(in the south). Here
the eponymous animal approaches divinity--not only is it killed with
regret, it is a thing to swear by, and has magical power; but
independence of the totem appears in the fact that it may be changed;
that is, it is a friend adopted by men at their convenience. It is in
accord with this conception that the Bakuana (who are pastoral and
agricultural) have clan gods. Beyond taboos on sacred objects there is
nothing in the Bantu territory that clearly indicates a totemistic
organization of society.

+510+. In the half-civilized and higher savage communities of the
eastern and western parts of the continent totemism proper, if it has
ever been predominant, has been expelled or depressed by higher forms of
organization. It seems not to exist among the Masai, a vigorous people
with an interesting theistic system. The neighboring Nandi, who have
clan totems, lay stress rather on the family than on the clan in their
marriage laws, and their taboos include more than their totems; their
excessive regard for the hyena may be due simply to their fear of the
animal.[858]

+511+. The half-civilized Baganda (of the British Uganda Protectorate)
refrain from injuring clan totems, but the functions of the clans are
now political and religious (relating, for example, to the building of
temples) under the control of a quasi-royal government; there is almost
complete absence of magical ceremonies for the multiplication or control
of sacred objects.[859] Old marriage laws are relaxed--a king may marry
his sister (as in ancient Egypt). Free dealing with totems is
illustrated by the adoption of a new cooking-pot as totem by one clan.
The cult of the python obtains here, as in West Africa. Among the
neighboring Banyoro, and among the Bahima (west of Victoria Nyanza), who
are herdsmen with a kingly government, there is the usual reverence for
animals, but eponymous animals are not important for the social
organization.

+512+. In West Africa also definite totemistic organization has not been
found. Everywhere there is reverence for the eponymous sacred thing,
and, when it is edible, refusal to eat it; but the taboos are sometimes,
as in Siena (which is agricultural), more extensive than the list of
sacred things. In Southern Nigeria at funerals (and sometimes on other
occasions) the totem animal or plant is offered, in the form of soup, to
the dead; the animal or plant in such cases is regarded, apparently,
simply or ma