prophets, Wah-con-we-chasta. These have been alluded to under the head
of “General Practice” in their medical capacity. They are not numerous,
form no distinct body, and unite the above talents in the same person.
They do many tricks well, also foretell events, interpret dreams, utter
incantations, medicine speeches and prayers, and cry for the dead, etc.
They are believed sincerely by all to possess supernatural powers. The
males of this class are sometimes in councils but they have little
influence there. Councils are matters of fact and do not admit of their
noise and flummery, without which they are ciphers. They are tolerated
because somewhat feared, are paid for their services, and by no means
rank as very respectable and efficient councillors, warriors, or men.
11. Very old men, We-chah-chape. These are few. Indians are not
long-lived. These are countenanced in private feasts and ordinary
conversation, principally on account of their talent in reciting fables
and creating mirth for the rest. They also sing for the doctors and
cry for the dead when paid, are poor, not respected, and manage to rub
through the rest of their days the best way they can. They never sit in
council when very old, are neglected, and serve for a butt and ridicule
for the young. They stay at home, make pipes, smoke, and eat constantly
and are ready at all times to offer their services when something is to
be gained.
12. Young women, We-kosh-kap-pi, do little work before they are married
and have their first child, after which time they commence a laborious
life. Before this they go for wood and water, garnish with beads and
porcupine quills, and other light work. They gather berries, assist in
dances, paint, and show themselves.
13. Middle-aged Women, Wé-yah-pe. These are the wives of the soldiers
or middle-aged men, and their time is employed in dressing skins,
cooking, drying meat, taking care of their children, making cloth for
their family. They are always busy, but can not be said to lead a too
laborious or miserable life.
14. Very Old Women, We-noh-chah (Sioux), Wa-kun-kun-ah (Assiniboin).
On these fall all drudging and scullionry, some of their occupations
being too disgusting to relate. They also pound meat and berries, make
pemmican, carry burdens, and are used pretty much as one of their dogs.
They are thrown into the fort or left on the prairie to die by their
own relatives.
15. Boys and Girls, Och-she-pe wechin chap-pe. The boys hunt rabbits,
set traps for foxes, play, but they seldom quarrel; they are great
pests and nuisances, both in camp and in the fort; they are spoiled by
their parents—forward, officious, tormenting, and impudent. The girls
are modest, timid, and exceedingly well behaved.
Very Small Children, Yaque-ske-pe-nah, are carried about on the backs
of their mothers, or packed on dogs; they stand severe cold well, do
not cry much, and are suckled for two or three years. The children
are as well taken care of as they can be in the roving mode of life
of their parents, but being subject to exposure in all weather and
accidents. About two out of five are raised.
The ahkitchetah regulate the hunt. The buffalo are not hunted by a
large camp as each individual chooses, but surrounded by the whole
camp at one time, which we will describe in that part of the report
which refers to hunting and to game laws. The dogs for these hunts are
determined by the chief and soldiers in the soldiers’ lodge, and the
people are individually forbidden to hunt or in any manner to raise the
buffalo before that time. The reason is that by going in a body and
hemming in or surrounding them, some hundreds of the animals are slain
in a short time, whereas by one man’s individual hunting the whole
herd would be frightened and run away and the camp thereby be always
in a starving condition, instead of having abundance of meat as is the
case when the laws respecting the surround are enforced. Should any
person or persons violate these laws, after the decree of the soldiers’
lodge has been published, they (the soldiers) meet him on his return
home, take his meat, kill his dogs, or horses, cut his hides up, cut
his lodge to pieces, break his gun and bow, etc. If the individual
resists or attempts to revenge any of these things he is shot down on
the spot by the soldiers, or struck down by a tomahawk and pounded
to death. Occasionally they are also thrashed with bows, in addition
to the breaking of the gun, etc. The writer has seen two killed and
many severely thrashed for these misdemeanors. The consequences of
destroying the hunts are serious to the whole camp, hence the violent
penalty and examples are made occasionally which serve to increase the
respect and fear of the soldiers as a body, and enables that business
to proceed with order.
In all this the soldiers are supported by the whole camp, and it is in
them as a body that decisions are invested with a binding force, if
force be necessary. We may state that the power is tacitly committed to
the chief as a common and general function of the office, to be held
as long as he governs with general satisfaction, subject, however,
to the advice and consent of the soldiers and other bodies in camp,
as has been explained. They are at all times open to popular opinion
and are only the exponents of it, and although distinguished deeds
were the cause or some of the causes of their exaltation to this high
office, and that they have since been and generally are discontinued,
when the chief becomes of middle age, yet so long as the capacity and
ability of the incumbent exists and coincides with the popular will,
he is retained in office. Old age, debility, or other natural defect,
and incapacity to act, advise, and command, induces the necessity of
change in his position, and though not formally deposed, he voluntarily
retires and resigns in favor of some growing and popular soldier and
warrior. The disapproval of the mass of the body of soldiers, warriors,
etc., as represented in the council of war, would also be an effectual
barrier to the existence of his power or functions in every respect
and at any and all times. It should be remembered that all the remarks
in these pages, although written primarily for the tribe called the
Assiniboin, apply equally well to all the roving tribes of the Missouri
River from and including the Sioux to the Blackfeet, our limits not
admitting separate descriptions for each tribe. Where there is any
important difference, however, we will not fail to mention it.
Is the democratic element strongly implanted? Very. The whole is a pure
democracy, as has by this been developed. There are also consultations
in private lodges previous to meeting in councils, but these do not
appear to influence the opinions of any, further than thereby getting a
thorough acquaintance of the subject, and preparing their minds for a
speech, and not much idea can be formed in this way of the popularity
of the question until it meets public discussion in the council.
Neither are these private councils held with that view but are merely
conversations regarding the importance of the subject and something
to talk about, which is always desirable in an Indian camp. They are
obstinate in adhering to a formed opinion and not easily moved by
oratory or extraneous remarks, are shrewd and pursue the subject with
intensity and perseverance until decided or abandoned. They are liable
also to be carried away by the excitement of debate and lose sight
of the subject in personal abuse and recrimination until called to
order by some more cool. There is no vote taken, though the prevailing
feeling is manifest and those who do not exhibit any of this feeling
are quietly asked their opinion, which they as quietly give. All this
has met with sufficient explanation. The leading chief does nothing
in advance of public opinion. His business is rather to think of
their welfare and interests, bringing those subjects under discussion
which appear to him of sufficient importance and which he sees merit
consideration by the excitement they occasion in private lodges, or
if smaller matters they are left to the decision of the soldiers. In
councils held in the soldiers’ lodge for hunting the chief does not
always appear. When the camp is placed for the winter he assists in
forming the body of soldiers and in giving general instructions which
they carry out. Afterwards he seldom goes for these purposes. The
business of these soldiers will meet with further notice in these pages
and it is worth while considering their powers, as they are the active
force of all large camps.
COUNCILS.—Councils are opened in a very sedate and orderly form. The
pipe is the principal of all ceremonies, and its motions vary with
the occasions. Councils between two nations for a peace, deputations
of both being present, are very solemn and take a long time. It is
likely these ceremonies are very ancient, being nearly the same among
all the roving tribes. The real calumet used on this occasion with its
accompaniments presents the form as sketched and explained in Plate
68. This instrument is always kept packed up in many envelopes of
cloth, skin, etc., the whole making a roll as thick as a man’s thigh,
sometimes as large as a piece of common stovepipe, 5 or 6 feet long,
is laid in the middle of the soldiers’ lodge on a piece of scarlet
cloth in that way before the deputation has arrived, or immediately
on its arrival, is not opened, however, until a full council has
been assembled. The chief (who owns the pipe) then commences the
ceremony of unrolling it, and at the taking off of each envelope says
a few words equivalent to “Peace we wish,” “Look over us, Wakoñda,”
“This to the Sun,” “This to the Earth,” etc., giving, as it were,
some distinction or value to each envelope. After a long time and the
untying of many knots, the pipe and stem appear, with a tobacco sack, a
bunch of sweet-smelling grass, a probe for the pipe, and a small sack
containing a charm or amulet. The pipe is on this occasion filled from
the tobacco (or mixture) sack by the chief of the soldiers, though not
lit, and in this way handed to his own chief. He (the chief) now stands
up, the different deputations of nations sitting opposite each other
on either side of the lodge. He first presents the pipe to the East,
singing a gentle and harmonious song for about a minute, then presents
it South, West, North, to the Sky and lastly to the Earth, repeating
the song at each presentation.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 68
THE CALUMET AND ITS ACCOMPANIMENTS
_A_, The pipestem of ash wood, garnished about half its length with
porcupine quills of various colors; _B_, a large red-stone pipe; _C_,
_C_, _C_, three tails of the war eagle, feathers connected with sinew
and beads or shells between. The stem or stalk of the feathers is
garnished with colored porcupine quills; _D_, _D_, two festoons of
beads or shells with a small strip of otter skin on which the beads are
tied; _E_, the head of a mallard duck (male) without the under bill.
Sometimes this is the head of a red-headed woodpecker.]
In conclusion he turns it slowly three times round, and lays it down,
all responding hoo-o-oo as the pipe is placed on the ground. The chief
now sits down in his place, and the Chief of the soldiers rises. He
lights the pipe with a piece of the sweet-smelling grass—if the
strangers are of the Crow nation a piece of dried buffalo dung is used
to light it—stands up and presents it precisely to the same points as
the chief had done without singing, giving three puffs or whiffs of
the pipe to every presentation, finishing in the same way the chief
had done, and, receiving a loud prolonged universal hoo-o-oo or grunt
of approbation, he then resumes his seat. The chief now rises the
second time and having had the pipe relighted, holding the stem in
his hand advances and presents it, or rather places it in the mouth
of the head man of the strange deputation, allowing him to take a few
whiffs, passes to the next and the next, they sitting and he moving
round from one to another until all the strangers have been smoked,
then he hands the pipe to the chief of the soldiers and sits down. This
officer now presents the pipe in the same way to his own chief and
going round the other side smokes all his people, and hands the pipe to
another soldier, who goes the whole round again, and this is repeated
over in silence for at least two hours, when the pipe is laid down
by the chief, and speeches or signs begin by which they arrange the
preliminaries of a peace. After all is settled the pipe undergoes the
ceremony of rolling up, which is fully as long, though not in silence,
conversation becoming general and ordinary pipes being introduced. The
termination on this occasion is a grand feast in the soldiers’ lodge to
the strangers, and invitations to 50 or more other feasts in camp, to
all of which they must go, and when all is finished the strangers are
accommodated with temporary wives during their short residence.
There is generally order observed in the breaking up of councils, the
chief saying “We are done,” when all retire. Occasionally, however, it
breaks up turbulently, and they separate in passion, but the subject
is reconciled and settled in order the next time. Different councils
have different ceremonies. Some open and some close with feasts of
dog meat. The pipe is never omitted, though the real calumet is never
opened except in dealings with strangers. In all other councils
soldiers’ pipes are used. The duties of the public crier we have
already mentioned. Questions are well debated, and generally decided on
the spot or abandoned as already explained on the principle of large
majorities, or rather general approbation, though absolute unanimity
is not required. The few who oppose say nothing against the affairs
when once decided, and although they do not relinquish their opinions,
yet can not or will not go contrary to the wishes of the many. But the
voice of the leading chief is in no instance taken as the expression of
the will of even a single band, much less a whole tribe.
SCOPE OF CIVIL JURISDICTION.—A decision by the body of the council
is carried into effect by the soldiers, by force if necessary, as in
the case of hunting by the surround, removing neighboring lodges of
their own people who are so placed as to bar the passage of the buffalo
toward the camp. Lodges thus situated are invariably forced to come
and join the camp or to remove so far as to be no obstruction to the
passage and advance of the buffalo, and to move them against their will
is often a serious and always a dangerous undertaking. They do it,
however; that is, the soldiers turn out in a body, kill their dogs, and
keep doing damage until they leave. The power of taking life is not
invested in any body of Indians, neither has the council any right to
take cognizance of or legislate on the subject. If a soldier is killed
in doing his duty the body of soldiers would immediately fall upon the
murderer or on any of his relatives, should he have absconded. Crimes
of this kind are privately redressed and revenged by the relatives
of the deceased, and as the murderer always flies, it is often years
before they can get an opportunity to kill him, yet vengeance only
slumbers. All these things will be fully explained under the head of
“Crime.” It might, however, be as well to state here that there is no
public body among them whose duty it is to punish crime of any kind,
nor any authority equivalent to or resembling a court of justice.
Consequently, there are no public or stated executions, neither is
there any person who exercises the functions of public executioner. All
this will be fully explained, as also the restoration of property, in
the place where rights of property are considered.
CHIEFSHIP.—How are rank and succession in office regulated? The
circumstances of the decease of the leading chief and the succession
has already been referred to. If not yet sufficiently explicit, we
may in addition state that it would be a subject of earnest debate
in council, not so much with the view of choosing the successor, as
this individual had long before been tacitly acknowledged, being the
next most popular leader of the right kind, and of the most numerous
connections, but to install that person into office, intimating their
desire that he should lead and govern the camp. This might be called
election, although no vote is taken, yet if a general feeling in his
favor prevails he becomes their leader; if not, those who dissent have
the privilege of leaving that band and joining another, or if numerous
enough for the general purposes of hunting and defense can form a band
of their own and choose a leader from among themselves. In all this we
hope to have been sufficiently explicit as not to present any idea of a
distinct line of hereditary succession.
A chief would be deposed from his office by being guilty of any conduct
that would bring upon him general disgust and dissatisfaction. Though
crimes in the abstract could not have this tendency, yet if he murdered
a man without cause whose relations were numerous, a skirmish between
the two families and immediate separation would be the consequence.
If the murdered man was friendless nothing would be done and the rest
would fear him the more. The offenses that would most likely lead to
his overthrow would be remarkable meanness, parsimony, or incest. A
chief must give away all to preserve his popularity and is always the
poorest in the band, yet he takes good care to distribute his gifts
among his own relatives or the rich, upon whom he can draw at any time
should he be in need.
We take the custom of wearing medals to be a modern one, at least they
say so, introduced by the whites. The ancient mark of distinction
was, and still is, the feathers of the eagle’s tail, wrought into
headdresses of various forms, which to this day is the badge denoting
the chief and great warrior, and are not allowed the ordinary class to
wear. Tattooing also is a mark of dignity.
We have already named the principal chiefs of bands, though there are
others, but by no means a numerous body. But few Indians go through
war enough to arrive at that position, more especially as the same
individual must be possessed of other natural talents and wisdom. The
number is not limited but is from 3 to 6 or 8 in bands respectively of
50, 100, and 200 lodges. It makes no difference in their government
whether they be few or many; if many, so much the better, as they are
wise, brave, and responsible men.
POWER OF THE WAR CHIEF.—No chiefs are war chiefs in contradistinction
to their being civil chiefs. If it is desirable to go to war and so
decided, any chief, soldier, or brave warrior has a right to raise
and lead a war party, provided he can get followers. He then comes
under the head of partisan or captain of the expedition, his powers in
this capacity only lasting during the excursion and terminating on his
return to camp and resuming his civil place and duties. The powers of
war and civil chief are united in the same, also those of warrior and
hunter, soldier and hunter, soldier and partisan, chief and partisan.
The leading chief could also and often does guide the whole band to
war; in fact in the event of any general turnout, he must be the head.
Any man, however, in whom the young men have confidence to follow,
may raise and lead a war party, if war is going on and the time suits
the chiefs and soldiers in council assembled. But as the chiefs and
soldiers are the most experienced in this occupation, and are better
acquainted with their enemies’ country, they are generally chosen
as leaders in these expeditions. Yet from among the warrior class,
occasionally a young partisan arises who is neither chief nor soldier,
but whose character for bravery, caution, and all the necessary
talents is established. There is no specified age when a young man may
rightfully express his opinion. This depends on his success in war,
his general good behavior, activity in hunting, etc. When he becomes
remarkable for these things he is noticed by the soldiers, invited to
feasts, to councils, where being of sufficient consequence his opinion
is asked and is given. We have known men not over 22 to 24 years of age
being called upon to speak in council, and others to arrive at extreme
old age without ever opening their lips there. An Indian soon sees
and feels his standing with the others, and acts accordingly; to do
otherwise, or force his presence and opinions prematurely, would only
incur ridicule, contempt, and disgrace.
POWER OF THE PRIESTS IN COUNCIL.—The power of priests is conjoined
with that of doctors, sorcerers, and prophets, to which is occasionally
added that of councillors, as they are sometimes shrewd old men and
somewhat feared on account of their supposed supernatural powers; but
they do not influence councils in any great degree, seldom attending at
all. Whatever influence they have on public questions must be exercised
in council, and not as a separate body. They do not constitute a body
and only rank as councillors when their former exploits have been of
a nature to entitle them to that position, and their age is not too
far advanced. Being generally very old, their opinions in council are
not much regarded. Their forte is at the bed of the sick or in other
operations where something is to be gained. In making war or peace they
would have little to say, in a cession of lands still less, and in
conducting war parties nothing at all. The old Gauché mentioned before,
although a divining man, was a warrior, not old at that time, and
feared because he had the power over their lives by the use of poisons
which he made no scruple to administer; besides he was no doctor nor
sorcerer on other occasions, and was one of the greatest chiefs the
Assiniboin ever had. He was uniformly successful in his young and
middle time of life, although he failed in age and died as recorded.
This extraordinary man does not present a correct sample of a priest or
sorcerer as now considered, and is an anomalous case.
MATRONS IN COUNCIL.—Neither matrons nor any other women whatever sit
in council with the men of any of the Missouri tribes, nor have they
privately any influence over men in their public affairs, and take but
little interest in them. Their domestic duties occupy most of their
time and their social position is inferior to that of men in every
respect. We have heard of only one instance where a woman was admitted
in council, during a period of 21 years’ constant residence with all
these tribes.