Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-12-12
THE SNAKE DANCE.

man." ,.-
THE SNAKE DANCE. j..
4 Wonderful Story Told by IN Agent of the
Moquia Indians. '-.~ =
From the San Francisco Bulletin.3
w. R. Mateer, Indian Agent Of the
Maquis Pueblos of Arizona. gives a
thrilling account of q strange ceremony
practiced by that tribe, call led the SNAKE
Dance" The Moquis regard the serpent
as q sacred reptile, possessed of the
power of controlling the elements and
disposed to be friendly to man. They
never kill a snake, and frequently
handle the most poisonous serpent
with IMMUNITY. The rattlesnake is re-
garded with special veneration, and
their bite is no more. dreaded than the
scratch of a mesquit thorn or the prick
ing of cactus. They have an antidote
for the bite of rattlesnake which is in
falible, and never fails to effect cure
in few minutes when administered
Immediately. An Indian of this tribe,
when bitten by RATHER, swallows the
antidote at once, and, after being stupi-
fed for q moment, becomes entirely
restored, and never feels any pain or
inconvenience afterward. All attempts
of white men to learn the ingredients
of this antidote have proved futile, as
the secret is regarded with religious
fidelity, and an Indian would lay down
his life rather than communicate the
recipe for snake-bites to a pale-face.
If white man is bitten by a RATHER,
the Indians will not hesitate to give
him the antidote, but he must not in
quire what it is made Of.
The snake dance is performed by the
Moquis every two years, and is resorted
to as a means of propitiating the spirit
of the summer rain to send abundant
showers to fructify the earth and make
the crops grow. The corn is planted
in the moist sand of the mesa, without
previous preparation OF the ground, for
the pillow is unknown to the tribe, and
after it has grown to certain height
and needs moistening from the clouds,
preparations are made for the
grand snake dance. A deep and
wide excavation is made in the
dirt floor of one of the largest
houses in the village, and the whole
tribe 60 out to hunt snakes. These they
catch with their hands and bring them
in twined around their necks, coiled in
their bosoms, or wrapped around their
legs and arms. All kinds of snakes are
captured-the RATHER, the viper, the
moccasin, the blue racer, the garter, the
green, spotted-in fact, every variety
existing in the country. These, to the
number of several hundred, are placed
in the pit in the floor, and the mouth is
covered with buffalo-robe, the hairy
side down, to prevent the reptiles from
crawling out and escaping. Then a
certain number of the old men dance
around the pit, chanting monotonous
songs and calling upon the imprisoned
serpents to intercede with the spirit of
the clouds to send rain upon the thirst
ing corn~felds. A body of younger
men next form circle around the pit,
and go through similar ceremony.
Then come the old women, who have
different chant, then the young married
women, then the boys, and finally the
virgins, with their hair done up in
loops, and then for few moments
solemn silence prevails, during which
the kissing of the serpents and the
shrin sound of their rattles are heard
under the buffalo-robe. These sounds
are taken as favorable tokens that the
incantations have been successful, and
that copious fall of rain will follow.
Then the bufalo-robe is removed, and
then the men and boys leap into the
pit, and each one brings forth a snake,
which he holds in his mouth. Some
time man will emerge with two or
three small snakes in his mouth. As
each man energies from the pit with his
mouth full of snakes, he runs ct full
speed down the neutrality-suspicious.
side of the mesa until he comes to the
plain, aud there gently releases his cap
lives, who at once take to the grass and
quickly disappear. After the pit has
been. emptied, the men examine the
wounds On their arms, breast and faces,
and, if blood has been drawn, they
know that the fangs of RATHER have en-
tered their flesh, and they lose no time
in applying the antidote.
The wounds inflicted by the rattle
snakes are very painful. The RATHER,
when provoked, is the most savage of
all serpents, and will continue to strike
and laoerate an enemy as long as he is
within reach. Sometimes an old snake
with full-grown fangs will fasten upon
the cheek or arm Of an Indian and hold
on until the fangs are torn from his
Jaw. Mr.. Natter Witnessed one of these
snake-dances of tho Moquis recently,
and was Mortified at the sight. He saw
the blood streaming from the arms and
breasts of the Indians, who bore the
pain with stole indifference and seemed
to take pleasure in the inaiotion. They
believed that the more savage the snakes
became, and the deeper the wounds in.
ficted, the more copious would be the
shower. On the occasion of the last
snake-dance the Indians of one of the
villages refused to participate. For
some reason they believed the rain
would come down without the dance,
and while the other villages were en-
gagged in the ceremony they sat idly in
their houses listening to the noise and
smiling at the unnecessary trouble their
neighbors were taking. Subsequently
they had good cause to repent, for when
the rain came sweeping down from the
mountains it poured copious flood
upon the snake.worshiping villages and
their fields; and passed around the,
hereto village and their parched corn
fields, leaving them as dry as powder
horn. The result was that six of the
seven villages raised abundant crops,
and the other had to call on the Agent
for Government rations.
Mr.. Natter was formerly resident
of this city, and appears to be 3 truth
full man.. He was q spectator of the
strange snake dance, but witnessed
it from safe distance, sitting on wall
overlooking the scene.
Madagascar.
Although Madagascar is known to be
the third-largest island in the world, its
actual size and extent is not very gen.
orally understood. It is easy to see
how misconception on this point arises,
for in maps the island is usually seen
only in connection with Africa, and
that great continent, is so large that it
dwarfs by comparison with itself every