moox-ey] wovoka's sacred paraphernalia 779 



of tlieir sacred eminence, Mount Grant. It is ground, and by the lielp 



of water is made into elliptical cakes about (> inches in length. It is 

 the principal paint used by the Paiute in the Ghost dance, and small 

 portions of it are given by the messiah to all the delegates and are 

 carried back by them to their respective tribes, where it is mixed with 

 larger quantities of their own red paint and used in decorating the 

 faces of the participants in the dance, the painting being solemnly 

 performed for each dancer by the medicine-man himself. It is believed 

 to ward off sickness, to contribute to long life, and to assist the mental 

 vision in the trance. On the battlefield of Wounded Knee I have seen 

 this paint smeared on the posts of the inclosure about the trench in 

 which are buried the Indians killed in the tight. I found it very hard 

 to refuse the numerous requests for some of the paint, but as I had 

 only one cake myself I could not afford to be too liberal. My friends 

 were very anxious to touch it, however, but when I found that every 

 man tried to rub off as much of it as possible on the palms of his 

 hands, afterward smearing this dust on the faces of himself and his 

 family. I was obliged in self-defense to put it entirely away. 



The pinon nuts, although not esteemed so sacred, were also the sub- 

 jeet of reverent curiosity. < me evening, by invitation from Left Hand, 

 the principal chief of the Arapaho, I went over to his tipi to talk with 

 him about the messiah and his country, and brought with me a quan- 

 tity of the nuts for distribution. On entering I found the chief and a 

 number of the principal men ranged on one side of the lire, while his 

 wife and several other women, with his young grandchildren, com- 

 pleted the circle on the other. Each of the adults in turn took my 

 hand with a prayer, as before described, varying in length and earnest- 

 ness according to the devotion of the speaker. This ceremony con 

 sumed a considerable time. I then produced the pinon nuts and gave 

 them to Left Hand, telling him how they were used as food by the 

 Paiute. He handed a portion to his wife, and before I knew what was 

 coming the two arose in tlieir places and stretching out their hands 

 toward the northwest, the country of the messiah. made a long and 

 earnest prayer aloud that Hesunanin, "Our Father." would bless them- 

 selves and their children through the sacred food, and hasten the time 

 of his coming. The others, men and women, listened with bowed heads, 

 breaking in from time to time with similar appeals to "the Father." 

 The scene was deeply affecting. It was another of those impressive 

 exhibitions of natural religion which it has been my fortune to witness 

 among the Indians, and which throw light on a side of their character 

 of which the ordinary white observer never dreams. After the prayer 

 the nuts were carefully divided among those present, down to the 

 youngest infant, that all might taste of what to them was the veritable 

 bread of life. 



As I had always shown a sympathy for their ideas and feelings, and 

 had now accomplished along journey to the messiah himself at the cost 



