290 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



had received from others as symbols of their estimation of his emi- 

 nence; he could, by means of certain designs worn on his clothing, 

 show people the extent of his ceremonial giving. Social values did 

 not sanction the accumulation of wealth for wealth's sake. Except 

 that the household was well organized and neat because people came 

 there a great deal to eat and discuss group matters, a chief's lodge 

 differed not at all from that of his neighbors. 



A woman's position was somewhat different. There was no 

 organized fasting at puberty and rarely did a woman seek to buUd up 

 personal vision bundles. They were never tortured during ceremonies 

 by having thongs inserted in their flesh although they might fast 

 and cry to seek certain ends such as good health, successful return 

 of a close relative from war, or the avenging of an enemy. Women 

 aided their brothers in the purchase of sacred bundles, held rights in 

 certain bundles, and participated in the "walking rites" of the hus- 

 band's Buffalo Calling ceremonies and age-grade purchases. 



Hidatsa concepts of the supernatural are highly formalized and 

 institutionalized, and are drawn chiefly from two sacred narratives 

 which deal with (1) the creation of the earth by First Creator and 

 Lone Man for man's occupation and (2) the exploits of the Sacred 

 Arrows. 



The Creation myth is concerned chiefly with the accounts of the 

 making of the land from bogs and swamps by First Creator and Lone 

 Man. This myth relates the details of the shaping of the land and 

 three river systems, the Missouri, Red, and the Mississippi; the 

 creation of both animate and inanimate things and various sacred 

 beings whom the people learned to worship to obtain supernatural 

 powers; the bringing of the people to the surface of the earth, where 

 they were to live, and their final separation from those living below; 

 the dispersal of the population all over the lands; the separation into 

 diverse tribes and related bands based on language; the independent 

 movements of different Hidatsa-Crow bands; the conflict between 

 brothers for which the people are punished by a great celestial fire; 

 the early separation of the Hidatsa-proper and River Crow from the 

 Awaxawi somewhere to the east of the Missouri; the preservation of 

 corn by the Awaxawi who escape to the Missouri and its loss by the 

 Hidatsa-River Crow when they go north to the land of the moose 

 and polar climate to escape the flood ; the return of the Hidatsa-River 

 Crow to the south where they build at Devils Lake and discover that 

 the Mandan are living on the Heart River; the appearance of Two 

 Men with elements of the Sacred Arrow rites at the villages on the 

 southern shore of Devils Lake; the migration of the Hidatsa-River 

 Crow to the Missouri where they quarrel and separate, with the 

 River Crow taking the Tobacco rites away with them; and finally. 



