The "Soldiers," Who Lent Their Timely Aid In Putting It Down, Are By
Far The Most Important Executive Functionaries In An Indian Village.
The office is one of considerable honor, being confided only to men
of courage and repute.
They derive their authority from the old men
and chief warriors of the village, who elect them in councils
occasionally convened for the purpose, and thus can exercise a degree
of authority which no one else in the village would dare to assume.
While very few Ogallalla chiefs could venture without instant
jeopardy of their lives to strike or lay hands upon the meanest of
their people, the "soldiers" in the discharge of their appropriate
functions, have full license to make use of these and similar acts of
coercion.
CHAPTER XVII
THE BLACK HILLS
We traveled eastward for two days, and then the gloomy ridges of the
Black Hills rose up before us. The village passed along for some
miles beneath their declivities, trailing out to a great length over
the arid prairie, or winding at times among small detached hills or
distorted shapes. Turning sharply to the left, we entered a wide
defile of the mountains, down the bottom of which a brook came
winding, lined with tall grass and dense copses, amid which were
hidden many beaver dams and lodges. We passed along between two
lines of high precipices and rocks, piled in utter disorder one upon
another, and with scarcely a tree, a bush, or a clump of grass to
veil their nakedness.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 313 of 486
Words from 83287 to 83541
of 129303
