passage between the outer fences, though more frequently placed
farther apart.
The concurrence of the Chief, in the choice they make of the
spot on which they are to build, is always required; and when a
Hachapin, who has been living at another village or station, desires
to fix his residence in the town, he applies to the Chief j who with
his kosies goes to inspect the spot, and either confirms the choice
or appoints another.
A permission of the same kind is necessary before any person can
take possession of a spring of water and make use of the surroundr
ing pastures; but as long as the occupier chuses afterwards to remain
there, he is never disturbed or interrupted in his right, nor does he
pay any other acknowledgment for this privilege, than the first ceremony
of asking leave. It must not, however, be concluded that
this nation are acquainted with any of those distinctions of landed
property, which would class such possessions either as allodial, or
as feudal lands; or that the soil, as I have before stated, is ever
regarded as the property either of the Chief or of his subjects.
A considerable space of unoccupied ground generally separates
the division of one chieftain from that of another; though sometimes
they adjoin. The number of such divisions, or clusters of
houses, appeared, as I viewed the town from the surrounding hills,
to be between thirty and forty. From the same point of view, I
was enabled to form an estimate of the number of dwellings or
families; and this I found to be nearly eight hundred. Most of
these dwellings consisted of an enclosure containing two, and often
three, houses, in which the different members of the family, and the
servants, were lodged; or of which one served as a storehouse for
corn and other provisions of that nature.
By collecting together all the different data which could be
obtained both from observation and inquiry, and taking the average
of their results, I have ventured to state the number of inhabitants at
Litakun, at five thousand; and believe this to be rather below, than
above, the actual amount.