The first wife, however, takes rank of all the others, and is considered mistress of the house.

Still the domestic establishment is liable to jealousies and cabals, and the lord and master has much difficulty in maintaining harmony in his jangling household.
In the manuscript from which we draw many of these particulars, it is stated that he who exceeds his neighbors in the number of his wives, male children, and slaves, is elected chief of the village; a title to office which we do not recollect ever before to have met with.
Feuds are frequent among these tribes, but are not very deadly.

They have occasionally pitched battles, fought on appointed days, and at specific places, which are generally the banks of a rivulet.

The adverse parties post themselves on the opposite sides of the stream, and at such distances that the battles often last a long while before any blood is shed.

The number of killed and wounded seldom exceed half a dozen.
Should the damage be equal on each side, the war is considered as honorably concluded; should one party lose more than the other, it is entitled to a compensation in slaves or other property, otherwise hostilities are liable to be renewed at a future day.