Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/345

Their great chief pretended to derive his origin from the Sun, which was likewise the principal object of their adoration.[263] He was always chosen from the family of the nearest female relative of his predecessor, and his mother was also invested with considerable power,[264] and considered {269} as an auxiliary chief. She, no less than the Great Sun, dispensed with the lives and liberties of their subjects. The lesser chiefs and the people never approached them without uttering three salutations, in a loud and mournful tone, which it was necessary to repeat on retiring, and also to walk out from their presence back-*wards. Even when they happened to meet them, they were obliged to arrange themselves on either side of the path, and repeat the customary salutation as they passed. Their subjects likewise brought them the best of their harvests, of their hunting, and their fishing. And no person, not even their nearest relatives, or those of noble fam-*