Albert Ernest Jenks
Professor of Anthropology

CONTENTS

PAGES
Foreword[1-5]
Chapter I—Tradition[6-8]
Chapter II—Beginning a garden[9-15]
Turtle[9]
Clearing fields[9]
Dispute and its settlement[10]
Turtle breaking soil[11]
Turtle’s primitive tools[12]
Beginning a field in later times[13]
Trees in the garden[15]
Our west field[15]
Burning over the field[15]
Chapter III—Sunflowers[16-21]
Remark by Maxi´diwiac[16]
Planting sunflowers[16]
Varieties[16]
Harvesting the seed[17]
Threshing[18]
Harvesting the mapi´-na´ka[18]
Effect of frost[18]
Parching the seed[19]
Four-vegetables-mixed[19]
Sunflower-seed balls[21]
Chapter IV—Corn[22-67]
Planting[22]
A morning’s planting[23]
Soaking the seed[23]
Planting for a sick woman[24]
Size of our biggest field[24]
Na´xu and nu´cami[25]
Hoeing[26]
The watchers’ stage[26]
Explanation of sketch of watchers’ stage[28]
Sweet Grass’s sun shade[30]
The watchers[30]
Booths[31]
Eating customs[32]
Youths’ and maidens’ customs[33]
Watchers’ songs[33]
Clan cousins’ custom[34]
Story of Snake-head-ornament[35]
Green corn and its uses[36-41]
The ripening ears[36]
Second planting for green corn[37]
Cooking fresh green corn[37]
Roasting ears[37]
Mätu´a-la´kapa[38]
Corn bread[38]
Drying green corn for winter[39]
Mapë´di (corn smut)[42]
Mapë´di[42]
Harvest and uses[42]
The ripe corn harvest[42-47]
Husking[42]
Rejecting green ears[44]
Braiding corn[45]
The smaller ears[46]
Drying the braided ears[47]
Seed corn[47-49]
Selecting the seed[47]
Keeping two years’ seed[48]
Threshing corn[49-58]
The booth[49]
Order of the day’s work[52]
The cobs[53]
Winnowing[54]
Removing the booth[55]
Threshing braided corn[57]
Amount of harvest[57]
Sioux purchasing corn[58]
Varieties of corn[58-60]
Description of varieties[58]
How corn travels[59]
Uses of the varieties[60-67]
Atạ´ki tso´ki[60]
Mäpi´ nakapa´[60]
Mä´nakapa[61]
Atạ´ki[62]
Boiled corn ball[62]
Tsï´di tso´ki and tsï´di tapa´[62]
Mạdạpo´zi i’ti´a[63]
Other soft varieties[63]
Ma´ikadicakĕ[63]
Mä´pĭ mĕĕ´pĭi’´kiuta, or corn balls[63]
Parched soft corn[64]
Parching whole ripe ears[64]
Parching hard yellow corn with sand[64]
Mạdạpo´zi pạ´kici, or lye-made hominy[64]
General characteristics of the varieties[65]
Fodder yield[66]
Developing new varieties[66]
Sport ears[67]
Names and description[67]
Na’´ta-tawo´xi[67]
Wi´da-aka´ta[67]
I´ta-ca´ca[67]
Okĕi´jpita[67]
I´tica´kupadi[67]
Chapter V—Squashes[68-81]
Planting squashes[68]
Sprouting the seed[68]
Planting the sprouted seed[69]
Harvesting the squashes[69]
Slicing the squashes[70]
Squash spits[71]
Spitting the slices[72]
In case of rain[73]
Drying and storing[73]
Squash blossoms[75]
Cooking and uses of squash[76]
The first squashes[76]
Boiling fresh squash in a pot[76]
Squashes boiled with blossoms[77]
Other blossom messes[77]
Boiled blossoms[77]
Blossoms boiled with mạdạpo´zi i’ti´a[77]
Blossoms boiled with mäpi´ nakapa´[78]
Seed squashes[78-81]
Selecting for seed[78]
Gathering the seed squashes[78]
Cooking the ripe squashes[79]
Saving the seed[79]
Eating the seeds[80]
Roasting ripe squashes[80]
Storing the unused seed squashes[80]
Squashes, present seed[81]
Squash dolls[81]
Chapter VI—Beans[82-86]
Planting beans[82]
Putting in the seeds[82]
Hoeing and cultivating[83]
Threshing[83]
Varieties[84]
Selecting seed beans[85]
Cooking and uses[85]
Ama´ca di´hĕ, or beans-boiled[86]
Green beans boiled in the pod[86]
Green corn and beans[86]
Chapter VII—Storing for winter[87-97]
The cache pit[87]
Grass for lining[88]
Grass bundles[89]
The grass binding rope[89]
Drying the grass bundles[89]
The willow floor[89]
The grass lining[90]
Skin bottom covering[90]
Storing the cache pit[90]
The puncheon cover[93]
Cache pits in Small Ankle’s lodge[95]
First account[95]
A second account on another day[96]
Diagram of Small Ankle’s lodge[97]
Chapter VIII—The making of a drying stage[98-104]
Stages in Like-a-fishhook village[98]
Cutting the timbers[98]
Digging the post holes[99]
Raising the frame[100]
The floor[100]
Staying thongs[101]
Ladder[101]
Enlarging the stage[102]
Present stages[102]
Building, women’s work[102]
Measurements of stage[103]
Drying rods[104]
Other uses of the drying stage[104]
Chapter IX—Tools[105-106]
Hoe[105]
Rakes[105]
Squash knives[106]
Chapter X—Fields at Like-a-fishhook village[108-112]
East-side fields[108]
East-side fences[108]
Idikita´c’s garden[110]
Fields west of the village[110]
West-side fence[111]
Crops, our first wagon[112]
Chapter XI—Miscellanea[113-118]
Divisions between gardens[113]
Fallowing, ownership of gardens[113]
Frost in the gardens[115]
Maxi´diwiac’s philosophy of frost[115]
Men helping in the field[115]
Sucking the sweet juice[116]
Corn as fodder for horses[116]
Disposition of weeds[116]
The spring clean-up[116]
Manure[117]
Worms[117]
Wild animals[117]
About old tent covers[118]
Chapter XII—Since white men came[119-120]
How we got potatoes and other vegetables[119]
The new cultivation[120]
Iron kettles[120]
Chapter XIII—Tobacco[121-127]
Observations by Maxi´diwiac[121]
The tobacco garden[121]
Planting[122]
Arrow-head-earring’s tobacco garden[122]
Small Ankle’s cultivation[122]
Harvesting the blossoms[123]
Harvesting the plants[124]
Selling to the Sioux[125]
Size of tobacco garden[126]
Customs[126]
Accessories to the tobacco garden[126-127]
Fence[126]
The scrotum basket[127]
Old garden sites near Independence[129]

HIDATSA ALPHABET

aasainwhat
e”ai”air
i”i”pique
o”o”tone
u”u”rule
ä”a ”father
ë”ey”they
ï”i”machine
ạ”u”hut
ĕ”e”met
ĭ”i”tin
c”sh”shun
x”ch”machen (German)
j”ch”mich (German)
z”z”azure
b, d, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, as in English
b, w, interchangeable with m
n, l, r, interchangeable with d
An apostrophe (’) marks a short, nearly
inaudible breathing.

Native Hidatsa words in this thesis are written in the foregoing alphabet. This does not apply to the tribal names Hidatsa, Mandan, Dakota, Arikara, Minitari.