Fig. 575.—Exploit marks as worn.
The mark of a black hand, sometimes made by the impress of an actually blackened palm or drawn of natural size, or less, signifies that the person authorized to wear the mark has killed an enemy.
Fig. 576.—Scalp taken.
Fig. 576, drawn by a Hidatsa, means that the owner of the robe or record on which it appears had taken a scalp. Fig. 577, also drawn by a Hidatsa, means that the bearer struck the enemy in the order above mentioned and took his scalp and his gun.
Fig. 577.—Scalp and gun taken.
The drawing reproduced on Pl. XXX was made by a Hidatsa at Fort Berthold, North Dakota. It represents several dancing figures, upon which the several marks of personal achievements can be recognized. The fourth figure of the upper row shows the wearer to have been the second person to strike an enemy upon four different occasions. Upon the right-hand figure of the lower row two distinct marks will be observed; that upon the wearer’s left leg indicating him to have been the second to strike an enemy upon two different occasions; and the mark upon the right leg, that he was twice the second person to strike enemies, and twice the third person to perform that exploit.