ce cast off to perish. Among many tribes with which I have been
acquainted, I have often noticed that though the leading men were
generally elderly men from forty-five to sixty years old, they were not
always the oldest; they were still in full vigour of body and mind, and
men who could take a prominent part in acting as well as counselling. I
am inclined, therefore, to think that the degree of estimation in which
any native is held by his fellows, or the amount of deference that may be
paid to his opinions, will in a great measure depend upon his personal
strength, courage, energy, prudence, skill, and other similar
qualifications, influenced, perhaps, collaterally by his family
connections and the power which they possess.

Each father of a family rules absolutely over his own circle. In his
movements and arrangements he is uncontrolled, yet, as a matter of
policy, he always informs his fellows where he is going, what he is going
to do, how long he will be absent, when he will meet them again, etc. It
thus happens that, although a tribe may be dispersed all over their own
district in single groups, or some even visiting neighbouring tribes, yet
if you meet with any one family they can at once tell you where you will
find any other, though the parties themselves may not have met for weeks.
Some one or other is always moving about, and thus the news of each
other's locality gets rapidly spread among the rest. The principal
occupation, indeed, of parties when they meet, is to give and receive
information relative to neighbouring families or tribes. In cases of
sudden danger or emergency, the scattered groups are rapidly warned or
collected by sending young men as messengers, or by raising signal smokes
in prominent positions.

In an assembly of the tribe, matters of importance are generally
discussed and decided upon, by the elder men, apart from the others. It
not unfrequently happens, however, that some discontented individual will
loudly and violently harangue the whole tribe; this usually occurs in the
evening, and frequently continues for hours together; his object being
generally either to reverse some decision that has been come to, to
excite them to something they are unwilling to do, or to abuse some one
who is absent. Occasionally he is replied to by others, but more
frequently allowed uninterruptedly to wear himself out, when from sheer
exhaustion he is compelled to sit down.

Occasionally the tribe is addre