236 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



bundle from Hidatsa village, which he had acquired by normal tribal 

 inheritance from his father. Having fulfilled all the obligations to 

 acquire the bundle, he should have, according to the previous records 

 of former bundle holders, been highly esteemed by his village group. 

 His principal duty as bundle owner was to organize the various 

 Buffalo Calling rites and to serve as the authority in matters involving 

 village traditional actions. As long as he performed these duties 

 well and showed bravery about the village, the group did not expect 

 more. Nevertheless, he hked to go out to war. So far as we know, 

 he never acted as leader himself; this was not expected of the Earth- 

 naming bundle owner. Still, he would accompany others on what 

 generally proved to be unsuccessful expeditions until he had the 

 reputation of being unlucky for any group he accompanied. A 

 sequel to this narrative is indicated by Fom* Dancers' statement that 

 Poor Wolf got ahead of Guts. Here we have a conflicting situation 

 involving village bundles. Prior to 1845 there was one Earthnaming 

 bundle for the Hidatsa village group and another for the Awaxawi, 

 but in 1845, when the Hidatsa village groups united, two separate 

 and competing bundle lines existed. Poor Wolf, in addition to in- 

 heriting the Earthnaming and several other village bundles, also 

 found time to accompany or lead numerous war parties without 

 suffering the embarrassments of bad luck. Thus, Poor Wolf occupied 

 a higher status than Guts who, when his son named Bobtail BuU 

 grew up, passed the bundle on to him in an effort to reestablish the 

 family's rightful position. Four Dancers volunteered the opinion 

 that his grandfather's reputation was beyond repair by that time. 

 Bobtail Bull proved a worthy competitor to Poor Wolf. Four 

 Dancers brought out the point that the people took sides according 

 to previous village affiliation, and that this division continued until 

 the building of a Government fort at Fort Buford provided an outlet 

 for one group by separation which was otherwdse impossible due to 

 the pressure of the Sioux. 



In describing the organization of the war party under Big Bull, we 

 see no essential difference from that of the previous account. Formal 

 rites as practiced by Kidney were simpler because One Bull's authority 

 was based on the personal vision patterns. Even though Guts shot 

 only because he was tangled in his robe and could not escape quickly, 

 it was a recognized form of bravery; and even though the Cheyenne 

 had the advantage of surprising their adversaries, still they did not 

 press the attack, being content to kill six men in the initial attack and 

 to scalp one. Here we find the same pattern as in the Wolf Chief 

 account where the fight was terminated when one enemy fell. Four 

 Dancers brought out the point that it was obligatory for one to look 

 after his brother-in-law since they were related through the wife and 



