THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION 



By James Mooney 



INTEODUOTIOiSr 



In the fall of 1800 the author was preparing to go to Indian Ter- 

 ritory, under the auspices of the Bureau of Ethnology, to continue 

 researches among the Cherokee, when the Ghost dance began to attract 

 attention, and permission was asked and received t<> investigate that 

 subject also among the wilder tribes in the western part of the terri- 

 tory. Proceeding directly to the Cheyenne and Arapaho, it soon 

 became evident that there was more in the Ghost dance than had 

 been suspected, with the result that the investigation, to which it 

 had been intended to devote only a few weeks, has extended over a 

 period of more than three years, and might be continued indefinitely, 

 as the dance still exists (in 189G) and is developing new features at 

 every performance. The uprising among the Sioux in the meantime 

 made necessary also the examination of a mass of documentary material 

 in the files of the Indian Office and the War Department bearing on 

 the outbreak, in addition to the study in the field of the strictly reli- 

 gious features of the dance. 



The first visit of about four months (December, 1890-April, 1891) 

 was made to the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Ki< >wa. Comanche, Apache, Caddo, 

 and Wichita, all living near together in the western part of what was 

 then Indian Territory, but is now Oklahoma. These tribes were all 

 more or less under the influence of the new religion. The principal 

 study was made among the Arapaho, who were the most active propa- 

 gators of the "Messiah" doctrine among the southern tribes and are 

 especially friendly and cordial in disposition. 



On returning to Washington, the author received a commission to 

 make an ethnologic collection for the World's Columbian Exposition, 

 and, selecting the Kiowa for that purpose as a representative prairie 

 tribe, started out again almost immediately to the same field. This 

 trip, lasting three months, gave further opportunity for study of the 

 Ghost dance among the same tribes. After returning anil attending 

 to the labeling and arranging of the collection, a study was made of all 

 documents bearing on the subject in possession of the Indian Office and 



