ological
Society of London", New Series II. (London, 1863), pages 26 sq. Such
stories conform to a well-known type which may be called the Swan-Maiden
type of story, or Beauty and the Beast, or Cupid and Psyche. The
occurrence of stories of this type among totemic peoples, such as the
Tshi-speaking negroes of the Gold Coast, who tell them to explain their
totemic taboos, suggests that all such tales may have originated in
totemism. I shall deal with this question elsewhere.)

Members of a clan in Mandailing, on the west coast of Sumatra, assert
that they are descended from a tiger, and at the present day, when a
tiger is shot, the women of the clan are bound to offer betel to the
dead beast. When members of this clan come upon the tracks of a tiger,
they must, as a mark of homage, enclose them with three little sticks.
Further, it is believed that the tiger will not attack or lacerate his
kinsmen, the members of the clan. (H. Ris, "De Onderafdeeling Klein
Mandailing Oeloe en Pahantan en hare Bevolking met uitzondering van
de Oeloes", "Bijdragen tot de Tall- Land- en Volkenkunde van
Nederlansch-Indie, XLVI." (1896), page 473.) The Battas of Central
Sumatra are divided into a number of clans which have for their totems
white buffaloes, goats, wild turtle-doves, dogs, cats, apes, tigers, and
so forth; and one of the explanations which they give of their totems
is that these creatures were their ancestors, and that their own souls
after death can transmigrate into the animals. (J.B. Neumann, "Het
Pane en Bila-stroomgebied op het eiland Sumatra", "Tijdschrift van het
Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap", Tweede Serie, III. Afdeeling,
Meer uitgebreide Artikelen, No. 2 (Amsterdam, 1886), pages 311 sq.;
id. ib. Tweede Serie, IV. Afdeeling, Meer uitgebreide Artikelen, No. 1
(Amsterdam, 1887), pages 8 sq.) In Amboyna and the neighbouring islands
the inhabitants of some villages aver that they are descended from
trees, such as the Capellenia moluccana, which had been fertilised by
the Pandion Haliaetus. Others claim to be sprung from pigs, octopuses,
crocodiles, sharks, and eels. People will not burn the wood of the trees
from which they trace their descent, nor eat the flesh of the animals
which they regard as their ancestors. Sicknesses of all sorts are
believed to result from disregarding these taboos. (J.G.F. Riedel, "De
sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua" (The Hague,
1886), pages 32, 61; G.W.W.C. Baro