n of Erris had for the fox in
the nineteenth century. No explanation from the dry details of the
natural history of these animals is sufficient to account for this
curious parallel, and we must turn to ancient beliefs for the
explanation.

The general attitude of the men of Erris towards the fox is confirmed
as an attribute of totemism when we come to examine a special local
form of it. This we can do by turning to Galway. The Claddagh fishermen
in Galway would not go out to fish if they saw a fox: their rivals of
a neighbouring village, not believing in the fox, do all they can
to introduce a fox into the Claddagh village.[398] These people
are peculiar in many respects, and are distinctively clannish. They
retain their old clan-dress--blue cloaks and red petticoats--which
distinguishes them from the rest of the county of Galway, and it may be
conjectured that the present-day custom of naming from the names of
fish--thus, Jack the hake, Bill the cod, Joe the eel, Pat the trout,
Mat the turbot, etc.[399]--may be a remnant of the mental attitude of
the folk towards that belief in kinship between men and animals which
is at the basis of totemism. But, returning to the fox, we have in the
belief that meeting this animal would prevent them from going out to
fish, a parallel to the prohibition against looking at the totem which
is to be found among savage people, and we have in the neighbours'
disbelief in the fox and a corresponding belief in the hare,[400] that
local distribution of different totems which is also found in savagery.
But all these particulars about the relationship of the fox to the
Claddagh fishermen receive unexpected light when we inquire into the
biography of their local saint, named MacDara. This saint is the patron
saint of the fishermen who, when passing MacDara's island, always dip
their sails thrice to avoid being shipwrecked. But then, in the
folk-belief, we have this remarkable fact, that MacDara's real name was
Sinach, a fox[401]--an instance, it would seem, of a totem cult being
transferred to a Christian saint. Thus, then, in the superstitions of
these Claddagh fisherfolk we can trace the elements of totemism, the
root of which is contained, first, in the nominal worship of a
Christian saint, and second, in the actual worship of an animal, the
fox.

These examples of local totemism may be followed by a remarkable
example of tribal or kinship totemism. It was noted by Mr. G. H.
Kinahan in his