Bacon Rind [whose recent death is mentioned in the letter] was one of the last of the old people who beli[e]ved in [the] Wilson cult; these first followers of peyote are about all gone. [The] small moon now prevales in the Osage. It will be a blessing to the world when all the Quapaws and what few Delawares [are left practicing it] will change [to the standard peyote rite]. FOOTNOTES: [1] Mooney, _The Ghost Dance_, 903-905. [2] Capt. Hugh L. Scott, in Mooney, _The Ghost Dance_, 904. [3] We have elsewhere expressed the opinion that the Caddo had an historical significance in the spread of peyotism second only to that of the Kiowa-Comanche, and that Wilson represents this Caddoan influence predominantly. Though he had Delaware blood, this numerically small group could scarcely have wielded the influence or exercised the prestige necessary to account for the spread of his “moon;” the Caddo, on the other hand, who early had peyote, did have this prestige. We therefore believe Petrullo in error in claiming Wilson as a Delaware. Speck (_Notes on the Life_, 540) writes that “His associations with the Comanche and Caddo, to whom he was related by blood, were close.” Petrullo himself, indeed (_The Diabolic Root_, 44) indicates Caddoan influences on Wilson: “John Wilson, the originator of the Big Moon, was living among the Caddo. He was one of the first Delaware to eat peyote. He belonged to the Black Beaver band ... held by the Government at the Wichita and Caddo reservations. It was there that Wilson was born and raised.” Petrullo also says Wilson made visits to Arizona and New Mexico before returning to make his moon on the Caddo reservation. [4] Note the prominence of hearts in the altar elaborated by Wilson. According to Petrullo (_The Diabolic Root_, 45) “John Wilson ... had received some Catholic instruction.” These probably derive, therefore, from the Catholic “Sacred Heart.” (The heart is present in Huichol religion, but even if not wholly aboriginal [Aztecan influence?] and Catholic-influenced there too, it is quite independent of the Wilson heart motifs.) [5] Cf. the prominence in Wilson’s moon of brushing each person entering with feathers. [6] Cf. the Winnebago leader’s similar praying with confessants in peyote meetings. [7] Speck, _Notes on the Life_, 540-42; cf. also Petrullo, _The Diabolic Root_, 80. [8] “In response to the question as to whether Wilson ever spoke of the Peyote songs as symbolizing the singing of birds, Anderson asserted that he had heard of this among other Peyote sects but had never heard Wilson express it.” (Speck, _op. cit._, 542 note.)