Historically I do not doubt that it really is such a transference. As the idea of the Midewiwin as a ceremonial unit developed more definitely, the individual transference of the individual mide power may have become associated with initiation into the Midewiwin itself. It is perfectly natural, when all the mide became members of the Midewiwin, that the transference of power should not have been thought of apart from the society to which the mide belonged. It thus followed that obtaining knowledge from a mide would be synonymous with joining the Midewiwin. As the Midewiwin grew in popularity, and as all the mide and a majority of the other members of the tribe joined it, there came to be associated with it certain specific benefits, that had in themselves nothing at all to do with the mide, but which were generally characteristic of Central Algonkin culture. The association of these specific benefits played necessarily an important part in the history of the society, because it meant that an individual, in joining the society, obtained much more than certain mide powers. He obtained, in fact, all the mide powers, plus those specific benefits which membership in the Midewiwin now brought with it. Through the transference of the objects symbolical of the mide’s power,—“the migis” and the otter-skin bag,—shooting now initiated him not only into the status of a mide, but also into that of a member of a society with an esoteric ritual. The shooting itself no longer bore the impress of a general shamanistic practice, but stood as a symbol of initiation into a society. At the transference of individual shamanistic power, shooting did not occur. It must consequently have become associated with initiation when the loose union of the mide developed into a more or less definite society. Summing up briefly, we may be justified in saying that the initiation ritual of the Ojibwa-Menominee Midewiwin is a transference of individual power as found among the individual mide, modified by the addition of another element, the shooting-incident. The initiation can in no way be regarded as necessarily associated with shooting, but this association will have to be regarded as simply a characteristic of the Central Algonkin Midewiwin. In other words, just as “shooting” may enter into an indefinite number of associations, conditioned by the cultural individuality of an area, so initiation may similarly enter into an indefinite number of combinations.