CHAP. XXII.

AMERICAN MINES.

either cut off or removed from any more influenceover them.

The natives were scattered tribes speaking dif-ferent dialects, at spots very distant from andlittle known to each other, and their characters,names, and circumstances were alike unknownamong the rude warriors who had obtained au-thority over them.

The regulations dictated by the distant Euro-pean government whose authority the adventurersacknowledged, but whose orders they evaded ordisobeyed, were of a paternal character. Theywere formed upon the idea that these untutoredIndians were in a state of pupilage—to be guarded,preserved, and taught like children, but withoutmaking any provision for a different treatmentwhen they should arrive at a more mature condi-tion. Amongst these tribes there thus grew up,or perhaps was only continued, a tendency to clan-ship, in the progress of which a chief, either fromsome hereditary claims or from a selection amongstthemselves, was in authority over each tribe, andexercised the authority with that degree of firm-ness or of rigour which has been generally re-marked in the rulers of uncultivated people.

This nomination of chiefs to each tribe was,however, favourable to the views of the viceroys,who were appointed by Spain , and to the exerciseof power by the subordinate governors of theseveral provinces. It was desirable to raise some

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