668 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth.ann.h 



From the narrative <>t' John McCullough, who had been taken by the 

 Indians when a child of 8 years, and lived for some years as an adopted 

 son in a Delaware family in northeastern Ohio, we gather some addi- 

 tional particulars concerning this prophet, whose name seems to be lost 

 to history. McOullongh himself, who was then but a boy, never met 

 the prophet, but obtained his information from others who had, espe- 

 cially from his Indian brother, who went to Tuscarawas (or Tuscalaways) 

 to see and hear the new apostle on his first appearance. 



It was said by those who went to see liiiii that lie had certain hieroglyphics marked 

 mi a piece of parchment, denoting the probation that human beings were subjected 

 to whilst tiny were living cm earth, and also denoting something of a future state. 

 They informed me that he was almost constantly crying whilst he was exhorting 

 them. I saw a copy of bis hieroglyphics, as numbers of them bad got them copied 

 and undertook to preach or instruct others. The first or principal doctrine they 

 taught them was to purify themselves from sin, which they taught they could do by 

 the use of emetics and abstinence from carnal knowledge of the different sexes; to 

 quit the use of firearms, and to live entirely iu the original state that they were in 

 before the white people found out their country. Nay, they taught that thai lire 

 was not pure that was made by steel and flint, but that they should make it by 

 rubbing two sticks together. . . . It was said that their prophet taught them, 

 or made them believe, that he bad his instructions immediately from Keeshshe-la- 

 mil-lang-up, or a being that thought us into being, and that by following bis instruc- 

 tions they would, in a few years, be able to drive the white people out of their 

 country. 



I knew a company of them who had secluded themselves for the purpose of purify- 

 ing from sin, as they thought they could do. I believe they made no use of firearms. 

 They had been out more than two years before I left them. . . . It was said that 

 they made use of no other weapons than then bows and arrows. They also taught, 

 in shaking hands, to give the left hand in token of friendship, as it denoted that 

 they gave the heart along with the hand. | I'ritls, 1. 1 



The religious ferment produced by the exhortations of the Delaware 

 prophet spread rapidly from tribe to tribe, until, under the guidance of 

 the master mind of the celebrated chief, Pontiac, it took shape in a 

 grand confederacy of nil the northwestern tribes to oppose the further 

 progress of the English. The coast lands were lost to the Indians. The 

 Ohio and the lakes were still theirs, and the Adleghanies marked a nat- 

 ural boundary between the two sections. Behind this mountain barrier 

 Pontiac determined to make his stand. Though the prospect of a res 

 toration of the French power might enable him to rally a following, he 

 himself knew he could expect no aid from the French, for their armies 

 had been defeated and their garrisons were already withdrawn: but, 

 relying on the patriotism of his own red warriors, when told that the 

 English were on their way to take possession of the abandoned posts, 

 he sent back the haughty challenge, "I stand in the path." 



To Pontiac must be ascribed the highest position anion.';' the leaders 

 of the Algonquian race. Born the son of a chief, he became in turn the 

 chief of his own people, the Ottawa, whom if is said lie commanded on 

 the occasion of Braddock's defeat. For this or other services in behalf 

 of the French he hud received marks of distinguished consideral ion from 



