sachem

sachem

poliitikko A chief of a tribe of the American Natives; a sagamore.
1851, w:Herman Melville|Herman Melville, w:Moby Dick|Moby Dick, s:Moby-Dick/Chapter 16|chapter 16

Planted with their broad ends on the deck, a circle of these slabs laced together, mutually sloped towards each other, and at the apex united in a tufted point, where the loose hairy fibres waved to and fro like the top-knot on some old Pottowottamie Sachem’s head.