194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



The Hidatsa praised those who aspired to be leaders and followed 

 the pattern set before them of rising to the top by stages. They 

 believed that a young man should follow the prescribed course, 

 gaining experience and supernatural powers as he went along, and 

 that the major positions of responsibility should not be assumed 

 until he had demonstrated abihty. In the process of his training 

 he was assisted by his relatives and his societies. Many males never 

 aspired to top positions in either war or village matters and did not 

 care to assume the responsibilities of leadership. Although the 

 majority of the village leaders were in the higher societies, many of 

 them had never personally organized and directed a war expedition, 

 being content with strildng coup, capturing horses, or giving feasts. 

 Even among the Black Mouth membership composed of middle-aged 

 men between 30 and 45 years of age, probably less than half had 

 ever attained war leader status chiefly because the culture provided 

 other and equally effective outlets for leadership. 



Dog Societies 



After selling out to younger men, the Black Mouths bought into 

 the next higher society of Dogs known by both the Mandan and 

 Hidatsa as the "Real Dogs" (pi. 3) to distinguish them from three 

 other Dog societies; the Crazy Dogs, Little Dogs sometimes called 

 "Dogs-Whose-Names-Are-Unknown," and the Old Dogs. The order 

 of purchase into the Dog society was the same for all Hidatsa and 

 Mandan villages, as far as information could determine. The mem- 

 bers of this society were expected to be brave and to have a good 

 reputation in warfare; those who had not shown good judgment in 

 handling police matters or who had shown cowardice in warfare would 

 have become the object of ridicule of their joking-relatives had 

 they attempted to buy into the society. Thus the same screening 

 and dropping-out characteristic of the lower societies continued. 



Origin myths of the various Dog societies are numerous for both 

 the Hidatsa and Mandan and are so interwoven into their myth- 

 ology that it is to be presumed that these societies were of long stand- 

 ing in both tribes. The wide distribution of the Dog society in the 

 Plains suggests considerable antiquity as well as popularity. On 

 the basis of the integration of the Dog myths into the sacred myths 

 of the Hidatsa, my informants and those Mandan who have lived 

 longest with the Hidatsa believed that the Dog societies were of 

 Hidatsa origin. However, the Mandan have identical myths inter- 

 woven in their sacred legends which suggests to the other Mandan 

 that the societies were of Mandan origin. 



The Dog myths suggest Mandan origin to me chiefly because the 

 theme — "imprisoning the animals" — is common to Mandan sacred 



