This quirt is extremely similar to one pictured and described by Alfred Krober in his volume THE ARAPAHO, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XVIII, 1907, pages 354-355, figure 126. "Figure 126 shows a form of quirt more or less typical of the ghost-danceThe body is a board about three inches wide and a foot and a half long. The end has one large notch. One edge is grooved, the other notched. The whip proper consists of a thong passed through a hole in the board near the large notch at the end...The board portion of the implement is painted red on both sides. On one side there is at the bottom a somewhat irregular area adjoining the handle which is painted black. This represents a cloud. From this issue three wavy incised lines, two painted black and one yellow, which extend to the opposite end of the board. These are lightning symbols...The relation of quirts of this type to the feathered wands of the tribal ceremonies is made still clearer by the fact that the owner of this piece stated that an eagle wing-feather should be tied to the end of the implement."