3fi0 CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA [eth-anx. 17 



above the winter mark is iuteuded for Sitting-bull. The first Kiowa 

 ghost dance was held on this occasion on the Washita at the month 

 of llainy-mountain creek, and was attended by nearly the whole tribe. 

 Even the progressive chief Stumbling-bear attended and encouraged 

 the dance, in the bope and faitb, as he says, that by so doing bis youth 

 would be renewed. About the, same time the Kiowa sent A'i)iatan, 

 "Wooden-lance," to visit the northern tribes and the messiah himself 

 for the purpose of investigating the truth of the reports. The event is 

 recorded on the Anko calendar by means of the figure of a man wear- 

 ing a head feather and a.shell breastplate, as A'piatan did when he 

 started on his journey. He returned in February, 1891. 



As the whole subject of the ghost dance has been exhaustively 

 treated by the author in his report on "The ghost-dance religion" in 

 the Fourteenth Annual Report, it is unnecessary to give here more 

 than the reference by the agent in bis report for 1S91 : 



ithost (laiicc. — This has been a tlisturbiiig occiuTenet- throughout most of the year. 

 This form of dancing has been indulged in mostly by the tribes north of the river. 

 The Kiowas sent some of their number to the north to investigate the matter. 

 Ah-j>e-ah-tone, the leader in this journey, returned in the early spring and brought 

 such a report with him as thoroughly convinced the Kiowas of the falsity of the 

 So-called messiah. They have danced little or none since his return. The Wichitas 

 and Caddos have clung to the superstition and danced until spring. They were led 

 to greater excess by the visit of .Sitting-bull, the Arapaho prophet from the north, 

 who is becoming rich in stock through the gifts of his followers. He has been .absent 

 in the north, but has now returned to the Cheyenne and Arap.aho agency .and will 

 probably repeat his performances of last year. Our AVichitas have .already com- 

 menced to dance again and the Comanches seem to be feeling the craze, and unless 

 decided measures are taken, we will probably have a repetition of last year's scenes 

 {Hepoi-t, 113). 



For the same winter, but .above instead of below the winter mark, the 

 Anko calendar records the death of three schoolboys, indicated by the 

 picture of a boy in civilized dress holding a book. Their names were 

 Svtii, "Small-cow-intestines;" KdihonhodaJ, "Dragonfly," and Motsli- 

 t.sr, from the Spanish muchacho, "boy," his mother being a Mexican 

 captive. They were attending the government Kiowa school, and one 

 of them had been whipped by a teacher, in consequence of which the 

 little fellow, with the two others, ran away from school and attempted 

 to reach their homes, some 30 miles out iu the mountains. The same 

 night a terrible blizzard came on, and after they had struggled pain- 

 fully along nearly the entire distance they sank in the .snow, exhausted 

 by fatigue, cold, and hunger, and all were found a few days later lying 

 together, frozen stiff, on the bleak slope of a mountain, by a -search 

 party of Indians. This occurrence nearly precipitated an outbreak, 

 and for a time it was thought that troops would be necessary to 

 (luell the disturbance, but through the judicious management of 

 Captain H. L. Scott, who was sent from Fort Sill to investigate and 

 report on the situation, the Indians were quieted without resort to 

 foice. 



