in the first or the second of these stages, and nothing more than a feeble germ of the third stage is found among them. Now, studies of mythologic and religious systems indicate that the earlier two stages overlap among different peoples, and also that the psychotheism of the more advanced among the primitive peoples is closely akin to enlightened religious concepts, but that the second and third stages are more widely distinct. Accordingly, red men and white are separated by the broadest known chasm in the development of belief, a chasm so broad that few representatives of either race are able definitely to bridge it in thought. Thus, many of the movements described in this chapter were among people separated from the ghost dance enthusiasts by the widest known cultural break as well as by the widest known break in fiducial development; and whatever the superficial resemblance in the movements, there is a strong presumption against their essential homology. In its extent and intensity the ghost-dance fantasy of 18891892 is a unique illustration of one of the characteristics of the aborigines which has long been under investigation in the Bureau of Ethnology, and the accompanying memoir is a contribution toward the final results of these researches. |