Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/406

 356 Reviews.

hear is almost entirely on the subject of the siboko, usually- regarded as a totem, as to which a note from the work before us appeared in Folk-Lore, vol. xv., p. 203. A list of the Bechuana siboko is given, which differs but little from those given by Fritsch and others. A point of interest is that the siboko of the Barolong is iron, which raises the question of the period at w-hich the siboko was adopted. If it was an original siboko, it can hardly have been a totem, though it is possible that iron was known, but not worked or used, at a very much earlier period than is commonly supposed. On the other hand, the Barolong may have substituted iron for their earlier emblem. Some light is thrown on the question of date by the fact that the great ancestor of their chiefs, Noto — the Hammer for Iron — lived some nineteen generations ago — i.e. according to Mr. Stow's reckoning, at least six hundred years ago — when their traditions represent them as living far to the north ; but naturally this inferior limit of date throws no light on the origin of the name. As to the question of the identity of the siboko and the totem, one or two curious usages with regard to the siboko are recorded. The Banoka (men of the porcupine), a branch of the Bapiri, introduce near the joints of a nursling certain parts of the stomach of the porcupine. When the sun rises covered with clouds the chief of the Baletsatsi (men of the sun) kindles a fire at his house, from which all the people get fire for their own use. The chief of the Baputi (men of the duiker) is buried in a duiker skin. But none of these points seem to throw much light on the origin or meaning of the siboko. There seems to have been a universal dread of setting eyes on the animal, alive or dead, and it was not eaten nor even touched, save as a measure of precaution to prevent ill effects when they had chanced to look upon it unwittingly. The chief, however, was in the habit in some of the tribes of using the fur as a cloak, just as among the Baputi it was used as his shroud. It is of course no novelty to find a chief exempt from the ritual prohibi- tions imposed upon his subjects ; but the association of this with the undoubted fact that the cult of the siboko as we know it is a form of ancestor worship, suggests that after all it may have nothing to do with totemism. Mr. Stow states very