chief of the Chickahominies, one of the tribes or the Powhatans is ſaid to have been of another tribe, and even of another nation, ſo that no certain account could be obtained of his origin or deſcent. The chiefs of the nation ſeem to have been by a rotation among the tribes. Thus when capt. Smith, in the year 1609, queſtioned Powhatan (who was the chief of the nation, and whoſe proper name is ſaid to have been Wohunſonacock) reſpecting the ſucceſſion, the old chief informed him, ‘that he was very old and had ſeen the death of all his people thrice;[1] that not one of theſe generations were then living except himſelf; that he muſt ſoon die and the ſucceſſion deſcend in order to his brother Opichapàn, Opechàncanough, and Catatàugh, and then to his two ſiſters, and their two daughters.’ But theſe were Appellations deſignating the tribes in the confederacy. For the perſons named are not his real brothers, but the chiefs of different tribes. Accordingly in 1618, when Powhatan died, he was ſucceded by Opichapàn, and after his deceaſe Ope-
- ↑ This is one generation more than the poet aſcribes
to the life of Neſtor.
To d’ ede duo men geneai meropon anthropon Ephthiath oi oi proſthen ama traphen ed’ egneonto En pulo egathee, meta de tritatoiſin anaſſen. 1 Hom. II. 250. Two generations now had paſt away, Wife by his rules, and happy by his ſway; Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd, And now the example of the third remain'd. Pope.
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