Moxus X Sign. }
Bommazeen X Sign. }
Capt. Sam X Sign. }
Nagucawen X Sign. } Kennebeck.
Summehawis X Sign. }
Wegwarumenet X Sign. }
Terramuggus. X Sign. }
Sabadis X Sign. } Ammarascoggin.
Sam Humphries X Sign. }
Signed, Sealed, & Delivered, in presence of
TOTEMS.
The figures or emblems connected with the signatures of the Indians are called, in the language of the Algonquins, Totems; and are the distinguishing marks or signs of the clans or tribes into which the various nations are divided. They are not the personal emblems of the chiefs, although in signing treaties they employ them as their sign manual. Each tribe or clan had its emblem, consisting of the figure of some bird, beast, or reptile, and is distinguished by the name of the animal which it has assumed as a device, as Wolf, Hawk, Tortoise. To different totems, says Parkman in his “Conspiracy of Pontiac,” attach different degrees of rank and dignity; and those of the Bear, the Tortoise, and the Wolf are among the first in honor. Each man is proud of his badge, jealously asserting its claim to respect. The use of the totem prevailed among the southern, as well as the northern tribes; Mr. Parkman says that Mr. Gallatin informed him, that he was told by the chief of a Choctaw deputation at Washington, that in their tribe were eight totemic clans, divided into two classes of four each.