Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/303

Rh chief of the Chickahominies, one of the tribes or the Powhatans is ſaid to have been of another tribe, and even of another nation, ſo that no certain account could be obtained of his origin or deſcent. The chiefs of the nation ſeem to have been by a rotation among the tribes. Thus when capt. Smith, in the year 1609, queſtioned Powhatan (who was the chief of the nation, and whoſe proper name is ſaid to have been Wohunſonacock) reſpecting the ſucceſſion, the old chief informed him, ‘that he was very old and had ſeen the death of all his people thrice; that not one of theſe generations were then living except himſelf; that he muſt ſoon die and the ſucceſſion deſcend in order to his brother Opichapàn, Opechàncanough, and Catatàugh, and then to his two ſiſters, and their two daughters.’ But theſe were Appellations deſignating the tribes in the confederacy. For the perſons named are not his real brothers, but the chiefs of different tribes. Accordingly in 1618, when Powhatan died, he was ſucceded by Opichapàn, and after his deceaſe