This custom is found, says Maximilian, among the Hidatsa, but not
among the Crow and Arikara. While the Dakota, Omaha, and other tribes
visited by the author have the custom of "bashfulness," which forbids the
mother-in-law and son-in-law to speak to each other, no allowable
relaxation of the prohibition has been recorded.
THE HIDATSA
Our chief authority for the names of the Hidatsa gentes is Morgan's
"Ancient Society." Dr Washington Matthews could have furnished a corrected
list from his own notes had they not unfortunately been destroyed by fire.
All that can now be done is to give Morgan's list, using his system of
spelling:
1. Knife, Mit-che-ro'-ka.
2. Water, Min-ne pae'-ta.
3. Lodge, Bae-ho-hae'-ta.
4. Prairie chicken, Scech-ka-be-ruh-pae'-ka (Tsi-tska' do-hpa'-ka of
Matthews; Tsi-tska' dco-qpa'-ka in the Bureau alphabet).
5. Hill people, E-tish-sho'-ka.
6. Unknown animal, Ah-nah-ha-nae'-me-te.
7. Bonnet, E-ku'-pae-be-ka.
The Hidatsa have been studied by Prince Maximilian (1833), Hayden, and
Matthews, the work of the last writer(8) being the latest one treating of
them; and from it the following is taken:
Marriage among the Hidatsa is usually made formal by the distribution of
gifts on the part of the man to the woman's kindred.
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