The family grew into a clan, and the clan to a tribe, and the object sacred in the eyes of its father and founder became its "totem", crest, or symbol.

As a rule, whatever thing was the _totem_ of the individual or the clan was held sacred in their eyes, and, if it was an animal, was not killed, or, if killed, not eaten.

Many of the northern Indians would refrain from killing the wolf or the glutton, or if they did so, or did it by accident, they would refuse to skin the animal.

The elder people amongst the Athapaskan Indians, in Hearne's day, would reprove the young folk for "speaking disrespectfully" of different beasts and birds.
Their ideas of medicine and surgery were much mixed up with a belief in magic and in the mysterious powers of their "medicine men".

This person, who might be of either sex, certainly knew a few simple medicines to be made from herbs or decoctions of bark, but for the most part he attempted to cure the sick or injured by blowing lustily on the part affected or, more wisely, by massage.