Andrew Lang to Howitt 1 December

Transcription - Page 2

[left column]
in [??] or [??]
to find a theory of
the relation of totems to
exogamy. The phratry
arrangement [??] made
and the totem kins occurring
in different phratries, they
clearly added nothing
to exogamy: no new bar.
On my view both the
totemic and phratry rules
arose unconsciously - in
a way which I suggest -
they did, roughly, bar

[right column]
unions of "too near
flesh", though they were
not intended for that
conscious purpose; and later
reflection on their implicit
content led to the
later conscious modifications -
4 and 8 classes, and
even bye-laws [sic] against
too near kin marriages
as among ourselves. To
work this out I have
evolved a theory of
the origin and
development of totems
and [later] totem groups.