CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PROPHET WHO FAILED.
THIS Indian was a Smith River, and the Klamath Indians in their tongue, called him, He-na Tom. In the year about eighteen hundred and sixty five, this He-na Tom, while living at his home on Smith River, which is north from the Klamath River, his wife became sick and died, and he mourned her loss greatly. In the fall he had a prophetic dream, which caused him to commence a sort of revival among the Smith River Indians, telling them to destroy everything they had ever received from the white people, discard all the clothing, houses and in fact, burn all and everything, and go back to their old Indian way of living entirely, and in a short time all the dead Indians would come back to life, to this world. As it happened He-na Tom had a sister, that was married to a Klamath River man, and they had a family of grown sons and daughters, and this family lived in a village called Ni-galth, which is situated on the west side of the Klamath River, opposite the mouth of Blue Creek, some eight miles down the river from where the Klamaths hold their White Deer-Skin Dance. So in the fall, after the Klamaths had finished putting in the fish dam, and the Indians from all parts of the country had been invited to come and see the ceremony, and the White Deer-Skin Dance was going on, He-na Tom made his appearance among them with his sayings, telling them to destroy all their white man’s goods, burn all the houses that were made in the white man’s way, and tear down all their Indian houses, but not to burn the lumber of the Indian houses, thus leaving a clear opening, and for all of them to bring all their Indian money and wealth of all kinds, and hang it up in plain view, aroundhim where he was lying, covered with Indian blankets made of deer skin. He told them to go ahead with the White Deer-Skin Dance, so when the dead ones appeared, they would all dance with them and make a big jubilee, and all of them who failed to comply with his holy orders, and not bring their valuables, that it would all turn into rock or rocks, and those that disbelieved and did not come, would themselves turn to rock. He had a great many of the Klamath Indians of the wealthy class, all of the poor class, and a few of the high class that was wild and willing to follow, and there was a lot of valuable property and things destroyed, while the shelves or tables were loaded with provision for the dead when they came, so they could eat, dance and all be joyful, while all the white people were to turn to rocks. Some of the wise ones of the high class, that were versed in the secret mysteries, hung back saying no, that they wanted to see. While they were claiming that He-na Tom had gone to meet the dead Indians, and that he would be back with them that night, three or four of the doubtful ones went over to where the large piles of Indian blanket were by a fire, and on lifting up the blankets behold, there was He-na Tom. They spoke to him, calling him by name, but he did not answer, his followers claimed that his body was there, but that his spirit had gone to meet the dead ones. When the old ones who were so highly versed in the mysteries as not to be hoodwinked, had seen enough to convince them that there was no truth in it, they shook their heads, quietly moved back and retired to their camps or homes, saying that He-na’s prophesies were a fake, and that he was a humbug. As it turned out, that night He-na Tom slipped down the Klamath River, to the mouth, and up the coast, back to Smith River, his home. So when the Klamaths came to gather back their valuables, there was considerable of it that the rightful owners could not find, and never did get back, which made many of them very angry.
He-na Tom’s brother-in-law was afterwards killed, and all of his Klamath relations were compelled to leave the Klamath River, and go to Smith River to live for a number of years before they dared to return to the Klamath again. I have long since found that the Klamath Indians are bad fellows, for any one to try to play fake on. They have, or used to have, their wise ones, that watched the different positions of the planets, atdifferent seasons of the year, and tell of hard winters, of cold or warm summers, and of different harvest famines. They sometimes had dreams that they interpreted for good or bad. Other than this I have never heard of them ever having prophets.
Since the white race of people, that they found inhabiting the Klamath when they first arrived there, which we call the Wa-gas, which must have been thousands of years ago, they do not tell of ever having come in contact with any kind of a white race, or of any other race ever coming among them until the present white race came, which we call Ken-ne-ah. The Klamath River is so inaccessible, winding its way through high mountains, with no valleys, that to this day it is a wild country with lots of game and fish. And there never has been a Preacher of any kind among us to this day.