This song affords a good specimen of the possibilities of Indian word building. The second word might serve as a companion piece to Mark Twain’s picture of a complete word in German. It consists of seventeen syllables, all so interwoven to complete the sense of the word sentence that no part can be separated from the rest without destroying the whole. The verbal part proper indicates that “I have given you (plural) a headdress again.” The final syllables, wa-u′i-naga′thi, show that the headdress consists of the tail feathers (wagathi) of the magpie (wa-u-i). The syllable cha implies repetition or return of action, this being probably not the first time that the messiah had given magpie feathers to his visitors.
The magpie (Pica hudsonica or mittalii) of the Rocky mountains and Sierra Nevada and the intermediate region of Nevada and Utah is perhaps the most conspicuous bird in the Paiute country. It bears a general resemblance to a crow or blackbird, being about the size of the latter, and jet black, with the exception of the breast, which is white, and a white spot on each wing. In its tail are two long feathers with beautiful changeable metallic luster. It is a home bird, frequenting the neighborhood of the Paiute camps in small flocks. It is held sacred among the Paiute, by whom the long tail feathers are as highly prized for decorative purposes as eagle feathers are among the tribes of the plains. The standard price for such feathers in 1891 was 25 cents a pair. The delegates who crossed the mountains to visit the messiah brought back with them quantities of these feathers, which thenceforth filled an important place in the ceremonial of the Ghost dance. In fact they were so eagerly sought after that the traders undertook to meet the demand, at first by importing genuine magpie feathers from the mountains, but later by fraudulently substituting selected crow feathers from the east at the same price.
The song is also peculiar in referring to the messiah as “my mother” (nena) instead of “our father” (hesûnanin), as usual.
57. Ani′qa hĕ′tabi′nuhu′ni′na
Ani′qa hĕ′tabi′nuhu′ni′na,
Ani′qa hĕ′tabi′nuhu′ni′na.
Hatăna′wunăni′na hesûna′nĭn,
Hatăna′wunăni′na hesûna′nĭn.
Ha′tăni′ni′ahu′hi′na he′sûna′nĭn,
Ha′tăni′ni′ahu′hi′na he′sûna′nĭn.