nd 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. The number of killed and wounded seldom exceed half a dozen.
Should the damage be equal on each side, the war is considered as
honorably concluded; should one party lose more than the other, it
is entitled to a compensation in slaves or other property, otherwise
hostilities are liable to be renewed at a future day. They are also
given to predatory inroads into the territories of their enemies, and
sometimes of their friendly neighbors. Should they fall upon a band of
inferior force, or upon a village, weakly defended, they act with the
ferocity of true poltroons, slaying all the men, and carrying off the
women and children as slaves. As to the property, it is packed upon
horses which they bring with them for the purpose. They are mean and
paltry as warriors, and altogether inferior in heroic qualities to the
savages of the buffalo plains on the east side of the mountains.

A great portion of their time is passed in revelry, music, dancing, and
gambling. Their music scarcely deserves the name; the instruments being
of the rudest kind. Their singing is harsh and discordant; the songs
are chiefly extempore, relating to passing circumstances, the persons
present, or any trifling object that strikes the attention of the
singer. They have several kinds of dances, some of them lively and
pleasing. The women are rarely permitted to dance with the men, but form
groups apart, dancing to the same instrument and song.

They have a great passion for play, and a variety of games. To such a
pitch of excitement are they sometimes roused, that they gamble away
everything they possess, even to their wives and children. They are
notorious thieves, also, and proud of their dexterity. He who is
frequently successful, gains much applause and popularity; but the
clumsy thief, who is detected in some bungling attempt, is scoffed at
and despised, and sometimes severely punished.

Such are a few leading characteristics of the natives in the
neighborhood of Astoria. They ap