Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-03-06
LAST BIC GAME HUNT
Great Indian Festival to Be Held
In Northern Idaho.
WHITE sP0RTsMEN INVITED.

CoIviIIe Reservations Braves From
Every Tribe In Pacific Northwest
Will Hunt and Feast-Bie Game
Plentiful There.
Chieftains, medicine men and braves
OF every tribe in the Pacific northwest
have been invited to the great Indian
council and spring festival, which will
take place near Agatha, at the headwa-
tiers of the Clearwater river, in north
ern Idaho, the last of March, when it
is expected to eclipse the annual medi-
cine dance just closed at Juliaetta,
where Peter Mox Mox, head man of the
Nez Perces, was the host, says a Spo-
kane CWash) special to the Chicago
News
Preparations are being made to en-
tertain several hundred men prominent
In the councils of their tribes at the
feast at which arrangements will be
made for the last big game hunt prior
ito the opening to settlement of the
Occur dAlene reservation of 100000
acres in northern Idaho and the Col
vile reservation of 100000 acres in
eastern Washington. 1t is expected
that number of white sportsmen will
be invited to participate in the hunt
The celebration at the Mox ranch, at
which the preliminary plans for the
hunt were outlined, was the most pre-
tentious yet attempted by the Nez
Perces AS a prelude to the medicine
dance there were tribal sports and
pastimes followed by the various minor
dances. Then came the feast at which
the chief item was a barbecued OK,
and when this was concluded the host
and his guests took part in the war
dance. This was followed by the Brok
and Brok peace dance following the
making of treaty. In the evening the
dookahwOn, a dance of the Nez Perez
tribe, was performed. 1t continued
about an hour, when the order sudden
~ changed to the Puget sound Indians
dance, called saledge This ended the
festivities for the evening, and the
next day was passed in the medicine
dances. This order continued through
the festival.
The costumes in which the dancers
arrayed themselves were gaudy and
expensive, being made of beads and
fancy cloths and leather, while the
+, headgear and decorations were of elk
teeth, bear claws and feathers, arrang
ed to show the tribal standing of the
=
cine man is the most elaborate, being
made Of perfectly matched beads on
rich CLOTH with bright feathers as head
gear.
The dances were interesting, the In
dians keeping perfect time to the war
songs and moving in unison till it
seemed as though they were images
moved by mechanical force. The
dances were carried on without a no
ticeabIe movement Of the muscles of
the mems faces, and it was impossible
to tell from the expression whether
they felt the effects of the long con-
tinued and involved gyrations, the old
men seeming as fresh at each new
dance as the youths.
The medicine dance was the most
interesting and was the only one the
Indians were able to give clear ex-
PLANTATION Of. The dance comes from
the ancient belief that when a person
is i'll some evil spirit has taken posses
sion of his soul and that unless this is
driven out the person will die. The
only man in the tribe that can drive
out the evil spirit is the medicine man,
who is believed to have a divine pow
er over the souls of the tribesmen. 1t
is this dance which brings the Indians
together each year, and it is the one
time in the year when the medicine
man has the greatest power.
Head men of the UmatiIla. Yakima,
Spokane Colville and other tribes in
the northwest say the feast just closed
will have a place in Indian history as
one of the greatest in recent years on
account of the large number of repre-
sentative men as participants in the
dances and the manner in which every
detail of the celebration was carried
out. There was no drunkenness-in
fact, no frewater was seen, Peter Mox
Mox having given his word he would
allow no one to drink liquor while his
guest, and no attempt was made to
bring it from saloons at Juliaetta.
The coming hunt of the Indians is
attracting much attention among
sportsmen throughout the country. 1t
will extend from the wilds- of north
Idaho, through several counties in east
ern Washington to the boundary coun-
try, where big game is reported to be
yInr+if17I +hiu 1aor