mooney] SITTING BULL THE AKAPAHO 895 



on hearsay. Black Coyote remained until the other delegates returned 

 from the Paiute country with the announcement that all that had been 

 said of the messiah and the advent of a new earth w as I rue. I le listened 

 eagerly to all they had to tell, took pari with the rest in the dance, 

 learned the songs, and returned in April, L890, and inaugurated the 

 first Ghost dance in the south among the Arapaho. 



The Cheyenne, being skeptical by nature, were unwilling to trust 

 entirely to the report of Black Coyote and so sent up two delegates of 

 their own, Little Chief and Hark, to investigate the story in the north. 

 Somewhat later White Shield, another Cheyenne, went up alone on the 

 same errand. Their report being favorable, the Cheyenne also took up 

 the Ghost dance in the summer of 18!)0. They never went into it with 

 the same fervor, however, and although they had their separate dance 

 with songs in their own language, they more commonly danced together 

 with theArapaho and sang with them the Arapaho songs. For several 

 years the, old Indian dances had been nearly obsolete with these tribes, 

 but as the new religion meant a revival of the Indian idea they soon 



became common again, with the excepti I' the war dance and others 



of that kind which were strictly prohibited by the messiah. 



From this time the Ghost dance grew in fervor and frequency among 

 the Arapaho and < 'heyenne. In almost every camp the dance would be 

 held two or three times a week, beginning about sunset and often con- 

 tinuing until daylight. The excitement reached fever heat in September, 

 1890, when Sitting Bull came down from the northern Arapaho to 

 instruct the southern tribes in the doctrine and ceremony. 



At a great Ghost dance held on South Canadian river, about 2 miles 

 below the agency at Darlington, Oklahoma, it was estimated that 3,000 

 Indians were present, including nearly all of the Arapaho and 

 Cheyenne, with a number of Caddo, Wichita, Kiowa, and others. The 

 first trances of the Ghost dance among the southern tribes occurred 

 at this time through the medium of Sitting Hull. One informant states 

 that, a leader named Howling Bull had produced trances at a dance on 

 the Washita some time before, but the statement lacks confirmation. 



As Sitting Bull was the great apostle of the Ghost dance among the 

 southern tribes, being regarded almost in the same light as the mes- 

 siah himself, he merits special notice. He is now about 42 years of 

 age and at the beginning of his apostleship in 1890 was but 30. Hi' is 

 a full-blood Arapaho, although rather light in complexion and color of 

 eyes, and speaks only his native language, but converses with ease in 

 the universal sign language of the plains. It was chiefly by means of 

 this sign language that he instructed his disciples among the Caddo, 

 Wichita, and Kiowa. He is about 5 feet 8 inches tall, dignified but 

 plain in his bearing, and with a particularly winning smile. His power 

 over those with whom he comes in contact is evident from the report of 

 Lieutenant mow Captain) Scott, who had been ordered by the War 

 Department to investigate the Ghost dance, and who for weeks had 

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