302 INDIANS. 



live together in the same camps, and are closely and con- 

 stantly associated. The men of the two tribes are 

 identical in their habits of personal chastity, but entirely 

 different in their ideas of family government and the 

 virtue of their women. 



Among the Arrapahoes infidelities are not specially 

 regarded, even by the husband. Among the Cheyennes a 

 discovery would result in serious consequences, possibly 

 death, to the woman. The result is remarkable. 



The Cheyenne women are retiring and modest, and 

 for chastity will compare favourably with the women of 

 any nation or people. The Arrapahoe women are loose 

 almost without exception. The females of the one tribe 

 are almost models of purity and chastity ; those of the 

 other tribe almost exactly the reverse. 



The exchange of husbands spoken of heretofore is 

 in no sense a violation of the rules of the strictest chastity. 

 It is legitimate and proper. It is the woman's protection 

 against tyranny. The Cheyenne woman, being of a 

 spirited, high-strung race, is very quick to resent any 

 ill-treatment of one husband by taking another. 



No tribe visits any punishment on the lover. The 

 man's right is always to importune, to win if possible, and 

 the attempt of one on the virtue of another's wife is not 

 at all incompatible with the closest friendship between 

 the men. There is no such thing as ' seduction,' as 

 understood by the whites. The woman is expected to 

 protect her virtue or take the consequences. The object 

 of all attention is understood, and a Cheyenne belle 

 cannot receive the secret addresses of an admirer under 

 the convenient civilised form of an innocent flirtation. 

 The blame of a liaison falls on the woman entirely. She 

 is expected not only always to say 'No,' but to keep 

 herself out of the way of temptation. A Cheyenne 

 woman is never seen alone. Two or three women 

 sitting at the door of a lodge will get up and go inside 

 on the approach of a man not of their own family, even 



