n van Hoevell, "Ambon en meer
bepaaldelijk de Oeliasers" (Dordrecht, 1875), page 152.) Similarly in
Ceram persons who think they are descended from crocodiles, serpents,
iguanas, and sharks will not eat the flesh of these animals. (J.G.F.
Riedel op. cit. page 122.) Many other peoples of the Molucca Islands
entertain similar beliefs and observe similar taboos. (J.G.F. Riedel
"De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua" (The Hague,
1886), pages 253, 334, 341, 348, 412, 414, 432.) Again, in Ponape, one
of the Caroline Islands, "The different families suppose themselves to
stand in a certain relation to animals, and especially to fishes, and
believe in their descent from them. They actually name these animals
'mothers'; the creatures are sacred to the family and may not be
injured. Great dances, accompanied with the offering of prayers, are
performed in their honour. Any person who killed such an animal would
expose himself to contempt and punishment, certainly also to the
vengeance of the insulted deity." Blindness is commonly supposed to
be the consequence of such a sacrilege. (Dr Hahl, "Mittheilungen
uber Sitten und rechtliche Verhaltnisse auf Ponape", "Ethnologisches
Notizblatt", Vol. II. Heft 2 (Berlin, 1901), page 10.)

Some of the aborigines of Western Australia believe that their ancestors
were swans, ducks, or various other species of water-fowl before they
were transformed into men. (Captain G. Grey, "A Vocabulary of the
Dialects of South Western Australia", Second Edition (London, 1840),
pages 29, 37, 61, 63, 66, 71.) The Dieri tribe of Central Australia, who
are divided into totemic clans, explain their origin by the following
legend. They say that in the beginning the earth opened in the midst of
Perigundi Lake, and the totems (murdus or madas) came trooping out one
after the other. Out came the crow, and the shell parakeet, and the emu,
and all the rest. Being as yet imperfectly formed and without members
or organs of sense, they laid themselves down on the sandhills which
surrounded the lake then just as they do now. It was a bright day and
the totems lay basking in the sunshine, till at last, refreshed and
invigorated by it, they stood up as human beings and dispersed in all
directions. That is why people of the same totem are now scattered all
over the country. You may still see the island in the lake out of which
the totems came trooping long ago. (A.W. Howitt, "Native Tribes of
South-East A