The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-20

over MS head mask painted white ,r;,l
long plumes. Suddenly arose a cho,,,s s
most unearthly sounds from behind ~
curtains as If a whole menagerie mad ~
ken loose. In fact, the only thing ~.
which II can be compared is the sttg,r,o
combination of roars, grOwls and yva1-
sometimes heard in a circus when 10
wild animals have become alarmed.
This was the signal All at once tb,
six snakes which had been carried bebirJ
the curtain darted their enormous he'd
through the holes in its lower part one
at each hole They came out head. necl-
and almost half their ZENITH, moving tho,
heads from side to side as if singing ont
spectator for attact, their white teeth
cleaning, their jaws opening wide and
again closing with snap, and their red
fOrked tongues constantly darling in and
out of their mouths. At the same time
the performer who had taken the snake
under his arm seemed about to be over
powered by Its strength. 1t struggled IN
escape, twisting its ugly neck about his
arm, darting its tongue into his very face
and then, rearing up, would throw il.
self out with mighty spring so that he
had to clasp both arms around il and
press it tightly against his naked bosom
to hold ii. 1t was simply awful. All this
time the old man in the white mask
who represented the Universal
N1OUll6Es UuC creator ana trIIp.
tifier of everything-was MOVING
rapidly from one snake to the other sprinl.
ling upon the head of each some of the
sacred meal from the pouch hung at his
neck. The snakes stretched out their
long necks as he approached, sometimes
three or four feet beyond the curtain
pushing their heads against each Other
and darting out their tongues in their
eagerness to get at the meal and their
an ut tho 6plau c a hoo
out the old man would throw his right
arm around the Shiny neck and hold it
close against his side while he allowed il
to lick up the meal which he held out to
it in his left hand AS the snake turned
and twisted it seemed to require his
whole strength to hold it, as much as if
he were trying to restrain an unruly horse
by the bride. At the same time the
other man was struggling with the other
serpent, the sweat rolling down his naked
body and his muscles standing out like
those on the LAGOON. The unearthlv
cries and roars behind the curtain never
ceased for moment, while the dancers at
either side kept up all the while their
mOnotonous chant a-step to the time of
the turtle rattles.
The naked brown-skinned dancers.
with their lank black hair hanging about
their faces the monster snakes thrusting
their heads far out through the curtain.
with their cleaning teeth and their red
tongues; the masked figure holding one Of
the largest under one arm while he fed il
with the other; the man struggling with
one serpent while he strove to push aside
the head of another which was reaching
out to seize him; the horrible combina.
tiOn of sounds from behind the curtain
all this by the dim, Pickering light of the
fire burning in the centre, at the midnight
hour, in a subterranean cavern hewn out
of the solid rock, made up q thing Of
weird horror never to be forgotten The
effect was the result of an ingenious me-
chanism of springs inside the bodies Of
the snakes. with clever acting on the
part of the performers, but the illusion
was almost perfect.
This part lasted about twenty minutes,
when the snakes withdrew their heads be-
hind the curtain and the sounds ceased as
suddenly as they had begun. In few mo-
ments the curtain was lowered, and there
was the fresh green corn growing as be-
fore. Another song was started and the
dancers again fell into line to keep up
song and dance until nearly morning,
The snakes were put aside until they
should play their part in the eliminating
ceremony after which they are laid
away in another subterrean grotto known
only to the priests of the order, and the
entrance is walled UP until they are
needed for the next annual feast. After
friendly goodbys and hand-shakes from
the old men, the white visitors climbed
up the ladder and found themselves once
more on top of the mesa, with the stone
walled houses on one side, the desert
plain far below us, and the winter stars
shining quietly above.
The writer has seen the green corn dance
of the Cherokees, with its endless sue
cession of intricate and graceful figures
the Omaha dance of the Sioux, intensely
dramatic; the Mescal ceremony of the
Koiwas, weird and dreamy; the Ghost
da zee of the Arapahoes, wild and mani
acal but never elsewhere has he seen
anything to approach the chilly horror OF
the Black Snake Dance of the Hopi. It
was as if one saw the lost souls in hell
struggling in the grasp of the internal
spirits.