The record-union., 1893-09-16

singing out a spectator for attack, their
white teeth cleaning, their jaws opening
wide and again closing with a snap, and
their red forked tongues constantly dart
ing IN and out of their mouths. AT the
same time the performer who had taken
the snake under his arm seemed about to
be overpowered by its strength. lt
struggled to escape, twisting It's ugly
neck about his arm, darting its tongue
into his very face, and then. rearing up,
would throw itself out with q mighty
spring so that he had to clasp both arms
around it and press it tightly against his
naked bosom to hold it. 1t was simply
awful. All this time the old man in the
white mask-who represented the Uni
verSal Mother, the creator and fructltler
of everything-was moving rapidly from
one snake to the other. sprinkling 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 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 anger at the delay. As a
head was thrust out the old man would
throw his right arm around the Shiny
neck and hold it close against his side
while he allowed it 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 unearthly cries and
roars behind the curtain never cease for
moment while the dancers at either
side kept up all the while their monoton-
Gus 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 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 1t
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-
ton of sounds from behind the curtain
all this by the dim, flickering light OF the
fire burning in the center, at the mid
night hour, in subterranean cavern
hewn out of the solid rock, made up
thing of weird horror never to be forgot
ten. The effect was the result of an in
genious mechanism 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 twenty minutes, when
the snakes withdrew their heads behind
the curtain and the sounds ceased as sud-
denly 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 subterranean 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 good-bys and hand-shakes
from the old man the white visitors
climbed up the ladder and found them
selves once more on the 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
succession of intricate and graceful fig
ures; the Omaha Dance of the Sioux, in
tensely dramatic; the Mescal ceremony
OF the Kiowas, weird and dreamy; the
Ghost Dance of the Arapahoes, wild and
maniacai; but never elsewhere has he
seen anything to approach the chilly
horror of the Black Snake Dance of the
Hopi. 1t was as if one saw the lost souls
in hell struggling in the grasp of the in
fernal spirits. York Tribune.