The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-03

nose. was at his heels most of the time
| and she seemed 10 enjoy the exercise
| Early in the morning she was out with her
/ rifle and before sun-up she had bagged an
! antelope. which was curious enough 10
| come within 800 yards Of the camp. At
noon, just before the main dance began,
| she beat Sam T. Glover shooting at a
mark, much to the amusement OF the IN
dianS.
| DR. Beecher curator of Yale University
with ten students, arrived in the afternoon
barely in time TO see the dance One OF
the students who persisted in packing a
| six-shooter accidentally shot a hole
| through the side and bottom of the water
| barrel of the outfits chuck wagon, COM
/; peiling them on their trip from WinsloW
| 10 drive fifteen miles out Of the way for
water.
| Dr. r c. DRYDEN who has spent The
| greater part of the last ten years among
the Moqui Indians has theory as TO the
apparent impunity with which the Moquis
handle venomous snakes He declares
there is no mystery about it and main
tains that the Modui is merely tricky
expert. However he says the snake is
not ''doctored" before it is used in the
dance. He also says that the Aoqui has
/ 10 secret antidote for snake bites as IS
| generally supposed. Further, he says that
! he knew one Moqui VINO died as the result
| OF snake bite.
| OF q long time II was thought the
| Moqui was immune to the bite OF a rather
/ An investigation made by the Government
| proved that this theory was incorrect.
| But the snake dance was not suppressed,
! because of the extremely small fatality in
/ volved in the affair and because it was
| believed that the Indians had an antidote
| for the venom of snakes.
| The opinion that the snakes used in the
| Gance were --doctored WAS current for
| long time. In 1897 DR.. Tewkes of the
Smithsonian Institution OF Washington, up
! set that theory. He attended the dance at
! Walpi that year. and by bribing an Indian
| he secured several of the snakes used in
! the dance. Carefully examining them, he
/ found that their fangs had not been ex-
| tracted and that the snakes were perfect
! III every respect.
| DR.. Tewkes then was inclined to be-
lieve the secret-antidote story, but in
! conversation with DR.. Dryden later he
said that he did not think the antidote
| theory would hold water DR.. Dryden is
| positive in his declaration that the Moquis
| have antidote for the poison of the
rattiesnake, and he says that the brown
| liquid taken by the bucks after the dance
| is merely a powerful emetic to clear the
stomach Of the nauseating saliva swal-
lowed by the dancer while holding the
snake in his mouth
/ THE Arizona RATHER. said the doctor.
sis unable to strike without first coiling.
The Mouui has taken advantage of this
fact and in handling the rattler he takes
every precaution not to allow it to coil.
He is an expert at this and consequently
he is very rarely bitten
"The casual observer who has seen
snake dance will tell you positively that
he saw Indians bitten That perhaps is
true, but the Indians he saw bitten were
not bitten by rattlesnakes- About two
thirds of the snakes used in the dances
are rattlesnakes; the others are of the
non-venonous sorts It is the snakei
the latter varieties only that the Ind
allow to bite them
ION entering the dance the Indians go
| in pairs. Some are known as 'huggers'
and others as snakemen-' The 'hugger
carries q sort of wand tipped with eagle
feathers. The 'snakeman' has his mouth
painted and his teeth heavily covered with
eIay so that he Will not cut the snakes
skin when he takes it in his mouth To-
gether hugger' and 'snakeman go into
the dance, the 'hugger' with his left arm
lAbout the erouching 'snakeman's' neck
Gas they pass the kisi q snake is hand-d
out TO the 'snakemaD.' By careful hand
ling it is not allowed to coil, and the
'snakeman' places it between his teeth
with it's head protruding about six inches
beyond the left corner of his month. Then.
with queer, goatIike leaps, they go round
anu iouiio Inc plaza thC hoe-SCi WIN N.S
wand all the while tickling ct the snakes
tall Ihe animals natural impulse is to
straighten out and run In this way it is
kept from coiling and thus from strik-
ing Should the snake coil, however, 1t is
dropped as quick as fash
In such case an expert catcher with
a wand goes on the plaza, dallies with the
snake unlil ii starts to run, and then, with
good. true AIM he catches II close up be-
hind the Jaws so that it cannot bite and
returns it to the kisi. where 1t is again
handed to the 'snakeman' who dropped it
This long-continued souirming of the
snake IN the Indians mouth causes him TO
| swallow an enormous quantity of saliva,
which, after washing the snakes body. is
nausea tiEg. To relieve himself after the
dance lie takes a swallow of the brown
liquid which is brought out by the Moqui
girls