SOCIAL LIFE. 301 



Another American bought a Sioux girl (without court- 

 ship) and took her home. Towards bed-time the husband 

 attempted some little familiarity, whereupon the new 

 wife drew a huge knife and attacked him with the utmost 

 ferocity. Taken by surprise, he avoided her repeated 

 lunges with great difficulty, and very nearly paid for his 

 venture with his life. By good luck he at last got in a 

 blow with his fist, which knocked her down. Disarming 

 her arid seizing his riding-whip, he proceeded to give her 

 a tremendous thrashing ; after which recreation he went 

 to bed, leaving the wife crying bitterly on the floor. 

 Half an hour after she dried her tears, got up, undressed, 

 and went to bed, and has been since not only a good, 

 but most affectionate wife. 



The Indian has not the first dawning idea of moral 

 obligation. His views on chastity might well have been 

 derived from a close study of the ancient Hebrew 

 records. 



For the man there is no such word, no such idea, as 

 continence. He has as little control over his passions as 

 any wild beast, and is held to as little accountability for 

 their indiscriminate gratification. Women are expected 

 to be chaste, not from any moral sense or obligation ; 

 but, being the absolute property of their husbands, they 

 are required to keep themselves entirely for their 

 husbands. 



Unmarried girls are generally more virtuous than the 

 married women. Unchastity not only injures their 

 chances for a good husband, but is likely to be severely 

 punished by the father, as it considerably depreciates 

 their market value, to the loss of the latter. 



Indian men of all tribes (that I know of) are the 

 same in their entire abandonment to the gratification of 

 their passions at any time and in any way. 



There is no single point in which tribes differ so 

 greatly as in the average chastity of their women. The 

 Cheyenne and Arrapahoe tribes occupy the same territory, 



