After prayer and weeping, and offerings have been made to the sacred pole, the dance is started again. The dancers go rather slowly at first, and as the priests in the center begin to shout and leap about, the dancers partake of the enthusiasm. Instead of moving with a regular step, each person jumps backward and forward, up and down, as hard as he or she can without relinquishing their hold upon their neighbor’s hand. One by one the dancers fall out of the ranks, some staggering like drunken men, others wildly rushing here and there almost bereft of reason. Many fall upon the earth to writhe about as if possessed of demons, while blinded women throw their clothes over their heads and run through brush or against trees. The priests are kept busy waving eagle-feathers in the faces of the most violent worshippers. The feather is considered sacred, and its use, together with the mesmeric glance and motion of the priest, soon causes the victim to fall into a trance or deep sleep. Whether this sleep is real or feigned the writer does not pretend to say, but sufficiently deep is it that Whites visiting the dance have been unable to rouse the sleepers by jest or blow. Unquestionably the priests exercise an influence over the more susceptible of the dancers akin to hypnotism. One of the young men, who danced in the ghost circle twenty times, told me that the priest “Looked very hard at us. Some of the young men and women could not withstand his snake-like gaze, and did whatever he told them.” Regarding what is seen by the converts when in the spirit land, I have secured interviews with three prominent Oglalas touching upon this matter. Little Wound said: “When I fell in the trance a great and grand eagle came and carried me over a great hill, where there was a village where the tipis were all of buffalo hides, and we made use of the bow and arrow, there being nothing of white man’s manufacture in the beautiful land. Nor were any Whites permitted to live there. The broad and fertile lands stretched in every direction, and were most pleasing to my eyes. “I was taken into the presence of the great Messiah, and he spoke to me these words: “‘My child, I am glad to see you. Do you want to see your children and relations who are dead?’ “I replied: ‘Yes, I would like to see my relations who have been dead a long time. The God then called my friends to come up to where I was. They appeared, riding the finest horses I ever saw, dressed in superb and most brilliant garments, and seeming very happy. As they approached, I recognized the playmates of my childhood, and I ran forward to embrace them while the tears of joy ran down my cheeks.