Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/301

Rh of Powhatans, Manahoacs, and Monacans, now commonly called Tuſcaroras. The Powhatans, who occupied the country from the ſea ſhore up to the falls of the rivers, were a powerful nation, and ſeem to have conſiſted of ſeven tribes, five on the weſtern and two on the eaſtern ſhore. Each of theſe tribes was ſubdivided into towns, families, or clans, who lived together. All the nations of Indians in North-America lived in the hunting ſtate and depended for ſubſiſtence on hunting, fiſhing, and the ſpontaneous fruits of the earth, and a kind of grain which was planted and gathered by the women, and is now known by the name of Indian corn. Long potatoes, pumpkins of various kinds, and ſquaſhes, were alſo found in uſe among them. They had no flocks, herds, or tamed animals of any kind. Their government is a kind of patriarchal confederacy. Every town or family has a chief, who is diſtinguiſhed by a particular title, and whom we commonly call ‘Sachem.’— The ſeveral towns or families that compoſe a tribe, have a chief who preſides over it, and the ſeveral tribes compoſing a nation have a chief who preſides over the whole nation. Theſe chiefs are generally men advanced in years, and diſtinguiſhed by their prudence and abilities in council. The matters which merely regard a town or family are ſettled by the chief and principal men of the town: thoſe which regard a tribe, ſuch as the appointment of head warriors or captains, and ſettling differences between different towns and families, are regulated at a meeting or council of the chiefs from the ſeveral towns; and thoſe which regard the whole nation, ſuch as the