In their mode of life these people--tall, well-made, attractive,
and coppery-colored folk--were what is now termed communists,
that is, they lived from common stores and had all an equal share
in the land and its yield--the products of their vegetable
gardens, their hunting and fishing expeditions, their home
labors, and their household goods.
Their method of government was entirely democratic. No one, in
any household, was better off or of higher rank than his brothers
or sisters. Their chiefs were simply men (and sometimes women)
who had been raised to leadership by the desire and vote of their
associates, but who possessed no special authority or power,
except such as was allowed them by the general consent of their
comrades, in view of their wisdom, bravery, or ability. They
lived, in fact, as one great family bound in close association by
their habits of life and their family relationships, and they
knew no such unnatural distinction as king or subject, lord or
vassal.
Around their long bark tenements, stretched carefully cultivated
fields of corn and pumpkins, the trailing bean, the full-bunched
grapevine, the juicy melon, and the big-leafed tabah, or tobacco.
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