The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-09


several tribes Of Indians in Arizona
territory that perform feats as remark
able and astonishing as those seen in
India and Arabia The CocoDahs are
said to perform a feat of leviatation
and at certain tribal ceremonials to
suspend an arrow or spear unsup-
ported in the air for some seconds. The
Pimas of southern Arizona have sew
eral tricks that have been handed down
to their medicine men through genera
tions and are in apparent violation OF
the laws of nature. For instance, tray-
elerS tell now their medicine men have
caused the seeming death of boys by
means OF a poisonous weed. and then,
after the lads have had two days eE-
perience IN the spirit world, have
brought them back to life. Another
feat Of theirs is said to be the drinking
of boiling wafer. The ApacheS have a
few feats in craftsmanship that border
on the incredible, but the Moquis, or
Molkis, or HoDi Indians are, perhaps,
the most interesting Indians in roint
of strange customs and startling cere-
monies o. all the tribes IN the Union.
Their reservation is in northeastern
Arizona, and visitors reach it by going
to Holbrook, on the Atchison. Topeka
& Santa Fe railroad, from where there
is a stage ride OF 3 miles across the
country TO the land of the ancient race
of Moquis-
Their name means Deace-boving peo-
pie and their history for a century has
been i'll harmony with their name. They
live nearer the life of their ancestors
than any other American Indians.
Their tribal celebrations today are eX-
actly similar to those that Coronado
wrote about in his military diary when
he marched through Arizona and New
Mexico on an expedition of conquest
in 1870 There is every reason to be-
lieVe that many Of the dances, cere-
monies and religious fetes of the Moqui
Indians have been handed down In
changed for hundreds of Years. The
tribe is cut off from association with
other Indians of the territory by burn
ing deserts and ranges of lofty noun
tains. They are proud, reserved and
silent race.
The Moquis number about 1000. They
are agriculturaliSts. and, living as they
do in the midst of a. grim, whitening
desert, they make use of every drop Of
moisture that falls in the autumn, and
seek to WOO the favor of the Great
Spirit that he may send rain on the
parched fields of corn, the patches OF
melons and the mesquite beans. The
MoQuis are among the most intelligent
savages in the southwest. They are a
serious people and deeply religious.
They cannot be induced to leave their
reservation and it is an un9ardonable
sin to fail to observe the sacred tribal
customs that have come ioWn to them
through ages. The MoqUis are about
the most moral tribe in the country,
and their young men and women are
reared. first, to be self-supDortin'S; sec
ond, TO be well-behaved and honest,
and third, to keep the tribal traditions
and ritual unaltered.
They believe as their ancestors did
= Col I11rc- P9lOS
that rain is caused by a monster rattle
snake miles long and many rods IN
girth. away up in the loftieSt peaks, OF
the Sierra Nevada mountains. ThlS
serpent has messengers on the desert
In the shape of the common rattle
snakes. The thunder in the mountains
is the rafting of the huge serpent, and
the winds that roar through the can
yonS to the north are it's Kisses. The
AIoquis regard their tribal snake dance
as a most sacred performance, and the
90 antelope men, who are the dancers,
are chosen by the high snake priest be-
cause OF some service or honor and
piety in the tribe. The dancers who
have participated in a dozen biennial
snake ceremonies are the distinguished
and respected men among the MoqulS.
The tribe occupies two pueblos, W2lpi
and Oraibi, on Stupendous mass OF
granite in the center of the desert. The
Mo0uis have lived here from some I'M
known age before Coronado was here
in 1540. They Were at war with the
PimaS when the American revolution
was fought. They chose the site be-
cause Of its impregnable position when
the more Warlike and rowing UteS and
Navajos made conquestS in the south
west In 1894 the snake ceremonies
took place at Wllpi, in 1896 at Oraabl,
and this year at 7Nalpi again. The date
of the dances is determined by the po-
? Talz aNrEs
comes between the middle and the last
of August When the sun as it sets
glints on a certain point on the sacred |
rock that stands before the door of !
the tribal kiva the snake priest Honi !
mounts on the highest point at either |
Walpi or Oraibi and solemnly gives no |
tice that two sunsets from that time |
the dance in Precipitation of the snake |
god will take place. He ends by di- |
Tectina all to begin preparations for |
the occasion. The women are to bake !
for a tribal feast, and to dress them !
selves and their children in their best |
garments and the men are to perform /
their several parts in the ceremonies.
A certain number of young men APP |
nointed for the purpose have been out /
foY. a. week performing their share in /
the preparation for the dance. They |
are the Jakulali, or snake gatherers.
The,i roam over the desert for miles
with a forked stick in one hand anG a |
bag made Of skins in the other. They
have learned where to look for rattle
snakes. and sometimes they get 300 ser
penis in q week. They plant the fork
of the stick over the neck of a recum-
hent snake and by an adrOit movement
throw the reptile into the bag. The
serpents are brought to the pueblo and
are placed in a huge basket. On the
appointed day Of the festival the chosen
warriors march forth to the little
plaza on the sun baked earth, which
has been strewn by the squaws with
sacred meal. The braves are scantily
clad and on each leg is a small terra
pin shell in which are placed small
pebbles that rattle loudly as the war
rior moves. The dancers are Smeared
with red, white and black paints, and
around each brow is bound d flaming
red handkerchief, the upper part of
the forehead being painted a deep
black and the lower half a black and
white band.
The band forms in a circle and the
basket known as the kisi of serpents
is brought forth and is placed beneath
the mesquite shrub, just where it has
stood on Moqui dance days for count
less generations. One Of the chiefs, hid
eously painted, opens the kisi, and as
each brave marches past, thrusts his
naked arm within and jerks from it
several w1ithing serpents, which he
hands to the buck. The snake dancer
bends forward his hideously marked
face and seizes the snake by the mid