RELIGION Wl> CEREMONIES. 115 



General Nelson A. Miles. The hostility of the Indians 

 increased until December 29, 1890, when there was an 

 engagement between Big-foot's band and the com- 

 mand of Colonel Forsyth on Wounded Knee Creek, in 

 which thirty-one soldiers and one hundred twenty-eight 

 Indians were killed. In a short time after this decisive 

 engagement, practically all the Indians laid down their 

 arms and abandoned the ghost dance religion. It is 

 probable, however, that some of the ceremonies con- 

 nected with the ghost dance religion are performed even 

 to this day, since several of the leaders are still living. 



Fig. 39. Peyote Button. 



Practically all of the typical tribes (p. 18) took up 

 the new beliefs about the same time but no where else 

 did the excitement lead to violence. Among the 

 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Gros Ventre, the ceremonies 

 still exist in a modified form, apparently combined with 

 the Omaha or grass dance (p. 116). 



Peyote Worship. There are curious ceremonies con- 

 nected with the eating or administering of the dried 

 fruit of a small cactus (Anhalonium or Laphophora), 

 native of the lower Rio Grande and Mexico. The name 



