Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 55 



first the women would come out to assist, but, in time, as the supply 

 of meat reaching the camp grew, the women would stay in camp 

 curing the meat and hides while men with packhorses would butcher 

 and transport the meat and hides to camp. Meat and hides were 

 taken to a number of convenient parts of the camp and piled in heaps. 

 There was no particular attempt at supplying one's own household; 

 coming in with meat, one would look across the camp circle and select 

 a collecting point where the pile was low and there unload his meat. 

 Old men and women alike assisted as their strength permitted, if 

 doing no more than standing nearby to keep the dogs away. Old 

 men who never assisted in getting wood or poles for the summer 

 village would work enthusiastically hauling poles for additional drying 

 frames. From time to time, if the meat was not taken from the 

 piles for curing fast enough, the camp leader would go around the 

 circle and urge the people to work faster. Until the meat was taken 

 from the communal piles for curing on household scaffolds, it remained 

 group property and could be taken by anyone able to cure it. Due 

 to the division of male labor at this time, many households would 

 have no hunters and butchers out, but in the manner of distribution 

 of the meat and hides, all shared according to their ability to dry and 

 store the meat. Nor was the capacity of the households to care for 

 the meat and hides equal. Some households would have four or more 

 middle-aged women of good health and wide experience in caring for 

 meat, while others might have only one woman who was in ill health 

 or was burdened with several small children. Under normal condi- 

 tions, the women of a household would often fill all drying space 

 quicldy. While their meat dried, they would assist their less fortunate 

 clanswomen or brothers' wives. The tribal rule that "the clan looks 

 after its own" certainly applied to these situations. There was a 

 great deal of mutual assistance between related households on these 

 occasions. 



Evenings were spent in dancing and feasting. For many young 

 men, however, once the first large kill was made, it was a period of 

 fasting for supernatural instructions. In these camps, self-torture 

 took two forms: (1) dragging of buffalo heads through the camp by 

 means of thongs in the skin and flesh; and (2) suspension from cliffs 

 or trees. The Hidatsa, like the Mandan, thought of the various 

 supernatural beings as having homes near the summer villages or in 

 hills and other places on the prairies. Believing that it was easy to 

 get supernatural guidance from the buffaloes, many sought visions 

 during the summer hunt. Generally, a number of young men were 

 fasting on hills or dragging skulls through the camp at the same time. 

 These personal vision quests and brief stops for an individual to make 

 a personal offering when passing a butte or other spot were the prin- 



