54 TRAVELS iM^ 
The chief here is not, as iri other tribes, M 
principal among his equals ; he is a fovereigu 
in the mid ft of his fu bjecis, a mafter fur- 
tounded by his Caves. A word, a geiture, or 
a look^ is fufficient to procure him obedience. 
Whatever be his orders j they are never con- 
tradided ; and the cafe is the fame in every 
particular family. What the chief is to the 
horde, the father is to his children. His com- 
mands are abfolute ; and he exercifes regal 
power at home, while he obeys elfewhere. 
Though the tribe was very numerous, the 
ivifdom with which it was ruledj and the 
good order that prevailed around me, an- 
nounced, in the man by whom it was go- 
verned, an inteliigenee fuperior to that of all 
the favages I had before feen ; and I knew 
not a fmgle individual, except old Haabas, 
that Neftor of the Gonaqua nation, who could 
be compared to him. As I conceived for 
him a very high efteem, it was a fource to 
me of real pain that I was unacquainted with 
his language, and therefore not able freely to 
interrogate him refpedieg a thoufand cbjeds 
which it would have been highly gratifying 
to me to know. 
His 
