Chapter 7 

 ABOUT THEIR OBEDIENCE AND SUBJECTION TO THEIR CHIEFS. 



Before speaking of the obedience which these Indians had for 

 their chiefs, we shall set forth the method and ceremonies which 

 they employed in their election or proclamation. When the chief 

 was already old or because of some incapacity desired to retire from 

 governing, he prepared a great feast, and invited the neighboring 

 chiefs and friends. On the arrival of these, all being together, he 

 declared to them that his purpose in inviting them to that great 

 feast was to elect his son as chief, since he already found himself 

 quite old, and afflicted (this amounts to a sort of acknowledgment). 

 On the following day in the morning the crier came forth shouting 

 through all the rancheria, declaring that the chief was making his 

 son a chief, and that they should come to the feast of the new 

 chief. Everything necessary having been arranged for the function, 

 the new chief put on himself the imperial insignia or robes, which 

 consisted of his hair being tied around his head by means of its 

 cord, and a slender stick about half a yard long, shaped like the 

 blade of a knife, stuck in his hair, the little skirt of feathers, and 

 the crown, [he being] well painted up and reddened, and dressed 

 in this manner, he began to dance alone for a while, and then the other 

 chiefs came out and putting him in the middle danced together with 

 the new chief, and it is to be noted that they also were dressed with 

 all the insignia of chiefs. 



This feast lasted for at least 3 days including the nights. The 

 old chief saw to it that there were many kinds of food in the line of 

 pinole and meat for the invited ones and for all the people of his 

 town, and without further ceremonies than the ones above men- 

 tioned he was already recognized as chief ; but it is to be noted that 

 he did not take up the reins of government immediately, but when 

 his father determined, or upon the death of the latter, and then 

 they did not do anything special, but from that time on he already 

 performed the functions of chief. 



In the succession of these chieftainships, women also entered, 

 when males were lacking. She could marry whoever she pleased, 

 though he were not of the race or lineage of chiefs ; but the husband, 

 be who he might, though he were the son of another chief, was never 



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