INTERTRIBAL RANK AND RELATIONS.—As to the question, what rank and relationship does the tribe bear to other tribes, we are not aware of any political scale of superiority or inferiority existing among any of the tribes along the Missouri; neither do their traditions point out or assign any such particular position to each other. Being well acquainted with the manners and customs of the Sioux, the Arikara, the Mandan, the Gros Ventres, the Crow, the Assiniboin, the Cree, and the Blackfeet tribes we can safely say that no such distinction exists that would receive the sanction of all parties. There is, however, this: Each nation has vanity enough to think itself superior to its neighbors, but all think the same, and the more ignorant they are the more obstinately they adhere to their own opinions. All tribes are pretty much independent of one another in their thoughts and actions, and, indeed with the exception of the Gros Ventres, the Mandan and the Arikara, who are stationary and live in a manner together, neighboring tribes usually are completely in the dark regarding one another’s government, not even knowing the names of the principal chiefs and warriors unless told them or recognizing them when pointed out. In all the above-mentioned tribes there is no such thing as pretensions to original rank. Rank is the growth of the present, as often acquired as lost. The greatest chief any of these tribes ever produced would become a mere toy, a butt, a ridicule, in a few days after he lost his eyes or sense of sight.