Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 79 



concept remains. We find the Hidatsa dividing the buffaloes taken 

 from corrals by moieties but the rituals of corralling buffaloes are 

 associated with the eagle trapping bundles and, more particularly, the 

 sacred snares of that bundle. 



One finds reference to moiety division of eagle trapping sites with 

 the Missouri River serving as the dividing line between moieties, but 

 a survey of site locations recalled by the older people shows no such 

 division (ibid., p. 213). I found that informants unacquainted with 

 the eagle trapping rites had no knowledge of territorial moieties. 

 Lowie (1917, p. 21) speaks of moiety eagle trapping grounds on which 

 other trappers could not trespass. Case histories show that these 

 are basically clan grounds — linked-clans and moiety ties applied only 

 when no clansman used the site — at least so far as ownership and use 

 were concerned in the 19th century. A new trapping site was the 

 property of the man who erected the lodge and supervised the selec- 

 tion and excavation of the trapping pits. So long as he lived, the 

 site was his own to use or to lend. When he died, the site became the 

 preferential property of the clan and not of his son who inherited the 

 bundle rites. Here we have two rules of inheritance in conflict with 

 each other, namely, clan inheritance of trapping sites and father-son 

 inheritance of bundles. The Mandan, with a highly developed system 

 of clan inheritance of property and bundles, provided for simultaneous 

 transfer of both the site and the sacred bundle to a younger clansman. 



Lowie (ibid.) refers to moiety division in council and mentions the 

 greater number of chiefs in the Four-clan moiety. Chieftainship 

 seems to have been unaffected by moiety aflBliation; instead, it was a 

 mark of individual stature based on personal accomplishments. 

 Moreover, there were more people in the Four-clan moiety, my count 

 showing 237 individuals in the Four-clan moiety and 185 in the 

 Three-clan moiety. In addition to sitting and debating issues by 

 moiety in early treaty discussions and other business dealings with 

 the U.S. Government, each moiety had a spokesman; one who was 

 held in high regard by the tribe. In the division of Government 

 allotments, goods were divided into two equal parts and the members 

 of each moiety took from their pile. The same rules applied when 

 dividing corralled game. 



Ttie moiety defined relationships when clan relationships did not 

 apply. When parents were of different clans of the same moiety, one 

 occasionally hears reference to honors shown the opposite moiety, 

 honors usually limited to those of the father's clan. Case histories 

 show a greater tendency of the Mandan, in the same situation, to 

 offer presents to all clans except that of the mother. My case his- 

 tories show that rarely did an Hidatsa ask one of the opposite moiety 



