This song is an invocation of the elemental forces. It was c_The Ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890

an old woman, who left the circle of dancers and stood in the center of

the ring while singing it.

6. +Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n+

Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n, Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n,

Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n, Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n.

Nuvä′rĭ′p noyo′wană′, Nuvä′rĭ′p noyo′wană′,

Nuvä′rĭ′p noyo′wană′, Nuvä′rĭ′p noyo′wană′.

_Translation_

The whirlwind! The whirlwind!

The snowy earth comes gliding, the snowy earth comes gliding;

The snowy earth comes gliding, the snowy earth comes gliding.

This song may possibly refer to the doctrine of the new earth, here

represented as white with snow, advancing swiftly, driven by a

whirlwind. Such an idea occurs several times in the Arapaho songs.

7. +Kosi′ wûmbi′ndomä′+

Kosi′ wûmbi′ndomä′,

Kosi′ wûmbi′ndomä′.

Kai′-va wûmbi′ndomä′,

Kai′-va wûmbi′ndomä′.

_Translation_

There is dust from the whirlwind,

There is dust from the whirlwind.

The whirlwind on the mountain,

The whirlwind on the mountain.

8. +Dombi′na so′wina′+

Dombi′na so′wina′,

Dombi′na so′wina′.

Kai′-va so′wina′,

Kai′-va so′wina′.

_Translation_

The rocks are ringing,

The rocks are ringing.

They are ringing in the mountains,

They are ringing in the mountains.

This song was explained to refer to the roaring of a storm among the

rocks in the mountains.

9. +Sû′ng-ä ro′yonji′+

Sû′ng-ä ro′yonji′, Sû′ng-ä ro′yon,

Sû′ng-ä ro′yonji′, Sû′ng-ä ro′yon.

Pu′i do′yonji′, Pu′i do′yon,

Pu′i do′yonji′, Pu′i do′yon.

_Translation_

The cottonwoods are growing tall,

The cottonwoods are growing tall.

They are growing tall and verdant,

They are growing tall and verdant.

This song seems to refer to the return to spring. Throughout the arid

region of the west the cottonwood skirting the borders of the streams

is one of the most conspicuous features of the landscape. See Arapaho

song 13.

PAIUTE GLOSSARY

_Agai′h-tĭka′ra_—“fish eaters;” the distinctive name of the Paiute

of Walker lake, Nevada.

_Bai′-yo_—it is broken.

_Ba′wă_—going around in a circle.

_Dĕna_—for _Tĭ′na_.

_Do_—black.

_Dombi′na_—for _Tĭ′mbi_ or _Tübi_.

_Do′roni_—rolling on the ground, wallowing.

_Do′yon_ or _Do′yonji_—it is growing tall.

_Ga′yon_ or _Ga′yoni_—slender, tall and slender.

_Gosi′pa_—the Milky Way, the road of the dead. See Paiute song 1.

_Hävi′gĭnû_—it lies there, it lies there asleep; _hävi′kwă_, sleep.

_Hogăpä′goni_—“rush-arrow people;” the Shoshoni name for the

Paiute; from _hogăp_, a small water reed; _pägă_, arrow, and

_ni_, the tribal suffix.

_Hutsi_—the sage-hen (_Centrocercus urophasianus_).

_Ĭbidsi′ĭ_—“our mother;” the mythic maternal ancestor of the Paiute.

+Jack Wilson+—see _Wovoka_.

_Ka_—the root of the verb _sit_; _yä′nakatü′_, I am sitting down.

_Kai-va_—mountain.

_Kosi_—for _Kosi′ba_.

_Kosi′ba_—dust.

_Kotso′-tĭka′ra_—“buffalo eaters;” the Paiute name for the Bannock.

Compare _Ko′tso-tĕ′ka_, a Comanche division.

_Kura′ngwa_—“very high peak;” applied to Mount Grant, the sacred

mountain of the Paiute, west of Hawthorne and near the

southwestern end of Walker lake, Nevada.

_Kwohi′tsauq_ or _Ќwijau′h_—“big rumbling belly,” one of the names

assumed by Wovoka the messiah. It was originally the name of

his paternal grandfather.

_Nänigü′kwa_—the Paiute name of the Ghost dance. The word signifies

the “dance in a circle;” _nüka_, a dance.

_Noyo′ä_—to come gliding or creeping; the verb is applied to the

movement of a snake or of an object which progresses without

the aid of feet.

_Noyo′wana_—for _Noyo′ä_.

_Nümä_—“people,” or “Indians,” the name used to designate

themselves by the Paiute, Shoshoni, and Comanche.

_Nümĭ′-naă′_—“our father;” the mythic ancestor of the Paiute.

_Nüvä_—for _Nüvä′bi_.

_Nüvä′bi_—snow.

_Nüvä′-ri′pă_—snowy earth, snow-covered earth (compound word); from

_nüvä′bi_, snow, and _ri′pă_ or _ti′pă_, earth.

_Pägü′nävä_—fog.

_Paiute_ or _Piu′te_—(_Pai-yu′t_) the name by which the _Nüma_ of

Nevada and the adjacent region are popularly and officially

known. It has been rendered as “true (_pai_) Ute” or “water

(_pä_) Ute.” They themselves pronounce the word in three

syllables, _Pai-u′-ti_.

+Pai-yu′chimŭ+—the Hopi name for the Paiute.

+Pai-yu′tsĭ+—the Navaho name for the Paiute.

+Palŭ+—the Washo name for the Paiute.

_Päsü′_—for _Päsü′bi_.

_Päsü′bi_—willow.

+Pavio′tso+—the proper tribal name of the Indians of Walker River

and Pyramid Lake reservations in Nevada, according to Powell,

who considers them distinct from the Paiute.

_Pu′i_—for _Pu′igai′-yu_.

_Pu′igai′-yu_—verdant, green (applied to growing plants).

_Ro′răni_—an unmeaning word used to fill out the measure of the

songs.

_Ro′yon_ or _Ro′yonji_—other forms of _Do′yon_.

+Snake Indians+—a name loosely applied to various northern bands

or tribes of Shoshonean stock, including Paiute, Bannock,

Shoshoni, and sometimes even the Comanche.

_Sowi′na_—ringing like a bell, roaring.

_Sû′ng-ä_—for _Sû′ng-äbi_.

_Sû′ng-äbi_—cottonwood.

_Taivo_—the Paiute, Shoshoni, and Comanche name for a white man.

See _Tä′vibo_.

_Tăkwû′kwij_—lightning.

_Tä′vibo_—“white man,” the father of Wovoka the messiah. The word

has a connection with _täbi_ or _tävi_, the sun; _tävä′năgwăt_,

the east or sunrise place, and _tai′-vo_, the Shoshoni and

Comanche name for a white man.

_Tĭ′mbi_ or _Tĭ′mbin_—a rock; another form is _tübi_.

_Tĭ′na_—antelope.

_Tûngwü′kwiji_—for _Tăkwû′kwij_.

_Wai′va_—the sand grass or wild millet of Nevada (_Oryzopsis

membranacea_). In composition the word becomes _wai_. See

Paiute song 4.

+Wa′siu+—the name by which the Washo call themselves.

+Wĭ′kiup+—the popular name of the Paiute dwelling, made in conical

form, about 8 or 10 feet high, and open at the top, of tulé

rushes woven over a framework of poles. The word is of

uncertain origin.

_Wĭ′noghän_—shaken by the wind, waving in the wind.

_Wo′voka_ or _Wü′voka_—“the cutter,” the proper name of the Paiute

messiah, known to the whites as Jack Wilson. A few years ago he

assumed also the name of _Kwohi′tsauq_, “big rumbling belly,”

from his paternal grandfather. See chapter +IX+ _ante_.

_Wûbi′doma_—whirlwind, hurricane. _Hi′gwă_, wind;

_pitä′nägwă-higwă′_, the south wind.

_Wûmbe′doma_—for _Wûbi′doma_.

_Wûmbĭ′ndomän_—for _Wûbi′doma_.

THE SIOUX

TRIBAL SYNONYMY

_Chahrarat_—Pawnee name (Grinnell).

_Dakota_, _Nakota_, or _Lakota_—proper tribal name, according

to dialect, “allies, friends;” sometimes also they speak of

themselves as _Oceti Sakowin_, the “seven council fires,” in

allusion to their seven great divisions.

_Itahatski_—Hidatsa name, “long arrows” (Matthews).

_K̔odalpä-K̔iñago_—Kiowa name, “necklace people,” perhaps a

misconception of neck-cutting people, i. e., beheaders.

_Maranshobishgo_—Cheyenne name, “cut-throats” (Long). The name is

plainly incorrect, as the Cheyenne language has no _r_.

_Nadowesi_ or _Nadowesiu_—“little snakes” or “little enemies,”

_Nadowe_, “snake” and figuratively “enemy,” being the common

Algonquian term for all tribes of alien lineage. The Ojibwa

and others designated the Iroquois, living east of them,

as _Nadowe_, while the Sioux, living to the west, were

distinguished as _Nadowesi_ or _Nadowesiu_, whence come

Nadouessioux and Sioux.

_Natnihina_ or _Natni_—Arapaho name; Hayden gives the form as

_Natenehina_, which he renders “cut-throats or beheaders,” but

it may be derived from _Nadowe_, as explained above.

_Niake′tsikûtk_—Kichai name.

_Pambizimina_—Shoshoni name, “beheaders.”

_Papitsinima_—Comanche name, “beheaders,” from _papitsi_,

signifying to behead, and _nĭma_ or _nüma_, people.

_Shahañ_—Osage, Kansa, Oto, etc, name (Dorsey).

_Sioux_—popular name, abbreviated from Nadouessioux, the French

form of their Ojibwa name.

_Tsaba′kosh_—Caddo name, “cut-throats.”

TRIBAL SIGN

A sweeping pass of the right hand in front of the neck, commonly

rendered “cut-throats” or “beheaders,” but claimed by the Kiowa to

refer to a kind of shell necklace formerly peculiar to the Sioux.

SKETCH OF THE TRIBE

The Sioux constitute the largest tribe in the United States, and are

too well known to need an extended description here. Although now

thought of chiefly as a prairie tribe, their emergence upon the plains

is comparatively recent, and within the historic period their range

extended as far eastward as central Wisconsin, from which, and most of

Minnesota, they have been driven out by the westward advance of the

Ojibwa. There is ground for believing that the true home of the whole

Siouan stock is not in the west, or even in the central region, but

along the south Atlantic slope. (See the author’s _Siouan Tribes of the

East_.)

The Sioux language has three well-marked dialects—the eastern or

Santee, the middle or Yankton (including the Asiniboin in the north),

and the western or Teton. The tribe consists of seven great divisions,

each of which again has or had subdivisions. Dorsey enumerates over one

hundred in all. Each grand division had its own camping circle, and

when two or more such divisions camped together they usually camped

in concentric circles. (_Dorsey._) The seven great divisions are: 1.

_Mde-wakañ-toñwañ_ (Medewacanton), “village of the Spirit lake;” 2.

_Waqpekute_ (Wahpacoota), “leaf shooters;” 3. _Waqpetoñwañ_ (Wahpeton),

“leaf village;” 4. _Sisitoñwañ_ (Sisseton), variously rendered “slimy

village” or “swamp village;” 5. _Ihanktoñwañ_ (Yankton), “end village;”

6. _Ihanktoñwañna_ (Yanktonais), “upper end village;” 7. _Titoñwañ_

(Teton), “prairie village.”

The first four divisions collectively are known as Isañati or Santee

Sioux. The name is supposed to be derived from _isañ_, the dialectic

word for “knife.” They formerly held Mississippi, Minnesota, and upper

Red rivers in Minnesota and were afterward gathered on reservations

at Devils lake, North Dakota; Lake Traverse (Sisseton agency) and

Flandreau, South Dakota; and Santee agency, Nebraska. Those at Lake

Traverse and Flandreau have now taken allotments as citizens.

The Yankton and Yanktonais, together speaking the middle dialect,

occupied chiefly the country of James river, east of the Missouri, in

North Dakota and South Dakota and extending into Iowa. They are now

on Yankton and Crow Creek reservations in South Dakota, and Fort Peck

reservation, Montana.

The Teton constitute more than two-thirds of the whole Sioux tribe, and

held nearly the whole country southwest of the Missouri from Cannonball

river to the South Platte, extending westward beyond the Black hills.

They are all now on reservations in South and North Dakota. They

are again subdivided into seven principal divisions: 1. _Sichañgu_,

“burnt thighs” (Brulés), now on Rosebud reservation; 2. _Ogalala_,

referring to “scattering” of dust in the face (Clark), now on Pine

Ridge reservation, under the celebrated chief Red Cloud (_Maqpe-Luta_);

3. _Hunkpapa_, “those who camp at the end (or opening) of the camping

circle” (Clark), on Standing Rock reservation; 4. _Minikañzu_,

“those who plant by the water,” on Cheyenne River reservation; 5.

_Itazipko_, “without bows” (Sans Arcs), on Cheyenne River reservation;

6. _Sihasapa_, “black feet” (not to be confounded with the Blackfoot

tribe), on Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations; 7.

_Ohenoñpa_, “two kettles,” on Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations.

According to the official report for 1893, the Sioux within the United

States number about 23,410, which, with 600 permanently settled in

Manitoba, make the whole population about 24,000 souls.

The Sioux, under the name of Nadouessi, are mentioned by the Jesuit

missionaries as early as 1632. They made their first treaties with

our government in 1815. The most prominent events in their history

since that date have been the treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825,

which defined their eastern boundary and stopped the westward advance

of the Ojibwa; the Minnesota massacre of 1862, which resulted in the

expulsion of the Sioux from Minnesota; the Sioux war of 1876–77,

largely consequent on the unauthorized invasion of the Black hills by

miners, and the chief incident of which was the defeat and massacre

of an entire detachment under General Custer; the treaty by which the

great reservation was broken up in 1889, and the outbreak of 1890, with

the massacre of Wounded Knee.

By reason of their superior numbers the Sioux have always assumed,

if not exercised, the lordship over all the neighboring tribes with

the exception of the Ojibwa, who, having acquired firearms before the

Sioux, were enabled to drive the latter from the headwaters of the

Mississippi, and were steadily pressing them westward when stopped by

the intervention of the United States government. The Sioux in turn

drove the Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, and others before them and forced

them into the mountains or down into the southern prairies. The

eastern bands were sedentary and largely agricultural, but the Teton

were solely and preeminently wandering buffalo hunters. All dwelt in

_tipis_—the word is from the Sioux language—which were of bark in

the timber country and of buffalo skins on the plains. In warlike

character they are probably second only to the Cheyenne, and have an

air of proud superiority rather unusual with Indians. Clark says of

them, “In mental, moral, and physical qualities I consider the Sioux

a little lower but still nearly equal to the Cheyenne, and the Teton

are the superior branch of the family.” (_Indian Sign Language_, 345.)

The eastern Sioux are now far advanced toward civilization through the

efforts of teachers and missionaries for over a generation, and the

same is true in a less degree of the Yankton, while the majority of the

Teton are still nearly in their original condition.

I found the Sioux very difficult to approach on the subject of the

Ghost dance. This was natural, in view of the trouble that had

resulted to them in consequence of it. When I was first at Pine Ridge,

the troops still camped there served as a reminder of the conflict,

while in the little cemetery at the agency were the fresh graves of

the slain soldiers, and only a few miles away was the Wounded Knee

battlefield and the trench where the bodies of nearly three hundred

of their people had been thrown. To my questions the answer almost

invariably was, “The dance was our religion, but the government sent

soldiers to kill us on account of it. We will not talk any more about

it.” Another reason for their unwillingness was the fact that most

of the interpreters were from the eastern or Santee portion of the

tribe, and looked with contempt on the beliefs and customs of their

more primitive western brethren, between whom and themselves there was

in consequence but little friendly feeling. On one occasion, while

endeavoring to break the ice with one of the initiates of the dance, I

told him how willingly the Arapaho had given me information and even

invited me to join in the dance. “Then,” said he, “don’t you find that

the religion of the Ghost dance is better than the religion of the

churches?” I could not well say yes, and hesitated a moment to frame an

answer. He noticed it at once and said very deliberately, “Well, then,

if you have not learned that you have not learned anything about it,”

and refused to continue the conversation.

[Illustration: +Fig. 102+—Native drawings of Ghost dance—A, Comanche;

B, Sioux]

The Sioux ghost songs are all in the dialect of the Teton, who took the

most active interest in the dance, which was hardly known among the

bands east of the Missouri. The vocalic character of the language, and

the frequent liquid _l_ of this dialect, renders these songs peculiarly

musical, while for beauty of idea and expression they are second only

to those of the Arapaho.

SONGS OF THE SIOUX

1. +A′te he′ye e′yayo+

_Opening song_

A′te he′ye e′yayo!

A′te he′ye lo,

A′te he′ye lo.

Nitu′ñkañshi′la wa′ñyegala′ke—kta′ e′yayo′!

A′te he′ye lo,

A′te he′ye lo.

Ni′takuye wañye′găla′ke—kta e′yayo′!

A′te he′ye lo,

A′te he′ye lo.

_Translation_

The father says so—_E′yayo!_

The father says so,

The father says so.

You shall see your grandfather—_E′yayo′!_

The father says so,

The father says so.

You shall see your kindred—_E′yayo′!_

The father says so,

The father says so.

This is the opening song of the dance. While singing it, all the

dancers stand motionless with hands stretched out toward the west, the

country of the messiah and the quarter whence the new spirit world is

to come. When it is ended, all cry together, after which they join

hands and begin to circle around to the left. “Grandfather,” as well as

“father,” is a reverential term applied to the messiah.

2. +Mi′chĭ′nkshi nañpe+

Michĭ′nkshi nañpe ma′yuzaye,

A′te he′ye lo,

A′te he′ye lo.

Ini′chaghe-kte,

A′te he′ye lo,

A′te he′ye lo.

Chăno′ñpa wa′ñ chi′cha-u′pi,

A′te he′ye lo′,

A′te he′he lo′.

Cha′-yani′pi-kta′,

A′te he′ye lo′,

A′te he′ye lo′.

_Translation_

My son, let me grasp your hand,

Says the father,

Says the father.

You shall live,

Says the father,

Says the father.

I bring you a pipe,

Says the father,

Says the father.

By means of it you shall live,

Says the father,

Says the father.

This song refers to the sacred pipe which, according to the Sioux

tradition, was brought to them by a mysterious young woman from the

spirit world. The story, as outlined by Captain J. M. Lee, is as

follows: In the old times the Sioux were always at war, not only with

other tribes, but also among themselves. On one occasion two young men

were out hunting when they saw a young woman approaching them with

folded arms. Seeing that she was not of their own tribe, one proposed

to the other that they kill her, but he refused and urged that they

wait until they learned what she wanted. The first speaker, however,

was about to kill her as she drew near, when she suddenly stooped down

and took from around her ankle something resembling an anklet, which

she waved about her head. The motion was so rapid that it seemed as

though a cloud encircled her for a few moments, when she ceased, and

the snake which she had taken from off her ankle glided away through

the grass. But the young warrior who had thought to kill her had

disappeared, swept from the face of the earth.

Turning now to his companion, she said, “To you I come as a friend and

helper. Your people have been killing each other. I bring you a pipe,

which is a token of peace,” and she held out a pipe as she spoke. “When

you smoke it your thoughts will be of peace, and no murderer (i. e., no

one who kills a member of his own tribe) must be allowed to smoke it.”

She returned with him to his village, where the women prepared for her

reception a large tipi, to which the chiefs of the tribe came to listen

to her instructions. She taught them to be at peace with one another,

if they would be happy, and when they listened to her words and

accepted her teachings, she gave them the sacred medicine pipe to smoke

thenceforth in their councils as a perpetual reminder of the peace

covenant of the Lakota. Her mission now ended, she said she must leave

them, and although they begged her earnestly to stay with them, she

could not tarry longer, but disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as

she had come.

A variant of this legend is given by Colonel Mallery in his paper

in the Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, where it is

illustrated by a colored plate from a picture by the Indian story

teller. According to this version, the pipe maiden was the mysterious

white Buffalo Cow, and brought, with the pipe, a package of four

grains of maize of different colors. This corn sprang from the milk

which dropped from her udder, and was thus, with the flesh of the

buffalo itself, appointed from the beginning to be the food of all

the red tribes. The seeming snakes about her waist and ankles were

really blades of grass (corn?). She taught the people to call her

“grandmother,” a reverential title among Indians, and after leading

them to her relatives, the buffalo, she faded from their sight as they

stood gazing at her.

The pipe holds an important part in the mythology and ritual of almost

all our tribes, east and west, and no great ceremony is complete and

no treaty was ever ratified without it. It is generally symbolic of

peace and truth. As a peace emblem, it was formerly carried by every

bearer of a friendly message from one tribe to another and was smoked

in solemn ratification of treaties, the act of smoking being itself

in the nature of an oath. Among the prairie tribes an individual

accused of crime is offered the sacred pipe, and if he accepts it and

smokes he is declared innocent, as no Indian would dare to smoke it if

guilty. The ordinary ceremonial pipe of the prairie tribes is made of

the red stone, known as catlinite, from the famous pipestone quarry

in Minnesota in the old country of the Sioux. The peace pipe of the

Cherokee was made of a white stone, somewhat resembling talc, from a

quarry near Knoxville, Tennessee. It is said to have had seven stem

holes, emblematic of the seven clans of the Cherokee, and was smoked

by seven counselors at the same time. In every case the tribe has a

legend to account for the origin of the pipe. A flat pipe is the tribal

“medicine” of the Arapaho, and is still preserved with the northern

band in Wyoming. (See Arapaho songs 1 and 2.) Besides the stone pipe,

there are also in use pipes of clay or bone, as well as cigarettes,

but as a rule no ceremonial character attaches to these. In ceremonial

smoking the pipe is passed around the circle of councilors, each of

whom takes only a few whiffs and then hands it to his neighbor. Each

one as he receives the pipe offers it first to the sun, holding the

bowl up toward the sky and saying, “Grandfather, smoke;” then to the

earth, the fire, and perhaps also to each of the four cardinal points

and to one or another of their mythologic heroes. Among the Kiowa I

have seen a man hold up the pipe to the sky, saying, “Smoke, Sinti”

(Sinti being their great mythologic trickster), and then in the same

way, “Smoke, Jesus.”

In the Ghost dance at Rosebud and Pine Ridge, as usually performed,

a young woman stood in the center of the circle holding out a pipe

toward the messiah in the west, and remained thus throughout the dance.

Another young woman usually stood beside her holding out a _bäqati_

wheel (see Arapaho song 49) in the same way. This feature of the dance

is said to have been introduced by Short Bull.

3. +He tuwe′cha he+

He tuwe′cha he u echa′ni hwo?

Huñku oki′le chaya he u hwo?

A′te-ye he′ye lo,

A′te-ye he′ye lo.

_Translation_

Who think you comes there?

Is it someone looking for his mother?

Says the father,

Says the father.

In this the singer tells how he was greeted by his former friend upon

entering the spirit world, to which he had gone in search of his mother.

4. +Wana′yañ ma′niye+

Wana′yañ ma′niye,

Wana′yañ ma′niye.

Tata′ñka wañ ma′niye,

A′te he′ye lo,

A′te he′ye lo.

_Translation_

Now he is walking,

Now he is walking.

There is a buffalo bull walking,

Says the father,

Says the father.

This song is an invocation of the elemental forces. It was composed by