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lies, are regulated at a meeting or council of the chiefs 

 from the several towns ; and those which regard the 

 whole nation, such as the making war, concluding 

 peace, or forming alliances with tlie neighhouring na- 

 tions, are deliherated on and determined in a national 

 council composed of the chief of the tribe, attended 

 by the head warriors and a number of the chiefs from 

 the towns, who are his counsellors. In every town 

 there is a council house, where the chief and old men of 

 the town assemble, when occasion requires, and con- 

 sult what is proper to be done. Every tribe has a fixed 

 place for the chiefs of the towns to meet and consult on 

 the business of the tribe : and in every nation there is 

 what they call the central council house, or central 

 council fire, where the chiefs of the several tribes, with 

 the })rincij)al warriors, convene to consult and determine 

 on tlieir national affairs. When any matter is propos- 

 ed in the national council, it is common for the chiefs 

 of the several tribes to consult thereon apart with their 

 counsellors, and when they have agreed, to deliver the 

 opinion of the tribe at the national council: and, as 

 their government seems to rest v/holly on persuasion, 

 they endeavour, by mutual concessions, to obtain una- 

 nimity. Such is the government that still subsists 

 amonfj^ the Indian nations bordering upon the United 

 States. Some historians seem to think, that the digni- 

 ty of office of Sachem was hereditary. But that opinion 

 does not appear to be well founded. The Sachem or 

 chief of the tribe seems to be by election. And some- 

 times persons who are strangers, and adopted into the 

 tribe, are promoted to this dignity, on account of their 

 abilities. Thus on the arrival of Captain Smith, the 

 first founder of the colony of Virginia, Opechanca- 

 nough, who was Sachem or chief of the Chickahomi- 

 njies, one of the tribes of the Powhatans, is said to have 

 been of another tribe, and even of another nation, so 

 that no certain account could be obtained of his origin 

 or descent. The chiefs of the nation seem to have been 

 by a rotation among the tribes. Thus when Capt. 

 Smith, in the year 1609, questioned Powhatan (who 



