The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-09-11
 RED NEWS MAGIC POWERS.

 Medicine Chiefs often Skilled In Occult
 KnowIedge-MoquiI Indians' Wild Snake Dance--Warr.ors That Handle Kattlers
 whtuh Bite Them Apparently Without
 InfIlcting Harm-M ysterious Shooters Of
 AryOws.
 From the Boston Herald.l
 While 1t is probable that magic and the knowledge of the occult have reached higher development In the fastnesses of northern india, where dwell the strange Yoghls and Gompas, whose astonishing and almost miracu- lous feats have been lately detailed at length in the Herald, 1t Is by no means true that such wonders are to be wit messed nowhere outside of India.
 If travellers from the far west afe to be believed, on the plains of Arizona and in the recesses of the Rocky moun- tains the medicine chiefs of our own red men perform feats as truly aston- ishing as anything to be found In the far east. The secret of levitation-- that is to sayl the power to suspend an object fin the air without any visible means of support-seems to be known to them as we'll as to the Indian of the east. And they are undoubtedly able to receive the yenomous bite of the rat. ,tlesnake without harm; otherwise their far famed snake dances would prove a slaughter of the warriors.
 It is clear that the medicine man" occupies the same position in the Indian tribes which the Yoghis do among the Hindoos They are what they are by Virtue of their superior knowledge. To the Indian medicine means magic. It is to him thing of mystery, of sorcery, So the really powerful man of the tribe is he. who has been taught in the secrets of charming and incantation, who can summon rain from the clouds and who in fasting and meditation apart from his tribe has attained to higher Of deep- CT knowledge than Is possessed by his fellows.
 Thus Sitting Bull, the famous chief of the Sioux, at whose door were laid 20 many Indian crimes and rf1assacres, was no warrior chief at all. He was simply the high priest or medicine man of his tribe, developed among influences which brought out all the savage and warlike instincts of his nature. It is said that in the great medicine" Hodge or council chamber of the Sioux, Sitting Bull was feared almost as much as among the lonely cabins of the from tiersman. When a chief dared to differ with him Bull would sometimes become so angry that he would stride over to where his opponent sat and brain him at blow. Nor did his tribe ever dare to punish Bull for such an act as this. '~ The great power of medicine men is undoubtedly due to the Indian belief that disease and all the ills of the flesh are due to the work of evil spirits. Naturally, magical powers are required to exercise them. A sick Indian may only be cured by sorcerer. And the more hldeous the sorcerer makes him. self by paint, horns, skins and skulls, the greater is the potency supposed to lie in his spells and the better is the chance for the patients recovery.
 Though the Indian is not so very re- liglous in his nature, he still thinkt that it is very good thing to keep on 1 the good side of the Great Spirit. Ac. cordingly almost all of the tribes have some sort of religious dance. By far the most notable and one Of the most wonderful to be witnessed anywherd in the worlds the famous snake dance, which has its most startling manifesto ton among the Moquis of Arizona. Tht government has tried many times tt suppress this terrible orgy, for it usu' ally precedes an Indian outbreak, But it still survives and is given on the average of about once in two years.
 Between 100 and 200 chosen memberi of the band are selected to enact thu chief parts in this serpent carnival For days before the dsnce the Moduit scatter over the mesAs, or high tahl( lands, of north ,cn Arizona, each armed with forked wooden rod and two .eagl' feathers. There's no lack of snakes 1T this portion of the territory, and 1t il an Indian superstiti oti that the snake' enjoy the dance quite as much As thu Indians themselves. Wherever snak' Is found the Indian begins a slow. har rnonic movement of the eagle feather snd seems to acquire over the snake al influence that enables him to bag 1t il short order.
 Hundreds upon hundreds of rattle snakes are procur Id and are placed in huge basket in the outskirts of the VII lage. Early on the appointed day Of th' .festival chosen warriors march fortl to the dancing ground: which has beei strewn by thetisuuAws with sscfet meal. The braves are; scantiiy clad and on each leg 10 N snhall teffApii ] shell. in. which, Asss rlacsd saaaat RSs