In several of my former Letters I have given sketches of the village, and some few of the customs of these peculiar people; and I have many more yet in store; some of which will induce the readers to laugh, and others almost dispose them to weep. But at present, I drop them, and introduce ;I few of the wild and gentlemanly Mandans themselves; and first, Ha-natah-nu-mauh, the wolf chief. This man is head-chief of the nation, and familiarly known by the name of “Chef de Loup”, as the French Traders call him; a haughty, austere, and overbearing man, respected and feared by his people rather than loved. The tenure by which this man holds his office, is that by which the head-chiefs of most of the tribes claim, that of’ inheritance. It is a general, though not an infallible rule amongst the numerous tribes of North American Indians, that the office of chief belongs to the eldest son of a chief; provided he shews himself, by his conduct, to be equally worthy of it as any other in the nation; making it hereditary on a very proper condition — in default of which requisites, or others which may happen, the office is elective.
