188 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



Foxes were generally assigned this duty, chiefly because of the size 

 of the society. It is said that formerly different societies for young 

 men were selected, according to the leader's inclinations. Apparently 

 some rivalry existed between these younger men's societies when 

 members of more than one society were selected as scouts. This is 

 a rather unusual situation since the societies were generally non- 

 competitive, and suggests to me that this is a recent phenomenon 

 arising from the union of several villages and the subsequent competi- 

 tion among these younger men's societies for positions and members. 



The Black Mouths performed much the same roles as when moving 

 to Winter Camp. They enforced regulations against straying away 

 from the main body, prohibited premature attacks on the herds, 

 and defended the group from attack. There are instances when, 

 in spite of the widespread practice of seeking vision instructions 

 from sacred things not believed to send dreams to those fasting at 

 the summer villages, the Black Mouths even prohibited fasting outside 

 of the camp when there was danger from enemy raiding parties. 

 In all their activities, the Black Mouths worked to protect the repu- 

 tation of the leader. Being on continuous watch for infractions of 

 customs and armed to meet an attack of enemy raiding parties, the 

 Black Mouths took no active part in the buffalo surround but de- 

 pended on others to provide the meat for their households. 



Occasionally some families would feel that the Black Mouths 

 had acted in an arbitrary manner. In general, however, the people 

 felt that the society performed a definite social function which the 

 households and clans could not undertake. Had they acted out of 

 revenge, the social group would not have supported them and they 

 would have lost individual status with the village. When a man 

 fired a gun or went hunting when the village group was ordered 

 neither to make a noise about the village nor to hunt, the Black 

 Mouths invariably took his weapons away from him and broke up 

 his arrows, cut up his clothing, and even killed his horse and destroyed 

 the meat he was bringing back. The individual's reactions to punish- 

 ment largely determined the next steps taken by the police. If the 

 man admitted his error and was repentant, he was invariably repaid 

 for his personal loss many times over in comparable goods. If, on 

 the other hand, he resisted the police or persisted in disregarding their 

 prohibitions, he was severely beaten. In two instances in the memory 

 of the older Hidatsa at the time this study was made, the violators 

 (alien visitors) were beaten and killed without any adverse reaction 

 by the group as a whole. In general, it can be said that the Black 

 Mouths had definite duties to perform for mutual harmony and well- 

 being but they were expected to use good judgment in attaining these 

 objectives. This was the principal reason why the Hidatsa, like the 



