I have been working on the statue puzzle, and got it up to the top of the path, then my chief died. I have over 90 villagers, and I cannot locate a new chief among them. Is there a trick or any hints at locating a new one. I have gone through them 1 at a time, and none of them can wear the robe. All of my builders are going to die, and I will not be able to finish the game. Any suggestions?

(Spoiler alert) I think the most efficient way is to pause your game, place everybody except nursing mothers on the Chief's cape then unpause. If you don't end up with a chief chances are your next chief is one of the nursing mothers or one of their tots. Make note of who they are because the mothers cannot accept the cape until they release their babies. Good luck to you.

Nursing mothers can become chiefs, they just don't perform any magic while nursing (I think they do food though)

That's not exactly correct, HPVV. A female chief can become a nursing mom, but nursing moms cannot become chief; they must finish nursing before they can try on the robe.