Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 471 



tell us what you want. After you have made the offering of food, you can eat 

 the remainder. Throw what is left in the fire. When one wishes to make a 

 feast for us, he must prepare the sweat lodge. One will pour water on the stones 

 and tell what he wants. After my body is gone, the one who takes care of us 

 must be of the Waterbuster clan because we call ourselves holy.^^ Whoever 

 takes care of us will live to old age." 



"Don't permit running around on top of the lodge you keep us in. Whoever 

 takes care of us must keep it clean where we are kept. Then I will make a rule 

 that whoever takes care of us must not give any fire to any of the other lodge 

 groups who come asking for it. If they do not ask for fire but walk in quietly 

 and take some out carefully, do not say anything. If they ask for coals, do not 

 give it to them. No matter where you are, do not walk around in front of us 

 raising the dust." 



When he finished talking to his people, he covered his face with his robe and 

 died. The people of his clan did as requested; they put his head in the anthill 

 to clean the skull and then it was kept by a man of the Waterbuster clan. How 

 many kept these skulls no one knows, but there must have been many for the 

 people lived long in this village without being wiped out by their enemies. They 

 followed the rules carefully. When the buflfaloes were far away, the bundle owner 

 took the skulls onto the lodge and the buffaloes returned. When there was no rain, 

 he took the skulls onto the roof and the rains came. When he came to old age 

 and died, another member of his clan took care of them and followed the same rules. 



Wolf Chief supplied additional information on the beliefs and prac- 

 tices in his time, saying — 



When I was a boy I knew Missouri River who took care of the bundle. He 

 belonged to the Waterbuster clan and came from Awatixa village, the new 

 village closer to the riverbank. He bought from Blackens-His-Moccasin 

 who was chief there. When Missouri River was getting old, my father gathered 

 together all the goods that he could and took the things to Missouri River, asking 

 for the right to hold them. At that time there were many Waterbusters and they 

 agreed that it would be a good thing, for my father already had many holy things 

 which he had paid well for and had taken good care of. Right after he got the 

 skulls, the people appointed him leader of the winter village. This camp was on 

 the river bottoms near Blue Buttes. The people thought he would be lucky so 

 they appointed him leader. They went into the winter camp and were lucky all 

 winter with plenty to eat. Whenever there were hard times in the camp, he 

 would pray to the skulls and the game would come. Then in the spring they 

 went back to Fishhook Village. 



Once the weather was dry and the crops were suffering. The people brought in 

 war bonnets and blankets to get my father to take the skulls out and pray for rain. 

 There was a feast and sweat lodge. Two days after that the rains came and 

 soaked the ground. I saw him do that myself. After he had called the rain and it 

 had cleared again, he called in all the older men. He told them that he had a 

 message from the skulls that something would happen during the summer to give 

 all the Indians glad hearts so that they would be enjoying themselves. Shortly 

 afterwards, the enemy came out in great numbers. I was 19 then and was in the 

 fight. We were not very numerous but the enemy numbered over 200. All the 

 while my father prayed to the skulls so we had good luck and drove the enemies 



M The meaning of this statement was not clear to Wolf Chief; perhaps It means that one must follow 

 Instructions laid down by the gods and must not vary from the rules. During early historic times very 

 few clan bundles existed. 



