724 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth. ann. u 



When t^ie officer contended that even the Indians had to work hard 

 dining the fishing season to get food for winter, the prophet answered: 



" This work lasts only for a few weeks. Besides it is natural work and 

 does them no harm. But the work of the white man hardens soul and 

 body. Nor is it right to tear up and mutilate the earth as white men 

 do." 



To the officer's assertion that the Indians also dug roots and were 

 even then digging kamas in the mountains, lie replied: 



"We simply take the gifts that are freely offered. We no more harm 

 the earth than would an infant's fingers harm its mother's breast. But 

 the white man tears up large tracts of land, runs deep ditches, cuts 

 down forests, and changes the whole face of the earth. You know very 

 well this is not right. Every honest man," said he, looking at me 

 searchingly, "knows in his heart that this is all wrong. But the white 

 men are so greedy they do not consider these things." 



He asserted that the Indians were now so helpless before the white 

 men that they must cease to exist unless they had assistance from a 

 higher power, but that if they heeded the sacred message they would 

 receive strong and sudden help as surely as the spring comes after 

 winter. When some doubt was expressed as to his own faith in these 

 things, he asked pointedly: 



"Do the white teachers believe what they teach?" 



"It is said, Smohalla, that you hate all white men." 



"It is not true. But the whites have caused us great suffering. 

 Dr Whitman many years ago made a long journey to the east to get 

 a bottle of poison for us. He was gone about a year, and after he came 

 back strong and terrible diseases broke out among us. The Indians 

 killed Dr Whitman, but it was too late. He had uncorked his bottle 

 and all the air was poisoned. Before that there was little sickness 

 among us, but since then many of us have died. I have had children 

 and grandchildren, but they are all dead. My last grandchild, a young 

 woman of 111, died last mouth. If only her infant could have lived" — 

 his voice faltered slightly, but with scarcely a pause he continued in 

 his former tone, "I labored hard to save them, but my medicine would 

 not work as it used to." 



He repelled the idea that the Indians had profited by the coming of 

 the whites, and especially denied that they had obtained ponies from 

 this source. His statement on this point may be of interest to those 

 who hold that the horse is indigenous to America: 



"What! The white man gave us ponies 1 Oh, no; we had ponieslong 

 before we ever sa w white people. The Great Spirit gave them to us. 



Our horses were swifter and more enduring, t in those days, before 



they were mixed with the white man's horses.'' 



He went on to tell how the Indians had befriended the first explorers 

 who came among them and how ungrateful had been their later recom- 

 pense, and said: " We are now so few anil weak that we can oiler no 

 resistance, and their preachers have persuaded them to let a few of us 



