3G8 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



council of elders, the litigants voluntarily submitting to their arbitra- 

 tion. But correctly speaking, there is not the shadow of a constituted 

 authority in the Naga community, and, wonderful as it may seem, thia 

 want of government does not lead to any marked degree of anarchy.&quot; 

 Similarly among the warlike tribes of North America. 

 Speaking of these people at large, Schoolcraft says that &quot; they 

 all wish to govern, and riot to be governed. Every Indian 

 thinks he has a right to do as he pleases, and that no one is 

 better than himself; and he will fight before he will give up 

 what he thinks right.&quot; Of the Comanches, as an example, he 

 remarks that &quot; the democratic principle is strongly implanted 

 in them ;&quot; and that for governmental purposes &quot; public 

 councils are held at regular intervals during the year.&quot; Fur 

 ther, we read that in districts of ancient Central America 

 there existed somewhat more advanced societies which, though 

 warlike, were impelled by a kindred jealousy to provide 

 against monopoly of power. The government was carried on 

 by an elective council of old men who appointed a war chief; 

 and this war chief, &quot;if suspected of plotting against the 

 safety of the commonwealth, or for the purpose of securing 

 supreme power in his own hands, was rigorously put to death 

 by the council.&quot; 



Though the specialities of character which thus lead certain 

 kinds of men in early stages to originate compound political 

 heads, and to resist, even under stress of war, the rise of 

 single political heads, are innate, we are not without clues to 

 the circumstances which have made them innate ; and with 

 a view to interpretations presently to be made, it will be 

 useful to glance at these. The Comanches and kindred 

 tribes, roaming about in small bands, active and skilful 

 horsemen, have, through long past periods, been so con 

 ditioned as to make coercion of one man by another difficult. 

 So, too, has it been, though in another way, with the Nagas. 

 &quot; They inhabit a rough and intricate mountain range;&quot; and 

 their villages are perched &quot; on the crests of ridges.&quot; Again, 

 significant evidence is furnished by a remark of Captain 

 Burton to the effect that in Africa, as in Asia, there are three 



