The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-10-27

There are several tribes Of Indians in
Arizona Territory that perform feats as
remarkable and astonishing as the greater
part OF those seen IN India and Arabia.
The Cocopahs perform q feat OF deviation
that is, the power OF suspending an ar
ticle il nidair without means Of support
and at certain tribal ceremonies they fire.
quentsy suspend an arrow or a spear in
the air for some seconds. The Piinas Of
southern Arizona have several tricks that
have been handed down to their medicine
men through generations long before the
days of Montezuma and CoTtez in ap-
parent violation Of laws of nature. For
instance, travellers among them tell Of
their medicine man having caused the
seeming death Of boys by q poisonous weed
and then after the lads had two days ex-
perience in the spirit world the medicine
men have brought them back to life. An
other Feat OF theirs IS said 10 be the drink
ing ad iibitum OF quantities OF boiling hot
| water with no more effect upon them than
a draught from a cool, sparkling spring
the Apaches have a few feats in horse
| nanship that border on the incredible,
but the Moquis, or Mokis, or Hopi Indians
of northern Arizona are the most inter
esting Indians il point OF strange customs
and startling ceremonies Of any tribe in
the Union.
The Moquis c'peace-loving people"l live
| nearer to the habits of their ancestors
than any Indians in the southwest Their
tribal celebrations are today exactly SINH
lar to those that Coronado wrote about in
his military diary when he marched
through Arizona and New Mexico On an
expedition &C cong aest IN 1910. There is
every reason TO believe that large part
of the dances, ceremonies and religious
fetes of the Moqui Indians have been
handed down unchanged for hundreds of
years. The tribe is cut of from associa-
| ton with other Indians Of the territory
| by several hundred square miles of burn
| ing desert that reach in every direction
and by range of lofty mountains and the
rocky remains of extinct volcanoes. They
| lived in their present locality of abode
| long before the wariike days of Coro-
nado and Fernando CorteZ. They are a
proud, reserved and silent race. and for
years resented any visits from white men.
The MoG5Iis are agricultural Indians. and
their two strangest dances are parts of
ceremonies that woo the favor of the god
Of rain, where their crops have been
planted and moisture is necessary to that
vegetation The country is very arid, and
| water is naturally the most highly priced
| belief that somewhere away up among
the Hottest peaks of the Sierra NeVadas
there reposes a monster rattiesnake,
many miles long and unaccountable rods
| in girth. The good will Of this reptile
must be cultivated If there is to be any
rain or snow for the growth of corn and
melons and mesquite beans.
Tributes to the Rain Gods.
On each alternate year the Moqui pee
pie of the two mesas-Tewa and Walpt-
Join in ceremonies in Precipitation of the
rain gods This is one of the years of
precipitation and the snake dance that was
performed at Walpi the latter part of
August was probably as hideous an affair
as vas ever known in America. The
snake ceremonies began August Is and ex-
tended into the last week of the month
The dancers carry living and writing
rattlesnakes about in their mouths and
pack a dozen or so of the reptiles in the
bosom of their garments with perfect in
difference as to their bites and venom.
Such feat of occultism is probably found
nowhere else. Between 100 and 200 young
Indian braves are chosen by the medicine
man TO enact the principal parts in the
rattlesnake dance. For weeks before the
ceremonies half the Moqui tribe is out
hunting over the sun-baked mesas,
through the canyons, and among the sage
brush on the foothills for rattlesnakes.
BY means of forked stick the serpents
are fastened to the ground whenever spied
and the Indians are adopts at ca ching and
bagging the reptiles by a, few adtoit move
ments.
Hundreds of rattlesaakes are placed n
a huge basket in the outskirts CT the vii
lage On the appointed day CT The fes w.