The tribe is divided into a number of bands, which are subdivided into villages; every village being governed by its own chief.

The honor of being chief is hereditary, though for cause a chief may be deposed and another substituted; and the influence the chief possesses depends much more upon his talents and capacity to govern, than upon mere hereditary descent.

To every village there is also a _war-chief_, and as to these are ascribed supernatural powers, their influence is unbounded.

Leading every military excursion, the war-chief's command is absolute with his party.
There are many clans among the Sioux, and these are distinguished from each other by the different kinds of medicine they use.

Each clan takes a root for its medicine, known only to those initiated into the mysteries of the clan.