denig] TRIBES OF THE ITPEI! MISSOURI 445 



hunting the whole herd would be frightened and run away and the 

 camp thereby be always in a starving condition, instead of having 

 abundance of meat as is the case when the laws respecting the sur- 

 round are enforced. Should any person or persons violate these 

 laws, after the decree of the soldiers' lodge has been published, they 

 (the soldiers) meet him on his return home, take his meat, kill his 

 dogs, or horses, cut his hides up, cut his lodge to pieces, break his 

 gun and bow. etc. If the individual resists or attempts to revenge 

 any of these things he is shot down on the spot by the soldiers, or 

 struck down by a tomahawk and pounded to death. Occasionally 

 the} 7 are also thrashed with bows, in addition to the breaking of the 

 gun, etc. The writer has seen two killed and many severely thrashed 

 for these misdemeanors. The consequences of destroying the hunts 

 are serious to the whole camp, hence the violent penalty and examples 

 are made occasionally which serve to increase the respect and fear 

 of the soldiers as a body, and enables that business to proceed with 

 order. 



In all this the soldiers are supported by the whole camp, and it is 

 in them as a body that decisions are invested with a binding force, 

 if force be necessary. We may state that the power is tacitly com- 

 mitted to the chief as a common and general function of the. office, 

 to be held as long as he governs with general satisfaction, subject, 

 however, to the advice and consent of the soldiers and other bodies 

 in camp, as has been explained. They are at all times open to 

 popular opinion and are only the exponents of it, and although 

 distinguished deeds were the cause or some of the causes of their 

 exaltation to this high office, and that they have since been and 

 generally are discontinued, when the chief becomes of middle age, 

 yet so long as the capacity and ability of the incumbent exists and 

 coincides with the popular will, he is retained in office. Old age, 

 debility, or other natural defect, and incapacity to act, advise, and 

 command, induces the necessity of change in his position, and though 

 not formally deposed, he voluntarily retires and resigns in favor 

 of some growing and popular soldier and warrior. The disapproval 

 of the mass of the body of soldiers, warriors, etc., as represented in 

 the council of war, would also be an effectual barrier to the existence 

 of his power or functions in every respect and at any and all times. 

 It should lie remembered that all the remarks in these pages, al- 

 though written primarily for the tribe called the Assiniboin, apply 

 equally well to all the roving tribes of the Missouri River from ami 

 including the Sioux to the Blackfeet, our limits not admitting sepa- 

 rate descriptions for each tribe. Where there is any important dif- 

 ference, however, we will not fail to mention it. 



Is the democratic element strongly implanted ? Very. The whole 

 is a pure democracy, as has by this been developed. There are also 



