GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION, 371 
the village captain; in the other, the shaman or s?-se’-ro (Spanish, hechizero). 
Inthe mountains there is some approach to this martial array, but it is 
universal on the plains. 
But it is more especially in their actual organization, and in the 
instances of great leaders who have arisen, that this quality is manifested. 
Every large natural division of territory possessing a certain homogeneity 
constitutes the domain of one tribe and one chief—for instance, a river- 
valley, from the snow-line down to the plains, or from the foot-hills to the 
lake—though nowadays this system has been disturbed by the whites. In 
this domain every village has a captain, who stands to the central chief in 
the relation of a governor to the President, and is generally distinguished 
from his subjects by his long hair. At certain annual meetings and other 
occasions each eaptain reports to his chief the general condition of his vil- 
lage as to morals, as to quarrels, as to the acorn-crop, etc. In return, the 
chief delivers a long oration of advice and counsel; warns, instructs, and 
admonishes his subalterns; and, if necessary, berates soundly any delin- 
quent. Both the chiefship and the captaincy are hereditary, that is, if the 
son does not prove to be afool. But either can appoint his successor as he 
likes. For instance, Santiago, captain of the Tachi, had two sons, Ka’-teh 
and Ku'-to-mats, of whom Kateh was the first-born, but he designated the 
other to succeed him, because, as Kateh ingenuously acknowledged, “he 
was the smartest”. 
Instances of this harmonious hierarchy of ranks exist yet in Chi-wi'-ni, 
who is chief over all the villages in Squaw Valley ; in Wa-tu’-ga, who is 
chief of the three upper villages on King’s River; and in Slok’-nich, chief 
of the Chukchansi. 
The captain has no substantial authority, even to appoint the time for a 
special mourning or a fandango; he must request the chief to do so in his 
behalf. But nowadays there are many villages which have broken away 
and become independent, and their captains exercise all the power the 
tribe will bear, which is small. In early days the chief sometimes wielded 
considerable authority, as the following instances will evince: 
Ten or fifteen years ago Pascual consolidated all the villages on 
King’s River, except the one at the mouth, into a robust little kingdom; 
