porcupine describes the visit to wovoka as a fortuitous side benefit of the visit to the arapahoes. he mentions only the cheyenne delegation as if they came alone. however, james mooney, an ethnologist tasked by the u.s. government with investigating the ghost dance and who travelled far and wide to interview all the principals in the tribes concerned, including wovoka himself, tells a different story. porcupine's delegation was part of a larger, organised mission, perhaps a dozen people, sent out by a conference of chiefs at fort washakie in wyoming with the explicit purpose of obtaining information about the new religion. the mission included delegates from the sioux, cheyenne, arapahoe, and shoshoni. it seems likely that the arapahoe visit was a cover story to make easier obtaining permission from the indian agent to leave the reservation. u.s. soldiers guarding the reservation were under orders to stop anyone from leaving without a permit. porcupine, however, travelled without a permit until he reached fort hall indian reservation in idaho where he was given one by the indian agent there. at fort hall, more shoshoni and bannock indians joined them. the indian agent at pyramid lake indian reservation in nevada reported that the strength of the party was thirty-four as they passed through. porcupine says that all the indians they met after fort hall were already performing the ghost dance, and that many whites (these would be mostly mormons in nevada) were also dancing.