Arizona republican., 1899-09-18
PLAYED TRICKS ON THEM
Dick Hall Amused inc MOguIS by Pressing Wafer From Rocks.

Dick Hall who left Phoenix two
 months ago with Dr. J. Miller to wit
 ness the Moqui snake dance, eighty
 miles from Holbrcok, returned yes
 terday. He succeeded in getting a
 number of views of the dancers, but
 the. pictures are not the best He
 will probably attend the next dance
 and by taking a different kind of in
 strument hopes to get better views
 Mir. Hall says the Moqui performances
 are we'll worth a visit. The snake
 dance proper only lasted about
 a half hour, but there are h great
 many entertaining things to be seen
 beside the dance. Probably more in
 teresting than the dance itself are the
 customs and traditions of the people.
 The Moquis are different from any
 other kind of Indian. They are a
 peaceable, industrious race and con- tented. The American Indian is called
 a stcic, but the Moqui is quite the re
 verse. He is quick to see a joke and
 prefers laughing almost to eating. The Moquis gather about their camp-fres
 at night, land soemtimes laugh the
 greater part Of the night away. One
 of them will make a remark and the OIn0TS VIII IduSu, dL duOlu0I IAIu6 IL
 only requires motion or gesture on the part of one of the Indians to start
 the balance in a fit of laughter. MT. Hall went to the dance to study it and to be entertained. He did study it, but
 he probably entertained the Indians more than they entertained him. For a time they looked upon him as al-
 most supernatural being. In sleight of hand performance he put a few grains of corn in his ears and sub sequently took them out of his mouth. But what mystified the Indians most was his power of squeezing water from a rock. He saturated piece of cotton which he slipped into his hand un- known to his audience who did not see him. He called on an Indian to press his elbow when he squeezed the satu- rated cotton, and to all appearances he was pressing water from the rock. MT. Hall says that for Q week after that the Iaged bucks could be seen squeez- ing each others elbows, but they were unable to get water from a rock. Finally he showed them how the trick was dcne and in return one Indian hammered for him an artistically en- graved ring of a 50-cent piece and an other made a bracelet of a dollar piece
 MT. Hall is an athlete and on several OCCdS1OuS duuSSQ the lnQlalS Dy all exhibition of his physical proves. On i one of these occasions the Moquis | were amused at his discomfture. The i katchina dance was taking place and i he was literally forced to become a participant. In this dance the kat china, an aged buck, who is supposed i to be medium in the transmission of i the Moquis' prayers to their god, i stands in the center Of a ring of In ! Gians. Men and women join hands l and encircle him with their dance | The Indians concluded that their god | would be pleased if they succeeded in ! getting a white man to participate in | the dance and they singled cut MT. [ Hall Two Indians grabbed him and i pulled him into the dance. He danced i like the rest of them for about an hour 1 much to the amusement, not only of the Indians, but Of Dr. Mill Ter and several other white men,
 The dance, he says, reminded