On Great Occasions,
Or Whenever They Are In Full Dress, The Young Men Drag After Them
The Entire Skin Of
A polecat fixed to the heel of the moccasin.
Another skin of the same animal, either tucked into the girdle
Or carried in the hand, serves as a pouch for their tobacco,
or what the French traders call bois roule.[1] This is the inner
bark of a species of red willow, which, being dried in the sun
or over the fire, is, rubbed between the hands and broken
into small pieces, and used alone or mixed with tobacco.
The pipe is generally of red earth, the stem made of ash,
about three or four feet long, and highly decorated with feathers,
hair, and porcupine-quills.
[1] This is bois roule, or "rolled wood," a poor kind of tobacco
rolled with various kinds of leaves, such as the sumach and dogwood.
The Indian name is kinnikinick.
. . . . . . . . .
"While on shore to-day we witnessed a quarrel between two squaws,
which appeared to be growing every moment more boisterous, when a man
came forward, at whose approach every one seemed terrified and ran.
He took the squaws and without any ceremony whipped them severely.
On inquiring into the nature of such summary justice, we learned
that this man was an officer well known to this and many other tribes.
His duty is to keep the peace, and the whole interior police of the village
is confided to two or three of these officers, who are named by the chief
and remain in power some days, at least till the chief appoints a successor.
They seem to be a sort of constable or sentinel, since they are always on the
watch to keep tranquillity during the day and guard the camp in the night.
The short duration of the office is compensated by its authority.
His power is supreme, and in the suppression of any riot or
disturbance no resistance to him is suffered; his person is sacred,
and if in the execution of his duty he strikes even a chief of
the second class, he cannot be punished for this salutary insolence.
In general he accompanies the person of the chief, and when ordered
to any duty, however dangerous, it is a point of honor rather to die
than to refuse obedience.
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