Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-06-16
PAMUNKEY INDIANS.
4 Tribe That POwhatan Once Ruled,
the Richest of Red Aris-


more than 25 miles from Richmond,
| there live the only remains of a, once
large and powerful tribe of Indians.
| When Pocahontas saved John Smith
from the club the Pamunkeys num-
| bered some 10000, and could raise an
effective force of 5000 warriors. Less
than 100 now are left, and although the
birth rate has in the last decade slight
| ly exceeded the death rate, there is lit
| tie probability that they can maintain
their individuality another century.
Yet they want for nothing, have more
| land than they know what to do with,
and are all in all the richest of red aris-
tocrats. They live on little peninsula,
a bottle-shaped neck of land compris-
ing some 800 acres, of which $50 are un-
der cultivation. They are far more
| wealthy considered per capita than any
nation in the world, and far more hap
py. Their tract abounds in game, which
is one of their chief sources of SUBJ
sistence. 1t is secured to them by an
act of the old colonial legislature. They
hold it in common, are prohibited from
alternating the title, and are exempt
from taxes, although, under an ancient
law, they are required to supply the
I'll Tic COiOHE
ly with certain amount of wild game.
This practice still continues, and dur
ing the shooting season, spring and
fall, they are in the habit, now and then,
of sending the governor, by the con-
ductor of the train, bunch of wild
ducks or a haunch of venison.
The Pamunkeys have no relation with
the United States government. They
receive no annuities, and their names
are not upon the rolls of the Indian Of
fee. The state of Virginia annually
appoints five trustees to look after their
interests, but the offices are sinecures,
as the Indians are perfectly capable
of looking after themselves. They elect
their chief and a council of four, who
exercise executive, legislative and
judicial functions. Every member of
the tribe is allowed to vote, and on the
day appointed they meet at the coun-
ell house, with usually two candidates
to choose from. Those in favor of one
indicate, their choice by dropping
grain of corn into the ballot box; those
who prefer the other indicate it by
dropping a bean in the same place.
These native officials take care of the
tribe, punish all offenses except fell
Onies, over which the state courts have
jurisdiction, and conduct cooperative
merchandise store, which is patronized
by white people in the neighborhood,
as we'll as the members of the tribe.
The Indians are temperate, moral,
peaceable and industrious. Very few
of them are full-blooded. During the
300 years of contact with the whites and
She negroes around them they have
oeen unable to preserve their racial in
tegrity, although the laws of the tribe
prohibit cohabitation or marriage with
persons of African descent. They are
exceedingly proud of their lineage, and.
while they would probably acknowl-
edge the white aristocracy of Virginia
as their equals, they decline to have
anything to do with the blacks, and
some years ago raised a miniature re-
bellion because mulatto woman was
placed in charge of the public school
upon their reservation.
Realizing that continual intermar-
riage has impaired the physical condi-
ton of the tribe, they have recently APP
pointed committee to treat with the
remnant of the Cherokee Indian nation
of North Carolina on this subject.
The Pamunkeys are not only thor
oughly civilized, but are quite inclined
to be religious. The best building on
their reservation is a Bpatist church,
at which nearly every member of the
tribe attends service twice on Sunday
under the administration of a native
Observation-Disclosures Enquirer.