The man had absolute power over his wife.  Her life was in his hands, and if he had made a payment for her, he could do with her about as he pleased.  On the whole, however, women who behaved themselves were well treated and received a good deal of consideration.  Those who were light-headed, or foolish, or obstinate and stubborn were sometimes badly beaten.  Those who were unfaithful to their husbands usually had their noses or ears, or both, cut off for the first offence, and were killed either by the husband or some relation, or by the I-kun-uh’-kah-tsi for the second.  Many of the doctors of the highest reputation in the tribe were women.  It is a common belief among some of those who have investigated the subject that the wife in Indian marriage was actually purchased, and became the absolute property of her husband.  Though I have a great respect for some of the opinions which have been expressed on this subject, I am obliged to take an entirely different view of the matter.  I have talked this subject over many times with young men and old men of a number of tribes, and I cannot learn from them, or in any other way, that in primitive times the woman was purchased from her father.  The husband did not have property rights in his wife.  She was not a chattel that he could trade away.  He had all personal rights, could beat his wife, or, for cause, kill her, but he could not sell her to another man.

All the younger sisters of a man’s wife were regarded as his potential wives.  If he was not disposed to marry them, they could not be disposed of to any other man without his consent.

Not infrequently, a man having a marriageable daughter formally gave her to some young man who had proved himself brave in war, successful in taking horses, and, above all, of a generous disposition.  This was most often done by men who had no sons to support them in their old age.

It is said that in the old days, before they had horses, young men did not expect to marry until they had almost reached middle life,—­from thirty-five to forty years of age.  This statement is made by Wolf Calf, who is now very old, almost one hundred 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.