_Nanonĭ′ks-kare′nĭki_—Kichai name._The Ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890

_Pägănävo_—Shoshoni and Comanche name; “striped arrows,” from

_päga_, “arrow,” and _nävo_, “striped.”

_Säk̔o′ta_—Kiowa name; seems to refer to “biting.”

_Sa-sis-e-tas_—proper tribal name according to Clark (Indian Sign

Language, 99, 1885). The form should be _Dzĭtsĭ′stäs_ as given

above.

_Shaiela_ or _Shaiena_—Sioux name; “red,” or decorated with red

paint. According to Riggs, as quoted by Clark, the Sioux call

an alien language a “red” language, while they designate one

of their own stock as “white,” so that the name would be

equivalent to “aliens.” The Sioux apply the same name also to

the Cree.

_Shiä′navo_—another Comanche name, probably a derivative from the

word _Cheyenne_.

_Shiĕ′da_—another Wichita name, derived from the word _Cheyenne_.

_Staitan_—unidentified tribal name, given, by Lewis and Clark.

Identical with the Cheyenne, from their own word _Hĭstä′itän_,

“I am a Cheyenne.”

TRIBAL SIGN

The Cheyenne tribal sign, made by drawing the right index finger

several times across the left forefinger, is commonly interpreted

“cut fingers” or “cut wrists,” and is said to be derived from their

custom of cutting off the fingers and hands of slain enemies. Although

the same practice was found among other tribes, the Cheyenne were

particularly distinguished in this regard. In Mackenzie’s great fight

with the Cheyenne in Wyoming, in 1876, two necklaces made of human

fingers were found in the captured Indian camp, together with a small

bag filled with hands cut from the bodies of children of the Shoshoni

tribe, their enemies. One of these necklaces was afterward deposited

in the National Museum at Washington. (See _Bourke_ in _Ninth Annual

Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_.) Some competent Indian authorities

say, however, that the sign is intended to indicate “stripe people,” or

“striped-arrow people,” referring to the fact that the Cheyenne usually

feathered their arrows with the striped feathers of the wild turkey.

This agrees with the interpretation of the name for the Cheyenne in

several different languages.

SKETCH OF THE TRIBE

The Cheyenne are one of the westernmost tribes of the great Algonquian

stock. In one of their ghost songs they sing of the “turtle river,”

on which they say they once lived. (_Cheyenne song 3._) From several

evidences this seems to be identical with the Saint Croix, which forms

the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota. This statement agrees

with the opinion of Clark (_Indian Sign Language_), who locates their

earliest tradition in the neighborhood of Saint Anthony falls. They

were driven out by the Sioux and forced toward the northwest, where

they came in contact with the Asiniboin (called by them Hohe′), with

whom they were never afterward at peace. At a later period, according

to Lewis and Clark, they lived on the Cheyenne branch of Red river, in

northern Minnesota, whence they were again driven by the Sioux into the

prairie.

In 1805 they wandered about the head of Cheyenne river of Dakota and

in the Black hills, and were at war with the Sioux, though at peace

with most other tribes. Since then they have pushed on to the west

and south, always in close confederation with the Arapaho. These two

tribes say they have never known a time when they were not associated.

About forty years ago, in Wyoming, the band since known as the northern

Cheyenne separated from the others (Clark), and have since lived

chiefly in Montana or with the Sioux, with whom the Cheyenne made

peace about sixty years ago. The other and larger portion of the tribe

continued to range chiefly on the lands of the Arkansas and Canadian

in Colorado and the western part of Kansas and Oklahoma. They and the

Arapaho made peace with the Kiowa and Comanche in 1840, and raided in

connection with these tribes into Texas and Mexico until assigned in

1869 to a reservation in what is now western Oklahoma. In 1874 they,

as well as the Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa Apache, again went on the

warpath in consequence of the depredations of the buffalo hunters,

but the outbreak was speedily suppressed. In 1890 they sold their

reservation and took allotments in severalty. The northern Cheyenne

joined the Sioux in the “Custer war” of 1876–77. At the surrender

of the hostiles they were removed to Oklahoma and placed with the

southern Cheyenne, but were much dissatisfied with their location, the

dissatisfaction culminating in the attempt of a large party, under Dull

Knife, to escape to the north, in September, 1878. They were pursued,

and a part of them captured and confined at Fort Robinson, Nebraska,

whence they made a desperate attempt to escape on the night of January

9, 1879, resulting in the killing of nearly all of the prisoners. They

were finally assigned a reservation in Montana, where they now are,

with the exception of a few among the Sioux. According to the official

report for 1892, the southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma numbered 2,119, the

northern Cheyenne in Montana, 1,200, and those with the Sioux at Pine

Edge, South Dakota, 120, a total of 3,439.

The Cheyenne have eleven tribal divisions. They have at least two

dialects, but probably more. The tribal divisions in their order in the

camping circle are—

1. _Evĭ′sts-unĭ′pahĭs_ (“smoky lodges”—Grinnell, _fide_ Clark).

2. _Sŭta′ya_ or _Sŭ′tasi′na_. This is one of the most important

divisions and formerly constituted a distinct tribe, but was afterward

incorporated with the Cheyenne. According to concurrent Cheyenne and

Blackfoot tradition, as given by Grinnell, they seem originally to have

been a part of the Blackfeet, who became separated from the main body

of their tribe by the sudden breaking up of the ice while crossing

a large river. They drifted to the southward and finally met and

joined the Cheyenne in the Black hills. Their name, spelled _Suti_ by

Grinnell, is said to mean “strange talkers.” They live now on the upper

Washita in Oklahoma and speak a dialect differing considerably from

that of the rest of the tribe.

3. _Ĭ′sium-itä′niuw’_, (“ridge-people;” singular,

_Ĭ′siumi-tän_—Grinnell, _fide_ Clark).

4. _Hĕwă-tä′niuw’_, “hairy men.” The name is also sometimes used

collectively to designate all of the southern Cheyenne as distinguished

from the northern Cheyenne, called collectively _Hmĭ′sĭs_. The southern

Cheyenne are also designated collectively as _So′wăniă_, “southerners.”

5. _Ŏ′ivimă′na_, “scabby.” This name is said to have been given them

originally on account of an epidemic which once broke out among their

horses and rendered them mangy.

6. _Wi′tapi′u_ (“haters”—Grinnell, _ƒide_ Clark).

7. _Hotă′mi-tä′niuw′_, “dog men,” or _Mĭ′stäviĭ′nût_, “heavy eyebrows.”

This is also the name of one of the divisions of their warrior

organization.

8. _O′tu′gŭnŭ._

9. _Hmĭ′sĭs_, “eaters.” This is the most important division of the

northern Cheyenne, and the name is also used by those of the south to

designate all the northern Cheyenne collectively.

10. _Anskowĭ′nĭs._

11. _Pĭnû′tgû′._

[Illustration: +Fig. 100+—Cheyenne camping circle.]

These are the names given to the author by the Cheyenne themselves

as the complete list of their tribal divisions. Grinnell, on the

authority of the Clark manuscript, names six of these with two others,

_Matsĭ′shkota_, “corpse from a scaffold,” and _Miayŭma_, “red lodges,”

which may be identical with some of the others named above, or may

perhaps be degrees of their military organization instead of tribal

divisions.

In the great ceremony of the “medicine arrow,” last enacted on the

Washita in 1890, the camping circle opened to the south. At all other

gatherings of the tribe the circle opened to the east, agreeable to

the general Indian custom, the several divisions encamping in the

order shown in figure 100.

The Cheyenne, like the prairie tribes generally, are, or were until

within a few years past, a nation of nomads, living in skin tipis, and

depending almost entirely on the buffalo for food. Yet they have a dim

memory of a time when they lived in permanent villages and planted

corn, and in their genesis tradition, which occupies four “smokes” or

nights in the telling, they relate how they “lost” the corn a long time

ago before they became wanderers on the plains. They deposit their

dead on scaffolds in trees, unlike their confederates, the Arapaho,

who bury in the ground. Their most sacred possession is the bundle

of “medicine arrows,” now in possession of the southern division of

the tribe. They have a military organization similar to that existing

among the Arapaho and other prairie tribes, as described under number

43 of the Arapaho songs. Above all the tribes of the plains they are

distinguished for their desperate courage and pride of bearing, and

are preeminently warriors among people whose trade is war. They are

strongly conservative and have steadily resisted every advance of

civilization, here again differing from the Arapaho, who have always

shown a disposition to meet the white man half-way. In fact, no two

peoples could well exhibit more marked differences of characteristics

on almost every point than these two confederated tribes. The Cheyenne

have quick and strong intelligence, but their fighting temper sometimes

renders them rather unmanageable subjects with whom to deal. Their

conservatism and tribal pride tend to restrain them from following

after strange gods, so that in regard to the new messiah they assume a

rather skeptical position, while they conform to all the requirements

of the dance code in order to be on the safe side.

Clark, in his _Indian Sign Language_, thus sums up the characteristics

of the Cheyenne:

As a tribe they have been broken and scattered, but in their wild

and savage way they fought well for their country, and their

history during the past few years has been written in blood. The

men of the Cheyenne Indians rank as high in the scale of honesty,

energy, and tenacity of purpose as those of any other tribe I have

ever met, and in physique and intellect they are superior to those

of most tribes and the equal of any. Under the most demoralizing

and trying circumstances they have preserved in a remarkable degree

that part of their moral code which relates to chastity, and public

sentiment has been so strong in them in regard to this matter that

they have been, and are still, noted among all the tribes which

surround them, for the virtue of their women.

The Cheyenne language lacks the liquids _l_ and _r_. It is full of

hissing sounds and difficult combinations of consonants, so that it

does not lend itself readily to song composition, for which reason,

among others, the Cheyenne in the south usually join the Arapaho in the

Ghost dance and sing the Arapaho songs.

SONGS OF THE CHEYENNE

1. +O′tä nä′nisĭ′näsists+

O′tä nä′nisĭ′näsĭsts—Ehe′e′ye′!

Mä′tesemä′moestä′nowe′t—Ähe′e′ye′!

Ho′ivitu′simo′moĭ′ts—E′ähe′e′ye′!

Nu′ka′eshe′väo′e′tse′

Nitu′si′mitä′nun,

Nitu′si′mitä′nun.

_Translation_

Well, my children—_Ehe′e′ye′!_

When you meet your friends again—_Ähe′e′ye′!_

The earth will tremble—_E′ähe′e′ye′!_

The summer cloud (?)

It will give it to us,

It will give it to us.

The interpretation of this song is imperfect and the meaning is not

clear. It evidently refers to the earthquake which it is supposed will

occur at the moment of contact of the spirit world with the old earth.

The literal meaning of the second line, rendered “when you meet your

friends again,” is “when you are living together again.”

2. +Ehä′n esho′ini′+

Ehä′n esho′ini′,

Hoi′v esho′ini′,

I′yohä′—Eye′ye′!

I′nisto′niwo′ni—Ahe′e′ye′!

_Translation_

Our father has come,

The earth has come,

It is rising—_Eye′ye′!_

It is humming—_Ahe′e′ye′!_

This is the song composed by Porcupine, the great leader of the Ghost

dance among the northern Cheyenne. It refers to the coming of the new

earth which is to come over this old world and which is represented as

making a humming or rolling noise as it swiftly approaches.

3. +Nä′niso′näsĭ′stsihi′+

Nä′niso′näsĭ′stsihi′,

Hi′tää′ni mä′noyu′hii′,

Owa′ni tsi′nitai′-wosi′hi′,

Tsĭ′nitai′-womai′-wosihi′,

Tsĭ′nitai′-womai′-wosihi′.

I′häni′ i′hiwo′uhi′,

I′häni′ i′hiwo′uhi′.

_Translation_

My children, my children,

Here is the river of turtles,

Where the various living things,

Are painted their different colors,

Are painted their different colors.

Our father says so,

Our father says so.

This song has a very pretty tune. The Cheyenne claim to have lived

originally in the north on a stream known to them as the “River of

Turtles.” Reverend H. R. Voth, former missionary among the Cheyenne

and Arapaho, states that the Indians say that along the banks of this

stream were clays of different colors which they used for paint. In

a letter of October 1, 1891, he says: “I have now in my possession

some red and some gray or drab paint that Black Coyote brought with

him from the north, which he claims came from that ancient Turtle

river, and which the Indians are now using to paint themselves. They

say there are more than two kinds of color at that river, or at least

used to be.” According to Clark (_Indian Sign Language_, page 99) the

oldest traditions of the Cheyenne locate their former home on the

headwaters of the Mississippi in Minnesota, about where Saint Paul now

is. Other facts corroborate this testimony, and the traditional “Turtle

river” would seem to be identical with the Saint Croix, which is thus

described by Coxe in 1741:

A little higher up is the river Chabadeda, above which the

Meschacebe makes a fine lake twenty miles long and eight or ten

broad. Nine or ten miles above that lake, on the east side, is a

large fair river, called the river of Tortoises, after you have

entered a little way, which leads far into the country to the

northeast, and is navigable by the greatest boats forty miles.

About the same distance farther up, the Meschacebe is precipitated

from the rocks about fifty feet, but is so far navigable by

considerable ships, as also beyond, excepting another fall, eighty

or ninety miles higher, by large vessels, unto its sources, which

are in the country of the Sieux, not at a very great distance from

Hudson’s bay. There are many other smaller rivers which fall into

the Meschacebe, on both sides of it, but being of little note, and

the description of them of small consequence, I have passed over

them in silence. (Coxe, Carolana, 1741, in French’s Hist. Coll. of

La., part 2, 233, 1850.)

4. +Nä′see′nehe′ ehe′yowo′mi+

Nä′see′nehe′ ehe′yowo′mi,

E′nää′ne mä′noyo′h ehe′yowo′mi,

E′nää′ne mä′noyo′h ehe′yowo′mi.

_Translation_

I waded into the yellow river,

This was the Turtle river into which I waded,

This was the Turtle river into which I waded.

This song is probably explained by the one immediately preceding.

5. +Wosi′vä-ă′ă′+

Wosi′vä-ă′ă′,

Nänima-iyä,

Ä′hiya′e′yee′heye′!

_Translation_

The mountain,

It is circling around,

_Ä′hiya′e′yee′heye′!

Ä′hiya′e′yee′heye′!_

The interpretation of this song is not satisfactory. It was explained

that by the mountain was meant the new earth, which was represented as

approaching rapidly with a circular motion.

6. +Ni′ha-i′hi′hi′+

Ni′ha-i′hi′hi′,

Na′eso′yutu′hi′,

U′guchi′hi′hi′,

Na′nisto′hewu′hi′,

Ga′! Na′hewu′hi,

Ga′! Na′hewu′hi.

_Translation_

My father,

I come to him,

The crow,

I cry like it,

_Caw!_ I say,

_Caw!_ I say.

The connection of the crow with the doctrine of the Ghost dance has

already been explained. See Arapaho song 36.

7. +Hi′awu′hi—hi′hi′hai′-yai′+

Hi′awu′hi—Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!

Ni′äsĭ′tano′ni—Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!

Hi′äma′ wihu′i—Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!

Ni′hihi′no′ni—Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!

Nĭ′shibä′tämo′ni—Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!

_Translation_

The devil—_Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!_

We have put him aside—_Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!_

The White Man Above—_Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!_

He is our father—_Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!_

He has blest us—_Hi′hi′hai′-yai′!_

It is hardly necessary to state that the idea of a devil is not

aboriginal, although now embodied in the Indian mythology and language

from contact with the whites. The “White Man Above” is understood to

mean the ruler whose precursor the messiah is, equivalent to our idea

of God.

8. +Ni′ha—E′yehe′! E′he′eye+

Ni′ha—E′yehe′! E′he′eye′!

Tsĭ′stamo′nohyo′t—Ehe′eye′!

O′täta′wome′mäpe′wä—He′eye′!

Ni′mistä′tuhä′mi—He′eye′!

E′hiwou′, E′hiwou′—He′!

_Translation_

My father—_E′yehe′! E′he′eye′!_

When I first met him—_Ehe′eye′!_

“In the blue-green water—_He′eye′!_”

”In the blue-green-water—_He′eye′!_”

“You must take a bath“—_He′eye′!_”

“You must take a bath”—_He′eye′!_”

Thus he told me, thus he told me—_He′!_

Quite a number of the Cheyenne ghost songs refer to rivers seen in the

spirit world, these being frequently designated by colors, as yellow,

blue, etc. It may be that certain rivers play a prominent part in their

mythology, and as has been said they locate their earliest traditional

home on the “Turtle river.” The word here rendered “blue-green” might

mean either blue or green, as in Cheyenne and in many other Indian

languages the two colors are not differentiated. Compare Cheyenne song

number 16.

9. +Ä′minû′qi+

Ä′minû′qi—I′yahe′yahe′e′!

Nĭ′stsishi′hiyo′honi′mäni—Ahe′e′ye′!

Nĭ′shka′nĭ nĭ′stsishĭ′nutsi′mani—Ahe′e′ye′!

Ehä′ni ni′nĭni′etä′ni—Ahe′e′ye′!

_Translation_

My comrade—_I′yahe′yahe′e′!_

Let us go and play shinny—_Ahe′e′ye′!_

Let us look for our mother—_Ahe′e′ye′!_

Our father tells us to do it—_Ahe′e′ye′!_

This song was composed by Mo ki, “Little Woman,” the Cheyenne wife of

Grant Left-hand. Although a young woman, she is regarded as a leader in

the Cheyenne Ghost dance, having been in frequent trances and composed

numerous songs. In this she relates her experience in one trance,

during which she and her girl comrade played together the woman’s game

of shinny, already described, and then went to look for their mothers,

who had gone to the spirit world years before.

10. +He′stutu′ai+

He′stutu′ai—Yä′hä′yä′!

He′sutu′äi—

[_Ad libitum_].

_Translation_

The buffalo head—_Yä′hä′yä′!_

The half buffalo—

[_Ad libitum_].

This song refers to the crazy dance, which the author of the song

saw the former warriors of his tribe performing in the spirit world.

The crazy dance, called _Psam_ by the Cheyenne and _Ahaka′wŭ_ by the

Arapaho, belonged to one order of the military organization already

described in treating of the Arapaho songs. (See Arapaho song 43.)

The name in both languages is derived from the word for “crazy.” Men,

women, and children took part in the ceremony, dressed in skins or

other costume to represent various animals, as buffaloes, panthers,

deer, and birds, with one bear, two foxes, and seven wolves, besides

two “medicine wolves.” Each strove to imitate the animal personated

in action as well as in appearance. It was the business of the two

foxes to be continually running and stumbling over the others in their

efforts to escape from the crowd. The dance, whose essential feature

was the doing of everything by contraries, had its parallel among many

eastern tribes, particularly among the old Huron and Iroquois. It was

considered the most picturesque and amusing dance among the prairie

tribes. The “half buffalo” of the song refers to the robe worn by

certain of the dancers, which consisted of the upper half of a buffalo

skin, the head portion, with the horns attached, coming over the head

of the dancers. The dance was an exhibition of deliberate craziness in

which the performers strove to outdo one another in nonsensical and

frenzied actions, particularly in constantly doing the exact opposite

of what they were told to do. It was performed only in obedience to

a vow made by some person for the recovery of a sick child, for a

successful war expedition, or for some other Indian blessing. It lasted

four days, the performers dancing naked the first three days and in

full dance costume on the fourth. The leaders in the absurdities were

two performers whose bodies and cheeks were painted with white clay,

and whose ears were filled with hair shed by the buffalo, which was

believed to confer strong “medicine” powers. They carried whistles,

and shot at the spectators with blunt arrows. Almost every license was

permitted to these two, who in consequence were really held in dread

by the others. Among other things the crazy dancers were accustomed to

dance through a fire until they extinguished it by their tramping. This

was done in imitation of the fire-moth, called _aha′kăa′_, “crazy,”

by the Arapaho, which hovers about a flame or fire and finally flies

into it. They also handled poisonous snakes, and sometimes, it is

said, would even surround and kill a buffalo by their unaided physical

strength. The Cheyenne dance differed somewhat from that of the

Arapaho. It was last performed in the south about ten years ago.

11. +Nä′mio′ts+

Nä′mio′ts—Ehe′ee′ye′!

Nä′tosĭ′noe′yotsĭ′nots he′wowi′täs—E′yahe′eye′!

Nĭ′tsävĭ′sĭwo′mätsĭ′nowa′—

Nĭ′tsävĭ′sĭwo′mätsĭ′nowa′.

_Translation_

I am coming in sight—_Ehe′ee′ye′!_

I bring the whirlwind with me—_E′yahe′eye′!_

That you may see each other—

That you may see each other.

The whirlwind is regarded with reverence by all the prairie tribes. In

the mythology of the Ghost dance it seems to be an important factor in

assisting the onward progress of the new world and the spirit army. It

is mentioned also in several Arapaho ghost songs.

12. +A′gachi′hi+

A′gachi′hi,

I′nimä′iha′,

I′nimä′iha′.

Hi′tsina′yo,

Hi′tsina′yo—

Na′vishi′nima′ yu′suwu′nutu′,

Na′vishi′nima′ yu′suwu′nutu′.

_Translation_

The crow, the crow,

He is circling around,

His wing, his wing—

I am dancing with it,

I am dancing with it.

This song refers to the sacred crow feathers, which certain of the

dancers wear upon their heads in the Ghost dance, as explained in the

Arapaho songs.

13. +Nä′nise′näsĕ′stse+

Nä′nise′näsĕ′stse nä′shi′nisto′ni′va—He′eye′!

Nä′niso′niwo′, nä′niso′niwo′,

I′votä′omo′mĕstä′o—He′eye′!

Nä′visi′vämä′, nä′vi′sivämä′.

_Translation_