824 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [isth.ann.14 



stretched oul toward the west, the direction from which the messiah was 

 to appear. 



At the beginning the performers, men and women, sat on the ground 

 in a large circle around the tree. A plaintive chani was then sun-. 



after which a vessel of some saered food was passed around the circle 

 until everyone had partaken, when, at a, signal by the priests, the 

 dancers rose to their feet, joined hands, and began to chant the opening 

 sunt; and move slowly around the circle from right to left. The rest of 

 I lie performance, with its frenzies, trances, and recitals of visions, was 

 the same as with the southern tribes, as will be described in detail 

 hereafter. Like these t ribes also, t he Sion \ usually selected Sunday, 

 the greal medicine day of the white man. for the ceremony. 



We come now to the Sioux outbreak of L890, but before going into 



the history of this short but costly war it is appropriate to stale briefly 

 the causes of the oui break. In the documentary appendix to this chap- 

 ter these causes are fully set, forth by competent authorities — civilian, 

 military, missionary, and Indian. They may be summarized as(l ) unrest, 

 of the conservative element under the decay of the old life, (2) repeated 



neglect of promises made by the government, and (■'!) hunger. 



The Sioux are the largest and strongest tribe within the United 

 Stales. Iii spite of wars, removals, and diminished food supply since 

 the advent of the while man, they st ill number nearly 26,000. In addi- 

 tion to these there are about 600 more residing in Canada. They for- 

 merly held the head waters of the Mississippi, extending eastward almost 

 to Lake Superior, but were driven into the prairie about two centuries 

 ago by their enemies, the ( >jibwa, alter t he latter had obtained li rear ins 

 from the French. <>n coming out on the buffalo plains they became 

 possessed of the horse, by means of which reinforcement to their own 



overpowering numbers the Sioux were s i enabled to assume the 



offensive, and in a short- time had made themselves the undisputed 

 masters of an immense territory extending, in a general way, from 



Minnesota to the Rocky mountains and IV the Yellowstone t<> the 



Platte. A few small tribes were able to maintain their position within 

 these limits, but only by keeping close to their Strongly built permanent 

 villages on the Missouri. Millions of buffalo to furnish unlimited food 

 Supply, thousands of horses, and hundreds of miles of free range made 

 the Sioux, up to the year 1868, the richest and most prosperous, the 

 proudest, and withal, perhaps, the wildest of all the tribes of the plains. 



In that year, in pursuance of a policy inaugurated for bringing all 

 the plains tribes under the direct control of the government, a treaty 



was negotiated with the Sioux living west of the Missouri b\ which 

 they renounced their claims to a great part of their territory and had 

 "set apart for their absolute and undisturbed use and occupation'' — 

 so the treatj states— a reservation which embraced all of the present 

 stale of South Dakota "est of Missouri riser. At the same lime agents 

 were appointed and agencies established lor t hem : annuities and rat ions, 



