252 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



could be determined largely by his display of these honors. It 

 was customary for the younger married men to invite those possessing 

 good mihtary records to eat with them and to relate their mihtary 

 achievements. This had become a ritual with the Hidatsa and 

 followed a set pattern; one would select a "father" or a group of 

 "fathers" to come eat with him when he had enjoyed good luck in 

 hunting and had an abundant supply of fresh meat. Usually the 

 "fathers" received a few presents consisting of new robes on which 

 they were invited to sit while partaking of the meal. On approaching 

 the lodge where the feast had been prepared, the fathers would 

 invariably indicate how much they had craved fresh meat and now 

 thanked their "son" for thinking of them. As they ate, the young 

 man would ask them to tell stories of the olden times or of their 

 military adventures. The old men would tell a younger man that 

 this was the way to get ahead and then pray to their sacred bundles 

 for the "son's" success. 



These feasts to the older men provided one mechanism for the 

 perpetuation of the military record of many individuals. Some- 

 times a young man wanted to learn more of his own father who had 

 died years before; these feasts provided a means of acquiring this 

 information. For the acquisition of knowledge about one's own 

 clan members there was less formality; older brothers as disciphnary 

 officers usually provided that information as a part of the training 

 of the younger brothers. Older clan members belonging to the 

 household would, from time to time, undertake to transmit their 

 knowledge of the clan informally while assembled around the lodge 

 fire during long evenings. This was done without thought of pay, 

 since one enjoyed rights in the property of his clan members. The 

 personal achievements of those who attained universal respect of the 

 entire group became a part of the traditions of the group long after 

 their deaths. 



The Hidatsa had produced a number of leaders during the last 

 century whose record has become a part of the traditional lore of 

 the people and is repeated to the young and discussed among the 

 old whenever a few gather for a feast or to smoke. Four Bears, 

 son of Two Tails who was one of the war chiefs at Knife River, rose 

 to eminence as one of the war chiefs after 1837 and is distinguished 

 principally for his part in signing the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851. 

 Bears Arm supplies the following narratives of Four Bears' life, 

 securing the information from his father, Old-Woman-Crawling, who 

 at one time served as an Old Wolf on one of the mihtary expeditions 

 undertaken by Four Bears. 



When Four Bears was giving the Wolf Ceremony to get his father's rights, 

 while the people were still living at Knife River, he dreamed that he was going out 



