here with the confident assertion that the examination of a number of
specimens of the hand or foot in an Indian, would demonstrate a range
in size positively immaterial.

The Indian woman keeps up, to a large extent, the practice of wearing
leggings and moccasins.

I should be disposed to think that the blood coursing through the Indian's
frame is of a richer consistency, and has, altogether, greater vitalizing
properties than that in ourselves, since on the severest day in winter
he will frequently scorn any covering beyond his shirt, and the nether
garments usually suggested by its mention, and, so apparelled, will not
recoil from the keenest blast.




HIS CHIEFS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS.


The dignity of a chief comes to the holder through the principle of
hereditary succession, confined to, and operating only with, certain
families. In the cage of the death of one of these chiefs, the distinction
and powers he enjoyed devolve upon his kinsman, though not necessarily
upon the next of kin. The naming and appointing of a successor, and the
adjudicating upon the point as to whether he fulfils the qualifications
esteemed necessary to maintain the dignity of the chiefship, are confided
to the oldest woman of the tribe, thus deprived by death of one of
its heads. She has a certain latitude in choosing, and, so long as she
respects in the selection of her appointee, the principle of kinship