The Society of the Black Mouths

Source: Wikimedia Commons

In the Mandan/Hidatsa/Minataree culture, there were men's societies similar to today's clubs or civic organizations. One of these societies was the Society of the Black Mouths. Members of this society were men who painted the bottom half of their mouth black, much like the above painting of a Minatare chief.

The societies each had their own dances, rattles, weapons, articles of clothing, body painting and hair style.

Societies were segregated by age. The Black Mouths were men in their 40s. When they became older they sold their membership and bought a membership in a higher society.

Two officers in this society carried "raven lances" into battle. If he was chased by the enemy he was to plant his lance in the ground and remain beside it to fight until killed or until a fellow tribesman pulled it out.


In the book, Waheenee, An Indian Girl's Story, a Hidatsa girl describes the Black Mouths as being bossy men who told the women when to clean up the village yard and inspected lodges to see how clean they were. Most of the women feared them and were submissive to them. The children feared them because of their bossy ways. If their orders were disobeyed, they punished the offenders by beating them or firing guns at their feet.

I thought this was an interesting detail of daily Hidatsa life and included it in my book about Sacagawea.

Grizzly Bears and Sacagawea

Grizzlies foraging; Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Shoshone Indians tell a story about a fight between a grey grizzly bear and a black bear. Some people think that there used to be polar bears in Idaho because Lewis and Clark reported seeing them.

In April 1805, Captain Lewis wrote in his journal:

"We...found many tracks of the white bear of enormous size, along the river shore and about the carcasses of the buffalo, on which I presume they feed. We have not as yet seen one of these animals, though their tracks are so abundant and recent...The Indians give a very formidable account of the strength and ferocity of this animal, which they never dare to attack but in parties of six, eight, or ten persons, and are even then requently defeated with the loss of one or more of their party" (Animals on the trail with Lewis and Clark by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent.)

Did grizzlies interbreed with polar bears as far south as Idaho?

Not necessarily. As you can see by this picture, the way the light shines on the bears' coats makes it look like a shade of grey.

Another example of a "grey grizzly" here:

Source: Wikimedia Commons

This fellow's coat reminds me of a "silver back" gorilla's. 

What do you think Lewis and Clark really saw?