The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-10-07

Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo and
Wichita, all living together in what
was then Indian Territory. These
tribes were all more or less under the
influence of the new religion. The
principal study was made among the
Arapaho, who were among the most
active propagators of the Messiah doc
trine among the southern tribes, and
are especially friendly and cordial in
disposition. Another trip lasting three
months was made among the Kiawas,
and a third for the purpose of lnvesti-
eating the dance among the Sioux,
where it attracted most attention, and
among the Paiute, where it originated.
On this journey, the author visited the
Omaha, Winnebago, Sioux of Pine
Ridge, Paiute, Cheyenne and Arapaho,
met and talked with the Messiah him.
self, and afterwards on the strength of
this fact obtained from the Cheyenne
the original letter containing his mes
sage and instruction to the southern
tribes. The entire investigation occu-
pied twenty-five months and involved
nearly $4,000 miles of travel and more
or less time spent with about twenty
tribes.
Mr.. Mooney in his account of the
ghost dance religion proper prefaces
it with a discussion of the primitive
Messiah belief and or the teachings of
the various Indian prophets who have
preceded Wovoka, the founder Of the
ghost dance cult.
Probably every tribe had its early
hero god, who accomplished his work
in the mythic halcyon days, and whose
return to resume his kingdom is Gag
erly looked for. C~uriously enough,
this Messiah is usually described as a
white man with a flowing beard.
The doctrine that the world is old
and worn out, and that the time Of its
renewal is at hand. is an essential part
of the teachings of the ghost dance.
The number of these cycles of destruc-
ton is variously stated among different
tribes. Mr.. Mooney quotes School,
crafts account of the myth among the
Winnebago as the most sadly prophet
ic. Forty years 6 they held that
the tenth generation of their people
was hCdl It's SlooC, IL thut at II Chh
of the thirteenth the red race would be
destroyed. By prayers and no fire in
the center, being much like the modern
ghost dance.
1t is said that the Mormons, who
hold the theory that the Indians are
the descendants of the ten lost tribes"
cherish the belief that some of the lost
Tauyo - ct;ll ;no L>,-1 Il, fho fao1o,
north, whence they will emerge to join
their brethren in the south. When
the news of this Indian revelation came
to their ears the Mormon priests ac-
cepted it as a prophecy of the SPEEDY
fulfilment of their own traditions, and
Orson Pratt preached a sermon which
was extensively copied and commented
upon at the time, urging the faithful
to, arrange their affairs, and put their
houses in order to receive the long-ex-
pected wanderers. 1t appears that the
Mormons sent emissaries to the Ban
nocks urging them to go to Salt Lake
City to be baptized into the Mormon
religion. A large number accepted the
invitation without the knowledge of the
there baptized and then returned to
work as missionaries of the new faith
among the tribes. The Mormons fur
nished free rations to all who would
come, took an active interest in the
religious ferment then existing among
the Indians and helped to give shape,
according to Mr.. Mooney, to the doc
trine which crystallized some years
later as the ghost dance.
When Tavibo, the prophet of Mason
Valley, died about 1870. he left q son