DORSEV] ASINIBUIN SOCIAL CUSTOMS 225 



seen there. All the choicest parts of meat ami the tongues of animals 

 killed in hunting are reserved for the soldiers' lodge, and are furnished 

 by the young men from time to time. A tax is levied on the camp for 

 the tobacco smoked there, whi(!h is no small quantity, and the women 

 are obliged to furnish wood and water daily. This lodge corresponds in 

 some degree to the two sacred lodges of the Hanga gens of the Omaha. 



Judging from the meager information which we possess concerning 

 the Asiniboin kinship system, the latter closely resembles that of the 

 Dakota tribes, descent being iu the male line. After the smallpox 

 epidemic of 1838, only 400 thinly poptdated lodges out of 1,000 

 remained, relationship was nearly annihilated, property lost, and but 

 few, the very young and very old, were left to niourTi the loss. Rem- 

 nants of bauds had to be collected and property accpiired, and several 

 years elapsed ere the young people were old enough to marry. 



The names of the wife's parents are never pronounced by the husband ; 

 to do so would excite the ridicule of the whole cam)). The husband 

 and the father-in-law never look on each other if they can avoid it, nor 

 do they enter the same lodge. In like manner the wife never addresses 

 her lather-in-law. 



A plurality of wives is required by a good hunter, since in the labors 

 of the chase women are of great service to their husbands. An Indian 

 with one wife can not amass property, as she is constantly occupied iu 

 household labors, and has no time for preparing skins for trading. The 

 first wife and the last are generally the favorites, all others being 

 regarded as servants. The right of divorce lies altogether with the 

 husband; if he has children by his wife, he seldom puts her away. 

 Should they separate, all the larger children — those who require no 

 further care — remain with the father, the smaller ones departing with 

 the mother. When the women have no children they are divorced 

 without scruple. 



After one gets acquainted with Indians the very opposite of tacitur- 

 nity exists. The evenings are devoted to jests and amusing stories 

 and the days to gambling. The soldiers' lodge, when the soldiers are not 

 in session, is a very theater of amusement; all sorts of jokes are made 

 and obscene stories are told, scarcely a woman in the camp escaping 

 the ribaldry; but when business is in order decorum must prevail. 



The personal property of these tribes consists chiefly of horses. 

 Possession of an article of small value is a right seldom disputed, if the 

 article has been honestly obtained; but the possession of horses being 

 almost the principal object in life of an Indian of the plains, the reten- 

 tion of them is a matter of great uncertainty, if he has not the large force 

 necessary to defend them. Rights to property are based on the method 

 of acquirement, as (1) articles found; (2) those made by themsehes 

 (the sole and undisputed property of the makers); (3) those stolen from 

 enemies, and (4) those given or bought. Nothing is given exceiJt with 

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