898 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth.ann.u 



lioma to the messiah of Walker lake. He lias repeatedly asked me to 

 get for him a permanent license from the government to enable him to 

 visit the various reservations at will as a general evangel of Indian 

 medicine and ceremony. Black Coyote in full uniform, with official 

 badge, a Harrison medal, and an immense police overcoat, which he pro- 

 cured in Washington, and riding with his three wives in his own double- 

 seated coach, is a spectacle magnificent and impressive. Black Coyote 

 in breechcloth, paint, aud feathers, leading the Ghost dance, or sitting 

 flat on the ground and beating the earth with his hand in excess 

 of religious fervor, is equally impressive. It was this combination of 

 vanity of leadership and sense of duty as a government officer that 

 made him my first and most willing informant on the Ghost dance, 

 and enabled me through him to do so much with the Arapaho. 



In his portrait (plate cv) a number of scars wdl be noticed on his 

 chest and arms. The full number of these scars is seventy, arranged 

 in various patterns of lines, circles, crosses, etc, with a long figure of 

 the sacred pipe on one arm. According to his own statement they were 

 made in obedience to a dream as a sacrifice to save the lives of bis 

 children. Several of his children had died in rapid succession, and in 

 accordance with Indian custom he undertook a fast of four days as an 

 expiation to the overruling spirit. During this time, while lying on his 

 bed, he heard a voice, somewhat resembling the cry of an owl or the 

 subdued bark of a dog. The voice told him that if he wished to save 

 his other children he must cut out seventy pieces of skin and offer them 

 to the sun. He at once cut out seven pieces, held them out to the sun 

 and prayed, and then buried them. But the sun was not satisfied, and 

 soon after he was warned in a vision that the full number of seventy 

 must be sacrificed if he would save his children. He then did as 

 directed, cutting out the pieces of skin in the various patterns indicated, 

 offering each in turn to the sun with a prayer for the health of his 

 family, and then burying them. Since then there has been no death 

 in his family. In cutting out the larger pieces, some of which were 

 several inches long anil nearly half an inch wide, the skin was first 

 lifted up with an awl and then sliced away with a knife. This had to 

 be done by an assistant, and Black Coyote was particular to show me 

 by signs, sitting very erect and bracing himself firmly, that he had not 

 flinched during the process. 



As has been stated, the first trances in the southern Ghost dance 

 occurred at the great dance held near the Cheyenne and Arapaho 

 agency under the auspices of Sitting Bull in September, 1S90. On 

 this occasion Cheyenne and Arapaho, Caddo, Wichita, Kiowa, and 

 Apache to the number of perhaps 3,000 assembled, and remained together 

 for about two weeks, dancing every night until daylight. This was the 

 largest Ghost dance ever held in the south. After dances had been held 

 for two or three nights Sitting Bull announced that at the next one he 

 would perform a great wonder in the sight of all the people, after 



