Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 91 



equated with the Mandan clan system, further groups of relatives 

 were estabhshed that cut across village, tribal, and linguistic lines. 

 A person was related to everybody of the father's clan, "linked" 

 clan, and moiety; this relationship also extended to the other Hidatsa 

 villages and to the Mandan. There is no evidence of similar exten- 

 sions to include the Crow clans. Kinship was additionally extended 

 to include the mother's father's clan which was conceptually inde- 

 pendent of the father's clan except in instances where the father and 

 mother's father were of the same clan and lineage. Such instances 

 were rare, the higher frequency of merging of the two lineages by 

 the Mandan being due to the clan inheritance of tribal bundles 

 associated with female inheritance of the lodge and matrilocal 

 residence. 



"Adoption" rites were of common occurrence. All men of dis- 

 tinction, and some women as well, adopted "sons" from clans and 

 lineages not otherwise closely related, thereby establishing closer 

 relationships with new sets of relatives. Moreover, "adoption" 

 ceremonies with persons of different Hidatsa villages and of different 

 tribes established kinship relations beyond the village unit to which 

 the individual belonged. A "peace" chief was expected to perform 

 many of these adoption ceremonies to cement the village with other 

 nearby village and band units, thus encouraging intergroup visiting 

 and trading. 



The Hidatsa highly respected those of the village who had wide 

 "relationships" with alien bands. As far as it is possible to determine, 

 all council leaders had established, by means of the adoption ceremony, 

 "father-son" or "friend-friend" relationships with a number of 

 distinguished men of other tribes. Even the children established 

 "friend-friend" relationships with individuals of the same age and 

 sex by the formal exchange of clothing and presents. Although 

 women occasionally adopted "sons" or "daughters," their relation- 

 ships usually were based on "father-son" relationships existing be- 

 tween males of their households. Thus, if a woman's brother adopted 

 a "son" she became his "father's sister"; if her husband did the 

 adopting, she became "mother." Nevertheless, the culture provided 

 many extentions of "kinship" reaching beyond the limits of the 

 tribe and materially affecting intertribe activities and behavior. 



From observed cases of cultural borrowing between tribes in 

 historic times, we find that these intertribal kinship groups have been 

 the principal avenue of cultural transmissions. Unfortunately, the 

 number of observed cases is not sufficiently large to determine 

 whether this was the sole avenue of cultural borrowing. About 1870, 

 a band of Santee Sioux from Devils Lake introduced the Grass Dance 

 to the Hidatsa who bought the right to perform the dance. According 



