heir mouths and hands. As might be supposed,
however, the Moquis are said to possess an antidote against the
poison of a rattlesnake, which, if a man is bitten, is given to him
at once; and it is said that none of them ever dies from the effects
of a snake-bite.

[Illustration: WHERE THE SNAKES ARE KEPT.]

The religious element in all these ceremonies should not be lost
sight of, for the life of the Pueblo Indians is permeated with
religion, or superstition, to the minutest details. Thus, it is an
interesting fact that vicarious atonement has been a custom among
them from time immemorial, and their _cacique_ is compelled to fast
and do penance in many ways for the sins of his people. In some of
the villages, also, certain men and women are chosen to expiate the
wrongdoings of the tribe; and for more than a century there has been
in New Mexico an order of Penitents, who torture themselves by
beating their bodies with sharp cactus thorns, by carrying heavy
crosses for great distances, and even by actual crucifixion. The
severest of these cruel rites have, finally, been suppressed by the
Roman Catholic church, but it encountered great difficulty in so
doing, and the last crucifixion took place in 1891.

[Illustration: RELICS OF CLIFF DWELLERS.]

[Illustration: SUMMIT OF A MOQUI MESA.]

Such, then, are the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona; a race uniting
aboriginal Pagan rites with Christian ceremonies: cherishing at the
same time their idols and their churches; using to-day their rifles,
and to-morrow their bows and arrows; pounding occasionally with a
hammer, but preferably with a stone; and handling American money for
certain purchases, while trading beads, shells, and turquoises for
others. Sometimes we wonder that they have not made more progress
during the centuries in which they have been associated with
Europeans; but it is hard to realize the difficulties which they have
encountered in trying to comprehend our civilization, and in grasping
its improvements. Even the adoption of the antique Spanish plow, the
clumsy two-wheeled cart, the heavy ax and the rude saw, which are
still found among them, caused them to pass at one stride from the
Stone to the Iron Age, which, but for the intervention of the
Spaniards, they would not naturally have reached without centuries of
patient plodding. Moreover, before the arrival of the Europeans, the
Aborigines of America had never seen horses, cows, sheep, or dogs,
and th