GOVERNMENT. 
317 
inclined, therefore, to think that the degree of esti- 
mation in which any native is held by his fellows, 
or the amount of deference that may be paid to his 
opinions, will in a great measure depend upon his 
personal strength, courage, energy, prudence, skill, 
and other similar qualifications, influenced, per- 
haps, collaterally by his family connections and the 
power which they possess. 
Each father of a family rules absolutely over his 
own circle. In his movements and arrangements he 
is uncontrolled, yet, as a matter of policy, he always 
informs his fellows where he is going, what he is 
going to do, how long he will be absent, when he 
will meet them again, &c. It thus happens that, 
although a tribe may be dispersed all over their own 
district in single groups, or some even visiting neigh- 
bouring tribes, yet if you meet with any one family 
they can at once tell you where you will find any 
other, though the parties themselves may not have 
met for weeks. Some one or other is always moving 
about, and thus the news of each other’s locality gets 
rapidly spread among the rest. The principal occu- 
pation, indeed, of parties when they meet, is to give 
and receive information relative to neighbouring 
families or tribes. In cases of sudden danger or 
emergency, the scattered groups are rapidly warned 
or collected by sending young men as messengers, 
or by raising signal smokes in prominent positions. 
In an assembly of the tribe, matters of importance 
are generally discussed and decided upon, by the 
