188 THE SIOUAN INDIANS Ieth. asn. 15 



Confederation for defense and offense was fairly defined and was 

 strengtlu'iicd ])y intermarriage between tribes and jfeutesand the prohi- 

 bition of marriage within the gens; yet the organization was sucli as to 

 maintain tribal autonomy in considerable degree; i. e., the social struc- 

 ture was such as to facilitate union in time of war and division into 

 small gron|)s adapted to hunting in times of jieace. Xo indication of 

 feudalism has been found in the stock. 



Tiie government was autocratic, largely by military leaders sometimes 

 (parti<'ularly in ])eace) advised by the elders and ])riests; the leadership 

 was determined primarily by ability— prowess in war and the chase and 

 wisdom in the council, — and was thus hereditary only a little further 

 than characteristics were iidierited; iiuleed, excepting slight recogni- 

 tion of the divinity that doth hedge al)Out a king, the leaders were 

 practically self chosen, arising gradually to the level determined by 

 their abilities. The germ of theocracy was fairly developed, and ai)i)ar- 

 ently burgeoned vigorously during each period of peace, only to be 

 checked and withered during the ensuing war when the shamans and 

 their craft were forced into the background. 



During recent years, since the tribes began to yield to the domina- 

 tion of the iieace-lo\'ing whites, the government and election are deter- 

 mined chietly by kinship, as ai)pears from Dorsey's researches; yet 

 definite traces of the militant organization appear, and any man can 

 win name and rank in his gens, tribe, or confederacy bj' bravery or 

 generosity. 



The institutional connection between the Siouan tribes of the plains 

 and those of the Atlantic slope and the Gulf coast is completely lost, 

 and it is doubtful whether the several branches have ever been united 

 in a single confederation (or "nation," in the language of the pioneers), 

 at least since the division in the Appalachian region perhaps five or 

 ten centuries ago. Since this division the tribes have separated widely, 

 and some of the bloodiest wars of the region in the historic perio<l have 

 been between Siouan tribes; the most extensive union possessing the 

 slightest claim to feileral organization was the great Dakota confed- 

 eracy, which was grown into instability and partial disruption; and 

 most of the tribal unions and coalitions were of temporary character. 



Although highly elaborate (iierhaps because of this character), the 

 Siouan organization was highly unstable; with every shock of contli(;t, 

 whether intestine or external, some autocrats were displaced or slain; 

 and after each important event — great battle epidemic, emigration, or 

 destructive Hood — new combinations were formed. The un(loul)tedly 

 rapid develoiJinent of the stock, especially after the i)assage of the 

 Mississipi)!, indicates growth by coiKjuest and assimilatiou as well as 

 by direct propagation (it is known that the Dakota aud perhaps other 

 groups ad()])ted aliens regularly); and, doubtless for this reason in 

 part, there was a strong tendency toward dirt'erentiation and dichotomy 

 in the demotic growth. In some groiijis the history is too vague to 

 indicate this tendency with certainty; in others the tendency is clear. 



