MooNEv) pa-ingya's prophecy 357 



a sacred new fire witli tlie block and stick, according; to tlie primitive 

 Indian inetliod, and gave the fire thus made to all liis disciples to be 

 used instead of that procured from matclies or Hint and steel; he 

 refused to give any of this sacred fire to those chiefs and others who 

 were regarded as being on the white man's side, including Stumbling- 

 bear and Sun-boy. He established his headquarters on uiyper Elk 

 creek, near Lone-wolf's camp, in the western part of the reservation, to 

 which he commanded all the faithful to repair in order to escape the 

 destruction which was to come upon the whites and their renegade sup- 

 porters, and appointed ten assistant priests, to whom he delegated a 

 share of his powers and duties. To quiet any fear of interference by 

 the authorities, he claimed to have a medicine which would render his 

 I'ollowers invulnerable, while he himself was not only invulnerable but 

 could kill soldiers or other enemies by his mere glance, as by a light- 

 ning stroke, as far as he could see them. 



His preaching roused great excitement among the Kiowa, nearly all 

 of whom — excepting those of Stumbling-bear's and Sun-boy's bands — 

 abandoned their homes and repaired to the appointed ])lace on Elk 

 creek, the parents taking their children from the schools in order that 

 they might not be involved in the general conflagration and destruc- 

 tion. In the summer the prophet's son died, and he promised to raise 

 him from the dead in the fall, but when the time came his medicine 

 unaccountably failed. 



The unrest among the Indians, for which no apparent cause could be 

 assigned, greatly alarmed the whites, who feared that the Indians 

 meditated an outbreak. As a precaution, the agent, Captain Hall, 

 summoned a detachment of troops, and taking with him a small escort, 

 went to the neighborhood of the prophet's camp and sent Stumbling- 

 bear and Sun-boy to him to bring him and some of the prominent 

 chiefs in order to discuss the matter. The result was that the Kiowa 

 agreed to go home and await developments. As the time fixed for the 

 fnlflllment of the prophecy came and passed without event, they became 

 convinced that they had been deceived and the excitement died out. 

 In the meantime Pa-ingya, who had befoi-e been poor and obscure, 

 had become rich by the horses and blankets which he had received 

 from the faithful; there were even those who were so uncht.,ritable as 

 to say that it was for this he had been working. Xothiug was done to 

 punish the prophet, who still lives, and when the news of the messiah 

 came a few years later, he claimed it as the fulhllment of his prophecy. 

 He has more recently assisted to revive the ghost dance at his home 

 on the Washita. 



WIXTER 1888-89 



The Set-t'an calendar records that the Kiowa were encamped during 

 this winter on the Washita, near the house of A'tii lii'te, " Feather-head- 

 dress", indicated by the figure of a tipi near a house above the winter 

 mark. 



