wooney] PORCUPINE VISITS THE MESSIAH 803 



as enjoined by the messiah on the visiting- delegates, ending the per- 

 formance with a general shaking and waving of blankets, as among 

 the prairie tribes, after which all go down and bathe in the nearest 

 stream. The shaking of the blankets dispels all evil influences and 

 drives sickness and disease away from the dancers. There is no pre- 

 vious consecration of the ground, as among the Arapaho, and no 

 preliminary sweat bath, as among the Sioux. The sweat bath seems 

 to be unknown to the Paiute, who are preeminently a dirty people, and 

 1 saw no trace of sweat house frames at any of their camps. Nakash, 

 the Arapaho who visited the messiah in 1889 and first brought the 

 dance to the eastern tribes, confirmed the statements of the Paiute 

 and ranchmen that there were no trances in the Paiute Ghost dance. 



Besides the dance ground in Mason valley, where the messiah himself 

 generally presided, there were several others on Walker River reser- 

 vation. .although, if we are to believe the agent, no Ghost dances were 

 ever held on either reservation. 



The following extract from Porcupine's account of his visit to the 

 messiah in the fall of 18S9 see page 79.">) gives some idea of the Paiute 

 Ghost dance and throws light on the cataleptic peculiarities of the 

 messiah: 



I went t.. tin- agency at Walker lake, and they told us Christ would he there in two 

 days. At the end of two days, on the third morning, hundreds of people gathered 

 at tliis place. They cleared off a place near the agency in tin- form of a circus ring 

 and we all gathered there. This space was perfectly cleared of grass, etc. We 

 waited there till late in tin' evening, anxious to see Christ. Just before sundown I 

 saw a. great many people, mostly Indians, coming dressed iu white men's clothes. 

 The Christ was with them. They all formed in this ring in a circle around him. 

 They put up sheets all around the circle, as they had no tents. Just after dark some 

 of tlu- Indians told me tbat the Christ - father i was arrived. I looked around to find 

 him, and finally saw him sitting on one side of the ring. They all started toward 

 him to see him. They made a big tire to throw light on him. I never looked around, 

 but weut forward, and when I saw him I bent my bead. . . . He sal there a 

 long time and nobody went up to speak to him. He sat with bis bead bowed all 

 the time. After awhile he rose and said he was very glad to see his children. 

 '■I have sent for you and am glad to see you. I am going to talk to you afterawhile 

 about your relatives who are dead and none. My children, I want you to listen to 

 all I have to say to you. I will teach you, too, how to dance a dame, and 1 want 

 you to dance it. Get read} for your dance, and then when the dame is over I will 

 talk to you." He was dressed m a white coat with stripes. The rest of his dress 

 was a white man's, except that he had on a pair of moccasins. Then he commenced 

 our dance, everybody joining in, the Christ singing while we danced. We danced 

 till late in the night ; then he told us we had danced enough. 



The next morning after breakfast was over, we went into the circle and spread 

 canvas over it on the ground, the Christ standing in the midst of us. He told 

 us he was going away that day, but would be hack the next morning and talk to 

 us. . . . He bad no beard or whiskers, but very heavy eyebrows. He was a 

 good-looking man. We were crowded up very close. We had been Told that nobody 

 was to talk, and that even if we whispered the Christ would know it. . . . He 

 would talk to us all day. 



That evening we all assembled again to see him depart. When we were assem- 

 bled be began to sing, and he commenced to tremble all over violently for a while 



