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 earliest childhood was free and independent.  His father would not punish him for any misconduct, his mother dared not.  At an early age he was taught to ride and shoot, and horses were given to him.  By the time he was twelve, he had probably been on a war expedition or two.  As a rule in later times, young men married when they were seventeen or eighteen years of age; and often they resided for several years with their fathers, until the family became so large that there was not room for them all in the lodge.

There were always in the camp a number of boys, orphans, who became the servants of wealthy men for a consideration; that is, they looked after their patron’s horses and hunted, and in return they were provided with suitable food and clothing.

Among the Blackfeet, all men were free and equal, and office was not hereditary.  Formerly each gens was governed by a chief, who was entitled to his office by virtue of his bravery and generosity.  The head chief was chosen by the chiefs of the gentes from their own number, and was usually the one who could show the best record in war, as proved at the Medicine Lodge,[1] at which time he was elected; and for the ensuing year he was invested with the supreme power.  But no matter how brave a man might have been, or how successful in war, he could not hope to be the chief either of a gens or of the tribe, unless he was kind-hearted, and willing to share his prosperity with the poor.  For this reason, a chief was never a wealthy man, for what he acquired with one hand he gave away with the other.  It was he who decided when the people should move camp, and where they should go.  But in this, as in all other important affairs, he generally asked the advice of the minor chiefs.