The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-17
A PUEBLO FEAST.
A CRUEL ABORIGINAL PICNIC
IN NEW MEXICO.
Indian Foot Races-Leaping for q
Rooster Suspended From .
Lariat-Dismembe Alive
and then Eaten Raw.

The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico
have so many feasts that there is hardly
any season of the year when one need
wait long to enjoy an aboriginal picnic
| And such q day in Pueblo town is not
soon to be forgotten. Its exact dupli'
cate will not be found elsewhere in the
world, nor anything approaching it else
where in the United States. 1t is the
most picturesque affair in America.
We have just finished celebrating the
| feast of San Juan in Aconla, says cor
respondent of the San Francisco Ctr0na'
Gle. When first the gray sky in the
east turned to opal on Sunday morning
all Acoma was awake. At eight O'Clock
the streets were alive. Strongfaced,
athletic men, modest and comelv women,
erect as queens aud with breadth and
depth of chest simply superb, were at
every corner.
A little after noon the leisurely crowd
began to drift slowly over to the north
! street, the narrowest but smoothest OF
all. Where a cross street comes in, a
half hundred of the leading old men OF
the pueblo s9uattsd upon the rocks,
while around hung clusters of children.
/ The surrounding housetops were per.
! feet kaleidoscope Of gorgeous color and
cleaning silver. The solemn faced
alguazil, with gay, green drum Of
rawhide slung at his side, glanced
around him in self-sufficient way, and
began to belabor the protesting instru'
ment with two aldermanic drumsticks.
Directly group of boys of six to fifteen
years coated themselves with a film OF
white clay from big unaja. Then the
| smaller youngsters repaired to the upper
end of the street and stood there in q
huddle.
The drummer gave vicious thumr
upon his drum head, and called out a
disjointed order. Two boys sprang rom
the ground and came flying down the
street, 1.-the and agile as young antelopes.
| The smaller was bent on winning. His
long black hair tioated out behind; his
dark eyes shone like stars, and his club.
by legs fairly twinkled along the gray
rocky floor. The large boy ran to wln'
too, but he was more intirm of purpose.
The housetop crowds caught his eyes,
and the encouraging shouts of the men
tickled him. He led easily to within
thirty yards of the winning pest, and
the1, in beautiful squirt, the little fel-
low fairly sailed to the fore and won by
a yard, amid loud applause. ,
Before the breathless boy could sink
upon little bed of soft, white sand, the
drummer had yelled again, and another
pair of biped meteors came flashing down
the track. And so it went till each
couple of fifty boys had run the 300 yard
course twice.
Meanwhile two very important look,
ing fellows with the soberest faces in the
world had brought forth two slender,
strong poles of about eighteen feet IN
length and tied to each, near the top,
the end of a tweuty-foot horsehair larlat.
One of them then produced loudly ob'
iecting rooster, tied his feet together
with a buckskin thong and fastened the
thong to a loop in the middle OF the pen
dant lariat.
The two standard bearers then grasped
each his pole and drew it toward him TIL
the intervening lariat was taut. The un-
fortunate rooster then dangled headlong
at height of about ten feet from the
ground. The previous racers now fell
into line little way down the street,
the tiniest of them in the lead. A crowd
of grown-up boys and men dropped in
behind in the order of their altitude.
Rousing his drum from its sleepy
gruntine to hoarse rattle the alguaI
Shouted the signal for the sport to be-
gin. In mechanical unanimity the long
procession-therew were in it lO9 persons,
ranging in height from six feet two
inches IN the rear to two feet six inches
in front--with that peculiar hop.stamp
hop-stamp 80 familiar to all who have
seen any sort of an aboriginal dance,
moved forward with deliberate precision
passing between the poles and under thu
chicken in single file: Each runner had
a little branch of chaparo, and as h'
passed under the tapping chanticleer hi
would leap high in the air, with clea
treble s'eeyoop" with a simultaneous
wild swipe with his stick at the rooster
which by able ducking evaded most O.
these offers.
Still in line, the runners now rested
moment. The pole holders stepped eacf
a step inward, so that the rooster huns
several feet nearer the ground. Agar
the drummer signaled, and again the
running began. Suddenly a tall, nicely
built fellow made q superhuman lungt
into the air and caught the rooster by the
neck before the guards could swing II
aoft. With single powerful thrust o.
his arm he broke the buckskln thong
and with a wild yell broke from thu
line and was off like deer, swinging
the astounded bird triumphantly above
his head.
The whole pack was at his heels in ar
instant, and, amid the excited shrek;
of the spectators, the chase swept doWr
the street and around the corner OF tine
houses. Hound and round the house
they ran, the pursued doubling and turn:
ing like jackrabbit to elude the wilo
grabs of his pursuers. When at la tho
Tremendous pace began to tell even on
his deep lungs he whirled and brought
! the chicken down with resounding
thump upon the bare shoulders OF the
foremost of the field.
The youth thus challenged seized the
trophy and flew ahead with it, the crowo
following him as before. For nearly hall
an hour this remarkable running con
tinued, all at five minute gait or less,
the rooster changing hands five time:
meanwhile.
Then the runners came to dead stop
in the vide spot in front of the open
place, and the one who held the rooster,
turning to the nearest of his companions,
BEGAN to assault him with the rooster