Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 177 



society was not of long standing among either the Hidatsa or Alandan 

 village groups. During the last century (1832-1932) the society has 

 been closely associated with the next higher society, the Black Mouths, 

 and it acted as a check in the upward advancement of the lower age- 

 groups to Black Mouth status. 



The position of the Black Mouths just above the Half -Shaved 

 Heads seems to have been a universal Hidatsa and Mandan char- 

 acteristic prior to 1837. After that date, when the siu-vivors of the 

 smallpox epidemic united into a smaller nmnber of villages, the 

 number of societies situated in the age-grade sequence below the Black 

 Mouth status increased and the Half-Shaved Head society became 

 extinct. Although the role of the societies prior to attaining Black 

 Mouth status — preparation to police and sup6tvise — was identical 

 for all villages, the actual order of advancement through the system 

 varied due to a slight difference in the actual societies through which 

 one passed. This situation seems to have introduced into the system 

 competition not characteristic of the age-grade system, particularly 

 for the societies characteristic of the younger men. 



From what I was able to determine from genealogies and tradi- 

 tions, the Hidatsa-proper and the Awatixa more closely resembled 

 each other in number and order of purchases during the first quarter 

 of the 19th century than did the Awaxawi. This may be due, in 

 part, to their closer residence during the preceding century in adjacent 

 villages less than a mile apart. The Awaxam, on the other hand, 

 were farther removed dm'ing the last half of the 18th century, living 

 downstream near Painted Woods where they had intimate contacts 

 with Mandan groups. 



The Notched Stick society at Awaxawi had no Hidatsa or Awatixa 

 equivalents, but the symbols and rites closely parallel religious rites 

 performed both by the Awaxawi and certain Mandan groups. I 

 could find evidence at the Awaxawi village only of the Notched Stick, 

 Kit Fox, Lumpwood, and Half -Shaved Head societies for men who 

 had not yet reached the proper age for entering the Black Mouth 

 society. There was no evidence of the Stone Hammer, Crazy Dog, 

 or Crow Imitator societies. This does not mean that these societies 

 had never been present with the Awaxawi. It is very possible that 

 some of these, particularly the Little Dog and Crazy Dog, were 

 formerly represented there. It is of historic record that the Awaxawi 

 suffered extreme losses when their village was destroyed by the enemy 

 during the last half of the 18th century. Being more sedentary than 

 the Hidatsa-proper, they also suffered more severely from smallpox 

 and other epidemics. Their small numbers may account for some of 

 the differences reported by Bears Arm, whose father came from that 



