Treachery (that is, when a member of the tribe went over to the enemy or gave them any aid whatever): Death at sight.
Cowardice: A man who would not fight was obliged to wear woman's dress, and was not allowed to marry.
If a man left camp to hunt buffalo by himself, thereby driving away the game, the All Comrades were sent after him, and not only brought him back by main force, but often whipped him, tore his lodge to shreds, broke his travois, and often took away his store of dried meat, pemmican, and other food.
The tradition of the origin of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_ has elsewhere been given. This association of the All Comrades consisted of a dozen or more secret societies, graded according to age, the whole constituting an association which was in part benevolent and helpful, and in part military, but whose main function was to punish offences against society at large. All these societies were really law and order associations. The M[)u]t'-s[)i]ks, or Braves, was the chief society, but the others helped the Braves.
A number of the societies which made up the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_ have been abandoned in recent years, but several of them still exist. Among the Pi-kun'-i, the list--so far as I have it--is as follows, the societies being named in order from those of boyhood to old age:--
_Ts[)i]-st[=i]ks'_, Little Birds, includes boys from 15 to 20 years old.
_K[)u]k-k[=u][=i]cks'_, Pigeons, men who have been to war several times.
_T[)u]is-k[)i]s-t[=i]ks_, Mosquitoes, men who are constantly going to war
_M[)u]t'-s[)i]ks_, Braves, tried warriors.
_Kn[)a]ts-o-mi'-ta_, All Crazy Dogs, about forty years old.
_E'-mi-taks_, Dogs, old men. Dogs and Tails are different societies, _Is'-sui_, Tails, but they dress alike and dance together and alike.
_[)E]ts-[=a]i'-nah_, Horns, Bloods, obsolete among the Piegans, _Sin'-o-pah_, Kit-foxes, Piegans, but still exists with Bloods.
_[)E]-[)i]n'-a-ke_, Catchers or Soldiers, obsolete for 25-30 years, perhaps longer.
_St[)u]'m[=i]ks_, Bulls, obsolete for 50 years.
There may be other societies of the All Comrades, but these are the only ones that I know of at present. The M[=u]t'-s[)i]ks, Braves, and the Knats-o-mi'-ta, All Crazy Dogs, still exist, but many of the others are being forgotten. Since the necessity for their existence has passed, they are no longer kept up. They were a part of the old wild life, and when the buffalo disappeared, and the Blackfeet came to live about an agency, and to try to work for a subsistence, the societies soon lost their importance. The societies known as Little Birds, Mosquitoes, and Doves are not really bands of the All Comrades, but are societies among the boys and young men in imitation of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_, but of comparatively recent origin. Men not more than fifty years old can remember when these societies came into existence. Of all the societies of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi,_ the Sin'-o-pah, or Kit-fox band, has the strongest medicine. This corresponds to the Horns society among the Bloods. They are the same band with different names. They have certain peculiar secret and sacred ceremonies, not to be described here.