622 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ann. 46 



was one of much toil, and occupied most of the time of one female 

 to a lodge. On account of their inadequate instruments for dressing 

 hides their clothing was wretched, often insufficient to protect from 

 cold or to cover with decency. 



Commerce has changed all this by facilitating their means, and the 

 character of their women has risen from a state of intolerable slav- 

 ery to one of ordinary labor scarcely more servile than that of 

 European female operatives. Their persons are cleanly dressed, 

 combed, and adorned, a desire to appear genteel is manifested, a 

 neatness in their lodges and domestic arrangements perceptible, prov- 

 ing the transfer of their time and ideas to these ends from those of 

 original filth and savage recklessness. 



In former times the trade was carried on in their different camps 

 by paying a number of desperate men (Indians) to restrain the 

 populace from robbing the trader. This force was effective and nec- 

 essary at the time, because the wants of the Indians were so numerous 

 and pressing, their cupidity so great, that it was impossible for the 

 trader publicly to display his goods or deal with them on anything 

 like fair terms. And the Indians thus employed considered it an 

 honorable station; it flattered their pride to rely for protection on 

 their bravery, and no robberies could be committed nor the traders- 

 insulted without killing these men at the door of the lodge, which was 

 never attempted. This gave rise to a body of men called soldiers, 

 and the power first invested in them by the traders formed a nucleus 

 around which collected a superior and coercive force, which, in the 

 course of time, was applied to their own civil organization, producing 

 order in their government, unity of action, and rendering effective the 

 decisions by council. 



The original natural authority was centered in the chiefs of small 

 bands, supported only by their family connections, who could not 

 or would not enforce decrees for general welfare nor interfere in 

 any public differences not touching their private interests. Power 

 being thus confined and circumscribed, separations into small camps 

 took place and minor subdivisions into heads of families, resembling 

 in this elementary form of government that of the ancient patriarchs 

 who as their interests jarred or covetousness increased made war 

 upon each other and were insufficient for any general purpose. 

 But when the body of soldiers was established and their efforts 

 united to support the chief and council, they soon collected in large 

 bands, from two to four or six hundred lodges each, entered into 

 effective measures of defense from the surrounding tribes, regulated 

 their hunts to advantage, and by this consolidation of interest ex- 

 tinguished the principal sources of private discord. This was a 

 great step in advancement produced by the traders and their com- 



