[533] In general, it seems as though these transmissions from father to son never take place except when the father is a shaman or a magician. This is also the case among the Thompson Indians (Teit, The Thompson Indians, p. 320) and the Wiradjuri, of whom we just spoke.
[534] Hill Tout (J.A.I., XXXV, pp. 146 f.). The essential rite is the blowing upon the skin: if this were not done correctly, the transmission would not take place. As we shall presently see, the breath is the soul. When both breathe upon the skin of the animal, the magician and the recipient each exhale a part of their souls, which are thus fused, while partaking at the same time of the nature of the animal, who also takes part in the ceremony in the form of its symbol.
[535] N. W. Thomas, Further Remarks on Mr. Hill Tout's Views on Totemism, in Man, 1904, p. 85.
[536] Langloh Parker, op. cit., pp. 20, 29.
[537] Hill Tout, in J.A.I., XXXV, pp. 143 and 146; ibid., XXXIV, p. 324.
[538] Parker, op. cit., p. 30; Teit, The Thompson Indians, p. 320; Hill Tout, in J.A.I., XXXV, p. 144.
[539] Charlevoix, VI, p. 69.
[540] Hill Tout, ibid., p. 145.
[541] Thus at the birth of a child, a tree is planted which is cared for piously; for it is believed that its fate and the child's are united. Frazer, in his Golden Bough, gives a number of customs and beliefs translating this same idea in different ways. (Cf. Hartland, Legend of Perseus, II, pp. 1-55.)
[542] Howitt, Nat. Tr., pp. 148 ff.; Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, pp. 194, 201 ff.; Dawson, Australian Aborigines, p. 52. Petrie also mentions it in Queensland (Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland, pp. 62 and 118).