220 CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA [eth.ann.17 



The suggestion being approved by the department, an arrangement 

 was made with several large cattle firms. The first money payment to 

 the Indians under this agreement was made in the summer of 1885, but 

 only to the Comanche, as the Kiowa and Apache for a year longer 

 refused to accept the money, believing this to be a scheme to deprive 

 them of their lands. There is no official notice of this at the time, for 

 the reason that the arrangement was at first only a matter of tolerance 

 and mutual agreement between the Indians and cattlemen, without 

 formal official recognition or resiionsibility for several years afterward. 



PA-INGYA, THE MEDICINE-MAN AND PROPHET 



In the spring of 1887 a prophet named Pii-ifigya, " Inthe-middle," 

 revived the doctrine which had been taught five years before by Date- 

 kaii of the speedy return of the buffalo and the revival of the old 

 Indian life, adding the usual accompaniments of invulnerability for his 

 followers and the destruction of the whites and unbelieving Indians by 

 fire and whirlwind. He claimed also the power to resurrect the dead 

 and to destroy his enemies with a glance as by a lightning stroke. 

 His iireaching aroused great excitement among the Kiowa, and nearly 

 the entire tribe was soon enrolled among his adherents, including every 

 prominent chief except Stumbling-bear and Sun-boy. He established 

 headquarters on Elk creek, at the extreme western end of the reserva- 

 tion, to which all his followers repaired. Here, by the friction of a 

 stick upon a block of wood, he kindled a sacred fire, from which the 

 devotees took brands to light and warm their tipis, being commanded 

 to throw away the white man's matches or flint and steel, together with 

 the white man's dress and weapons. As the day appointed for the final 

 cataclysm approached, the Indians took their children from the schools 

 at the agency in order that they might escape the destruction which 

 was soon to overwhelm the intrusive race, and left in a body for the 

 rendezvous on Elk creek. The movement alarmed the whites, who saw 

 that there was trouble brewing, but could get no explanation of the 

 reason. In anticipation of an outbreak, the agent. Captain Hall, sum- 

 moned the troops to his assistance. With a small escort he visited the 

 l)rophet's camp, and through the medium of Stumbling-bear invited 

 the chiefs to a conference, with the result that the Kiowa agreed to 

 return to their homes and await developments. As the time came and 

 went without supernatural event, they became satisfied that the 

 prophecy was a delusion, and the excitement died out. Paingya still 

 lives, and when the messiah revelation spread among the southern 

 tribes a few years later he hailed it as the delayed fulfillment of his 

 own proiihecy (see the calendar). 



INDIAN COURT ESTABLISHED 



As a practical step toward educating the Indians in civilized forms 

 of self-government and to save the time consumed by the agent and 



