218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



from the Knife. These cooperating groups camped together dm-ing 

 the winter and went out on friendly hunting expeditions together. 

 This friendship had never extended to the entire Assiniboin tribe, for 

 the western Assiniboin were in constant conflict with the Crow and 

 those Hidatsa living with the Crow after 1845. Likewise, there was 

 a great deal of hard feeling toward the western Assiniboin bands for 

 their attacks on that northernmost Hidatsa group which had at- 

 tempted to establish a village above the Big Bend after the epidemic 

 of 1837. On the other hand, marriage, adoption rites, and temporary- 

 winter residence worked to bring about a federation with friendly 

 eastern Assiniboin bands. During the Sioux wars, the Assiniboin 

 often left old people or widows with small children unable to travel 

 or to stand the rigors of winter with the Hidatsa when leaving for 

 the winter villages after coming to the Hidatsa to trade for corn. 

 During the 19th century, a number of people were adopted into the 

 tribe and married Hidatsas or Mandans. In addition, small children 

 sometimes were left in alien villages — while their parents were trading 

 for corn — to be raised by the inhabitants of that village. On a few 

 occasions shortly after 1800, when the Assiniboin were contesting 

 the Hidatsa for the Missouri River region, the latter destroyed 

 Assiniboin winter hunting camps, taking the women and children as 

 captives. Once taken into the tribe, these captives maintained a 

 dual citizenship which was acceptable to the Hidatsa. Assiniboin 

 coming to trade would visit their relatives in the village and, as far 

 as can be determined, once a female had married and had children 

 by a Hidatsa father, her position was more secure than with her own 

 group. In several instances, however, where the Hidatsa husband 

 had died, no objection was raised when she returned with her children 

 to her own people. These were household decisions over which the 

 council had no authority. Her children were related to groups of 

 individuals in both tribes and could and did move back and forth 

 between both tribes without risk of their lives as long as they were 

 recognized. 



The practice of intergroup visiting and "adoption" had made great 

 progress toward terminating warfare between the Hidatsa and certain 

 bands of Assiniboin, Chippewa, and Sioux even before the aboriginal 

 culture broke down. These ahen groups came to the Hidatsa villages 

 for prolonged annual visits and, on several occasions, assisted the 

 Hidatsa when attacks were made on the village. Groups of aliens 

 sometimes went into winter camp with the Hidatsa and got along very 

 well. 



A man organizing a war party invariably avoided attacks on those 

 bands with which he was related by blood (in much the same manner 

 as did Medicine Bear of the Sioux, whose mother was from the Mandan 



