8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



people generally knew who would be the best informed in certain areas 

 of their culture. Wherever possible, I relied heavily on direct infor- 

 mation from the informant's parents or a relative who had lived in the 

 same household. One who had bought ceremonial rights or had paid 

 a person for specific information was considered to be a better in- 

 formant than one who had not done these things. Information from 

 an individual who had served as understudy to a ceremonial leader in 

 performing a ceremony was highly rated as was that from one who had 

 been a ceremonial "father" when another was buying ceremonial 

 rights and bundles. I discovered that mere participation in a cere- 

 mony as a young man added little information that one could not have 

 acquired as an eyewitness to the event. At all times I have had 

 before me notes on the source and the conditions under which the 

 informants gained their information and have tried to weigh this in 

 my analyses. 



From the beginning of the field study, I recognized that the Hidatsa 

 learned much by means of sacred and secular myths and that the 

 symbols and ritual acts performed could best be understood in terms 

 of the instructions in these myths. So I always took them down in 

 essentially the form in which they were related to me, making allow- 

 ance for some alteration both in form and meaning inevitable in trans- 

 lations. After I acquired some understanding of the Hidatsa language, 

 they were recorded in native text without an interpreter and translated 

 later. These myths often revealed interrelationships, native attitudes, 

 and values not otherwise apparent. 



Their mythology and traditions as recorded provide an important 

 body of original source material on Hidatsa literary style and form, 

 but in too great detail to be used unedited in this study. They appear 

 in this report in summary form, expressing what I thought were the 

 important points the speaker was trying to communicate. 



The various sections dealing with Hidatsa ceremonial organization 

 were arranged, in part, chronologically according to native traditions 

 at the time of their adoption in mythological times. This chrono- 

 logical order was broken, however, beginning with "The Thunder 

 Ceremonies," in order to treat groups of related rites as complexes. 

 Some of the rites of the complex — the Thunder ceremonies, the Wolf 

 ceremonies, or the Buffalo Calling ceremonies — ^are beheved to go 

 back nearly to the beginning of time. Other related rites were adopted 

 from time to time thereafter. Because the informed Hidatsa believed 

 these rites were interrelated, I arranged them in this way. 



Finally, I have tried to present a detailed account of the social and 

 ceremonial life of the Hidatsa in the image they had of their way of 

 life. To do this, I have frequently resorted to the same sources of 

 information a young Hidatsa man or woman would have — sacred and 



