The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-30

shlpers, from whom nothing is concealed,
and are accompanied by incantations and
weird refrains chanted by every one pres
ent.
Play With Live Goals.
The shamans dance upon live Goals, eat
hre, swallow swords and arrows like the
Juggiers Of India and perform all sorts of
muscular feats that are amazing One OF
the most familiar and al the same time
one OF the most wonderful of these is to
make feathers dance upon the floor This
has frequently been seen by outsiders
army officers, traders, missionaries and
visiting scienusts-but nobody has ever
been able to explain how it is done Some
people say it is an optical illusion and the
result OF hypnotism, but that Is hardly pos
sble
The members of the tribe gather in a
circle around a fire in the center of the
floor of the estufa, or underground temple
and after preliminary Nominations accom-
panied by strange chants which recite the
glorles of the tribe and the abilities of the
priests, when the emot ons of the au-
dience have been worked up TO a sufficient
degree, the high priest, or cacique, takes
from his bosom a bunch of eagles feath-
ers and sticks the quill ends into the CLAW
| floor, so that they stand upright. Then
with their eyes fastened upon them and
with many gyrations the priests dance. sing
and clap their hands until all at once the
feathers begin TO move and dance about
upon the floor for five or ten minutes or
even longer, moved by invisible power.
changing places, circling around one an
other and acting like puppets; but there is
| no connection between the hands of the
| priests and the feathers; at least no one
has ever been able to detect such a thing
PrOphesies the Crops.
Another and somewhat easier trick is
| known as seed giving 1t is celebrated
! at the planting season. and the result is
| interpreted as a prediction of the success
or failure of the harvest. If the trick fails
| as 1t sometimes does the whole commuu-
| ity goes into mourning and takes measures
| TO intercede with the gods for a restora-
| ton of favor, in order that the tribe NAV
| not starVe. When the worshippers are
| gathered in the estufa one of the priests
| shells an ear of white corn into a blank
| ct. 1t must be a perfect ear The more per
! rect the better the results. Then, after two
or three hours of chanting, dancing and
| lncantatons, at signal from the chief
| priest ali present arise and direct Their
| gaze upon the blanket, which an this time
| has been lying folded in the center of the
| group. No hand has touched it, 1t has not
! been interfered with in any way. but when
| 1t is opened IL is found to contain a bush
! ei or more of different kinds of seeds
corn, wheat, beans, peas, watermelon and
| other seeds used by the Indians in their
| gardens. The quantity indicates the COM
paratve volume of the harvest. There
| may be an abundance of corn and very
! few beans, or wheat may be plenty and
/ corn scarce. Sometimes the blanket will
/ contain two OF three bushels of seeds.
| which by some mysterious process have
| been evolved from the handful of white
| corn that was originally concealed in the
! folds of the blanket.
! The disclosure is always greeted with ex-
Carnations of joy or disappointment, as
| the case may be. If a poor crop is indica ted
there is great lamentatlon. If there are
signs of an abundance every person in the
| village joins in shouts of qualification.
The Enchanted Plant.
Another of the most Interesting feats of
! the Pueblo jugglers is called "the en-
| chanted plant" and its significance is sim
| liar to that of the "seed giving" All the
members of the tribe gather in the estufa
at sunrise on day selected by the med
| ictne men before the annual planting be-
! gins, and after long and labored incanta-
tions kernel of corn is planted in a jar
! which stands in the center of the floor
! This jar is surrounded by a circle of
! priests, who sing, dance and clap their
hands all day long. The ordinary mem
| bers of the tribe retire and go about their
daily duties. They may come into rhe
| temple for a little while at intervals during
the day to see how things are going on,
but their presence is not necessary.
| 1t is a day of serious and continuous la
! Dor for the medicine men, however. be-
| cause If the singing ceases the corn stops
| growing, and the greater the vigor of the
! song the more rapid the growth. A few
| hours after the seed is planted it seems to
| terminate, and tiny shoot energies from
! the earth. BY noon IL is foot high; by
night 1t is a perfect plant-a stalk of corn
! five or six feet long with perfect leaves
/ and mi frtaf lQxF nrfE he
morning the grain is ripe and dry. Then,
| in the presence of all the tribe, the
| high priest plucks the ears, which of
| course, are sacred, shells the corn. and di-
vides it among the several families 10 be
| mixed with their ordinary seeds to insure