INDIAN CHIEFS. wre 
There is scarcely a prairie tribe, however 
limited in numbers, but is subdivided into 
petty bands, each under the immediate con- 
trol of its own chief: Their systems of gov- 
ernment are frequently compounded of the 
patriarchal and military. The most influen- 
tial heads of families exercise a petty rule, 
which often extends beyond their own house- 
hold to a circle of adherents. Several of 
these clans, bound by the ties of consanguinity 
or friendship, are apt to come under the con- 
trol, by common consent, of some more influ- 
ential chief, who may have gained celebrity 
in their wars; but a regular hereditary de- 
scent seems rarely established. These petty 
bands seldom unite under one general leader, 
except for the common defence, when threat- 
ened with danger. Occasionally there springs 
up a master spirit—a great brave and a great 
sage, who is able to unite his whole tribe, in 
which he is generally aided by a sufficient 
knack at sorcerous tricks to give him the 
character of a great ‘medicine-man.’ 
War seems to be the element of the prairie 
the most cowardly savages east of the Rocky 
Mountains, bearing but little similitude in this 
respect to the aborigines of the interior of the 
United States. They rarely attack an enemy 
except with a decided advantage; for the 
prospect of losing even a single warrior will 
- often deter them from undertaking the most 
flattering adventure. It is true that, in addi- 
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