210 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



the man that, since he was without this particular thing, to keep it and use it for all 

 time. 



The public crier, a member of the Buffalo clan, was supposed to report to the chief 

 early every morning and receive instructions. The crier would then go all around the 

 village making the chief's desires known. 



The chief had a representative at every council, generally his brother. 



The chief of the village is a peacemaker, and if two members of the tribe ever get 

 into difficulties (i. e., quarrel) he is supposed to intercede. If in a quarrel a person 

 should be killed, the chief would go to the murderer and tell the latter to permit him- 

 self to be tied up — i. e., to gi\e himself up to the relatives of the murdered man. If 

 the murderer consents to do so, then his arms are tied behind him and the chief walks 

 in front of him carrying his sacred pipe. Thus they would go to the lodge of the 

 murdered man's relatives. When they got there the chief would extend the stem of 

 the pipe toward them. They might refuse to accept the pipe thus extended, but if 

 any member of the family, even if it be a small child, were to take a puff from it, then 

 the murderer would be forgiven and turned free. 



This is the capacity of a Winnebago chief. 



Another description of the chief's role as intercessor for a murderer 

 is as follows: 



When the Thunderbird chief wishes to save a murderer they take one of their own 

 chiefs, one who is well beloved, paint his back blue, and put skewers in his back, to 

 which they tie cords. Thus he is taken to the lodge of the murdered person's rela- 

 tives. The chief, when he gets there, holds his pipe of tobacco in both hands. Should 

 the relations not wish to accept the peace offering they close the door in his face. 

 Then he returns. 



The Thunderbird clan possessed a type of war club called a bald- 

 headed war club, which was sacred to this clan alone, and a 

 miniature of which was always buried with a dead body. The only 

 other possessions were the clan war bundles. The Wbmebago often 

 speak as though each clan had but one of these palladitmis, but there 

 seems to be little doubt but that there were at least two and ])roba])ly 

 more m each clan. These war bundles must be regarded as the com- 

 mon possession of the clan at the present time, for they can not be 

 alienated from the clan.^ For all practical purposes, liowever, they 

 are the private property of certain unlividuals or families. 



Fire was considered a sacred possession of the Thunderbird clan. 

 As mentioned before, an individual was supposed never to ask for a 

 firebrand from the fire of any member of the clan and was never 

 permitted to sit near such a fireplace. If, nevertheless, anyone 

 should be immodest enough to ask for one of these objects, he would 

 be refused, but he would be permitted to ask for any conceivable 

 thmg else. The following mcident will serve as an example of the 

 definite way in which this peculiar custom works. An old Wuuie- 



> This point was very forcibly impressed upon the author wlien lie tried to ol)tain the war bundle of a 

 man who had become a member of tlie Peyote cult. The man was perfectly willing to part with it, but 

 after repeated requests to those who happened to possess it at that particular time, he admitted that it 

 belonged to the clan, although they could not have taken it away from him had he remained a believer in 

 the old faith. 



