ldren. He
must determine where the camp should be placed and when it should be
moved; when war parties are advisable and of whom they should be
composed--a custom radically different from that of the Omaha and
Ponka,--and all other matters of like character. Power is tacitly committed
to the leading chief, to be held so long as he governs to general
satisfaction, subject, however, to the advice of the soldiers. Age,
debility, or any other natural defect, or incapacity to act, advise, or
command, would lead a chief to resign in favor of a younger man.

When war is deemed necessary, any chief, soldier, or brave warrior has the
privilege of raising and leading a war party, provided he can get
followers. The powers of a warrior and civil chief may be united in one
person, thus differing from the Omaha and Ponka custom. The leading chief
may and often does lead the whole band to war; in fact, it devolves on him
to lead any general expedition.

The Akitcita (Akicita), soldiers or guards (policemen), form an important
body among the Asiniboin as they do among the other Siouan tribes. These
soldiers, who are chosen from the band on account of their bravery, are
from 25 to 45 years of age, steady, resolute, and respected; and in them
is vested the power of executing the decisions of the council. In a camp
of 200 lodges these soldiers would number from 50 to 60 men; their lodge
is pitched in the center of the camp and is occupied by some of them all
the time, though the whole body is called together only when the chief
wishes a public meeting or when their hunting regulations are to be
decided. In their lodge all tribal and intertribal business is transacted,
and all strangers, both white men and Indians, are domiciled. The young
men, women, and children are not allowed to enter the soldiers' lodge
during the time that tribal matters are being considered, and, indeed,
they are seldom, if ever, seen there. All the choicest parts of meat and
the tongues of animals killed in hunting are reserved for the soldiers'
lodge, and are furnished by the young men from time to time. A tax is
levied on the camp for the tobacco smoked there, which is no small
quantity, and the women are obliged to furnish wood and water daily. This
lodge corresponds in some degree to the two sacred lodges of the Hanga
gens of the Omaha.

Judging from the meager information which we possess concerning the
Asiniboin kinship system, the latter closely resembles