ABSTRACT
The information contained in the preceding chapter is practically in the words of the narrators, and it seemed so extremely unlikely that I dropped the subject for the time, and sent my notes to Professor J. G. Frazer, who very kindly made some remarks which encouraged me to proceed, especially as in the meantime I had ascertained that Haj Ali’s information upon other subjects was quite trustworthy, and further inquiry has corroborated practically the whole of it. After all, it only corresponds with what has been found on the other side of the continent, though this fact was not then known to me. 1 I reexamined him, therefore, and with the further answers from him, and information gathered from other sources, we may proceed to examine what has been said. But first it will probably clear the atmosphere if it be noted that others have discovered that with one clan at any rate (the Geawaskawa of Katsina), the soul of the totem is supposed to be indwelling in their chief, and that a story given elsewhere shows that the chief may have the soul of the clan (Mafari) in his keeping. This latter is probably the soul of the first king, for amongst the Shilluk “the spirits of Nyakang [the divine ancestor] and his successors are considered as identical,” and this is only what we should expect when the divine ancestor is an animal, a totem. 2 With many peoples, the chief is regarded as being a son of the god. However, it will be well to state at once the view of totemism held by Salah, the principal boka in Tunis.
