514 A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS. 



■which they call " the suii of the night." Themorniug star, Venus, they 

 regard as the child of the moon, and they account it as a great power. 

 They affirm that it was originally a Ilidatsa, being the grandson of the 

 Old AVoman who Never Dies.' 



§ 343. Matthews^ found that the object of the greatest reverence 

 among tbe Hidatsa was, perhaps, the Itsika-mahidis, the First Made, 

 or First in Existence. They assert that he made all things, the stars, 

 sun, the earth, the first representatives of each species of animals and 

 plants, but that no one made him. He also, they say, instructed the 

 forefathers of the tribes in all the ceremonies and mysteries now known 

 to them. They sometimes designate him as Itaka-te-ta§, or Old Man 

 Immortal. 



ANIMISM. 



J 344. If we use the term worsliip in its most extended sense it may be said that 

 * • * (tlie Hidatsa) -n-orship everything iu nature. Not man alone, but the sun, 

 the moon, the stars, all the lower animals, all trees and plants, rivers and lakes, many 

 bowlders and other separated rocks, even some hills and buttes which stand alone — 

 in short, everything not made by human hands, which has an independent being, or 

 can be individualized, possesses a spirit, or, more properly, a shade. 



To these shades some respect or consideration is due, but not equally to all. For 

 instance, the shade of the Cottonwood, the greatest tree of the Upper Missouri Val- 

 ley, is supposed to possess an intelligence which may, if properly approached, assist 

 them in certain undertakings ; but the shades of shrubs and grasses are of little im- 

 portance. When the Missouri, iu its spring-time freshets, cuts down its bank and 

 sweeps some tall tree into its current, it is said that the spirit of the tree cries while 

 the roots yet cling to the land and until the tree falls into the water. Formerly it 

 was considered wrong to cut down one of these great trees, and, when large logs were 

 needed, only such as were found fallen were used ; and to-day some of the more 

 credulous old men declare that many of the misfortunes of the people are the result 

 of their modern disregard for the rights of the living cottonwood. The sun is held 

 in great veneration, and many valuable sacrifices are made to it.' 



WORSHIP OF THE ELEMENTS, ETC. 



§ 345. This is in substantial accord with what Maximilian was told, 

 as Avill be seen from the following : 



In the sweat bath the shaman, after cutting oft" a joint of the de- 

 votee's fingers, takes a willow twig, goes to tlie di.shes containing food, 

 dips the twig iu each and throws a part of the contents in the direction 

 of the finir winds, as offerings to the Lord of Life, the fire, and the 

 divers superhuman powers.* 



SERPENT WORSHIP. 



§ 346. The Hidatsa make occasional ott'erings to the great serpent 

 that dwells in the Missouri Elver by placing poles in the river and 



> Maximilian, Travels " -^ * in North America, p. :i08. 



>U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv., Hayden, ilisc.ell. Publ., No. 7, 1877: Ethnog. and Philol. of Hidatsa 

 Indians, p. 47. 

 siliiiL.pp. 48. 49. 

 ^Maximilian, Travels - • ■ in Xortl> Aineric-a. p. 402. 



