As doctors are prone to
disagree, so these medicine men have now and then a violent altercation
as to the malady of the patient, or the treatment of it. To settle this
they beat their idols soundly against each other; whichever first loses
a tooth or a claw is considered as confuted, and his votary retires from
the field. Polygamy is not only allowed, but considered honorable, and
the greater number of wives a man can maintain, the more important is he
in the eyes of the tribe. The first wife, however, takes rank of all
the others, and is considered mistress of the house. Still the domestic
establishment is liable to jealousies and cabals, and the lord and
master has much difficulty in maintaining harmony in his jangling
household.
In the manuscript from which we draw many of these particulars, it is
stated that he who exceeds his neighbors in the number of his wives,
male children, and slaves, is elected chief of the village; a title to
office which we do not recollect ever before to have met with.
Feuds are frequent among these tribes, but are not very deadly. They
have occasionally pitched battles, fought on appointed days, and at
specific places, which are generally the banks of a rivulet. The adverse
parties post themselves on the opposite sides of the stream, and at such
distances that the battles often last a long while before any blood
is shed.
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