Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/316

 drink to excess; and that drunkenness is degrading to free men. On one occasion some of the gentlemen at Fort George induced a son of Comcomly the chief to drink a few glasses of rum. Intoxication quickly followed, accompanied by sickness; in which condition he returned home to his father's house, and for a couple of days remained in a state of stupor. The old chief subsequently reproached the people at the fort for having degraded his son by making him drunk, and thereby exposing him to the laughter of his slaves.

Each village is governed by its own chief. He possesses little authority, and is respected in proportion to the number of wives, slaves, &c. which he may keep. The greater number of these, the greater the chief. He is entitled, however, to considerable posthumous honour; for at his death the tribe go into mourning by cutting their hair, and for some months continue to chant a kind of funeral dirge to his memory. As each village forms a petty sovereignty, governed by independent chieftains, differences often arise between them. These differences are generally settled by giving compensation for the injury inflicted; but in the event of a serious