The San Francisco call., 1898-03-06

facing about and departing in the direction whence they had come. Down another dark paSsaGeway, un- ] derneath a house, the muff1ed rhythm | of beating tom-tomS was heard, ana soon there appeared three fantastic f1g-
 ures, robed in elaborately decorated white blankets, and wearing head
 dresses and masks the like of which l
 had never seen. They were dancers in every sense of the word, and their
 graceful pirouettes were most pleasing to look upon. Two of them were girls and the third was a young man. Their performance was to propitiate the devils who were besetting the Zunis, and before they had completed the circuit of the small plaza they were | worked up to fever heat of excite
 ment.
 Following them came sixty men in re- splendent dresses of savage finery, all chanting the rhythm of the air an- | nounced by the priest. Two of them
 carried tom-toms and the time they
 kept was absolutely perfect. Hundreds | of blanketed Indians thronged the
 housetops and looked on. Each one
 kept time to the music with hand or
 foot and apparently understood the meaning of the greater part of what he 1 saw.
 The medicine man again appeared
 with his sacred meal and marked two
 crosses upon the ground in the middle
 of the plaza. The chanting broke forth
 uproariouSly and the dancing became
 faster and faster.
 Just at dusk the acting high priest | entered the arena, turned first toward | the east, then toward the west, then
 toward Ia Yll'ani, chanted brief prayer, and the dancers hurrledly de-
 parted through a passageway leading 1 in the direction of the largest estufa in
 the village. I attempted to follow them,
 but could not for the simple reason that 1 by the time I had clambered down 1 from the roof every one of them had 1 disappeared.
 I was informed, however, that during | the night the dance would be resumed | in the estufa, but that no spectators
 were allowed, at any rate, no Zunis, l and that white people would not be i welcomed.
 We waited until almost midnight,
 frequently passing the estuSa and look | ing in, but saw only the priests and
 their acolytes sitting silently in rows,
 chanting and smoking. At midnight.
 however, the signal for the resumption | of the dance was given. The silent pe- riod between dusk and this hour was | evidently required for thought, prayer and consideration, in order that the l further course of the dance might be | correctly determined.
 The estufa contained two rooms, or, more properly, one large room and an
 anteroom where the dance parapher- nalia was kept. The main room was
 perhaps fifty by twenty feet. Two | rows of tWenty-one men each were | formed down the center of this room.
 They were naked, except a breech- l clout, and their bodies were fancifully painted. The acting high priest took | his stand at the head of the file, and | oh fOOl< stick AhOllt two l feet long, the upper end of which was ornamented with three waving turkey | plumes The lower end, to length of | fifteen inches, was whittled into the l shape of a huge paper knife, rounded at the point. These wooden blades were very smooth, were about two inches wide and slightly curved. While our entrance to the estufa
 was not resisted, yet I am convinced
 that the blue uniforms and bright shoulderstraps of the cavalry officers who accompanied me were the open sesame.
 We were cautioned not to touch any of the dancers or any of their para | phernalia, as such action would result il. dire misfortune.
 The priest and two of the medicine
 men carried pine trees about eight feet | high, the lower ends of which were 1 shaped into blades, like the sticks in
 the hands of the men. The dance lasted more than an hour. The muscu- | lar movements of the dancers bodies, the weird native music. the humping of the tom-toms and shrill notes of the chant as announced by the priests, the writhing, sinuous contortions through
 which they worked themselves, the fanatical fervor which permeated everything-al these were noteworthy