770 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [kth.axjt.14 



far enough to know that noue of us had yet struck the right trail, the 

 wagon was moved up a short distance and the same performance was 

 repeated. At last a shout from our driver brought us all together, 

 lie declared that he bad heard sounds in front, and after listening a 

 few minutes in painful suspense we saw a shower of sparks go up into 

 the darkness and knew that we had struck the camp. Going back to 

 the wagon, we got in and drove straight across to the spot, where we 

 found three or four little wikiups, in one of which we were told the 

 messiah was awaiting our arrival. 



On entering through the low doorway we found ourselves in a circular 

 lodge made of bundles of tule rushes laid over a framework of poles, 

 after the fashion of the thatched roofs of Europe, and very similar to 

 the grass lodges of the "Wichita. The lodge was only about 10 feet in 

 diameter and about 8 feet in height, with sloping sides, and was almost 

 entirely open above, like a cone with the top cut off, as in this part of 

 the country rain or snow is of rare occurrence. As already remarked, 

 the deep snow at the time was something unusual. In the center, built 

 directly on the ground, was a blazing fire of sagebrush, upon which 

 fresh stalks wen' thrown from time to time, sending up a shower of 

 sparks into the open air. It was by this means that we had been guided 

 to the camp. Sitting or lying around the Are were half a dozen Paiute, 

 including the messiah and his family, consisting of his young wile, a 

 boy about I years of age, of whom he seemed very fond, and an infant. 

 It was plain that he was a kind husband and father, which was in 

 keeping with his reputation among the whites for industry and relia- 

 bility. The only articles in the nature of furniture, were a few grass 

 woven bowls and baskets of various sizes and patterns. There were 

 no Indian beds or seats of the kind found in every prairie tipi, no raw- 

 hide boxes, no toilet pouches, not even a hole dug in the ground for 

 the fire. Although all wore white men's dress, there were no pots, pans, 

 or other articles of civilized manufacture, now used by even the most 

 primitive prairie tribes, for. strangely enough, although these Paiute 

 are. practically farm laborers and tenants of the whites all around them, 

 and earn good wages, they seem to covet nothing of the white man's, 

 but spend their money lor dress, small trinkets, and ammunition for 

 hunting, and continue to subsist on seeds, pin on nuts, and small game, 

 lying down at night on the dusty ground in their cramped wikiups, 

 destitute of even the most ordinary conveniences in use among other 

 tribes. It is a curious instance of a people accepting the inevitable 

 while yet resisting innovation. 



Wbvoka received us cordially and then inquired more particularly 

 as lo my purpose in seeking an interview. His uncle entered into a 

 detailed explanation, which stretched out to a preposterous length, 

 owing to a peculiar conversational method of the Paiute. Each state- 

 ment by the older man was repeated at its close, word for word and 

 sentence by sentence, by Hie other, with the same monotonous intlec- 



