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
to the dead chief (whether this be proximate or remote is immaterial)
her appointment is approved and confirmed.
The chiefs are looked upon as the heads or fathers of the tribe,
and they rely, to a large extent, for their influence over the tribe,
upon their wisdom, and eminence generally in qualities that excite or
compel admiration or regard. In an earlier period of the history of the
Indian communities, when their forests were astir with the demon of war,
eligibility for the chiefship contemplated in the chief the conjoining
of bravery with wisdom, and these were the keynote to his power over his
people. He, by manifesting on occasion, these, desirable traits, had his
followers' confidence confirmed in his selection; upheld those followers'
and his own traditions; and often assured his tribe's pre-eminence. The
chief, in addition, by bringing these qualities to bear in any contact or
treaty with a hostile tribe, compelled in a sense the recognition by his
enemies of the prestige and power of his entire following. Hospitality
was also considered a desirable trait in the chief, who, while habitually
dispensing it himself, strove (having his endeavors distinctly seconded
by the advocacy of the duty enforced in the kindly precepts of the old
sages of the tribe) to dispose the minds of his followers to entertain
a perception of the happy results which would flow to themselves by
their being inured to its practice, the expanding of the heart, and the
offering of a vent to the unselfish side of their nature.
If the chief do not, in the main, conserve the qualities that are deemed
befitting in the holder of the chiefship; or if he originate any measure
which finds popular disfavour, his power with the people declines.
A number of the chiefs have supplementary functions, conferred upon
them by their brother dignitaries. There is, for example, one called
the Forest-Ranger, whose place it is to interpose for the effectual
prevention and checking of sales of timber to whites, by members of
the different tribes; or removal by whites of timber from the Reserve,
where a license, which suffers either to be done, has not been granted.
In cases where an Indian meditates, in a spirit of lofty contempt for
the license, any such illicit sale; or attempts to abet any such unlawful
removal, this functionary has authority to frustrate both objects.
The chief who, at present, fulfils these duties has not been permitted to
hold barren or dormant powers. In putting into effect that interference
which his office exacts of him, he has been more than once terribly
assaulted by whites, foiled in their plans, and exasperated by the agency
that had stepped in for the baffling of their ill-formed designs. On
one occasion, his death was all but brought about by a cruelly concerted
attack upon him.
Certain other chiefs are called Fire-keepers, though their functions
are not in any way suggested by their rather remarkable title. They are,
however, very important persons, and I have already, in treating of the
Indian's meetings of Council, touched upon their duty. I believe the
name Fire-keeper is retained from the circumstance that, in by-gone days,
when the council was an open-air affair, the lighting of the fire was the
initiatory step, and, taken in this way, therefore, the most important
step, in the proceedings.
Another chief is called Marshal, and it is incumbent upon him to
co-operate with the officers of the law in effecting the capture of any
suspected criminal or criminals, who may lie concealed, or be harbored,
on the Reserve. He is a duly qualified county constable, though his
services are not often in request, as the Chief of Police in Brantford,
whose place it is to direct the way in which crimes (committed, of
course, in the city) shall be ferreted out, or their authors tracked,
usually confides in his own staff to promote these desirable purposes,
from the fact of their accountability to him being well defined, whereas
the county constable yields no obedience to him.