1 KINGS POWEB.* ,173
2 iwtidtit howmr; ia seldoiii animated by one iBpHt» and tbe individwl
3 intererta of eadi Ooloow attrad more of Ha attention than the gener
4 fal wMte, Some of the flaim round towns, mudb of the portion
5 of A^^iaimistaim* which is exclusively inhabited by Taujeksy and
6 an the focdgn provinces of the states are entirely under the
7 authority of the King, who is thus enabled to collect a revenue
8 independent of the tribes* and to maintain an amy without their
9 In consequence of these drcnmatances, thece is some distinction of
10 interests between the King and the nation, and a still greater differ-
11 ence of opinion regaidtng his l^al powers ; the King, the Courtiers,
12 and the MooUahs, maintaining that he has all the authority pos-
13 sessed by Asiatic despots ; and the people in the tribes consider-
14 ing him as a monarch with very limited prerogati\ es-. Tliis
15 produce^i a good deal of divearaity in the actual exercise of the royal
16 ftutliurity.
17 The government of the tribe of Dooraiinee centres in iht King-,
18 though even there, he is generally obliged to attend to the wislu s of
19 the lieads of clans. He also interferes in the interior management
20 of the tril)L's on the plains, and near great towns ; but he contents
21 himself w itli levying liis supplies of men and money from the rest,
22 without any iurther interference in their af&irs, than is occasionally
23 required to preserve the public triui^iuillity. One or two tribes are
24 independent of his government. This is not tlie place to enter into
25 a detailed aecount of the royal governinerit, but a loose reference to
26 a monarchy whidi is better known, may serve to render the aubfl^
27 quent account intelligible to the reader, till he arrives at the infermA^
28 tion whicb will enable him to form a judgment for himsel£ With
29 the exception of the rqpiiblican govemmeut of the Ooloosaesi the
30 situatioa of the A^^bann country appean to me to bear a strong ^
31 semUanoe to that of Sootknd m ancient times: the duect power of
32 the Ejnff over the towns and the countrjr immediatdj around; the
33 pceanioua submiiaion of the nearest dans* and the independence of
34 the remote ones; the tnoidinate power and ftction of the nobility
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