Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 473 



Again they discussed the selection of the fourth man and named Missouri 

 River ; he agreed to take the direction from whence the Eagle Men had come. He 

 stood up and prayed to the bundle. 



After the four men who were the new leaders finished laying out the village, the 

 people got along very well and there were no hungry people. This happened 

 in the spring and there were good crops. A year later the Sioux came and tried 

 to get into the village from the back side. They failed and four of them were 

 killed. The people came out of their lodges and built fires where the Sioux could 

 watch. They scalped and cut up the Sioux; they burned their enemies' bones 

 until only the ashes remained. The women sang and all were happy. Nearly 

 every year the enemies attacked the village but they could not get the people out. 

 Only when the people went out hunting or on war expeditions were our enemies 

 able to get at us. The people could not be run out of the village because they had 

 these four men whom they had selected for their protectors and the two Eagle 

 Men skulls which were part of this protection. [See pi. 12 for picture of this 

 bundle.] 



KNIFE CLAN BUNDLE 



According to Knife clan informants, the bundle rites for this clan 

 bundle followed the same pattern as that of the Waterbuster clan 

 bundle. These rites, having lapsed somewhat earlier than the Water- 

 buster rites, were not actively performed after the death of Medicine 

 Bird, the last bundle holder. Thus, it was not possible to obtain a 

 detailed account of the rites and practices associated with the bundle. 

 Medicine Bird obtained the bundle from an older member of the Knife 

 clan from Awatixa. Since his clansmen were not interested in the 

 bundle because of the costs of maldng the transfer after buffaloes 

 became scarce, he left the bundle in his son's (Hunts Along) care. 

 The latter was ill at the time this study was made and was unwilhng 

 to discuss the bundle as he was performing personal rites to the bundle 

 in hopes of affecting a cure. 



Bears Arm, who also belonged to the Knife clan, stated that the 

 bundle consisted of two human skulls said to belong to two brothers 

 who came from above to live with the Awatixa to help them. For- 

 merly the two brothers, named Brush-Between-Horns and Goes- 

 Along-Between-Hills, were eagles living in one of the Eagle villages 

 in the sky. They entered the body of an Awatixa woman and were 

 born in the village where they helped the people repel their enemies. 

 When they were old, they told the people that they belonged to the 

 Knife clan and that their skulls should be retained in the village ; then 

 the village would never be destroyed by the enemy. The bundle 

 was kept by one of the most eminent members of the Knife clan who 

 paid his clansmen for that privilege. Stirrup, the last bundle owner 

 at Awatixa, was one of the Council of Twelve selected by the three 

 villages at Knife River prior to 1837. According to Awatixa in- 

 formants, the top leadership at this village was vested in two bundle 



