Moca-EY] i PIATAN S RETURN 913 



The council was held at the agency at Anadarko, < >klahoma, op Feb 

 ruary 1!», 1891, the author being among those present on the occasion. 

 It was a great gathering, representing every tribe on the reservation, 

 there being also in attendance a number of Arapaho who had aec»ro 

 panied Sitting Bull from the other agency. Everything said was inter- 

 preted in turn into English, Kiowa, Comanche, Caddo, Wichita, and 

 Arapaho. This was a slow process, and necessitated frequent repetition, 

 so that the talk occupied all day. A'piatafi first made his report, which 

 was interpreted into the various languages. Questions were asked by 

 the agent. Mr Adams, and by leading Indians, and after the (nil details 

 had been obtained in tins manner Sitting Bull, the Arapaho, was called 

 on to make his statement. The scene was dramatic in the highest 

 degree. Although in a certain sense Sitting Bull himself was on (rial. 

 it meant more than that to the assembled tribe. Their power, pros- 

 perity, and happiness had gone down, their very race was withering 

 away before the white man. The messiah doctrine promised a restora- 

 tion of the old conditions through supernatural assistance. If this 

 hope was without foundation, the Indian had no future and his day 

 was forever past. 



After some preliminaries A'piatafi arose and told bis story. He had 

 gone on as related until he arrived at the home of Wovoka in Mason 

 valley. Here he was told that the messiah could not be seen until the 

 next day. On being finally admitted to his presence he found him lying 

 down. Ins face covered with a blanket, and singing to himself. When 

 he had finished the song the messiah uncovered his face and asked 

 A'piatafi, through an interpreter, what he wanted. As A'piatafi had 

 approached with great reverence under the full belief that the messiah 

 was omniscient, able to read his secret thoughts and to speak all lan- 

 guages, this question was a great surprise to him. and his faith at once 

 began to waver. However, he told who he was and why lie had come, 

 and then asked that he be permitted to see some of his dead relatives, 

 particularly his little child. Wovoka replied that this was impossible, 

 and that there were no spirits there to be seen. With their mixture of 

 Christian and aboriginal ideas many of the Indians had claimed that 

 this messiah was the veritable Christ and bore upon his bands and feet 

 the scars of the crucifixion. Xot seeing these scars, A'piatafi expressed 

 some doubt as to whether Wovoka was really the messiah he had come 

 so far to see, to which Wovoka replied that he need go no farther for 

 there was no other messiah. and went on to say that he had preached to 

 Sitting Bull and the others and had given them a new dance, but that 

 some of them, especially the Sioux, had twisted things and made 

 trouble, and now A'piatafi had better go home and tell his people to (put 

 the whole business. Discouraged and sick at heart A'piatafi went out 

 from his presence, convinced that there was no longer a god in Israel. 



After the story had been told and interpreted to each of the tribes, 

 Sitting Bull was called on for bis statement. He told how he had 

 visited the messiah a year before and what the messiah had said to 



