Siouan Sociology | Page 8

possess concerning the Asiniboin kinship system, the latter closely resembles that of the Dakota tribes, descent being in the male line. After the smallpox epidemic of 1838, only 400 thinly populated lodges out of 1,000 remained, relationship was nearly annihilated, property lost, and but few, the very young and very old, were left to mourn the loss. Remnants of bands had to be collected and property acquired, and several years elapsed ere the young people were old enough to marry.
The names of the wife's parents are never pronounced by the husband; to do so would excite the ridicule of the whole camp. The husband and the father-in-law never look on each other if they can avoid it, nor do they enter the same lodge. In like manner the wife never addresses her father-in-law.
A plurality of wives is required by a good hunter, since in the labors of the chase women are of great service to their husbands. An Indian with one wife can not amass property, as she is constantly occupied in household labors, and has no time for preparing skins for trading. The first wife and the last are generally the favorites, all others being regarded as servants. The right of divorce lies altogether with the husband; if he has children by his wife, he seldom puts her away. Should they separate, all the larger children--those who require no further care--remain with the father, the smaller ones departing with the mother. When the women have no children they are divorced without scruple.
After one gets acquainted with Indians the very opposite of taciturnity exists. The evenings are devoted to jests and amusing stories and the days to gambling. The soldiers' lodge, when the soldiers are not in session, is a very theater of amusement; all sorts of jokes are made and obscene stories are told, scarcely a woman in the camp escaping the ribaldry; but when business is in order decorum must prevail.
The personal property of these tribes consists chiefly of horses. Possession of an article of small value is a right seldom disputed, if the article has been honestly obtained; but the possession of horses being almost the principal object in life of an Indian of the plains, the retention of them is a matter of great uncertainty, if he has not the large force necessary to defend them. Rights to property are based on the method of acquirement, as (1) articles found; (2) those made by themselves (the sole and undisputed property of the makers); (3) those stolen from enemies, and (4) those given or bought. Nothing is given except with a view to a gift in return. Property obtained by gambling is held by a very indefinite tenure.
Murder is generally avenged by the kindred of the deceased, as among the Omaha and Ponka. Goods, horses, etc, may be offered to expiate the crime, when the murderer's friends are rich in these things, and sometimes they are accepted; but sooner or later the kindred of the murdered man will try to avenge him. Everything except loss of life or personal chastisement can be compensated among these Indians. Rape is nearly unknown, not that the crime is considered morally wrong, but the punishment would be death, as the price of the woman would be depreciated and the chances of marriage lessened. Besides, it would be an insult to her kindred, as implying contempt of their feelings and their power of protection. Marriage within the gens is regarded as incest and is a serious offense.

THE OMAHA
The gentes keeping the sacred pipes and those having the sacred tents are designated among the Omaha by appropriate designs. The sacred tent of the Wejincte was the tent of war, those of the Ha?ga were the tents associated with the buffalo hunt and the cultivation of the soil. The diameter of the circle (figure 34) represents the road traveled by the tribe when going on the buffalo hunt, numbers 1 and 10 being the gentes which were always in the van. The tribe was divided into half tribes, each half tribe consisting of five gentes. The sacred tents of the Omaha and all the objects that were kept in them are now in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Omaha camping circle.]
FIG. 34.--Omaha camping circle.
The two groups of gentes forming the half tribes or phratries, sometimes composed of subgentes or sections, are as follows:
Ha?gacenu gentes--1, Wejincte, Elk. 2, I?ke-sabe, Black shoulder, a Buffalo gens; the custodian of the real pipes of peace. 3, Ha?ga or Ancestral, a Buffalo gens; the regulator of all the so-called pipes of peace and keeper of two sacred tents. 4, ��atada, meaning uncertain; in four subgentes: a, Wasabe hit'aji, Touch-not-the-skin-of-a-black-bear; b, Waji?ga ��ataji, Eat-no-small-birds; Bird people; c, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}e-*d*a it'aji, Touch-no-buffalo-head;