ANIMISM.
§ 344. If we use the term worship in its most extended sense it may be said that * * * (the Hidatsa) worship everything in nature. Not man alone, but the sun, the moon, the stars, all the lower animals, all trees and plants, rivers and lakes, many bowlders and other separated rocks, even some hills and buttes which stand alone—in short, everything not made by human hands, which has an independent being, or can be individualized, possesses a spirit, or, more properly, a shade.
To these shades some respect or consideration is due, but not equally to all. For instance, the shade of the cottonwood, the greatest tree of the Upper Missouri Valley, is supposed to possess an intelligence which may, if properly approached, assist them in certain undertakings; but the shades of shrubs and grasses are of little importance. When the Missouri, in its spring-time freshets, cuts down its bank and sweeps some tall tree into its current, it is said that the spirit of the tree cries while the roots yet cling to the land and until the tree falls into the water. Formerly it was considered wrong to cut down one of these great trees, and, when large logs were needed, only such as were found fallen were used; and to-day some of the more credulous old men declare that many of the misfortunes of the people are the result of their modern disregard for the rights of the living cottonwood. The sun is held in great veneration, and many valuable sacrifices are made to it.[257]
WORSHIP OF THE ELEMENTS, ETC.
§ 345. This is in substantial accord with what Maximilian was told, as will be seen from the following:
In the sweat bath the shaman, after cutting off a joint of the devotee’s fingers, takes a willow twig, goes to the dishes containing food, dips the twig in each and throws a part of the contents in the direction of the four winds, as offerings to the Lord of Life, the fire, and the divers superhuman powers.[258]
SERPENT WORSHIP.
§ 346. The Hidatsa make occasional offerings to the great serpent that dwells in the Missouri River by placing poles in the river and attaching to them sundry robes or colored blankets. The tradition of this great serpent resembles the Mandan tradition, but with some differences.[259]
§ 347. Daimonism.—[The Hidatsa believe] neither a hell nor in a devil, but believe that there are one or more evil genii, in female shape, who inhabit this earth, and may harm the Indian in this life, but possess no power beyond the grave. Such a power or powers they call Mahopa-miiś. The Mahopa-miiś dwells in the woods and delights in doing evil. She is supposed to strangle such children as, through parental ignorance or carelessness, are smothered in bed.[260]
FETICHES.
§ 348. Among the fetiches of the Hidatsa are the skins of every kind, of fox and wolf, especially the latter; and, therefore, when they go to war, they always wear the stripe off the back of a wolf skin, with the tail hanging down the shoulders. They make a slit in the skin through which the warrior puts his head, so that the skin of the wolf’s head hangs down upon his breast.
Tribal fetiches.—Buffalo heads also are fetiches. In one of their villages they preserved the neck bones of the buffalo, as do the Crow or Absaroka, and this is done with a view to prevent the buffalo herds from removing to too great a distance from them. At times they perform the following ceremony with these bones: They take a potsherd with live coals, throw sweet-smelling grass upon it, and fumigate the bones with the smoke.
There are certain trees and stones which are fetiches, as among the Mandan. At such places they offer red cloth, red paint, and other articles to the superhuman powers.[261] (See § 334.)
In the principal Hidatsa village, when Maximilian visited it, was a long pole set up, on which was a figure of a woman, doubtless representing the Grandmother, who first gave them kettles. A bundle of brushwood was hung on the pole, to which were attached the leathern dress and leggins of a woman. The head of the figure was made of Artemisia, and on it was a cap of feathers.[262]
§ 349. Personal fetiches.—Matthews uses the term amulet instead of personal fetich, in speaking of the Hidatsa:
Every man in this tribe, as in all neighboring tribes, has his personal medicine, which is usually some animal. On all war parties, and often on hunts and other excursions, he carries the head, claws, stuffed skin, or other representative of his medicine with him, and seems to regard it in much the same light that Europeans in former days regarded—and in some cases still regard—protective charms. To insure the fleetness of some promising young colt, they tie to the colt’s neck a small piece of deer or antelope horn. The rodent teeth of the beaver are regarded as potent charms, and are worn by little girls on their necks to make them industrious.[263]
The “Medicine Rock” of the Mandan and Hidatsa has been described in § 329.
§ 350. Oracles.—Matthews speaks of another oracle, to which the Hidatsa now often refer, the Makadistati, or house of infants, a cavern near Knife River, which they supposed extended far into the earth, but whose entrance was only a span wide. It was resorted to by the childless husband or the barren wife. There are those among them who imagine that in some way or other their children come from the Makadistati; and marks of contusion on an infant, arising from tight swaddling or other causes, are gravely attributed to kicks received from his former comrades when he was ejected from his subterranean home.[264]
§ 351. James says:
At the distance of the journey of one day and a half from Knife Creek * * * are two conical hills, separated by about the distance of a mile. One of these hills was supposed to impart a prolific virtue to such squaws as resorted to it for the purpose of lamenting their barrenness. A person one day walking near the other hill, fancied he observed on the top of it two very small children. Thinking that they had strayed from the village, he ran towards them to induce them to return home, but they immediately fled from him. * * * and in a short time they eluded his sight. Returning to the village, the relation of his story excited much interest, and an Indian set out the next day, mounted on a fleet horse, to take the little strangers. On the approach of this person to the hill he also saw the children, who ran away as before, and though he tried to overtake them by lashing the horse to his utmost swiftness, the children left him far behind. These children are no longer to be seen, and the hill once of such singular efficacy in rendering the human species prolific has lost this remarkable property.[265]
Matthews[266] says that this account seems to refer to the Makadistati, but, if such is the case, he believes that the account is incorrect in some respects.
DREAMS.
§ 352. The Hidatsa have much faith in dreams, but usually regard as oracular only those which come after prayer, sacrifice, and fasting.[267]