or CAZIQUE, a title given by the Spaniards to the petty kings, princes, and chiefs, of the several countries of America, excepting those of Peru, which are called curatus. The French call them caiques, a denomination which they always give to the Tartarian hordes.—The cazics, in some places, do the office of physicians, and in others of priests, as well as of captains. The dignity of cazic among the Chites, a people of South America, does not descend to children, but must be acquired by valour and merit. One of the prerogatives annexed to it, is that the cazic may have three wives, while the other people are allowed only one. Mexico comprehended a great number of provinces and islands, which were governed by lords called caziques, dependent on and tributary to the emperor. Thirty of these vassals are said to have been so powerful, that they were able, each of them, to bring an army of 100,000 men into the field.