Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/302

288 war, concluding peace, or forming ailiances with the neighboring nations, are deliberated on and determined in a national council compoſed of the chiefs of the tribe, attended by the head warriors and a number of the chiefs from the towns who are his counſellors. In every town there is a council houſe, where the chief and old men of the town aſſemble, when occaſion requires, and conſult what is proper to be done. Every tribe has a fixed place for the chiefs of the towns to meet and conſult on the buſineſs of the tribe: and in every nation there is what they call the central council houſe, or central council fire, where the chiefs of the ſeveral tribes, with the principal warriors, convene to conſult and determine on their national affairs. When any matter is propoſed in the national council, it is common for the chiefs of the ſeveral tribes to conſult thereon apart with their counſellors, and when they have agreed, to deliver the opinion of the tribe at the national council: and as their government ſeems to reſt wholly on perſuaſion, they endeavor, by mutual conceſſions, to obtain unanimity. Such is the government that ſtill ſubſiſts among the Indian nations bordering on the United States. Some hiſtorians ſeem to think, that the dignity of office of Sachem was hereditary. But that opinion does not appear to be well founded. The Sachem or chief of the tribe ſeems to be by election. And ſometimes perſons who are ſtrangers, and adopted into the tribe, are promoted to this dignity on account of their abilities. Thus on the arrival of captain Smith, the firſt founder of the colony of Virginia. Opechàcanough, who was Sachem or