30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 194 



was established at that point, the Hidatsa-proper also decided to 

 settle there. The upstream position in relation to the other groups 

 of the Hidatsa was never relinquished. An attempt at this time to 

 establish a separate Hidatsa-proper village near the present town of 

 Sanish, N. Dak., failed due to the greater strength of the Assiniboin. 

 For a number of years after the three Hidatsa village groups imited at 

 Fishhook, each former village group continued to occupy a separate 

 winter village; in each instance we find the Hidatsa-proper occupying 

 the upstream position. The Hidatsa-proper did not contribute to the 

 organization of the original "building" ceremonies at the time Fish- 

 hook Village was built in 1845, these rites being largely performed by 

 the leaders of Awatixa, Awaxawi, and the Nuitadi Mandan, but their 

 strength was not great enough to survive alone as an independent 

 village group. Cultural differences between villages caused endless 

 friction; the Awatixa and Awaxawi were more conservative than the 

 Hidatsa-proper in the preservation of longstanding organized rites, 

 and the latter placed greater emphasis on individual vision experi- 

 ences. When an opportunity arose to settle near a Government fort 

 at Fort Buford shortly after 1870, many Hidatsa who had earlier 

 failed in maintaining a summer village near Sanish, again moved 

 upstream to live. It is this group that now occupies the upstream 

 end of the Fort Berthold Reservation around Shell Creek. 



The stability of the original three Hidatsa groups is indicated by 

 the traditions and mythologies identified with these groups, the 

 archeological evidence of long residence in recognized village sites, 

 and the persistence of the original groups in maintaining and pre- 

 serving their identity in the face of forced union for mutual defense 

 against common enemies. One cannot say that they were primarily 

 economic groups, for if that were so, after the epidemic of the 1780*s 

 the Awatixa and Awaxawi collectively were not as numerous as either 

 village group had been before the epidemic. It appears to me from 

 native accounts, that the reluctance to unite was due to different 

 cultural histories, differences in ceremonial and social organization, 

 a strong sense of village solidarity, and the imwillingness of recognized 

 leaders to share their hard-earned positions with others of comparable 

 status. 



Some of the cultural differences can still be identified from an 

 analysis of bundle rites and the traditional knowledge of the older 

 Hidatsas. Since the Awatixa have contributed much to the cere- 

 monial rites at the building of the last important vUlage, the Fishhook 

 Village, some of the basic cultural characteristics of that group will 

 be indicated first. This Hidatsa group had traditions of long resi- 

 dence on the Missouri; in fact, this group claims to have settled the 

 earth from a village in the sky which distinguishes them from the 



