while to lead the warriors in battle, the bravest, most redoubted, and sagacious of the tribe was elected. These two chief offices were not unfrequently united in the same person, when the lawful sachem, from a spirit of emulation, or from natural advantages, showed himself worthy of the position. All matters of national interest were discussed at a solemn council, consisting of the principal men of the tribe, and at which great decorum and formality were observed. As the debate proceeded, the whole conclave, whenever a remark from the orator speaking excited their approbation, would give expression to their approval by a guttural ejaculation. A natural instinct of retributive justice ordained that the crime of murder should be punished by the hand of the deceased person's nearest relative. An interesting incident, connected with this custom, is told in a notice of the public life of the Hon. Pierre A. Rost, of Louisiana, given in the United States Law Magazine, for March, 1852. He is here said to have been the first to suggest the propriety of interference in these matters on the part of the State Courts. In a drunken fray, an Indian had been accidentally killed. "The relatives of the deceased were absent at the time; but they soon heard of his death, and came from the Indian territory to exact blood for blood from the homicide. He was advised to flee, but would not, and, in blind submission to the law of the red man, agreed to deliver himself on a certain day to be shot. The Court was then sitting, and Mr. Rost proposed to the presiding judge to prevent the horrid sacrifice, by giving the victim a fair trial by jury, many members of which were known and respected by the relatives of the deceased, and impressing upon the latter the necessity of abiding by the verdict, whatever it might be." This was done, and every thing was conducted with due form and solem nity. The Indian witnesses gave the most satisfactory answers when questioned as to their ideas of the obligation of an oath, and, after a full 'hearing, the defendant was acquitted. The decision was translated to the complainants, and they were told that to kill the prisoner would now be murder, and would subject them to the penalties of that crime. "Mr. Rost then rose, and stated to the Court that the prosecutors had left their hunting-ground to come and avenge the death of their relative, as it was their duty to do; that justice had been done to the accused, but that was not sufficient. Justice must also be done to the other side; they must be indemnified for the inconvenience they had been put to, and the loss they had sustained; and, as the coffers of the treasury would not unlock at the bidding of his honor, he moved that the bar, jury, and by-standers, contribute a sufficient amount to satisfy them. This was done as soon as proposed, and the prosecutors declared themselves satisfied." The institution of marriage among the American Indians is by no means so restrictive a system as that adopted by enlightened nations. It is for the most part dissoluble at the pleasure of the parties, and polygamy is extensively practised. As with other barbarous nations, the woman is compelled to undergo the drudgery of daily labor, while her lord and master lounges indolently about the village, except at times when his energies are called forth for hunting or war. When once engaged in these pursuits, his fixedness of purpose, and the readiness with which he will undergo the extremes of toil, exposure, hunger, and privation, is marvellous. |