanimate, such as a dog, mouse, emu, iguana, rain, &c.314 It is evident that the Australian totemic device is equivalent to a family name, a name which belongs to all the members of a particular group, and which cannot be held by any person not belonging by birth or adoption33 to that group, so that it is aptly termed by the Rev. Lorimer Fison315 a “badge of fraternity.” This badge answers to the “device of a gens,” as the token of the American tribes is defined, and its possession by any person is proof that he belongs to a particular gens or tribal division, and that he is entitled or subject to all the rights, privileges, and obligations of its members. Schoolcraft very properly terms the gens the totemic institution, and as the rights, privileges, and obligations of the gens are attached to the totem, a consideration of them will throw much light on the subject of this paper.
According to Mr. Morgan,316 the gens came into being upon three principal conceptions, the bond of kin, a pure lineage through descent in the female line, and non-intermarriage in the gens. Leaving out of view for the present the question of descent, the other conceptions give rise to obligations of great importance. The bond of kin assumes the positive254 obligation of mutual34 help, defence, and redress35 of injuries among the members of the gens; while the third conception implies the negative obligation which prevents the intermarriage of persons belonging to a common totem. The negative obligation is, however, no less than the positive obligation, based on the conception of kinship, and the totem device of the gens is, therefore, well described as the badge of a fraternal group. The obligation of mutual aid and defence implies the co-relative duty of doing nothing to injure a fellow member of the gens, in accordance with which all individuals of the same totem must treat each other as brethren. This applies not only to human beings, but also to the totem objects, although these may be killed and eaten by persons not belonging to the fraternal group, by which they are regarded as sacred. Sir George Grey says,317 in relation to the kobongs or totems of the Western Australians, “a certain mysterious connection exists between the family and its kobong, so that a member of the family will never kill an animal of the species to which his kobong belongs, should he find it asleep; indeed, he always kills it reluctantly, and never without affording it a chance of escape.” He adds: “This arises from the family belief, that some one individual of the species is their nearest friend, to kill whom would be a great crime, and to be carefully avoided. Similarly a native who has a vegetable for his kobong may not gather it under certain circumstances, and at a particular period of the year.” So, also, the abo255rigines of North America will not hunt, kill, or eat any animal of the form of their own totem.
Where, therefore, we find particular animals forbidden for food to a class of individuals we may assume that such animals have a totemic character. Thus, Bosman relates318 that, on the Gold Coast of Guinea, each person “is forbidden the eating of one sort of flesh or other; one eats no mutton, another no goats’-flesh, beef, swines’-flesh, wild fowl38, &c.” He points out that this restraint is not for a limited time, but for the whole of life; and as a son never eats what his father is restrained from, or a daughter that which her mother cannot eat, the forbidden object partakes of the nature of a totem. It is doubtful whether the Islanders of the Pacific ever possessed40 systematic41 totemism, although traces of the use of totems may, perhaps, be found in the names taken from plants met with in some of the islands, and even in the word “Samoa,” which is said by the Rev. Wyatt Gill319 to mean “the family or clan21 of the Moa,” the Polynesian term for fowl. The Samoans entertained ideas as to particular animals, such as the eel, the shark, the turtle, the dog, the owl39, and the lizard42, similar to the notions associated with the totems of other peoples. They supposed those animals to be incarnations of household deities43, and no man dare injure or eat the animal which was the incarnation of his own god, although he could eat freely of the incarnation of another man’s god.320
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Notions of the same kind were prevalent throughout the islands of the Pacific.321 Thus, the Fijians supposed every man to be under the protection of a special god, who resided in or was symbolised by some animal, or other natural object, such as a rat, a shark, a hawk, a tree, &c. No one would eat the particular animal associated with his own god;322 which explains the fact that cannibalism44 was not quite universal among the Fijians, as some gods were believed to reside in human bodies. The heathen Fijians allow souls not only to all mankind, but to animals and plants, and even to houses, canoes, and all mechanical contrivances. As soon as their parents die they are enrolled45 among the family gods, whose protecting care is firmly believed in.323 It is very probable that these gods, who answer to the household deities of the Samoans, are regarded as being incarnate46 in the sacred animals, &c., of the tribe, towards whom, as being re-embodiments of deceased ancestors, they necessarily stand in a fraternal relation.
These ideas show a close connection between animal-worship and ancestor-worship, and they have an important bearing on the origin of totemism. We have seen that the obligations of the totemic institution are based on the conception of kinship. This is also essential to ancestor-worship, which, like257 totemism, rests on the obligation of mutual aid and protection. The worshippers make the offerings and perform the rites47 required by their deceased ancestors, who in return give their protection and assistance to their descendants. This mutual obligation is associated with the superstitious48 regard for certain animals and other objects. The venerated49 animals are not killed or eaten by those who are connected with them by superstitious ties, and they are supposed, on their part, to act as protectors to their human allies, by whom they are viewed as guardian50 spirits. Catlin, the American traveller, gives a vivid description of the mode in which the Indian acquires such a guardian. He states324 that every Indian must “make mystery,” that is, obtain the protection of some mysterious power which is supposed to be connected with what is known as the mystery bag. When a boy has attained51 the age of 14 or 15 years, he absents himself for several days from his father’s lodge,258 “lying on the ground in some remote or secluded52 spot, crying to the Great Spirit, and fasting the whole time. During this period of peril53 and abstinence, when he falls asleep, the first animal, bird, or reptile of which he dreams (or pretends to have dreamed, perhaps), he considers the Great Spirit has designated for his mysterious protector through life. He then returns home to his father’s lodge, and relates his success, and after allaying54 his thirst and satisfying his appetite, he sallies forth55 with weapons or traps until he can procure56 the animal or bird, the skin of which he preserves entire, and ornaments57 it according to his own fancy, and carries it with him through life, for good luck (as he calls it): as his strength in battle, and in death his guardian spirit, that is buried with him, and which is to conduct him safe to the beautiful hunting grounds, which he contemplates58 in the world to come.” In California it was thought that the Great Spirit sent, in a vision, to every child of seven years of age, the appearance of some animal to be its protector or guardian. The African fetish superstition59 is of much the same character, as the fetish object is worshipped solely60 that it may give the protecting aid which the Indian expects from his animal guardian. Mr. Cruickshank says,325 in relation to the natives of the Gold Coast of Western Africa, that they believe “the Supreme61 Being has bestowed62 upon a variety of objects, animate and inanimate, the attributes of Deity63, and that he directs every individual man in his choice of his object of worship.... It may be a block, a stone, a tree, a river, a lake, a mountain, a snake, an alligator64, a bundle of rags, or whatever the extravagent imagination of the idolater may pitch upon.” Here, although the nature of the protecting influence is apparently65 different from that which the Americans are supposed to obtain, it is in reality the same. In either case it is a guardian spirit, whether it is called a “mystery” animal or an object having the attributes of Deity.
Dr. M’Lennan saw a necessary connection between259 totemism and animal-worship, and he affirms326 that the ancient nations passed, in pre-historic times, “through the totem stage, having animals and plants, and the heavenly bodies conceived as animals, for gods before the anthropomorphic gods appeared.” By totem, Dr. M’Lennan evidently understood merely the animal or plant friend or protector of the family or tribe, and if it had any reference to soul or spirit, it is the soul or spirit of the animal or plant. He speaks327 of men “believing themselves to be of the serpent-breed derived67 from serpent-ancestors,” and so of other animals. He does not see in the totem any reference to the actual progenitor69 of the family, and he could hardly do so in accordance with his view of the mental condition of men in the totem stage, where “natural phenomena are ascribable to the presence in animals, plants, and things, and in the forces of nature, of such spirits prompting to action as men are conscious they themselves possess.” Professor Robertson Smith accepts, in his work on the early Arabs,328 Dr. M’Lennan’s views on the subject of totemism and animal-worship, and gives as one of the three points which supply complete proof of early totemism in any race, “the prevalence of the conception that the members of the stock are of the blood of the eponym animal, or are sprung from a plant of the species chosen as totem.” When Prof. Smith comes to consider this point, however, it appears that among the Arabs certain animals260 were not eaten because “they were thought to be men in another guise,” that is, they were not merely animals but were men in disguise.329 This is very different from the animistic theory, which makes men trace their descent from animals or plants, although these may be supposed to have the same kind of spirits as their human descendants; but it is consistent with the doctrine70 of transmigration to which we shall have soon to refer.
Dr. M’Lennan’s hypothesis may be tested by what we know of the animal-worship of ancient Egypt, where some animals were universally worshipped, while others were regarded with veneration71 only in particular districts, of which they were the guardians72, and by whose inhabitants they were carefully protected. We have here the operation of the idea of a special relation subsisting74 between certain persons and particular animals, such as we have seen to exist in connection with totemism; and that relationship must, according to Dr. M’Lennan’s hypothesis that animal and plant gods were the earliest to be worshipped, have depended on the animal descent of those persons. This explanation may appear to find some support in M. Maspero’s statement,330 that all the sacred animals of Egypt were at first adored in their animal character, and that afterwards they were identified with the gods of whom ultimately they became the incarnation or living tabernacle. It is very improbable, however, that the gods would be identified with animals, unless such animals261 were already regarded as divine, or as connected with the peoples of whom they were the guardians—by virtue75 of such a special relationship as is thought by the Pacific Islanders to subsist73 between certain persons and the sacred animals in which their ancestors are incarnated76. As a fact, the worship of animals was established in ancient Egypt by a king of the second dynasty.331 Moreover, it has been shown by M. Pierret that the Egyptian religion was essentially77 monotheistic, the different gods represented on the monuments being merely symbols. “Their very form,” says that writer, “proves that we cannot see in them real beings. A god represented with the head of a bird or of a quadruped can have only an allegorical character, in like manner as the lion with a human head called a sphinx has never passed for a real animal. It is only a question of hieroglyphics78. The various personages of the Pantheon represent the functions of the Supreme God, of the only and hidden God, who preserves His identity and the fulness of His attributes under each of His forms.” Dupuis, in his History of Religions,332 refers to the ancient opinion that the division of Egypt into thirty-six nomes or provinces was in imitation of the thirty-six decans into which the Zodiac was divided, each of which had its protector. The heavenly guardians became the protecting deities of the Egyptian nomes which took the names of the animals there revered79 as images of the patron gods. That opinion is consistent with the view expressed by M. Pierret as to the character of the Egyptian deities. Dr. M’Lennan262 supposes,333 however, that the heavenly bodies were conceived as gods before the anthropomorphic gods appeared. He argues that, as there is nothing in the grouping of the stars to suggest animal forms, and as stars, when named, were given names that commanded respect, if not veneration, “the animals whose names were transferred to the stars or Stellar groups, were on earth highly, if not religiously, regarded,” in support of which view he shows that nearly all the animals so honoured were anciently worshipped as gods. It by no means follows, however, that these animals were so worshipped before being transferred to the heavens; and possibly this had nothing to do with any special regard for such animals. Much depends on the origin and object of the constellations80. There is still great uncertainty81 on this point, but it is probable that the signs of the Zodiac, at least, were supposed to represent certain cosmical phenomena connected with the progress of the seasons, or with day and night, half of the signs being diurnal82 and masculine, and the other half being nocturnal and feminine.334
In a very suggestive work by Mr. Andrew Lang, it is said335 that Dr. M’Lennan gave up his hypothesis and ceased to have any view on the origin of totemism, and that its origin and determining causes are still unknown. Mr. Lang himself suggests a probable origin when he says,263 “people united by contiguity83, and by the blind sentiment of kinship not yet brought into explicit84 consciousness, might mark themselves by a badge, and might thence devise a name, and later might invent a myth of their descent from the object which the badge represented;” the meaning of which appears to be that, before blood relationship was recognised, persons living together marked336 themselves to enable their common origin to be remembered. Mr. Lang adds, however, that “the very nature of totemism shows that it took its present shape at a time when men, animals, and plants were conceived of as physically85 akin86; when names were handed on through the female line; when exogamy was the rule of marriage, and when the family theoretically included all persons bearing the same family name, that is, all who claimed kindred with the same plant, animal, or object, whether the persons are really akin or not.” According to this view, kinship was fully37 recognised when totemism was established; as descent in the female line is based on that recognition, and exogamy was the result of the objection entertained by the lower races to the intermarriage of persons nearly related by blood or adoption. This feeling could hardly be so strong when totemism took its present shape, which is probably its original shape, if, when totems were invented, kinship was not recognised. The very nature of the totem is the conception of a special relation between men and certain animals and plants, and it is this conception, together with that of the totem as a protecting influence, which have to be explained.
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According to Sir John Lubbock,337 totemism is the stage of human progress in which natural objects, trees, lakes, stones, animals, &c., are worshipped, and it is regarded as equivalent to nature-worship. Totemism, again,338 is the deification of classes, so that “the Redskin who regards the bear, or the wolf, as his totem, feels that he is in intimate, though mysterious, association with the whole species.” The explanation given by Sir John Lubbock339 of the phase of totemism which relates to the worship of animals is, that it originated “from the practice of naming, first individuals, and then their families, after particular animals. A family, for instance, which was called after the bear, would come to look on that animal first with interest, then with respect, and at length with a sort of awe87.” This does not go far enough, however, as it is not shown why certain animals and other objects are chosen as totems, or why such totems are not only viewed with veneration but are regarded as friends and protectors. Dr. E. B. Tylor well objects,340265 “as to animal-worship, when we find men paying distinct and direct reverence88 to the lion, the bear, or the crocodile, as mighty89 superhuman beings, or adoring other beasts, birds, or reptiles90 as incarnations of spiritual deities, we can hardly supersede14 such well-defined developments of animistic religion, by seeking their origin in personal names of deceased ancestors, who chanced to be called Lion, Bear, or Crocodile.”
The fundamental basis of totemism is undoubtedly91 to be found in that phase of human thought in which spirits are supposed “to inhabit trees and groves92, and to move in the winds and stars,” and in which almost every phase of nature is personified. But whether, as asserted by Dr. M’Lennan,341 “the animition hypothesis, held as a faith, is at the root of all the mythologies93,” or whether the ideas of animism, as found expressed in totemism, have been derived from the doctrines94 of the ancient religions, is a question. According to the religious philosophy of antiquity95, as expressed by Pythagoras, “the pure and simple essence of the Deity, was the common source of all the forms of nature, which, according to their various modifications96, possess different properties.” The Universe or Great Cause, animated97 and intelligent, and subdivided98 into a multitude of partial causes likewise intelligent, was divided also into two great parts, the one active and the other passive. Of these parts, the active comprises the Heavens, and the passive the Earth and the elements. In addition to this division was another, that of principles, of which one, answering to the active cause, was the principle of light or good, and the other, answering to the passive cause, was the principle of darkness or evil.342 A very practical form of the ancient belief embodied99 in that philosophical100 system was entertained by the early Scandinavians, who, says Mallet,343 supposed that266 “from the supreme divinity emanated101 an infinity102 of inferior deities and spirits, of whom every visible part of the universe was the residence and the temple, which intelligences not only dwell in them, but also direct their operations. Each element had its intelligence or proper deity; the Earth, the Water, the Fire, the Air, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. It was contained also in the trees, the forests, the rivers, the mountains, the rocks, the winds, the thunder, the tempest, which therefore deserved religious worship.” There is no reference here to the twofold division of nature, but it is found in the analogous103 beliefs of early races. Thus, Lenormant, in his work on “Chaldean Magic and Sorcery,”344 when comparing the Finnish and Accadian Mythologies, speaks of their having “the same principle of the personification of natural phenomena, objects, and classes of beings belonging to the animated world.” An idea of dualism, however, pervaded104 this system, which supposed that there was “a bad as well as a good spirit attached to each celestial105 body, each element, each phenomenon, each object, and each being,” which were ever trying to supplant106 each other.345 Thus, both Accadians and Finns “recognised two worlds at enmity with each other; that of the gods together with the propitious107 spirits, and that of the demons108, respectively the kingdom of light and that of darkness, the region of good and that of evil.”346
At first sight these ideas have no special bearing on the subject of totemism, but it is different when we267 consider certain notions entertained by the Australian aborigines.
The Rev. Lorimer Fison remarks,347 “the Australian totems have a special value of their own. Some of them divide not mankind only, but the whole universe, into what may almost be called gentile divisions.” The natives of Port Mackay, in Queensland, allot109 everything in nature into one or other of the two classes, Wateroo and Yungaroo, into which their tribe is divided. The wind belongs to one and the rain to the other. The Sun is Wateroo and the Moon is Yungaroo. The stars are divided between them, and the division to which any star belongs can be pointed110 out. The Mount Gambier tribe of South Australia has a similar arrangement, but natural objects are allied111 with the totemic subdivisions. Mr. Fison gives examples of this as supplied to him by Mr. D. S. Stewart, from which it appears that rain, thunder, lightning, winter, hail, clouds, &c., are associated with the crow totem, and the stars, moon, &c., belong to the same totemic class as the black cockatoo; while the black, crestless112 cockatoo subdivision includes the sun, summer, autumn, wind, &c. The native of South Australia thus “looks upon the Universe as a Great Tribe, to one of whose divisions he himself belongs; and all things, animate and inanimate, which belong to his class, are parts of the body corporate113 whereof he himself is part.”
There is a curious parallelism between this system and the ancient doctrine of the separation of the intelli268gent Universe into two great divisions, the celestial and terrestrial, or that of light and that of darkness. In the totemic system one great division includes the sun and summer, answering to the realm of light, and the other division comprises moon, stars, winter, thunder, clouds, rain, hail, answering to the realm of darkness. The American aborigines also show traces of the notion of the dual36 division of nature in their hero-myths, which, according to Dr. Brinton,348 are intended to express “the daily struggle which is ever going on between Day and Night, between Light and Darkness, between Storm and Sunshine.” It is not improbable that the American totem system is based on the idea of duality. Although the totem divisions or gentes are now so numerous, there is no reason to believe that, as long since mentioned by Lafitau349 in relation to the Iroquois and Hurons, that they had at one time not more than three gentes. Mr. Morgan states, indeed, that the Iroquois commenced with two gentes, and it is possible that the original totems of all the North Americans were only two in number. The Wolf and the Bear, which probably answer to Light and Darkness,350 are the only totems common to all the great families of tribes of that area.
The dualism of the American mythology114 possesses the element of antagonism115 between the powers of269 light and those of darkness, which was met with in the ancient mythologies. The Australian dualism appears to lose sight of that opposition116, and to look upon the two great divisions of nature represented by light and darkness as forming parts of a great whole. This idea is not wanting, however, to one phase of what Lenormant terms the “naturalistic pantheism” of ancient religions. The French historian states351 that, although the Magi “preserved the dualistic form which the old Proto-Medic religion must have admitted,” yet they considered the antagonism between the good and the bad spirits to be only superficial, “for they regarded the representatives of the two opposing principles as consubstantial, equal in power, and emanating117 both from one and the same pre-existent principle.” Lenormant finds traces of this notion in the old Accadian system, and he affirms352 that Magism goes further than the perception of a common principle from which both the evil and the good principles emanated, seeing that it did not bind118 itself to the worship of the latter, but rendered equal homage119 to the two principles. This fact has an important bearing on the worship of the Evil Being so prevalent among the lower races, in combination with the simple recognition of the existence of a Good Being.
What has been said throws great light on the fundamental ideas of totemism, but it does not account for the notion of protection, which forms the real practical feature of that system. This notion can,270 however, be found in certain doctrines of the ancient Persian religion. Dr. M’Lennan refers,353 in support of his hypothesis, that animal gods were prolongations of the totems, to the opinion said to have been entertained by the Peruvians, that “there was not any beast or bird upon the earth whose shape or image did not shine in the heavens, by whose influence its similitude was generated on the earth, and its species increased.” From this he assumes “that the celestial beings were conceived to be in the shape of the animals, and to have special relations to their breed on the earth.” The Peruvian notion is, however, rather a phase of the ancient belief, expressed in the cosmogony of Zoroaster, that all things on earth had celestial prototypes which emanated from the Deity. As Lenormant remarks,354 “stars, animals, men, angels themselves—in one word, every created being had his Fravishi, who was invoked120 in prayers and sacrifices, and was the invisible protector who watched untiringly over the being to whom he was attached.” The Mazdian fravishis answer to the personal spirits of nature-worship, and, according to the Accadian Magical Table, every man had “from the hour of his birth a special god attached to him, who lived as his protector and his spiritual type.”355 We have here the271 idea of guardianship121 by a mysterious being which is so important in connection with the totem, but there is no suggestion that the fravishi itself ever became embodied in a terrestrial form, although there does not appear to be any reason why it should not do so.
We have, in the doctrine of transmigration of souls, however, a sufficient explanation of the special association between a particular totem and the members of the gens or family group to which it gives name. According to that doctrine,356 as stated in the Hindoo code, known as the Laws of Menu (chap. xii.), “with whatever disposition122 of mind a man shall perform in this life any act, religious or moral, in a future body endued123 with the same quality, shall he receive his retribution.” Numerous animals are named as proper for such re-incarnation, and even vegetables and mineral substances appear among them. Transmigration seems to have been considered by Oriental teaching essential to the attainment124 of perfection by the human soul, and the forms through which it is supposed to pass, include not only beasts, birds, and fishes, but also trees, stones, and other inanimate objects. The great Gautama himself is said to have passed through all the existences of earth, air, and sea, as well as through all the conditions of human life, before he became the Buddha125. Dr. M’Lennan says357 it is of the essence of the doctrine of transmigration that272 “everything has a soul or spirit, and that the spirits are mostly human in the sense of having once been in human bodies.” We have here the key to the problem of totemism, which receives its solution in the idea that the totem is the re-incarnated form of the legendary126 ancestor of the gens or family group allied to the totem. The belief that the spirits of the dead do take on themselves animal forms is widely spread.358 The most remarkable127 example of this belief is that which views certain snakes, not merely as re-incarnations of human souls, but as re-embodiments of ancestors of the people by whom such snakes are venerated. Serpent-worship is, indeed, closely connected with the worship of ancestors. The followers128 of the serpent believed themselves “to be of the serpent-breed, derived from a serpent ancestor,” and we know that peoples have claimed to belong to the serpent race. Such a claim, or that to a monkey relationship made by some of the dark tribes of India, would be readily admitted by the savage129 mind, and it may be explained on the principle that the legendary ancestor of the race is supposed to have become re-incarnated in monkey or snake form, and that monkeys or snakes as well as men are his descendants.
At the same time it is very probable that some savages130 do not distinguish between the man and the animal incarnation, and that if they think at all of the ancestor of the race, it is under the animal form. It must be remembered, however, that what to us is a monkey or a bear is to the uncultured mind an incarnate spirit, and it is this spirit-existence which is referred to when men speak of their ancestors as273 animals or plants. This explanation is applicable also to the case where descent is claimed from one of the heavenly bodies. Particular stars are often identified with persons who, distinguished while on earth, are thought to be no less distinguished after death. The spirit of the dead person thus becomes identified with the star. When, therefore, a man or family claims the Sun or the Moon as an ancestor, the spirit of the luminary131 is really referred to. In fact, to the lower races the Sun and the Moon are great beings, and there is no apparent reason to them why a great man should not be descended from the spirit of the Sun or Moon, or after death be identified as that spirit. Perhaps, when the Egyptian Monarch132 was called Pharaoh, he was thought to be actually a descendant of Phra, the Sun.359 Such may have been the case also with the Incas and other royal families who have claimed to be of solar descent. Whether the Sun was regarded as the great ancestor of the race, or only as the re-embodiment of his spirit, it would be an equally powerful totem, a remark which applies as well to the Moon or other heavenly bodies. In ancient times the Solar and Lunar races were very powerful in the East, and their representatives are still to be found in India among the Rajpoots and Jats.360 In ancient philosophy, the Sun and the Moon would represent the two realms of Light and Darkness, into274 which the visible Universe was divided, and as totems they probably stood at first in the same relation to other totems as those of the Australian primary classes stand to the totems of the secondary groups or gentes. It is known that various animals were anciently associated with the Sun or the Moon, or were venerated as emblems133 of the Solar or Lunar Deity. Thus, the Lion, the Bull, the Horse, the Elephant, the Monkey, the Ram134, and the Eagle, with others, were solar animals; while, among other animals, the Cow, the Hare, the Dog, the Beaver, the Dove, and the Fish, were lunar animals.361 An example of the process by which certain creatures became associated with those heavenly bodies is noted135 by Macrobius, who says of the Lion, “this beast seems to derive68 his own nature from the Sun, being, in force and heat, as superior to all other animals as the Sun is to the Stars.” Another example, but of a different character, and taken from a very different quarter, may be cited.
The Mount Gambier tribe of South Australia, as we have already seen, divides everything in nature between two great classes, and although Mr. Stewart, who is responsible for the information, could not find any reason for the arrangement, it appears from his remarks that the natives knew to which division any object belongs. Mr. Stewart asked what division a bullock belongs to. The answer was, “It eats grass, it is Bourtwerio.” He then said, “A Crayfish does not eat grass: Why is it Bourtwerio?” but the only275 reply he could get was, “That is what our fathers said it was.”362
We are now able to qualify the definition previously136 given of the totem as a “badge of fraternity,” or the “symbol of a gens.” We see that the totem is something more than a symbol or a badge. This description might answer for the pictorial12 representation of the totem, but not for the totem itself, which is regarded as having actual vitality137 as the embodiment or re-incarnation of an ancestral spirit. Any object is fitted for this spirit embodiment, and therefore totemism may be looked upon, not as a phase of nature-worship, but as a combination of this religion with ancestor-worship. The ancestral character of the totem accounts for the association with it of the idea of protection, which is based on the existence of a fraternal relationship between the totem and all the individuals belonging to a particular group of kin. The totem, as a badge or symbol, therefore represents the group of individuals, dead or alive, towards whom a man stands in a fraternal relation, and the protection of whom he is therefore entitled to, so long as he performs all the obligations on his part which flow from the existence of that relationship. The ideas embodied in the totem are no doubt more ancient than totemism as a developed social institution. This fact will furnish an answer to the objection that totemism is known only to peoples of a low degree of culture, who can hardly be supposed capable of rising to the con276ception of nature, as a whole, on which that system is founded, or the idea of a relationship existing between all the objects in nature.
Dr. Brinton363 answers those who object that the cosmogonical myth of the Algonkins is “too refined for those rude savages, or that it smacks138 too much of reminiscences of old-world teachings,” that “it is impossible to assign to it other than an indigenous139 and spontaneous origin in some remote period of Algonkin tribal history.” The same reply may be given in relation to the universal totemism of the Australians, with the qualification that the tribal history of this race would have to be carried back to a period when it was in contact, on the Asiatic Continent, with peoples among whom originated or developed the ideas on which totemism is based, if, indeed, they did not belong with them to a common stock. The existence among the natives of Australia and America of that system may have been due to the establishment of the gentile institution on the basis of female kinship, and the intermingling of the gentes or family groups, owing to wives leaving their own kin on marriage to live among their husband’s kin, as the result of the practice of exogamy. Some of the Australian tribes have a legend according to which the use of totems was introduced, by command of the Supreme Being, to put a stop to consanguineous marriages. This shows that the totem was connected with marriage and kinship, but, considering how universal is the objection among savages to marriage between277 near relations, it is more than probable that the legend was formed to explain an already existing phenomenon, that of totemism. As the conditions of social life were changed, totemism as a system would gradually become effete140, and totems would come to be regarded chiefly as curiosities of nomenclature. The preference for kinship through males, in connection with the tracing of descent, over kinship through females, combined with the practice of wives leaving their own family to live among their husband’s kin, would take from the totem one of its most important uses, as all the members of a “family” would dwell together instead of being, like the individuals belonging to the American or Australian totems, intermingled in one group. Totems would then be useful chiefly as ensigns, or as surnames to establish community of descent, and therefore the evidence of marriage disability; as with the Chinese, among whom no persons of the same family name can intermarry, however distant may be the actual relationship. When the mere66 possession of a common surname was no longer an absolute bar to intermarriage, and kinship came to be traced equally through both parents, totemism ceased to have any value, except so far as the study of its phenomena can throw light on the constitution and habits of ancient society.
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1 profess | |
v.声称,冒称,以...为业,正式接受入教,表明信仰 | |
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2 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
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3 kin | |
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的 | |
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4 tribal | |
adj.部族的,种族的 | |
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5 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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6 beaver | |
n.海狸,河狸 | |
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7 reptile | |
n.爬行动物;两栖动物 | |
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8 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
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9 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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10 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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11 bonnet | |
n.无边女帽;童帽 | |
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12 pictorial | |
adj.绘画的;图片的;n.画报 | |
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13 pictorially | |
绘画般地 | |
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14 supersede | |
v.替代;充任 | |
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15 superseded | |
[医]被代替的,废弃的 | |
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16 iguana | |
n.美洲大蜥蜴,鬣鳞蜥 | |
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17 hawk | |
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
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18 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
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19 rev | |
v.发动机旋转,加快速度 | |
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20 hyena | |
n.土狼,鬣狗 | |
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21 clan | |
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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22 clans | |
宗族( clan的名词复数 ); 氏族; 庞大的家族; 宗派 | |
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23 eel | |
n.鳗鲡 | |
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24 ancestry | |
n.祖先,家世 | |
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25 professed | |
公开声称的,伪称的,已立誓信教的 | |
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26 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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27 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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28 hind | |
adj.后面的,后部的 | |
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29 prohibition | |
n.禁止;禁令,禁律 | |
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30 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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31 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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32 animate | |
v.赋于生命,鼓励;adj.有生命的,有生气的 | |
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33 adoption | |
n.采用,采纳,通过;收养 | |
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34 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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35 redress | |
n.赔偿,救济,矫正;v.纠正,匡正,革除 | |
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36 dual | |
adj.双的;二重的,二元的 | |
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37 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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38 fowl | |
n.家禽,鸡,禽肉 | |
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39 owl | |
n.猫头鹰,枭 | |
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40 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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41 systematic | |
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的 | |
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42 lizard | |
n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
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43 deities | |
n.神,女神( deity的名词复数 );神祗;神灵;神明 | |
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44 cannibalism | |
n.同类相食;吃人肉 | |
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45 enrolled | |
adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 );登记,招收,使入伍(或入会、入学等),参加,成为成员;记入名册;卷起,包起 | |
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46 incarnate | |
adj.化身的,人体化的,肉色的 | |
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47 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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48 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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49 venerated | |
敬重(某人或某事物),崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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51 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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52 secluded | |
adj.与世隔绝的;隐退的;偏僻的v.使隔开,使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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53 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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54 allaying | |
v.减轻,缓和( allay的现在分词 ) | |
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55 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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56 procure | |
vt.获得,取得,促成;vi.拉皮条 | |
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57 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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58 contemplates | |
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想 | |
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59 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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60 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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61 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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62 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 deity | |
n.神,神性;被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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64 alligator | |
n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
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65 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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66 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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67 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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68 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
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69 progenitor | |
n.祖先,先驱 | |
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70 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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71 veneration | |
n.尊敬,崇拜 | |
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72 guardians | |
监护人( guardian的名词复数 ); 保护者,维护者 | |
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73 subsist | |
vi.生存,存在,供养 | |
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74 subsisting | |
v.(靠很少的钱或食物)维持生活,生存下去( subsist的现在分词 ) | |
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75 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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76 incarnated | |
v.赋予(思想、精神等)以人的形体( incarnate的过去式和过去分词 );使人格化;体现;使具体化 | |
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77 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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78 hieroglyphics | |
n.pl.象形文字 | |
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79 revered | |
v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80 constellations | |
n.星座( constellation的名词复数 );一群杰出人物;一系列(相关的想法、事物);一群(相关的人) | |
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81 uncertainty | |
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物 | |
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82 diurnal | |
adj.白天的,每日的 | |
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83 contiguity | |
n.邻近,接壤 | |
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84 explicit | |
adj.详述的,明确的;坦率的;显然的 | |
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85 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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86 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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87 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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88 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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89 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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90 reptiles | |
n.爬行动物,爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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91 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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92 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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93 mythologies | |
神话学( mythology的名词复数 ); 神话(总称); 虚构的事实; 错误的观点 | |
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94 doctrines | |
n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
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95 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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96 modifications | |
n.缓和( modification的名词复数 );限制;更改;改变 | |
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97 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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98 subdivided | |
再分,细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99 embodied | |
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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100 philosophical | |
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的 | |
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101 emanated | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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102 infinity | |
n.无限,无穷,大量 | |
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103 analogous | |
adj.相似的;类似的 | |
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104 pervaded | |
v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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106 supplant | |
vt.排挤;取代 | |
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107 propitious | |
adj.吉利的;顺利的 | |
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108 demons | |
n.恶人( demon的名词复数 );恶魔;精力过人的人;邪念 | |
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109 allot | |
v.分配;拨给;n.部分;小块菜地 | |
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110 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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111 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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112 crestless | |
adj.无冠毛的,卑微的,出身低下的 | |
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113 corporate | |
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的 | |
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114 mythology | |
n.神话,神话学,神话集 | |
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115 antagonism | |
n.对抗,敌对,对立 | |
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116 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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117 emanating | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的现在分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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118 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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119 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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120 invoked | |
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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121 guardianship | |
n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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122 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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123 endued | |
v.授予,赋予(特性、才能等)( endue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124 attainment | |
n.达到,到达;[常pl.]成就,造诣 | |
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125 Buddha | |
n.佛;佛像;佛陀 | |
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126 legendary | |
adj.传奇(中)的,闻名遐迩的;n.传奇(文学) | |
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127 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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128 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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129 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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130 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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131 luminary | |
n.名人,天体 | |
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132 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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133 emblems | |
n.象征,标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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134 ram | |
(random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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135 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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136 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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137 vitality | |
n.活力,生命力,效力 | |
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138 smacks | |
掌掴(声)( smack的名词复数 ); 海洛因; (打的)一拳; 打巴掌 | |
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139 indigenous | |
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的 | |
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140 effete | |
adj.无生产力的,虚弱的 | |
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