438 TKIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ANN. 46 



It was nearly sunset when they had assembled and no feast had 

 been prepared in this lodge, though after the council was over they 

 were feasted elsewhere. We have here the represented authority of 

 220 lodges, for the chiefs are largely connected, having from 10 to 

 20 or more lodges of their immediate relatives each. The soldiers 

 are the most respectable heads of families in camp, and the warriors 

 are the sons and relations of these and others of the camp. If this 

 body decides on carrying a point who are to object ? Those about 

 are also related to those present and these being the principal leave 

 only young rabble, very old men, women, and children not repre- 

 sented, all of whom combined could do nothing against the decision 

 of this body. We will now proceed with the ceremony. For nearly 

 a half hour the pipe was passed around in silence, it being filled with 

 their own tobacco and handed from mouth to mouth, making its 

 circuit on the right-hand, after which it was laid down by the lead- 

 ing chief and he opened the meeting by thus stating its object, the 

 words of whom and others were taken down by us at the time and 

 preserved. It will be necessary to state here that the Crow Indians 

 had massacred about 30 lodges of this same band two years previous 

 on the banks of the Yellowstone, yet had succeeded in making a peace 

 with some of the upper bands of Assiniboin who had not suffered by 

 them. 



The leading chief spoke thus from where he sat : 



" My children, I am a mild man. For upward of 20 years I have 

 herded you together like a band of horses. If it had not been for 

 me, you would long ago have been scattered like wolves over the 

 prairies. Good men and wise men are scarce; and, being so, they 

 should be listened to, loved, and obeyed. My tongue has been worn 

 thin and my teeth loosened in giving you advice and instruction. I 

 am aware I speak to men as wise as myself, many braver, but none 

 older or of more experience. I have called you together to state 

 that our enemies (the Crows) have sent tobacco, through the me- 

 dium of the whites at the big fort, to me and my children, to see 

 if they could smoke it with pleasure, or if it tasted badly. For my 

 part I am willing to smoke. We are but a handful of men sur- 

 rounded by large and powerful nations, all our enemies. Let us 

 therefore by making a peace reduce this number of foes and increase 

 our number of friends. I am aware that many here have lost rela- 

 tives by these people, so have we by the Gros Ventres, and yet we 

 have peace with them. If it be to our interest to make peace all 

 old enmities must be laid aside and forgotten. I am getting old, 

 and have not many more winters to see, and am tired seeing my 

 children gradually decrease by incessant war. We are poor in 

 horses — from the herds the Crows own we will replenish. They 



