rose up, too, as if they all wished to speak. This was to show to the
assembly that the heads of families were all at their post, and who
they were. They talked among themselves for a while, and it ended in
one after another sitting down, after having passed on his right to
speak to another. It was quite well known, in most cases, who was to
speak, but they must have this preliminary formality about it. At
last, after an hour or more all had sat down but the one who was to
speak; and, laden by them with the responsibility of speaking, he
commenced. He was not contented with a mere _word_ of salutation, such
as, "Gentlemen," but he must, with great minuteness, go over the names
and titles, and a host of ancestral references, of which they were
proud. Another half-hour was spent with this. Up to this time
conversation went on freely all round the meeting; but whenever he
came to the point of his address, viz., the object of the meeting and
an opinion on it, all was attention. After the first speech, it was
probably mid-day, and then food was brought in. The young men and
women of the family, decked off in their best, came in a string of ten
or twenty to their chief, each carrying something, and, naming him,
said it was food for him. He told them to take it to So-and-so, and
then they marched off to that chief, and said that it was food from
such a one. This person would return the compliment by-and-by, and in
this way there was, for hours, a delightful flow of friendship all
over the place. On such occasions parties who had been living at
variance had a fine opportunity of showing kindness to each other.
Amid all this feasting the speechifying went on. As the debate
advanced, the interest increased. They generally broke up at sundown;
but if it was something of unusual interest and urgency, they went on
speechifying in the dark, or in the moonlight, and might not adjourn
till long after midnight. Unless all were pretty much agreed, nothing
was done. They were afraid to thwart even a small minority.