Chapter IX: Introduction (7)

“Louis Yowaluch is the strong man of the Shaker church. He is 6 feet tall, rawboned, muscular, and rather slow. While he may once have been, as he says, a drunkard, he is now a Christian man. His conservativeness makes him a fine leader for the organization, while all the Indians respect him for his humanity and charity, for his honesty and uprightness, for his fearlessness and love of right. He fully and freely places John Slocum at the head of the church, as the man who ascended to heaven and brought back a personal knowledge of the road, but at the same time he takes the lead in laying out work, building churches, and sending out preachers to new tribes.”

“A new feature of this religion is found in Sam Yowaluch, the brother of Louis. He is younger than Louis, and has more of the native superstition in his character. He has by common consent been placed at the head of the faith-cure branch of the church. The following synopsis of his ‘talk’ will be an explanation of his position:”

“Among the Shakers, John Slocum is first. Louis is next. I take
power and cure people when they are sick. Long time ago I knew
nothing—just like an animal. No doctoring, no medicine—no good.
I was a drunkard, was a thief, and a robber. When I joined this
religion, I was told to be good. When John Slocum was preaching, I
heard that if I prayed I would have power and be a medicine-man,
and could cure the sick. From time John Slocum preached I tried to
be a good Christian man. I prayed and was sick—my soul was sick. I
prayed to God and he pays me for that. There is lots of difference
between this power and old Indian doctoring. This is not old power.
I can cure people now. I have cured some white men and women, but
they are ashamed to tell it. I cure without money. One big, rich
man, Henry Walker, was sick—had great pains in his ear and leg.
Doctor at Olympia failed to cure him, and he came to John Slocum
and me. We worked for him, prayed, and he lay down and slept and
was cured. He offered us twenty dollars—but no, we refused it. God
will pay us when we die. This is our religion. When we die, we get
our pay from God.”

“No, we do not believe the Bible. We believe in God, and in Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, and we believe in a hell. In these
matters we believe the same as the Presbyterians. We think fully
of God today. A good Christian man is a good medicine-man. A good
Christian man in the dark sees a light toward God. God makes a
fog—good Christian man goes straight through it to the end, like
good medicine. I believe this religion. It helps poor people. Bad
man can’t see good—bad man can’t get to heaven—can’t find his way.
We were sent to jail for this religion, but we will never give
up. We all believe that John Slocum died and went to heaven, and
was sent back to preach to the people. We all talk about that and
believe it.”

“The Shakers use candles, bells, crucifixes, Catholic pictures, etc., in their church and other ceremonies. As Mr Ellis says, they use paraphernalia of the Catholic, Presbyterian, and even some of the Indian religion. They cross themselves as the Catholics do; they say grace before and after meals; they stand and pray and chant in unison; they set candles around the dead as the Catholics do, and believe in the cure of the sick by faith and prayer. In times of excitement many of them twitch and shake, but in no instance do they conduct themselves in so nervous a manner as I have seen orthodox Christians do at old Sandy Branch camp-meeting in Illinois. They believe that by praying with a man or woman and rubbing the person they could induce them to join their church, and could rub away their sins; but they have no rite, no ceremony, no belief, no policy, no form of religion that is not in use by some one or other of our orthodox people.”

“Their religion, in brief, is a belief in God as the father and ruler of all, and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. They know there is a heaven, for John Slocum was there, and believe in a hell of fire for the punishment of sinners, because the angels in heaven told John Slocum about it. They do not care for the Bible. It is of no use to them, for they have a distinct revelation direct from heaven. This is the only practical difference between them and the orthodox believers, and this they do not care for.”

Two of their songs, as recorded by Mr Wickersham, are as follows:

_Stalib gwuch Kwē Shuck, or Song of Heaven_

Alkwē klū sutlh akwē schelch huchum akwē shuck;
When we get warning from heaven;
Gwalch clah tlōwch kwē lehass;
Then the angels will come;
Gwalch clah gwä tä äddō kwē kä-kä tēdtēd;
Then the wonderful bells will ring;
Gwalch clah ass kwā-buch kwē kä-kä tsille;
Then our souls will be ready;
Gwalch clah ōwhuh tu shuck;
Then they will go up to heaven;
Gwalch clah tālib tōbuch ah shō-shō-quille;
Then we will sing with Jesus;
Gwalch clah jōil tōbuch ah shō-shō-quille.
Then we will be happy with Jesus.

_Quā-dā-tsits Stālib, or Preacher’s Song_

Chelch lä tā lā, beuch;
Then we shall sing;
Chelch lä tā lā beuch;
Then we shall sing;
Chelch lä tā lā beuch;
Then we shall sing;
Al kwe shuck älläl.
Up in heaven’s house.

Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla,
Then we’ll be happy,
Al kwe shuck älläl.
Up in heaven’s house.

Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla,
Then we’ll be happy,
Yuchquē shō-shō-quille.
Up with Jesus.

Mr Wickersham then gives an account of the persecutions to which the rising sect was for a long time subjected, chiefly at the hands of agent Edwin Eells and his brother, Reverend Myron Eells, already quoted at length, who was at that time the missionary on the Skokomish reservation. As Mr Wickersham’s statements in this regard are mainly in the form of extended quotations from Ten Years’ Missionary Work at Skokomish, written by the Reverend Mr Eells himself, they may be regarded as conclusive. It is apparent that a part at least of this persecution, which took the shape of banishment, chains, and imprisonment, and even the forcible seizure of a dead body from the bereaved relatives, was due to the fact that the Shakers, who considered themselves a genuine branch of the Christian church, were disposed to lean toward Catholicity rather than toward the denominational form upheld by the agent and his brother.

However, religious persecution failed as utterly in its purpose in this case as it has and must in all others. Quoting from Mr Eells, “The chiefs did not care if they were deposed, were about to resign, and did not wish to have anything more to do with the ‘Boston’ religion or the agent. Billy Clams was ready, if need be, to suffer as Christ did. He was willing to be a martyr.”

Mr Wickersham continues:

“While Billy Clams and some of his people publicly abandoned the
forms of Shaker religion rather than be banished, yet John Slocum
and his people refused to so surrender, and the agent sent out
his police and arrested John Slocum, Louis Yowaluch, and two or
three more of these people—good, true men—and, loading their limbs
with chains, confined them for several weeks in the dirty little
single room of a jail at the Puyallup agency, near Tacoma. Their
only offense was worship of a different form from that adopted
by the agent and his brother. They had broken no law, created no
disorder, and yet they suffered ignominious incarceration in a vile
dungeon, loaded with chains, at the pleasure of the agent. The
Shakers believed in God, in Jesus Christ, in heaven and hell, in
temperance, sobriety, and a virtuous life. They abandoned the old
Indian religion and all its vices and forms, including the power of
the doctors or medicine-men. These medicine-men had a great hold
on the Indian mind, and they joined the minister and the agent in
their fight on the Shakers, because the Shakers fought them; so
that there was seen the unique spectacle of the savage shamanism
of the American Indian and the supposed orthodox religion of
civilization hand in hand fighting the followers of Jesus Christ.”

“Imprisonment, banishment, threats, chains, and the general ill
will of the agent and all his employees were visited on these
Shakers who continued to practice their forms of worship, and yet
they did continue it. In spite of the fact that they occupied a
place only half-way between slaves and freemen, and were under the
orders of the agent and subject to be harassed and annoyed all the
time by him, yet they continued nobly and fearlessly to practice
their religion and to worship God and Jesus Christ as they saw
fit. To do it, however, they were forced to stay away from the
reservations, where the greater number of employees were located,
and their churches were built on Mud bay and Oyster bay, far away
from the reservations.”

“But a brighter day came for these people, a day when they could
stand up and defy every form or force of persecution. In 1886
Congress passed the Indian land severalty bill, an act providing
for dividing lands in severalty to Indians, and providing that
those who took lands and adopted the habits of civilized life
should be American citizens, with all the rights, privileges, and
immunities of any other citizen. In 1892 I was appointed by Judge
Hanford to defend a prisoner in the United States district court at
Tacoma. The prisoner was accused of selling liquor to a Puyallup
Indian, but it appeared on cross-examination that this Indian owned
land in severalty, voted, paid taxes, and exercised other rights
of citizenship. The question was then raised by me on motion to
dismiss, that these land-holding, tax-paying Indians were citizens
of the United States, free and independent. The United States
prosecuting attorney appeared to contest the claim, but after an
extended argument Judge Hanford held with me, and the prisoner was
discharged.”

“The effect of this decision was far-reaching. It meant that all
land-holding Indians were no longer wards of the government, but
free citizens and not under the control of the Indian agent. The
Shaker people, hearing this, sent a deputation to see me, and I
held a long consultation with them, assuring them that they were
as free as the agent, and could establish their own church, own
and build houses of worship, and do both in religious and worldly
matters as other citizens of the United States could. This was
glorious news to them. It meant freedom, it meant the cessation of
persecution and annoyance by the agency employees, and they were
jubilant.”

“Accordingly they met on June 6, 1892, at Mud bay, at Louis
Yowaluch’s house, and organized their church on a regular business
basis. The following officers were elected: Headman, Louis
Yowaluch; elders, John Slocum, Louis Yowaluch, John Smith, James
Walker, Charles Walker, John W. Simmons, and William James. At
this meeting the following persons were also appointed ministers
of this church, and licenses were issued to them, to wit: Louis
Yowaluch, John Slocum, James Tobin, John Powers, and Richard
Jackson. Provision was made to establish a church at the Puyallup
reservation, where the power of the agent had hitherto kept them
out, and William James, a Puyallup landowner, gave land for a
church. After much talk about sending out ministers, etc., the
meeting adjourned, after a two days’ session, and the Shaker
church, after eleven years’ fighting against persecutions, was an
established fact, free and independent, with its own officers,
ministers, and church property.”

“The spectacle of an Indian church with Indian officers, preachers,
and members, and of houses built by the Indians for church
purposes, was too much for the average citizen of Puget sound, and
the Shakers were continually disturbed, not only by the whites,
but by the Indians who could not and did not appreciate the change
to citizenship, so that I was constantly applied to for protection
by the ministers and members of the Shaker church. A ‘paper’ has
a great effect on the average Indian, and I issued on application
several papers addressed in general terms to those who might be
disposed to interfere with them, which had a quieting effect and
caused evil-disposed persons to respect the Indians and their
religion, or at least to let them alone. They now feel quite
confident of their position, and are acting quite like the average
citizen. Even the persons who persecuted them for eleven years now
felt obliged to retire from the conflict, and a day of peace is
reached at last.”

“The Shaker church now reaches over nearly the whole of western
Washington. The story of Slocum’s death and visit to heaven, and
his return to preach to the Indians, is accepted by them as a
direct revelation of the will of God. They say that they do not
need to read the Bible, for do they not have better and more
recent testimony of the existence of heaven and of the way to that
celestial home than is contained in the Bible? Here is John Slocum,
alive, and has he not been to heaven? Then, why read the Bible to
learn the road, when John can so easily tell them all about it?
The Bible says there are many roads; the Catholics have one, the
Presbyterians another, and the Congregationalists a third; but John
Slocum gives them a short, straight road—and they choose that.”

“The Shaker church now has a building for church purposes at Mud
bay, at Oyster bay, at Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Puyallup. They have
about a dozen ministers regularly licensed, and about 500 members.
Most of the Indians at Skokomish belong, while the Squaxins,
Chehalis, Nisqually, Cowlitz, and Columbia River Indians, and in
fact the majority of the Indians of western Washington, either
belong or are in sympathy with its teachings, so that it is now the
strongest church among them. They are sending out runners to the
Yakimas east of the Cascade mountains, and expect before long to
make an effort to convert that tribe.”

“The Indian is inclined to be weak, and to adopt the vices of the
white man, but not his virtues. However, this is not true of the
Shakers. They do not drink intoxicants of any kind, and make a
special effort at all times to banish liquor. This is the strong
element in their faith, and the one for which they fight hardest.
They feel upon their honor in the matter, and contrast the members
of their church at every place with those belonging to the other
denominations—and it is too true that an Indian does not seem at
all to be restrained from drink by belonging to the other churches
as he does in the Shaker church. In the others he feels no personal
interest. The honor of neither himself nor his people is involved,
and if he disgraces himself it reflects, in his opinion, rather
on the white man’s church. Not so with the Shakers. No white man
belongs to their church, and it is their boast that no white
preacher can keep his Indian members from drink as they can—and it
is true. After their opposition to liquor, next comes gambling.
From these two vices flow nearly all troubles to the Indian, and
the Shakers are certainly successful in extinguishing their spread
among the Indians. They make special war on drunkenness, gambling,
and horse racing, and preach honesty, sobriety, temperance, and
right living.”

“The Presbyterian church occupies a queer position, with regard to
these people. The Reverend M. G. Mann has been the missionary to
the Indians of Puget sound for many years, and has succeeded in
making a very favorable impression upon them. He has been specially
attentive to the Shakers, and, to his credit be it said, has never
tried to coerce them, and has only dealt with them kindly. So far
has this gone that Louis Yowaluch was long ago taken into the
Presbyterian church, and is now an accredited elder therein. Louis
does not know, seemingly, how to escape from his dual position,
or rather does not seem to think that he needs to escape. It all
seems to be for the best interest of his people, so he continues to
occupy the position of elder in the Presbyterian church and headman
of the Shaker church.”

“At a recent meeting of the Presbyterian ministers the position of
these Shaker people was fully discussed, and the strongest language
was used in saying only good about them, and every effort seems
to be made by the Presbyterians to claim the Shakers in a body
as members of the Presbyterian church. If this account were not
already too long, the reports of the church on the subject would
be quoted, but the fact speaks volumes for the character of the
Shakers and their teaching.”

“In conclusion: I have known the Shaker people now intimately, as
their attorney, for more than a year, and out of the many drunken
Indians I have seen in that time not one was a Shaker. Not one
of their people has been arrested for crime in that time. They
are good citizens, and are far more temperate and peaceable than
those Indians belonging to the other churches. I feel that their
church is a grand success in that it prevents idleness and vice,
drunkenness and disorder, and tends to produce quiet, peaceable
citizens, and good Christian people. I think the Presbyterians
make a mistake in trying to bring the Shakers into their fold—they
ought rather to protect them and give them every assistance in
their autonomy. It adds the greatest incentive to their labors, and
makes them feel as if they were of some account. It lets them labor
for themselves, instead of feeling, as always heretofore, that
some one else—they hardly knew who—was responsible. Their forms of
Christianity are not very unorthodox—their Christianity is quite
orthodox, not exactly because they take Slocum’s revelation instead
of the Bible, but the result is the same—a Christian.”

“+James Wickersham.+”
“+Tacoma, Washington+, _June 25, 1893_.”

From competent Indian informants of eastern Washington—Charles Ike, half-blood Yakima interpreter, and Chief Wolf Necklace of the Pä’lus, we gather additional particulars, from which it would appear that there are more things in the Shaker system than are dreamed of in the philosophy of the Presbyterian general assembly.

According to their statements, Yowaluch, or Ai-yäl, as he is known east of the Cascades, was noted as a gambler before he received his revelation. His followers are called _Shäpupu-‛lĕma_, or “blowers,” by the Yakima, from the fact that on meeting a stranger, instead of at once shaking hands with him in the usual manner, they first wave the hand gently in front of his face like a fan, and blow on him, in order to “blow away the badness” from him. They first appeared among the Yakima and other eastern tribes about six years ago, and are gradually gaining adherents, although as yet they have no regular time or place of assembly. They are much addicted to making the sign of the cross—the cross, it is hardly necessary to state, being as much an Indian as a Christian symbol—and are held in great repute as doctors, their treatment consisting chiefly of hypnotic performances over the patient, resulting in the spasmodic shaking already described. In doctoring a patient the “blowers” usually gather around him in a circle to the number of about twelve, dressed in a very attractive ceremonial costume, and each wearing on his head a sort of crown of woven cedar bark, in which are fixed two lighted candles, while in his right hand he carries a small cloth, and in the left another lighted candle. By fastening screens of colored cloth over the candles the light is made to appear yellow, white, or blue. The candle upon the forehead is yellow, symbolic of the celestial glory; that at the back of the head is white, typical of the terrestrial light, while the third is blue, the color of the sky.

Frequently also they carry in their hands or wear on their heads garlands of roses and other flowers of various colors, yellow, white, and blue being the favorite, which they say represent the colors of objects in the celestial world. While the leader is going through his hypnotic performance over the patient the others are waving the cloths and swinging in circles the candles held in their hands. In all this it is easy to see the influence of the Catholic ritual, with its censers, tapers, and flowers, with which these tribes have been more or less familiar for the last fifty years.

A single instance will suffice to show the methods of the blower doctors. The story is told from the Indian point of view, as related by the half-blood interpreter, who believed it all. About six years ago two of these doctors from the north, while visiting near Woodland on the Columbia, were called to the assistance of a woman who was seriously ill, and had received no benefit from the treatment of the native doctors. They came and almost immediately on seeing the patient announced to the relatives that the sickness had been put into her by the evil magic of a neighboring medicine-man, whom they then summoned into their presence. When the messenger arrived for him, the medicine-man refused to go, saying that the doctors were liars and that he had not made the woman ill. By their clairaudient power—or possibly by a shrewd anticipation of probabilities—the doctors in the other house knew of his refusal and sent another messenger to tell him that concealment or denial would not avail him, and that if he refused to come they would proceed to blow the sickness into his own body. Without further argument he accompanied the messengers to the sick woman’s house. As he entered, the chief doctor stepped up to him and looking intently into his face, said, “I can see your heart within your body, and it is black with evil things. You are not fit to live. You are making this woman sick, but we shall take out the badness from her body.” With the cloths and lighted candles the two doctors then approached the sick woman, and commanded her to arise, which she did, although she had been supposed to be too weak to stand. Waving the cloths in front of her with a gentle fanning motion, and blowing upon her at the same time, they proceeded to drive the disease out of her body, beginning at the feet and working upward until, as they approached the head the principal doctor changed the movement to a rapid fanning and corresponding blowing, while the assistant stood ready with his cloth to seize the disease when it should be driven out. All this time the medicine-man standing a few feet away was shaking and quivering like one in a fit, and the trembling became more violent and spasmodic as the doctors increased the speed of their motions. Finally the leader brought his hands together over the woman’s head, where, just as the disease attempted to escape, it was seized and imprisoned in the cloth held by his assistant. Then, going up to the medicine-man, with a few rapid passes they fanned the disease into his body and he fell down dead. The woman recovered, and with her sister has recently come up to the Yakima country as an apostle of the new religion, preaching the doctrines and performing the wonders which she has been taught by the Nisqually doctors.

This is the Indian story as told by the half-blood, who did not claim to have been an eye-witness, but spoke of it as a matter of common knowledge and beyond question. It is doubtless substantially correct. The hypnotic action described is the same which the author has repeatedly seen employed in the Ghost dance, resulting successively in involuntary trembling, violent spasmodic action, rigidity, and final deathlike unconsciousness. The Ghost dancers regard the process not only as a means of bringing them into trance communication with their departed friends, but also as a preventive and cure of disease, just as we have our faith healers and magnetic doctors. With the Indian’s implicit faith in the supernatural ability of the doctor, it is easy to suppose that the mental effect on the woman, who was told and believed that she was to be cured, would aid recovery if recovery was possible. It is unlikely that death resulted to the medicine-man. It is more probable that under the hypnotic spell of the doctors he fell unconscious and apparently lifeless and remained so perhaps for a considerable time, as frequently happens with sensitive subjects in the Ghost dance. The fact that the same process should produce exactly opposite effects in the two subjects is easily explainable. The object of the hypnotic performance was simply to bring the mind of the subject under the control of the operator. This accomplished, the mental, and ultimately the physical, effect on either subject was whatever the operator wished it to be. After bringing both under mental control in the manner described, he suggested recovery to the woman and sickness or death to the medicine-man, and the result followed.

Until the advent of these women from beyond the mountains such hypnotic performances seem to have been unknown among the Yakima and other eastern tribes of the Columbia region, the trance condition in the Smohalla devotees being apparently due entirely to the effect of the rhythmic dances and songs acting on excited imaginations, without the aid of blowing or manual passes.

Hypnotism and so-called magnetism, however, appear to have been employed by the medicine-men of the Chinook tribes of the lower Columbia from ancient times. Especially wonderful in this connection are the stories told of one of these men residing at Wushqûm or Wisham, near The Dalles.

About the time the two blower doctors appeared at Woodland, other apostles of the same doctrine, or it may have been the same two men, went up Willamet river into central Oregon, teaching the same system and performing the same wonders among the tribes of that region. And here comes in a remarkable coincidence, if it be no more. It is said among the northern Indians that on this journey these apostles met, somewhere in the south, a young man to whom they taught their mysteries, in which he became such an apt pupil that he soon outstripped his teachers, and is now working even greater wonders among his own people. This young man can be no other than Wovoka, the messiah of the Ghost dance, living among the Paiute in western Nevada. The only question is whether the story told among the Columbia tribes is a myth based on vague rumors of the southern messiah and his hypnotic performances, so similar to that of the blower doctors, or whether Wovoka actually derived his knowledge of such things from these northern apostles. The latter supposition is entirely within the bounds of possibility. The time corresponds with the date of his original revelations, as stated by himself to the writer. He is a young man, and, although he has never been far from home, the tribe to which he belongs roams in scattered bands over the whole country to the Willamet and the watershed of the Columbia, so that communication with the north is by no means difficult. He himself stated that Indians from Warmspring reservation, in northern Oregon, have attended his dances near Walker lake.

+Chapter IX+

WOVOKA THE MESSIAH

When the sun died, I went up to heaven and saw God and all the
people who had died a long time ago. God told me to come back
and tell my people they must be good and love one another, and
not fight, or steal, or lie. He gave me this dance to give to my
people.—_Wovoka._

When Tävibo, the prophet of Mason valley, died, about 1870, he left a son named Wovoka, “The Cutter,” about 14 years of age. The prophetic claims and teachings of the father, the reverence with which he was regarded by the people, and the mysterious ceremonies which were doubtless of frequent performance in the little tulé wikiup at home must have made early and deep impression on the mind of the boy, who seems to have been by nature of a solitary and contemplative disposition, one of those born to see visions and hear still voices.

The physical environment was favorable to the development of such a character. His native valley, from which he has never wandered, is a narrow strip of level sage prairie some 30 miles in length, walled in by the giant sierras, their sides torn and gashed by volcanic convulsions and dark with gloomy forests of pine, their towering summits white with everlasting snows, and roofed over by a cloudless sky whose blue infinitude the mind instinctively seeks to penetrate to far-off worlds beyond. Away to the south the view is closed in by the sacred mountain of the Paiute, where their Father gave them the first fire and taught them their few simple arts before leaving for his home in the upper regions of the Sun-land. Like the valley of Rasselas, it seems set apart from the great world to be the home of a dreamer.

The greater portion of Nevada is an arid desert of rugged mountains and alkali plains, the little available land being confined to narrow mountain valleys and the borders of a few large lakes. These tracts are occupied by scattered ranchmen engaged in stock raising, and as the white population is sparse, Indian labor is largely utilized, the Paiute being very good workers. The causes which in other parts of the country have conspired to sweep the Indian from the path of the white man seem inoperative here, where the aboriginal proprietors are regarded rather as peons under the protection of the dominant race, and are allowed to set up their small camps of tulé lodges in convenient out-of-the-way places, where they spend the autumn and winter in hunting, fishing, and gathering seeds and piñon nuts, working at fair wages on ranches through spring and summer. In this way young Wovoka became attached to the family of a ranchman in Mason valley, named David Wilson, who took an interest in him and bestowed on him the name of Jack Wilson, by which he is commonly known among the whites. From his association with this family he gained some knowledge of English, together with a confused idea of the white man’s theology. On growing up he married, and still continued to work for Mr Wilson, earning a reputation for industry and reliability, but attracting no special notice until nearly 30 years of age, when he announced the revelation that has made him famous among the tribes of the west.

Following are the various forms of his name which I have noticed: Wo′voka, or Wü′voka, which I have provisionally rendered “Cutter,” derived from a verb signifying “to cut;” Wevokar, Wopokahte, Kwohitsauq, Cowejo, Koit-tsow, Kvit-Tsow, Quoitze Ow, Jack Wilson, Jackson Wilson, Jack Winson, John Johnson. He has also been confounded with Bannock Jim, a Mormon Bannock of Fort Hall reservation, Idaho, and with Johnson Sides, a Paiute living near Reno, Nevada, and bitterly opposed to Wovoka. His father’s name, Tävibo, has been given also as Waughzeewaughber. It is not quite certain that the Paiute prophet of 1870 was the father of Wovoka. This is stated to have been the case by one of Captain Lee’s informants (_A. G. O., 4_) and by Lieutenant Phister (_Phister, 2_). Wovoka himself says that his father did not preach, but was a “dreamer” with supernatural powers. Certain it is that a similar doctrine was taught by an Indian living in the same valley in Wovoka’s boyhood. Possibly the discrepancy might be explained by an unwillingness on the part of the messiah to share his spiritual honors.

In proportion as Wovoka and his doctrines have become subjects of widespread curiosity, so have they become subjects of ignorant misrepresentation and deliberate falsification. Different writers have made him a Paiute, a half-blood, and a Mormon white man. Numberless stories have been told of the origin and character of his mission and the day predicted for its final accomplishment. The most mischievous and persistent of these stories has been that which represents him as preaching a bloody campaign against the whites, whereas his doctrine is one of peace, and he himself is a mild-tempered member of a weak and unwarlike tribe. His own good name has been filched from him and he has been made to appear under a dozen different cognomens, including that of his bitterest enemy, Johnson Sides. He has been denounced as an impostor, ridiculed as a lunatic, and laughed at as a pretended Christ, while by the Indians he is revered as a direct messenger from the Other World, and among many of the remote tribes he is believed to be omniscient, to speak all languages, and to be invisible to a white man. We shall give his own story as told by himself, with such additional information as seems to come from authentic sources.

Notwithstanding all that had been said and written by newspaper correspondents about the messiah, not one of them had undertaken to find the man himself and to learn from his own lips what he really taught. It is almost equally certain that none of them had even seen a Ghost dance at close quarters—certainly none of them understood its meaning. The messiah was regarded almost as a myth, something intangible, to be talked about but not to be seen. The first reliable information as to his personality was communicated by the scout, Arthur Chapman, who, under instructions from the War Department, visited the Paiute country in December, 1890, and spent four days at Walker lake and Mason valley, and in the course of an interview with Wovoka obtained from him a detailed statement similar in all essentials to that which I obtained later on. (_Sec. War, 3._)

After having spent seven months in the field, investigating the new religion among the prairie tribes, particularly the Arapaho, and after having examined all the documents bearing on the subject in the files of the Indian Office and War Department, the author left Washington in November, 1891, to find and talk with the messiah and to gather additional material concerning the Ghost dance. Before starting, I had written to the agent in charge of the reservation to which he was attached for information in regard to the messiah (Jack Wilson) and the dance, and learned in reply, with some surprise, that the agent had never seen him. The surprise grew into wonder when I was further informed that there were “neither Ghost songs, dances, nor ceremonials” among the Paiute.[6] This was discouraging, but not entirely convincing, and I set out once more for the west. After a few days with the Omaha and Winnebago in Nebraska, and a longer stay with the Sioux at Pine Ridge, where traces of the recent conflict were still fresh on every hand, I crossed over the mountains and finally arrived at Walker Lake reservation in Nevada.

On inquiry I learned that the messiah lived, not on the reservation, but in Mason valley, about 40 miles to the northwest. His uncle, Charley Sheep, lived near the agency, however, so I sought him out and made his acquaintance. He spoke tolerable—or rather intolerable—English, so that we were able to get along together without an interpreter, a fact which brought us into closer sympathy, as an interpreter is generally at best only a necessary evil. As usual, he was very suspicious at first, and inquired minutely as to my purpose. I explained to him that I was sent out by the government to the various tribes to study their customs and learn their stories and songs; that I had obtained a good deal from other tribes and now wanted to learn some songs and stories of the Paiute, in order to write them down so that the white people could read them. In a casual way I then offered to show him the pictures of some of my Indian friends across the mountains, and brought out the photos of several Arapaho and Cheyenne who I knew had recently come as delegates to the messiah. This convinced him that I was all right, and he became communicative. The result was that we spent about a week together in the wikiups (lodges of tulé rushes), surrounded always by a crowd of interested Paiute, discussing the old stories and games, singing Paiute songs, and sampling the seed mush and roasted piñon nuts. On one of these occasions, at night, a medicine-man was performing his incantations over a sick child on one side of the fire while we were talking on the other. When the ice was well thawed, I cautiously approached the subject of the ghost songs and dance, and, as confidence was now established, I found no difficulty in obtaining a number of the songs, with a description of the ceremonial. I then told Charley that, as I had taken part in the dance, I was anxious to see the messiah and get from him some medicine-paint to bring back to his friends among the eastern tribes. He readily agreed to go with me and use his efforts with his nephew to obtain what was wanted.

It is 20 miles northward by railroad from Walker River agency to Wabuska, and 12 miles more in a southwesterly direction from there to the Mason valley settlement. There we met a young white man named Dyer, who was well acquainted with Jack Wilson, and who also spoke the Paiute language, and learned from him that the messiah was about 12 miles farther up the valley, near a place called Pine Grove. Enlisting his services, with a team and driver, making four in all, we started up toward the mountain. It was New Year’s day of 1892, and there was deep snow on the ground, a very unusual thing in this part of the country, and due in this instance, as Charley assured us, to the direct agency of Jack Wilson. It is hard to imagine anything more monotonously unattractive than a sage prairie under ordinary circumstances unless it be the same prairie when covered by a heavy fall of snow, under which the smaller clumps of sagebrush look like prairie-dog mounds, while the larger ones can hardly be distinguished at a short distance from wikiups. However, the mountains were bright in front of us, the sky was blue overhead, and the road was good under foot.

Soon after leaving the settlement we passed the dance ground with the brush shelters still standing. We met but few Indians on the way. After several miles we noticed a man at some distance from the road with a gun across his shoulder. Dyer looked a moment and then exclaimed, “I believe that’s Jack now!” The Indian thought so, too, and pulling up our horses he shouted some words in the Paiute language. The man replied, and sure enough it was the messiah, hunting jack rabbits. At his uncle’s call he soon came over.

As he approached I saw that he was a young man, a dark full-blood, compactly built, and taller than the Paiute generally, being nearly 6 feet in height. He was well dressed in white man’s clothes, with the broad-brimmed white felt hat common in the west, secured on his head by means of a beaded ribbon under the chin. This, with a blanket or a robe of rabbit skins, is now the ordinary Paiute dress. He wore a good pair of boots. His hair was cut off square on a line below the base of the ears, after the manner of his tribe. His countenance was open and expressive of firmness and decision, but with no marked intellectuality. The features were broad and heavy, very different from the thin, clear-cut features of the prairie tribes.

WINTER VIEW IN MASON VALLEY, SHOWING SNOW-COVERED SAGEBRUSH]

As he came up he took my hand with a strong, hearty grasp, and inquired what was wanted. His uncle explained matters, adding that I was well acquainted with some of his Indian friends who had visited him a short time before, and was going back to the same people. After some deliberation he said that the whites had lied about him and he did not like to talk to them; some of the Indians had disobeyed his instructions and trouble had come of it, but as I was sent by Washington and was a friend of his friends, he would talk with me. He was hunting now, but if we would come to his camp that night he would tell us about his mission.

With another hand-shake he left us, and we drove on to the nearest ranch, arriving about dark. After supper we got ready and started across country through the sagebrush for the Paiute camp, some miles away, guided by our Indian. It was already night, with nothing to be seen but the clumps of snow-covered sagebrush stretching away in every direction, and after traveling an hour or more without reaching the camp, our guide had to confess that he had lost the trail. It was two years since he had been there, his sight was failing, and, with the snow and the darkness, he was utterly at a loss to know his whereabouts.

To be lost on a sage plain on a freezing night in January is not a pleasant experience. There was no road, and no house but the one we had left some miles behind, and it would be almost impossible to find our way back to that through the darkness. Excepting for a lantern there was no light but what came from the glare of the snow and a few stars in the frosty sky overhead. To add to our difficulty, the snow was cut in every direction by cattle trails, which seemed to be Indian trails, and kept us doubling and circling to no purpose, while in the uncertain gloom every large clump of sagebrush took on the appearance of a wikiup, only to disappoint us on a nearer approach. With it all, the night was bitterly cold and we were half frozen. After vainly following a dozen false trails and shouting repeatedly in hope of hearing an answering cry, we hit on the expedient of leaving the Indian with the wagon, he being the oldest man of the party, while the rest of us each took a different direction from the central point, following the cattle tracks in the snow and calling to each other at short intervals, in order that we might not become lost from one another. After going far enough to know that none of us had yet struck the right trail, the wagon was moved up a short distance and the same performance was repeated. At last a shout from our driver brought us all together. He declared that he had heard sounds in front, and after listening a few minutes in painful suspense we saw a shower of sparks go up into the darkness and knew that we had struck the camp. Going back to the wagon, we got in and drove straight across to the spot, where we found three or four little wikiups, in one of which we were told the messiah was awaiting our arrival.

On entering through the low doorway we found ourselves in a circular lodge made of bundles of tulé rushes laid over a framework of poles, after the fashion of the thatched roofs of Europe, and very similar to the grass lodges of the Wichita. The lodge was only about 10 feet in diameter and about 8 feet in height, with sloping sides, and was almost entirely open above, like a cone with the top cut off, as in this part of the country rain or snow is of rare occurrence. As already remarked, the deep snow at the time was something unusual. In the center, built directly on the ground, was a blazing fire of sagebrush, upon which fresh stalks were thrown from time to time, sending up a shower of sparks into the open air. It was by this means that we had been guided to the camp. Sitting or lying around the fire were half a dozen Paiute, including the messiah and his family, consisting of his young wife, a boy about 4 years of age, of whom he seemed very fond, and an infant. It was plain that he was a kind husband and father, which was in keeping with his reputation among the whites for industry and reliability. The only articles in the nature of furniture were a few grass woven bowls and baskets of various sizes and patterns. There were no Indian beds or seats of the kind found in every prairie tipi, no rawhide boxes, no toilet pouches, not even a hole dug in the ground for the fire. Although all wore white men’s dress, there were no pots, pans, or other articles of civilized manufacture, now used by even the most primitive prairie tribes, for, strangely enough, although these Paiute are practically farm laborers and tenants of the whites all around them, and earn good wages, they seem to covet nothing of the white man’s, but spend their money for dress, small trinkets, and ammunition for hunting, and continue to subsist on seeds, piñon nuts, and small game, lying down at night on the dusty ground in their cramped wikiups, destitute of even the most ordinary conveniences in use among other tribes. It is a curious instance of a people accepting the inevitable while yet resisting innovation.

Wovoka received us cordially and then inquired more particularly as to my purpose in seeking an interview. His uncle entered into a detailed explanation, which stretched out to a preposterous length, owing to a peculiar conversational method of the Paiute. Each statement by the older man was repeated at its close, word for word and sentence by sentence, by the other, with the same monotonous inflection. This done, the first speaker signified by a grunt of approval that it had been correctly repeated, and then proceeded with the next statement, which was duly repeated in like manner. The first time I had heard two old men conversing together in this fashion on the reservation I had supposed they were reciting some sort of Indian litany, and it required several such experiences and some degree of patience to become used to it.

At last he signified that he understood and was satisfied, and then in answer to my questions gave an account of himself and his doctrine, a great part of the interpretation being by Dyer, with whom he seemed to be on intimate terms. He said he was about 35 years of age, fixing the date from a noted battle[7] between the Paiute and the whites near Pyramid lake, in 1860, at which time he said he was about the size of his little boy; who appeared to be of about 4 years. His father, Tävibo, “White Man,” was not a preacher, but was a _capita_ (from the Spanish _capitan_) or petty chief, and was a dreamer and invulnerable. His own proper name from boyhood was Wovoka or Wüvoka, “The Cutter,” but a few years ago he had assumed the name of his paternal grandfather, Kwohitsauq, or “Big Rumbling Belly.” After the death of his father he had been taken into the family of a white farmer, David Wilson, who had given him the name of Jack Wilson, by which he is commonly known among the whites. He thus has three distinct names, Wovoka, Kwohitsauq, and Jack Wilson. He stated positively that he was a full-blood, a statement borne out by his appearance. The impression that he is a half-blood may have arisen from the fact that his father’s name was “White Man” and that he has a white man’s name. His followers, both in his own and in all other tribes, commonly refer to him as “our father.” He has never been away from Mason valley and speaks only his own Paiute language, with some little knowledge of English. He is not acquainted with the sign language, which is hardly known west of the mountains.

When about 20 years of age, he married, and continued to work for Mr Wilson. He had given the dance to his people about four years before, but had received his great revelation about two years previously. On this occasion “the sun died” (was eclipsed) and he fell asleep in the daytime and was taken up to the other world. Here he saw God, with all the people who had died long ago engaged in their oldtime sports and occupations, all happy and forever young. It was a pleasant land and full of game. After showing him all, God told him he must go back and tell his people they must be good and love one another, have no quarreling, and live in peace with the whites; that they must work, and not lie or steal; that they must put away all the old practices that savored of war; that if they faithfully obeyed his instructions they would at last be reunited with their friends in this other world, where there would be no more death or sickness or old age. He was then given the dance which he was commanded to bring back to his people. By performing this dance at intervals, for five consecutive days each time, they would secure this happiness to themselves and hasten the event. Finally God gave him control over the elements so that he could make it rain or snow or be dry at will, and appointed him his deputy to take charge of affairs in the west, while “Governor Harrison” would attend to matters in the east, and he, God, would look after the world above. He then returned to earth and began to preach as he was directed, convincing the people by exercising the wonderful powers that had been given him.

In 1890 Josephus, a Paiute informant, thus described to the scout Chapman the occasion of Wovoka’s first inspiration: “About three years ago Jack Wilson took his family and went into the mountains to cut wood for Mr Dave Wilson. One day while at work he heard a great noise which appeared to be above him on the mountain. He laid down his ax and started to go in the direction of the noise, when he fell down dead, and God came and took him to heaven.” Afterward on one or two other occasions “God came and took him to heaven again.” Wovoka also told Chapman that he had then been preaching to the Indians about three years. In our conversation he said nothing about a mysterious noise, and stated that it was about two years since he had visited heaven and received his great revelation, but that it was about four years since he had first taught the dance to his people. The fact that he has different revelations from time to time would account for the discrepancy of statement.

He disclaimed all responsibility for the ghost shirt which formed so important a part of the dance costume among the Sioux; said that there were no trances in the dance as performed among his people—a statement confirmed by eye-witnesses among the neighboring ranchmen—and earnestly repudiated any idea of hostility toward the whites, asserting that his religion was one of universal peace. When questioned directly, he said he believed it was better for the Indians to follow the white man’s road and to adopt the habits of civilization. If appearances are in evidence he is sincere in this, for he was dressed in a good suit of white man’s clothing, and works regularly on a ranch, although living in a wikiup. While he repudiated almost everything for which he had been held responsible in the east, he asserted positively that he had been to the spirit world and had been given a revelation and message from God himself, with full control over the elements. From his uncle I learned that Wovoka has five songs for making it rain, the first of which brings on a mist or cloud, the second a snowfall, the third a shower, and the fourth a hard rain or storm, while when he sings the fifth song the weather again becomes clear.