Red River prospector. (Red River, Taos County, N.M.) 1900-190?, 1904-08-04
Indians Praying For Rail-.
Their Mystic Ceremonials Among
The Cliff Dgellers at the
Worlds Far at St.
Louis, u. s. A.

The less civilized a people, the
more material are the wants which
they implore their dsities TO sup
ply. Rain, rain, rain on the parch-
ed fields OF Mokiland In the far-off
Painted Desert of the Colorado in
Arrizons il, at this time otthe ysar
the supplication that is waited
| heayeuwards by thu Moki and Zu-
nj priest dssosaents of the ancient
now totally extinct Cliff Dwellers
The Snake Dance, really the Rain
Dance OF the miracle working Zu-
nj priests and medicine men has
become famous throughout the
Mesa Land of Unknown West. This
Snake Dance, in all its native wiz
ardy is being repeated several
times daily Sundays alone excepted
at the Cliff Dwellers Concession at
the Worlds only greatest Fair in
st, Louis. Twenty lithe-limbed
medicine men, twenty forbiddinp-
~ capaFisoned priests, an eutire
Indian orchestra of ton ton beaters
and full choir of Zuni incanta-
tion chaufers No such scenic, vo-
cal or instrumensaI inYestiture,
strictly native aud aboriginal, has
aver before bean seen at any,
Worlds Fair or public exhibition.
of any kind. The Cliff Dwellers
Concession was ths first organlza-
tion at st Louis to grasp the pos
sibilities of the theatrical an well as
the educational side Of such a dis
play and their Theatre Moki III the
midst Of their handsome and com
pIete exhibit ia daily and nightI,
thronged by thousands of Interest
led and diverted spectators iuclud
lug all sorts Of conditions OF men.
The strange part of attendance is
found in the presence at all times
of Indians from the United States
Governmsnt and other exhibits,
drawn thither by the fame and
wonderful Shungopavi, chief of the
Moki medicine men but greater
than that necronancer, miracle
worker and sleight of hand perfor
mer absolutely the best among the
North American Indians vet
brought within the confines of civ
ilizaiton. The ordinary mounte-
bank is abashed at the skill and
dexterity of this son of the Mesa
whose keen eyes have afascination
all their own. All the passes,
paintings, and other exhibitions os
wi4ardrY of which the theatres and
tho books are full are known to this
strange man who inyents as he
goes along the neatest tricks in
mystifeation and duplicates in
stantly all those which the specta-
tors, having seen than elsewhere
ask him 30 repeat. He does all
this amid strictly Zuni environ
ment and without the slightest use
of apparatus covered tables, assist
tante or paraphsrnaia OF any kind.
But she Cliff Dwellers exhibit has
other great features. 1t is first and
foremost an chronological exhibit.
1t reveals IN all its parts the iuten
tion OF its projectors to afford
Worlds Fair visitors the fullest
opportunity 10 stndy the manners.
eustums and tribal relations of the
earth's strangesv people IN what is
today the United States. These
Zuni, Mokis and Pueblo direct de-
seendants OF the famons, now ex-
tinet Cliff Dwsllers Of the Unknown
West have since time immemorial
been peaceful people. Slaughter
of or by the whites is not in their
records. They have lived sn is
solated existencs cultivating the
arts of peace, rather than war and
they are today the best exponants
of the 6ne old adage: Peace hath
her victories no less renowned than
war Their ways are gentle and
the elements 90 mixed In them that
Nature Nigh. rice up and say to