gling reptile in his mouth, and holds it
by the centre of its body between his teeth, as he marches around the
little plaza, taking high steps. Meantime the, Antelope man
accompanies him, stroking the snake continually with a wand tipped
with feathers. Then all the members of the two fraternities follow in
couples and do the same thing. Finally, each Snake man carries at
least two snakes in his mouth and several in his hands; and even
little boys, five years old, dressed like the adults, also hold
snakes in their hands, fearlessly. Once in a while a snake is
purposely dropped, and a man whose special duty it is to prevent its
escape rushes after it and catches it up.

[Illustration: THE SNAKE DANCE.]

All the time that this hideous ceremony is going on, a weird chant is
sung by the men and women of the tribe; and, at last, the chief
priest draws on the ground a mystic circle with a line of sacred
meal, and into this the men unload their snakes until the whole space
becomes a writhing mass of serpents. Suddenly the members rush into
this throng of squirming reptiles, most of which are rattlesnakes,
and each, grabbing up a handful of them, runs at full speed down the
_mesa_ and sets them at liberty, to act as messengers to carry to the
gods their prayers for rain. This ends the ceremony for the snakes,
but not for the men; for after they have liberated the reptiles, the
members of the brotherhoods return and bathe themselves in a kind of
green decoction, called Frog-water. Then they drink a powerful
emetic, and having lined up on the edge of the _mesa_, vomit in
unison! This is to purge them from the evil effects of snake-handling;
and lest it should not be sufficiently effectual, the dose is
repeated. Then they sit down, and eat bread, given them by the women
as a kind of communion or religious rite.

[Illustration: AFTER THE EMETIC.]

[Illustration: CHIEF SNAKE PRIEST.]

The seventy or eighty snakes used in this dance are treated from
first to last with the utmost kindness and respect, especially the
rattlesnakes, a dozen of which will frequently be squirming on the
ground at once. It is noticeable that the Indians never pick up a
rattlesnake when coiled, but always wait until it straightens itself
out under the feather stroking, for it is claimed that the
rattlesnake cannot strike uncoiled. At all events, when one is at its
full length, the Indians not only catch it up fearlessly, but carry
it with impunity in t