CHAPTER XVI. 



EEYENUE. 



542. Broadly dividing the products of men s labours into 

 the part which remains with them for private purposes and 

 the part taken from them for public purposes ; and recog 

 nizing the truism that the revenue constituted by this last 

 part must increase with the development of the public organi 

 zation supported by it ; we may be prepared for the fact that 

 in early stages of social evolution, nothing answering to 

 revenue exists. 



The political head being at first distinguished from other 

 members of the community merely by some personal supe 

 riority, his power, often recognized only during war, is, 

 if recognized at other times, so slight as to bring him no mate 

 rial advantage. Habitually in rude tribes he provides for 

 himself as a private man. Sometimes, indeed, instead of 

 gaming by his distinction he loses by it. Among the Dako- 

 tas &quot; the civil-chiefs and war-chiefs are distinguished from 

 the rest by their poverty. They generally are poorer clad 

 than any of the rest.&quot; A statement concerning the Abipones 

 shows us why this occasionally happens. 



w The cacique lias nothing, either in his arms or his clothes, to distin 

 guish him from a common man, except the peculiar oldness and shabbi- 

 n-Jds of them ; for if he appears in the streets with new and handsome 

 apparel, . . . the first person he meets will boldly cry, Give me that 

 dress . . . and unless he immediately parts with it, he becomes the 

 bccff and the scorn of all, and hears himself called covetous.&quot; 

 Among the Patagonians the burdens entailed by relieving 

 and protecting inferiors, lead to abdication. Many &quot;born 



