88 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. 



supposed to have received power from some supernatu- 

 ral source and Binge songs and prays at the bedside. 

 Sometimes vegetable substances are given as medicine, 

 but these are usually harmless, the faith being placed 

 entirely in the religious formula. 



At death the body was dressed and painted, then 

 wrapped in a robe and placed upon a scaffold, in a tree, 

 or upon a hill. None of the Plains tribes seem to have 

 practised cremation and but a few of them placed 

 the bodies under ground. In fact, the Government 

 authorities still have great difficulty in inducing the 

 modern Indians to inter their dead, as it is against their 

 belief, in that it would interfere with the passage of 

 the spirit to the other world. 



Government. 



The political organization was rather loose and 

 in general quite democratic. Each band, gens, or 

 clan informally recognized an indefinite number of 

 men as head men, one or more of whom were formally 

 vested with representative powers in the tribal council. 

 Among the Dakota, there was a kind of society of older 

 men, self-electing, who legislated on all important 

 matters. They appointed four of their number to 

 exercise the executive functions. The Omaha had a 

 somewhat similar system. The Cheyenne had four 

 chiefs of equal rank and a popularly elected council 

 of forty members. Among the Blackfoot we seem to 

 have a much less systematic arrangement, the leading 



