5IO The Book of Woodcraft 



he felt that his powers were failing, and he sometimes 

 avoided the decision of important questions on the ground 

 that he was getting old and his mind was no longer good. 



A Httle more than two weeks ago he stood in the pres- 

 ence of the Chief Magistrate of the nation, who shook him 

 warmly by the hand and talked to him and the others of 

 his people present. A few days later, just as they were 

 about to leave Washington for their distant prairie home, 

 the old chief caught cold, pneumonia set in, and just 

 before midnight on the 29th of January he peacefully 

 passed away. 



He was a man who was great in the breadth of his judg- 

 ment, and in the readiness with which he recognized the 

 changes he and his people were now obUged to face, and 

 adapted himself to these changes; but greatest of all, in 

 the devotion that he held for his tribe, and in the way in 

 which he sacrificed himself for their welfare. Buffalo 

 hunter, warrior, savage ruler and diplomat; then learner, 

 instructor, persuader and encourager in new ways, he was 

 always the father of the people. Just as for many years 

 he had been constantly ser\dng them, so now, at the end of 

 his long chieftainship, he gave up his Hfe in the successful 

 effort to protect them from a great calamity. 



WOVOKA, THE PROPHET OF THE GHOST DANCE 



There have been many in every tribe and every time who 

 have brought shame on their people. There have been 

 whole tribes who forgot their race's high ideals. From 

 time to time great prophets have arisen amongst them to 

 stir up these backsliders, and bring them back to the faith 

 of their fathers. The last of these was Wovoka, the Piute 

 — the Mystic Dreamer. About 1887 he began preaching 

 his doctrine of the coming Messiah and taught the Red- 



