Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 121 



law" but ordinarily these extended kin were not so recognized. There 

 was complete avoidance of recognized sons-in-law, but the limits to 

 which the taboo extended were largely determined by the associations 

 of extended "brothers." The avoidance taboo would invariably ex- 

 tend to two households, the wife's mother's and the wife's father's 

 sister's, but generally there were four or more lodges in which the son- 

 in-law could not carry on a conversation with the older females. 



When residence was matrilocal, a separate section on the left side of 

 the lodge was prepared for the son-in-law and his wives; here he was 

 expected to stay when the "mothers-in-lav/" were in the lodge. 

 Should they meet in the entrance to the lodge or out in the village, they 

 would turn their heads and appear not to recognize each other. Un- 

 less the son-in-law's section was ready when the marriage was com- 

 pleted, the newly married couple would live with the husband's people 

 untn it was ready. However, if the family was in lu-gent need of a 

 hunter, quick work was made of finishing the repairs. When residence 

 was patrilocal, the taboo caused little inconvenience to the husband. 

 He was free to move around his mother's lodge at will, help himself to 

 the food at the fireplace if the women were away, clutter up the lodge 

 with his riding equipment, and have friends in at any time. In his 

 wife's lodge he had none of these privileges. Conversations were 

 relayed through the wife as intermediary. 



The son-in-law could break this taboo by taking a scalp in warfare 

 and bringing it to any one of the numerous women classified as 

 "mother-in-law." One of the women then would carry the scalp 

 during the victory dances and proclaim her new "son" so all could hear. 

 Then aU would know that he no longer avoided her. He would ad- 

 dress these "mothers-in-law" thereafter by the same terms as his wife 

 did. Scalps were never brought to the mothers-in-law unless one was 

 living in their lodge. To have done so while living with his own people 

 would have been grounds for much teasing on the part of his joking 

 relations. They would say, "That foolish fellow must not trust his 

 wife; perhaps he is getting his mother-in-law on his side." Others 

 would say, "Perhaps he is going to give up his wife and marry his 

 mother-in-law. " In any event, the taboo was never broken down 

 when the man was living with his own people. 



The scalp was a mark of prestige; to give it to the wife's household 

 instead of his own was to bring extreme honors to them. They would 

 dance and sing his praises. Apparently the wife's family did not ex- 

 pect the first scalp. When, however, he had taken scalps on several 

 occasions without honoring the wife's people, his omission was viewed 

 as an insult. Their joking relations would say "We heard that your 

 son-in-law won great honors the last time he was to war but I don't 

 suppose you would know anything about that," or "We heard he 



