788 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [bth.akn.H 



The following extract is from a translation of a letter dated March 

 30, 1891, written in Sioux by an Indian at Pine Ridge to a friend at 

 Rosebud agency : 



And now I will tell another thing. Lately there is a man died and come to life 

 again, and he say he has been to Indian nation oi' ghosts, and tells us dead Indian 

 nation all coming home. The Indian ghost tell him come after his war bonnet. 

 The Indian (not ghost Indian) gave him his war bonnet and he died again. (G.I).,S.) 



The Sioux, like other tribes, believed that at the moment of the 

 catastrophe the earth would tremble. According to one version the 

 landslide was to be accompanied by a flood of water, which would flow 

 into the mouths of the whites and cause them to choke with mud. 

 Storms and whirlwinds were also to assist in their destruction. The 

 Indians were to surmount the avalanche, probably in the manner 

 described in speaking of the southern tribes, and on reaching the sur- 

 face of the new earth would behold boundless prairies covered with 

 long grass and filled with great herds of buffalo and other game. 

 When the time was near at hand, they must assemble at certain places 

 of rendezvous and prepare for the final abandonment of all earthly 

 things by stripping off their clothing. In accordance with the general 

 idea of a return to aboriginal habits, the believers, as far as possible, 

 discarded white man's dress and utensils. Those who could procure 

 buckskin — which is now very scarce in the Sioux country — resumed 

 buckskin dress, while the dancers put on " ghost shirts" made of cloth, 

 but cut and ornamented in Indian fashion. No metal of any kind was 

 allowed in the dance, no knives, and not even the earrings or belts of 

 imitation silver which form such an important part of prairie Indian 

 costume. This was at variance with the custom among the Cheyenne 

 and other southern tribes, where the women always wear in the dance 

 their finest belts studded with large disks of German silver. The 

 beads used so freely on moccasins and leggings seem to have been 

 regarded as a substitute for the oldtime wampum and porcupine quill 

 work, and were therefore not included in the prohibition. No weapon 

 of any kind was allowed to be carried in the Ghost dance by any tribe, 

 north or south, a fact which effectually disposes of the assertion that 

 this was another variety of war dance. At certain of the Sioux 

 dances, however, sacred arrows and a sacred bow, with other things, 

 were tied on the tree in the center of the circle. 



Valuable light in regard to the Sioux version of the doctrine is 

 obtained from the sermon delivered at Red Leaf camp, on Tine Ridge 

 reservation, October 31, 1890, by Short Bull, one of those who had been 

 selected to visit the messiah, and who afterward became one of the 

 prime leaders in the dance: 



My friends anil relations : I will soon start this thing in running order. I have 

 told you that this would come to pass in two seasons, but since the whites are inter- 

 fering so much, I will advance the time from what my father above told me to do, 

 so the time will lie shorter. Therefore you must not be afraid of anything. Some 

 of my relations have no ears, so I will have them blown awaj . 



