Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-04-23

rerience saw Moqui attempt to put
his hands on a coilcd rattlesnake. nor
could l induce them to do so for any
umouDt of money. Each dancer carries
Il snail whip, and, should the rattle
snake, which he expects to take up III
his hands, coil himself, Mr. Moqui gets
out his whip, and applying it to the
reptile, makes him uncoiL Then, as
the reptile starts to run away, inc
snake-dancer picks him up.
In the dance. when it comes to thal
part where the dancers carry the
reptiles about in their mouths. each
dancer is accompanied by two men, the
'huSger,' and the 'gatherCr. Inc
first accompanies the dancer with his
left hand on the dancers left shoulder,
and in his right carries II small broom
or brush made of feathers. AS he ac-
companies the dancer he keeps sharp
lookout on the head of the reptile. and,
whenever Mr.. Snake shows disposl-
ton to snap at the dancers face or
shoulder, the ''hugger'' brushes the
reptiles head aside with his feather
| broom. Then, as the dancer reaches
the end of the circuit, and drops the
| itlt4it iloIli HIS ttiOuIn, the SdIittlti
is on hand to pick uD the snake before
| he as time to coil.
This, however, is not to be taken as
| Il downright, positive ana final eN-
| planation Of the matter. 1t is simply
the best | have to offer in the absence
/ of further discovery. Much rs | have
been among the MoquiS | am free to
confess that there are some things
about their Snake Dance that I do not
begin 20 understand. one of these is
the ceremony of washing the heads of
The reptiles just before the dance be-
gins.
L nave just explained why the
dancers are not bitten. on the assump-
ton that Il rattlcsnake cannot bite to
any purpose unless he is coilcd, but in
| the head-Washing ceremony this theory
| does not seem to hold good. The
| snakes are i'll an enormous carthCn jar,
or OLA" and you can hear them rat
Ting and kissing with all their might,
| plainly indicating that these bad
tempered reptiles are i'll an exceedingly
| ugly mood. Moreover, every one OF
| them is coiled ready to strike on the
slightest provocation, yet, in spite OF
all this, the person whose duty it is to
| hand the snakes out and pass them
around to the other members of the so
cicty, who proceed at once to rub Il
| little water over thcir heads as they
| chant prayer to the family gods,
runs his bare hand and arm down intu
| the darkness of the interior of this YES
sci, among fifty o. one hundred angry
or cxasperated rattlesnakcs, ana lifts
them out, one by one, until he has
reached the last, without being bitten
So much as once during the operation.
How this, the creepiest and most
blood gealinS sight I ever wit
messed, is managed; what arts the
person so engaged employs to keep the
snakes from literally tearing his hand
to pieces, is something that [ have
thus far been unable to discover. Il
may be that in the darkness the snakes
are unable to distinguish his fingers
and hand from one of their number
but as to whether or not this is the
case l am unable to say.
The Indians are, of course, occa.
sionally bitten, but not very often
When this happens they apply to the
wound the pulp of a certain cactus o
that region, and later on take othel
2ntidotes that are pretty well known