126 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 194 



ever, since the clan should discipline its own members, it seems that 

 matters never got entirely out of hand. 



Life Cycle 



Most social, economic, and ritualistic activities were more complex 

 sets of relationships than was indicated above in the analysis of 

 general attitudes and behavior patterns prevailing between pairs of 

 relatives. Relatives had prescribed duties and obligations for every 

 important occasion in the life of a Hidatsa. Some insight into their 

 general attitudes and behavior patterns is indicated by tracing an 

 individual from birth to death. Since no effort has heretofore been 

 made to bring together the important events in the life cycle of this 

 tribe, it is particularly appropriate that these specific aspects be 

 examined in relation to the total cultiu'al setting. 



BIRTH AND NAMING 



It is rather difficult to get adequate information on Hidatsa beliefs 

 concerning conception and birth. On inquiry about the physical 

 nature of conception, informants invariably mention "spirits" entering 

 the mother's body, causing a baby to develop there. Although they 

 frequently cite instances of virgins giving birth to babies who grew 

 up to become culture heroes, they consider humorous any suggestion 

 that unmarried girls of recent times gave birth to children without 

 actual intercourse. On the other hand, they recognized that all 

 married women did not have children. 



The spirits destined eventually to become human beings, like those 

 that will become animals and birds, were believed to inhabit certain 

 hills in their traditional territory. Three of these hills are remembered: 

 one is near the mouth of Knife River; a second is on the Heart River; 

 the third is southwest of Dickinson, N. Dak., and east of the Little 

 Missouri River. Each hill was believed to be an earth lodge in which 

 the babies lived and were cared for by an old man. Women would put 

 toys at the foot of these hills if they wanted children. It is of signifi- 

 cance that in the memories of my informants, only the hill near the 

 Little Missoiu:i and farthest from their villages had been visited by 

 childless women. Matthews (1877, p. 51) indicated that men were 

 accustomed to fast at these hiUs when desiring a son. If this was true, 

 the custom has fallen into disuse. According to native beliefs, 

 children desiring to leave the hill and be born, must crawl across a 

 ditch within this earth lodge on an ash pole. If they succeeded in 

 reaching the opposite side without falling into the ditch, they would be 

 bom into the tribe soon afterward. One time when Cherries-in- 

 Mouth, Cuts-his-Hair, Sitting Elk, Puts-His-Hair-Away, and Crows 



