> key] wovoka's legerdemain 775 



and a half for the privilege of taking his picture and a like sum for 

 each one. of his family. I was prepared for this, however, and refused 

 to pay any such charges, but agreed to give him my regular price per 

 day for his services as informant and to send him a copy of the picture 

 when finished. After some demur he consented and got ready for the 

 operation by knotting a handkerchief about his neck, fastening an eagle 

 feather at his right elbow, and taking a wide brim sombrero upon his 

 knee. 1 afterward learned that the feather and sombrero were impor- 

 tant parts of his .spiritual stock in trade. After taking his picture I 

 obtained from him, as souvenirs to bring back and show to my Indian 

 friends in Indian Territory, a blanket of rabbit skins, some pinon nuts, 

 some tail feathers of the magpie, highly prized by the Paiute for orna- 

 mentation, and some of the sacred red paint, endowed with most 

 miraculous powers, which plays so important a part in the ritual of 

 the Ghost-dance religion. Then, with mutual expressions of good will, 

 we parted, his uncle going back to the reservation, while I took the 

 train for Indian Territory. 



As soon as the news of my arrival went abroad among the Cheyenne 

 and Arapaho on my return, my friends of both tribes came in. eager to 

 hear all the details of my visit to the messiali and to get my own im- 

 pressions of the man. In comparing notes with some of the recent 

 delegates I discovered something of Wovoka's hypnotic methods, and 

 incidentally learned how much of miracle depends on the mental recep- 

 tivity of the observer. 



The Cheyenne and Arapaho, although for generations associated in 

 the most intimate manner, are of very different characters. In religious 

 matters it may be said briefly that the. Arapaho are devotees and 

 prophets, continually seeing signs and wonders, while the Cheyenne 

 are more skeptical. In talking with Tall Bull, one of the Cheyenne 

 delegates and then captain of the Indian police, he said that before 

 leaving they had asked Wovoka to give them some proof of his super- 

 natural powers. Accordingly he had ranged them in front of him, 

 seated on the ground, he sitting facing them, with his sombrero between 

 and his eagle feathers in his hand. Then with a (puck movement he 

 had put his hand into the empty hat and drawn out from it "something 

 black." Tall Bull would not admit that anything more had happened, 

 and did not seem to be very profoundly impressed by the occurrence, 

 saying that he thought there were medicinemen of equal capacity 

 among the Cheyenne. In talking soon afterward with Black Coyote, 

 one of the Arapaho delegates and also a police officer, the same incident 

 came up, but with a very different sequel, black < !oyote told how they 

 had seated themselves on the ground in front of Wovoka, as described 

 by Tall Bull, and went on to tell how the messiah had waved his 

 feathers over his hat, and then, when he withdrew his hand, Black 

 Coyote looked into the hat and their -saw the whole world." The 

 explanation is simple. Tall Bull, who has since been stricken with 



