Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/229

 Collectanea. 205

from Theal a passage showing that many of the Bantu tribes ex- plained their respect for their siboko by the fact that they were inhabited by the souls of their ancestors. This is an ^etiological myth, but hardly a myth of origin, as no explanation is given of how the animals were originally selected. Siboko is, according to Arbousset and Daumas ( Voyage,"^. 422), properly speaking, "glory," and in its transferred meaning, clan or kin. The relation between the man and the animal is that of xa, fear or hatred ; they show their respect to it by dancing {ina) ; the name is called bonka, name of honour."

" The following passage from Arbousset and Daumas (p. 349) clearly refers to the Bachwene :

" ' D'autres Baperis venerent le Khabo, sorte de singe inconnu dans ce pays-ci. D'autres jurent par le grand papion. lis ne vont point a leur champs au renouvellement de la lune, se con- formant en cela a la pratique de ceux qui chantent le soleil. lis craignent s'ils se rendaient ainsi a leur labeur que le millet ne restat en terre sans lever ou bien qu'il manquat d'etre forme, meme qu'il ne fdt tout ronge par la rouille.' "

" Casalis mentions the name of the Bachwene {ks Bassoutos,

p. 221), 'Tel district du pays des Bassoutos est appele

Chueneng, chez les hommes du singe.'

" In connection with the origin of clan names, attention may be drawn to the statements of Arbousset and Daumas (p. 299) on the subject of the Zulu regiments. The first is called Oino bapakiil — panther-catchers — and a story is told of an adventure with a panther, to which we find parallels in North-West America and Madagascar ; the regiment imitates the roars and the ferocity of the panther, and its leaders wear panther-skins.

" The South African clans were localised, as the quotation from Casahs shows. It seems possible that the Zulu regiments have preserved for us traces of earlier totemic myths.

" In connection with the names of regiments, we may recall that at the battle of Cattraeth there were bands of warriors known as dogs, wolves, crows, and bears. Bearing in mind that the chiefs were especially known by the clan name {Folk-Lore, xii., 36), it is of some interest to note that the leader of the war-dogs at Cattraeth was Cian, the dog. Here too there is a possibility that we have to do with a faint echo of totemism."