moonev] A VISIT TO THE MESSIAH 901 



continuing for five consecutive days. The Caddo and Wichita also 

 adopted the new rule in agreement with instruct inns brought back by 

 a delegation sent out about the same time. The change was opposed 

 by Sitting Bull and some others, but the delegates, having the authority 

 of the messiah tor the innovation, succeeded in carrying their point, 

 and thereafter assumed a leadership on equal terms with Sitting Bull, 

 who from that time lost much of his interest in the dance. They wen- 

 gone about two weeks, and brought back with them a quantity of the 

 sacred paint and a large number of magpie feathers, the kind commonly 

 worn by the Paiute in the Ghost dance. This started a demand for 

 magpie feathers, and the shrewd traders soon turned the fact to their 

 own advantage by importing selected crow feathers, which they sold to 

 the unsuspecting Indians for the genuine article at the rate of two 

 feathers for a quarter. While in the laud of the Paiute the delegates 

 took part in the Ghost dance at Mason valley, and were thrown into a 

 trance by Wovoka, as related in chapter ix. 



The Ghost dance practically superseded all other dances among the 

 Cheyenne and Arapaho, and constantly developed new features, nota- 

 bly the auxiliary "crow dance." which was organized by Grant Left 

 Hand. This was claimed as a dance seen in a trance vision of the spirit 

 world, but is really only a modification of the "Omaha dance," common 

 to the northern prairie tribes. The opening of the reservation and 

 the influx of the whites served to intensify the religious fervor of the. 

 Indians, who were now more than ever made to feel their dependent 

 and helpless condition. It was impossible, however, that the intense 

 mental strain could endure forever, and after the failure of the predic- 

 tions on the appointed dates the wild excitement gradually cooled and 

 crystallized into a fixed but tranquil expectation of ultimate happiness 

 under the old conditions in another world. 



In October, 1892, another delegation, consisting of Sitting Bull and 

 his wife, with Washee and two other Arapaho, and Edward Guerrier, a 

 half-blood Cheyenne, visited the messiah. They brought back a very 

 discouraging report, which was in substance that the messiah was 

 tired of so many visitors and wanted them to go home and tell their 

 tribes to stop dancing. Although the Indians generally refused to 

 accept the message as genuine, the effect was naturally depressing. 

 A year later, in October, 1893, Black Coyote and several others dictated 

 through me a letter to Wovoka. asking him to send them some of the 

 sacred paint or anything else that would make them think of him, 

 with "some good words to help us and our children," and requesting 

 to know whether he had been truthfully reported by the delegates of 

 the preceding year. To one who knows these people their simple 

 religious faith is too touching to be a subject of amusement. 



The messiah doctrine never gained many converts among the Coman- 

 che, excepting those of the Penate'ka division and a few others living 



