Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 49 



the older men and the rites were held when the alien group came 

 to the village. Nevertheless, trips, sometimes involving a large 

 percentage of the village population, went far out onto the prairies 

 even as far as the Black Hills and Powder River, traveling as an 

 organized group and through territory occupied by unfriendly groups 

 to reach the band where the adoption was to be made. To command 

 the confidence of a large party, the leader must have distinguished 

 himself on former occasions. To lead a party far from home on one 

 of these combined adoption and trading expeditions added greatly 

 to one's reputation. Frequently, the top leadership of the summer 

 village and other adjacent Hidatsa or Mandan villages went along 

 on these trips but their social position at the moment was inferior 

 to the one who had organized the party and they were subject to 

 the same rules as the others. The leader surrounded himself during 

 the trip with the other distinguished men of the tribe; they met at 

 his lodge to eat, smoke, and discuss the affairs of the day. In all 

 matters of procedure, however, he was the final authority, for he 

 was responsible for the safety of the most distinguished chiefs as 

 well as the women and children. 



Arriving at the enemy camp, he set up a separate camp in a circle, 

 policed the camp lest the young men get into quarrels, and directed 

 the negotiations with the alien group. The people looked to him 

 for instructions through his announcer as on the summer hunt. Eigid 

 discipline was necessary to avoid quarrels or, if quarrels broke out, 

 immediate steps had to be taken to settle them before they got out 

 of control. Although the rules of hospitality prescribed that one 

 who had entered the camp or village and had been fed and sheltered 

 was to be protected, young men sometimes did not observe these 

 rules. For that reason, the police authority was important in keeping 

 one's own group from committing an unfriendly act which would 

 involve the safety of the entire party. One who had wide "relation- 

 ships" with alien groups and could bring them to the villages to 

 trade for corn enjoyed a high prestige. Leadership of trading parties 

 provided one of the avenues by which Hidatsa chieftainship was 

 developed. 



Sometimes, however, smaller groups of related households traveled 

 out from the villages for the purpose of visiting "friends" in neigh- 

 boring tribes. Although small groups did not go far from the villages, 

 care had to be taken against attack by an enemy war party. In- 

 stances of the attack and extinction of these small parties must have 

 been rare indeed, for informants could recall few traditional examples. 

 These small visiting groups were never as elaborately organized as 

 the summer camp. The character of the organization was determined 

 by the size of the party and the likelihood of being attacked. If the 



