506 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. anx. « 



The first woman an Indian marries and the last are generally his 

 favorites, the first because he has become accustomed to her ways, 

 has children by her, and who manages the lodge in all its domestic 

 arrangements, and the last because she is youngest and often hand- 

 somest. The actual labor performed by either of these is not near 

 as great as by the other women. Indeed, all the others are looked 

 upon in the light of laborers. To support several women, of course, 

 requires greater exertions on the part of the man in hunting, but this 

 is more than compensated for by their labor in dressing skins, which 

 enable him to purchase horses, guns, and other means to hunt with 

 greater facility. When buffalo are plenty, anyone can kill. The 

 raw hide of the animal has no value. It is the labor of putting it 

 in the form of a robe or skin fit for sale or use that makes its worth. 

 Women therefore are the greatest wealth an Indian possesses next to 

 his horses. Often they are of primary consideration, as after war 

 by their labor is the only way he could acquire horses, the only 

 standard of their wealth. 



There is never any difficulty regarding raiment. Skins are durable 

 and during the summer (when they make it) every Indian will kill 

 enough animals for that purpose. He must do so or die, as but a 

 small portion of the skins of the animals requisite for food will fur- 

 nish the clothing. As it stands in the winter season, the women are 

 never idle, the men also have pretty constant employment, but from 

 spring till fall they both have a comparatively easy life. Domestic 

 discords are not very common in their lodges. 



They do, however, happen, and jealousy on the part of the master 

 is the principal cause. All Indians have great forbearance with 

 their families. When not excited or disappointed in some other way 

 they will put up with almost everything their women say or do, and 

 endeavor to laugh it off. The women study their humor, choose their 

 time for this, and never press it so far as to enrage their husbands. 

 If an Indian has returned from an unsuccessful hunt, lost his horses, 

 or any other circumstance has taken place, to sour his temper, all his 

 family immediately perceive it, and the greatest attentions are paid 

 to him or his wants as long as this humor lasts. Some men will on 

 these occasions tease and find fault with everything in the lodges, but 

 they are not contradicted nor quarreled with. It is now their time 

 to forbear, and well they know that punishment of no trifling kind 

 hangs on a slender thread. 



Discords of a nature to bring on contention and blows are uncom- 

 mon except those arising from the jealousy of the man toward 

 some one of his women. Even a look or a word in secret to a strange 

 man is often sufficient to produce a blow or a stab. Upon the whole, 

 however, they live in tolerable harmony, much more so than would be 



