undred years, he believes, and can
remember back nearly or quite to the time when the Blackfeet obtained their
first horses. In those days, young women did not marry until they were
grown up, while of late years fathers not infrequently sell their daughters
as wives when they are only children.

The first woman a man marries is called his sits-beside-him wife. She is
invested with authority over all the other wives, and does little except to
direct the others in their work, and look after the comfort of her
husband. Her place in the lodge is on his right-hand side, while the others
have their places or seats near the door-way. This wife is even allowed at
informal gatherings to take a whiff at the pipe, as it is passed around the
circle, and to participate in the conversation.

In the old days, it was a very poor man who did not have three wives. Many
had six, eight, and some more than a dozen. I have heard of one who had
sixteen. In those times, provided a man had a good-sized band of horses,
the more wives he had, the richer he was. He could always find young men to
hunt for him, if he furnished the mounts, and, of course, the more wives he
had, the more robes and furs they would tan for him.

If, for any cause, a man wished to divorce himself from a woman, he had but
to send her back to her parents and demand the price paid for her, and the
matter was accomplished. The woman was then free to marry again, provided
her parents were willing.

When a man dies, his wives become the potential wives of his oldest
brother. Unless, during his life, he has given them outright horses and
other property, at his death they are entitled to none of his
possessions. If he has sons, the property is divided among them, except a
few horses, which are given to his brothers. If he has no sons, all the
property goes to his brothers, and if there are no brothers, it goes to the
nearest male relatives on the father's side.

The Blackfeet cannot be said to have been slave-holders. It is true that
the Crees call the Blackfeet women "Little Slaves." But this, as elsewhere
suggested, may refer to the region whence they originally came, though it
is often explained that it is on account of the manner in which the
Blackfeet treat their women, killing them or mutilating their features for
adultery and other serious offences. Although a woman, all her life, was
subject to some one's orders, either parent, relative, or husband, a man
from his ea