that there is naught beyond it. As they feel uncertain which is true, they seem to attach no great importance to either. They seldom speak of it; they manifest their views to those whites who inquire of them, and in whom they feel confidence.
The moral principles of the Assiniboins are few in number. Their opinions concerning good and evil have little precision. Social position is respected among them to a certain degree. Fear, on almost every occasion, governs and de
termines the conduct of the Indian. If he has any ground to suspect that another intends to take his life, he seizes the earliest opportunity of killing that person, provided he can do so without endangering his own life. This case is not looked upon as murder, but as a justifiable self-defense. The crime of murder, properly so called, is not known among them. They never kill, except in quarrels, to avenge or to defend themselves, and custom with them justifies the
act. To behave otherwise, according to their received views, would be regarded as an act of folly.
Theft, among the Assiniboins, is only considered disgraceful when it is discovered; then shame and infamy are attached rather to the awkwardness of the thief for having taken his measures so ill. The old women are acknowledged the most adroit thieves in the country; nevertheless, it is only just to add that the men seldom omit stealing any object, if it can prove useful to them.
Adultery is punished with death in almost every case. The seducer seldom escapes, if the husband and his family have the power and the courage to execute this law. Hence
this crime is rather uncommon. The woman is sometimes killed, but always severely punished. The husband causes her head to be closely shaved, and her person painted over with a heavy coat of vermilion mixed with bear's grease; she is then mounted on a horse, the mane and tail of which have been cut off, and the whole body also daubed with vermilion; an old man conducts her all around the camp and proclaims aloud her infidelity; at last he commits her to the