Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 139 



see the couple together a good deal in the village, perhaps noting that 

 the girl had accepted his pemmican at a ceremony, that she was wear- 

 ing his beads, or that when he was away from home herding the 

 horses or hunting she would pass his mother's lodge several times a 

 day. They would tell their younger brother that he should marry the 

 girl. Frequently a young man would be reluctant to suggest marriage, 

 fearing that her family would demand more horses than could be 

 spared yet being reluctant to suggest that they elope for fear that her 

 family would resent the suggestion and either keep a closer watch on 

 her or marry her to someone else. When the brothers and sisters 

 suggested the marriage, a young man was free to bring up the matter, 

 knowing that his family would put up horses for him. My informants 

 claimed that they never gave any thought to the matter of close 

 relationship at first, for their older people were quick to disapprove 

 of courtship with one of the same clan or of a too close blood relation- 

 ship. 



A young man preferred to marry without putting up horses. His 

 joking relatives would be sure to tease him for buying a wife otherwise. 

 However, few households permitted their daughters to marry for the 

 first time unless the husband's people delivered the number of horses 

 demanded of them. If the girl agreed she would say to him, "It is all 

 right, but I wiU have to ask my mother first." 



Even though the young man was acceptable, the first thing the 

 mother would ask was, "How many horses did he promise us?" Rarely 

 did a young man offer horses, preferring to get married without 

 relinquishing them. To discourage undesirable marriages, the mothers 

 would tell how hard they had worked to bring the girl up well while 

 the young man ran away or never seemed to get any honors when at 

 war; how he loafed while herding his brothers' horses and had not 

 given them good care; how he never showed interest in hunting; how 

 he slept late every day and never seemed to find anything to do. If 

 the girl still expressed a desire to go through with the marriage and, 

 if necessary, live with her husband's people, the older brothers were 

 appealed to in an effort to prevent elopement. They would restate 

 all of the young man's faults and if there was still danger of an elope- 

 ment, the children of her father's clan (the "joking relatives") might 

 participate. The girl could persist in the marriage and escape the 

 household's criticism, for "a mother should love her daughter." 

 There was no escape from the father's clansmen's children, however, 

 for they were scattered throughout every Hidatsa village to which 

 she might go. Nevertheless, once the marriage was completed, people 

 preferred not to talk about it. 



If the proposal was acceptable, the woman's household set the day 

 for the marriage and the number of horses that would be expected. 



