ROBERT AND POCAHONTAS PHARAOH

Robert P. Pharaoh remembers the day Princess Pocahontas Pharaoh, the last person born at Indian Field in Montauk, asked him to pose with her for a professional photographer. Her great-great-nephew, he was 6 or 7 years old at the time.

The occasion was a solemn one. She placed a headdress, which has been preserved, on his head and marked his forehead and arms. Mr. Pharaoh said she told him that the mark on his forehead was for wisdom; the mark on his right arm for strength, and the one on his left arm for clairvoyance. Two of these marks can be seen in the photograph.

From that day to this, Mr. Pharaoh has understood that he was to be the Chief, or Grand Sachem, of the Montauketts.

Princess Pocahontas Pharaoh, who was born in 1878, was the daughter of King David and Queen Maria Pharaoh of the Montauketts. She lived until 1963, and is buried in an unmarked grave at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in East Hampton.

This week's "Guestwords" (see page one of this section) explains the ways in which tribal chiefs are selected. It was written by a Native American of the Cherokee Nation who is affiliated with Southampton College.