mooney] ACCOUNT OF Tl'viBO 703 



acquainted with the true facts of the case, I told them the preachings of Waugh-zee- 

 waugh-ber were good and no harm could come from it. Indian emissaries visited 

 the reserve from Idaho, Oregon, and other places, ti> investigate the new religion. 

 I \ isited the Indian camp w bile the prophet was in a trance and remained until lie 

 came to. In accordance with instructions, the Indians gathered around him and 

 joined in a son:; that was to guide the spirit back to the body. Upon reanimation 

 he gave a long account of his visit in the spirit to the Supreme Ruler, who was then 

 on the way with all the Bpirits of the departed dead to again reside upon this earth 

 and change it into a paradise. Life was to be eternal, and no distinction was to 

 exist between tares. 



This morning's press dispatches contain an account of Porcupine's visit to Walker 

 lake' . . . that proves tome thai the religion started at Walker lake eighteen 

 years ago is the same thai i> m™ agitating the Indian world. There is nothing in 

 it to cause trouble between whites and Indians unless the new Messiah is misquoted 

 and his doctrine misconstrued. I left Walker Lake reserve in June, 1873, and at the 

 time supposed this craze would die out, but have several times since been reminded 

 by Nevada papers and letters that it was gradually spreading. (G. /'.. 



The. name given by Campbell certainly does not much resemble 

 Tavibo, but it is quite possible that the father, like the son. had more 

 than one name. It is also possible that "Waughzeewaughber" was not 

 the prophet described by Captain Lee, but one of his disciples who had 

 taken up and modified the original doctrine. The name Tavibo refers 

 to the east (tavanagwat) or place where the sun (ttibi) vises. By the 

 cognate Shoshoni and Comanche the whites are called Taivo. 



From oral information of Professor A. H. Thompson, of the United 

 States Geological Survey. I learn some particulars of the advent of the 

 new doctrine, among the Paiute of southwestern Utah. While his 

 party was engaged in that section in the spring of 1S75, a great excite- 

 ment was caused among the Indians by the report that two mysterious 

 beings with white skins (it will be remembered that the father of Wovoka 

 was named Tavibo or "white man'*) had appeared among the Paiute 

 far to the west and announced a speedy resurrection of all the dead 

 Indians, the restoration of the game, and the return of the old-time 

 primitive life. Under the new order of things, moreover, both races 

 alike were to be white. A number of Indians from Utah went over 

 into Nevada, where they met others who claimed to have seen these 

 mysterious visitors farther in the west. On their return to Utah they 

 brought back with them the ceremonial of the new belief, the chief 

 part of the ritual being a dance performed at night in a circle, with no 

 tire in the center, very much as in the modern (ihost dance. 



It is said that the Mormons, who hold the theory that the Indians are 

 the descendants of the supposititious "ten lost tribes,'" cherish, as a part 

 of their faith, the tradition that some of the lost Hebrew emigrants are 

 still ice-bound in the frozen north, whence they will one day emerge to 

 rejoin their brethren in the south. When the news of this Indian revela- 

 tion came to their ears, the Mormon priests accepted it as a prophecy 

 of speedy fulfillment of their own traditions, and Orson Pratt, one of 

 the most prominent leaders, preached a sermon, which was extensively 



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